Election 2025: Candidates speak out on pedestrian safety and other top issues

From the left, candidates Tammy Brown,  Heather Bryant, Theresa Flora and Angie Garcia-Guerra. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

By Martin Wilbur

Mount Kisco Deputy Mayor Theresa Flora and Trustee Angie Garcia-Guerra are seeking re-election Nov. 4 to the Village Board challenged by Democrats Tammy Brown and Heather Bryant, two first-time candidates for political office. Flora and Garcia-Guerra were elected two years ago on the independent Village Inclusive Party line and will also appear on the Republican line. 

Mayor J. Michael Cindrich, who swept back into office with Flora and Garcia-Guerra on the same ticket in 2023, is unopposed.

The Recorder: Why are you seeking election?

Tammy Brown: I decided to run because I want to use my experience and skills to improve the lives of the people of Mount Kisco and give back to the community I call home. After practicing law for more than 25 years, I now have the time and commitment to contribute meaningfully to local government.

My career has been dedicated to public service and community advocacy. I served as an assistant corporation counsel in Mount Vernon, where I advised the Zoning Board and City Council and drafted city contracts. Later, as an attorney for District Council 37 in New York City, I provided legal representation and counsel to union members, where I learned to negotiate, advocate and compromise in order to find solutions. These experiences have given me a deep understanding of how local government operates and how policy decisions impact people’s daily lives.

Since moving to Mount Kisco in 2008 with my daughter, I’ve grown to deeply appreciate this community. Serving as village trustee would allow me to apply my legal background and public service experience to help Mount Kisco thrive. 

Heather Bryant: I believe in the power of local government to improve the lives of its citizens. I pursued my master’s in public administration so I could serve the people, and used those lessons to successfully run our local library board. 

I knew I had to run for board trustee after our Community Resource Officer was cut from the budget in April 2024. This officer had specialized training to address quality-of-life issues, prevent crime, solve neighborhood problems and build relationships to achieve safer communities and provide dedicated support at Mount Kisco Elementary School. At that time, several minor incidents occurred at the school and the community did not yet know what was going on. Parents were scared. The CRO loss was incredibly disheartening for the MKES community. But it was a greater loss for Mount Kisco.  

As president of the Library board, I know that we had to call EMTs several times more this winter than the last to help folks because there was no liaison between the unhoused population, the county police and the county. We have also lost crucial outreach between the police and the residents such as the wildly successful Cops and Cones program. 

This year, there were several decisions made with a lack of transparency and without community buy-in. The denial of Chabad’s Tashlich ceremony and the decision to increase parking costs are two examples. I plan to use my knowledge of government along with my experience in nonprofit grant-making and volunteering to bring good governance back to Mount Kisco and restore collaborative partnerships.

Theresa Flora: I love Mount Kisco. The village has been extremely good to me and especially to my kids, and serving Mount Kisco in this capacity is a good way for me to give back. I am 100 percent resident-focused, always accessible, honest and transparent. I have a record of protecting residents’ safety, well-being and tax dollars.

We have accomplished much in two short years, and are currently working on a list of other items that I’d like to see through to completion. I also believe that I am the very best candidate for trustee, as proven by my long list of promises kept, accomplishments, accessibility, strong work ethic and dedication to ALL village residents and volunteer first responders. I regularly attend Mount Kisco committee and commission meetings to keep up to date with their agenda items and to provide support to our volunteer members.

I have worked hard to build trusting relationships within the community, and am always striving toward the betterment of the village, and have the energy and determination to get things done.

Angie Garcia-Guerra: I have decided to seek re-election because I love Mount Kisco and its residents. We have a great community and maintaining it requires that its residents play active roles. Serving as trustee offers me an opportunity to do my part and, more importantly, represent our community as important decisions are made.

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The Recorder: What do you consider the most important issue facing the village as this election approaches and how would you address that?

Bryant: Pedestrian and street safety is my top priority, for myself, my daughter and many residents that I’ve spoken with recently. One of the best things about Mount Kisco is that it is very walkable. Much of the village is accessible by sidewalks, but there are some hazardous walking spaces and we have folks who rely on bikes and their own two feet to get around. Additionally, accessibility is not only a safety issue, but one of ADA compliance. 

We also face streets that can be unsafe, due to speeding cars or crumbling infrastructure. Resident complaints about speeding come from every area of the village — Lexington, Main, Barker, Grove, Boltis, Woodland and Spring. I have witnessed it myself while walking through town with my child. I’m not an expert in traffic safety and I want what’s best for the town so I believe in listening to the experts. 

In 2023, the village was awarded a grant to work with traffic consultants. They included safer crosswalks and increased pedestrian signals in their Complete Streets plan. To mitigate speeding on our main roads, we must codify a speed limit change from 30 to 25 miles per hour throughout the village. 

For issues like the Preston Way Bridge, where the integrity of the bridge is at risk, we must make use of money from outside sources including $5 million from BridgeNY and a commitment from the MTA to support labor on the project before the cost for repairs becomes too great. The risk to taxpayers is too high if we continue to do nothing. 

Flora: Reducing costs and controlling taxes are more important than ever, and we have worked hard to stay below the tax cap because we cannot burden our residents with large tax increases. Hard decisions have to be made, and I am not afraid to do so. We need to be forward thinking, yet prudent with our spending, and I have the knowledge and experience to keep village taxes down by prioritizing what’s absolutely necessary before incurring any more debt. Many residents are having difficulty making ends meet, so as a trustee I will continue to make decisions in a fiscally responsible manner. 

Protecting our fragile and finite drinking water supply, Byram Lake Reservoir, is also a major priority for me, as is the health of our Leonard Park drinking water wells.

Garcia-Guerra: I consider fiscal responsibility to be the most important issue facing the village. I will thoughtfully consider short-term and long-term ramifications of the decisions we make as a board and their financial implications for our town and its residents. We have to find the right balance between growth and costs, and understand the effect of our decisions on our residents. Keeping taxes below the cap is a priority.

Brown: One of the most important issues facing the village is to keep property taxes under the cap. I will collaborate with village, county and state officials to locate grants and other funding sources to finance projects within the village, thereby maximizing the benefit of our own tax dollars. It is also important to practice fiscal responsibility. In order to save costs and to maintain and support our infrastructure, we must address problems with our infrastructure sooner rather than later to prevent greater harm and greater future spending.

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The Recorder: Over the past couple of years, there has been much focus on pedestrian and bicycle safety. How would you assess the current conditions and what would you like to see get done above and beyond what is in the works to make improvements?

Flora: I serve on the Complete Streets Committee with Trustee Garcia-Guerra, and while the traffic consultants (AKRF) were gathering data, we went above and beyond by looking at what we could do on the ground to make pedestrians safer. 

For example, we identified parking spaces that needed to be removed near crosswalks on South Moger to increase visibility for both driver and pedestrian. We advocated for an additional pedestrian-controlled blinking sign at the crosswalk on the northern end of South Moger. We advocated for stop signs at certain intersections, and “no parking here to corner” signs, which helped dramatically, especially on streets without sidewalks. We asked the Highway Department to repaint crosswalks, assessed sidewalks for safety and had faded signage replaced. We added better lighting in some areas, and reported street light outages. We’ve advocated for increased police enforcement of traffic laws, and have listened to our residents’ concerns, forwarding all of them to the hired traffic consultants. 

At the conclusion of the year-long traffic study, grant applications were submitted, and hopefully the village will be the recipient of financing to help make needed safety changes on the state, county and village-owned roads. Sadly, the consultants could not find a way to create a contiguous bike lane around the village due to narrow roads and on-street parking, but dedicated bikes lanes are something I’d like to continue to work on, especially on the wider roads in the village.

The Board of Trustees recently passed a local law banning all e-bikes, and e-scooters on sidewalks in the Village. The ban also includes bicyclists over 18 on sidewalks. This came after multiple complaints about near collisions with pedestrians on sidewalks.

I also helped facilitate the creation of a village website link called “Near Miss Survey” where pedestrians can alert us to near misses with vehicles in the village. This will provide ongoing data collection to help make the village safer for pedestrians. 

I have long been, and will continue to be, an outspoken advocate for speed humps in residential neighborhoods. 

Garcia-Guerra: My concern for pedestrian safety prompted an initiative by Deputy Mayor Flora and myself, at the start of our first term, to provide pedestrian safety education and reflective armbands to residents as an immediate response to the concerns of our residents. 

Later, as a participating committee member on the Complete Streets Committee, along with Flora, we wanted to ensure that all of our residents’ concerns about pedestrian and traffic safety were heard. We also worked with the village to make immediate low- or no-cost changes that would improve pedestrian and traffic safety such as removing parking spaces at crosswalks or at poor visibility areas, repainting crosswalks and stop signs and adding lighting. We have recently completed a traffic and pedestrian safety study, which is meant to help secure grants for needed improvements. However, I would like to see the village continue to focus on low or no-cost changes as we await the grants.

I would like to see the county be better partners in helping us address safety concerns on county roads. Additionally, with the new Neighbor’s Link location, it is more important than ever that pedestrians have a safe crossing at the site. 

Lastly, I would also like to see the village do better in enforcing speed limits.

Brown: The recent revision of Chapter 93 of the code prohibits anyone over 18 years old from operating bicycles and scooters on the sidewalk. The purpose of this change is allegedly to reduce the risk of possible harm to pedestrians. While the code may address that issue, it heightens the risk of harm for cyclists, who will be forced to ride in the street along with traffic, increasing the possibility of an accident. At the very least, bike lanes could be established for cyclists to safely navigate traffic, especially on busy streets such as Lexington Avenue, Main Street and North Bedford Road. 

Also, it seems that the recent code revision, without the establishment of bike lanes, could have a disparate impact on a substantial number of residents who ride bikes as their primary means of transportation. They now have to forgo job opportunities or risk injury riding in dangerous traffic. That may not be the intention, but it certainly is an adverse impact. 

Additional safety measures we should address are the lack of sidewalks on many Mount Kisco streets, which makes it dangerous for pedestrians and people in wheelchairs to get around safely, and the lack of ADA-regulated paths in Leonard Park. Our streets and parks should be accessible to all.

Bryant: First and foremost, we must continue with the Complete Streets plan. I was surprised that Deputy Mayor Flora and Trustee Schleimer voted against merely applying for the grants necessary to continue the project. I was at the meeting on June 16 where the study was presented and the consultant was very clear during that meeting that the next step would be applying for those grants. It should not have come as a surprise to any trustee, especially Deputy Mayor Flora who sits on the Complete Streets Committee.

Also, further consideration should be made for constituents who rely on bicycles for transportation. Some of Mount Kisco’s streets are in desperate need of repair and are unsafe for bicycle travel. I know that the worst ones are state roads and we have no say on when those are paved, but without constant advocacy and collaboration with the state, the lapse will be greater.

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The Recorder: The Village Board has been grappling with public drinking and vagrancy. What steps should be taken to address this problem?

Garcia-Guerra: This is another difficult problem facing the village because there are many layers to this problem. First and foremost, we need effective law enforcement and emergency services to ensure everyone’s safety. We also need effective social services to help individuals who are struggling with a variety of issues. We need to improve our partnerships with the county and state so that the village can get the necessary support to deal with the challenge. 

There are a variety of services that are required from rehab to mental health support to employment programs, which are all challenging without the support of our county and state officials.

I am willing to do what is necessary to facilitate the necessary support to help those individuals who require much-needed support.

Brown: The proposed legislation concerning public drinking could address this issue. However, as drafted, it appears to be overreaching as it applies to sealed containers outside of designated park areas. 

Public drinking is an issue that should be addressed. Anyone found with alcohol — be it open or sealed, in Leonard Park or Flewellyn Park – should be cited. But in the other public places, such as Kirby Plaza, those with new, sealed containers should not be cited because they cannot drink from a sealed container. It would be premature to cite someone for possessing a sealed container, before they break the ordinance. 

The issue of the unhoused population should be handled with care and dignity. We must provide proper support and guidelines that work with the needs and safety of our property owners. I will support a plan of community outreach(including funding a Community Resource Officer and work with higher elected officials to implement new strategies to tackle this issue.

Bryant: In 2023, we had two helpful entities on the municipal level for understanding this population. I’ve already mentioned the CRO, who did a lot of the heavy lifting within this community. I understand through the Village Board meetings and conversations I’ve had that changes were desired for the CRO program, but that could have been gained through creating measurable goals within our village. Instead, we lost a vital resource to our community.

The other is the Trail Team. They were a group of volunteers who maintained the trails in Mount Kisco and were another set of eyes to let us know who was on or around the trail system. In spring 2024, they were told to no longer touch anything on the trails and this led to their disbanding. The volunteers throughout our community are a huge asset and losing this group left us with one less way of knowing who was using our trails and for what purposes. Reimagining both of these programs with clear goals would be an excellent start.

Beyond our municipality, the county and state have resources for substance abuse and recovery. We do not need to stress our tax base when there are resources available outside of our town limits, but we, again, need constant collaboration with those folks to get the help we need. 

We also have a very strong network of first responders and nonprofits who are already doing so much work in this space. They deserve our willingness to seek out any possible avenue to aid in their work while maintaining the dignity of all human beings involved.

Flora: I have lived in the village for 35 years, and sadly, the issues of public drinking and vagrancy have been ongoing and complicated by alcohol addiction and mental illness in some cases. Alcohol addiction in individuals without housing hinders them from entering shelters, complicating the situation.

Mount Kisco does not have the resources to effectively manage these problems, so I think the county and state need to step up and help the village with these issues by providing continuous outreach teams to individuals in need. Although we have been told repeatedly that an individual cannot be forced into rehab, I think consistent and ongoing outreach is key.

We cannot accept as the norm alcohol-related deaths in our green spaces and individuals lying drunk and vulnerable on our sidewalks, so we need to collaborate with experts and work harder on strategies and solutions. 

These issues negatively affect the quality of life and strain our emergency services. 

We have deployed police foot patrols into the green spaces and Kirby Plaza to deter negative behaviors. I advocated for the increased lighting that has been added to the park in Kirby Plaza, which was funded through grant money. I strongly advocated for the full-time seasonal park ranger for Leonard Park that the village employed this past summer. 

Our village attorneys are currently working on a local law regarding alcoholic beverages that will give the county police additional tools to help them address the issue of public drinking. 

These issues are a priority and an ongoing effort that is a major challenge for us, and I will continue to try to create positive change as we move forward in a second term. 

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The Recorder:  A large percentage of Mount Kisco residents are immigrants. What is the Village Board’s role, if any, to address that population’s needs as well as its fears?

Brown: The Village Board has an obligation to listen to and address the concerns of all residents. Some issues may affect immigrants that do not affect other residents. When enacting legislation, the board should be sensitive to those issues. As residents, we must have compassion for our neighbors and make Mount Kisco as safe as possible. 

In this political climate, fear of workplace raids by ICE has a deep emotional and psychological impact on individuals and the wider community. As we are one Mount Kisco, we can offer services such as English language classes, community outreach and connections with legal representation to ensure their rights are being respected.

Bryant: Communication is a huge issue, and not just the lack of Spanish communication. The village does not have as many avenues for reaching residents as when I first moved here. I believe that is part of the reason for residents feeling that this administration is not transparent. We must re-establish a communication plan, which would include better outreach in Spanish.

Our diverse community is one of the best parts of Mount Kisco. All the negativity online feeds into people’s fears and that is not the Mount Kisco that I see every day. I see a community that is generous and welcoming and have experienced that firsthand since moving here. I see an interesting downtown with shops and restaurants that I enjoy and which could be multiplied by collaboration with the Economic Development Council. 

I see a system of support that is constantly working to improve the lives of our vulnerable populations, whether it be Neighbors Link, The Pantry, the Emergency Shelter Partnership, the churches, the senior center, the clubs (Rotary, Lions, Italian American Club), the volunteer first responders, the Arts Council or the Historical Society. Mount Kisco has a fabric of generosity that I’m proud to be a part of and hope to expand upon.

Flora: When Trustee Garcia-Guerra and I were first elected in 2023, we initiated a meeting with the county police lieutenant assigned to Mount Kisco to discuss the needs of our immigrant community. He assured us that the police always have resources available for Spanish speaking residents and are well-trained in immigrant community relations.

Garcia-Guerra (who is bilingual) and I have spoken to many immigrant families and individuals over the last two years; many have sought us out for information and/or to discuss their concerns. She has put together a list of resources for immigrants to access if they have concerns and fears and need help. 

We are the trustees for everyone who resides in Mount Kisco, and we are very proud that people feel comfortable reaching out to us with their stories.  

We are very involved in the community, are out speaking with residents regularly and have become very familiar faces with listening ears for our immigrants, and we help in any way we can. Maintaining a bilingual voice on the board is very important, and Trustee Garcia-Guerra is the only candidate in this election who is bilingual. 

“Somos uno” (we are one), the theme of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Festival, has a very special meaning to Garcia-Guerra and me, and is something we live by. 

Garcia-Guerra: The Village Board, first and foremost, should understand the needs and fears of the entire population. It should use this understanding to guide the decisions it makes. Members of the board should work collaboratively with the primary goal of meeting the population’s needs and addressing legitimate fears. The board should nurture a community building and involvement to help in addressing needs and fears. 

I’ve worked to provide an informational packet with various resources for immigrants especially for those who may need legal services or assistance from consulates. I believe it’s important to inform and empower our immigrant residents with as much information and resources as possible.