By NEAL RENTZ // The Lewisboro Planning Board on July 16 voted unanimously to approve the first phase of a project to make alterations to Double H Farm on Boutonville Road. The work, when completed, will enable the owners to covert the site into a private riding academy.   However, the board did not take action on the subdivision proposal from Double H Farm’s owners and Felicia and Kevin Reid, adjacent property owners. The public hearing, which began in June, was continued July 16. Planning Board Chairwoman Janet Andersen noted at the meeting that the board conducted a site walk of the 37.2 acre property in April. The property is located in a R-2A Residential Zoning District and the Westchester County Agricultural District.  On the existing horse farm parcel, Double H Farm LLC is seeking initially to construct an outdoor riding ring and a grand prix riding field for horse owners to leave their horses on the property, where they would be trained. The applicant is also proposing asphalt and gravel driveway improvements.  The plan for Phase 2 would include a complete teardown of the existing barn and construction of a new barn and indoor riding ring in the same location. Double H Farm is also proposing the rearrangement and regrading of various paddocks, reconstruction of the existing maintenance barn, with housing proposed above the barn. This plan will be updated in a future submission.    Double H Farm, together with the Reid family, is also proposing a subdivision/lot line change, which would merge a total of 6.9 acres into the Reid family property located at 45 Cross River Road.  Andersen said the only issues in Phase 1 of the project are some improvements being sought by Double H Farm, including a reconfiguration of some paddocks. In addition, Double H Farm is seeking approvals for field regrading and handling runoff, she said. “There are no new buildings being considered now,” Andersen said.  Andersen said a future submission from Double H Farm will include proposals for buildings and a public hearing will be conducted on a future proposal once it comes before the board.  During the July public hearing, some neighbors expressed concerns about the proposals. Don Whitman, who said he has lived nearby for over 70 years, noted that his house is located directly across from the applicant’s maintenance building. “I’m very concerned about the increase in traffic on Boutonville Road South” if the project is approved, he said, adding, “Over the years I’ve had several incidents with the maintenance personnel” employed by various owners of the site. Among other issues, he said, workers have plowed snow and gravel across the road onto his property. He suggested the planning board encourage the applicant to create an access road or driveway from Route 121 before approving the project.  Andersen told Whitman that the planning board is not a code-enforcement body and the appropriate path would be to take his concerns to the building department. Charles Martabano, an attorney representing Double H Farm, told Whitman he would share his contact information with the farm manager. Martabano said he also heard Whitman’s concern about the main gate being locked and would relay the concern to his clients and the barn manager.  Another resident, Calixto Perez Galan, expressed concern that the proposed plans would lead to “changes in the character of the neighborhood.”  Martabano said that the farm would have a staff member at all times living in the barn to oversee the horses.  On the subdivision proposal, Andersen said she wanted to know what would happen to the site in the future if the subdivision were approved. Daniel Hollis, an attorney representing the Reid family, said his clients are spending $650,000 to purchase a nearly 7-acre property to buffer their current property. If the subdivision was approved by the board, the subdivision would not be developed but would be merged with the Reid parcel. If the Reids or another future owner of the land wanted to develop the property, they would need approvals from the town, Hollis said.  Hollis called on the board to close the public hearings on Phase 1 and the subdivision proposal. Andersen replied that she wanted to continue the public hearing on the subdivision plan at its next meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20, and would ask the planning board to schedule a site walk on the property being proposed for subdivision.  The board voted unanimously to approve Phase 1 of the project and to continue the public hearing on the proposed subdivision at its Aug. 20 meeting. It also agreed to schedule a site walk Saturday, Aug. 17.  ACME Market expansion Also at the meeting, the planning board voted unanimously to approve the proposed expansion of ACME Markets, located in the Goldens Bridge Village Center on Route 22, Goldens Bridge. The board approved a change of use from a bank to a food store. The application was reviewed by the board in June, Andersen said.  Town Planner and Wetland Consultant Jan Johannessen said the plan is for the market to expand into the property that formerly housed a bank. The property is located in an RB zoning district (retail business) and the proposal is a permitted use, he said.   T-Mobile Wireless approval The board also voted unanimously to approve the request from T-Mobile Wireless to renew its special use permit for the facility it uses at the Leon Levy Preserve, located on Routes 35 and123, South Salem. The facility is owned by American Tower.  Andersen noted the application first came before the board in March, with a public hearing opened and closed in June.  “There’s no proposed modifications or improvements,” Johannessen said. Because of changes made to the town’s zoning ordinance a few years ago, T-Mobile will no longer be required to have the permit renewed in the future, he said.

Pictured clockwise from top left: Dash Mackof, Delilah Mackof, Anna Wright, Maggie Nenaditch, and Ava Cronin. Photo credit: Gregory Kaplowitz The Katonah Swim and Dive Team pulled out a dramatic late victory over host Briarcliff at its July 13 meet. Going into the last event, the 18 and under co-ed relay, and trailing by a single point, the foursome of Kyle Berk, Katie O’Donnell, Ava Cronin and Michael O’Donnell finished first and lifted the team to the win. Triple event individual winners on the day for Katonah were Joey O’Donnell 10 boys back, fly and free; Katie O’Donnell 18 girls back, fly and free; Isabelle Hehman 12 girls breast, fly and free; and Annalise Braddock,14 girls breast, fly and free. Double winners were Delilah Mackof, 14 girls backstroke and 18 girls diving; and Maxime Desbois, 12 boys breast and free. Single winners included Dash Mackof, 13 boys diving; Rebecca Hehman, 8 girls backstroke; Henry Kepple, 8 boys breastroke; Henry Becker, 12 boys backstroke; Michael O’Donnell, 18 boys backstroke; Gordo Rinaldo, 8 boys breast; Ava Cronin 18 girls breast; Olivia Hickerson 8 girls fly; and Kevin O’Donnell 14 boys fly.

By DAVID POGUE // If I were really an “Eco Dude” — if I wanted the smallest carbon footprint humanly possible, I’d never get in a car. I’d own nothing that’s been manufactured or transported. I’d never heat or cool the house. I’d do without electricity. I’d grow my own food. I wouldn’t have had kids. I wouldn’t be me at all.  The challenge, therefore, is curbing my carbon production without becoming a mountaintop monk.  In most areas, I’m doing pretty well. But my job as a TV correspondent involves travel, and travel is a toughie. Ain’t no such thing as an electric Boeing 737. (Although, honestly, electric planes are coming along nicely. Current   prototypes can go 300 miles on a charge, carrying six people — and battery tech is improving about 10% a year. We’ll get there.)  For now, I assuage my guilt by tapping Delta’s “Buy carbon offsets for this flight” checkbox. Doing so adds, say, $8 to the cost of the ticket; that money, in principle, funds some project somewhere that counteracts my share of the flight by planting trees or protecting a forest. Sometimes, though, I encounter an industry that seems determined to resist my efforts. For example, hotels.  Hampton Inns are part of Hilton. When I checked in to one recently, they handed me my room card, Wi-Fi instructions — and two plastic bottles of water. In a plastic bag.  They didn’t ask. They handed.  Let’s see now. Hilton manages about 1.2 million hotel rooms. They’re not all full every night, and not all of them force the plastic down your throat. But OK. Let’s say that 40% of those rooms trigger the bottle-shoving. That’s 960,000 plastic bottles that Hilton alone is churning out every single night. About 11 tons of plastic that will wind up in the landfill, the oceans, and your veins.  (“But they’ll be recycled!” Oh, please. No, they won’t . )  Now, let’s suppose that Hilton executives do not, in fact, live in some pre-internet cave, and that they are aware of the plastics problem . Clearly, someone must have crunched the numbers and calculated that the purchase price of those bottles — and the environmental cost — pays off. Maybe there was a customer survey and people said they like the free waters. Maybe the little gift generates customer loyalty and return bookings. Well, you know what those customers would probably like better? A nice, free sports bottle. A reusable bottle.  So, here’s my proposal to those hotels: Invite your guests to grab a free, shiny, new aluminum sports bottle at check-in (offer, don’t insist). Point your patrons to a clean, shiny water dispenser in the lobby (maybe infused with mint or lemon) for filling it. Do a customer survey on that deal, Hilton!  And crunch that spreadsheet, too. The price for plastic sports bottles in bulk is 92 cents each; for sleek aluminum ones, it’s $2.20.  OK, that’s more expensive than the two plastic bottles you’re giving out (about 50 cents wholesale), but how’s this to cheer you up? You can put your logo on that bottle. Free advertising forever! And what price can you put on the warm, grateful feeling a free gift will inspire in every guest?  I’ve got something to say about the mini fridges, too. They’re in 60% of hotel rooms now, costing each hotel about $215 a year in electricity per room and producing 275 pounds of carbon dioxide. Per room. That comes to 144 more tons of carbon blanketing the planet, for the mere 20 percent of hotel guests who even care about a mini fridge.  I once tweeted about hotel mini fridges. My followers’ arguments for their continued existence seemed to be (a) “But I take a medicine that has to be refrigerated,” (b) “But I need to put breast milk in there” and (c) “But I put leftovers in there.”  Got some bad news for you, folks. The mini fridges don’t get cold enough for any of that. They hang out at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which the government calls “the danger zone” for leftovers. Food and Wine cautions you especially about putting seafood in there. If you need a real fridge, the front desk will happily chill your stuff.  That’s why I turn off every fridge in every hotel room I occupy, and I encourage you to do the same. The hotel is providing the temp knob on that fridge, isn’t it? It’s my right to adjust it — no different than a thermostat. I’m no eco-terrorist.  If the next guest needs the fridge, they’re welcome to turn it on again—but 17 million empty mini fridges running 24/7 365  days a year is not what the world needs right now.  And speaking of air-freezing systems, in what universe is 62 degrees a good default temperature? That was, in fact, the temp of the Florida room I checked into recently. I may be a liberal snowflake, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep me frozen.  Hotels are the dirtiest chunk of the transportation industry , At their current growth rate, by 2050 they’ll be pumping out 131% more carbon pollution than they do now. (Especially, by the way, if they keep putting plastic disposable cups in the bathroom wrapped in plastic .)  Not all hotels, to be fair, are villainous. I’m happy to report that our own Bedford Post Inn does not have mini fridges and does not hand out plastic in any form. No mini soaps, no disposable shampoo bottles and, in the bathrooms, they give you glasses made of glass.  But they can’t all be Bedford hotels. Remember that Hampton Inn that gives out the two plastic bottles? They literally have a card hanging in the bathroom that says: “We intend to pave the way to a net-zero future.” And sure enough, a PR rep let me know that by 2023, Hilton hotels eliminated (well, were supposed to eliminate) single-use miniature soap and shampoo bottles. And 70% of its hotels offer water-bottle filling stations.   But what about those water bottles in a plastic bag, handed over to every guest? “Efforts vary by brand and property,” the rep said.  David Pogue is an Emmy-winning correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” and a New York Times bestselling author. He lives around here.

By David Pogue // Hello there! I’m new around here. My wife Nicki and I moved to Bedford Hills last fall. It was a whole big empty-nester/house-downsizing thing. I think of myself as a valiant eco-warrior (although my loved ones may describe my obsessions less charitably). For example, I report stories about the environment for “CBS News Sunday Morning.” I wrote a book called “How to Prepare for Climate Change.” I’ve just joined the board of Bedford 2030.  And when it comes to attempting to minimize my destruction of the earth … man, do I walk the walk. Take, for example, plastic recycling. If you’ve ever visited a municipal landfill — mountains of trash, shot through with massive festering shreds of drooping, filthy, shredded plastic — you know why plastic is a problem. It refuses to biodegrade. Instead, it breaks down into tiny pieces ( microplastics ), which finds its way into your water, your food, your air, your bloodstream, and — via the placenta — newborn babies.  So I’ve become, I suppose, something of a freak. I reach into the trash in public places to retrieve plastic bottles that lazy slobs throw there (instead of using the recycling bin 12 inches away). Amazon prints “Recycle me!” right on their bubble-wrap shipping envelopes. What they fail to print is: “But first, take all the paper labels off me, or else the recycling facility will just send me to landfill.” So yes, I sit there with scissors, cutting off the labels, so that I can recycle the rest.  Food residue ruins the recyclability of plastic. So yeah, I wash the insides of my cereal-box liner bags before sticking them in our plastic bag recycling box. (What’s that? “But you can’t recycle plastic bags?” Of course you can! True, you can’t put them into your regular recycle bin; they gum up the recycling equipment. But you can take them to chain grocery stores or the Bedford Recycling facility, located at 343 Railroad Ave., Bedford Hills.)  I mean, I could go on. (Just ask anyone who’s met me at a cocktail party.) There’s a whole website ,  the Bedford 2030 Recyclopedia, that itemizes every consumer item you’ll ever come across, and details whether or not it’s recyclable. If you’re drastic about plastic like me, it reads like a thriller. Unfortunately, the Recyclopedia also presents a cold, hard truth: It’s hard to master plastic recycling. Nobody outside the recycling industry could ever learn all the rules. It’s impossible. For example: You can put No. 1 and No. 2 plastic into your main bin, except if it’s black, like the bottom half of restaurant take-out tubs. Those go into the trash. (The scanners at the recycling plant can’t see black containers against the conveyor belt.) You can recycle a plastic bottle with the cap attached, but if the bottle is glass, you’re supposed to throw the cap away. Mesh produce bags “can be recycled,” and yet they should be “discarded with your regular trash.” You can’t recycle cardboard milk and ice cream cartons so, weirdly, it’s actually better to buy your milk in plastic jugs that you then recycle. Those, at least, won’t end up in the landfill. Got it? If you recycle at all, you mean well. You’re really trying. You’re putting effort into doing your part. But millions of us throw things into the bin that we’re not really sure about, because we want to give it the benefit of the doubt. That’s called “wishcycling.” Unfortunately, wishcycling is actually worse than doing nothing at all. A worker at the recycling facility (ours is in Stamford, Conn.) will have to reach onto the conveyor belt, grab that thing you threw in with good intentions, and send it to the landfill.  In other words, the golden rule for recycling is not “If in doubt, throw it in the recycling bin.” Hard though it may be to accept, the real rule is: “If in doubt, throw it out.”  And then there’s the elephant in the room — the problem so big, it makes all of this stressing about the rules of plastic recycling look almost foolish. Recent research  indicates that only about 5% of our plastic ever actually gets recycled.  The rest goes to landfill, or it’s burned, or it winds up in the ocean. The entire plastics-recycling concept, in other words, is essentially a myth, propagated by the plastics industry in hopes of heading off regulation.  See, China used to buy our used plastic, no matter how grubby and contaminated. But in 2018, the Chinese government announced that it was sick of serving as the planet’s trash pit and announced that it would no longer accept our stuff. To this day, U.S. recycling centers are still struggling to find buyers for the plastic they do collect. Here’s my “Sunday Morning report " on this topic. I had a long talk with Bedford town advisor, Peter Kuniholm, a longtime environmental engineer, former president of the New York Solid Waste Associations, and a principal author of our Recyclopedia. He didn’t exactly say, “Dude, you’re overthinking this to the point of absurdity.” But he did imply that I might be missing the forest for the shrubs. The important work is not persuading people to micromanage the plastics they’re putting into the various bins; it’s persuading people to recycle at all. Only 35% of Bedford residents recycle anything!   If you could peer-pressure your family and neighbors into just recycling the basics — paper, cardboard, metal, glass, and No. 1 and No. 2 plastics — you’d be striking a powerful blow against landfillage and carbon pollution. Kuniholm also pointed out three bits of good news.  First, our 35% residential participation rate is actually excellent compared to most towns; in fact, it’s the highest recycling rate in the state. (Insert very weak cheer.) On the other hand, only 12% of our local businesses recycle at all, which is pathetic. Second, remember that stat about “only 5% of plastics are ever recycled?” Things are better where we live, thanks to our MRF in Stamford. (MRF stands for materials recovery facility and is pronounced, hilariously, “merf.”)  The Stamford MRF is modern and high-tech. Its sophisticated sorting equipment winds up separating, baling, and selling about 75% of the plastic we send there. In other words, three-quarters of Bedford’s recycle-bin plastic actually does get melted down and recycled. Yeah, that means a quarter of the plastic is too contaminated to resell, so it goes into the landfill but again, that’s much better than many processing centers.  So let’s see: 35% of Bedford homeowners, and 12% of Bedford businesses, recycle at all, and the MRF recycles 75% of the plastic we send there. Multiply it all out, and you learn that a grand total of 16% of Bedford plastic winds up recycled. Distressing as hell, but nothing like the 5% national average. The plastics situation won’t improve until we succeed at three tasks. First, we need new laws, like the one that just fizzled in the New York legislature  under pressure from plastics lobbyists. Second, we need materials scientists to hurry up with developing plastic that’s genuinely and completely biodegrade . Finally, we need to upgrade our MRFs with robot sorting machines, molecular-resolution cameras, and laser and infrared sensors. Those technologies will permit our MRFs to produce bales of much purer plastic, which will fetch a much higher price on the resale market, which will mean that more of our recyclables will, in fact, be recycled. At that point, the limiting factor on what plastic gets recycled won’t be the recycling facilities; it’ll be our own laziness.  Anyway, I guess I can live with knowing that 75% of my own plastic gets recycled. Meantime, I’m thrilled with my new hometown. I look forward to meeting people, making friends — and then haranguing them about plastic. David Pogue is an Emmy-winning correspondent for "CBS Sunday Morning” and a New York Times bestselling author. He lives around here.

Man arrested for DWI in Bedford Hills A resident of Bedford Hills, male, 48, was arrested Sunday, July 28, at 7:51 p.m., on Rome Avenue, Bedford Hills, charged with driving while intoxicated. Police responded to a call about an erratic driver on Babbitt Road; the described car was located shortly after near the Bedford Hills Elementary School on Babbitt Road where the officer observed the driver traveling very slowly and crossing over the double yellow line. A traffic stop was initiated and the operator identified himself. The officer noted the driver showed signs of intoxication, and a strong odor of alcohol emanating from inside the car. Also observed were several unopened cans of beer on the back seat. Asked if he had been drinking, he said in Spanish he had consumed four or five beers. A Spanish-speaking officer was requested to conduct field sobriety tests which the man was unable to complete. Police said he was somewhat uncooperative and was arrested on scene. Due to an equipment problem at Bedford headquarters, he was transported to Pound Ridge police headquarters for further testing, which he refused. His wife drove their car back to their residence and returned to collect him. He was released with three summonses and an Aug. 14 court date. Hack of Katonah woman’s Facebook account tied to Bitcoin sale Sunday, July 28, at 4 p.m., a Katonah resident reported her Facebook account was hacked while she was out of the country. The company notified her of suspicious activity on her account. Although she was locked out of that account, she discovered through a friend that someone had copied photos from her original account to create a fake account promoting her as a Bitcoin expert. The friend thought the fake account was real and purchased bitcoin. The caller notified her bank for precautionary purposes and a report was made of the hack. Details about the friend’s bitcoin purchase were not provided. Monday, July 22 9:35 a.m. — A resident of The Terrace, Katonah, reported an incident that happened a week earlier. The complainant said a neighbor’s dog got loose from its electronic fence and bit his wife when she went to pet it. The dog was returned to its owner. The dog control officer has been notified. 10:42 a.m. — Police responded to a report of a female calling for help from inside a moving car on Robinson Avenue, Bedford Hills. An officer stopped the car near the Bedford Hills post office; a teenage couple was inside. Police spoke to the teens separately; they said they were arguing. The male told the police he wanted the female to leave the car and not to return to his home. She exited the car and called someone to pick her up. No further action was required. 5:41 p.m. — While doing a routine check around the ShopRite shopping center on North Bedford Road, Bedford Hills, police were alerted to a man seen sleeping in the bushes at the Stop & Shop on North Bedford Road, Mount Kisco. The police went to that location and found the man, who was awake. Police said he was noticeably intoxicated. Westchester County Police arrived on scene to take over the situation. Tuesday, July 23 12:07 p.m. — A male, 87, driving with his wife, pulled into a handicapped parking spot at DeCicco & Sons on Old Post Road, Bedford. He accidentally struck the handicapped sign, panicked, and threw the car into reverse, striking a cement pillar attached to the store building. His car sustained minor damage; there was no damage to the pillar. Fire personnel and an ambulance arrived, but the couple refused medical services. 6:52 p.m. — A summons was issued to a driver caught speeding on Bedford Road and Harris Road, Bedford Hills. Wednesday, July 24 9:30 a.m. — One school bus rear-ended another school bus on Bedford Road, Bedford Hills. No children were on either bus. The operator of the first bus said he didn’t have time to stop when he crashed into the school bus traveling immediately in front of him which had suddenly stopped in traffic. Neither bus was damaged, and there were no injuries. 11:44 a.m. — A man who said he has been out of the country since 2001 came to police headquarters for help locating his daughter, who he thought lived on Church Street, Bedford Hills. Detectives located several previous addresses for his daughter, but were unable to make contact with her. The man and his family members were advised and no further action was requested at this time. Thursday, July 25 1:16 a.m. — A resident of Overlook Drive, Bedford Hills, reported a bat inside the house. On arrival, an officer located the bat in a bedroom. The caller provided an officer with a broom, and the bat was flushed out and dispatched with the broom. The homeowner said they would bag it up and take it to their vet along with his dog for testing later that day. 2:44 a.m. — Police responded to a report of an intoxicated male walking on Bedford Road, Bedford Hills. When located, he declined to give his last name, said he had a problem with his roommate and only wanted to go home and to bed. No further action was taken. 7:34 a.m. — A driver attempting to execute a U-turn on Cross River Road, Katonah, struck another car headed in the opposite direction. A female, 38, from South Salem was transported to Westchester Medical Center by Katonah Bedford Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps for an injury to her neck. Both cars were towed from the scene. No citations were given. Friday, July 26 12:43 p.m. — A resident of The Farms in Bedford Village reported a man in a black hoodie, blue jeans and white sneakers attempted to enter her locked car parked in the driveway. She said he left in a dark-colored car, possibly a Range Rover. Police didn’t have any other leads. 5:00 p.m. — A woman holding a cardboard sign asking for money outside a wine shop on Bedford Road, Bedford Hills, was advised of local ordinances against solicitation and left the area. 6:48 p.m. — A man reported as unsteady on his feet walking on Old Post Road, Bedford, told police he was fine and didn’t need assistance. 7:20 p.m. — Police went to a church in Katonah after a man was reported behaving in a disruptive manner. The caller said the man became upset when he was told he couldn’t join an AA meeting because he had been irate, threatened self-harm, and said he had a beef with another attendee. While speaking to police, the man appeared emotionally unstable. An ambulance was requested and Katonah Bedford Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported him to Northern Westchester Hospital. Saturday, July 27 3:20 p.m. — A woman holding a cardboard sign asking for money outside ShopRite on Bedford Road, Bedford Hills, was advised of local ordinances against solicitation and left the area. Sunday, July 28 6:37 p.m. — A report of a man on the pavement outside the Gas Mart on Haines Road, Bedford Hills, was determined to be unfounded. — Eve Marx, The Recorder staff writer This report was made from official reports provided by the Bedford Police Department.

Unlocked cars entered Police received two reports of entries into unlocked parked cars Wednesday, July 24. The first occurred at 10:45 a.m. on Upper Shad Road. A resident reported their car — unlocked and parked in their driveway — appeared to have been rummaged overnight by an unknown party. The reporting party said nothing seemed to be missing from the car and the vehicle wasn’t damaged. At 7 p.m., a resident of Donbrook Road reported their unlocked car had been entered by an unknown person. One item was reported stolen. Wednesday, July 24 10:57 a.m. — A female was transported by Vista ambulance to Northern Westchester Hospital. No further information was provided.  3:40 p.m. — A resident on Fox Run Road reported their neighbor’s landscape workers were using gas-powered leaf blowers in violation of local ordinance. Police arrived and saw no violations although they did speak to the workers about proper equipment use. 5:58 p.m. — A male was transported to Northern Westchester Hospital by Pound Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Corps. No further information was provided. Friday, July 26 12:30 p.m. — A turtle that was struck and injured by a car traveling on Upper Shad Road was assisted by an officer who blocked the road until the turtle could safely cross it. A wildlife rehabilitator was contacted and arrived to retrieve the injured reptile. 1:30 p.m. — A caller reported a suspicious vehicle parked on Reservation Road. Police arrived and the car was unoccupied. A check of the registration showed nothing suspicious. Police said the car might belong to hikers in the preserve. 9:22 p.m. — A caller reported a suspicious looking individual walking on Pound Ridge Road. Police looked for the individual with negative results. Saturday, July 27 4:25 p.m. — A male was transported from his home to Stamford Hospital for an unknown condition by the Pound Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Corps. 4:10 p.m. — A resident of Pheasant Road West complained of noise and a gas leaf blower in use in his neighborhood. Police went to the location and spoke with the homeowner who was having a tree cut down on their property. An electric blower was being used to clean up debris. There were no violations. Sunday, July 28 11 a.m. — The driver of a disabled vehicle traveling on Salem Road was assisted by police getting their car off the roadway. They told the officer a tow vehicle was on the way and no further assistance was required. 7:28 p.m. — A crash detection alert system sent police to Stone Hill Road; they found no collision or anything else that looked suspicious. —Eve Marx, The Recorder staff writer This report was made from official reports provided by the Pound Ridge Police.

Keep our stunning roads clean To the Editor: Don’t wait for Earth Day April 2025! Please remind your readers to try and combat the ongoing litter problem by donning some plastic gloves, carrying a bag and taking a walk to pick up what has been pitched onto our stunning roads by inconsiderate passersby. Second, I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of commercial signs placed on our roads by business owners unaware of the town’s regulations against that practice. If you see them, take a photo, email them to the Pound Ridge Town House and take them to the closest dumpster. Jo F. Brown Pound Ridge Submit your Letters to The Editor, milestones, obituaries, and story ideas with our new Reader Submissions Form .

The Westchester Oratorio Society board of directors announced that David Štech has been hired to lead the choir, serving as artistic director and conductor, starting in September. Štech has extensive experience leading professional and volunteer choral groups, according to WOS. Over the course of his career, he has led more than 14 choirs, 12 professional orchestras and has been involved in over 60 productions with 15 opera companies. He is already deeply familiar with WOS, the board said in its announcement. He is married to WOS accompanist, Mun-Tzung Wong, and a close associate of WOS former conductor, Ben Niemczyk. “I share a passion for inspiring musicians at all levels and am eager to bring this enthusiasm to WOS,” Štech said.  WOS is an amateur choir. It holds rehearsals from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Garden Room of the Katonah Village Library, located at 26 Bedford Road, Katonah, a short walk from the Metro- North station. New singers are welcome and no auditions are required. This fall WOS will present the oratorio, “King David,” composed by Arthur Honegger, to be sung in English. Rehearsals begin Sept. 10 and will continue through the fall performance at the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco on Nov. 23. For more information, visit westchesteroratorio.org .

The towns of Bedford and Lewisboro have been awarded $100,000 in state grants for improvement and infrastructure projects. The grants are part of a package of $2.3 million in funding for local municipalities secured by state Sen. Pete Harckham.   Each municipality in the 40th Senate District will receive $100,000 in grants through the State Community Resiliency, Economic Sustainability, and Technology Program funding. This unrestricted funding can be used at the discretion of local officials.   Harckham announced the grants July 26 at a press conference held at Chilmark Village Park in Briarcliff Manor, where he was joined by more than a dozen local elected leaders who shared their plans for the funding.   “The quality of life for our local residents is most impacted by their immediate town and village governments, and knowing the challenges they are facing, it’s important to be able to offer them the financial resources that will help them deal with issues like public safety, aging infrastructure and climate resiliency,” said Harckham. “Local leaders know what their communities need,” he continued, adding that the grant funds will help finance community projects without adding to local tax burdens. Bedford Town Supervisor Ellen Calves said in a statement, “We are thrilled that Sen.mHarckham has been able to offer this generous grant to the town of Bedford, which will enable us to invest further in parks infrastructure for the benefit of our residents.” Lewisboro Town Supervisor Tony Gonçalves told The Recorder that several projects will be considered by the town board. “We haven’t decided yet,” he said. “I’ve asked the board as well as others for some ideas but have not made a final decision.”    One idea is to put the funds towards insulating the Onatru Farm House, where the town’s Parks and Recreation Department is currently located, in preparation for future installation of a geothermal system to eliminate the building’s oil-fired boiler, the supervisor said. Another possibility is to renovate the Barn Building at Onatru and convert it into a multi-use facility. He said that building is slated for installation of photovoltaic solar panels, also supported by a CREST grant secured last year by Harckham, which will offset electricity consumption at Onatru Farm Park. Gonçalves called the state senator “a strong champion” of Lewisboro. Harckham is a local resident of the town. Harckham has secured more than $29 million in capital grants for the towns, cities and villages in the 40th Senate District through CREST, State Aid to Municipalities and other grant programs since taking office in 2019. The total includes $15.1 million for local governments and over $8 million for police and fire departments, EMTs, ambulance corps and public safety professionals, his office said.

BRLA Berry Walk Photo credit: Gregory Kaplowitz Hopping along the berry trail On a mid-July Sunday morning, eight families joined BRLA Board Member Chloe Gasiorowski for a berry-picking excursion along the BRLA trails. “BYO basket” was the name of the game and sticky fingers from ages 2 and up were all in the mix. “Normally we host this gathering at the end of July but because of the heat wave this summer, the berries all ripened two weeks earlier and were ready to go,” said BRLA Executive Director Lindsay Hearon. “It’s always fun to see half the berries go into the baskets and the other half right into the kids’ mouths.” Katonah Sidewalk Sale Photo credit: Jim MacLean Attention, shoppers! Shoppers flocked to Katonah for the Sidewalk Sale on July 19 and 20 sponsored by the Katonah Chamber of Commerce. Food Truck Fridays Photo credit: Ellen Best No reservations required Barbecue, wings, ice cream and much more were on tap at Food Truck Friday in Scotts Corners on July 19. Friends and family brought chair sand blankets to chill and dine, while the Bedford School of Rock band supplied the tunes.  Charity Golf Outing Isaiah Fredricks, patient care associate at NHW, readies to putt at the annual Northern Westchester Hospital’s golf classic. Looking on are Derek Anderson, NWH executive director, Christine Burke, RN at NWH, and Savannah Jimenez, endoscopy tech at NWH. Photo courtesy of Northwell Health. A shot for mental health Northern Westchester Hospital held their annual golf classic fundraiser July 9 at the GlenArbor Golf Club, Bedford Hills. Approximately 140 golfers participated and raised $215,000. The golf outing will benefit the hospital’s development of a new comprehensive mental health services program for children and adolescents. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, across the country there is a growing number of mental health-related issues among children and adolescents with one in five children having a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder. End of School Year bash at Pound Ridge Town Park Photo credit: Pound Ridge Rec Department Bubbles, bubbles everywhere! Gia Brown relaxes in a sea of bubbles at the End of School Year bash held in Pound Ridge Town Park on June 26. The event organized by the Pound Ridge Recreation Department included a live DJ, ice cream truck and a Bubble Bus sponsored by Friends of Pound Ridge. Photo 2: Alana Sterling & Audrey Campbell; Photo 3: Bubbles, bubbles everywhere! Photo 3: Taylor Valloni, Ursula Dur, Kendall Valloni.

By Thomas Staudter// To jazz vocalist-composer Andromeda Turre, the irony is sad and disturbing. Just as she is set to release her new album, “From the Earth” — a collection of original compositions embedded with short, poignant interviews, which calls for a defense of our planet’s fragile biospheres in the face of our ongoing climate crisis — much of the country is experiencing the hottest start to summer on record. “The album could not be timelier,” said Turre, while sipping an iced tea at Mimi’s Coffee House. “But that always has been one of the purposes of jazz — to reflect the time we are living in and what we are experiencing. I’m just following in that tradition. ‘From the Earth’ is very much a time capsule, rooted in this idea of jazz as oral history.” Turre (pronounced ter-ray) performed the music in “From the Earth” in concert on Saturday, July 27, a day after the album’s official release, in the Marilyn M. Simpson Sculpture Garden at the Katonah Museum of Art. Joining Turre on the bandstand were several instrumentalists who perform on the album, including Chien Chien Lu, a vibraphone and marimba player acclaimed as one of the jazz world’s bright new talents; bassist Riche Goods; and saxophonist Chelsea Baratz. Rounding out the group was pianist Fima Chupakhin, keyboardist Elisha Henis Miklosh on synthesizer and drummer Shirazette Tinnin. Turre recently spoke about her new album and KMA concert—a hometown show! —at the coffee house in Mount Kisco, where she resided for three years before moving to Katonah in 2020. She and her husband, Lars Klein, who works in the budding AI field, moved up from New York City to enjoy a quieter life and raise their school-age daughter and son. The music and lyrics on her new album, Turre explained, originated during a trip to Iceland for a friend’s wedding two years ago. Given an opportunity to tour one of the country’s many glacier fields, she was actually inside a glacier when she experienced a powerful and immense emotion. “I am a very sensitive and spiritual person, and what I felt was the glacier’s sadness — I could feel it crying, as it melted,” said Turre. Staggered by this event, she recounted going back to her hotel with words and music about what she’d experienced already in her head, ready to be written down. The result was “Cryosphere,” a song about extinction from the perspective of the glacier, delivered in a jazzy pop arrangement guided by pianist ELEW (Eric Lewis). Neither a dramatic song or a grand gesture, the disappearing glacier’s story simply unfolds, its life form not expecting much notice or compassion from the rest of the world. Turre kept writing, eventually conceiving a jazz suite of four parts. The first part, from which is taken the album’s title, begins with a recited by poem, “Ingression Interlude,” from African-American poet and lyricist Betty H. Neals, who is Turre’s godmother. It asks the listener to “lean on nature to teach you the way” against a backdrop of a droning didgeridoo and haunting sounds Turre makes with a crystal singing bowl. Mood and intentions set, the following sections — “From the Sky,” “Sea” and “Ice” — intersperse music with other spoken word parts, taken from interviews Turre made with holistic health pioneer Dr. Jifunza Wright-Carter, climate experts, and sustainable community leaders from around the world. But it’s the music that sparkles first and foremost. Turre, a professional musician for more than 20 years, is a commanding vocalist, her expressive artistry front and center throughout “From the Earth.”  Her winning musical arrangements show remarkable confidence in all the different musical styles featured on the album — strong, hard-swinging post-bop, danceable Latin jazz, mid-tempo balladry, and even hyperkinetic, jazz fusion with a hip-hop sensibility. And considering it is only the second album Turre has released so far — a debut CD titled “Introducing” comprised of standards and two original compositions came out in 2008  — the entirety is almost too surprising to comprehend.  Some credit belongs to Grammy-winning producer-artist Scott Jacoby (also a Northern Westchester resident), who oversaw the recording of “From the Earth” in the studio. Instrumentalists on the album, especially Lu, ELEW and drummer Gene Lake (Turre’s godfather), provide spirited performances, too.  In a sense, though, Turre has been waiting her entire life for a big, career-illuminating project —and here it is. Born in New York City, Turre grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of two renowned jazz artists — cellist Akua Dixon and trombonist Steve Turre. (Both perform on the new album:  Steve Turre’s conch shell solo is featured on the song “Hydrosphere,” while his trombone gets a workout on “Contigo.”) Young Andromeda studied piano and sang in school and community choirs while absorbing a tremendous amount of jazz, some of it first-hand from legends and family friends like Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. An undeniable independent streak manifested itself when Turre left her vocal studies at the Berklee College of Music to tour with Ray Charles, working as the last backing vocalist he hired before retiring from the stage. She later worked at Tokyo Disney and fronted bands, working “six nights a week, three sets a night,” she said, in hotels and nightclubs all around the world for a decade as she honed her craft before returning to the U.S. in 2012. Today, Turre has her own event production company, and she hosts the “Growing Up Jazz” show two days a week on Sirius XM’s Real Jazz channel. Last month, she was the featured vocalist in Twyla Tharp’s multidisciplinary revue, “How Long Blues,” during its 23-day run at Little Island in Manhattan, working with T Bone Burnett and David Mansfield. An active member of her community, Turre also works as a diversity and inclusion consultant. Indeed, her mindfulness and creative life are intertwined. During our conversation she noted that one of her big artistic inspirations over the years was the landmark 1962 album by Max Roach, “It’s Time,”a grand statement featuring vocals by Abbey Lincoln in support of civil rights.  With this in mind, it’s easy to see “From the Earth” as Turre’s grand statement: it’s time to fight the climate crisis and injustice before it’s too late.

By JEFF MORRIS // At the July 16 Bedford Town Board meeting, the board voted to table a plan that would have put a property transfer tax proposal on the November ballot. The plan was the product of a task force authorized by the board in January under the auspices of the Open Space Advisory Committee. After the task force presented its recommendations to the town board in March and May, a public hearing on the matter was opened June 18. That hearing, which was left open, elicited numerous reactions for and against the proposal, both at that meeting and in subsequent written comments. The proposal, which would have established a land preservation fund, was designed to follow requirements of legislation enacted by the state in 2019 that permits towns and cities in Westchester, Putnam and Ulster counties to establish funds for a variety of land conservation purposes. Proponents of the transfer tax plan believe that the amount raised by the levy — expected to be approximately $496,000 in the current tax year — is inadequate to meet the town’s conservation and preservation needs and goals. The proposed fund would be in addition to an open space levy that was voted in by town residents in 2017 and enacted in 2000. That levy is an annual tax on property owners, currently at 2%, and has been used to make several purchases of land for preservation. The fund balance from the open space levy stands at $1.1 million, with much of the money that was previously raised having been used for those land purchases. Proponents of the transfer tax plan believe that the amount raised by the levy — expected to be approximately $496,000 in the current tax year — is inadequate to meet the town’s conservation and preservation needs and goals. Critics feared the harmful impact of the added tax on the local real estate market, among other concerns. While Supervisor Ellen Calves acknowledged “a great deal of work” went into developing the plan, and credited the task force with working very hard to create a tax model that would exempt home sales under a certain amount, she said the board had reservations about “whether this was the right way to move forward.” “I don’t think this work will go to waste,” she added, noting that the plan, while still broad, will be helpful in informing the comprehensive plan and the work of the Open Space Acquisition Committee going forward. Board members Stephanie McCaine, Tom Catoliato, Bobbi Bittker and Andrés Castillo all expressed sentiments agreeing that the proposal’s goals were desirable, but that the specifics of the plan needed work. They also agreed there is a need for more educational efforts about land preservation, and that there was simply not enough time to complete the advance work required to put any proposals on the ballot in November. The board closed the public hearing and voted unanimously to table the proposal. Leaf blower season Another public hearing was continued from June regarding a revised amendment to the town’s noise ordinance. Under the revision, which the board passed, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers will now be permitted from Oct. 26 to Dec. 7. After extensive comments on the proposed changes were heard at the June 4 town board meeting, the board left the hearing open in order to revise the dates of permitted use to provide a longer season in the fall, while eliminating a spring cleanup period.  After closing the hearing at the July 16 meeting, the board promptly passed the revised ordinance. Plans for Bedford Hills Planning Director Jesica Youngblood gave two presentations: one an update on the DIG Grant project for Bedford Hills, and the other regarding a grant application for construction to improve and extend the multimodal pathway along Route 117 in Bedford Hills. The DIG Grant from Westchester County will fund a variety of wayfaring signage to guide drivers and pedestrians through the Bedford Hills hamlet’s downtown. The project would also promote consistent branding for future sign installations to provide a unique identity for the hamlet.  The total cost of the improvements is approximately $150,000. The pathway application follows up on a 2023 $50,000 grant, also from the county, to develop designs to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety along the Route 117/Saw Mill River Parkway corridor. The proposed application would aim to gain state matching grants for construction of improvements along the pathway, including reconstruction of Saw Mill entrances and exits and new crosswalks from all the way to Katonah. The board voted to approve the application.