Sound Shore

The New Rochelle City Council will vote on a motion to kick off the study of the new Echo Bay development plan.

It’s one of the motions they’ll vote on at their regular meeting, which starts 7 p.m. in City Hall, 515 North Ave.

The document lays out details of a revised plan that the council agreed to move forward with earlier this month. It calls for More →

For an upcoming story on food trucks, we want to know your favorite spots. We’d like to know about those hot dog trucks, sure, but what we’re really looking for are the trucks that are doing something out-of-the-ordinary.

Let me know and we might feature your favorites in the paper!

Read on for how to link in to the town hall with Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, which starts at 7 p.m. May 30.

COUNTY EXECUTIVE ASTORINO TO HOST “ASK ASTORINO” TELE-TOWN HALL

Residents invited to call in with questions or just listen

Want to ask County Executive Rob Astorino how he is working to lower your taxes or any other question? You will get your chance on a live telephone town hall meeting hosted by Astorino next Wednesday night, May 30 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

To ask a question, or just listen in, residents are invited to call toll-free 877-228-2184 and enter event ID 19135. More →

News from the Mamaroneck High School Red Cross Club:

On June 5, the Mamaroneck High School Red Cross Club is sponsoring a blood drive in Mamaroneck. Our goal is to collect 40 pints of blood which can save up to 120 people’s lives. The need for blood is constant – every two seconds blood is needed for blood transfusions and last year five million people in the United States needed blood.

WHO:Sponsored by the Mamaroneck High School Red Cross Club and open to the community.

WHAT:American Red Cross blood drive. More information on donation eligibility and tips for a successful donation can be found at www.RedCrossBlood.org .

WHEN:Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 from 2-7pm.

WHERE:American Legion Post 90

189 Prospect Avenue

Mamaroneck, NY 10543

WHY: To see the community come together for a life-saving cause.

RSVP: We request coverage in as much advance time as possible before the date in order to inform the public and recruit blood donors. If you would like to cover the event on June 5th please RSVP to Eli Russ at MHSRedCrossClub@gmail.com or (914) 522-8121

Here’s the announcement:

PLANNING PROJECTS TO BE SHOWCASED AT JUNE 7 AWARDS DINNER

Westchester Municipal Planning Federation celebrates best of local efforts; two county government projects among the award winners

The winners of successful planning projects that enhance Westchester’s quality of life will be honored at the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation’s (WMPF) 39th Annual Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 7, at 6 p.m. at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough.

Winning projects were in New Castle, Ossining Village, Pelham Manor, White Plains, Yonkers, Mamaroneck Village and Rye Brook, plus two county government projects. Three individuals will also be given special recognition. More →

With the job scene as tough as it is, it makes sense to thanks the companies and organizations that are hiring.

This week, Monroe College threw them a party.

College officials praised employers at an Employer Appreciation Reception, “Honoring Our Partners,” outdoors at the New Rochelle campus on Main Street on Wednesday evening. Representatives from 75 employers accepted the invitation and More →

News from the Village of Mamaroneck:

MAMARONECK — The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) and One Region Funders’ Group awarded a grant of $38,500 to the Village of Mamaroneck Thursday to support efforts to promote equitable, sustainable development near the Mamaroneck Metro-North Railroad station.

The grant will support a Transit-Oriented Development Zoning Study, performed in partnership with the nonprofit Washingtonville Housing Alliance, which will involve community meetings with local residents and property owners, and will result in a draft zoning ordinance and form-based code that will support the village’s recently adopted comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan calls for incentivizing affordable housing, providing quality public space, and linking the village’s retail and central business districts.

“The Village of Mamaroneck is taking bold steps to promote smart growth through revitalization of its downtown area surrounding the train station. This is good news for Mamaroneck and good news for other Westchester communities,” said Catherine Marsh, Executive Director of the Westchester Community Foundation, a member of the One Region Funders’ Group.

“Mixed-use development around existing transit service is good for the economy, environment and quality of life,” said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a regional transportation policy and advocacy organization. “The Mamaroneck project is an ideal opportunity for successful, community-driven, transit-oriented development and can serve as a model for redevelopment statewide.”

“The ‘Friendly Village’ of Mamaroneck once again is reaping the benefits of cooperation between its residents, not-for-profit organizations and business resulting in this grant award,” said Village of Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum. “Our future development is a necessity to keep the vitality and quality of life we all currently enjoy. This grant awarded for a zoning study near the Village of Mamaroneck Transit Hub improves our development possibilities with the positive environmental goals sought by both the Village and Tri-State Transportation Campaign with the One Region Funders’ Group. Thanks to both for their guidance in this important step forward.”

TSTC and the One Region Funders’ Group received letters in support of the project from elected officials and civic groups including Congresswoman Nita Lowey, State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, County Legislator Judy Myers, the Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck, Mamaroneck Chamber of Commerce, and Westchester County.

TSTC and the One Region Funders’ Group also awarded the following grants:

• $48,000 to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, in Connecticut, for a market study and case study review aimed at stabilizing existing neighborhoods and supporting development around the South Norwalk Metro-North Railroad station.

• $44,500 to the Town of Brookhaven, on Long Island, for a sewer infrastructure study which will support private redevelopment proposals for the area around the Bellport Long Island Rail Road station.

• $14,000 for the Flushing-Willets Point-Corona LDC in Queens, New York, for a market analysis to support proposals for affordable and senior housing near the Flushing Long Island Rail Road station.

The four grantees were chosen from over forty applicants throughout the region. The grant award marks the second year of the transit-centered development grant program. In 2009, grants from the program were awarded to Mount Vernon and Peekskill.

The One Region Funders’ Group is a partnership of private funders from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey learning and working together to advance and support transportation planning and reform in the Tri-State region. Foundations participating in the One Region Funders’ Group and contributing toward this initiative include Fairfield County Community Foundation, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Long Island Community Foundation, New York Community Trust, Rauch Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Westchester Community Foundation, Fund for the Environment & Urban Life, Rockefeller Foundation, and Ford Foundation.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) is a non-profit organization working towards a more balanced, transit-friendly and equitable transportation system in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

If you have thoughts on how New Rochelle can prosper, and what the city should look like in the future, you’ll have an unusually direct opportunity to tell it to those who matter.

EnvisioNR, the effort to create a new comprehensive plan for Westchester’s second-largest city, will hold a series of meetings in June to take people’s insights and suggestions.

The city, in a press release, invited people to come out and “weigh in on important issues, including More →

Two ceremonies, Fleet Week guests, a parade and $1 pizza and hamburgers will mark Memorial Day in New Rochelle on Monday.

There will also be performances by the USO Liberty Bells, among others.

It all starts at 10:30 a.m. with a ceremony at Memorial Plaza on Main Street and Memorial Highway, down the block from the New Rochelle Public Library. The parade will begin about 11 a.m., and will include active duty marines and sailors from Fleet Week, New More →

If you saw the car in the woods off Webster Avenue in New Rochelle today, surrounded by yellow crime scene tape, with the driver slumped over the steering wheel, don’t worry. The driver was a dummy, not a real person.

That was just one of several mock crime scenes set up at Nature Study Woods for New Rochelle High School’s forensic science class. The trip is an annual rite for the junior crime More →