Sound Shore

The White Plains boys soccer team traveled to New Rochelle high school and defeated the home team 2-0 on Weds evening.From left, New Rochelle’s Carlos Rabanal (9)and White Plains’ Guillermo DeMestral (18) battle for ball control, during boys soccer game at New Rochelle high school Sept. 29, 2010. ( Frank Becerra Jr / The Journal News )

To see more photos from the New Rochelle vs White Plains soccer game click here.

See a video slideshow from visual journalist Carucha L. Meuse on the healthy lunch program at Park Avenue School in Port Chester.

See a video by visual journalist Tania Savayan of Pelham Manor school crossing guard Pat Piraneo who has stopped traffic for 12 years to make sure her kids get to school safely.

Conservatives have been silent on their backing of candidate Jim Russell for Nita Lowey’s seat in Congress. Russell, the Republican from Hawthorne, has been publicly disowned by the GOP over his essay embracing anti-Semitic commentary and warning against racial mixing. Today in Albany — where most of the attention was on Carl Paladino’s new Conservative support for governor — reporter Nick Reisman caught up with Conservative Chair Mike Long and asked about Russell’s candidacy.

Long did not have much to say, and did not take much of a position. “I haven’t seen what he said or what was written, but I hope we can all move on from that,” he said.

Russell has both the Conservative and Republican lines on the Nov. 2 ballot for the 18th District.  Westchester County Republicans acknowledged today that they have no legal means to remove Russell’s name. We’ll have more in tomorrow’s Journal News.

If Joe Rogot hadn’t lost his job on Wall Street in November 2008, New Rochelle might still be missing something every city should have: a community garden.

“I wanted to grow vegetables and I’ve got no sun in my yard,” Rogot says. So he called Mayor Noam Bramson to say he wanted to plant a 10-by-10-foot plot somewhere in Ward Acres Park, a city-owned parcel in his neighborhood. The mayor said fine, but do something for the whole city.

Rogot then met with city parks commissioner Bill Zimmermann, who said he would get a crew to clear out a 1-acre weedy patch in the park that had been buried in vines and invasive plants for years. Wow, that’s a lot of garden, Rogot remembered thinking when he first saw the vast, suddenly bare spot in February 2009.

It was the height of the recession, and he knew there must be other people in the city who wanted to save money and grow their own food. Realizing he’d never be able to tackle so much land on his own, he thought, why not open it up to other New Rochelle gardeners? By sharing the land, they could shoulder the work together, learn from one another, feed their families — and even make hefty donations of food to city charities.

Rogot approached his neighbor, Stephanie Tomei, about getting her help to help create the city’s first community garden. “It took her four seconds to say yes,” he remembered.

Here’s Joe (photos by Joe Larese):

Before long, they had a group of friends and neighbors hacking out old roots and sketching out the beginnings of a garden.

That first spring, there were 36 plots open to New Rochelle residents willing to pay $50 for a plot. They sold out in five days, even though they had no source of water nearby.

This year, the thriving Ward Acres Community Garden boasts 88 plots — and a waiting list of would-be growers.

Eastchester police are trying to find a dark-colored car that struck and injured a 23-year-old Mamaroneck woman this past Sunday evening.

The woman, who was with friends, was crossing White Plains Road near Fisher Avenue at 10:41 p.m. Sunday when the car struck her, police said. She told police that the driver flickered the headlights of the car before she was struck.

The woman suffered minor injuries, police said. She was treated at an area hospital for right knee and right elbow bruises.
Police are reviewing video surveillance cameras in the area to try to determine what happened.

The Mamaroneck village planning board is holding a special meeting thursday for the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club’s seasonal housing proposal. Expect it to be a lively meeting.

Earlier this month, the village approved an $825,000 settlement to put an end to a longstanding messy  lawsuit the club has had with the village over the plans.

The meeting will take place 7 p.m. Thursday in the main meeting room in village hall.

This week, Mamaroneck held a swearing in ceremony for the new chief and lieutenant of the village’s police department.

Christopher Leahy replaces longtime chief Ed Flynn and Dominick Falcone has been promoted to lieutenant. The ceremony took place this week during the Village Board of Trustees regular meeting.

Senate Republican candidates Bob Cohen of Scarsdale and Liam McLaughlin of Yonkers will hold a joint press conference Thursday denouncing the state bringing back the clothing tax on Oct. 1.

The 4% tax is on all clothing purchases under $110. Cohen in a release said “The regressive new tax will add a cumulative burden to lower and middle income families with children.”

The event will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday outside the Galleria Mall in White Plains.

Centre Avenue: Police are searching for two men, one armed with a handgun, who robbed a 17-year-old city boy of a cell phone, his keys and $100 on the Centre Avenue Bridge. The teen told police he was walking on the bridge at 11:18 p.m. Tuesday when he was approached by two men wearing hooded sweatshirts. One of the two brandished a handgun and they pair pushed the boy against the guardrail; they robbed him of his belongings and then left, police said.

Main Street: A man left CVS at 309 Main St. in New Rochelle at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday with two DVD players worth $100 that he did not pay for, police said.