Sound Shore

Dobbs Ferry’s Spencer Avalos shoots a free throw under pressure from Blind Brook fans during their Section 1, Class B basketball semifinal at the Westchester County Center. Dobbs Ferry won 64-38.

See more photos of Dobbs Ferry vs. Blind Brook basketball

The future of Port Chester’s waterfront is the topic of a meeting tonight as the village updates a state-mandated planning document. Environmental protection, development and public access are among the issues on the table during a discussion of the village’s “Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.”

A draft of the plan gives some history, going back to the boat-building days (when the village was known by its pre-1837 name of Saw Pit) and looks ahead to the impact of global warming. It goes into detail about the lack of public access and scenic views along the shoreline. In urban-planning-speak, “few significant scenic resources exist along Port Chester’s waterfront.”

These days the waterfront is, in a word, “underutilized,” according to the draft. The downtown portion has a big parking lot, and village-owned land on the Fox Island peninsula has a DPW storage and leaf-mulch operation, sewage-treatment plant, garages, machinery and an abandoned incinerator. The Greyrock residential neighborhood has choice views, but no public amenities.

Among the recommendations in the draft:

Fill in the rectangular cove in the Byram River near the foot of Westchester Avenue, which was once used to maneuver tankers bound for Greenwich. Convert the area into a waterfront park.

Redesign the walkway along the river so that it’s inviting and not visibly cut off from the surrounding area. The current configuration (not to mention the collapse of the bulkhead beneath it) make the walkway unsafe, the report says.

Build a walkway and fishing pier that links Columbus Park to the shore.

The document is available at this village website. The workshop, being held by the Port Chester Waterfront Commission, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the senior center behind Village Hall at 222 Grace Church St.

I had the honor of meeting Tina Strobos at her apartment at The Osborn in Rye two years ago. She shared stories – as she had done with many children, teachers and others – about her efforts to save Jews in her native Amsterdam during the Holocaust as part of an underground network.

Strobos died Monday night at age 91. In honor of her life, and with the hope that her stories continue to be told, I’m posting some excerpts here of a transcript I made of our conversation. Strobos has also told her story in detail on this website.

Below is our Journal News article from October 2009, followed by more of her own words.

*

Oct. 17, 2009

RYE – When you listen to 89-year-old Dr. Tina Strobos, you begin to see the 19-year-old sorority girl who was growing up in Holland during World War II, with bravery beyond her years.

Her personal stories sketch the terror, the courage and defiance that it took to join an underground network that protected Jews from the Nazis. As a medical student, she and her classmates refused to sign a loyalty oath to Adolf Hitler. The university promptly shut down, and Strobos got to work.

Born to a well-off, intellectual family of atheists, Strobos took Jews into her Amsterdam home and led them to other hiding places on nearby farms. She stashed guns stolen from the Germans, carried babies from danger in the ghetto, kept a radio in violation of the law and doctored passports so that Jews might escape the notice of the Gestapo.

She makes clear that these scenes do not play out in her mind like some classic movie.

“Inevitably you have a lot of mixed feelings, that you didn’t behave quite the right way,” Strobos said from her home in Rye this month. “I didn’t betray anyone, but I could have done more.”

Grand Central American Grill will open in April where the Tollgate Steakhouse and Limoncello used to be on Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck.

Mike Meaney/TJN

Owner Nicholas Ligotino tells me the place will be a comfortable spot for great steaks, salads, fresh seafood and burgers and will have two raw bars: one outside on the back patio, where diners can watch people shucking to order.

The chef, Matthew Levy, used to cook at Angelo & Maxie’s in Manhattan.

There are three floors in the restaurant, and the top two have exposed brick walls. The bright and spacious top floor has French doors that look out onto Boston Post Road. The first floor will have have a big bar with stone accents and old fashioned Edison light bulbs.

“It’s rustic industrial,” says Ligotino. “A lot of brick and stone, and the lights are going to be very dim. It’s going to be a very comfortable atmosphere.”

Ligotino and his partner, Joseph Tramo, also own Nicky’s Beer Garden in the Bronx, where there’s a giant beer garden outside. Ligotino says he opened in this spot because he loved the location.

The 411 is coming soon. Til then: 974 E. Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck. 914-630-7779

Got something to say to your state and county government reps?

State Assemblyman George Latimer and Westchester County Legislator Judy Myers are holding office hours – “Coffee with George and Judy” – on Saturday:

9:30 – 11 a.m., Ruby’s Oyster Bar and Bistro, 45 Purchase St., Rye

2 – 3:30 p.m., Nautilus Diner, 1240 W. Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck

Latimer is also speaking Friday at the League of Women Voters’ monthly “Issues Breakfast” at 8:15 a.m. at the Mamaroneck Diner, 405 E. Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck. Cost is $8.

No appointment is required for either. For information on the , call Assemblyman Latimer at 777-3832, or Legislator Myers at 995-2802.

NEW ROCHELLE

A motorcyclist suffered a leg injury today when his motorcycle and a FedEx truck collided at Webster Avenue and Main Street, police said.

The truck was making a turn about 10 a.m. when the accident occurred. The motorcyclist was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

No tickets were issued.

UPDATE: TODAY’S EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT with ASSEMBLYWOMAN AMY PAULIN, etc., HAS BEEN CANCELED; Assemblywoman Paulin requested a postponement to attend to business in Albany . We will UPDATE when it is RESCHEDULED..

The Editorial Board has plans a couple interviews this week, and you can join the discussions via CoverItLive. Just look for the live chat to the right of your screen when you watch the Editorial Spotlight interviews at lohud.com/editorialspotlight. Here’s what’s coming up:

TUESDAY:  State Assemblywoman Paulin, D-Scarsdale, discusses New York’s need to update its regulations for animal shelters and the care and handling of stray, lost and homeless animals in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 1:30 p.m. on LoHud.com. Paulin has suffered recent criticism for proposed legislation (A. 5449A) that she says aims to protect lost, stray or homeless animals by partnering with animal rescue organizations, but some animal activists say gives shelters license to kill. Also joining the discussion: Nancy Perry of the ASPCA and Jane Hoffman of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

WEDNESDAY: Representatives of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York share their views on proposed new regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing — a controversial method for extracting natural gas from deep within the earth — in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 11 a.m. on LoHud.com. Participating are: Nancy Schmitt, president and co-founder of Taum Sauk Capital Management, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the energy business; and John A Conrad, president and senior hydrogeologist, Conrad Geoscience, which provides environmental services for the public and private sectors, including the energy industry.

To watch the interviews, go to www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight; to comment or ask a question during the interviews, engage the “CoverItLive” feature on the computer screen.

AND A REMINDER! The first of two public hearings on the Tappan Zee Bridge Hudson River Crossing Project takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack, in the fourth-floor Adler Room. A second hearing is scheduled for 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Westchester Marriott Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 670 White Plains Road, Greenburgh. The project, scaled back from a decade-long plan to overhaul the entire Interstate 287 corridor, now just focuses on a four-mile stretch that includes the 56-year-old overtaxed Tappan Zee Bridge. This week’s hearings address the environmental impacts of the project. Still to be solved: the funding puzzle for a project expected to cost $5.2 billion, and when and how mass transit will come to the corridor. Visit thenewtzb.com to find out more.

The administration at Northern Westchester Hospital is backing the two nurses involved in the mess with Douglas Kennedy and his newborn son.

The hospital, in a statement issued today,  says patient safety is their priority and they are backing the two nurses—Anna Margaret Lane and Cari Maleman Luciano – who say that Kennedy kicked and grabbed them as they tried to prevent him from leaving the hospital with his two-day old child for some fresh air.

“We completely support the actions of our nursing staff in this case as they were clearly acting out of concern for the safety of the newborn baby,” Mark Vincent, a spokesman for the hospital, said in a statement.

The hospital’s support comes after Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, backed Kennedy and characterized him as an honest man and a great father.

“In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father,” Ailes said.

The president of Fox News is defending Douglas Kennedy in the aftermath of the baby scandal at a Westchester hospital.

Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, said Kennedy, a reporter for Fox, is a “great father” who tells the truth. Ailes said he’s known Douglas and his wife Molly for 15 years.

“He tells the truth and his calm and gentle demeanor always impressed me,” Ailes said in a statement. ”He is the definition of a great father and it is a role he cherishes over all others. I support Douglas as do the independent  eyewitness accounts of the event. It is unfortunate that what appears to be a father’s defensive maneuver to protect his newborn baby has been twisted because of his famous name. In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father.”

Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, is accused of kicking a maternity ward nurse and grabbing another one at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco while trying to take his 2-day-old son, Bo, out for “fresh air.”

The 44-year-old Chappaqua resident is facing a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of physical harassment, violations, after he was told that he couldn’t take his newborn out of the hospital’s maternity unit, but tried to anyway.

Kennedy and his wife called the allegations “sickening” and hoped Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore would understand that she made “a grave error in making a crime out of a father protecting his baby.”

Read the full story here.

Rye Country Day’s Henry Beshar, center, is congratulated by teammates and fans after scoring the team’s second goal in the third period against King Low Heywood Thomas during the hockey Fairchester Athletic Association championship at Rye Country Day School on Feb. 25, 2012. Rye Country Day won 4-1. ( Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News )

See more photos from the Rye Country Day against King Low Heywood Thomas ice-hockey Fairchester Athletic Association championship at Rye Country Day School in a photo gallery, and go to LoHud.com for the story.