Sound Shore

School budgets are likely to get lots of attention and scrutiny this year, and here’s another way to keep up in Blind Brook. The board of education meetings will be broadcast live, starting Monday, Feb. 13, when the superintendent is scheduled to discuss a proposed 2012-13 budget.

Blind Brook meetings have been available on video, but now they will be televised live on Cablevision Channel 77 and Verizon FIOS Channel 27.

The district may begin live-streaming the meetings via Internet in the next few weeks, depending on the success of the broadcast.

The website keeps budget documents on this web page and the next agenda here.

Whole Foods has signed a lease to open a store at the former A&P market on Post Road in Port Chester.

The announcement came yesterday in the company’s quarterly earnings report. The store is planned for opening in late 2013, spokesman Michael Sinatra said today. Given the available site, which is just of Interstate 287, “Port Chester was just an obvious choice,” he said.

This would be the third Whole Foods store to open in Westchester, after White Plains and Yonkers.

Parents coming in for teacher conferences at Port Chester Middle School today can see the results of seventh grade science experiments, which are on display for Young Scientists Day. The public was also invite to a morning assembly for Black History Month, showcasing the achievements of African Americans, with accompaniment by the school’s jazz band and chorus.

Christian Perez showed what became of his experiment to see whether plants grow faster when given coffee.

The healthy one on the left was given only water. The other grew faster, but then deteriorated. A short-lived caffeine high? Coffee apparently affected the roots, Christian said, and stopped the plant from growing. The displays will be up through Friday.

Flags were half-mast today in Port Chester after the death this morning of former Mayor Peter Iasillo. He was the dominant figure in local politics for more than a decade and stayed involved well beyond his 1980-93 mayoral term.

Friends and family were remembering him as a jovial figure – some thinking back to the sight of him in a nightcap and gown for the annual charity “bed races.”

The funeral Mass is set for 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Corpus Christi Church. Visiting hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Craft Memorial Home. Read more in our story on LoHud.com.

At left, Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library employee Chris Hernandez, 27, lowers the American flag to half staff today. “My family’s been here since the 50s,” Hernandez said, adding his family’s involvement with the Republican Party led to him meeting Iasillo as a youth. “It’s sad, he’s definitely one of the best mayors we’ve had.” (Photo by Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News)

Mamaroneck town officials are exploring the scenarios that could result from a possible dissolution of the nearby Rye Town—including the adoption of about 7,600 new residents.

The neighborhood known as Rye Neck—about 1.4 square miles—would become an orphan of sorts if Rye town decides to go out of existence. A study is under way to determine whether taxpayers would save money by doing away with Rye town or by merging municipal services in some other way.

Rye town envelops the villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook along with Rye Neck, a separate fragment of land that belongs to Mamaroneck Village.

The Town of Mamaroneck is a bystander in the study, but has a serious stake in the outcome.

“It’s an interesting, but very complicated issue,” Supervisor Nancy Seligson said this week as the town board ventured into a discussion on the matter.

If Rye Neck becomes part of the Town of Mamaroneck, it would still receive most services from the Village of Mamaroneck. But Rye Neck residents would no longer pay a slight premium for town recreation services like Hommocks pool, for one thing. But their town taxes might rise, according to one former study on the question. Under a second scenario,the Village of Mamaroneck would secede from the town, taking Rye Neck with it and becoming its own “town-village.”

Mamaroneck Town Administrator said he report to the town board by April with a look at the potential impact from the two alternatives. Any change in the municipal map would require a referendum.

The Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research is conducting the study for Rye Town and the villages of Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck through a state grant. Information about municipal services and videos of the related public forums are online at www.cgr.org.

A group of Port Chester High School students called on the village board this week to ban smoking at local parks. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation on local ordinances and a survey of their peers, they said smoking is keeping residents away from the parks and setting a bad example for young people.

Village trustees welcomed the presentation by Kyle Thomas, Andrecarol Davila, Maria Ayala and Joanna Cruz, members of the youth committee of the Port Chester Cares Community Coalition. The board referred the idea to the parks and recreation commission.

The coalition has been working since 2007 to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and promote health in the community. It spoke out against a local gas station’s use of an old ice-cream truck to sell cigarettes just across the Connecticut border, and helped educate students on the danger of texting while driving.

In March, it will sponsor another “Family U” workshop series at the Middle School. Details here.

Rye Brook is reporting a water main break on Talcott Road and Mohegan Lane. Customers in the area are advised:

You may be experiencing low or no water pressure or discolored water.  United Water Westchester crews are on site to make the necessary repairs.

Customers may contact United Water Westchester at 877-266-9101 or uwwccustomerservice@unitedwater.com

Rye police sent out an alert today about another possible use of an ATM skimmer:

The City of Rye Police Department is investigating the possible use of an ATM skimming device at Citibank located at 1040 Boston Post Road during the weekend of February 4 – 5, 2012. Customers who used the ATM at Citibank’s Rye Branch this weekend are advised to check their accounts and immediately report any unusual activity to their bank.

As a general precaution—despite the fact that ATM skimming devices have become more sophisticated with the passage of time, the best precaution is to cover the ATM keypad with your free hand while entering your PIN, so the numbers cannot be observed by cameras.

For more safety tips, see this earlier post.

The owner of a large commercial property in Port Chester is facing hundreds of code violations in the wake of a fire last month that was stopped before causing any major damage.

Village inspectors said they found 466 violations of building, zoning and fire codes at 200 William St., a 139,000-square-foot former factory-warehouse bordered by William, Oak and Smith streets. Assistant Village Manager Christopher Steers told village leaders in an email today:

In sum about 40 tenant spaces within the structure have been built out over the last several years without any permits and or C/O’s (certificates of occupancy) being issued. The multiple violations relate to permitting and C/O violations, prohibited uses, electrical hazards, egress violations, fire systems violations, and numerous other related violations. The most egregious violation relates to the sprinkler system being compromised due to the unlawful build outs. Further, a notice of violation was issued in April of 2011 for failure to obtain the required fire inspection.

The notice against the owner, listed as Independence Realty-Port Chester, orders compliance by obtaining the requisite permits or removing all work that was done unlawfully.

It sure doesn’t feel like the first of February out there. Here’s one way residents in Port Chester decided to spend an unusually warm winter afternoon.

Salvador Morales, foreground, and Jose Lopez were washing their cars in their driveway across from Port Chester High School.

With temperatures well into the 50s, apricot trees are abloom at the New York Botanical Garden. The forecast brings the highs back into the 40s over the next week.