Sound Shore

The Rye Little League is on deck for its annual parade tomorrow at noon.

If you’re in downtown Rye, make way. Here are the details, from Rye police:

The annual Rye Little League Parade is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 2011. It will begin at Station Plaza at noon and follow a route along Purchase Street and Milton Road to Grainger Field in Disbrow Park. About 1,000 participants are expected; please plan alternate routes for traffic congestion in the area.

Food trucks may be all the rage in NYC, but not everyone is hungering for them in Westchester. Namely, the restaurants.

Port Chester will hold a hearing Monday night to put more areas off-limits to food trucks and street vendors. (Click here for the proposed changes.) Abendroth Avenue, home of late to hot dog and taco trucks, would be off limits along with Don Bosco Place and the parking lots on Highland Street and Marvin Place.

Mount Vernon is also looking at new regulations after hearing complaints from restaurants and shopkeepers. The argument in both places is that the trucks pose unfair, free-wheeling competition to restaurants, which are saddled with higher costs in the form of rent or property tax. In Port Chester, vendors pay a $450 annual fee.

What do you think?

Two local candidates for state Senate are speaking out against a proposal to enact a commuter tax on those who work in Manhattan.

Assemblyman George Latimer, D-Rye, and Republican opponent Bob Cohen from New Rochelle are competing to succeed Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, and they agree on at least one thing. Gannett’s Jon Campbell has this report from Albany.

You might want to steer clear of Wappanoca Avenue in Rye over the next two months, as a paving project gets under way today. Rye police sent out this alert:

The Westchester County Department of Public Works reports that milling and paving work will begin on April 18, 2012, on Wappanocca Avenue and Ridge Street, between Highland Road and High Street, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM, through June 18, 2012. There will be alternating single lane closures with traffic controlled by flaggers.

Please consider using alternate routes during this work.

The Community Synagogue of Rye is hosting a program tonight for Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Wednesday evening:

The public is invited to participate in a Yom HaShoah memorial candle lighting on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at Community Synagogue of Rye which is located at 200 Forest Avenue (off Playland Parkway) in Rye. Together as one community, let us gather to remember our six million martyrs in a brief program of music, film, readings and prayer.

Members of  and youth groups from Community Synagogue of Rye, Congregation KTI, Congregation Emanu-El & JCC of Harrison who are co-sponsors of this event.

Local firefighters will be holding a recruitment drive next weekend as part of the upcoming National Volunteer Week.

Rye is planning an event at the Milton Point Firehouse April 22, and you can read up on the opportunities and requirements on Rye’s recruitment page. For other events, see here.

The Recruit NY page of the Firemen’s Association of New York has more information.

Port Chester Village Clerk Joan Mancuso is resigning next month after working for the village for 15 years.

She held the position of clerk for the last three years—an eventful time. Port Chester introduced an unusual trustee election system in 2010, the result of a successful lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice over Hispanics’ voting rights.

(In the photo, Mancuso holds a sample ballot from the election for six trustees, when Port Chester became the first municipality in New York to use a cumulative voting method.)

Mancuso, 50, said the time was right for her and her husband to move to North Carolina, where they own a home.

Mancuso will serve as clerk through May 31. The village board began a discussion this week on how to fill the position.

Property owners in the Town of Rye – Port Chester, Rye Brook and part of Mamaroneck – are receiving updated assessments that will become the basis for property taxes this year. The  assessments reflect market value as of July 1, 2011.

Town Assessor Mitchell Markowitz sent this letter to the media explaining how the numbers are reached and how to contest them if need be:

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This week all property owners in the Town of Rye were mailed Preliminary Assessment Notices of their proposed 2012 assessment. The Town is fully committed to getting its data and values correct and I would like to outline upcoming activities to insure fairness and equity for all residents.

The notice provides information on two important items: the proposed value of your property and; a description of your property characteristics.

A Port Chester High School teacher who teaches a small-business curriculum created by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship is being recognized by that organization this month as an “Enterprising Educator.”

The 25-year-old network and its approach are the topic of this BusinessWeek story.

The Port Chester school district says:

Mr. Josephson has taught economics and history at the high school since 2003 and has been teaching NFTE’s entrepreneurship curriculum for the past two and a half years.  “Teaching is a rewarding career because you get the opportunity to refine and improve your effectiveness,” he says. “I enjoy teaching economics and business concepts to my students and always look for creative ways to teach their concepts.”

An experienced entrepreneur who ran his own company for many years, Mr. Josephson shares with his students real world anecdotes from his years as a businessman.  He stresses the use of spreadsheets as an essential tool.  He also integrates technology as often as possible in his classroom – using web sites including Facebook, Zipskinny and Surveymonkey, as well as unique interactive games, software and even Flip video cameras.

“I always had my Econ classes build a business plan,” said Mr. Josephson, “but the resources provided by NFTE make the experience that much more meaningful for my students. For example, I’ve had the former CEO of Snapple present to my students numerous times since my affiliation with NFTE.”

Rye residents: Are you aware that it’s illegal to idle your car for more than 3 minutes at a time?

Such rules will be highlighted April 23, the first Sound Shore Community No Idling Awareness Day.

Rye Police Commissioner William Connors explains in a news release:

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The City of Rye Police Department reminds our residents and visitors that §45-1 of the Rye City Code prohibits idling a vehicle engine longer than three minutes. There are a number of reasons to avoid unnecessary idling – especially when a vehicle is unattended:

• Idling vehicles can be easily stolen or can cause damage if accidentally engaged (This is especially worrisome if a child is left alone in an idling car. (more…)