Sound Shore

Longtime Scarsdale resident and poet Ann Cefola will launch her newest book, “St. Agnes, Pink-slipped” from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 15 in the newly restored library at Trinity St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 311 Huguenot St., New Rochelle.

Cefola got inspiration for the title of her book after hearing that St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains had changed its name.

“She picturred the displaced saint trudging up North Street,” a publicist said. “That image became the inspiration for the title of her new poetry chapbook” available from Kattywompus Press.

“In the early 2000’s, so many people in Westchester had been downsized,” Cefola said. “Who would think it could happen to a saint?”

The event will feature a reading by the poet and refreshments. It is free and open to the public, although the church is accepting donations to its building repair fund.

To learn more about Cefola, visit www.anncefola.com. For information on the church and directions, visit www.trinitystpaul.org.

Thousands remain without power and roads remain closed a day after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Lower Hudson Region. Look for continual updates to the story, as well as photo galleries and video reports, at Lohud.com. Read complete coverage in tomorrow’s edition of The Journal News.

Eric Dierssen mops up water inside Tri City Auto Parts on Mamaroneck Ave. in Mamaroneck this morning. The auto parts store was one of the businesses along Mamaroneck Ave. that sustained water damage from tropical storm Irene yesterday. Photo by Seth Harrison

Port Chester prides itself on its big helping of restaurants. But food trucks seem to be causing discomfort.

There’s a rule on the books saying the trucks must move 50 feet every 15 minutes. That’s widely ignored and difficult to enforce. Nine streets are designated off limits, and three years ago there was talk of adding more streets to the list. Not that there are many trucks looking for a spot: Seven food and ice-cream trucks are currently licensed to operate in the village.

Officials are revisiting the issue now that three trucks are parking regularly along Abendroth Avenue. That’s one of the few downtown thoroughfares where they are allowed. Trustee Bart Didden protested what he sees as unfair competition with restaurants that pay property tax.

“They don’t contribute anything to the village coffers, except for maybe the 25 cents that they’re throwing in the meter,” he said during Monday night’s board meeting. That echoed the sentiment of a recent Westmore News column. But actually – as the vendors on Abendroth were quick to point out to me Friday – they pay $450 a year each in license fees. They also noted that they generate sales tax and that they’re an inexpensive option for lunch.

The off-limits areas are: Westchester Avenue, North and South Main Street, Grace Church Street up to Fox Island Road, Midland Avenue, Pearl, and North and South Regent Street. They may not be within 200 feet of a church or school.

What do you think the rules and the fees should be?

New York City, by the way, has cheaper fees but long waiting lists (and ever-expanding menus). And in some places, food trucks are being sought after to help turn a place around.

Port Chester trustees heard a pitch tonight for a new five-story building – four upper floors of apartments and ground-floor retail space – in the middle of town at Westchester Avenue and North Main Street.

G&S Investors already has approval for a three-level retail building there as part of the sweeping mall development approved in 1999. Now the developer is asking for changes in the village zoning and urban renewal plans. G&S Partner Robert Weinberg and attorney Mark Weingarten said the 79-unit residential development would bring an “upscale” group of renters who would spend money downtown.

They took pains to describe the project as a luxury building that would appeal to professional couples, Manhattan commuters, empty nesters and “divorced spouses,” rather than families that would add new children to the school district. Back when the mall was approved, Weingarten said, residential development overall was frowned upon due to fears over low-income, subsidized apartments. He pointed to the success of “smart-growth” projects in White Plains that have brought more people downtown to support local shops and restaurants.

The project’s construction would be assisted by the village Industrial Development Agency.

Mayor Dennis Pilla and three trustees heard the initial pitch at tonight’s board meeting. Trustee Bart Didden, a downtown property owner who sued G&S over another development, recused himself from the discussion. There was no mention of another issue involving the mall development; how to pay for the collapse of the privately built bulkhead along the Byram River near the edge of the Costco parking lot.

Before any decisions are made, the proposal will go to the Planning Board for a review and recommendation.

Port Chester is inviting merchants, shoppers, property owners and residents to speak up about downtown parking at a forum Tuesday.

This is an early morning “summit” — starting at 8 a.m. — in the senior center behind village hall, at 222 Grace Church St.

Meantime, you’re welcome to post comments here on the parking situation in Port Chester and how to improve it. Thoughts?

The Waldenbooks in Rye Ridge Shopping Center held out longer than most, but it’s closing as a result of the Borders bankruptcy. Customers were lamenting the loss today. But despite that departure and the lagging economy, the busy shopping center is gaining occupancy with the arrival of new stores: the salad chain Chop’t and the Asian restaurant Buddha are up and running. Indigo Chic boutique opened a couple months ago; the frozen-yogurt place Red Mango is planning to open this winter near the new Chipotle, and Lv2bfit Active Wear, a Go Wireless store and Elevation Burger are also on the way in.

“It’s always been survival of the fittest in retail,” leasing agent Erin Hinchey said. She credits the shopping center’s overall success to the “synergy” of uses there, with visitors coming regularly for groceries, health appointments and dance classes along with the smaller boutiques and restaurants. The center is considered a kind of town square for the surrounding village of Rye Brook.

Given the online competition, a new bookstore is an unlikely prospect, even if customers want it. “I don’t think we’ll be able to duplicate that exact use,” Hinchey said.

The former Bally Total Fitness site on Post Road in Port Chester will be renovated over the next year and reopen as LA Fitness, according to the building owner Simone Development Companies.

The California-based health club chain has signed a lease for the two-story building at 260 Boston Post Road. LA Fitness has 360 locations, including Long Island. This will be the first in Westchester County.

If you live in Westchester, you might know more about New York City’s taxi system than that of your own community. Suburban taxi service is a strange sort of patchwork, and it might be in for changes. Here’s what I learned recently:

The Westchester Taxi and Limousine Commission does not regulate taxis, despite the name. Your municipal government regulates taxis. The commission started in the early ‘90s to monitor “for hire” vehicles that weren’t being regulated at all. The TLC does license and monitor cabbies for a handful of Westchester communities, but not the cars they drive or the dispatch companies they work for. That’s why your cab experience will differ quite a bit depending whether you’re coming off a train in White Plains, Port Chester, Sleepy Hollow, etc.

These days, a number of localities want to give up the job of licensing and  inspecting taxis, particularly smaller villages where the fees aren’t enough to make it workable, said TLC Chairwoman Barbara Monohan. So in the spirit of “shared services,” the TLC is offering a sort-of-like-a-taxi system called the Municipal Car Program. Seven communities are interested but none have signed on yet, she said.

Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla invited Monohan to explain the program to the village board Monday in hopes that it could provide a way out of a legal traffic jam. Due to village caps on the numbers of cab companies and cars, the libertarian Institute for Justice, which fought the “taxi cartel in Minneapolis,” has its eye on Port Chester, Pilla said. There are pending lawsuits against the village from a group of four cab companies seeking to stop changes in the system, and from a fifth company seeking to put more cars on the road.

A village consultant, Samuel Staley, found that taxi licenses, akin to medallions in New York City, sell for about $30,000 on the “gray market.” He recommended phasing out the caps. If that happened, Port Chester could expect about 17 more cabs on top of the 75 existing ones, he said, and the new ones would likely serve the peak demand times. We’ll have more in The Journal News on this.

Meanwhile, any thoughts on your local cab service? Any cabbies want to weigh in?

Lynda LaMonte Garmong of Larchmont sent us this picture and the following guest post:

While Larchmont’s recent Restaurant Week offered customers great deals on meals and restaurants increased traffic, the event also benefitted the hungry. Jeff Rosenberg, President of the Chamber and a Vice President at Citibank along with Melissa Perez, a Chamber Board member and owner of Tequila Sunrise and Espana Restaurant are seen here presenting a $250 check to Melinda Lehman, President of the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Hunger Task Force. The Chamber also donated boxes of cereal collected by local merchants to the food pantry.

New Rochelle firefighters and police investigate the scene of a car that was driven into the storefront of George’s Hair Salon in the Quaker Ridge Shopping Center in New Rochelle Wednesday afternoon, June 15, 2011. It didn’t appear that there were any serious injuries. ( Photo by Mark Vergari / The Journal News )