Sound Shore

MAMARONECK — Local cops may soon be armed with new handguns under a plan to cash in on a state grant to replace the police department’s aging arsenal.

“You don’t want the cops walking around with old guns,” Mayor Norman Rosenblum said Tuesday.

The funds would go toward buying 60 new Glock pistols — 44 large guns, 12 medium-sized ones and four training pistols — at no cost to the taxpayers, officials said.

The $8,500 grant, provided through the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services, would be used to pay the balance not covered by the $17,000 trade-in value of the police department’s current arsenal.

The Board of Trustees is expected to vote on whether to authorize the village to accept the grant at a meeting at 7:30 p.m. next Monday at village hall.

The local police brass, in consultation with state Assemblyman George Latimer (D – Rye), recently learned they could still take advantage of the grant after it had been outstanding for some time, officials said.

Image source: Glock website

MAMARONECK — It may soon be a crime to keep your car running for more than three minutes on a village street.

The Board of Trustees this month is considering the measure intended to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions that damage local air quality and pose health risks to residents.

The board on Monday night agreed to hold a public hearing on the anti-idling ban at its March 14 meeting.

“You shouldn’t be leaving your motor running,” Trustee Toni Ryan said in an interview. “It’s not good for the environment, and it’s not good for … people with respiratory problems.”

LARCHMONT — Democrats will run unopposed in next month’s election for village justice and the Board of Trustees unless a viable petition candidate emerges by Tuesday.

Candidates have until then to submit at least 100 nominating petitions to the village clerk for a spot on the March 15 ballot. The local GOP hasn’t fielded any new candidates since 2008, and so far no other challengers have come forth.

Democrats last week nominated their party chair, Lorraine Walsh, and political newcomer John Komar for the two seats up for election on the four-member village board. They also picked Jerry Bernstein to seek a fifth consecutive term as village justice.

Republicans, meanwhile, said they have struggled to find anybody willing to run for office in the heavily Democratic village.

MAMARONECK — Village residents will soon have a little more time to pay their parking tickets.

The Board of Trustees on Monday night unanimously approved a plan to double the waiting period for delinquent parking fines. Now, residents hit with a $20 ticket for an expired meter have 30 days to pay before the fine jumps to $40; 60 days before it rises to $80; and 90 before it reaches $160.

Under the old rule, the fine doubled every 15 days — a period that Mayor Norm Rosenblum called “too punitive.”

The new 30-day doubling period is expected to take effect in a few weeks, once state officials have  approved the change.

MAMARONECK — The town Board of Trustees repealed a rule that prohibited off-street parking at a residence within 25 feet of a front property line Wednesday night, saying the restriction was “anachronistic” in an age when families own multiple cars.

The old zoning rule came about decades ago when it was common for households to have just one car parked in a driveway or garage. But with many families now owning two or three automobiles, some too large to fit in a garage, board members said the 25-foot rule is no longer feasible.

Other restrictions remain: Residents may not park within five feet of a neighbor’s property line; nor can they park in a spot outside of their driveway, but still on their residential lot, that’s within 25 feet of the property line (for instance, in a specially-installed space 10 feet from the street).

Also on Wednesday night, the board unanimously approved a $30.5 million town budget for 2011 that comes with a 6.1 percent increase in property taxes. For the full story, click here.

CAPTION: The town Board of Trustees considers changes to off-street parking rules during a meeting Wednesday night at town hall. (Colin Gustafson)

MAMARONECK—Democrat Alice Pernik has conceded to Republican candidate Christie Derrico, the village attorney, in the race for village justice, party officials said Monday.

Her decision comes after GOP-backed incumbent Marianne Ybarra conceded the race for the village’s five-member Board of Trustees over the weekend, said Republican Mayor Norm Rosenblum.

Three Democrats lead the Mamaroneck trustee race, enough to form a new 3-2 majority on a board currently dominated by Republicans.

This morning, Republican Bob Cohen conceded to Democrat  Suzi Oppenheimer in the race for the 37th state Senate district, which encompasses the village.

Rosenblum said these recent concessions effectively close the 2010 election for the village because the races are no longer contested.

“While I have not received a notice of certification from the Westchester County Board of elections, all races are now conceded and this will allow for the Village to move forward to return to the normal process of government transition,” Rosenblum said in a press release Monday afternoon.

A legal battle over election results has dragged on more than a month after Election Day after Republicans sued to stop the vote count over reports of troubles with the new electronic machines.

Democrats have not claimed victory yet in the trustee race.

Democratic incumbent John Hofstetter on Monday contended that local election results won’t be finalized unless Republicans pull the court injunctions they filed last month to stop the counts in each race, or a judge certifies the results.

”(Republicans) are the ones who have delayed this,” Hofstetter said.

Rosenblum said he’ll be contacting the trustees-elect to discuss holding the board’s reorganization meeting Dec. 13. The meeting was originally scheduled for Dec. 6, but the board voted 3-to-2 last week to postpone it to Dec. 20 after the mayor argued that a delay would be necessary amid lingering uncertainty about election results.

“I want to give the majority the option to move it up if they would like,” Rosenblum said Monday. “It’s a friendly suggestion.”

Hofstetter said it bothered him that the mayor sent out a press release Monday about election results and the reorganization schedule without consulting him and other Democrats first.

MAMARONECK—With election results still up in the air, the Board of Trustees voted 3-2 Monday night to push back the date that the new board reorganizes, from Dec. 6 to Dec. 20.

The post-election organizational meeting is the first opportunity for the new board to make appointments to offices such as village prosecutor, special counsel and clerk treasurer. The board also will appoint people to the village’s boards of ethics, appeals and architectural review, as well as decide who replaces outgoing Planning Board Chairman Robert Galvin.

Mayor Norm Rosenblum and trustee Louis Santoro, both Republicans, as well as GOP-backed incumbent Marriane Ybarra, voted for the two-week postponement during an emergency meeting at the Regatta. Democratic incumbents Toni Ryan and John Hofstetter voted against it.

Rosenblum said the postponement will help ease the transition for the new board.

But Hofstetter said he saw no reason to delay the reorganization.

Three Democrats lead the Mamaroneck race, enough to form a new 3-2 majority on a board currently dominated by Republicans.

Final results in the trustee race have been delayed for weeks after GOP state Senate candidate Bob Cohen sued to stop the vote count over reports of troubles with the new electronic machines. Ballot-counting in the 37th state Senate district, where Cohen is running against Democratic incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer, began Nov. 23 and is expected to continue into this week.

The trustee race is affected because Mamaroneck village falls within the contested district.

MAMARONECK — Village officials have called an emergency meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. at The Regatta, 123 Mamaroneck Ave., to discuss how the village Board of Trustees should proceed with its business when election results have not yet been finalized.

The winners of the Nov. 2 election were expected to take their seats Dec.  6. However, the election’s outcome remains up in the air, after GOP state Senate candidate Bob Cohen sued earlier this month to stop the count over reports of troubles with the new electronic voting machines.

Ballot-counting in the contested 37th state Senate district, which encompasses the village, dragged on through the weekend and is likely to continue into this week. If the results aren’t certified soon, the board would have only two of five members and may not be able to conduct business.

MAMARONECK — A campaign ethics committee on Saturday upheld one complaint and dismissed another by Democrats alleging that their GOP rivals in the race for village Board of Trustees used unfair campaign tactics.

In the first case, the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee found that Republicans “used” the committee as a “political tool” by filing a complaint against Democrats just days before the Nov. 2 election and then circulating an “inflammatory flyer” that misquoted the body’s finding.

“While the entire finding was produced on one side of the flyer, the reverse cherry-picked words from the finding and added the words ‘They lied,’ which were not part of the finding,” the committee wrote.

In the second case, the committee found no unfair tactics in a separate GOP mailer stating that Democrats “have no record of accomplishments” and “offer only more spending, more taxes and more partisan politics,” among other accusations. This language, the committee said, while vague, was still part of “normal campaign discourse.”

The decision comes as both parties await final word from The Board of Elections on who officially won the six-way race. Election officials have yet to finish counting absentee and affidavit ballots cast Nov. 2.

LARCHMONT — A developer planning to build 51 units of affordable housing near the Palmer Avenue train station will give a presentation about the project at tonight’s village Board of Trustees meeting.

Westchester County is working with Elmsford-based builder Wilder Balter Partners to develop the new units at 2101-2105 Palmer Avenue, using a project already approved in 2008. The development will help the county meet the requirements of a federal housing desegregation settlement.

Previously, developer Esposito Builders had planned to build 51 units at the site, with 46 to be sold at market rate and the remaining five set aside for moderate-income tenants who work in Larchmont.

The Peekskill-based developer won approval from the Planning Board for that plan in 2008, but later decided to sell the property amid economic uncertainty.

Wilder, the buyer, now plans to build all 51 units as affordable.

The original project drew opposition from a neighborhood group, The Concerned Citizens of Larchmont, which cited potential congestion, stormwater runoff, increases in school enrollment and limited parking. The revised project does not need additional board approval, officials said.

Last year, Westchester agreed to spend $52 million on building 750 affordable-housing units in mostly white, affluent areas after the Anti-Discrimination Center sued the county, accusing it of accepting federal housing aid without building affordable units in those communities.

Residents can learn more about the affordable-housing project at the meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at 120 Larchmont Ave.