Letters to the Editor

“I Wonder”
By William McCaffrey

I wonder if the same parents who fought so fiercely for crosswalks around Rye City schools are the very people who park in the crosswalks on Purchase Street.
I wonder if those same parents are the ones who pick up their child at school and depart while speaking on their cell phones — or worse — turned toward the back seat speaking with their child.
I wonder if the same parents give the child their car to drive one half mile to school.
I wonder if Rye has been invaded by outsiders, because no one in Rye does this. Right?
I wonder?

Merchant Pass Mishap

Dear Editor,
I’ve worked in Rye for many years now, and I’ve never had any troubles in this wonderful city until recently. One hot spring day, I was driving on Interstate 95 with the windows down when my merchant’s parking permit became unfixed and flew out the window.
Since I had already paid the $186 to park in town for a permit from January to June 30, 2008, I didn’t think it would be a problem when I went down to City Hall to get a replacement in early May. Much to my dismay, they told me it would cost $55 to replace my pass. I pleaded with them that I had already paid in full, and they even told me they had a record of my payment. So, why do I have to pay $55 to get the pass replaced?
For the last six years I’ve only worked three days a week in Rye, but I never argued about having to buy a full-time parking pass. City Hall doesn’t care how many days you work though, they just want you to pay the money.
Why are we fined $55 if we lose the pass? Who is making that law? If anyone owes money, City Hall should pay me back for the two months I haven’t had a pass.
I’ve come to Rye for 25 years now to work, not drink coffee or play around. People know and recognize me on the streets. I can’t express my disappointment in City Hall enough.
Sincerely,
John Zouppa

Cap School Taxes

The following letter was forwarded to us by the authors for publication.

Dear Senator Oppenheimer and Assemblyman Latimer,
As constituents and taxpayers, we urge you to take action to alleviate the economic burden we are facing. Our property taxes have reached unsustainable levels (Rye and Scarsdale are about triple those of Greenwich for the same house and price), especially on top of unprecedented energy prices and rising food costs, all of which are not expected to substantially subside in the medium term.
We encourage you and the leadership in Albany to STAY in SESSION until the “4% property tax cap for school taxes” proposal (meaning a maximum school tax increase at the lower of 120% CPI or 4%, to be waived only by a minimum 55% of voters) is passed.
This capping of the largest (by far and growing) portion of our property taxes is supported 5 to 1 by New York State voters, according to the latest poll, and by the Governor. It is more generous than other states which have had 2.5-3% caps for years, including Massachusetts which still rides with Connecticut on top of our nation for education.
The only opponents we heard at the WCA town hall meeting in Rye Brook the other night were self-serving school administrators or board trustees. Legitimate concerns about enrollment increases or rising inflation were allayed by the 55% escape clause, as voters would surely rally, at least around an Essential School Budget which includes the Enrollment Factor formula and excludes Debt Service and court mandates.
On this opportunity, you may wish to reassert the Education Law’s clear priorities expressed when dealing with the alternate Essential School Budget (improperly labeled “contingency budget”) which should be a template for all school budgets, whether the cap is waived or not: Protect the integrity of Education Programs, District Property and Health & Safety, rather than growing Administration payroll and costs as has been rampant for the last decade.
Once the cap is passed, other actions that are equally necessary may wait until the next session, including:
• Clarify the NYSED laws and opinions concerning the Essential School Budget and standard budget presentations (e.g., to include several years of Actual-audited and Actual-estimated for comparison), so that voters can make an informed decision about waiving the cap or not;
• Reform and relieve unfunded state mandates in annual steps towards 100% elimination of any and all unfunded mandates within a maximum of 5 years;
• Establish a “Tier 5” using only 403B- or 401K-style co-funding for Public Employee Pensions without defined benefits, and require employee contributions for health Insurance at reasonable levels (15% to 35% depending on salary), while eliminating any period of non-contribution to benefits for all “Tiers” (e.g, eliminate the unconscionable non-contribution after 10 years of service), all this rendered absolutely necessary by the new GASB 45 accounting rules;
• Simply eliminate County government, as Connecticut and Massachusetts have done with great success;
• Help improve our dismal national voting participation (a dismal 21.5% in Rye last month…) by holding all municipal, state and federal elections or bond votes on a Saturday or on Election Day.
Respectfully submitted,
Bertrand and Barbara de Frondeville

Schubert Asks City to Uphold the Law”

Dear Editor,
As an early supporter of The Rye Record as well as a law-abiding resident of Rye, I find the conclusion of your June 13 ‘Editorial’ extremely disheartening.
The necessity for my repeated petitioning of the Council is occasioned by the failure of the Rye City administration to uphold its own law. Even the Rye Police Association refers to my case as one in which the City is using the well-known tactic of “stonewalling.”
The applicable law, chapter 195, reads, “It is therefore the policy of the City of Rye to protect its citizens by preventing the despoilation of wetlands and watercourses.” Those words are crystal clear. Then follow 20 pages of detailed, equally clear, enforcement.
The age-old watercourse to my property has been unlawfully tampered with, resulting in ongoing severe damage to my property. The same law clearly states, “The City of Rye is specifically empowered to … compel the restoration of the affected wetland/watercourse to its condition prior to the violation.”
I cannot in good conscience sue my neighbor, as suggested by the Mayor and Council, when I was told, off the record, by a member of the administration that I “gave my neighbor permission.” There is however no official record in City Hall of any such permission being either requested or granted! No application fee paid! No official permit issued! Nor was there any of the required surveillance! Try asking where all that water is now going?
Evaporated. This question has never been answered by any member of the Administration. The as-built drawings say “discharge future”. The ‘approved’ design drawings clearly state, “drywell into underground stream to Schubert pond.”
The rebuttal, requested by the Mayor, to the volumes of data, charts and photos that I have presented took six weeks to prepare and then covered all of one-half page. And that half-page is full of documented errors. It was so feeble it was never presented. It was buried.
All I ask is the City expeditiously uphold Rye law — and Schubert vanishes!
If anyone feels I have prevented them from a similar appeal to the City Council, they have my most sincere apology. They shall come ahead of me at any time. However, I fought when needed and I won’t fold the tent now.
Sincerely,
Bob Schubert

Tax Settlements Worth Noting

Dear Editor,
With all of the attention property taxes are getting, I thought it would be useful to let the community know about a handful of recent tax cert settlements. I’ve picked these cases because of their size. Each settlement benefits the individual property owner, but at a cost to the rest of rest of the community in the form of higher taxes.

1. Citibank – 1040 Boston Post Rd - $42,335
2. Blind Brook Lodge – 66 Milton Rd - $54,434
3. Nadja Zubrik Apartment – 150 Theo Fremd - $152,400
4. Nadja Zubrik Apartment – 160 Theo Fremd - $170,900
5. Nadja Zubrik Apartment - 125 Central Ave - $200,850
6. Water’s Edge Condo – off Forest Ave - $1,390,511
7. Rye Ford Subaru – 1151 Boston Post Rd - $105,000

These settlements reflect the amounts paid by the School District. Additional payments would have been made by the City and the County.
To spread the benefit of these tax reductions as widely as possible amongst Rye residents, I would encourage the residents of Blind Brook Lodge, the Theodore Fremd and Central Avenue apartments, and the Water’s Edge condos to ask their landlords/managing agents for their “share” of the settlement. I would also encourage customers of Citibank and Rye Ford Subaru to ask the businesses what they’re doing to give back to the community commensurate with their property tax reduction.
Anyone interested in getting the full list of settlements will need to contact either the City or the School district. I’m hopeful that both groups would be willing to post the full list of settlements on their web sites.
Sincerely,
Bob Zahm