Eyesores on Central Avenue

When you have driven on Central Avenue you may have wondered "what's with the closed gas stations?"  They make the Edgemont section of Central Avenue look like a rural depressed area. 

A complicated issue was voted on by the Greenburgh Town Board two months ago. Town Supervisor Paul Feiner proposed to allow those closed gas stations only 6 months to apply for a permit to continue to operate sometime in the future. After those 6 months, if they don't apply for a special permit, they will be permanently closed.  The proposal was passed and now the clock is ticking.

According to Edgemont Community Council President Bob Bernstein,

"the proposal has ... been criticized as extremely business unfriendly. Not only must the other stations  pay the Town a $1500 special permit fee, but they must also pay a $250 legal fee, $150 for an environmental clearance form, $200 for a public hearing notice, $200 for a public hearing transcript, $100 for wetlands clearance form, and then because these owners probably don't know who to send public notices to, they will probably go to the assessors office and spend $50 to buy the abutters' notice packages notice. On top of all this, the Town charges $25 per parking space. But that is the least of it. 

In order to obtain a special permit, each gas station will also have to install sidewalks, create landscaping and ensure that there are no adverse impacts from traffic. These requirements are likely to cost gas stations along Central Avenue tens of thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses for construction and consultant fees, including fees for architects, engineers, and landscapers. In addition, because some of these gas stations will require not only the installation of sidewalks, but the placement of curb cuts along a state road, they will have to hire surveyors and get DOT permits."

The only gas station that is applying to reopen is the one on the corner of Old Army Road.  The others will remain unopened. They will remain eyesores and bring no much needed tax revenue to the town. But it seems the Town Board does not care.

School Days-Turn of the 20th Century

Since the school year is quickly coming to an end, I thought I'd try to find out the history of the schools in Edgemont.

 Back in 1890, there were about 250 people living in the Edgemont area.  In 1890, there was a one room school that was located by Old Scarsdale Farm Road on Fort Hill Road.

In 1898, more people moved into the area so the School Board purchased land on Central Avenue for a two-room school house. By 1910, the population of Edgemont had doubled and a second floor was added to the school. There was no running water and bathrooms were still outside. Here's a picture of the school house which later became a fire house for the town.

Hydrant Flushing

From May 14 thru May 25 the water district on the Greenville side of Edgemont will be flushing the fire hydrants. This will result in lower water pressure and possible brown residue in your home's water pipes.

When Will It Be Over... Update

There's good news and bad news. Back on January 27, I posed the question, "When will the Popham Road Bridge construction be finished."  The good news is that it is scheduled to be finished in December, 2012.

The bad news is that construction is scheduled to begin this month on the Crane Bridge Road on the Bronx River Parkway. The project will take place for three years.

Ten months from now both the north and south bound exits in Scarsdale will be closed for two years. The really bad news is that seventeen parking spotson Depot Place by the Scarsdale Metro North station will become a staging area for the needed equipment. This will have a major impact on merchants and customers.

The project which will be funded by the County is projected to cost over 39 million dollars. The new bridge will have sidewalks and a ramp to give pedestrians access to the path along the Bronx River Parkway and the Metro North platforms.

To learn more, here's a link to the Westchester County site:

http://publicworks.westchestergov.com/crane-road-bridge

Boss Tweed Opens Up Central Avenue

William Magrear Tweed, better known as Boss Tweed, was a corrupt politician who personified the greed and corruption that existed in New York after the Civil War. 

 What did he have to do with Central Avenue ?

It was Boss Tweed who wanted to extend Central Avenue from New York City to Albany. The road was supposed to be 100 feet wide.  Tweed not only conned farmers along the path to give up part of their land, but made them pay for the privalege of having the road pass by their farms. For a company to receive contracts, it had to give kickbacks  to Tweed and his associates. Central Park Avenue was completed in 1871, but only as far as White Plains. Although the road was 100 feet wide, only 16 feet of it was a finished surface. The road eventually brought development into the Westchester area.