One Room with a View

Are you having any friends visiting you this summer? Where are they going to stay?  If you lived in the Edgemont area in the mid 1890's, you would have had your choice of three different hotels.

Picture above is the Greenville Hotel which was built by Carl Franck. It was located on the Northwest corner of Central Avenue and Underhill Road (where the Fort Hill Apartments are now located.) Mr. Franck bought the farm that was located there and continued operating the farm while building a hotel and a general store for the public. The hotel was torn down in 1926.

The Scarsdale Hotel was located at 30 Old Army Road and was known for its French cuisine.

The third hotel in Edgemont was located where the upper parking lot for the Shoprite Supermarket is on Ardsley Road and Central Avenue. The hotel changed names often and at various times was known at the Hillside Hotel, the Rochambeau, and the Putney Inn.

We Are All One

For the first time in years, the Edgemont community's voting results will include our entire community. In the past, those living in the Greenridge section (Old Colony Road) voted at the Hartsdale Fire Station and their votes were tallied as if they were Hartsdale residents. They voted in the 57 District. Greenridge residents will now vote at the Edgemont High School and be counted as part of District 34, which is part of Old Edgemont. Vote totals will now reflect how our community votes as a whole in local, state and federal elections.

This goes into effect starting with this Tuesday's (June 26) primary vote for a contested Congressional seat currently held by Rep.Elliot Engel, who now represents our entire community.

This change was made by the Westchester County Board of Elections which redrew Congressional districts.

Eyesore Update

According to Edgemont Community Council President, Bob Bernstein, the property owner of the closed gas station on Central Avenue and Grand Army Road has applied for a permit to reopen.  The plan is to reopen the gas station, as well as a mini mart, on the property.
This will get rid of  one of the three abandoned properties on Central Avenue which make Edgemont look like a Post-Apocalyptic site.

The question is, what will become of the other two properties whose owners have not applied for a permit to reopen ?

How Safe Is Your College ? Know Before You Go!

June is when High School Seniors are graduating and Juniors and Sophomores are considering what colleges to attend. Students choose colleges base on their size, location, or their ranking.

Why isn't a school's safety record ever a consideration ?

 All colleges these days boast of their terrific "blue light" safety system.  This is a system of call stations posted around the campus where you can push a button to alert the school's security patrol.  But what are the actual crime statistics for a particular college?

I would advise all high school students and their parents to visit the following website.

http://ope.ed.gov/security/Index.aspx

On the right side column, click on "get data for one institution/campus."
Under "Institution City" type in the town your school is located and hit "search."
Click on the college you are considering and you will see the crime statistics for 2008 -2010.
Sexual Offenses (forcible and non-forcible), robbery, assault, burglary, and arson.statistics are listed.
You'll also have the name and phone number of the Director of Public Safety for the College.
Parents and students should all put this phone number into your phones contact list.

Having information and statistics is power.

Moral Compass

Today marks the 365th day since the disappearance of Lauren Spierer.
There is probably not a single parent in our community who has not thought about how it would feel to have a child go missing.  We all hope that maybe tomorrow someone will finally crack and decide to supply the missing piece of information that will lead to finding Lauren.

Where is the moral compass of those students who have refused to talk to investigators?  If the children don't have it, shouldn't the parents of those young adults who have continued to not talk to police investigators show their morality?

Where is the moral compass of the universities who allow these students to continue to attend their schools? Colleges will eject students who cheat or plagiarze.  What about students who show indifference to their fellow students.  Why are these students not held up to the same moral standards?