My Rye

Handicapped $170; Rye Golf Club Hikes Fees 4%

The Rye Golf Club (and Pool) has published its rates for the 2008 season. Those residents paying for "Comprehensive" family memberships will pay $4,417 or $170 more than last year. Non-residents join via a lottery system and pay substantially higher fees.

Resident Regular / New Rates	2007	2008	Percentage Increase	Net Dollar Increase
Social	$     400	$       75	-81.25%	$  (325)
Comprehensive	$  4,247	$  4,417	4.00%	$   170
Individual Daily Golf	$  2,890	$  3,006	4.01%	$   116
Individual Weekday Golf	$  1,944	$  2,022	4.01%	$     78
Junior Golf	$     665	$     692	4.06%	$     27
Family Pool	$  1,363	$  1,418	4.04%	$     55
Individual Pool	$     697	$     725	4.02%	$     28
Pool for Two	$  1,107	$  1,151	3.97%	$     44
Junior Pool	$     415	$     432	4.10%	$     17

Video of MyRye.com Appearance on RyeTV

Rye TV's Nicole Levitsky was kind enough to send MyRye.com the Google Video of MyRye.com's appearance on Rye TV's Eye on Rye. You can watch the video below or see the show on Rye TV Channel 75 each day at 8am, 9am, 10am, 3pm, 8pm and 9 pm.

In the 16 minute show Councilman Joe Sack interviews MyRye.com Publisher Jay Sears.

Enjoy.

MyRye.com Goes Hollywood, 10580 Style

OK, maybe we are a little over-excited.

But MyRye.com Publisher Jay Sears will be on Rye TV's "Eye on Rye" starting today thru next Tuesday. Councilman Joe Sack interviews Jay about MyRye.com on location at the intersection of Bradford and Florence Avenues, the scene of the 4-way STOP sign showdown.

Rye TV's Nicole Levitsky reports the show will air on on Channel 75 each day at 8am, 9am, 10am, 3pm, 8pm and 9 pm (except Wednesday).

That means we are up against the Today Show at 8 and 9am, Dr. Phil and General Hospital at 3pm and tonight, for our "season premier", we run against Deal or No Deal.

Watch "Eye on Rye" snatch those GRPs away...

See you on air.

The Post Road is FAT: Rye City Council - Meeting Minutes from January 16, 2008

The bombastic George Pratt took the role of acting Mayor in the absence of Steve Otis to run the January 16, 2008 Rye City Council meeting. Councilman Sack was absent but all other council people were in attendance.

Rye City Clerk Susan A. Morison has penned and published the minutes from the meeting. Topics covered included:

• a resolution endorsing naming the Rye post office in honor of Caroline O’Day;
• the approval of the cable franchise agreement with Cablevision after vigorous comments by former Mayor Carey;
• City approval of the three year contract with the RYE CSEA Local 860 DPW Unit (the largest City union) for the contract period of 1/1/07 – 12/31/09;
• an interesting discussion of the Boston Post Road (BPR) Design Feasibility Study (the “Diet”), prepared by engineering firm Buckhurst, Fish and Jacquemart.

Under the "Diet" plan, the Post Road would be modified to one-way traffic in each direction (vs. the current two lanes each way) between the Old Post Road intersection and the Mamaroneck town line.

The "Diet" was presented by engineer Georges Jacquemart and is designed for traffic calming and safety, possible bike lane additions and aesthetic improvements. According to Jacquemart's firm, the current roads are sub-standard and unsafe because each lane is so narrow. According to the Buckhurst, Fish and Jacquemart report:

"We conclude that it is feasible to redesign the Boston Post Road. Good levels of service
can be maintained with the proposed redesign and safety can be significantly improved.
The raised median with landscaping allows for significant aesthetic enhancements."

There will be further discussion and public comment on the report. Council had many questions but seemed generally supportive.

For city council junkies, some other important information:

2008 designation of the days and time of regular meetings of the City Council:

January 3 - January 16 

February 13 

March 5 - March 19

April 2 - April 16

May 7 - May 28

June 11   

July 16

August 6

September 3
    
October 1 - October 15

November 5 - November 19

December 3 - December 17

City Council liaisons designated by Mayor Steve Otis:

Ambulance Corps – Councilwoman Parker
Board of Appeal – Councilman Ball
Board of Architectural Review – Councilman Sack
Boat Basin Commission – Councilman Pratt
Commission on Human Rights – Councilman Pratt
Conservation Commission/Advisory Council – Mayor Otis, Councilman Pratt
Finance Committee – Councilwoman Gamache
Landmarks Advisory Committee – Councilman Sack
Recreation Commission – Councilman Ball
Rye Beautification Advisory Commission
Rye Cable Television Committee – Councilwoman Gamache
Rye City School Board – Mayor Otis, Councilman Pratt
Rye Free Reading Room – Councilwoman Gamache, Mayor Otis
Rye Golf Club Commission – Councilman Sack
Rye Merchants Association – Councilman Parker
Rye Playland Advisory Committee – Councilwoman Parker
Rye Senior Advocacy Committee – Councilman Ball
Traffic and Transportation Committee – Councilman Cunningham
Youth Advisory Committee - Unknown

Rye citizens speaking at the meeting included:

Marian Shea, Brookdale Place and Chair of the Rye Senior Advocacy Committee
John Carolin, 66 Milton Road
Dan O’Day, Kirby Lane
Judge Carey
Joe Murphy, adviser to the Rye Senior Advocacy Committee
Brian Dempsey, Chair of the Traffic and Transportation (T&T) Committee
Larry Lehman, 10 Chester Drive, former Chair of the T&T Committee and a traffic engineer

Rye's Ashley Craig: Part of an Obama-Nation

Berkeley, Kent State, Selma, Rye? Our (mostly) sleepy bedroom community is not exactly a hotbed for national political action.

But don't tell that to Rye's Ashley Craig. The Conservation Commission/Advisory Council member is hosting a debate watching and phone bank event for Barack Obama this Tuesday evening at her Johnson Place home. Craig is also the county coordinator for WOW, Westchester Obama Women, according to The New York Times. Watch out Obama Girl!

Tuesday's event is limited to 12 attendees and there are only seven remaining spots.

The event sounds decidedly more down market than the $2,300 per person breakfast (a real WOW) Rye resident and Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain held for his candidate John "Mack the Knife" McCain.

Public Access TV and Our Founding Fathers

After American history week on MyRye.com, it is only appropriate that former Rye Mayor and election analysis emcee John Carey is back tomorrow with his Rye TV show, “Rye Pundits View the [Presidential] Candidates”.

Perhaps Caey will discuss what Rye's John Jay and some of the other Founding Fathers would think of our current state of politics. Carey guest George Bulow, scheduled for the March 1st show, told MyRye.com:

"The Founding Fathers were profoundly concerned about allowing any leader too much power, so they divided it in multiple ways as a means of preventing anyone from becoming a tyrant.  The slowness and difficulty of taking seeming public “wants” or “needs” and translating them into law, is arduous for a very good reason: the process allows all parties to have some say in its ultimate resolutions and funding."

We feel like we are back in political science class. A new episode of “Rye Pundits View the Candidates” airs each and every Saturday this February and into March on Rye TV Channel 76 at ten minutes after 9 am, noon, 3 pm, 6 pm and 9 pm.

Carey has lots of local Rye notables scheduled to be on the show:

Aired Saturday, February 16th
Maurio Sax, former Rye Democratic City Chairman (former teacher, Rye High School)
David Moore (a founder of the Rye Arts Center in 1960)
Jack Bowen, Republican
Bertrand de Frondeville

Airing on Saturday, February 23rd
Peter Jovanovich (husband of Robin Jovanovich, publisher of the Rye Record)
Mitch Silver, Democrat

Taping on the 27th, Airing on Saturday, March 1st
Mary Louise Reid, Democrat
Emil Dominianni, Democrat (a former law partner of Carey)
George Bulow, Democrat
Bertrand de Frondeville, Independent

Taping on March 5th, Airing on Saturday, March 8th
Peter Thomas (high school teacher)
Judd Rothstein (drama teacher, Rye High School)
Bertrand de Frondeville, Independent
Peter Jovanovich (husband of Robin Jovanovich, publisher of the Rye Record)

Taping on March 12th, Airing on Saturday, March 15th
Paul Hicks, Republican

Anyone interested in being a guest on the show should email  JnCarey (AT) westnet (DOT) com.

John Jay: Rye Farm Boy, Nation Builder

Continuing our week of American History, John Jay, also a founding father of our nation, is a Rye notable. With numerous roles in American history, Jay is best know for serving as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (appointed by George Washington) and as one of the three authors of the Federalist Papers, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

(PHOTO: John Jay's Nomination to the 1st Continental Congress, courtesy JohnJay.net) Jay lived in Manhattan and his family maintained a farm in Rye. The site is now a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public. The Jay property sits adjacent to the Marshlands Conservancy and won its preservation in the 1990s after a bitter battle with local developer Diane Millstein who wanted to knock down the Jay home and develop homes on the surrounding 23 acres.

The Jay Center describes some of John Jay's accomplishments:

"Few men had more influence on establishing the United States than John Jay. He served in an array of high offices including President of the Continental Congress and Secretary for Foreign Affairs. As a negotiator of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, Jay insisted that the British negotiate with the United States of America, rather than with thirteen colonies.

Jay is best known as the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and as one of the three authors of The Federalist papers, along with Hamilton and Madison. Jay’s persuasiveness was a significant factor in securing ratification of the Constitution.

John Jay grew up on the Jay Heritage Center property. Although it was inherited by his older brother, the Rye farm remained a place of refuge for Jay throughout his public career. Jay’s son replaced his father’s boyhood home with the 1838 mansion, which is considered a masterpiece of the Greek Revival style."

Benjamin Franklin and the Boston Post Road

Originally called Pequot Path by the Indians, the the Boston Post Road was re-named by the Colonists. It was given the name Boston Post Road since it was a series of post roads designed to deliver mail and serve as the primary road from Lower Manhattan to Boston.

Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the United States, who served many roles in American history, had mile stone markers fixed along the road in 1763 while he was Postmaster General. Many of the original milestones are still in place. One milestone is viewable along the Post Road in front of the Jay House.

Why did Franklin have mile markers installed? Did he have to go before Brian Dempsey's Traffic and Transit Committee or the Rye City Council with a petition signed by neighbors? According to the Associated Press:

"Franklin was put in charge of the colonial postal system by the British government in the mid-18th century. His first challenge: overcoming the suspicions of his Yankee customers, who were sure they were being cheated on postage that was assessed by the mile.

So in the summer of 1753 Franklin set out on the Boston Post Road in a carriage with a homemade odometer attached to the wheel. Every mile a stake was driven into the ground. A crew followed behind, setting stone markers."

President John Adams: See You at the Bar

Yesterday we wrote about George Washington and the 1700s bar scene in Rye. In 1774, another man destined to be an American President, John Adams, visited Rye and stayed at the Square House on his way to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

Adams lived outside Boston in Quincy, Massachussets and the Boston Post Road was the main road between Boston and New York City.

(PHOTO: Painting is John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. Adams is on the left in the group of five in front of the desk) Adams mentioned his visit to the Square House in handwritten notes. A reproduction of those notes was included at a 2006 exhibit at the Square House called "Danger and Division: Rye During the Revolution".

Adams served as our second President.

Latimer on Tunnel: fuggadeaboutit

Assemblyman George Latimer has provided the following editorial on the proposed Rye - Syosset Tunnel to MyRye.com:

In every proposed action, there are usually winners and losers. The proposal to dig a tunnel under the L. I. Sound to connect I-287 in Westchester to Long Island has two clear sets of winners: developers of houses and office buildings on Long Island, and interstate trucking companies. The biggest loser, unfortunately, will be Westchester residents of the communities along the I-95 and I-287 corridors, as I-287 becomes the new Cross Bronx North.

Interstate truckers heading from Boston, Buffalo or Bloomington, Indiana, will all benefit from avoiding the current Cross Bronx Expressway, and the Throgs Neck Bridge, to reach Long Island destinations. With I-287 connecting I-80 and I-78 from the Midwest, and I-95 from New England and I-87 from the Buffalo/Upstate New York regions, a truck driver would be crazy not to use the new tunnel. The resulting demand for I-287 in Westchester will make current rush and non-rush hours look like a piece of cake. Commuters traveling between Westchester points on I-287 will have a lot of company next to them. Ditto the I-95 New England Thruway corridor.

The remaining parcels in Suffolk County would have new value for building more homes, office parks, strip malls and the like, once you can reach Connecticut and the Hudson Valley of New York so much more easily.

So, no surprise why L.I. interests would want this. The traffic congestion and resultant impacts - air pollution, noise, etc. - would be Westchester's part of the bargain. Some number of locals may find The
Hamptons closer to their front door, but that's hardly a sufficient trade-off. As for the tunnel evacuating L.I. during an emergency: "fuggadeaboutit". It will be hard enough to "evacuate" normal weekend traffic by itself, much less 1+ million people seeking to leave L.I. under some urgent disaster.

In my dealings in the State Assembly, I will urge my Westchester and Rockland colleagues to take a long hard look at the proposed tunnel, and to cast a "no" vote to endorsing the new "Cross Bronx Expressway North", coming through our backyards.

GEORGE LATIMER
Assemblyman, 91st A.D.