Bronxville and Scarsdale region

Almita and Roland Vamos, would-renowned string teachers, will hold a master class on March 11 followed by the final Hoch Chamber Music Series Concert featuring the award-winning Pacifica Quartet with violist Lawrence Dutton.

The master class will be at  3 p.m.; the concert at 4 p.m.

The Vamos’s, teachers of violin and viola, were mentioned in the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom” by Amy Chua. They will lead a class featuring violinists Elizabeth Hasfal, Elizabeth Murray, Katharine O’Hare, Nora Donohue and Gretel Poggioli, and cellist Chris Magnani. The student violinists and cellist attend Bronxville Elementary & Middle School, New Rochelle High School, Pennington Elementary School in Mount Vernon, respectively.

The class is open to the public for viewing and will be held in Stein Hall. Tickets are $5 and are available by calling 914-395-4507 or by visiting www.concordiaconservatory.org

The Pacifica Quartet are in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and were named the 2009 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America. They also received a Grammy that year for best chamber music performance.

They will be performing at the college’s Sommer Center in a concert featuring string quartets by Beethoven and Shostakovich and Dvorak’s viola quintet. Tickets are $28 for genearl admistion, $14 for seniors and children 12 and under. To purchase tickets, call 914-395-4507 or visit www.concordiaconservatory.org

The Pacifica Quartet’s cellist is Brandon Vamos, Almita and Roland Vamos’ second son. Their youngest son is the string department chairman at Concordia Conservatory and teaches music in the Pelham School District.

(Photo by Anthony Parmelee)

 

Ars Viva Chamber Orchestra, just named the Tarrytown Music Hall’s chamber orchestra in residence, is holding a fundraiser to help pay for two concert series under a “Youth In Music Project” being created by the group’s music director, Jesse Henkensiefken

The fundraiser is a 2012 St. Patrick’s day wine and benefit concert at 6 p.m. March 17 in a private home on Paddington Road in Fox Meadow. The night will include champagne/wine tasting, a raffle, a silent auction and music by Ars Viva. Tickets are available at www.arsvivamusic.com/chamber-orchestra/events.

The money will fund a school concert series that would allow students to be bused to the music hall for a morning concert during the school day featuring kid-friendly pieces with an emphasis on music education.

It also would be used for a proposed family concert series featuring four concerts at the hall that could include some local arts groups like the Scarsdale Balley Company.

Ars Viva is holding its first Kid’s Family American Music Concert at 1 p.m. April 14 at the Tarrytown Music Hall. Guest artists are soprano Alison Buchan and pianist Tatiana Tessman presenting some operatic pieces from Cole Porter and Aaron Copland, and conclude with Copland’s “Appalacian Spring” and Gershwin’s “Summertime.” Tickets for this concert can be purchased at the music hall box office, by calling 877-840-0457 or online at http://tickets.tarrytownmusichall.org

Daniel and Jason Vaccaro, juniors at Riverdale Country School, were among the student presenters at the annual meeting last weekend of the Association of Advancement of Science in Vancouver, B.C.

They presented an “Optical Property Analysis and Construction of Black Silicon.”

The 17-year-old twins, sons of Eastchester resident Donato Vaccaro, were among eight New York students selected to participate in the conference. They are members of and received awards from the American Junior Academy of Science, a national honor society that recognizes America’s premier high school students for outstanding research.

The Vaccaro family is one of Eastchester’s largest and oldest families. The twins are among more than 75 great-grandchildren of Carmela and Donato Vaccaro, who immigrated to the town in the 1920s from their native Italy.

 Jason (left) and Daniel Vaccaro take a last look at the poster of their project before their presentation. Photo courtesy of Donato Vaccaro.

As I approach my seventh anniversary as mayor, not a day goes by that I do not learn something new about the operations of our village.  That is what keeps the job so stimulating and me on my toes.

Since the last month my column has been quite dour, bringing to mind the Saturday Night Live character, “Debbie the Downer,”  I thought a change of pace was in order.

The following were knowledge bits that for me evoked an “I did not know that” and hope it will do the same for you.  It is also a great cache of information should we ever have a Bronxville Jeopardy.

• I am the Village’s 36^th Mayor and the fourth woman.  Marcia Lee was the first female mayor taking office in 1977.  The first 17 mayors were called Presidents of the Village and a photo is only hung in Village Hall upon one’s retirement.

• There are 1,114 parking meters throughout the village which generated $1,101,560.45 in revenues in the last fiscal year.

• Last fiscal year, our parking enforcement officers issued 29,858 tickets generating $786,928 in ticket revenue.  Believe it or not, this number has decreased in recent years due to our attempt to have a gentler more merchant sensitive approach.

• Several high school students shared a very valid idea with me.  They felt `a la the Bronxville School Foundation’s Donate a Brick Program that they had more than donated a brick to the Village Hall renovation project via their traffic ticket contributions and the bricks should be named accordingly!

• Last fiscal year, the village police department issued vehicle and traffic tickets that generated $246,895 as reported by our court, for which the village retained 52.7 percent or $116,680.84.  The remaining amount of money is forwarded to the state government.

• Last year, the village issued 153 paddle tennis permits which generated $35,507 and 122 tennis permits that produced $24,424 in revenue.

• There are 1,678 parcels of property that make-up the geographic boundaries of the village.  Of that number, 1,595 are classified as taxable and are responsible for the village and school tax levies ($7,912,956 and $38,261,184 respectively for 2011/2012).

• There are 192 fire hydrants located within the village and maintained by United Water at a cost to the village of $84,245.  Quite unfairly, the entire cost of hydrant maintenance fees legally falls on only the taxpaying entities.  The cost is not included as a user fee in water bills which would spread the cost out to all water users, not just taxpayers.

• As a registrar of vital statistics for Lawrence Hospital, the village issued 3,068 birth certificates and 2,980 death certificates during calendar year 2011.

• Our police cars are turned over after approximately 100,000 miles due to major wear and tear caused by 24/7 operation.  Due to heavy usage, major repairs such as new transmissions and engines are often needed at this juncture making it more cost effective to sell the cars at auction slightly before this threshold.

• Our police officers wear Kevlar vests at all times while in uniform.  The vests need to be replaced every five years as Kevlar deteriorates with age.  Our officers also carry Glock .40 caliber handguns and train at least twice per year to maintain proficiency.

• Approximately 1,400 properties have alarm permits at a cost of $50 yearly.

• Village Hall has geo-thermal heating and cooling which has proven cost and energy efficient.  Two dozen wells were dug on the village hall lawn.  Water from these wells is circulated throughout the building to water cooled heat pumps, which cool the building in the summer and heat it in the winter through a series of 18 pumps located throughout village hall.

• The village has no county roads and only one state owned road – Route 22 – which was built by the state with no storm sewers or drainage system.

• Scout Field is actually county-owned property, over 90 percent of which is in the cities of Mount Vernon and Yonkers.  The Village of Bronxville’s boundary only extends several feet adjacent to Alden Place.

• Each year the village purchases approximately 700 tons of salt under a state contract for approximately $53/ton.  We have to place our order a full year in advance and estimate need.  The salt is trucked in from a depot in Port Newark where it arrives on barges from throughout the country.

• The village has 65 full time employees including all police, Department of Public Works and library staff as well as a coterie of part-time staff.  Part-time staffers are paid anywhere between $10 and $14 per hour.

The Village is an interesting place and the mayor’s chair offers a great perspective of all things great and small that come together to create the Village of Bronxville.

This just came in from the Scarsdale Library:

Author Tommy Greenwald will visit the Scarsdale Public Library at 7 p.m. March 7  to discuss his book, “Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading.”

The book, which received a starred review from Booklist, is geared to children in grades 4-7.

Registration is required. Log onto scarsdalelibrary.org  to register. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Concordia College has announced a new articulation agreement with the Pace Lubin School of Business, offering students a fast track to earning their master’s degree in accounting.

Students who graduate from Concordia with a B.S. in business administration specializing in accounting will be able to attend Pace and earn their M.S. in accounting/CPA preparation. Depending on the students’ grades and credits earned, the program could be completed in as few as 32 credits instead of 51.

“The accounting profession is where the jobs are,” said Philip Rothman, chair of the business program at Concordia College. “The articulation agreement we’ve secured with Pace Business School will save students time and money, and graduating sooner means entering the workforce sooner as well.  When students graduate, they will find good opportunities in the marketplace, unlike many other fields right now.”

The combined program is a registered CPA preparation program in New York State and meets the current education requirements for CPA licensure as well as the 150-credit hour requirement. Upon a student’s graduation, they will be qualified to sit for the New York State CPA exam under the current educational requirements. The program also meets the educational requirements to take the CPA examination in most other states, including those which require 150-credit hours.

“Concordia College has a first- class undergraduate business program,” said Sherry Fraser, Dean of Concordia, “The partnership with Pace University Graduate Business School will help develop our students into successful accounting professionals.”

The articulation agreement is valid for current students and for students who have completed their degree from Concordia within the past five years.

Pace’s Graduate school of business has 100 years of experience in preparing students for successful accounting careers. It is nationally-ranked and is accredited by AACSB International, an elite distinction shared by fewer than 2 percent of business schools in the world.

UPDATE: TODAY’S EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT with ASSEMBLYWOMAN AMY PAULIN, etc., HAS BEEN CANCELED; Assemblywoman Paulin requested a postponement to attend to business in Albany . We will UPDATE when it is RESCHEDULED..

The Editorial Board has plans a couple interviews this week, and you can join the discussions via CoverItLive. Just look for the live chat to the right of your screen when you watch the Editorial Spotlight interviews at lohud.com/editorialspotlight. Here’s what’s coming up:

TUESDAY:  State Assemblywoman Paulin, D-Scarsdale, discusses New York’s need to update its regulations for animal shelters and the care and handling of stray, lost and homeless animals in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 1:30 p.m. on LoHud.com. Paulin has suffered recent criticism for proposed legislation (A. 5449A) that she says aims to protect lost, stray or homeless animals by partnering with animal rescue organizations, but some animal activists say gives shelters license to kill. Also joining the discussion: Nancy Perry of the ASPCA and Jane Hoffman of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

WEDNESDAY: Representatives of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York share their views on proposed new regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing — a controversial method for extracting natural gas from deep within the earth — in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 11 a.m. on LoHud.com. Participating are: Nancy Schmitt, president and co-founder of Taum Sauk Capital Management, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the energy business; and John A Conrad, president and senior hydrogeologist, Conrad Geoscience, which provides environmental services for the public and private sectors, including the energy industry.

To watch the interviews, go to www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight; to comment or ask a question during the interviews, engage the “CoverItLive” feature on the computer screen.

AND A REMINDER! The first of two public hearings on the Tappan Zee Bridge Hudson River Crossing Project takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack, in the fourth-floor Adler Room. A second hearing is scheduled for 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Westchester Marriott Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 670 White Plains Road, Greenburgh. The project, scaled back from a decade-long plan to overhaul the entire Interstate 287 corridor, now just focuses on a four-mile stretch that includes the 56-year-old overtaxed Tappan Zee Bridge. This week’s hearings address the environmental impacts of the project. Still to be solved: the funding puzzle for a project expected to cost $5.2 billion, and when and how mass transit will come to the corridor. Visit thenewtzb.com to find out more.

The administration at Northern Westchester Hospital is backing the two nurses involved in the mess with Douglas Kennedy and his newborn son.

The hospital, in a statement issued today,  says patient safety is their priority and they are backing the two nurses—Anna Margaret Lane and Cari Maleman Luciano – who say that Kennedy kicked and grabbed them as they tried to prevent him from leaving the hospital with his two-day old child for some fresh air.

“We completely support the actions of our nursing staff in this case as they were clearly acting out of concern for the safety of the newborn baby,” Mark Vincent, a spokesman for the hospital, said in a statement.

The hospital’s support comes after Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, backed Kennedy and characterized him as an honest man and a great father.

“In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father,” Ailes said.

The president of Fox News is defending Douglas Kennedy in the aftermath of the baby scandal at a Westchester hospital.

Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, said Kennedy, a reporter for Fox, is a “great father” who tells the truth. Ailes said he’s known Douglas and his wife Molly for 15 years.

“He tells the truth and his calm and gentle demeanor always impressed me,” Ailes said in a statement. ”He is the definition of a great father and it is a role he cherishes over all others. I support Douglas as do the independent  eyewitness accounts of the event. It is unfortunate that what appears to be a father’s defensive maneuver to protect his newborn baby has been twisted because of his famous name. In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father.”

Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, is accused of kicking a maternity ward nurse and grabbing another one at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco while trying to take his 2-day-old son, Bo, out for “fresh air.”

The 44-year-old Chappaqua resident is facing a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of physical harassment, violations, after he was told that he couldn’t take his newborn out of the hospital’s maternity unit, but tried to anyway.

Kennedy and his wife called the allegations “sickening” and hoped Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore would understand that she made “a grave error in making a crime out of a father protecting his baby.”

Read the full story here.