Hudson Valley Uncensored

01/24/2022 Weekly Editorial Roundup


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Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record; Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times; and Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News, join host Brett Freeman for this weekly editorial roundup.

Walogorsky kicks off the discussion by explaining a possible real estate development in Baldwin Place by Urstadt Biddle Properties. In this development, everyone shopping at HomeGoods will be relocated to Mohegan Lake, with another larger retail store coming. Urstadt Biddle Properties are proposing a new apartment building that would be 5 stories with 160-units of affordable living apartments. Walogorsky mentions everyone is negative about this development and explains their concerns.

Marschhauser then shifts the discussion to the overlay districts which are basically rezoned properties in downtown Yorktown Heights. He explains that these were rezoned to encourage mixed-use developments, giving the developers the ability to build more prominent, taller buildings, promote walkability, and hold a certain aesthetic standard. He elaborates on the specific properties getting rezoned and explains the excitement among the people of Yorktown regarding this rezoning.

Dumas discusses a jaw-dropping story of a theft that happened on January 18. A babysitter, elementary school teacher, and JV volleyball coach in Somer Central School District was arrested for stealing money from his employer's home [Nicole Borelli Stern]. Dumas details that Nicole caught him on camera in real-time rummaging through a purse and stealing $1,250. Dumas reports that more than $50,000 in cash and jewelry was missing over the past six months, and initially, they suspected somebody else. Michael Yoder, the babysitter, has been charged with grand larceny in the fourth degree only for the money stolen out of the purse, with investigations of all the other missing money ongoing. Dumas also relays that Stern's pet pig might have eaten some of the money that fell on the floor during the robbery when he rummaged through the purse.

Dumas then discusses a cause for concern regarding pollution in the Downtown Business District in Mahopac caused by dry cleaning waste seeping into the water table. He reports that the Department of Environmental Conservation has discovered chemicals in drinking well water above accepted limitations. A heating oil tank has been found buried in the ground behind a chamber building that had leaked petroleum into the ground, causing damage worth about $20,000.

More stories in this roundup include a car discovered floating off the shore of Lake Mahopac, nepotism and the selection criteria in town council positions, former Yorktown Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo's guilty plea to petty larceny, and the race for county executive.

Episode Highlights:

  • Three editors from the Halston Media team join today's roundup

  • Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record; Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times; and Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News
  • Possible real estate development in Baldwin Place and the main concerns
  • The traffic problem with such real estate developments

  • Comparison of this development with the Kmart building in Mahopac two years ago
  • Details of the overlay districts, the rezoned properties in downtown...
...more
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Hudson Valley UncensoredBy Halston Media