05/18/2022 Weekly Editorial Roundup

On this week’s episode of Hudson Valley Uncensored, host Brett Freeman is joined by regulars Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record; Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News; and Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times, plus reporters Gino De Angelis, Whit Anderson, Sophia Caselnova, and Tom Bartley. The episode kicks off with an announcement about Halston Media’s new monthly publication, The Mount Kisco Bedford Times. Its coverage area includes Mount Kisco, Bedford, and Pound Ridge, and its first issue, out May 19, will cover the local fire departments’ new chiefs, Martha Stewart’s tag sale, and a community forum with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. Then, in more Bedford news, we hear about a scandal involving photos of special ed students, the proposed budget for the next school year, and the Oak Ridge water treatment plant’s funding to expand its filtration system. Bartley also reports that Bedford is having second thoughts about opting out of allowing retail outlets to sell marijuana and discusses the reasons behind this U-turn.

Next, Caselnova jumps in with some Yorktown news, including the town board’s decision to invest $1.2 million in the community center and theater, the Relay for Life, and plans to build a haunted house property in the back of the JV mall. Marschhauser then takes the Yorktown baton to report on a lawsuit involving an attempt to stop property development on the former Soundview Prep School site. He also covers the school board elections, which have gotten pretty intense with disagreements over how the board handled the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement. Meanwhile, Dumas has a story about violin scammers in Mahopac—fake violinists who use pre-recorded music to cheat money out of passers-by—and some sad news about pets being abandoned now that people are returning to normal life post-pandemic. He also covers a heartwarming story about the late Judge James Reitz, a Mahopac icon, having a courtroom in Putnam Country Court named in his honor. And finally, we squeeze in some North Salem and Somers Town news, with Walogorsky reporting that Board of Education elections are happening there too and hinting at a mysterious story involving the retirement of a long-standing business that could be big news for local residents.

Episode Highlights:

• Joining today are three editors from the Halston Media team— Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record; Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News; and Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times.
• Also present for this episode are reporters Gino De Angelis, Whit Anderson, Sophia Caselnova, and Tom Bartley.
• On May 19, Halston Media is launching a new monthly publication called The Mount Kisco Bedford Times. Its coverage area includes Mount Kisco, Bedford, and Pound Ridge, and its first issue will include stories on the local fire departments’ new chiefs, Martha Stewart’s tag sale, and a community forum with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.
• Richard Gere has sold his house in Pound Ridge for a large amount of money, so he will be leaving the Pound Ridge Community… but he’s moved to North Salem, so there’ll be no escaping Halston Media!
• A major story has been happening in the Bedford Central school district involving photos of special ed students in the high school boys’ bathroom that were then distributed among the student body and on social media. The students’ parents were furious at the district’s response and are now going after the board, while the police are investigating and the district’s hiring a third party to investigate the incident at the administration.
• Also in the Bedford area, there’s a proposed budget for the next school year that will be voted on May 17. This will include a universal pre-K program that the board just accepted the money for, but in order to move forward with it, there’s a lot of other logistics that need to be figured out.
• Sean Patrick Maloney officially announced the Oak Ridge water treatment plant is getting $1.8 million to expand its filtration system in order to deal with elevated levels of chemical contaminant PFAS. The new system is expected to take two to three years to be put in.
• May 21 will be Katonah’s 125th celebration of moving from Old Katonah to New Katonah. The residents of Old Katonah decided that rather than giving up their homes when New York City was going to flood them to make way for the Muscoot Reservoir, they would move them to the area now known as New Katonah.
• Bartley reports that Bedford is having second thoughts about its decision to opt out of allowing local retail outlets to sell marijuana. They want to allow residents the chance to protest it and force a town-wide permissive referendum in November. There are three reasons behind this: 1) social justice—poor people and people of color have been penalized more than others by this law; 2) economics—marijuana outlets bring traffic to the town, which could benefit other merchants; 3) sales tax—Bedford would get a thirteen percent cut on sales tax on marijuana, so there’s the potential for huge revenues.
• Caselnova has several stories happening in Yorktown, including the town board’s decision to invest $1.2 million in the community center and the Yorktown Stage Theater. She also reports on the Relay for Life happening Friday and plans to build a haunted house property in the back of the JV mall, including a haunted mansion, haunted toy store, and haunted hospital.
• Marschhauser continues the Yorktown news with a story he’s covering about a lawsuit involving the overlay zones Yorktown approved last year. Overlay zones encourage mixed-use development by relaxing density and bulk requirements—in layman’s terms, buildings on this land can be bigger and have a larger footprint than they would under the normal zoning map.
•  
• One of the proposed developments was for 148 units on the former Soundview Prep School site, including a mix of townhouses, condos, and an apartment building, mostly senior housing. There have been objections from the start that this project would ruin this bucolic property, and a lawsuit has now been filed seeking to overturn the town board’s decision to approve these overlay zones, in effect killing the Underhill Soundview project.
• Town Supervisor Matt Slater spoke to Marschhauser, stating that this is a baseless lawsuit that will cost the town money and that its organizers are standing in the way of progress. Marschhauser is working on getting a statement from the group that filed the lawsuit, which was formed by Trish Sullivan-Rothberg, who previously ran unsuccessfully for town council.
• It’s school board election week in Yorktown and Lakeland, where there are a lot of grassroots candidates challenging the incumbents. The candidates have split into three factions, including two groups called “Lakeland Rise” and “United for Lakeland,” which respectively support and oppose the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement.
• Dumas has been covering a story involving violin scammers in Mahopac—fake violinists who use electronic violins and pre-recorded music to convince people to give them money. Technically, they’re not doing anything illegal, but some store owners are irritated by their customers getting scammed and want a Buyer Beware story out there.
• Dumas is also working on a profile about two dogs who have been slow to be adopted, which has a sad but interesting backstory. During the pandemic, adoptions went through the roof as isolated and lonely people got pets to keep them company. But now that people are getting back to normal life, the SPCA is having trouble getting pets adopted because people already have them, or worse, are either giving their pets back or just abandoning them.
• Judge James Reitz, who passed away a couple of years ago, was an icon in Mahopac. He started the drug court in Putnam County, which gives drug offenders a chance to go to rehab rather than jail, which has been a remarkable success and used as a template by communities all across the country. Courtroom number 301 in the Putnam County Court will now be named after him, becoming the Judge James Reitz Courtroom.
• Walogorsky reports that the Board of Education elections are also happening in North Salem and Somers. He also hints at another story in Somers with a long-standing business about to announce a retirement, but everybody will have to wait for May 19 to find out about it!

Quotes:

“It’s very exciting, it’s the proverbial rollercoaster feeling of starting up a new newspaper. This is actually the second time in my career that I’ve been part of a new publication launching. So it’s, you know, it’s definitely equal parts exciting and terrifying.”

“People know about Halston and what we do, and I think they’re generally excited to, you know, to have us be part of the communities, which is