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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – A room full of residents were given a glimmer of hope Monday night as local New York State Assembly member Bob Castelli (R-Bedford) announced at the Pleasantville Board of Trustees meeting a proposed bill that may help stop the state department of transportation (DOT) traffic monitoring tower project on the Saw Mill River Parkway.
“None of the local governments consented to this and there were no public hearings for this project,” Castelli said. “We want the opportunity to have our local governments have the opportunity to be heard in this matter, whether positively or negatively, before any determination is made.”
The pending bill provides that towers, including those for telecommunications, may not be erected on special parkway lands within Westchester County without the consent of the local government in which the tower is located. The bill is sponsored by Castelli’s fellow local Assembly member Gary Pretlow (D-Yonkers) and co-sponsored by Assembly members Thomas Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) and Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale). Castelli said a meeting to discuss passing the bill will take place Tuesday in Albany.
If the bill passes, Castelli said there is enough time to alter or cancel the state DOT’s project and that a decision on the bill can come as soon as next Monday.
“I do believe that it can be taken up quickly and my colleagues and I have the ability to move this thing forward in a timely fashion,” Castelli said. “The ability to stop this project, based upon this legislation, certainly still exists.”
Pleasantville Mayor Peter Scherer, along with the board of trustees and the roughly 30 residents in attendance at the meeting Monday, praised the local Assembly for listening to their complaints. Scherer made it clear that he and board are adamantly against the project.
“It doesn’t make an awful lot of sense to spend a lot of money on an eye in the sky project that tells us something that we already know, which is that when it rains, the traffic stops,” Scherer said.
The DOT project includes a series of closed-circuit television system towers that are around 125 feet high and feature a camera on top that can monitor traffic flow and accidents. The DOT plans to install seven towers on the Saw Mill River Parkway – beginning from where the parkway crosses the Taconic State Parkway near Hawthorne, and ending in Chappaqua. The state department said traffic monitoring cameras can sense heavy congestion, show when an alternate route should be recommended and also detect accidents quickly in order to dispatch emergency forces in a timely manner.
Earlier this month, DOT officials said the department recognizes the local concerns but that a suspension or alteration to the project is possible. The department said the cameras do not capture personal identity information. The project is anticipated to be complete by this summer.
Although progress in stopping the project is being made, Pleasantville residents such as Deana Nelkin urged residents Monday to continue voicing their concerns to state government.
“Please pressure DOT and please make the phone calls or even if you just want to send an email, all it takes is a couple minutes and it will go a long way,” Nelkin said.
Comments (5)
Nathan Winograd shared a link.
New Yorkers have sent 20,183 emails to Assembly Member Bill Magee and other members of the Agriculture Committee in support of the Companion Animal Access & Rescue Act. CAARA would make it illegal to kill animals when a qualified rescue group is willing to save them. In addition, it sets meaningful standards to ensure quality of care in shelters.
Unfortunately, Bill Magee is digging in his heels and urging the Committee to kill the bill, condemning 25,000 animals a year to certain death.
Today, the first of three ads appears in a newspaper in his district educating his constituents that Magee stands between life and death and is choosing death. He is up for reelection this year.
If--and ONLY--if you are from New York State, please contact Bill Magee and ask him to pass CAARA:
Email: MageeW@assembly.state.ny.us
Telephone: (607) 432-1484
Protect NY Pets | Bill Magee
www.protectnypets.org
One person has the power to save the lives of tens of thousands of dogs and cats in New York animal shelters every year at no cost to taxpayers. Right now, the Companion Animal Access & Rescue Act (A07312) is sitting before the NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee chaired by Assemblyman Bill Magee.
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4807
Another example of the communication problem between the state and local governments.
Residents should always have the opportunity to voice their concerns on something that impacts their lives, homes and community, before a project of this magnitude even gets to the drawing board.
Imagine how much of taxpayer money was already spent and will go to waste when we successfully stop this project.
I would hope they would focus their attention to areas that we truly need help with like flooding.
Today everyone has a cell phone, so notifying police and emergency personal is already expedited.
As a town councilman I see on a daily basis how state and federal governments are disconnected from local towns and villages, that needs to change.
Carl Fulgenzi
I urge all residents of New Castle and Mount Pleasant to join us in the fight to block this project. The DOT deceptively foisted these monstrous towers upon our communities, with no notice. And when they claim they did inform us in 2007, the project was no where near what they are proposing today, i.e, seven 120ft towers along the Saw Mill River Pkwy from the Taconic-Saw Mill interchange to Roaring Brook Road.
Please sign the on-line petition. Visit the website: StopDOTtowers.org. Join our Yahoo group: westchestermicrowavetowers. Get active and get involved. Our local politicians are encouraging us as we are making a difference. We must get the DOT to change their plans back to what they proposed in 2007.
Please note that there nobody is for this project. Every resident who see the DOT's proposal is enraged. Let's all channel that into making positive change.
These towers will blight our beautiful landscape, devastate property values for some and raise property taxes for the rest. After the affected owners' taxes are lowered, the other residents will be required to make up for the lost revenue. Please join the campaign. Together we can make a difference.
These towers will blight our beautiful landscape, devastate property values for some and raise property taxes for the rest. After the affected owners' taxes are lowered, the other residents will be required to make up for the lost revenue. Please join the campaign. Together we can make a difference.