Issuu

Eastchester REVIEW THE

February 10, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 6 | www.eastchesterreview.com

Bronxville Dems to contest village election By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer

A large sinkhole formed in Bronxville, causing the closure of Midland Avenue. For story, see page 5. Photo/Corey Stockton

Eastchester resident charged with 42 counts of fraud An Eastchester man has been arraigned in Rockland County for allegedly charging a business more than $250,000 for office equipment that was neither ordered nor delivered, while pocketing the commissions for leasing copy machines, according to the district attorney’s office. Joseph Holzberg, 50, worked as an independent contractor, leasing copy machines for a company in exchange for com-

missions. According to the Rockland County district attorney’s office, Holzberg forged documents to allege that a business had leased up to 50 copy machines over a five-year period for which that business paid $250,000 to Holzberg’s client. Holzberg collected commissions on each of those machines, and, to conceal the crime, hid them in two separate storage facilities within Rockland. The defendant, who lives on

Winding Place in the town of Eastchester, was arrested on Feb. 1 following an investigation by the DA’s Special Investigation Unit, and was arraigned on the same day. He was released without bail. Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said, “This elaborate scheme in which the defendant was allegedly involved was motivated by greed, plain and simple. The defendant’s client got its money; Holzberg

received commission for leasing the copy machines; but the victimized local business owner paid for machines that he didn’t possess.” Holzberg will be tried on one count of second-degree theft, a Class C felony, and 42 counts of second-degree forgery, a Class D felony. According to the DA’s office, Holzberg could face up to 15 years in prison. He is due back in court on Feb. 27. -Reporting by Corey Stockton

For the first time in more than a decade, Bronxville Democrats have nominated a candidate to challenge two of the village’s incumbent Republican trustees who are up for re-election in March. Elizabeth Calderon, a Democrat, has received the sole nomination from the village Democratic Committee. In doing so, she will contend for one of two village board seats held by Republican trustees Randy Mayer and Robert Underhill. Mayor Mary Marvin, also a Republican, is also up for re-election but will run unopposed alongside the trustees. Calderon, a New York City native, moved to Bronxville in January 2015 to be near her now 5-year-old grandson. She is an immigration attorney who received her degree from George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. Before moving to Bronxville, she served as a commissioner of the town of Surfside, Florida, which is the same size as Bronxville. “I’m very involved in my community. I’m very interested in my community,” she told the Review. While discussing her previous experience in municipal government, she pointed to a personal mantra: think globally; act locally. “If you only think globally and you only look at the world, and you don’t act locally, the world misses out,” she said. Running a candidate for village board is a rarity for Bronxville Democrats, who could be accused of inaction during local

elections. The committee has only run one other slate of candidates in the previous two decades, when Antoine Brousta and committee Chairwoman Betsy Harding ran unsuccessful campaigns for trustee in 2006. And no Democrat has held elected office in Bronxville since former Trustee Kathy Lorde served from 1993 to 1999. Harding said she was excited to see a Democratic candidate in the village, adding that it was too early to tell if it would lead to the party’s resurgence. “It is very hard to get people interested in local and state elections,” she said. For Marvin, there has been enough interest to keep her in elected office for nearly two decades, including 12 years as mayor. She has never been opposed in an election in her mayoral tenure. Before being elected as mayor in 2005, she had served as a village trustee for five years, and never faced a contested race in that span, either. The mayor said she was honored to have earned the voters’ trust during her political tenure. “I like to think it’s because we’re fair and because we care so much about the village,” Marvin ELECTION continued on page 8