RyeCity REVIEW THE
November 11, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 46 | www.ryecityreview.com
Latimer bests Killian to hold onto Senate seat By SIBYLLA CHIPAZIWA Assistant Editor
F OOD FIGHT At the moment Rye Town Park is without a restaurant operator for the 2017 season as Seaside Johnnies has turned down a one-year contract extension of its lease. For story, see page 8. File photo
Rye forms committee in wake of Harrison gun store saga By FRANCO FINO Staff Writer With much attention centered on a new gun store set to open in Harrison, the city of Rye has formed an “open-ended” committee to investigate gun-related issues and potentially the creation of a gun ordinance. On Nov. 2, during a Rye City Council meeting, Mayor Joe Sack requested help from his colleagues in analyzing any potential action the city could take to better accommodate the existing laws in Rye related to gun
issues. “There may or may not be anything that individual residents or the city of Rye can do with regard to something that happens outside our jurisdiction,” said Mayor Joe Sack, a Republican. “But, I think that it raises the issue of what, if anything, can we do within our own city.” The formation of the city committee, which will be cochaired by Councilwoman Danielle Tagger-Epstein, a Democrat, and Councilman Terry McCartney, a Republican, comes in
response to the controversial planned opening of L&L Sports at 261 Halstead Ave in the town/ village of Harrison. The planned gun store, which is set to open its doors within the next few weeks, is located less than 1,000 feet from Parsons Memorial Elementary School and near St. Gregory the Great’s Church. While the Rye committee is in its preliminary stages of organizing, the city has not waited to contact officials in Harrison. Rye City Manager Marcus Serrano said he spoke to Harrison Building Inspector Robert
FitzSimmons about the department’s decision to grant Louis Zacchio, the L&L storeowner, permission to open his storefront. “The building inspector said it conducted all the necessary protocol, and felt that it complied with federal laws in granting a building permit to the gun storeowner,” Serrano said. In Harrison, petitioners against the gun store have advocated for exploring town ordinances which could have placed tighter restrictions on the Gun GUN continued on page 8
In a battle of neighbors, New York state Sen. George Latimer held on to his 37th District seat after a contentious campaign against Republican Julie Killian. As polls closed at 9 p.m. on Nov. 8, some Latimer supporters started to trickle into Rosa’s La Scarbitta Ristorante on Halstead Avenue in the village of Mamaroneck, two doors down from Latimer’s campaign headquarters. According to unofficial results from the Westchester County Board of Elections as of press time, Latimer, a Rye Democrat, won with 66,751 or 55 percent of votes to Killian’s 53,975 or 45 percent with 99 percent of districts reporting. For Latimer, the win continues a streak of 17 consecutive election victories without tasting defeat. But the wins have not always been easy. “We’ve turned politics into a blood sport; we’ve turned it into a demolition derby, and that’s not what politics is,” he said. At his headquarters as the first numbers came in, Meg Cameron, chairwoman of the Rye City Democratic Committee, said that she was not surprised at the results. “George’s achievements and long record of service are much greater than Julie’s, even though they’re both well-known and respected in the community,” she said. However, much of the talk
among Democrats on election night was of a Killian television ad accusing Latimer of turning a blind eye to sexual assault in Albany. Cameron added that she was “very disappointed” at how the campaign played out. “Given this is a ‘hometown’ race, and Rye is kind of a small town, [Killian] ran such an ugly campaign,” Cameron said. Surrounded by other prominent elected officials representing Westchester, Latimer celebrated another win. “I had a good feeling, but I know that it was going to be a competitive race,” Latimer, 62, told the Review after declaring victory. “I have great respect for my opponent, and whatever we disagreed on, I never did not respect her skill set as an advocate.” In Port Chester, Killian, a Rye City councilwoman, held camp at Saltaire Oyster Bar amid a contingent of supporters that remained hopeful well into the night as the numbers started to climb in her opponent’s favor. LATIMER continued on page 9
INSIDE Public safety commissioner OK’d Story on page 3.