RyeCity REVIEW THE
May 22, 2020 | Vol. 8, Number 20 | www.eastchesterreview.com
Homemade With COVID-19 impacting the restaurant industry and food shortages a growing concern, one local chef has taken matters into his own hands building a greenhouse in the backyard of his Bedford home. For more, see page 6.
Virtual Memorial Day services highlight sacrifice By MIKE SMITH Sports Editor Even as several counties in the Hudson Valley are scheduled to begin the reopening process this week, ongoing restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak conspired to force widespread changes to annual Memorial Day observances scheduled around Westchester County for May 25. But even though municipalities were unable to hold their traditional parades and public remembrances in honor of the men and women who gave their lives while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, many found other ways to express their gratitude to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation. While some municipalities invited residents to stagger visits to war memorials located inside the communities, others—including the cities of New Rochelle, Rye and White Plains—held virtual events to celebrate our fallen soldiers and their contributions to our country. Nicole Levitsky, Rye TV’s public access coordinator, helped put together one such event once it became apparent that social-distancing measures would
necessitate a different approach. “In Rye, Memorial Day is always a huge deal,” Levitsky said. “If you look at 2019, you can see how many people we had on the village green, not to mention in the parade.” Rye TV worked with city officials, as well as members of the American Legion Post 128—including Commander Fred de Barros—to produce a 30-minute video that streamed online at 10 a.m. and aired throughout the day on the city’s public access channel. “We had talked about possibly doing a service on zoom, but ultimately decided to videotape everyone separately,” Levitsky said. The service featured a reading of the names of Rye residents who have died while serving in the armed forces, as well as appearances by Rye Mayor Joshua Cohn and Westchester County Executive George Latimer, among others. Latimer commended the nation’s fallen heroes during his speech and said the day is a solemn reminder of the cost of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. “The plaque outside [Rye] City Hall represents the names of those who did not come back,” Latimer said. “That’s why Memorial Day exists, so we can re-
The memorial plaque outside of Rye City Hall is adorned with flags to commemorate Memorial Day. On May 25, Rye—and several other municipalities—were forced to honor fallen servicemen and women virtually. Photo/Mike Smith
member them, so that their sacrifice can never be forgotten.” As Americans grapple with a national health crisis that has claimed nearly 100,000 lives— more than were lost in the Korean and Vietnam wars combined—Latimer also spoke of the sacrifices made by countless Americans during the current pandemic and said that Memorial Day should be a reminder of one’s duty to the well-being of the nation at-large. “Every generation is called
to take some action that is over and above themselves. Now our generation has a different type of sacrifice in front of us, but on Memorial Day we have to remember what the ultimate sacrifice means,” he said. “The ultimate sacrifice is not just a sacrifice of our economic strength, it’s not the sacrifice of doing the things we’d like to do, it is a sacrifice of life; of everything we hold dear.” Contact: sports@hometwn.com
Mid-Hudson OK’d to reopen region, economy By CHRISTIAN FALCONE Editor-in-Chief After more than two months battling the deleterious effects of COVID-19, Westchester County took its first steps toward restarting the economy on Tuesday. The county, part of the Mid-Hudson Valley region, began “Phase One” of a reopening plan developed by New York State labeled “NY Forward.” The May 26 phased reopening, announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, at his May 23 press briefing, comes on the heels of the region reaching all seven metrics put in place by the state. The final hurdle was identifying enough contact tracers to meet the those guidelines. The entire state had been at a standstill ever since Cuomo put into effect “NYS on PAUSE,” on March 22, shutting down all non-essential business and services as well as implementing a statewide stay-at-home order to minimize the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and protect a vulnerable healthcare system. “The numbers are going down every day and we’re making real progress to stop the spread of this virus, and now we’re focusing on reopening,” Cuomo said. «We don›t want a region to reopen before its ready, and the Mid-Hudson Valley Region has now met all the criteria necessary to begin reopening.” The Mid-Hudson Valley joins the Capital Region, Western New York, Central New York, North Country, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley regions, all of which are already in the first phase of reopening. Cuomo is optimistic that the Long Island region, with its number of deaths dropping and contact tracing coming together, could begin to reopen as soon as May 27, after press time. If so, that would leave just New York City as the remaining region still
on pause. But the hope is that region—the country’s epicenter for the contagion, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the 99,459 deaths nationwide—would begin its own reopening by mid-June. Now, as the state begins to try and piece itself back together, Westchester will restart by reopening just construction, manufacturing and supply chain jobs, retail stores for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.
“We’ve had a steady slow decline… we are now on the down slope. What we hope is to continue to show the metrics we need to show in order to justify, for the governor’s purposes, the ability to open the Hudson region.” – Westchester County Executive George Latimer
For the region to move into the second of a four-phase plan, major indicators—hospitalization rate and infection rate, most notably—cannot start to trend in the wrong direction. Each phase would run for a minimum of two weeks to serve as an assessment period, according to Westchester county officials. The latest data, as of May 22, showed that there were still 1,862 active COVID-19 cases in the county, according to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. But that number was down by about 100 from the day prior, a continued reduction in the numbers providing a sense of optimism for government officials in recent weeks. “Statistically, we continue to see trends in the same direction we have over the last seven ECONOMY continued on page 7