RyeCity REVIEW THE
September 7, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 37 | www.ryecityreview.com
Last section of new Tappan Zee set to open this month By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
Smooth SOUNDS White Plains will be hosting its annual JazzFest event, which will take place Sept. 12 through Sept. 16. For more information and a list of the festival’s headliners, see page 6. Photo courtesy Diana Costello
Lowey demands answers on Westchester mail By JAMES PERO Staff Writer Congresswoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, continues to press the U.S. Postal Service over problems with stolen and late mail deliveries across Westchester County. In a new letter to Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman, Lowey demands answers for scheduling changes requiring Westchester mail carriers to report to work 90 minutes past their usual start time due to problems in the county’s mail distribution center, which she says will “make mail delivery even later than it already is.” Westchester residents have experienced regular mail
problems over the past year, including mail arriving late or mail never being delivered. The U.S. Postal Service has alleged those instances are due to a reduction in funding and, as a result, a reduced workforce. “It has been suggested to me that the distribution problems relate to staffing issues because, although the Postal Service is recruiting carriers, it is losing as many as 50 percent of new hires because of working conditions,” Lowey said in her letter. “I would like to know more about the scheduling changes and problems at the distribution center.” Reports of a rash of mail theft over the last several months in areas of the county has resulting in
county District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, a Democrat, urging residents to keep a more watchful eye. According to Lowey’s letter, theft has continued to plague some Westchester communities, including White Plains, Ossining, Bronxville, New Rochelle and Tarrytown, in particular, with checks even being stolen out of collection boxes inside post offices. In the city of Yonkers alone, $660,000 was stolen by mail thieves from 85 different victims from January through June, according to city officials. In some instances, mail has been stolen directly from residential mailboxes by using keys
or other fishing techniques while other reports have included an entire mailbox being taken with the mail, which sometimes contains sensitive items like personal checks. If checks are stolen, thieves “wash” them by removing the ink used to fill in the monetary amount and, in turn, are able to empty victims’ bank accounts by forging their own information. A joint letter from congress to the U.S. Postal Service in May called for answers and additional postal inspectors to monitor the problem. As of press time, there has been no official response from the U.S. Postal Service. CONTACT: james@hometwn.com
The Westchester bound side of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge will open on Sept. 8, with potential toll hikes in 2020 still undecided, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. The firm opening date comes after a previous announcement on Aug. 29 in which Cuomo said the bridge would open in “mid-September.” “I’m pleased to report that thanks to the tireless work of the women and men building the new bridge, the project will be completed in mid-September if Mother Nature cooperates,” Cuomo said in an initial statement. The first span of the bridge opened almost exactly a year ago with Cuomo touting the $4 billion project’s timeliness and its success staying on budget. The project’s completion will mark a culmination of decades of talks about constructing a new Tappan Zee Bridge which had been cited for its significant decay with an engineering assessment in 2009 chronicling an “unusually high” rate of deterioration. “People talked for decades about replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge and now we’re on the cusp of making history,” said Jamey Barbas, the project director. “The new bridge will improve traffic flow and maximize the economic potential of the region, and is a symbol of New York’s ability to accomplish big things for the people of this state.” With the slated opening in September, however, future potential toll hikes, which have long been discussed, are still an impending item.Currently, the Thruway Authority, who is responsible for setting tolls, has committed to keep-
The rest of the new Tappan Zee Bridge is slated to open this month with toll fees still at $5. Photo courtesy newnybridge.com
ing a $5 toll static until 2020. In the meantime, a Toll Advisory Task Force, which was banded together by Cuomo in 2015 has yet to meet once to discuss the prospect of raising tolls—originally a toll hike to $15 has been flirted with. The task force is a seven-member body that consists of representatives of the state Department of Transportation and the Thruway Authority. Cuomo has yet to remark publicly on the progress of the task force’s examination of tolls and what exactly the rate hike would be. Most recently, the topic of tolls and the name change of the bridge to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge— after his father and former governor of the state—became a point of contention recently in a debate between Cuomo and Democratic challenger Cynthia Nixon. Nixon is running in a Sept. 13 primary against Cuomo trying to unseat the two-term governor. A piece of legislation from the state Legislature to retain the bridge’s Tappan Zee name, a moniker it has held for more than half a century, failed to pass through the Assembly this summer. CONTACT: james@hometwn.com