AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN
At 16, persuading the Westchester County Board of Legislators to build the first bikeway in Westchester and to close the Bronx River Parkway for cyclists on Sundays.
Starting Westchester’s first commuter bus from Westchester to NYC–an alternative to the railroad.
Named by Common Cause as one of six national recipients of their public service achievement award. Award cited my “force of imagination, initiative and perseverance that have made an outstanding contribution to the public interest in the areas of government performance and integrity.”
Leading the successful effort that resulted in women being admitted as members of the powerful Scarsdale Town Club.
AS A WESTCHESTER COUNTY LEGISLATOR
Successful campaign to persuade the Westchester County Board of Legislators to provide the public with an opportunity to speak at Board meetings.
One of the leaders in the effort to persuade the county to purchase the Old Putnam Rails–which now has been converted into the South County Bike Trail
Started Have a Heart for the Homeless Committee which assisted families avoid homelessness.
AS GREENBURGH TOWN SUPERVISOR
Standard & Poors awarding the town the highest bond rating possible: AAA. Only 3% of the communities in the nation have this rating. Moody’s upgraded the towns bond rating a few times to the 2nd highest rating.
Money Magazine named Greenburgh as the 80th Best Place to Live in America (2008).
The town was the first locality in the region to have an open space referendum. We expanded parkland from 200 acres to more than 600.
Acquiring new Town Hall at 6.8 million dollars–the building had cost over 12 million to build. We got a fantastic bargain.
Open government: residents can participate at Town Board meetings by phone from their homes. Meetings are televised and streamed live on the Internet.
New interactive kiddy pool. Over 17 new playgrounds. People move to the town because of our children. Thousands of kids have had lots of fun.
First community in Westchester to allow cable TV competition.
Madison Square Garden has opened training facility in Greenburgh. National headquarters of Dannon. Regeneron & Bio Med have made Greenburgh a bio tech center. Shoprite opened a supermarket on Central Ave in 2011. Stop N Shop will open a supermarket on 119 (near Tarrytown border) in 2012. Captain Lawrence Bewing Company moved to Greenburgh in 2011.
Green Inititives. Solar panels at Town Hall, geothermal at new Library. First community to mandate energy star in new residential construction. We now require LEEDS in new commercial construction. First locality to have an energy conservation coordinator. In 2011 initiated new energy conservation website: www.renew.org –a one stop resource for the Greenburgh community to learn more about energy conservation.
After school program “Xposure” is funded by a private foundation. Students, K-8th graders, invest in stock market, have started their own business, have their own savings account. Program featured on cover of Scholastic Magazine.
Arts & Culture program to be funded by a private foundation (Lanza Family Foundation in 2012).
Low crime rate and innovative policing. Community policing, technical rescue teams, canine K-9 program, police on bicycles, SWAT team, summer youth camp, marine unit, expanded emergency medical services. All Greenburgh Police are trained in advance life support.
Weekly radio program on WVOX radio. An interview with Dr. Ed Zuckerberg, father of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg received international attention in early 2011 –a summary of my interview was picked up by over 400 newspapers, TV & radio stations around the world!
Started job club at LinkedIn (greenburgh jobs group) to help Greenburgh and Westchester residents find employment. Over 70 people have found employment thanks to this service, which I started over 3 years ago.
