Mayor Marvin Presents Facts About Bronxville

Sitting in the mayor’s chair, I have learned so many interesting and important facts about the Village that I never knew as a 28-year resident.

So this week’s column is a distillation of some information that hopefully will elicit the same response in you: “I didn’t know that.”

• Bronxville has 2,300 addresses in the village but over 10,000 people use Bronxville as their postal address.
• In 1898, at the time of its incorporation as a village, Bronxville had 300 citizens.
• Sixty percent of our residents live in single-family homes and townhouses while 40 percent reside in apartments, co-ops and condominiums.
• In the most recent census, ethnicity in the village was 20 percent Irish, 11 percent Italian, 11 percent German and 10 percent English, with all other nationalities below double digits.
• Per the same census, the village has 3,358 female residents vs 3,060 male.
• Twenty percent of the land in the village is tax exempt.
• The Bronx River was actually re-routed and the village border changed to accommodate the construction of the Bronx River Parkway.
• There are 1,356 parking meters in our village and they all work. (Most days!)
• The village has over 70 acres of parkland.
• The original soil at the Alfredo Fields, near Siwanoy Country Club, was sold and trucked to Queens for the World’s Fair in 1939.
• Scout Field, both upper and lower, are Westchester County parkland with over 95 percent of the actual field areas in the cities of Yonkers and Mount Vernon.
• Bronxville residents pay more in property taxes to Westchester County (approximately $8 million per year) than they do to run village government.
• With the exception of the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, Bronxville is the only other community that is co-terminous with their school district and has the municipality issues both school and village tax bills.
• When United Water or Con Edison needs to do repairs underground, it is their responsibility to repave and repair the disrupted surfaces. Of late, repairs seem to take much longer because the work is now subcontracted out to different entities.
• Homeowners are responsible for the care, maintenance and replacement of sidewalks abutting their property. The village is responsible for road maintenance.
• According to a Con Edison study, the cost to relocate the overhead electrical lines in Bronxville would be approximately $62 million. In addition, there would be a charge to connect individual homes which would average between $18,000–$25,000 per dwelling. If the overhead lines from the feeder substations that run through adjoining communities are not buried as well, Bronxville would still lose power if the lines are hit.
• Crews from the Village Department of Public Works cannot remove tree branches or debris near a wire until Con Edison has determined the wire is not live and poses no danger.

Our Police Department offers many ancillary services to residents including the following:

• Security survey of homes or businesses to assess vulnerabilities and suggest ways to increase security
• A vacant house check for residents on vacation
• A key file service allowing homeowners to keep a key at the police department for emergencies
• The assistance of officers who are certified infant seat technicians to inspect or install car seats

All of these services can be requested by calling the police desk at 914-337-0500.

• As part of their duties, police officers report all non-working street lights. If a light remains out for several days, it means there is an electrical issue requiring assistance from Con Edison.
• Kevlar police vests last only five years. Then the fibers start to decompose.
• A 14-year-old providing alcohol to a 20-year-old can still be charged with the crime of providing alcohol to a minor.
• The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law sets the minimum speed of 30 mph for villages. It can be lowered only with evidence of exceptional circumstances such as a designated school zone or proof that an area has a history of multiple serious accidents caused by conditions particular to that stretch of road.
• In 1960, villagers voted 5:1 for Richard Nixon over former resident John F. Kennedy
• The Village has no County-owned roads and only one State road, Route 22. It is only Route 22 that cannot be repaved or upgraded by the Village’s capital plan. If you notice, the state built Route 22 in Bronxville with no catch basins adding to our flooding issues.
• In 1934, 301 babies were born at Lawrence Hospital. Last year, the total reached over 2,500. Village government is responsible for the production of their birth certificates.
• Palumbo Place is named for Joe Palumbo the long time Village Public Works Director. Leonard Morange Park, on the west side, is named after the first Village resident to die in service of our country in World War I.
• Famous people who called the Village home included John F. Kennedy, Eddie Rickenbacker, Beat writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, Elizabeth Custer, Jack Paar and Marvin Bower.

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