Editor's Notebook: Week in Review

Rye Patch started the week with one of our reader's favorite features, "Happy Mondays." Peter Gerstenzang's column about getting his dog, Happy, licensed has remained popular all week. Any dog owner knows that these furry friends can get pretty pricy. As Peter so comically put it in his column: "If you include food, shots and having a golf glove removed, it's a fortune. Plus, I'm still disputing the charges for his having called that 900 number, Telefetish Phone Sex. What could have been going on in that conversation? Yes, it's a rhetorical question." Dogs can be costly, but Rye Patch readers hope that whatever the price, Peter does whatever it takes to keep Happy happy.

We also had two Q&A features this week with Rye Brook Trustees candidates Jeff Rednick and Moge Agahian. Last week, we interviewed Toby Marrow, another village resident who is competing for a seat on the Village Board. All three candidates are competing to fill one of two spots that will be left vacant once Trustees Dean Santon and Patricia Sanders Romano leave office. Marrow and Rednick are running on the Rye Brook Together ticket, while Agahian is running as an independent candidate. The League of Women Voters will hold a candidates' forum on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Blind Brook High School. The election takes place on March 16.

Both the Blind Brook and Rye City school districts proposed their 2010-11 budgets this week. Blind Brook's proposed $39.5 million budget includes a 2.14 tax levy increase. The proposed budget is about 1.6 percent higher than the previous year's $37.2 million budget and includes cuts to merged sports such as hockey and swimming. Several "hockey parents" spoke at the meeting, imploring the school board not to cut hockey because the elimination of the program would effect 67 kids throughout the middle school and high school.

Rye City proposed a $69.7 million school budget that includes a  1.45 percent tax levy increase, or a possible 1.95 percent increase of the tax rate if you consider the city assessor's predicted decreases in assessments in the area. Both school districts will adopt their budgets in April, but not before they give residents a chance to provide input.

We also had a story this week about the Town of Rye considering letting commercial property owners redeem their properties from foreclosure. Last year, the town foreclosed on 14 properties whose owners owed back taxes. The foreclosures resulted in the town seizing title to more than $3.2 million in assessed property value. Three of these owners have asked the town to return their properties if they pay the taxes owed. Considering how the recession has affected almost every American, town officials are considering allowing these owners to redeem their properties, but some of them may not get a second chance if they intentionally decided not to pay taxes for non-economic reasons.

We also covered the ongoing dispute between the Jay Heritage Center and Westchester County. A recently released lab report commissioned by the center showed that materials dumped on the Jay property in January contained high levels of hazardous chemicals that exceeded state environmental standards. The report concluded that the waste dumped on the property had levels of arsenic , pesticides and other chemicals that exceed NYSDEC standards for land areas that have unrestricted uses. The report concluded that the materials should be placed in a safer area. Rye Patch is still awaiting an official response from the county on this matter, but we're sure there will be another chapter in this saga.

We also had some breaking news this week. On Wednesday, around 11:45 p.m, a manhole fire erupted on Purdy Avenue, just a block away from where another manhole fire occurred on New Year's Eve. Three fire trucks and police personnel arrived on the scene to handle the issue. Firefighters flooded the manhole with water and within an hour the fire was under control. No one was injured and no buildings lost power in the incident. Con Edison said crews would be on Purdy Avenue most of Thursday and Friday to repair the lines, but we're sure this week's snowstorm has delayed those efforts.

We ended the week with our usual photo recap and a weekly roundup of Rye sports, so browse through our photo gallery or read our sports recap to see what teams in the area tallied victories or defeats this week.

We've covered lots more, so feel free to search the site for other engaging stories from the past week. Rye Patch will be your source for everything that is happening in the city and town of Rye---from local government and school board meetings to sports and arts and entertainment.

We'll be doing a "Week in Review" every Sunday, so if you missed anything during the week, we've got you covered.