Editor's Notebook: Week in Review

Rye Patch started the week detailing how Con Edison was wrapping up its storm repair efforts. Our Michael Iachetta talked to workers at the Mobile Emergency Center set up at Playland.

Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert said the company had a lot of work on its hands: "Among other things, we had to replace more than 150 utility poles, and 650 cross arms (those horizontal bars on top of the telephone poles), and used 150,000 feet of cable," Olert said. "We replaced 125 transformers, had to take down and cut up more than 1,500 trees, and had something like 700 crews working 12-14 hour shifts, and when we had the situation under control in Brooklyn and Queens, we imported more crews into Westchester from NYC."

According to the company's power outages map, a majority of those who were without power during the storm have had their power restored, and luckily, no one was injured. 

We also had our reader favorite, Peter Gerstenzang's "Happy Mondays" column. Happy is quickly becoming Rye's favorite golden retriever ( at least from Rye Patch's perspective). In this week's column, Peter and Happy surveyed the damage from the recent Nor'easter. Peter uses his acerbic wit to write about what could have been more of a disaster for many residents: 

"Normally, I'm use to seeing a tree in one place at a time, but this tree I saw was everywhere, trying to do the work of many different trees. This tree was multi-tasking.," he writes. "I mentioned this to the owner of the house. He said the tree was overcompensating for the electricity, which didn't work at all. Although, he didn't say it quite so euphemistically."

We also covered  schools and local government this week. Blind Brook, like the Rye City School District, is experiencing challenges because of increased property assessment challenges by property owners. The school district is required to pay refund for any tax reductions these property owners receive because it relies on property taxes to fund its schools. The Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School district has about $165,000 in its tax reserve, and expects to issue about $132,000 in tax refunds during the 2010-2011 school year. The district may have to dip into its fund balance to pay these refunds. 

Blind Brook parents are also trying to start a booster club to raise funds for the Rye Town/Harrison Titans hockey team. The school district has proposed eliminating the team as part of its budget cuts, but several parents are arguing that the 65 students who play on the team are not being given a fair shake. 

In Rye City, the school district is considering funding the squash and crew teams, both of which are currently considered clubs and not interscholastic sports. Because both teams are clubs, the district has not been required to fund them. But amid cuts to everything from capital improvement projects and technology, the Board of Education and the school district have to decide if they should fund these clubs, which could set a precedent for funding other sports that actually operate in the same way, something that could turn out to be a financial burden for the district. 

In local government, Rye Brook unveiled its proposed 2010-11 budget, which calls for a less than 2 percent increase in the tax rate, and Rye City approved a measure to borrow $3.5 million to pay for its 2006 purchase of 1037 Boston Post Road and several capital improvement projects.  

We ended the week with a story on how Rye began celebrating its 350th anniversary with a gala at Crawford Park Mansion on Thursday. Rye Patch will be covering this story throughout the year, as Rye has tons of events slated for the local celebration. 

We've also 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.