BEDFORD, N.Y. - The design of a new Bedford flag that “better reflects its identity, cultural heritage and community values” rests for now in the hands of a newly appointed task force.
On a night when the Town Board wrapped up public comment on an update of Bedford’s comprehensive plan, it also took time last week to name seven people—one of them the ninth grader who inspired the hunt for a new town banner—to oversee the initiative and ensure further community engagement. The board made no comment in unanimously approving the task force at the March 18 meeting.
The student, Trevor Lombardo of Katonah, who attends Rippowam Cisqua School, had addressed the board’s Dec. 3 meeting, saying, “A fresh, new design flying along the downtown streets of the three villages would be a great way of showing our community and connection, as well as a great way to show our identity as a town.” The current flag, he suggested, was essentially just the town seal “on a bedsheet.”
Joining Trevor on the task force are residents and professionals lending their expertise. They are John Stockbridge, Bedford’s town historian; David Schwittek of Bedford Corners, assistant professor of graphic design and digital media at Lehman College (CUNY); Joe Pugliese, the lead graphic designer with a New Jersey flag maker; Lauren Richel Kelly of Katonah, a graphic designer; Brett Kimmel of Bedford Hills, a lawyer and vexillologist—one who studies flags, their history, symbolism and design; and Councilwoman Stephanie McCaine, the board’s liaison to the task force.
The resolution establishing the task force emphasized community input, insisting it should prioritize “meaningful public engagement to ensure inclusive and representative input from Bedford residents and community stakeholders.” It also instructed the panel to adhere to best practices in flag design, including simplicity, distinctiveness, meaningful symbolism and appropriate use of colors.
Comprehensive Plan
Public comment on an update of Bedford’s comprehensive plan formally closed last week after remarks by five speakers, including one still worried that the town’s dirt roads face the risk of being paved over.
Like several other residents, Carol Kurth had written to the board expressing concern over the future of Bedford’s iconic dirt roads and urging a stout defense of them in the master plan update. She joined a widespread call for dirt-road safeguards in the plan, Bedford Today.
The clamor began at the board’s March 4 meeting after Guard Hill Road was mistakenly listed as a so-called “collector” road like McClain Street and Bedford Center Road. Collector roads rank just below “arterial” thoroughfares for traffic capacity. Speakers at that earlier public hearing on the update raised fears that such a description meant Guard Hill might someday be paved.
Supervisor Ellen Calves, saying the Guard Hill “collector” designation had been made in error, assured that meeting’s speakers that the plan values dirt roads as an essential element of Bedford’s rural character.
Calves continued to support the roads at the March 18 meeting and said the updated plan will reflect that. “The language will be tweaked to be more in favor of a policy to protect the roads,” she said. But, as the supervisor made clear, it’s simply an advisory statement. “It doesn’t actually protect the dirt roads or pave the dirt roads,” Calves said. “It’s just a recommendation to have a policy about it.”
Calves was enthusiastic in thanking members of the Comprehensive Plan Action Committee and others who served on its subcommittees. “What a tremendous job you all did,” she said.
Written comments on the comprehensive plan were continued until March 28.
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