BEDFORD, N.Y. - Bedford Supervisor Ellen Calves brought the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, 2001, into the present last week, reading a predecessor’s remarks into the record of the Town Board’s Sept. 8, 2026, meeting.
Twenty-five years ago, with the nation still reeling after the 9/11 attacks, Bedford’s then-Supervisor John Dinin observed the tragedy with a heartfelt message before opening the Town Board’s Sept. 19 proceedings.
Dinin had to miss that meeting, so his remarks were read by the deputy supervisor, Lee V.A. Roberts. At last week’s meeting, Calves, clearly still moved by the events of a quarter-century ago, said only, “I’ll try to read this.”
Dinin’s words followed:
“I’d like to have a moment of silence in memory of the families who have suffered, the dead, the missing, those in continuing rescue efforts as a result of the terrorist event created by those who have mistaken civility and gentility for a lack of conviction, purpose and resolve by this nation and its people.”
The silence fell as requested, retired Deputy Town Clerk Nina Kellogg recalled. She had kept the minutes of that meeting and last week forwarded Dinin’s text to town hall.
Calves, who later acknowledged the emotional impact 9/11 continues to have on her, teared up as she concluded her predecessor’s message:
“Our nation, state and town have unalterably changed as a result of last Tuesday’s events. But I firmly believe that we will ultimately be stronger from it.”
Minutes of the 2001 meeting show that Roberts extended the town’s thanks to members of the Bedford police force as well as “our fire departments, our ambulance corps, highway people and everyone else who worked so calmly and diligently in a moment of crisis. And we also join in sympathy for those families who have been so severely touched by this tragedy.”
Roberts would succeed Dinin as supervisor in 2003, going on to serve five terms.
ROUTE 172 REPAVING
Potholes, ruts and subpar patchwork have rendered a stretch of Route 172 increasingly unsafe, the Town Board told Albany last week in urging state officials to repave the heavily traveled thoroughfare.
From Sunnyfield Farm’s entrance and running three-quarters of a mile to the Fox Lane driveway—carrying middle and high school students twice daily—the road’s “unacceptable condition” endangers cars and their occupants, the board said in a resolution directed at the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
“A formal resolution from the board is one thing I think they always like to see,” Supervisor Ellen Calves said of DOT officials. State legislators, she added, also prefer to have a resolution “to help them push our project over the line [for funding].”
Councilmember Thomas Catoliato introduced the measure at the board’s Sept. 8 meeting, called the text “timely and pertinent.”
Despite numerous requests from town residents and officials, Catoliato said, “it has been more than 14 years since New York State has paved this road and for some portions maintenance has not been performed in as much as 20 years.”
The board, citing its “responsibility to protect the health and safety of our residents and those passing through our town,” voted unanimously to ask that “the entire portion of . . . roadbed” be paved now.
“We know that this road is not on their paving list for next year,” Calves said, encouraging private citizens to speak up. “They do take note of resident complaints,” she said of DOT officials. “They keep track of them. . . . They’re hearing it, and I think they need to keep on hearing it from residents as well [as local governments].”
Two Bedford Village residents—Kevin McAvey, via Zoom, and Clayton Rose, at the town hall lectern—spoke in support of the board’s action.
CRITTER CORRIDORS
Ted Fink, owner of Greenplan, a community-planning consultancy based in Rhinebeck, discussed potential changes the town could make in its conservation subdivision-development regulations to accommodate protective wildlife corridors.
Such corridors link existing animal habitats, and the town Conservation Board is looking to draw new standards that safeguard them during large-scale construction projects. In August, the Town Board imposed a six-month freeze on development of five homes or more on properties more than 20 acres in size.
The moratorium was meant, in part, to give the Conservation Board time to consider changes the town code could make to protect the wildlife corridors. It also allows time for the town’s housing task force to study how the code treats middle-income housing or affordable housing.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Applications to install Battery Energy Storage System larger than 81 kilowatt hours, halted for the past two years, will remain on hold for another six months.
The board voted that extension as well as a minor tweak in the town energy code after public hearings on the two matters. No resident spoke at either hearing.
A town working group has been studying safety issues, especially fire, associated with these often-sprawling installations. “We’re really getting close to a proposed ordinance [to regulate their siting in the town],” Calves said.
The energy-code change, Town Attorney Eric Gordon said, makes clear that the Building Department’s energy-compliance standards are also a matter of local law.
BOOKING NOW!
Some sessions of November’s second-annual Westchester Book Festival have already sold out, Gretchen Menzies, the Katonah Reading Room’s owner and a festival organizer, told the Town Board.
“We’re lucky to have these people coming to this town,” she said, referring to the festival’s roster of authors, many of them widely known and celebrated. They will be here on Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., for sessions at the Katonah Village Library and across the street at the Katonah Presbyterian Church.
The authors will speak and sign books at the sessions, which are separately ticketed at $25 each. This is the schedule:
10 a.m. Anand Giridharadas and Priya Parker, Katonah Village Library
10 a.m. Ada Calhoun and Madeline Cash, with Megan Labrise, Katonah Presbyterian Church
12 p.m. 'Pemi Aguda and Nafissa Thompson-Spires, with Wadza Mhute, Katonah Village Library
12 p.m. Malcolm Gladwell, David McCloskey, and Noah Oppenheim, Katonah Presbyterian Church
2 p.m. Elizabeth Kolbert and David Pogue, with Perrin Ireland, Katonah Village Library
2 p.m. Maria Semple, with Leigh Newman, Katonah Presbyterian Church
4 p.m. Kevin Powers and David Nasaw, Katonah Village Library
4 p.m. Hernan Diaz, with Adam Dalva, Katonah Presbyterian Church
For further information, visit westchesterbookfest.org
APPOINTMENTS
Sten Sandlund was named to a three-year term on the Town Housing Committee, succeeding William O’Neill.
In addition, Michael O’Brien and Tom Billet were appointed to three-year-terms as associate committee members.
The 10-member committee works with Blue Mountain Housing Development Corp. to strengthen Bedford’s housing supply and advise the Town Board on programs and policy.
The Town Board also appointed Vincent Morrow to a five-year term on the Board of Assessment Review, effective Sept. 30. He succeeds Patsy Morton.
An independent panel, the board considers property owners’ challenges of tentative assessments on their land’s value.
SAYING GOODBYE
In a fond farewell to a man who “never wanted to take a day off,” the Town Board wished Matthew Halpin a happy retirement after 22 years as town parks groundskeeper. Parks and Recreation Superintendent Chris Soi joined board members via Zoom in saluting Halpin for his service.
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