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Westchester Leaguers Go to Albany

On May 5th, League of Women Voters across New York State boarded buses to Albany to attend an event that put elected officials in "Albany On The Record" regarding ethics and campaign finance reform. Elected officials included Governor David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Leader John Sampson, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, Comptroller Thomas DoNapoli, and Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos offered their thoughts on reform and answered questions posed by former Times Union reporter Jay Gallagher and the audience. To view the entire event, please go to www.albanyontherecord.org. Westchester Leaguers who went are shown in the photo below

New 2010 Directory of Government Officials Ready

The new 2010 League of Women Voters® Directory of Officials is now available. This popular guide contains names, addresses and phone numbers of all elected officials and many appointed officials who represent Westchester residents at the federal, state, county and local levels in convenient print form. Also included are web sites, e-mail addresses, maps and other useful information.

Individual copies of the Directory of Officials cost $7 each (including postage and handling) and can be purchased by sending a check to The League of Women Voters® of Westchester, 200 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains 10601. For further information, including rates for orders of 50 or more, call 949-0507 or email LWVwestchester@verizon.net. Dowload order form (Word doc)

“The Directory is an important resource for all Westchester County residents,” said Adelaide DiGiorgi, LWVW president. “It is especially useful for people in government, business, library reference departments, nonprofit organizations, the media, and civic and advocacy groups.”

Printing of the Directory was made possible by the sponsorship of ConEdison.

The League of Women Voters®, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Any person of voting age, male or female, may become a League member.

Students in Albany April 2010

Two Rye Students Chosen for LWV's "Students Inside Albany" Conference

The Rye, Rye Brook & Port Chester and the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Chapters of the League of Women Voters announced that two local students were selected for an all-expense paid trip to Albany to learn about the New York State legislative process. The students, Kristen Duarte, (right in photo below) a junior at Rye High School and Katrina Kohn (left), a sophomore at the School of the Holy Child were chosen through a competitive process to participate in the League of Women Voters’ four-day Students Inside Albany (SIA) Conference held April 11 to 14 in Albany.  Read more

New Rochelle High School Senior Selected for "Students Inside Albany" Conference

Chinmayi Sharma, at left, a senior and honor student at New Rochelle High School, attended a Students Inside Albany Conference sponsored by the League of Women Voters, and said she came back with a more realistic but still positive view of state government.

“It showed me some things I really love about government but also the things that go on behind closed doors that we don’t really see,” she said. During four days in Albany, she heard from elected officials, bureaucrats, lobbyists and journalists, and shadowed both Assembly woman Amy Paulin and State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer. Read more

Remembering the Long Road to Women's Suffrage

By Ina Aronow • March 27, 2010

It is easy to get cynical or discouraged about the slow progress on issues like health care, education or economics. But a historic health care law eventually passed. Even more contentious has been the long struggle for women's rights. This year is the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. That simple step took 72 years from the day that Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood before the first women's convention in Seneca Falls in 1848 and shocked many people by suggesting that women should have that right.

At the Seneca Falls gathering, Mrs. Stanton, speaking publicly for the first time, read her Declaration and Resolutions supporting basic women's rights. All were adopted unanimously except the final one calling for women's right to vote. Many thought it was too extreme and would endanger the success of achieving other rights.

Editors writing of the convention used terms such as "the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of womankind" and attacked women's rights as a "monstrous injury to all mankind" that would "demoralize and degrade" women. Women's rights would end in the destruction of home and family, some argued.

In the 1850s, Cady was joined by Susan B. Anthony, a Quaker, one of the few religious groups that supported women's rights. Anthony had cut her teeth in the temperance movement, aware of how drinking and gambling left mothers and children defenseless. Cady and Anthony effectively shared leadership of the women's movement for decades and complemented each other's skills.

Their immediate goal was to persuade the New York State Legislature to extend the Married Women's Property Act of 1848 so that women would have the right to keep their own earnings, to use or invest them in her own name, and to bargain, sell, and carry on any trade or perform any services on her own account. They argued that women should be able to enter into contracts, sue and have joint guardianship over their children. As a widow, she should have the same property rights as the husband would have at her death.

Against much opposition, these rights were extended in 1866, but suffrage, the right to vote, was still beyond reach. Cady proposed what was then considered radical steps to make it easier for women to dissolve unhappy marriages. This came from her broad vision of all the ways women's lives were hampered. Under the law of that time, she said, a wife who divorced would lose her home and children even if her husband had caused the breakup.

During the years that followed, women supported other causes, too. The 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was passed in 1865. The 14 Amendment in 1868 gave all men born or naturalized in the United States the right to vote. Women, who trusted the promises that they would be next, were bitterly disappointed as the male reformers became reluctant to press for women's right to vote.

Stanton and Anthony continued to give hundreds of speeches across the country. Anthony focusing on the suffrage movement — the right to vote — and Stanton on a broader vision that encompassed "the complete development of every individual."

Stanton died in 1902; Anthony in 1906. Carrie Chapman Catt took over the leadership, following a conservative path supporting women's suffrage state by state, and helping elect sympathetic representatives and senators.

But a younger generation led by Alice Paul started the more aggressive National Women's Party and wanted a constitutional amendment. When Paul and her organization picketed the White House, they were jailed for obstructing traffic and some were manhandled and force fed when they refused to eat (They were dramatized in the HBO movie "Iron Jawed Angels").

Both groups worked toward progress in their different ways. Women argued that several states had already granted women's suffrage. Both Houses of Congress passed the amendment in 1919. The final hurdle was getting 36 states to ratify the amendment. This was achieved on Aug. 18, 1920, when the Tennessee legislature, by one vote, became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Getting the word "male" out of the Constitution took generations. Stanton had written, decades before, that "We little dreamed when we began this contest, optimistic with the hope and buoyancy of youth, that half a century later we would be compelled to leave the finish of the battle to another generation of women. ... There is an army of them where we were but a handful."

Catt, a New Rochelle resident at the time, founded the League of Women Voters in 1920 to help women become educated voters and to fight for equal rights. Many groups now share that goal.

The battle for equal rights is not over yet. While we measure the headlines in days, real change can take generations.

The writer, who lives in New Rochelle, is communications director of the League of Women Voters of Westchester. It was written with research assistance from Sydelle Herzberg, New Rochelle, LWV historian, and with assistance and support of Adelaide DiGiorgi, Tuckahoe, president of LWV of Westchester. For further information, a recommended resource is: "The Ladies of Seneca Falls. The Birth of the Women's Rights Movement," by Miriam Gurko.

League Roundtable Held with County Board  of Legislators

LWV Westchester hosted a Westchester County Board of Legislators roundtable discussion  on March 3. Photos below by Janet Jaidi.

Why is county government important to each of us?  Our Board of Legislators allocates the money needed to operate county government and services and has oversight responsibility of the Executive branch. While two-thirds of the county government’s workload consists of delivering services and programs mandated by the state of New York, the other third is discretionary, funding labs & research, public safety, planning, transportation, health & mental health, services to children, the Westchester Library System, Parks, Recreation & Conservation, and Emergency Services.

We have the responsibility to influence how these funds are spent: they are our dollars.

Ken Jenkins is the new chairman of the BOL and other changes in legislative committee chairmanships have taken place as well. The League is very much a presence at all BOL meetings keeping a sharp eye, especially on budget issues and the housing settlement, which affects most of our towns and villages.  

Adelaide DiGiorgi, President, LWVW

Below LWVW President DiGiorgi with Leaguer Karen Schatzel who moderated.

In the photos below legislators attending seated at the long table, from left to right: Ryan, Harckham, Myers, Jenkins, Burton, Kaplowitz, Rogowsky, Williams. Pinto, and Maisano.

League Commented on 2010 County Budget Proposals at Dec. 10, 2009, hearing

The LWVW made the made the following comments about the proposed budget:

The League recognizes the difficulties that County Executive Spano faced in preparing this budget because   read more >>

download this statement(Word doc.)

League Letter to the County Board of Legislators 9-18-09 on the Proposed Housing Settlement

Dear Mr. Ryan and Honorable Members of the Board of Legislators:

For many years, the League of Women Voters® at all levels – National, State and County – has recognized the need for affordable housing and supported its creation. Based on this support, the League of Women Voters® of Westchester has monitored and observed all relevant housing entities, including the County’s Housing Opportunity Commission, various committees of the County Board of Legislators, and local housing development proposals.   Read more

Download the letter (pdf file, 2 pages)

Tappan Zee Bridge
Environmental Impact Statement Phases Explained

There have been several questions pertaining to the Environmental Impact Statement Study (EIS) surrounding the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.  There are eight different phases to the EIS. The DOT and its partners have just finished the fifth phase, the Scoping Update. It is now available on the TZB website and describes the Project purpose and needs, in addition to describing the alternatives to be studied in the next phase as well as the scope for the environmental and engineering studies.  The report will incorporate the public comments and involvement programs along with outcomes.  The report concluded with an updated schedule for completion of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement with the expectation it will be completed next summer, in 2010.

The LWVW Tappan Zee Bridge Study Committee will continue to monitor progress as well as review presented reports throughout the remainder of the project. 

Tappan Zee Study Committee, August 2009

LWV of Westchester Statement on Tappan Zee Bridge Proposal of Fall 2008

In April 2001, with the Tappan Zee Bridge moving beyond its projected life of 50 years and traffic congestion increasing on Route I-287, the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) and MTA Metro North Railroad (MNR) formed a partnership to undertake a comprehensive study of transportation needs and mobility on the corridor. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) joined the team as coordinator in 2005. In the spring of 2007, this team formed stakeholders' groups (SAWGs) to participate in discussion of its plans. The Westchester League of Women Voters (LWVW) participates in two SAWGs.

The LWVW has also hosted several informational meetings for the public on the Tappan Zee/I-287 project. In March 2007, in cooperation with the Rockland League of Women Voters, we held a particularly well-attended meeting at Kendal-on-Hudson in Sleepy Hollow. That meeting featured speakers from the NYSDOT, the Westchester Planning Department, the Rockland County Legislature and the Westchester Rockland Tappan Zee Bridge Task Force.

Then, in September 2008, the NYSDOT - now the lead agency of the project - presented new plans for the project. As many area residents are not yet familiar with either the past or current proposals, we thought it might be useful to offer a set of pros and cons for discussion.

Download complete statement (Word document)

For more information, contact Kristina McCarthy at lwvWestchester@verizon.net.

Janet Zagoria
May 2009

BIGGER BETTER BOTTLE BILL SUCCESS

After seven years of advocacy the BBBB has passed. We have worked with our coalition partners using Action Alerts to our members and legislative memos to our elected officials, speaking at hearings, sending press releases, etc., etc. etc. The new bill requires a deposit on bottled water, and this is huge because last year 3.2 BILLION water bottles were sold in NY. The other great news is that beverage companies must return 80% of unclaimed deposits to the State General Fund (not to the Environmental Protection Fund); since 1982 beverage companies have kept more than $2 billion of unclaimed deposits. The law also increases the handling fee for retailers to 3.5 cents and provides an assistance program through EPF for private, non-profits and municipal entities. This expanded recycling will conserve resources, including energy.

Roberta Wiernik, Natural Resources Specialist

Voter Service
Moderators Needed!

Contact Laura Fratt (723-5108 or fratt@verizon.net).

Environment and
County Government

Open to anyone who wants to observe it, our County Legislative Environment Committee becomes opaque if no one shows up to see what's going on.  Issues that affect your home, town and taxes directly are discussed and positions are recommended in these committee meetings.

That's where the LWVW can be an invaluable "fly on the wall", reporting on and publicizing the issues this committee discusses. No other non-profit group fills this niche. The fact that we are non-partisan carries extra weight in the minutes we report.

The more of us who join, the easier it will be. Just one afternoon every other month (currently Mondays at 3:00) and a few paragraphs of minutes that will be disseminated to our County Voter and web site will create a valuable resource to those interested in the workings of our local government and it will create another tangible reason to support our local LWVs with membership and donations.So give it a try. It's fun and usually very interesting. And you might just find out what the county is up to in your home town!

To sign up for the Environment Committee Observer Corps.
contact Roberta Wiernik
(241-7242 or RFWiernik@aol.com)

Take Action!

Our Citizen Action Toolkit is an easy-to-use resource for contacting elected officials, or to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Support League issues with just a few clicks of your mouse. You can sign up for action alerts on the issues that are important to you.Make your voice heard!

Calendar

LWVW Calendar for 2010

Westchester Board of Elections Voter Education Forums. Learn to use new voting machines

July 22, 7-9pm, County Center, White Plains

July 29, 7-9pm, Fox Lane H. S., Bedford

Sept. 9, 7-9pm, County Center

Oct. 3, 1-3pm, County Center

Download flyer (pdf)

(Printed newsletters have been discontinued)

Two Rye Students Chosen for LWV's "Students Inside Albany" Conference

RYE, NY, April 9, 2010 – The Rye, Rye Brook & Port Chester and the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Chapters of the League of Women Voters announced today that two local students were selected for an all-expense paid trip to Albany to learn about the New York State legislative process. The students, Kristen Duarte, a junior at Rye High School and Katrina Kohn, a sophomore at the School of the Holy Child were chosen through a competitive process to participate in the League of Women Voters’ four-day Students Inside Albany (SIA) Conference. The program will run from April 11 to 14 in Albany.

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New York State, the SIA Conference brings together high school students from across the state. Kristen and Katrina will join with other student leaders, and will have the opportunity to meet and shadow their elected representatives, tour the capitol, debate current policy issues, and meet with representatives from all sectors of the political arena.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government and works to foster a better understanding of public policy issues that will have an impact on our lives and our communities.

Roundtable on Municipal Consolidation and Shared Services: Opportunities, Feasibility, Challenges and Consequences Held Jan.21, 2010 in Rye

RYE, NY –  January 22, 2010 -- City, Village and Town managers from Rye, Rye Town, Rye Brook, Port Chester, and Mamaroneck discussed the feasibility, challenges, and opportunities when towns and villages share or consolidate services.  State Assemblyman George Latimer moderated the lively discussion which took place on Thursday evening at the Rye Free Reading Room. 

State Assemblyman George Latimer moderated the discussion.  Panelists included Christopher Bradbury, Rye Brook Village Administrator; Frank Culross, Rye City Manager; Bishop Nowotnik, Rye Town Confidential Secretary to the Supervisor; Christopher Russo, Port Chester Village Manager; and Richard Slingerland, Mamaroneck Village Manager. (From left to right in above photo: Russo, Nowotnik, Culross, Latimer, Slingerland, Bradbury.)

The event was well attended by local elected officials, both past and present, and by residents from throughout Westchester.  State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla, Town of Rye Supervisor Joe Carvin, Rye Mayor Doug French and County Legislator Judy Myers were just a few of the officials in attendance.  Assemblyman Latimer set the tone by putting the night’s topic into context.  “If you have moved to this area what you notice is how illogical it all seems” Latimer posited.  He went on to say, “The Village of Port Chester looks more like a city and the City of Rye looks more like a village.  It’s a crazy quilt pattern.  The question is, how do we manage towns and villages incorporated in the early 1800’s but that are dealing with 21st century problems?” 

Read more

LWVW President Mary Beth Gose Resigned to Serve on Transition Committee

As of November 22nd, our LWVWestchester President Mary Beth Gose resigned to serve on County Executive-Elect Astorino’s Transition Subcommittee on Government Administration. Her expertise should serve the new administration and County residents well.

LWVW Vice President Adelaide DiGiorgi Installed as President

The League of Women of Voters of Westchester announces the installation of First Vice President Adelaide DiGiorgi as LWVWestchester President at the League's December 3rd Executive Board meeting. She is replacing Mary Beth Gose who resigned the position on November 22nd to join the Transition Team for County Executive-elect Rob Astorino.

Ms DiGiorgi, a Tuckahoe resident, moved into Westchester County with her husband in 1993. She has a BA in education from Long Island University, Summa Cum Laude. After leaving an executive position at Citigroup in 1993 she affiliated as Agent with several real estate brokers in Bronxville. She held the position of President of the Bronxville LWV and has been First Vice-president of the LWV Westchester since 2006. Since 2004 Adelaide has been an active member of the League's County Government Committee. Her community activities include a role as Trustee in the First Unitarian Society of Westchester where she heads the Women's Group and is liaison to the Society's Administrator. In keeping with her LWV interests, she serves as an Election inspector at the primaries and elections each year.

LWV Specialist on Environment Roberta Wiernik Honored

In a special program at the Board of Legislators' October 5 meeting, longtime League advocate for the environment Robert Wiernik received the Integrated Pest Management Award from Cornell University.

The recession has been taking a toll on New York businesses, but it isn't the only thing ailing us; the high cost of health care and the lack of access to care dog businesses and individuals. Here is a commentary from the League of Women Voters on single-payer national health insurance, a leading solution to the cost and accessibility problems plaguing health care in New York, where an estimated 1 in 6 people lacks insurance.

What is single payer? It refers to the administration of health-care funds by one payer, rather than by the current multiple insurance companies. This payer would be the federal government. Think of single payer as enhanced and improved Medicare for all. The League of Women Voters of Westchester, New York state and the U.S. League all advocate for single-payer health care.

Westchester County
Needs Septic Management!

The League of Women Voters of Westchester and LWV New Castle have been collaborating to advocate for a Septic Management Plan for the county. Based on findings and consensus from one county study and two New Castle studies, oversight of these systems is essential to ensure proper functioning and long-term efficacy. To date there have been no requirements for maintenance of the  read more>

If you know of someone who may be interested in serving on the County Board or any of the committees, or if you have an interest in doing so, contact the League office: