Mayor Defends Storm Response 
The Mayor continued to use her pulpit at the televised Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on Tuesday night November 27 to defend her performance and lambast her critics. In what appeared to be a referral to Scarsdale10583.com and its users she said, "if you get your information from ill-informed websites frequented by cyber trolls who are encouraged or even wholly created as sock puppets by anonymous bloggers you'd get a skewed view of the Village's response to the crisis." These new attacks follow comments at the 11/13 BOT meeting where she said, that we (the Village and the Mayor) "were and remain hounded by divisive, nasty and unhelpful media pressure."
Also, this week, she responded to a letter about storm response from the Greenacres Neighborhood Association, saying, "I am very disappointed in the false statements, in the unofficial policy comments offered, and in Mrs. Steves' taking responsibility for publishing this in reference to the crisis."(note: Mrs. Steves is Kathy Steves, President of the Greenacres Neighborhood Association."
At the 11/27 meeting of the BOT Flisser addressed comments made by Mark Lewis, at the 11/13 Village Board meeting. He charged the Village and the Mayor with a litany of failures in their response to the storm including their inability to clear roads for the election and to have power restored in a reasonable period of time. During his remarks, he turned to the Mayor and said, "if you can't stand the heat, you should resign."
In response she said that Lewis "attacked her" with "false statements" and said that he (Lewis) was a failed "political operative" who was "hoping to improve his now lost position" as head of the "Democrat organization" of Scarsdale. She said, "the Democrat party had lost significant position in Scarsdale, including failing to raise a majority in two voting districts; Heathcote and Quaker Ridge."
We spoke to Mark Lewis to clarify his role with the Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee. He told us that he gave up his role as Chair voluntarily at the end of his term in September, 2012, before the election. Alan Goldston was elected to that position unanimously. Lewis is now serving as Vice Chair of the Westchester County Democratic Committee. Lewis said that he is proud of all the Democratic candidates who won in Scarsdale, including President Obama, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Eliot Engel. State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, the three State Supreme Court judicial candidates as well as Judge David Zuckerman who ran for County Court Judge. We also checked how Scarsdale voted on November 6th and found that Scarsdale went overwhelmingly Democratic with President Obama winning 59% of the vote, Kirsten Gillibrand, 70% and Congressman Eliot Engel, 65%.
She went on to criticize "State Legislative Representatives" – perhaps referring to State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin –and called Paulin's efforts with Con Edison "histrionic." She said, "I attended twice daily conference calls with the County Emergency Operations Center and Con Edison -- most of the time wasted at these conference calls included histrionic pleas from your elected state legislative representatives who Mr. Lewis represents, desperately angling for votes at this late stage, creating theatrical emotional episodes by those who had no command training nor authority in this event."
It should be noted that Paulin ran unopposed.
The Mayor gave an account of her activity during the storm fielding "scores of phone calls from her home phone, arranging and attending meetings and summed up by saying, "others may break down in a crisis – "I don't."
Commenting on the storm, Assemblywoman Paulin said, "This was a terrible storm. It was devastating to see so many in Scarsdale suffering. We were very hard hit. My staff and I worked diligently everyday around the clock directly with Con Ed to get as many homes restored as quickly as possible. I know every other elected official and the Scarsdale Village staff did what they could."
You can watch the 11/27 meeting on the Scarsdale Cable Channel from November 30 through December 2 at 2 pm, 5 pm, 7:30 pm and 10 pm.
See below for the email to the Greenacres Association as well as notes from Mayor's remarks at the 11/13 Board of Trustees meeting.
Emaiil to the Greenacres Association
Here is the text of an email sent by Maryor Flisser in response to a letter from the Greenacres Association about storm response. The neighborhood association letter can be viewed by clicking here. The Mayor's response is below. Excerpts from the Greenacres letter are in italics:
From:
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Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 5:20 PM
To:
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; Stacey Brodsky; Jon Mark;
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; Kay home; Steve Pappalardo; Alfred Gatta; bob steves; David Lee
Cc: Donna Conkling
Subject: GA Meeting Publication
This email is public; it may be considered a written communication to the Board.
Alerted by some residents, I read Mrs Steves' published report of Trustee Mark and Deputy Mayor Steves participation at the GA meeting on 10583.
Quotes are below:
"Communications between the Village and residents was also acknowledged by the Trustees to be below reasonable expectations."
M's response: We spoke to thousands of residents on the phone, the lines in the PSB (Public Safety Building) were open and manned with personnel 24/7. The phone personnel were heroes under the pressure. I was in the same room with them. We answered thousands of emails. I spoke with scores on my listed home line alone. We sent out about over 100,000 communications. I attended 3 resident meetings myself during the crisis and Trustees continued to attend their liaison meetings, as I see here. We have not even investigated this claim statement, yet conclusions are "acknowledged."
"Robo calls from the Mayor were helpful, but a bit late in the process."
M's response: The Robo Calls started before the event and continued daily until power was almost entirely restored.
"Though not formally organized by the Village, Halloween is a major community event and the Village should have communicated some policy about trick or treating prior to and during the crisis since public safety was an issue."
M: There was careful communication about Halloween. A state of Emergency was declared to be in effect. Residents were warned about dangers to children from tree limbs and wires. I can show you quotes & responses from Residents, if you care to research this issue.
"Mr. Mark added some additional items that will now move off the back burner for more immediate consideration: Liberalizing and amending the Village code governing the installation of home generators."
Is the PB (Planning Board) "The back burner?" We held public meetings before the PB referral as well. We have been working on this since 2011, research, planning, legal, etc. This is not a trivial safety & environmental issue.
"Concern for the elderly or disabled during such a crisis was also expressed, and a plan to better identify those who may need extra assistance will be developed."
M: There is a Registry for Disabled Residents already in place in Scarsdale. The first responders have the information on their screens. We set this up in April of 2008. There's also a program for PWD in Westchester called "Ready Westchester" that dates from 2008, in which we participate. It involves county personnel coming in to evacuate disabled & elderly if needed. I publicized this on the VB, on occasions that I can document. I'm sorry that you are unaware of these programs. In addition, during the crisis, the Police Department continued careful welfare checks on residents. Residents were offered free accommodations with transportation to an assisted living facility.
"We encourage those who have not signed up for the Village's Emergency Notification system to do so through the Village's website."
M:No one ever needs to sign up for the ENS. It's automatic on the reverse 911 number. Extra numbers and email addresses may be signed up.
I am very disappointed in the false statements, in the unofficial policy comments offered, and in Mrs Steves' taking responsibility for publishing this in reference to the crisis.
Sincerely,
Miriam Levitt Flisser
Mayor
Mayor's Remarks at the November 13, 2012 Board of Trustees Meeting
At the 11-13-12 meeting of the Scarsdale Board of Trustees the Mayor recapped her own response to the storm as well as the work of the Village staff, emergency personnel and the Department of Public Works.
She said "Scarsdale Village did everything possible to assist Con Edison crews," sent out "12 robo calls", fielded "100,000 phone calls and 12,000 emails" and provided "updates to local media from employees homes."
According to her remarks, the Village also received support from local officials. "The County Executive came to Scarsdale", "our NYS Senator called" ... "our incoming U.S. Congressman came to the library on election eve" and she "spoke with the Governor's office using her shaky cell connection and being repeatedly disconnected."
She said, "These prodigious political feats did absolutely nothing to restore our power one second sooner.... This was the massive failure of the disaster response of a monopoly public utility."
She decried her critics, saying, "Those of you who took valuable time in a crisis to show your displeasure about Village elections are ignorant of the process. ... any interested citizen may appear on the ballot. And added, "These are unpaid jobs, by the way."
She ended by saying, "Your Village Administration performed admirably, and even though we were absorbing the collapse of Con Ed by accepting calls about outages, far outside of our critical responsibilities, were bereft of our own communications infrastructure, and were, and remain hounded by divisive, nasty and unhelpful media pressure in this time of crisis, we served the public with dedication."
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written by Enough!, December 02, 2012
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written by Old timer, November 30, 2012
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written by There's enough vitriol here to get rid of all of the fallen trees, November 30, 2012
I found the Mayor's canned, fill in the blanks phone updates progressively more annoying (once we got phone), though the continuing percentage of residents still without power was upsetting to all of us.
And I find her anti-democratic political gibes revolting: " "the Democrat party had lost significant position in Scarsdale, including failing to raise a majority in two voting districts; Heathcote and Quaker Ridge." So much for the Non-Partisan nominating committee, if that is how she made it to Mayor of our fair burg.
I didn't know our mayor before, but I do now, and quite frankly Mayor Flisser, you sound pretty [fill in the blank].
Two comments about the consequences of the storm.
First, and this is certainly true on our Greenacres street, we would likely have less frequent, and less severe power outages, if the village pruned the Village trees instead of waiting till they get a big red X for takedown. If it's a question of funding, then stop the cinder block curb "beautification" and spend it on arboriculture and necessary road repairs first.
Second -- on all three of my cell phone calls to Con Ed before we got power (ours was only 142 hours, it could have been worse and my sympathies to those for whom it was), the very sincere service representatives, who really wanted to help, were unable to get thru to the Westchester Dispatch to focus their efforts. One representative said it had been going on for four days. So Con Ed was obviously understaffed in all aspects of repair.
But more importantly, Mayor Flisser, if you and the other responsible officials were not in direct contact with the Con Ed dispatchers to pin them down, then you should be from now on, because that is how things get done. And it's obvious you know how to sound like a squeaky wheel, based on all of the quotes above.
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written by Greenacres Resident, November 30, 2012
The problem is when we hear "mayor" around here we think in terms of Giuliani and Bloomberg, victors of an election process of incredibly withering public scrutiny, and voted in with -- one way or another -- power, concensus, and mandate. They exist to build support and to change the status quo.
But this is not what the mayoralty of Scarsdale involves and it does not describe Ms. Flisser. The mayor of Scarsdale has been designed to govern -- if it can even be called governing -- with minimal impact and to maintain the status quo. I do blame her for not rising more to the occasion of Sandy, and for this divisive, ex-post-facto self-defense she is unsuccessfully embarking upon now. But it is the fault of Scarsdale's odd governance system for not placing candidates into this role who care about public opinion and who are equipped to make a difference.
Most every other public official in the Sandy crisis is seen as a hero. I think there is a reason that Scarsdale's governance structure doesn't exist anywhere else. It's because in times of crisis, somebody in a municipality needs to take control of the situation, lead, and be held accountable. There is no reason for an unpaid, unelected, unendorsed person to behave this way.
Rather than try to rewrite the recipe for ridicule by denigrating free agents of the fourth estate like 10583.com (which make no mistake was INVALUABLE throughout Sandy) the right thing for Mayor Flisser to do is to acknowledge the significant public sentiment that something is wrong, and if she herself isn't the cause, that the Scarsdale system might in fact be past its time for reform. She should open the floor for debate and if she believes the system works, then let her and the people who put her in the mayoral position, make the case for it. And let the other side make their case. She can either control the process or let it run unbridled in the press. Mayor Flisser, I would not even know your name were it not for this website. It brought you into many of your constituents' minds when you were put into your position, and it will take you right out again if you let it.
Right now I see no case whatsoever for this system and cannot identify a single person or value of Scarsdale who has benefited from it over a more traditional party-driven system. So, Mayor Flisser, tell me why this is not correct.
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written by Resident, November 30, 2012
If this is how she carrier herself in the wake of criticism then she doesn't deserve the office she holds. And I don't care if the office is volunteer or paid. She signed up for the office, and with it she signed up for the responsibility and the criticism that goes along with it. If she can't handle that, then she shouldn't have volunteered.
Finally, I am pleased to hear that Bruce Wells thinks the Mayor did a great job. After all, he appointed her as head of the CNC. Phew, Bruce is pleased with his choice!
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written by Ed, November 30, 2012
On one hand we have "Priority" who appears to be self loathing. "...this town is upside down with incompetent breeders who have no clue how to control their kids." That is quite a broad brush you used there. I wonder, why do other towns have priority? Perhaps because the local governments have a closer working relationship with ConEd? The issue is not one of taking care of children (my wife and I managed quite well thank you very much, as did many others). The issue had to do with the danger the downed lines, poles and trees caused for residents, which also impacted the ability for emergency vehicles to operate.
Then we have the comment of "train fire and police to de-energize lines". The training required for that would be quite extensive, and frankly I would prefer those individuals to be focused on their jobs.
The issue with ConEd and the lack of crews in Scarsdale is simply their incompetence related to storm preparation. They should have had more crews from out of state in place. I know for a fact a power company in Ohio had mobilized hundreds of trucks which had moved out of the state. The question is, where did they go? Had these crews been in NY, then there would have been more crews available to help.
I wonder how much our style of local government impacts how the village is treated. I wonder if perhaps the other areas, who have a more democratic process for electing representatives are able to better interact with utility companies in times like this. The current process is strange, where a select group acts in secret to place people in positions of power. A fairer process, whereby voters are able to compare all the candidates and vote on the merits as opposed to the current process of voting for a pre-chosen single line may allow us to have a more effective local government.
The village is lacking in communication, not only with the storm, but with other issues of note. The recent weekend long closing of Popham bridge in the midst of the clean-up is an example. No notice was made except on the village website (which they at least did this time, unlike the prior closure) or in posters at the packing lots (which made little sense considering many were still unable to take the train into the city). Now we have the closure of Popham in one direction for who knows how long. No communication.
I also enjoyed the Mayor complaining about the evil media and "trolls". Madame Mayor, people are frustrated, and justifiably so. Instead of complaining, reflect on what went wrong and make changes for the future. Accept some blame. And maybe slow down a bit on the robocalls.
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written by Oh please, November 29, 2012
She has done nothing to bring Scarsdale together during or after the storm. Police officers were issuing parking tickets downtown the day after the storm, when no one had any power and that was the only place people could go for heat, electricity or cell phone reception. That was an appallingly obnoxious thing to do.
The smart thing to do no is not to bicker over who did or said what but to take steps to improve our infrastructure, bury wires, approve generators and do whatever else we can to reduce our vulnerability to power disruptions and/or our dependence on ConEd.
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written by Still deaf ears, November 29, 2012
Clearly, the response from ConEd was sufficient, and there is nothing to review.
Clearly, the Mayor is wonderful and simply subject to a vast right-wing conspiracy perpetrated by the media (which includes only this website).
Clearly, all was perfect and wonderful one-in-a-lifetime (again) storm.
And if we believe this, we got bigger problems than a defensive public servant.
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written by Bruce Wells, November 29, 2012
I am the Chair of the Scarsdale Technology Advisory Counsel, which is appointed by the Village Board. We will be meeting with the Municipal Services committee of the Village Board as a whole on Monday night at 7:30 in the 3rd floor meeting room in Village Hall, where I will be presenting the Counsel's ideas on how to improve Village services, so when this happens again, we are better prepared.
It is a public meeting, so please come. The idea is to learn from the issues we found from the storm and to figure out how to do it better. The MS chair will probably ask for input from attendees, but this is not my meeting, so that is only my guess. It is not a place to rant, but simply explain what problems happened and maybe we can figure out a better way to deal with it the next time.
Hope to see everyone there so we can all make Scarsdale better for the next time, since there will be a next time.
One more thing. I have to agree with Priority w/ ConEd?. EVERY town had HUGE problems. On Wednesday after the storm, I was in North Castle. A town employee told me they had exactly ONE Con Ed crew in the town. Same with Scarsdale. I am sure Con Ed deals with getting the most number of people back online as soon as possible. That means outages of a small number of homes takes a lower priority than a more densely populated area with a single point of failure. The damage in Scarsdale was block by block. There was not fix this thing and 1000 people get power back, but I am sure that was the case in areas with postage stamp sized lots. I'd rather live in Scarsdale.
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written by Long term resident , November 29, 2012
My biggest issue was ConEd's response or lack thereof. Out of state crews should have been on standby before the storm. I obsessively checked ConEd's outage summaries. The rate of restoration in Scarsdale was far worse than every village in the county with the exceptions of New Castle and North Castle. We're not looking for more than our share of resources, just our rightful share. In the meantime, please make your voices heard regarding easing our access to generators (see Harry Wilson's change.org petition ) and possibly burying the power lines. We can't keep doing the same things and going about our business as usual and expect a different result.
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written by scarsdale resident, November 28, 2012
Several days into the power outage, a friend forwarded the link to sign up for the emergency calls on my cell phone and email. This system needs to be publicized so that everyone can add their cell phone numbers and email.
Also, the scarsdale school system has an emergency notification system that was working effectively. Why not broadcast emergency town information over that notification system as well?
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written by Claire, November 28, 2012
Wouldn't it make sense to have a policy where our police and/or firemen are trained and licensed to de-energize lines in the event of an emergency? Then Scarsdale's sanitation department and Department of Parks can remove branches. Con Edison will only be needed for the final step of re-connecting the wires.
This would solve the issue of roads being blocked, allow for less school day closures (if buses can travel safely) and less reliance on Con Ed.
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written by A Scarsdale Resident, November 28, 2012
References to the "Democrat" party have been popular among certain highly partisan Republican activists. I'm not sure why these partisans refuse to use the correct party name, but apparently there is some reason for this, and it is a deliberate attempt to insult and offend Democrats.
I don't know anything about the Mayor's politics, but either she doesn't know any better when she refers this way to members of the Democratic Party, or she is revealing her hyper-partisan, right wing roots.
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written by BIll, November 28, 2012
My favorite robo call was four or five days in when she said that the village is now in direct contact with ConEd. She spent too much time working with the White Plains OEM and not enough time working directly to resolve issues the town was facing.
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written by Lucas J. Meyer, November 27, 2012
Yes, it's uncomfortable to lose power for ten or twelve days (full disclosure: we were blessed to have our power on, and we took in neighbors who were less fortunate). But the level of vitriol leveled at our (unpaid, volunteer) elected officials and village staff is shocking and unfathomable.
The New York Metropolitan Area experienced an Act of God, and therefore throwing mud at our elected officials is simply inappropriate. Lastly, I totally disagree with scarsdale10583.com's policy of allowing anonymous comments. C'mon, Joanne. You're better than that!
Lucas J. Meyer
21 Autenrieth Road
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written by Priority w/ ConEd?, November 27, 2012
Why does Scarsdale DESERVE priority over any other hard-hit town? Just because we THINK we are more important? I really don't understand the argument you expect a mayor to make about why we deserve priority over anybody else. Can you imagine how stupid that sounds?
I noticed that others had cited how connected Feinberg is and how he was getting ConEd to respond faster. But, if you are observant, you'll notice parts of Greenburgh were still without power at that 10-day mark. He may just have been better at making people believe he was getting priority treatment.
We all need to step back and listen to how stupid it sounds to say the mayor should be telling ConEd how important we are.
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written by Why bother talking to deaf ears?, November 27, 2012
But rather than sling mud, perhaps the Mayor can update us all on what efforts have been made to increase Scarsdale's priorty within ConEd's system and what steps have been taken to prevent our community from getting short shrift in the next storm? Or should we just wait for the problem to recur and be forced to complain again at that time? Trustee Harrison uses "proscars" as his email address. Perhaps the Village Board could be Proactive forScarsdale?
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