Written by Mary C. Marvin   

Dec. 17, 2014: This time of year prompts particular questions about the day-to-day whys and wherefors in the village.

Prime among them, now that it is peak shopping season, is the frustration seeing our parking enforcement officers seemingly intent on their meter duty and oblivious to driving infractions, most notably vehicles crossing double yellow lines to secure a parking space.

By law, our parking enforcement officers, or PEOs, are not police officers, nor even peace officers, and their sole authorization and training is to issue parking tickets.

Moving vehicular violations can only be enforced by trained police officers. Traffic stops of any kind are actually the most dangerous duty for a police officer because stops too often lead to more serious crimes/charges such as weapons possession, stolen vehicles, or outstanding criminal warrants. PEOs have none of the training, equipment, or weapons necessary to handle these unpredictable situations. The police officer also has to witness the moving violation, so calling in with a license number as you witness the transgression unfortunately cannot result in a ticket.

In addition, many of you have reported drivers illegally turning left onto Park Place creating a dangerous situation for crossing pedestrians. In response, we have increased our patrol and plan to move the signage to a location easier to spot before making the turn, as we have learned that some careful drivers simply did not see the signage.

With the holidays, there are also more pedestrians in our crosswalks at all hours of the day and night. As a reminder, when a pedestrian enters a marked crosswalk, the law requires not only the car in the immediate lane to stop, but also the cars traveling in the opposite direction to stop. As illustration, at the crosswalk near the soccer store and Houlihan Lawrence, the law requires all four lanes of traffic to stop. That being said, it is important to remember that the crosswalk is not an extension of the sidewalk and pedestrians must exercise careful judgment before stepping off the curb, especially when crossing mid-street. Per New York State law, "Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway."

In the spirit of the holidays and our business district, the village will be offering free parking in our Garden Avenue, Kraft Avenue, and Avalon lots on Saturday, the 20th, and Christmas Eve, the 24th, from noon to 6:00 pm. We used to offer it the whole day and even on Pondfield Road but realized we were unintentionally defeating the purpose of customers running in and out of stores to make purchases. Rather, folks were seeing the free parking and quite legally then heading to Manhattan for the day, occupying the parking spaces for the entire business day. The noon start time benefits our merchants, not our day-trippers.

The holiday's increased vehicular traffic, which we welcome, also quite naturally extends beyond our compact downtown districts into residential areas, and, most important, school zones. The areas adjacent to all schools in our village, including our nursery schools, are zones with a 20 mph speed limit. Our police are monitoring with radar and unfortunately drivers are speeding, as well as texting while driving, which seems to have become an epidemic. Five seconds is the average time one's eyes are off the road while texting. When traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded.

Other housekeeping notes reflective of the season include the payment of the second-half tax bill and the flip in the garbage schedule.

Second-half tax bills (stub with amount was in the yearly mailing), are due without penalty by December 31st either in person or postmarked. After village hall closes on the 31st at 4:00 pm, payments may be delivered to the police desk until midnight. A 5% state-imposed penalty will be added post the due date, and nonpayment that extends into February adds another percent penalty as does March, culminating finally in a lien sale in mid-March. I am pleased to report that we will have the capability to accept payment by credit card in the 2015 tax cycle.

The sanitation pickup schedule will change on January 5, 2015. Those of you having trash pickup on Monday/Thursday will switch to Tuesday/Friday and vice versa. Recycling for everyone will remain on Wednesdays.

As a point of reference, the sanitation schedule was rotated several years ago due to the regularization and proliferation of national holidays to be celebrated on Mondays only. The net result was residents on the Monday/Thursday schedule lost six to seven pickup days yearly in perpetuity. In the interest of fairness, the trustees opted for the yearly route switch.