Note: You can read the village's "One Square Mile" newsletter here.

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

April 2, 2025: My column this week is a heartfelt thank you to all the residents of Bronxville. I am humbled that you have allowed me to continue in the job I love surrounded by two of the finest colleagues one could have, Deputy Mayor Bob Underhill and Trustee Bill Fredericks. I also write this with admiration for Vanessa O’Friel, who offered her skills and put herself in the mix. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts, the credit belongs to the man in the arena.”

Bronxville government is unique and honestly envied by my colleagues in the Mayors’ Association as every Village elected official has viewed their roles as stewards of the Village, especially of your tax dollars, and has never carried a political party agenda or let national issues influence local decisions.

Currently, our Board has one registered Republican, two Democrats and two non-affiliated members and it works seamlessly as national views never permeate our conversation. As I often say, I know quite well my colleagues’ view on the cost of blacktop, but have no idea and thankfully so, their views on the Ukraine.

To be an effective Village government, local control must be the guiding principle to effectuate smart decisions.

I urge you, as voters, to see nonpartisan local government as a corner stone of this Village and preserve its tradition as it has served us well for 125 years.

As we start a new Village “year” with a new budget and additions or renewals of committee appointments, I urge you to offer your skills to join us in government.

It is important, as many of us are in the autumn of our service that the next generation steps us. My wish is that you continue the spirit of Bronxville first and leave political party agendas behind.  Personally, I plan to move forward and continue the non-partisan approach that I think serves us all best. As someone said to me recently, we should all move at the speed of trust.

Projects in the Works

Before I sign off, I just want to share what we are literally working on learning as I write.

Our final pedestrian island will be completed this week in the vicinity of Valley Road Garden Avenue and then in approximately two weeks, weather permitting, all of our crosswalks and parking places will be striped in synchronization with the paving of Pondfield Road.

Sadly, at the same time, we have to remove the swamp oak tree in front of 77 Pondfield Road as we have pruned and cared for it assiduously but we are sadly at the point of no return.

Post paving, on April 15, our summer outdoor dining program will begin. There are new rules for spacing, capacity, aesthetics and frontage that I think will please everyone and add to the overall attractiveness and vibrancy of the Village during the coming warm months when I hope all of you will be out there partaking in our one of a kind downtown.

As we celebrate the spring season in the Village, we also welcome three new businesses: the reopening of Topps Bakery, which will take place imminently; the grand opening of Patsy‘s Pizzeria on the west side, as I understand they are just waiting on the arrival of a pizza oven to begin operations and the arts and craft store taking the place of the candy store called Stargazer which currently has a very enticing and well curated window.

We welcome all our new businesses and thank all our current businesses who have made our downtown so vibrant and unique.

I hope that our new walkability measures with the islands will make it easier to walk to town and leave the car at home. The new islands have an added benefit of a great deal of permeable surface in which the Village will collaborate with our garden clubs to plant to make the downtown even more aesthetically pleasing all while we enjoy the daffodils on the Metro North hillsides which signal that spring is here in Bronxville.