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

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

April 15, 2025: As I mentioned in last week’s column, the Trustees and I, in synchronization with the entire Village staff, have formulated a very lengthy and aggressive Capital Projects outline for the coming Village fiscal year. Though we clearly understand that most residents are drawn to the Village because of the national excellence of our public school, we also know the maintenance and improvement of our infrastructure, both underground and surface, as well as our attractive streetscape and quality municipal services continue to attract generations, not only of new residents, but keep some of our most valued residents in the Village long after their family has needed the services of the school.

To that end, our job is to preserve the Village’s infrastructure on every level as that is the essence of our sustainability.

Village Has Many Attributes to Which Other Communities Aspire

With a keen interest in sustainability, walkability and quality of life, I have attended many seminars on the subjects, and honestly our Village has many of the attributes to which other communities aspire. National surveys also substantiate that the qualities of our Village: easy access to public transportation connecting to major hubs of employment in multiple directions, proximity to hospital and medical care, access to quality food sources, entertainment, culture, good schools, senior services and houses of worship all not requiring a car to access are what attract and keep residents long term.

Frankly, the only optimal attributes we are missing are a senior citizen living facility and a childcare facility for working parents. We truly are in a sweet spot for our long-term health as a community and we as citizens have a duty to protect and nurture our institutions so they stay vital, relevant and in optimal condition, hence our very ambitious capital project goals.

Village Layout and Structures Promote Human Interaction

Certainly intangible and nebulous, but perhaps just as important, is the nurturing of the personal health, goodwill and interaction of our residents. Again, our Village layout and structures promote human interaction and connection. But we must continue to spend monetary and human capital to maximize them as according to a JAMA study, nearly half of American adults surveyed said they sometimes, or in a surprising large number of cases always and feel the effects of loneliness and we know loneliness not only affects the soul, but the body as it has been linked to cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diminished immunity and early mortality.

Many doctors now called loneliness in America and according to some recent studies, it may actually be contagious, spreading like the common cold as having a lonely friend increases our chance of feeling some of the same emotion by over 50%. However, loneliness can be cured the way we cure any other disease with awareness and action.

Some of the cures for loneliness, or just lack of positive human interaction, include a mixing of generations in ad hoc and organized activities and outlets to volunteer that have room for all ages. In essence, our eight-year-olds and 80-year-olds need to know each other. I would ask all our volunteer institutions, with Village Hall taking the lead, to examine their inclusiveness, volunteer structure, and opportunities for all to pitch in. Most often, many of our organizations need us when we have the least amount of time; juggling jobs and young children, and when we finally have the time, the wisdom, the skill set and often the financial stability, our opportunities to contribute seem to diminish. I think we need to rethink the whole paradigm.

Living Among Greenery, Having Open Space, Walking, and Kindness All Have Health Benefits

Speaking from the Village perspective, one such area of improvement we have concentrated on is to preserve and improve our green space and walking opportunities as study after study demonstrates that living among greenery and having open space to interact with our neighbors can truly lower blood pressure, cortisone levels and most importantly raised one’s mood. Add to this the ability to walk easily and safely to activities and positive health effects accelerate.

In concert with this review of intergenerational connections, there is the companion factor of kindness. Dr. Kelly Harding of Columbia University wrote a book to much acclaim titled The Rabbit Effect on the subject. Though it is almost 50 years old, its thesis is still quite relevant and verifiable. It highlights a simple experiment studying two groups of rabbits to determine the connection between high cholesterol and heart attacks. Treated to the same high fat diet, one group performed remarkably better.

Quite perplexed, one of the researchers finally admitted to talking to and petting the rabbits in her Control Group. It was then scientifically proven that kindness and TLC had actually altered gene expression through microscopic epidemic changes.

After millions of dollars in research money, the solutions turned out to be quite simple both to kindness and loneliness – invest in relationships, volunteer, practice kindness, say hi to everyone you encounter, turn another cheek when unkindness comes your way, improve yourself and spend time improving your community.

We need to do this as a community, so I welcome any innovative ideas as kindness like loneliness has proven to be contagious.