Jan. 18, 2023

To the Community,

In recent years, the Bronxville Board of Trustees has admirably focused on promoting walking and improving safe walkability within the village.  Unfortunately, the Board has recently taken a step in the wrong direction by proposing the creation of an unsafe crosswalk across NY-22 (White Plains Road) at Elm Rock Road and an associated circuitous pedestrian corridor to the school.  As envisioned, this corridor would zigzag from NY-22 down Elm Rock, to Oriole Avenue, to Orchard Place, and then either to Beechwood Road and Masterton Road or to Studio Lane and Hemlock Road down to the school at Midland Avenue.

Many residents who would be directly affected by the proposal — because they live on properties adjacent to the proposed crosswalk or the corridor — remain unaware of it.  And among those affected residents who have learned of it, opposition is nearly unanimous.

With good reason.  The proposal suffers from doing the opposite of what it purportedly intends: it creates less safe streets and ignores safer alternatives that have the added benefit of being less costly and less burdensome on village residents.

Specifically, the proposed project would funnel school children and other pedestrians to a point on NY-22 where no crosswalk currently exists or has ever existed and where no stoplight currently exists or would be installed.  Motion-triggered blinking lights next to the crosswalk are unlikely to effectively and safely control bus, truck, emergency vehicle, and car traffic on NY-22, a state highway not subject to the new ordinance lowering village speed limits to 25 mph.

The proposal ignores the plainly safer and more logical locations for the placement of crosswalks on NY-22: at Pondfield Road and at Tanglewylde Avenue / North Road.  Both of these locations already have existing stoplights and bus stops, yet both lack crosswalks.  These superior locations leverage key existing safety infrastructure — stoplights — and would better serve a wider cross-section of the village community, including village residents south of Pondfield, who would not benefit from the current proposal.

Crosswalks at Pondfield and Tanglewylde also would cause less disruption to the village and impose few costs.  By contrast, the proposed pedestrian corridor would (i) limitstreet parking and require the installation of reflectors, signage, and painted street walking lanes along much of its route; (ii) impose maintenance and liability obligations for sidewalks or walking lanes on adjacent homeowners; (iii) encourage the use of a less direct and less safe path to the school and the village downtown; and (iv) increase the congestion and density of the streets along the corridor and damage their residential charm.

In light of more pressing needs of greater benefit and lower cost to more village residents, such as to repair and improve existing sidewalks along Pondfield, along Masterton, on NY-22 between Pondfield and Sussex, and elsewhere, it is puzzling that the Board would choose to promote this proposal.  Also concerning is the lack of information provided to affected village residents over the past year and the hidden shifting of costs onto a large segment of village residents for the benefit of a small constituency of unaffected residents promoting a project that does not leverage existing infrastructure.

Fortunately, the Board has thoughtfully listened to resident concerns and recently indicated a willingness to advance the better crosswalk proposals.  Although nothing has come of it to date, the Board submitted an application for the state to install a crosswalk at Pondfield in 2017, and the Board recently has indicated a willingness to push it forward.  In a meeting last Wednesday, the Board also raised consideration of a crosswalk at Tanglewylde, and in an e-mailed letter on Thursday the Mayor indicated that the state has said it intends to install a crosswalk at Tanglewylde this year.  The village would be better served by working together to advance both of these projects to completion than by continuing with the misguided Elm Rock crosswalk proposal.

We commend the Mayor and the Board for properly hitting the pause button on the Elm Rock proposal in November in response to the immediate opposition and concerns that knowledge of the proposal generated among a subset of affected village residents.  Since that time, opposition among affected residents has only grown.  The Board should now do the right thing by stopping the project completely.  Instead of proceeding, it should take a deep breath, step back and conduct a comprehensive assessment across the entire village, and not consider projects on a piece-meal basis depending on who has the ear of the Board.  This inclusive approach would determine the highest-value projects for improving safe walkability for the greatest number of village residents while minimizing cost-shifting and other negative consequences.

Sincerely,

Claudia Amboss

Rodolpho Amboss

Scott Bacigalupo

Tara Bacigalupo

Anthony Beldotti

Doreen Beldotti

Peter Bonventre

Bill Dougherty

Tara Dougherty

Lisa Guillory

Jim Hennessy

Maureen Hennessy

Alicia Jensen

Arjay Jensen

Joanne E. Johnson

Jonathan Kelton

Lauren Kelton

Jeanne McFadden

Drew Melchionni

Katie Melchionni

Carter Neild

Tania Neild

Donna Olshan

Edward A. Reilly, Jr.

Tom Sipple

Brian Smith

Justin Smith

Kristin Smith

Jennifer Spitz

Roger Spitz

Audree Tadros

Rami Tadros

Emily Weber

Nate Weber

Alexa Zannetos

Steve Zannetos