Bedford Village NY Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433)

The folks at Four Seasons Limousine are posting pictures of Bedford village and the surrounding area. Stay with us for updates.

Katonah NY airport and Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433)

This Picture of downtown Katonah shot on Martin Luther King day 2010 is of the Kellog & Lawrence store.

Cross River NY Airport and Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433)

Four Seasons Limousine and the owner Colin Holliday will be posting pictures and news along with interesting facts about the Cross river area. We have been serving the local area since 1989 with outstanding service.

Alex has been with Four Seasons for 5 years now and is requested by many customers because of his dedication to service and details.

Click here for the Four Seasons web site.

Metro-North: 6 workers suspended, accused of Pa. drive for fireworks on railroad time

Six Metro-North employees have been suspended without pay, accused of driving to Pennsylvania on railroad time to buy fireworks and inexpensive cigarettes, the railroad confirmed Tuesday.

The six, all mechanical foremen, were taken off the job temporarily Dec. 26, said Marjorie Anders, Metro-North Railroad spokeswoman.

The inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Metro-North’s parent agency, is putting together a report in the incident, Anders said. A spokesman for the inspector general’s office said he did not know when the report would be released.

Anders confirmed the employees’ identities as Samuel Giordano, Daniel DiLorenzo, Kevin Eich, Mark Magnani, Richard Delgado and David Macaluso. The foremen oversee the care of equipment such as tie pullers, which are used to maintain the rail system, Anders said.

Bedford: Home of the rich and tax break-eligible

To fully comprehend top Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz's definition of "upper-middle-class," and see just who's eligible for a check in the governor's tax freeze, I drove to northern Westchester on Tuesday.

I had a list of 42 Bedford homes, valued by the town for between $1.9 million and $3.9 million, which were owned by individuals who qualify for the state's STAR property-tax exemption. STAR limits eligibility to those who earn less than $500,000 a year. You have STAR, you qualify for the freeze.

Ah, to be upper-middle-class in Bedford, the home to publisher Martha Stewart, clothing magnate Ralph Lauren and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

Still, the STAR recipients, I found, were doing pretty darn well.

I spied their mansions tucked in the woods off dirt roads, with steel fences six feet tall protecting property that ranged from 4 to 30 acres. Many had electronically controlled driveway gates to keep uninvited visitors from stopping by.

Under Cuomo's tax freeze, these 42 homeowners would qualify for what could be among the state's largest tax-freeze checks. The freeze will have state taxpayers cover whatever increase a STAR recipient gets billed in school taxes — as long as the school budget stays within the state tax cap. This year, the average cap across the state is 2.4 percent, according to the state School Boards Association.

These Bedford residents are the homeowners that Schwartz, the White Plains resident who serves as Cuomo's secretary, told Tax Watch he classified as middle-class, with those STAR recipients earning close to $500,000 considered "upper-middle-class."

Upper-middle-class in Bedford is sweet. Up on Hook Road, where the dirt turns to pavement, Catherine Crier, the television journalist and entertainment-company executive, lives on 30 acres. Her estate, which features two residences, a barn and another outbuilding, is valued by the town at $3.3 million. She paid $110,000 in property taxes in 2013, including $81,322 to the Katonah-Lewisboro schools.

Around the corner, at 29 Upper Hook Road, STAR recipient Stewart Mills Reid lives on 7 ½ acres acres in a 20-room home, with eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms, an in-ground pool and a detached three-car garage. He paid $124,000 in property taxes in 2013, records show.

Across town on 71 Meeting House Road, on a hilltop overlooking the Croton Reservoir, Ross Yasgur's 7,500-square-foot French Normandy mansion features five bedrooms, 4 ½ bathrooms and a 450-square-foot master bedroom closet that's as big as some studio apartments, according to a 2006 InTown Westchester article.

Yasgur's property bill in 2013? $90,501.

Attempts to reach Yasgur and Crier were unsuccessful. A woman who answered the door at Reid's home took a message, which was not returned. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi did not return phone messages.

These homeowners' property-tax bills — some of which exceed Westchester's median household income of $81,000 — were all reduced by STAR, the $3.4 billion state program that pays a portion of a homeowner's school taxes. What the state pays school districts through STAR rises in counties like Westchester, which gets the state's highest payments, based on the state's calculation that housing here costs roughly three times more than the statewide average.

In Westchester, the state pays the school taxes that it would have collected on about the first $90,000 of a home's value. In Katonah-Lewisboro, STAR was worth $1,710 while Bedford Central homeowners had the state pick up $1,104 in school taxes for each qualified home, said Assessor Harold Girdlestone.

How the tax freeze plays out in Bedford will depend on whether voters approve budgets in May, and what kind of increases — or reductions — they find in their 2014 school-tax bills.

Bedford STAR recipients living in Katonah-Lewisboro — like Reid and Crier — could see a reduction in their school taxes based on the school board's unprecedented proposal to reduce the district's tax levy by 3.7 percent. If their bills go down, there would be no increase for the state to send them a check to cover. Bedford Central, meanwhile, has proposed a budget with a tax-capped 1.4 percent tax-levy increase.

For Yasgur, that increase could bring a welcome check to Meeting House Road. He paid $56,140 in Bedford Central school taxes in 2013. An increase of 1.4 percent in his school taxes — $786 — would get covered by a check for a similar amount, courtesy of New York state taxpayers.

North Salem NY Airport and Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433)

Four Seasons Limousine and Colin Holliday are keeping this blog for the information and entertainment of the people of North Salem NY

Population in July 2008: 5,219.

Colin with Four Seasons Limousine for 25 years

 Body found inside burning car in train station parking lot in suburban NY nd inside burning car in train station parking lot in suburban NY

 Police are awaiting autopsy results Monday and have yet to identify the man found inside a burning sport-utility vehicle in the parking lot of the Purdys train station on Sunday, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Croton Falls firefighters discovered the man, believed to be about 40 years old, in the burning late-model Chevrolet Tahoe, said MTA spokesman Sal Arena. He was pronounced dead with severe burns.

MTA detectives are investigating and, as of Monday morning, had yet to declare whether it may have been a homicide.

The Croton Falls Fire Department responded at 3:45 p.m. to the reported car fire at the Harlem Line station, at 85 Titicus Road off Exit 7 of Interstate 684 and Route 116.

Law enforcement officials did not release additional details as they combed the area and charred remains of the SUV, with New York state plates, for evidence.

Amid heavy snowfall, about 25 New York state, Westchester County, local and MTA law enforcement and fire personnel were at the scene Sunday night. Officials with the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office later removed the body.

Fire apparatus with strong lights illuminated the scene, which was cordoned off with yellow police tape as the investigation continued. An MTA police dog, Shenko, was also at the scene.

Mary and Ken Champion, a local couple who take the train from the Purdys station every Sunday evening, said they were shocked to hear about the man’s death.

“It’s very surprising,” Mary Champion said. “It’s usually very quiet around here. ... It’s very sad that things like this can happen.”

     
      

Staysail Farm in North Salem, NY.

     

North Salem Teens Compete In Ridgefield Playhouse BandJam

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. -- A band made up mainly of North Salem teens is hoping to win big in Ridgefield.

Plethora of Nothing is one of the four finalists competing in Ridgefield BandJam at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Sunday, April 27 at 4 p.m. More than 50 bands apply each year.

The band features Justin Giacchetto, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at North Salem Middle School on guitar; Kevin Giacchetto, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at North Salem High School on bass; Jack Sullivan, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at North Salem High School on vocals; and Tess Condron, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at Byram Hills Middle School. 

The band first started playing together after meeting at the School of Rock Westchester in Bedford.

Giacchetto knew Condron and Sullivan were interested in being a band and asked them to join via Facebook message. The band say they enjoy rehearsing and often hang out outside of rehearsals.

The groups have various influences, with Justin being influenced by Liquid Tension Experiment, Kevin being influenced by Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Condron being influenced by John Bonham from Led Zeppelin.

"I like all kinds of '90s alternative and grunge rock," Sullivan said.

The band currently performs covers of their favorite songs, but have started to write original songs as well. 

"They came up with the band name because they all really got a kick out of the word 'Plethora,' and found they were jokingly using it amongst themselves constantly," Allison Giacchetto, Kevin and Justin's mom said. "They thought “Plethora of Nothing” had a certain ring to it, and was kinda funny, too."

The band entered BandJam on a whim and thinks they made it in due to their energy and enthusiasm.

"We have a really good relationship as a band and we practice a lot," Condron said.

"We have an undeniable connection as a band and we mesh really well," Sullivan added.

To prepare for BandJam, the band has performed outside Ridgefield Town Hall and had a one hour coach session at the Music Shed in Redding. They also recently performed in February at the Yorktown Teen Center.

Croton Falls NY Airport and Limousine Service 800-914RIDE(7433)

Four Seasons Limousine and the owner Colin Holliday will be following the history and progress of the Croton Falls area. We will be publishing pictures along with facts and news about the town and its people.

Passing over US 202/NY 22 just north of Croton Falls

Memory plays needn't be the dark and poignant vehicles authored by the likes of Tennessee Williams or Brian Friel. They can also be on the lighter side. In Neil Simon's "Laughter On The 23rd Floor," "lighter" becomes "hilarious" to a point of hysteria, stopping short of slapstick humor.

The comedy, authored by the playwright who has been dubbed a "joke machine," is his fond rendition of a glorious chapter in television history. It recalls a time when a bevy of comic geniuses collaborated on producing Sid Caesar's "Show of Shows" -- easily the most impressive brainchild of TV's early days.

In the play, characters who are unmistakable facsimilies of Sid Caesar (Max Prince), Neil Simon (Lucas), Larry Gelbart (Kenny), Mel Tolkin (Val), Michael Stewart (Brian), Carl Reiner (Milt), Selma Diamond (Carol), Mel Brooks (Ira) and Dave Caesar (Harry) do their inimitable thing. Woody Allen was a later addition, although traces of him survive in the character of Ira, a career hypochondriac, who imagines he has a brain tumor, like Woody's character "Mickey" in the 1986 film, "Hannah and Her Sisters."

Simon's "23rd Floor" is actually the fancied sum of the 11th and 12th floors of an NBC-TV office building where the dream team held its hugely creative -- and often stormy -- sessions of generating situational comedy for its 90-minute weekly variety show produced by Max Liebman.

The play trots out the foibles of each of its characters in the funniest way possible; they are all bursting with gag lines you just know couldn't have been spawned by anyone other than Simon, the most successful comedy playwright in the world.

Max (Steve Permutter), is the demanding head of the creative team, a leader whose genius is fortified by a steady diet of pills and booze. The others, a batch of disparate personalities made up of seven men and two women, Helen (Melissa Malone) and Carol (Carmen Lamar), go at each other in ways that have you rolling in the aisles at The Schoolhouse Theater production, directed by its guiding light, Pamela Moller Kareman.

Max is up against the dreaded specter of his show being closed down by NBC bigwigs, who feel the future is in producing more popular, albeit vacuous fare, like "Life With Father" and "Leave It To Beaver" -- sanitized versions of American life. He is not above putting his fist through the office wall on several occasions in expressing his frustration.

Other characters, Kenny (Kevin Cristaldi), Milt (Michael Basile), Val (Neal Mayer), Brian (Christian Thom), Ira (Daniel Damiano) and the two ladies commiserate with their boss, while Lucas (Israel Gutierrez) steps out of character to address the audience at the beginning and end of the show.

Director Kareman's staging of the comedy is expert in most respects, although one might wish some of the interactions between characters were a little less on the frenetic, and more on the understated side, in order to maximize the humor. Of course, with the fevered pitch already inherent in the playwright's brilliant writing, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

"Laughter On The 23rd Floor" runs until June 5 at The Schoolhouse Theater, 3 Owens Road, Croton Falls, N.Y. Performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are 8 p.m., Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30 on Thursday and Friday and $32 on Saturday and Sunday, and may be purchased by calling the box office at 914-277-8477 or contacting www.school

housetheater.org.

Somers NY Airport and Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433

Four Seasons Limousine serving the somers NY area since 1989 with courtious and reliable service.

The Somers Land Trust (SLT) is a non-profit organization committed to preserving open space in the town of Somers, NY. The SLT and its dedicated members work to protect the natural landscape of our town through stewardship and advocacy activities.

The Pictures on the left of the Elephant Hotel are pretty recent. We will be showing more in the near future

                                          Colin Holliday with Four Seasons Limousine in Somers NY

              

Alex with Four Seasons Limousine in Somers NY

           

Extreme Makeover Home Edition filming in Somers, NY

 

Purdys NY Airport and Limousine Service 800-914-RIDE(7433)

This is a very old picture of Deans Bridge, which used to be called Casey's crossing.
 Four Seasons Limousine has been serving the Purdy's area since 1989. We are interested in the history and future of Purdy's and will be posting pictures and facts about the town and its people