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FeedFrom The Editor
The Worst of Westchester
While we have no doubt you’ll enjoy our “Best of Westchester” extravaganza in this issue, we realized any discussion of “the best” would not be complete without even a small acknowledgement of “the worst.” Here are our picks for the Worst of Westchester (WOW) 2008:
Worst View: The rear ends of miles of cars in front of you heading south on the Sprain during morning rush hour; heading north at evening rush hour.
Worst Place to Relax and Enjoy Some Peace and Quiet: The Mount Kisco Borders “café,” in which every precious seat is always occupied with chatty people with no books who nurse their lattes for hours while the real, paying customers (that would be us) sit on the floor next to the bookshelves to read.
Worst Audio Experience: The relentless “The doors are opening; the doors are closing” recording in the Westchester’s elevators.
Worst Construction Job: The work on I-287 that makes Boston’s disastrous “Big Dig” look like a tiny scoop.
Worst Toll: The Ardsley toll plaza on I-87. Residents should be able to spend those 75 cents at the Popeye’s at the Ardsley rest area.
Worst Manners: Customers at Stew Leonard’s who will ram you with their shopping carts while they rush to get a free sample.
Worst Use of Government Manpower: The Hastings-on-Hudson police department, which seemingly has nothing better to do than set speed traps and issue parking tickets to the poor magazine editors coming to patronize the village’s shops and restaurants.
Worst Communications Breakdown: Many of the drive-thrus at the county’s fast food restaurants. It’s a mysterious process that turns your order for iced tea into Hi-C, and your shake into Value Meal #8.
Worst Moviegoing Experience: The tiny, chopped-up theaters in the Mount Kisco multiplex—resulting in screens smaller than those found in local McMansions.
Worst Trend: The proliferation of banks in every town in the county. We love to window shop, but not if all we see is the ATMs in an endless loop of Wachovias, Citibanks, and Chases reminding us about the weakness of the dollar.
Worst Re-emergence of a Bad Idea: Building a highway tunnel linking the Long Island Expressway in Oyster Bay to the intersection of I-287 and I-95. Next thing you know we’ll all be saying things like, “My sister-in-lore lives on Lawn Guyland,” and “Your socks are in the draw-wah.”
Esther Davidowitz
Editor-in-Chief
Reader Comments:
Although I am not from Hastings and do not patronize the shops or restaurants there, I do live in a quaint village in Westchester where many, many transient shoppers and diners do converge. They seem oblivious to the traffic rules, feeling free to disregard them as a mere inconvenience and when they do receive a summons, they react just as the Editor has: "HOW DARE THEY STOP ME- I SHOP HERE" As Steve Martin so eloquently put it "WELL EXXXXXCUUUSE ME!!" We will all from here on out surrender our safety and serenity to an "Editor" who was speeding and parking illegally. Maybe the next editorial should be about personal responsibility and the public good. After all, they are so selfless.
Mr. Robert Martinelli,
In response to your editor's belief that the Hastings-on-Hudson Police Department has "seemingly" nothing better to do than set up speed traps and give parking tickets to "Poor Editors." As an editor maybe she should consult with her reporters. The Enterprise Newspaper has run many stories on Hastings Police Officers. They involve acts of Heroism, lifesaving, and citizen programs. As a resident of Hastings I take serious umbrage with your belittling of a force that countless times has come to the rescue of my fellow village residents. Do they give out parking tickets? Yes. Do they set up speed traps? I hope so, as my children attend local schools. Nonetheless, if you truly believe they have nothing better to do, maybe you should visit the Police Memorial Statue in front of the Westchester County Court House. Displayed are two officers who died in the line of duty from Hastings-on-Hudson. Your magazine owes a huge apology to the Hastings Police Department members. A good start would be a pink slip given to Ms. Davidowitz. Your advertisers may agree.
Ms. Davidowitz, I hope that if and when the Hastings police stopped you for speeding you did indeed receive a ticket. I hope the officer remembers you when you take it to traffic court and the judge refuses to let you plead down to a lesseer speed. Your arrogance deserves you to receive the most points on your license, the highest insurance premiums.
You speak of the rudeness of the shoppers in Stew Leonard's? Well I consider it rude when people speed through my town.
Why don't you just stay out of it?
I didn't know the Hastings on Hudson Police Dept. issued parking and speeding tickets to only "the poor magazine editors coming to patronize the village's shops and restaurants." (Like they know or care who you are Miss. Davidowitz) I guess the surrounding Police Depts., Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Grenburgh and Irvington would not think of using such tactics on you or anyone else coming to there community to “patronize there shops and restaurants.” Since when is shopping and eating at a particular location a free pass to violate the law?
Gee, I'm so sorry that every time I received a parking ticket I didn't get a chance to degrade their police department in a widely distributed magazine. I have paid many parking tickets in Hastings over the years and if the money for the parking ticket goes towards our police department, I am glad to pay it for the superb job they do in this town. If Ms. Davidowitz lived here, she would know that they do much more than give out tickets. I guess Ms. Davidowitz is above the law and thinks because she has a title after her name she is exempt from the law. I say "let her eat her words" and join the Hastings Police Force for one day. Wouldn't that be a hoot!
In regard to Ms. Davidowitz's comment regarding the change in the local dialect as a result of the possible tunnel linking Long Island by the LIE to 95 and 287, I detect a note of disdain for the sound of the native "Lawn Guylander." I was born and raised in Woodside,Queens,lived in Manhattan for 3 years, lived in Westchester for 17 years, in Brooklyn for 15 years and will be relocating to Hastings on Hudson this month. If I see a policmen trying to put a ticket on my car, I'll just tell him to "git awf."
My step-children love my "new yawker" accent and I do too.
Looking forward to returning to Westchester. Kathy Kettles