Village Gives Notice to Withdraw from Tri-Municipal
Cable TV Sharing Agreement

Larchmont Temple members Ed Jacobson, Dan Karson and Rob Rothman appeared before the Monday, November 15th Larchmont Board of Trustees Work Session, requesting a license to install defensive planter boxes/bollards on Village property fronting the synagogue and Willow Avenue.

“Larchmont Temple has been reviewing its security procedures since 2018.  The Tree of Life murders caused the Temple to accelerate its review, working closely with the Larchmont Police Department, safety professionals and professional security consultant.

“The Temple received a $100,000 grant from the US Department of Homeland Security and a $50,000 grant from NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergence Services. Part of the grant money will pay for the planters.

“We are confident that the proposed barriers would be an effective deterrent to a wrongdoer intent on using a motor vehicle to attack the building and protect persons situated behind the barriers. We updated our original plan by adding steel bollard reinforcements inside the planters and included an irrigation system.”

Village Administrator Justin Datino will direct Village Attorney James Staudt to draft the license to be presented at the Monday, December 6th meeting.

During the Regular Meeting, Mayor Lorraine Walsh announced appointment of Kayvan Heravi to Planning Board; Karen Hall, Parks/Trees and new Police Chief Christopher McNerney, presently Chief of Greenburgh PD.  McNerney will be inaugurated at the December 6th meeting.

In other business, Walsh said that Larchmont is giving notice to withdraw from the tri-municipal Cable TV Sharing Agreement, effective November 8, 2022.  The Agreement established a tri-municipal Cable TV Board of Control (BOC) with equal representation, creating a method for capita disbursement of cable Franchise Fee.  

“The Agreement does not acknowledge how… the Franchise Fee and Public Educational and Government (PEG) Fee funds might otherwise be disbursed.  There is no statement of the purpose or mission of the BOC beyond its relationship with the cable companies.”

“In March of 2021, Larchmont requested that $100,000 of our PEG fee funds be transferred to us for capital expenses to improve the transmission quality of our government meetings.  To date, we have not received these funds.”  In Public Comment, many citizens including LMC-Media Executive Director Matt Sullivan asked the Village to reconsider.