Pelville Association Holds First Meeting of 2012

PELHAM, N.Y. – The Pelville Association held its first meeting of 2012 Wednesday night at the Richard J. Daronco Town House where members discussed current issues in Pelham, accomplishments from 2011, and goals for the year ahead.

The association, which first started in the late 1970s and disbanded in the early 1990s, was revived in August 2010 by a group of local residents who were trying to provide the neighborhood with a voice once again. Pelville is the area south of Willow Avenue to the Pelham Train Station and the Hutchinson River Parkway through Ninth Avenue.

Tom Riccio, the interim president of the organization, said the group’s voice has been heard in the community and was grateful for the strong relationship it holds with the village board of trustees.

“We, so far, have had much success with the village with some concerns that are directly related to this association,” Riccio said. “Our positions that we’ve raised, they’ve addressed and again, we just look forward to continuing that kind of relationship. It’s been a good one.”

The first issue brought up at the start of the meeting had to do with opposition to the proposed Princeton Plan for the four local elementary schools.

“There’s some longstanding issues that have always reared their heads when we talk about the school district and those are concerns that are across the board,” Riccio said after the meeting. “We’re going to try to work together as an association and address some” issues that were raised at Wednesday’s meeting “with the school district, and see where we go from there.”

Richie Bell, longtime Pelham resident and owner of Village Wine and Liquors, urged members at the meeting to find a Republican to run in the upcoming March election for one of the three village trustee seats on the village board, which is run by a Democratic majority.  Recently-retired town supervisor Joe Solimine, also pleaded with members of any political party to consider running for office since the election is so far uncontested.

Riccio has several goals for the association over the coming months, including the continuation of the organization’s beautification committee.

“We want to continue our efforts with the beautification committee that we started last year,” he said. “That was a tremendous success. We had many of the businesses participate with the flowers, with the plants and basically cleaning up the immediate area.”

Riccio would also like to see continued increased police presence at Julianne’s Park because he said the surrounding residents have noticed an improvement in the environment.

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