Photo by N. Bower

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

July 14, 2026: As promised, this is Part Two of the Village initiatives and projects currently underway.

Milburn Stair Repair
It has not gone as smoothly as we thought with the goal of construction this summer. Our design and bid package should now be ready by September 1, with a realistic early fall start. The scope of work includes new railings, lighting fixtures, wall repairs and replacements of infrastructure. It is quite an intricate project which took time to align.

Summer Paving Projects
We were able, unlike other years, to complete a majority of our paving priorities in the spring, including sections of Summit Avenue, Hobart Street, Argyle Place, Leggett Road, Oriole Avenue and Ridgecroft Road.

Still on the schedule are portions of Prescott Avenue and Paddington Circle. A great deal of striping will be done throughout the summer including a new crosswalk across Midland Avenue from the east side of Avon Road to the west side in the coming weeks.

Property Maintenance

We continue to reach out to residents, issuing notices, not tickets, to cure overgrown hedges and cracked sidewalks. We ask you to get these projects done expeditiously as smooth sidewalks and increased visibility increases the Village’s walkability and most importantly safety.

Crawford Drainage and Park Improvements
A new sanitary sewer line traversing the park from Grove Street has been completed with the work progressing down Middle Road with installation of remaining drainage structures in the stormwater channel to follow. In conjunction, we plan to bid a landscaping plan by mid-August.

Downtown Improvements

We recognize the importance and the uniqueness of our Village business district so we are working very hard with our merchants to keep it as aesthetically beautiful as possible without putting any undo financial burdens on an already challenging small business environment. As background, we suspended a fair number of signage and design rules during Covid, appreciating how resilient our Village merchants were to persevere in spite of unbelievable odds. As you remember, we raised almost three quarters of a $1 million to essentially give interest free loans to our merchants and we are so thankful a record number of them are still in business and of course count on your continuing patronage.

We are concentrating on making our downtown as attractive and welcoming as possible and the Village team is totally doing their part. For example, we are power washing sidewalks and trash bins and refurbishing and refinishing our benches. My favorite device out there is the Gumbuster, as it gets rid of all those hideous black circles that you see on every sidewalk everywhere.

We send an enormous thank you to the BBC for all the plantings to making our traffic calming “bump-outs” so attractive.

We continue to struggle with the Metro North area. The underpass is nothing short of shameful, but until we can get Metro North to address some of the rust and drainage issues expending money to enhance that area is not a prudent option. We are also working with Metro North, however glacially, to be allowed to do planting on the downtown New York City side of the train station so when you arrive there in the morning, especially at the south end, you do not fix your eyes on a proliferation of weeds. We are also working with our garden clubs to help us figure out how to make the banks along the train station hillsides more attractive as nothing we have planted of late has been able to overcome the resilience of the weeds.

We have noticed that many of our businesses have far too many signs in their windows that have resulted in clutter and a less than sleek professional look. Unfortunately, many of the signs never went before the Design Review Committee or Planning Board as required, so many are illegal. With that being said, we know how hard it is for our merchants to refuse to hang a sign about a school play or a church raffle when those requesting the advertisement are incredibly loyal customers, but at the same time, we have a duty to all of you to uphold Village rules and the regulations.

As example, we have a regulation that completely prohibits neon signs yet you will notice them in the Village and their existence affects the overall ambience/aesthetics of the Village. We are working with our Chamber of Commerce, which is so ably led by Village resident Leslie Corcoran, to see if our merchants will cooperate in reducing signage and adhering to the rules as we do not want to resort to punitive measures.

Police Department Staffing

We are working double time to add new police officers to our force so that we can have overtime and bike patrol in the business district to curb many of the traffic abuses, most notably the crossing the yellow line that has become epidemic. We hear you. We are listening. We just quite frankly at this juncture need the manpower.

Bronxville Historical Conservancy

We are also working with the Bronxville Historical Conservancy to hopefully do some enhancements to Leonard Morange Park, which is adjacent to the New York City bound side of the Metro North Station. The park is a beautiful open space but could use some tender loving care… perhaps some additional trees and benches and lawn care as those of you who walk by notice it is an incredible oasis of calm for so many people on the west side of town.

Again, in concert with the Bronxville Historical Conservancy, we have rolled out phase two for the repair and replacement of the iconic Village street signs that define our Village. Replacement is already underway with new signs at Midland and Masterton already installed with plans to expand in all Village neighborhoods throughout the summer.

Finally, I want to welcome our wonderful new gelato store Gelateria Sorella. That corner at the far end of the business district used to be rather quiet but now it is a hub of activity with lines for their delicious product going around the corner creating another point of energy and activity in our very special downtown. Please keep the good ideas coming our way as we count on you for observation and inspiration.