By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

Oct. 21, 2026: This week’s column is a collection, and if I use my fractured college French, it could be a mélange or potpourri of Village activities that are front and center at this moment in time.

100th Anniversary of Mrs. Morgan’s Flower Shop

In 1898, the year Bronxville was incorporated as a village, Episcopal minister William Epiphanius Wilson moved to Bronxville and was instrumental in establishing Christ Church, incorporating the parish in 1901.

His daughter Emily did her part by supplying the church with flowers, first from her garden and beginning in 1926 from her flower shop at 145 Parkway Road. She married Mr. Robert Morgan and her business became known as Mrs. Morgan’s Flower Shop.

For several years, she contributed a column to The Bronxville Review sharing her thoughts and advice about flowers. One of her columns, titled “A Little Something About Ourselves,” revealed the attitudes and abilities that made—and would continue to make—the shop successful. The shop maintained high standards and a commitment to providing its customers with, “Flowers of the best quality arranged with judgment and taste and delivered when promised—always.”

Mrs. Morgan passed away in 1953 and the subsequent changes in ownership proved crucial to the shop’s survival and continued prosperity. After the sudden passing of a short-lived owner, Edward F. Russell, the business was purchased by Robert Krause, a young horticulturist who had actually worked for Mrs. Morgan’s competitor, Nosegay Florist, in Bronxville.

According to the Krause family lore one day, while young Krause was carrying an armload of geraniums from Nosegay to Mrs. Morgan’s shop, he tripped as he opened the door and crushed all the flowers. Mrs. Morgan saw something endearing in the sight of the embarrassed young man holding the remains of his ruined flowers, and she hired him immediately.

Krause became the full owner of the shop in 1979. His son, Robert Krause Jr., (Bobby) joined him and began working full-time at the shop taking over its management in 1990.

Together, this father-and-son team has helped carry Mrs. Morgan’s Flower Shop forward for decades, bringing us to the celebration of 100 years of this beloved business in the very same storefront.

Known to many of us as Bob Krause, Robert has said that every morning, when he puts his key into the shop door, he feels like a lucky man.

“I love Bronxville. I love the people. I love my customers, and I love being part of village life every day.”

Anyone who knows Bob understands that his words are matched by his actions. Thanks to all he does for the community and his boundless generosity, he is affectionately known as the “Mayor of the West Side.” Stop by the shop and see the incredible memorabilia spanning a century.

And that brings us to his special event last Thursday evening…

E-BIKES – A Continued Conversation

So many of you, and rightly so, have brought to my attention the need for regulation of electric bikes and scooters, as we read far too much about fatal crashes, especially in New York City.

As you can imagine, the proposals run the gamut, with many people supporting the proposed Priscilla’s Law, named after Priscilla Loke, an educator who was killed in 2023 by the rider of an electric Citi Bike.

The bill currently before the state legislature would require all electric bikes and scooters to be registered and display license plates. A spokesperson for Governor Kathy Hochul would not say whether the Governor supports Priscilla’s Law but did say that she, “will review any bill that passes both houses of the Legislature.”

Bill proponents are also interested in an age-verification system to ensure that riders are at least 16 years old, the legal minimum age for riding an e-bike.

The use of electric bikes soared after 2020, when the state legalized these devices for street use. We are confident the state will act on this issue in the next legislative session.

A Continuation of our Conversation of Village Connections

According to Atlantic Magazine, the dinner party is dying in America as only 67% of Americans said they entertained people at least once in the past year, down from 88% in 1995.

The share of Americans who host friends or family at home at least one a month plummeted from 42% in 1975 to 12% in 2026.

Reasons Proffered:

·    -Busier schedules; too tired to host

     -Expectations are too high thanks to internet tablescapes, menus – making it more stressful than enjoyable.

·    -Fewer friends

·    -The share of Americans with five or more close friends dropped from 63% in 1990 to 38% in 2021. We just spend more time alone causing the U.S. Surgeon General to declare loneliness an official epidemic.

·    -Screens make staying home easier.

·    -A dinner party requires planning, cleaning, coordination and social engagement. Streaming and scrolling require none of those.

Hometown Hero

Arijanit “Niti” Kuci, the superintendent of the Rivermere co-op who saved the life of a fellow resident during the fatal fire of last December risking his own to climb a ladder into the fire and lead a neighbor to safety. He received his award to a packed house of his family and seemingly every Rivermere neighbor. The comment so repeated the evening was, “Aren’t we lucky to live in a community like ours being surrounded by people of Niti’s character and courage.”

Tax Snapshot of New York State

Not surprisingly, New York remains one of the nation’s highest-taxed states. The Citizens Budget Commission reported New York has the nation’s highest combined state and local taxes on a per-capita basis, averaging $12,495 per resident — about 78% higher than the national average of $7,009. The report also noted New York City’s top combined personal income tax rate reaches 14.776%, compared with California’s top rate of 13.3%. The Citizens Budget Commission also reported that New York’s business climate remains challenging, citing the state’s high corporate tax rates and labor costs.

According to the report:

-New York City’s combined corporate tax rate is 17.44%, compared with 11.5% in New Jersey and 8.84% in California.

-Small-business labor costs are about 25% higher than the national average.

At the same time, New York remains home to one of the country’s largest concentrations of wealth. The report found the state had the fourth-highest number of millionaires in the nation in 2022.

Health care and social assistance accounted for nearly 41% of all new jobs added in New York since 2010. As of 2025, those jobs paid an average annual wage of $65,616, below the statewide average of $99,949, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, retail and manufacturing combined lost more than 127,000 jobs between 2019 and 2025.

Village Budget at a Glance

For 2025-26, expenses came in just below budgeted at 98.3% or approximately $300k below budgeted. Revenues exceeded budgeted by over $1.8m. Sales tax revenue hit a new high at $1,921,728 (budgeted at $1.7m). This new fiscal year we budgeted $1.8m. Sales tax now accounts for over 27% of our non-real property tax revenues. Almost all other revenue sources increased including building permits up $300k. Court fines exceeded budgeted by $600k and even mortgage tax revenue was up $60k.

As a result of these additional revenues, the Trustees assigned the Treasurer and I have recommended assigning further fund balance to tax stabilization, capital projects and health insurance liabilities.

More paving was completed including portions of Prescott Avenue, Sagamore Road and Kensington Road. Our striping contractor is still marking out our intersections including the new crosswalks and curbing is planned for Paxton Avenue at the Bronx River Parkway exit and Maltby Parking Lot entrance. (This layout was coordinated with the Westchester County Planning Department and should improve traffic flow and pedestrian movements.)

Bronxville Lake/Duck Pond

Thanks to the efforts of neighbors and fellow Duck Pond lovers, Joan Chase, Beth Rowan and Paty Dohrenwend over 700 signatured were collected asking the County to begin mitigation efforts to rid the pond of islands, debris and invasive plants.

County Executive Ken Jenkins, was very responsive to out entreaties; meeting with us to start our case which resulted in a pond review included in the next County Capital Budget. This is a terrific example of government and grassroots efforts teaming up in such a constructive and positive way.