On April 3, we will hold our first INDOOR event, an author visit with Dorothy Wickenden, author of The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights, at the Scarsdale Public Library. I look forward to seeing friends and longtime members as we learn about three courageous women whose powerful ideas and actions can still instruct our current work.

Our Annual Meeting on Friday, May 7, will take place indoors as well at the Scarsdale Golf Club. We are thrilled to have Jerika Richardson, Senior Vice President for Equitable Justice & Strategic Initiatives at the National Urban League, discuss "The Future of Voting Rights: Current Battles and Where We Go from Here." We will also vote on all business at our Annual Meeting, including our proposed slate of Officers, Board Members, and Off-Board Nominating Committee Members for 2022-23, and our Proposed 2022-23 Local Program. We hope you can join us!

As we approach election season–the May School Board and Budget Vote, the June Primary, and the November General Election–the LWVS and Leagues across the country will be registering voters and providing essential voter information. As part of that effort, the LWVS is working with both the LWV of New Rochelle and the LWV of Westchester Voter Service Committee in coordinated efforts to pre-register and register students in area high schools. Anyone who wishes to volunteer in this effort should contact me at [email protected]. 

SCHOOL BUDGET VOTE and SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION 

For additional information, please visit the Scarsdale Schools Voter Information Page.

Join us for a book talk with the author Dorothy Wickenden to hear about her book, The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights. This book examines the lives of three women – Frances Seward, Harriet Tubman, and Martha Coffin Wright – whose paths converged in the town of Auburn, New York, where they became collaborators in the fight for abolition and women’s suffrage as well as devoted friends.

Dorothy Wickenden is the author of Nothing Daunted and The Agitators and has been the executive editor of The New Yorker since January 1996. She also writes for the magazine and is the moderator of its weekly podcast The Political Scene. A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, Wickenden was national affairs editor at Newsweek from 1993-1995, and before that was the longtime executive editor at The New Republic. 

V. 2022-2023 Local Program Presentation

Ms. Richardson will discuss the National Urban League’s work in ensuring equitable access to the ballot box (especially for women, communities of color, and other marginalized groups) and in encouraging all forms of civic engagement--essential components of furthering social justice and strengthening our democracy. 

We are tremendously grateful that this year’s four-day conference will be in person and will take place in Albany from Sunday, May 22nd to Wednesday, May 25th. The agenda will be packed with tools to instruct students on how to influence public policy decision-making at the state level. Additionally, the opportunity to meet in person with legislators, which is always the highlight of the Conference, will continue.

The Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees is currently evaluating whether to repair or renovate the Scarsdale Pool Complex. Lothrop Associates LLP Architects (LAA), a full-service architectural firm and its aquatics consulting division, Aquatectonic (AQT), recently issued an Existing Conditions Survey which assesses the current state of the pool complex and sets forth the costs of repairing the facility and ensuring it complies with relevant codes.   

If you have any interest or just have questions, please contact Alissa Baum at [email protected].

On April 13 at 12:00 p.m., the LWVW will be co-sponsoring a virtual forum on The Perils of Plastic with Erica Cirino, author of Thicker Than Water, and Jim Vallette, the lead researcher and author of Beyond Plastics, a new report which details how plastic production is set to overtake coal in greenhouse gas emissions.

Thanks to Suzie Hahn for her work on the School Budget portfolio. Thanks as well to Tracy Tang for her work on the Village Budget portfolio. Thanks to Elissa Ruback and Debbie Miller for their wise counsel and supportive work. 

Thanks to Lauren Hertzog Fields, Beatrice Sevcik, and Jessica Zellner for their work on Voter Service. Thanks to Lauren Tetenbaum Dorman and Cindy Yau for their work on Students Inside Albany. Thanks to Beatrice Sevcik and Heedan Chung for their thorough review of recent concurrence proposals.

Thanks to Erika Rublin for her work as Treasurer and help in budget planning. Thanks to Jenny Tabak for her careful analysis as membership statistician.  

Thanks to Dana Matsushita for her careful, thoughtful and detailed work on the LWVS Bulletin. Thanks to Dana Matsushita and Joan Bowen for staying on top of event publicity and eblast communications. Thanks to Diane Baylor for taking such careful minutes at our meetings and for keeping our website up-to-date. 

Thanks to Anne Lyons for her work on the LWVS winter finance drive and the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting. Thanks to Kitt Rosenthal for being our liaison to the LWVW. Thanks to Jyoti Ruta and Sara Pinto for their important Board work.

Thanks to Janice Starr and the LWVS nominating committee, Kerry Hayes, Dalya Khan, Heedan Chung, and Elissa Ruback, for their work on the 2022-23 Board slate. 

Thanks to Nancy Michaels and the LWVS budget committee, Leah Dembitzer, Diane Baylor, Anne Lyons, Debbie Miller, and Erika Rublin.

Thank you to members of the School and Village Administration and Boards who joined us for our March Information Sessions -- the LWVS appreciates all of your hard work on behalf of our community.

Bulletins will be sent via eblast and posted on our website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions about your membership status or to change/update your contact information.

The TRY brochure, the directory of elected and appointed government officials published by the LWVS, is available on our website.