Hebrew Home expansion a lot closer to reality

With city officials set to certify plans, Community Board 8 officials are gearing up for what they expect will be an intense debate over plans to build a continuing care retirement community on the Palisade Avenue campus of Hebrew Home at Riverdale.

CB8 land use chair Charles Moerdler said he expects his committee could meet twice next month over the plans, including one meeting where the board would do nothing more than listen to community input. 

RiverSpring Health, the home’s non-profit parent, wants to build three structures ranging from four to 12 stories, that some neighbors say will block their view of the Hudson River.

The community board meetings are part of the process needed to gain a special permit to build the 388-unit development. 

No schedule has been developed as of yet, but CB8 expects to deliver its formal opinion by the end of June. 

ConEd crediting customers who lost power

People who lost power last month because of the nor’easters that hit the area have a chance to get a little bit of their money back.

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel is reminding those who lost power for at least three days during the March 2 and March 7 storms to apply for a one-time reduction to their monthly customer delivery charge.

The reimbursements from Con Edison are primarily for food and prescriptions that spoiled during power outages, making them eligible for up to $225 without receipts, or $515 with receipts. Businesses can claim as much as $10,200 with receipts.

To file a claim, visit tinyurl.com/ConEdCredit, by April 15.

Biaggi, Klein could spar at town hall

NWBronx Indivisible is set to host a candidate town hall for the state senate seat currently held by Jeffrey Klein on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m., at Fieldston Ethical Culture Society, 4450 Fieldston Road.

Alessandra Biaggi, who has challenged Klein in the primary, is confirmed for the gathering, while Klein has yet to commit. 

The event will be moderated by Gary Axelbank.

The event is free, although observers are asked to RSVP to tinyurl.com/SenTownHall.

Former Press writer dies

He would make a name for himself as an editor of The Washington Post, but Michael Getler earned his first bylines here, at The Riverdale Press.

Getler, who later became an ombudsman for The Post and PBS, died March 15. He was 82.

Getler graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the early 1950s, and earned his business administration degree from City College of New York by 1956, according to The New York Times. 

It was right after that he started writing for The Press. 

By the early 1960s, however, he had moved on to magazines published by American Aviation Publications, before joining The Post as a military affairs correspondent in 1970.

As an editor for The Post in the 1990s, he was one of the editors who received a 56-page manifesto later determined to be from Theodore Kaczynski, the so-called “Unabomber,” who was responsible for a number of bombings throughout the earlier part of the decade. 

Later, Getler became an ombudsman for the paper, and in 2005 continued that role with PBS, which worried the organization was exhibiting too much of a liberal bias. Getler would remain in that role until last year.

Getler is survived by his wife Sandra, children Belinda and Warren, four grandchildren and a sister.