TWIW 13: March 23, 2026

In this episode:

• Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins gives update on plane crash LaGuardia Airport. 
• Director of Consumer Protection James Maisano discusses useful tools consumers can use to find cheap gas in Westchester County.
• Principal Environmental Planner for the Westchester County Department of Planning Matthew Castro discussed Potable Projects for Tomorrow school grants. 
• Congratulations to our High School basketball teams who were victorious this past weekend.
• The State of the County Address will be held on Wednesday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m.
• Commissioner of the Westchester County Parks Department Kathy O’Connor will announce the official opening of all Westchester County Golf Courses for the 2026 season.

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Transcript

Intro 0:06

Welcome to This Week in Westchester, the podcast, your weekly audio briefing from Westchester County Government. Each week, County Executive Ken Jenkins breaks down the decisions, investments, and initiatives shaping life across Westchester. Clear information, real progress. One place to stay informed. Now, here's This Week in Westchester.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 0:29

Good afternoon. I'm Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, and this is This Week in Westchester The Briefing. Today is Monday, March 23rd. First, we want to start with giving our condolences to the pilot and co-pilot that were killed in the runway collision at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, along with the two death dozens are injured, and we pray for them and their families. The crash occurred when an Air Canada jet landing on Sunday collided with a Port Authority fire truck that had been responding to a separate incident. Investigators are working to determine the cause of the accident. At this time, LaGuardia continues to be shut down. It was expected to reopen at 2 p.m. today as we're coming on air, and that is not, um they have not given a new updated time as of yet. Um Arc Westchester County Airport is in the area, but things are not being diverted. Um but you know the FAA may determine to send flights to um to Westchester County Airport to HPN. Um but we're carefully uh monitoring the situation. And again, um our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the co-pilot and co-pilot who were tragically killed in that runway accident at LaGuardia. Um up next, we're going to talk about something else right now, especially the challenges that are happening based on the war in Iran and all kinds of other things and impacts, and that's gas prices. Those gas prices are tremendously high. And the person that can help us understand what those um challenges are from a consumer protection uh perspective is our good friend, the executive director of the Consumer Protection Bureau, Jim Maison. Jim.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Thank you, Mr. County Executive. Yes, I know people are concerned about gas prices. Um and they have spiked, there's no question, or any objective review. In the last couple of months, they spiked because of international uh situations. Uh so let me give you some advice on how to deal with the higher gas prices. Um I'm gonna give you two in particular to start with, and that is there's an app. Now we're not there's other apps out there, but there's one app that we have found reliable for a decade, and that is called gasbuddy.com. You can have it on the computer or you can have an app on your phone. You can search by zip code or the name of the town or the city uh to get the price at gas stations in that area. The app does regular updates uh where you can see the stations and the actual price. It's not perfect because they rely on consumers for their input, but it's very helpful. Again, I've been using it for a decade. Uh it certainly helps you compare prices of all the gas stations in your area over time. And what I have found is that um some gas stations are always the cheapest. So once you kind of learn your area through gas buddy, you'll always know which gas stations where you live in your area or where you work. It could be anywhere where you work. Uh or if you want to drive to a part of the county where the prices are lower, you could do that too. Gas buddy, just put the zip code in or the town, and they'll give you the gas stations that are in uh like kind of a circular area of you and the prices. So Gas Buddy is a great app. There may be others that do it, but we have found that one very reliable. Another tool we use in the office at our consumer protection office is triple A gas prices. So let me give you the app, gasprices.aa.com. Now, this one is just kind of uh very useful because it gives you uh an average of the overall prices by state and region uh and across the whole country. So you can really understand the marketplace of gas prices. Uh so that's another good one. Triple A uh updates that one constantly. And you can see is does my region, uh White Plains is a is a region? Uh is that different than New York City or Rockland, things like that. That's two two great ways to be a smart consumer when it comes to gas prices. There's a few other things you can do. Take advantage of gas station loyalty programs. Some of them give you a discount if you sign up through the usually the app. If you get the app for your phone, they'll give you a discount. There are gas credit cards. You can get a credit card that'll that you use and you get like uh 5% credit uh off. So that's another good way. They're usually lined up with the major gas stations that you know all the names of. Um also discover card, I noticed, uh, allows you to select gas um as uh something you can dedicate your credits to on your credit card, and also Bank of America. One good tip, and I was just talking to um the head of communications uh about this Costco, Sam's Clubs, and BJ. They have some of the lowest prices, and you'll find that on Gas Buddy. If you go to Gas Buddy, you're gonna notice the wholesale clubs have great prices. Um, so that's a good place to start when you're looking for lower prices. And lastly, there's some grocery store fuel reward programs. So if you buy your items at a particular grocery store, they've made a deal with a major gas station where you get uh credit uh for the for lower credit to get when you go to that gas station and you're right in that you went to that grocery store, maybe you get five percent off. Those are all different ways to be a smart consumer uh and to get the lowest price possible in these very difficult times. Thank you.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 6:22

That was Jim Mezzano, um the executive director of consumer protection, and he was reminding us that we have these opportunities on so many different ways, including you can actually pay cash in the gas station, and usually they have the cash price being different than a credit card price. And he was also talking about the rewards cards that in certain cases they allow you to pick what things you can have the rewards go to, and one of them is opportunity with gas. Um, we are gonna have Jim Baziano back in another couple of weeks as we're getting ready to get to honeydew season um and and being able to do all the work, including um our pavers, our construction workers, making sure everyone's licensed, how you can look that up as well. Uh, and again, consumer protection, you should also take a look there, consumers.westchestercounty ny.gov. Um, that you have all the great information there, including the apps and pointing to those apps that can be utilized. We thank Jim for making sure that you know that there's ways of being able to save. Um, one more point that that Jim always makes sure to talk about is if you have a plug-in hybrid car, you should take advantage of that as well and plug the car in. And if you don't have a you know level two charger that's um like a dryer card um connected to it, but you're plugging in every little bit helps. And again, you can take advantage of that because many people have purchased the hybrid cars that have plug-in and they just aren't using it, and that's just wasting, especially at these kind of times right now when we have these things happening. You can all come all down to the uh nationally accredited and award-winning park system and plug in at one of the 50 places there as well. Well, up next, we're going to hear from um our principal environmental planner for Westchester County, and that's Matt Um Castro. Westchester County is accepting applications for um the potable projects for tomorrow, a school microgrant program that helps students learn about the environment in a hands-on way. So, with that, let's bring up Matt to tell us so much more about this program.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Matt Excellent. Thank you so much for having me here today. Here at the Department of Planning, we've maintained an incredible relationship with the Soil and Water Conservation District since 1967, which is staffed by the Department of Planning. While over time its programs and its staff have changed, the mission and vision remains as strong as ever. We have an incredibly dedicated group of board members, and the Department of Planning and District share great regional program alignment with flooding, stormwater, and agriculture. Folks who are watching or listening may be familiar with the Envirathon, which is a national competition whereby high school age students compete round robin style and environmental-based events or exams, excuse me. The Department of Planning, Soil and Water Conservation District, and our parks, recreation, and conservation departments co-host this event annually at Croton Point Park. But what we've attempted to do is build out that programming. We start with an idea like the Envirathon, and we identify the needs, which could be environmental-based careers. So right now, we're hosting a series of environment and planning themed webinars geared towards high school students, and it's been an incredible opportunity to have these conversations. There's also a need to fund science-based projects. Many of the small projects that teachers would like to take on require funding, and that's where Potable Projects for Tomorrow comes in. It allows for teachers and schools to apply for funding for student-based projects and receive up to$1,000 in reimbursable funding. It's intended to involve students and allow them to really shine and help craft those projects. For example, last year we received a request for a tree inventory and tagging on a school campus, which is incredible. We want to uplift the importance of those projects and where we can, not let a financial barrier be preventative. Most importantly, the Department of Planning and Soil and Water Conservation District want to be there for teachers. As these projects get underway, we're asking teachers, give us a call. We want to come out, we want to help share our knowledge where we can and demonstrate that community can extend through the county to the individual. In many ways, what we hope to do is allow others within the county to share these experiential stories. It's so incredibly easy to share a post, an article, but our whole being on this planet is grounded in storytelling. And if we continue to share those stories, particularly the positive ones, like we can through potable projects for tomorrow, we can really bring change within our communities. Thank you.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 10:55

Thank you so much. That was Matt Castro. Um he's our principal environmental planner for the Westchester County Department of Planning. And certainly he talked about the partnership with the um parks, recreation, and conservation. I think Jason Klein leads that particular effort for the Soil and Water Conservation Group. And yes, um Environment of the Environ is something that is really fantastic. But this is another great opportunity, portable projects for tomorrow. So awesome, Matt. Thank you for bringing that to us. Um at this time, we want to make sure to give some congratulations out. First, um to our Stepanak um who brought in that hardware being undisputed and undisputed with their win over the Eagle Academy of the Bronx at LIU um Brooklyn's campus. 7668 win. That's the city championship. So it was PSALAL of Public Schools, the Catholic School Association, and that's their undisputed champions. And we are so very proud of um the Steppenac team, boys basketball team for winning first their fourth championship in a role on the Catholic side, and now being the undisputed champions of boys basketball in the great city of New York. And yet we thank them so much for their hard work. We'll look forward to seeing them very soon. And for the Yonkers girls basketball team for their state championship. Um it's the first championship in the city of Yonkers since 1932, believe it or not. Um so Montessori, the Yonkers Montessori Academy girls' basketball team rallied in overtime for its first ever girls' state basketball title. So congratulations to the Yonkers Montessori Academy um team that they did such a fantastic job. And both of them, well, both champions. Everybody that plays is a champion, but some people had the hardware to prove it. So again, congratulations to Steppenac and to Yoncas Montessori Academy, the girls' basketball team there and the boys' basketball team at Stepanak. Coming up in May 6th, get ready for May 6th, um, that we'll be having our State of the County address, and that'll be the 2026 State of the County address. It's gonna begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. I'm gonna look forward to sharing the progress we've made, challenges that we face, and you know, the continued vision for Westchester's um county's continued growth and success in the year ahead. As always, you'll be able to tune in to the speech right here on Facebook on the county or on the county's webpage. You don't have to look around for any more. You could go right to the county's webpage, but it's also on our Facebook page um as well, WestchesterCountyny.gov. That's coming up on May 6th. We're here at Saxon Woods today because we want to talk about golf. So it's kind of rainy today, but you know, golfers get out there in all kinds of weather, even though it's cool over the weekend when we hit those 60 degrees temperatures, it's not like it is today. Um, but the golfers, there's no such thing as a bad day at golf, there's just a bad day at work. So, with that, let's bring up our commissioner of parks, recreation, and conservation, and that is Kathy O'Connor. Kathy. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

As the wind picks up. Good afternoon, everyone. And yes, this is not the weather for golfers, even the avid golfer. But as we all know, the weather can change dramatically very quickly. And if you remember, last summer, from June to October, it almost never rained. So we had record numbers of people coming out to play golf. Our golf season starts on Wednesday, weather permitting, of course, uh March 25th. All our six golf courses will be open. We have six courses: Sprain Lake and Dunwoody and Yonkers, Saxon Woods right here in Scarsdale, Maplemore and White Plains, Mohansack and Yorktown Heights, and Hudson Hills in Austening. All six courses are open to the public. Resident and non-residents of Westchester are welcome. We typically typically get about 270,000 rounds a season, which is just unbelievable, and our courses have been kept in fabulous condition. Our courses are all different in terrain and ability, so you have to pick where you think you're gonna do the best. We have driving ranges at Dunwoody, Mohansock, Saxon Woods, and Sprain Lake. We have dining facilities at all six courses. Our pro shops are open when the courses are open, and we have six pros at one at each of the courses. We also have a summer camp, which is usually sold out. That's how popular it is, which is great, for children from seven to sevented at five of our locations. Please visit our website to make a tea time, and that is golf.westchestercountyny.gov. I'd like to thank Joe Rafferty, who is our newest uh director of golf. Um, he has been with the program for many, many years. Uh he was the superintendent up at Hudson Hills Golf Course, and he now is overseeing the entire golf division. So, Joe, good luck and congratulations. Buddy Sarlow is also the superintendent of this park, of this golf course, and he does a fabulous job. I have to mention that this county executive, as always, is a true friend of the parks department, and through his wonderful uh support and the support of the BOL, we have had many, many, many capital improvements, including here at all our golf courses. Um we have people that play in public course, excuse me, private courses, and they come back and say, wow, our courses are equal in many, many cases, and we do a lot more rounds. So, that being said, I'd like to congratulate our whole staff uh at all the golf courses for doing a heck of a job. I pray that the weather turns for us because it's important to get the golfers back out there. Uh good luck to everybody and thank you very much.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 17:25

All right, and thank you, Kathy O'Connor, our Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, and giving the certainly the shout-outs here for the Saxon Woods team, um, but for all of our golf courses, and um I will tell you that they are better than some of our private courses as as well, um, because of not only the the level of affordability, but the level of access and challenge, and uh each one of the courses has a little bit of a different challenge, and we're looking forward to continuing that. All right, let's talk some more about what things are happening upcoming this week in parks. Um, this Saturday at the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. That's on March 28th from 10 to 11:30. Signs of spring. So we know spring has arrived. I know it doesn't look and feel like that today, um, but over the weekend again, we know it is here. Um, we saw the crocuses jumping up in various yards out there. So um spring has arrived. See what's going on out there at Marshlands. Join us for a guided walk to observe the signs and patterns of nature in spring. It's gonna be awesome. Uh also on the 28th this Saturday, um, up at the Trailside Nature Museum at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, that's up in Cross River. We'll get the chance to be with the Coyote, America's resilient predator. So learn about the coyote, their persecution, and how they managed to be one of America's most successful carnivores, right? And that's free on that coming up on Saturday, the 28th. And then, of course, in the county center, um at 2:30 in the afternoon, you'll be able to see the Westchester Knicks versus the Windy City Bulls. You never know who's gonna be on the court, especially during this time of the year as the seasons are wrapping up in the NBA. You get um folks coming in from the from the pro leagues, um, from the big clubs and the NBA. Um just making sure that they're staying tuned up. Um, like I said for a couple of weeks ago, last time I was there, um Tyler Kolick was on the court in the county center. So again, you can never know who you're gonna see. And finally, we have the 2026 Bronx River Blitz coming up this Sunday. That's gonna be from 10 to 12. Um, starting at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, Kensico Dam in Valhalla, and the parking lot at the Westchester County Maintenance Shop. That's right next to the Crestwood Metro North Station. Um, join the Westchester Parks Foundation for the largest cleanup of the year on the Bronx River Parkway. Volunteers will get checked in, get supplies, and get their instructions from the volunteer coordinators, then stroll the pathway, collecting litter at their own pace. It's going to happen, rain or shine. And again, um it's a great opportunity to help make sure what the Parks Foundation always does is to make sure that it continues to be the nationally accredited and award-winning park system and look at as fantastic as it does with the professionals, the ones that work here every day, as well as the great team of volunteers that make it all happen. And that's this week in Westchester. Right? Despite a little bit of rain forecast, there's a lot to be excited about across Westchester County, and nothing says spring like the return of golf season. After a long, wet re long, long winter season, the courses are ready, the greens are calling, and it's just time to dust off those clubs. I know the duffers are out there, they've been polishing them up, making sure they're ready to go. So whether you're a seasoned golfer or just getting started, Westchester Courses offer something for everyone: beautiful landscapes, top-notch facilities, and the perfect excuse to get outside and enjoy the season and take a good walk around. This is more than about golf, it's about getting back out into our nature, reconnecting, and taking advantage that everything that our park system has to offer for you. Remember, it's your park system. Take advantage of it and get out there, grab with some friends, grab and book a tea time, and make a day of it. And that's this week in Westchester. I'm Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins. Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you soon out on a golf course.