12-16-95 Readers express diverse concerns

Roy Westmoreland says he must be crazy to keep his small courier business in Westchester County.

He's peeved that his vans and station wagons are banned from county parkways because they are required to bear "commercial" plates. Even more irksome, he said, county buses and trucks bearing Connecticut's "combination" license plate scoot along the parkways unimpeded.

"The bureaucracy you run into and the antiquated laws," he complained, "It adds to the difficulty of doing business."

The parkway ban was one of many frustrations for New York state's growing small-business community that Westmoreland wanted us to know about. So the entrepreneur from Thornwood battled the snow en route to Mount Kisco for Thursday's On the Road forum.

He wasn't the only one who braved icy roads to join editors and reporters at the Mount Kisco Coach Diner for 90 minutes of coffee and conversation.

We also chatted with two Mount Kisco Republicans who were voted out of office in November: former Mayor Richard Roth and former Trustee Bert Daley. Joining them was former Village Attorney Robert Spolzino, who plans to challenge Democrat Naomi Matusow in the 89th Assembly District.

The three called on the newspapers not to put too much stock in promises of a more "open government" by the new Democratic majority on the Mount Kisco Board of Trustees.

"You'll have a situation here where two (Republican) members are cut out (of decisions)," Spolzino said.

"Local government is like an iceberg," he went on. "What you see is only a tiny fraction of what's going on. ... There are lots of issues always bubbling."

For Phil Christe, Joseph Giardina and Joseph Whelan, those bubbling issues focused on Bedford schools.

Christe, a self-appointed school watchdog, was dismayed by the way he said critics are treated by officials and the media.

"The more we speak out, we get accused of being part of an organized movement to discredit the schools," he said. "But when a teacher speaks out, they are advocates for schools."

Giardina said the media had sensationalized charges of satanic and New Age influences in Bedford classrooms, without really examining the curriculum.

"When I first heard that business, I thought it was nonsense," said Giardina, a twice-defeated school board candidate.

"As I became aware of what's being dragged in, it's horrifying."

Reporters must force educators to be specific about the merits of school programs, he said.

And Westmoreland, the Thornwood businessman, challenged us to provide more information geared to the small businesses that have become the backbone of New York's 1990s economy.

So we checked into his claim that Connecticut couriers with "combination" plates enjoy an unfair advantage on Westchester parkways.

Not so, said Sgt. Bruce McClure of the Westchester County police.

The "combination" plates -which Connecticut issues to vehicles under 10,000 pounds that are used for private, passenger and commercial purposes are legal only on Connecticut's Merritt Parkway, he said. Vehicles sporting the plates are stopped and ticketed on Westchester parkways.

Signs suggest the future may be brighter for drivers with commercial plates: The state Department of Transportation is weighing a regional panel's recommendation to open a stretch of the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess and Columbia to commercial vans and pickup trucks.

Carole TANZER MILLER

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