Starting with this issue, I'm introducing a White Plains story—because let’s be honest, almost all of us have a connection to White Plains in one way or another. Also in this edition: we finally have answers about what set the Dragon Coaster on fire, the Rye Arts Center heads back to the drawing board, and a Greenwich family makes an urgent plea to strangers for a living kidney donor.

Let's get into it.

⭣

County fire investigators ruled the Sept. 19 fire at Playland’s Dragon Coaster an accident, MyRye.com reported in an exclusive. A grinder and a power drill, in use about 30 feet up in the wooden structure, caused it. Rye firefighters had the blaze under control in about 15 minutes. Repairs are expected this fall, so the coaster should run its 98th season in 2027.

The Rye Arts Center came back to City Council Oct. 21 with a reworked expansion. The new building sits closer to the old one and connects to it. Parking moves behind, and four entrances become one.

The bigger change is the land. The 2-acre parcel at 25 Milton Road, could go to the city as passive green space. The center would build on city parkland at 51 Milton Road instead.

Why it matters: About 130 Blind Brook Lodge owners raised concerns about the first plan. The second could turn 2 acres into city green space. "Again, this is still in the design phase," Soufer said. A detailed plan and public comment come in December.

Nick Navarrete, 25, of Greenwich has late-stage kidney disease. His kidney function is below 10 percent. He has been on the transplant waitlist at Yale New Haven since December 2025 and is also listed at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, but the wait for a deceased donor runs 5 to 8 years.

"We're really looking for a living donor," said his mother, Ruth Anapol. "His life is pretty diminished. That's the hardest thing to see as a mom."

Navarrete has type O blood and is registered with the National Kidney Registry, which is based in Greenwich. A swab event in Stamford drew 18 potential donors.

"A kidney transplant would give me the opportunity to move beyond dialysis and move forward with my life," he said.

How to help: Anyone with type O blood can start screening through the National Kidney Registry. Learn more here.

I stopped by the first Port Chester Market at the marina this past weekend. It’s an enormous effort from one local resident, and it shows. The market has real potential. My one wish for next time: more food vendors.

I’m already looking forward to the next one.

A White Plains traffic stop for a missed turn signal turned into a mail-theft arrest Friday. The car, a 2011 Ford Festiva, had set off a license plate reader alert tied to a federal mail theft investigation in Greenburgh.

The driver was wearing an adhesive-coated, weighted belt under his jacket, a device police say is used to pull mail out of blue drop boxes. In the car, officers found adhesive mouse traps, an adhesive leather strap, a pry bar and a small sledgehammer.

Felix Checo Montesino, 42, of the Bronx, was charged with possession of burglar's tools and driving offenses. He was released with a Nov. 5 court date, and the car was impounded.

Why it matters: If you drop checks in a street mailbox, mail them inside the post office instead.

Five Rye High musicians were selected for the Westchester Area All-State ensembles, which performed Oct. 24 at New Rochelle High School. Seniors Philip Karajannis, Thomas Chen and Cole Pagen and juniors Dario Abbate and Diego Huyhua made the cut.

Blind Brook girls soccer shut out Rye Neck 4-0 in Monday's Class B quarterfinal. Gabby Cavallo and Lola Gonzalez scored twice each, and Carly Hodes made nine saves.

Port Chester's boys volleyball team swept Greenburgh Eleven/Children's Village 3-0 Tuesday. Friday, the No. 5 Port Chester girls play at North Rockland and the No. 2 Blind Brook girls host Putnam Valley in sectional quarterfinals.

The Greenwich Association of Realtors will match donations for this year's downtown holiday lights up to $10,000. The lights, paid for entirely with private money, switch on along Greenwich Avenue, East Putnam Avenue and downtown Cos Cob Thanksgiving week.

Greenwich FC clinched the SASL Over-40 Division One title Sunday with a 2-2 draw at Clinton FC. Fabian Giraldo and Rapha Carminati scored, and the club finished one point ahead of Clinton and Danbury United.

White Plains: Public Safety officers issued 73 bicycle-related violations from May 1 through Aug. 11, up from 14 in the first four months of the year.* Seventy involved e-bikes, and enforcement focused on sidewalk riding and traffic violations.

I love double IPAs, so this story was a pleasure to write. Thanks, Tim and Thomas, for having me and showing me around. It’s looking great!

After years of brewing in other people’s breweries, Tim Shanley finally has his own. Run & Hide Brewing Co. opens at 30 Broad Street very soon, with a 10-barrel brewery on site and seating for 80 guests.

It’s a family project: Tim is building it with his son Thomas. The new space doubles the 40 seats at the small taproom Tim opened on Westchester Avenue in 2022, and for the first time, every Run & Hide beer will be brewed right here in Port Chester.

By Christmas, the kitchen will serve full lunch and dinner seven days a week. The road to Broad Street was long. Shanley won a grant to build there before the pandemic. Then COVID hit, investors pulled out, and the project stalled. Rather than wait, he filed for a gypsy brewing license and started making beer at Crossroads Brewing, Lock City, and Decadent Ales. “I thought I’d gypsy brew for about a year,” he said back then. It took a lot longer.

His love of beer goes back further still. At 18, a friend brought him a bottle of Saison Dupont from Belgium. “I couldn’t buy it, so I started brewing Belgian style beers,” Shanley says. That hobby followed him through his years as co-owner of Coals Pizza in Bronxville, where he built one of the area’s best beer lists, and on to becoming a certified Advanced Cicerone.

Follow @runandhidebrewingco on Instagram for opening day details.

Paul Anka. Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester.
Thu, Nov. 5, 8 p.m. (doors 6:30).
thecapitoltheatre.com

Fall Sip & Shop for cancer research. Innis Arden Golf Club, 120 Tomac Ave., Old Greenwich.
Thu, Nov. 5, noon-9 p.m. Free.
eventbrite.com

Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library 150th Open House. The library, 1 Haseco Ave., Port Chester.
Sat, Nov. 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
portchester-ryebrooklibrary.org

Black Violin. The PAC at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase (Harrison).
Sat, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
artscenter.org

Better with Butter: Make Your Own Homemade Butter. Greenwich Historical Society, 47 Strickland Rd., Cos Cob.
Sun, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
greenwichhistory.org

Great Leaf Hunt Celebration. Friends of Rye Nature Center, Rye (location given at registration).
Sat, Nov. 14, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Free, registration required.
ryenaturecenter.org

Veterans Day Ceremony. Veterans Memorial Garden, behind City Hall, 255 Main St., White Plains.
Wed, Nov. 11, 10:30 a.m.
cityofwhiteplains.com

For more than two decades, Frank Kalan painted from a converted bedroom studio in Greenwich. He lived in town from 1967 to 2001 and spent much of his career as a commercial illustrator, and some of his best-known work hung on drugstore racks: Harlequin Romance covers.

Three of his original oil paintings, made in the 1980s and '90s, are now up for bid in Heritage Auctions' first auction devoted to romance art. Bidding closes Nov. 10.

Kalan died in 2003. His daughter, Christy, has spent years making sure the covers outlast the paperbacks. She donated 130 sets to the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University.

"People from all generations have started to collect this quintessential slice of American culture," she said.

Source: Greenwich Free Press

✅ Yes
❌ No
🤔 Still thinking
🗳️ Already voted early

👉 Vote here

Last edition's poll results: Rye Brook residents: Do you feel we should have a dog park in town?
• Yes! Where do I sign the petition? — 69%
• No, there are plenty in nearby towns. — 31%

If this landed in your inbox through a forward, welcome! — you can subscribe here. And if something in here makes you think of a neighbor who'd find it useful, pass it along. That's how this thing grows 🙌🏻
Have a story to share? A suggestion to make this newsletter better? Just reply to this email.

See you next Thursday!