HPCI Reveals Katonah Most Expensive Market In NY

According to the 2008 Coldwell Banker® Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI) released September 9, 2008, Katonah ranked as the most expensive real estate market in New York State. Here is the link.

Currently, this $8,200,000,5 br, 6 ba, 10,000 sqft, Single-Family Home tops the list of over 20 plus homes in the $1,000,000 plus price range.



Here is a link to realtor.com showing current property listing in Katonah.

Bedford Twenty By 2020

The Town Of Bedford has a goal under way to reduce CO2 emmissions 20% by the year 2020.

You can join the campaign for BEDFORD TO GO GREEN by clicking here.

If you sign on, they will send you a great looking Bedford twenty by 2020 decal to show you’re part of Bedford’s solution to global warming.

In addition the site provides tips on how you can help in this effort.

Today I came across this site:






ecomii™ is in beta and bills itself the definitive destination for objective information about Conscious Consumerism and green living on the net.

It seems to be a great site as a tool to make one very savvy about all things GREEN.

Map of Places To Eat In Katonah

umapper.com is a great site to create maps of all kinds of interest that you can embed in your own blog or website. 

Here is one I have done of 12 places to eat in Katonah. 

Tip: Use your mouse to scroll around the map as well as the + (zoom in) and - (zoom out) tags.

I am sure all kinds of ideas come to mind as to how one could use this site for business or

ideas of interest that you could plot on a map.

If you come up with an idea for using umapper as it relates to Katonah, like to know about it.

An Idea For Local Teachers

In KatonahBlog, I have previously posted about sproutbuilder as a great tool to built widgets for anyone. I presently have one on the home page of katonahny.com - an interactive welcome widget.

In a Sproutbuilder blog post today, a wonderful idea is presented for how local teachers can raise money for special projects.

"Every year schools and teachers run out of money. Zero monies are left for individual teacher requests.

A ChipIn component added to a Sprout on a school web site or teacher web page would make it easy to raise money for special projects, and parents and community members could donate to one or more projects that held special interest for them."

Here is a demo of how the ChipIn component works:



If you know of any teachers, locally or otherwise, share this with them.

Dipity - A Time Line Web Service for Anything

Dipity is a cool web service that lets users create interactive multimedia timelines for anything.

Here are a couple of dipitys I found for Katonah:

Katonah TimeTube by Dipity

Katonah TimeLine Ticker by Dipity.

I would imagine the timelines you can create with dipity are endless. For those of you who like to look behind the hood, you can build multimedia timelines with the Dipity API.

Anyone Can Now Animate

GoAnimate is a new site where you can create your own animations. Even if you can not draw a lick. So if you ever wanted to be an animator, here is your chance. Very user friendly program with features being added all the time. You can even bring in your own images, paste photos of yourself or family members/friends in your animations. GoAnimate has features for tailoring any animation to your liking.

Your end product can be distributed anywhere on the web (except YouTube for the moment but they are working on it). If you have a website or blog you can add your animation to your site.

They have a contest going on where you can win $5,000.

Here is the link to how it works.

Now GoAnimate and if you do let us know so we can link to it.

Video Slide Show Your Home For Free!

In the process of selling your home in this tight market and need an edge? Here is a free service that you should look into.

Add another feature to your listing by working in a little video slideshow for potential buyers.

PropertyPreviews is a free service that automates the process of creating such video clips without need for any software downloads. Just upload your images, include any relevant information, and the service will do the rest.

Katonah Grill Sues To Regain Cabaret License

Katonah Bar and Grill this year was denied a cabaret license renewal after complaints about noise and other disturbances. It has sued to the State Supreme Court that the Town of Bedford with relying on spotty evidence and failing to the give the business a fair hearing on its application.
At issue:

• The lawsuits ask the court to grant the license and to rule that Bedford's cabaret license is unconstitutional because the Town Board Decided both the initial application and the appeal.
  
• Katonah Grill maintains under state law the town clerk should make the initial
  decision on whether to grant the license. The Town Attorney argues that it is up to the Town Board not the Town Clerk to decide whether granting a license would affect the public.
  
  
• Some patrons of Katonah Grill don't agree and some compromise should be made; do not play above a certain volume or to play only on certain nights.
  
• Owner, Doug Crossett sites only once (maybe) of receiving a complaint when live music was playing
  
• There are a large number of police incidents report that were presented to the Town Board. The attorney for the Town Joel Sachs cites that the record would show that the last several years, Katonah Grill was put on notice that there were issues there and they needed to take corrective action.
  

Attorney Sachs also point out that the town's cabaret law provides a "full and fair" hearing for applicants, noting that the Town Board can change its mind on appeal if evidence shows that's warrant.

In Doug Crossett's view the greater issue is it (the denial of a cabaret license) denies local musicians a place to play and the local people a place to hear live music.

For those of you curious here is the link to the
Town of Bedford Code

Search on Cabaret License to bring up Section 44 of the Town of Bedford Code covering Cabaret license.

Should the Katonah Grill be granted a cabaret license? --see side bar and take the poll.

20 Plus Tools To Sell Your House

Thinking of putting your Katonah house on the market in this current real estate market :(

Here is a listing of Real Estate online tools that might be of help.

Katonah Walk Score Widget

Update July 14, 2008: The commenter (Petr) to this post cites a driving score service for those who don't live
within walking distance of the business area of Katonah.

"I ve found one more service called drive score at
http://drivescore.fizber.com/ -

---

Walk Score is a widget that shows you a map of what's nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any property.

Selling your house or thinking of buying in Katonah?

See how your Katonah Walk Score stacks up. Enter your address and Katonah NY below.

Baby Boomer Animation

For all baby boomers plus - Enjoy!

Enjoy Spring's Locally Grown Freshest Foods

Locally grown food is the new exotic. Consumers are realizing the benefits of eating food that is grown locally:

• Higher nutrient levels from locally picked produce
  
• Better Flavor
  
• Think green less fossil fuel for transport
  
• Tastes better because it is really fresh
  
• You are getting food that is truly in season
  

Here is the site that can get you up to speed on locally grown food.

Update 4/30/08

Here is a link to your local online Farmers Market with personal delivery.

Sprout Builder Now Available to Everyone

On February 3 I posted to this blog a prototype made using the Sprout Builder widget tool available from sproutbuilder.com.




Although still in beta, last week Sprout Builder became available to everyone. What is also great is that the tool as I post this is FREE!

The applications for this tool are endless. For creative folks (writers,musicians, artist, photographers, etc) who want a way to get their work distributed on the net becomes in a word EASY to create,publish and manage.

To get some idea of how the tool is being used, here is a link to the sprout gallery.

If you create a sprout let us know by posting to the comment section of this post.

Hopefully this could turn into a community project where sprouts created locally can be posted on the Katonahny.com website as a local sprout gallery to be shared with other visitors to the site.

Here is one idea: Sprout Builder can be used for donation purposes by local organizations:

1. Community Services
   
2. Sports teams - Little League etc.
   
3. Fire Dept
   
4. Churches
   
5. Politicians
   
6. etc.
   

Here is an example of how this was done using the ChipIn services available at Sproutbuilder.com

Spring Preview - Riding the Carousel @ Katonah Carnival

With Spring around the corner here is a preview of the joys of outdoors to come.



Video by: atmasphere

A Visual Drive On Scenic Route 22 - Bedford to Katonah

Here is a video to brighten up the Winter blahs!

A visual drive on scenic Route 22 from Bedford to Katonah.

This video (which as of today has been viewed 4,000 Plus times on Youtube) was done by
atmasphere Katonah, NY - http://www.atmasphere.net/wp

Have Cabin Fever Need To Get Away?

Have cabin fever need to get away? TripTouch, is a service meant to be an aid for travelers.

TripTouch claims to cover more than 4,000 destinations worldwide in its database - through basic blogging software.

Katonah is included as a destination and gives a good overview of the village.

Furthermore, the website allows users to invite friends to follow and/or share in a journey, as well as find fellow TripTouch fans to interact with, and even meet in various places.

TripTouch is something to try if you happen to be in the market to go places - worldwide or a couple of hours away.

Democratic Primary Candidates Sproutbuilder Update

Sproutbuilder.com is a website that enables anyone to build great content online. I have been playing around with it this weekend (as a beta tester) and I think it is very easy to use.

The end product you create is called a sprout that you can share with anyone on the net.

Update: on 2/8/08 I updated the sprout widget to include a news feed and daily gallup poll updates:

2/8/08 According to Time, McCain and Clinton would be in a dead heat 46% to 46% but Obama would overwhelmingly beat McCain 48% to 41%, suggesting that Obama is more electable than Clinton.

But according to the Democratic national polls, Clinton is the most likely nominee.





Here is the link to find out more about sproutbuilder what I think is a fantastic online tool.


Comments welcome.

The Worst Market Crisis in 60 Years By George Soros

Katonah resident George Soros has just published in the The Financial Times a
very insightful piece on why we are where we are with regard to the current financial crisis that seems to be going into deeper free fall.

The equity market sucks.
Where does one put their money to invest? Bonds don't seem a safe haven in the current financial environment.

IS IT SAFE ANYWHERE TO INVESTMENT (Soros seems to have an answer - outside of the U.S)




Here is the piece in the FT.

The worst market crisis in 60 years

By George Soros

Published: January 22 2008 19:57 | Last updated: January 22 2008 19:57

The current financial crisis was precipitated by a bubble in the US housing market. In some ways it resembles other crises that have occurred since the end of the second world war at intervals ranging from four to 10 years.

However, there is a profound difference: the current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more than 60 years.

Boom-bust processes usually revolve around credit and always involve a bias or misconception. This is usually a failure to recognise a reflexive, circular connection between the willingness to lend and the value of the collateral. Ease of credit generates demand that pushes up the value of property, which in turn increases the amount of credit available. A bubble starts when people buy houses in the expectation that they can refinance their mortgages at a profit. The recent US housing boom is a case in point. The 60-year super-boom is a more complicated case.

Every time the credit expansion ran into trouble the financial authorities intervened, injecting liquidity and finding other ways to stimulate the economy. That created a system of asymmetric incentives also known as moral hazard, which encouraged ever greater credit expansion. The system was so successful that people came to believe in what former US president Ronald Reagan called the magic of the marketplace and I call market fundamentalism. Fundamentalists believe that markets tend towards equilibrium and the common interest is best served by allowing participants to pursue their self-interest. It is an obvious misconception, because it was the intervention of the authorities that prevented financial markets from breaking down, not the markets themselves. Nevertheless, market fundamentalism emerged as the dominant ideology in the 1980s, when financial markets started to become globalised and the US started to run a current account deficit.

Globalisation allowed the US to suck up the savings of the rest of the world and consume more than it produced. The US current account deficit reached 6.2 per cent of gross national product in 2006. The financial markets encouraged consumers to borrow by introducing ever more sophisticated instruments and more generous terms. The authorities aided and abetted the process by intervening whenever the global financial system was at risk. Since 1980, regulations have been progressively relaxed until they have practically disappeared.

The super-boom got out of hand when the new products became so complicated that the authorities could no longer calculate the risks and started relying on the risk management methods of the banks themselves. Similarly, the rating agencies relied on the information provided by the originators of synthetic products. It was a shocking abdication of responsibility.

Everything that could go wrong did. What started with subprime mortgages spread to all collateralised debt obligations, endangered municipal and mortgage insurance and reinsurance companies and threatened to unravel the multi-trillion-dollar credit default swap market. Investment banks’ commitments to leveraged buyouts became liabilities. Market-neutral hedge funds turned out not to be market-neutral and had to be unwound. The asset-backed commercial paper market came to a standstill and the special investment vehicles set up by banks to get mortgages off their balance sheets could no longer get outside financing. The final blow came when interbank lending, which is at the heart of the financial system, was disrupted because banks had to husband their resources and could not trust their counterparties. The central banks had to inject an unprecedented amount of money and extend credit on an unprecedented range of securities to a broader range of institutions than ever before. That made the crisis more severe than any since the second world war.

Credit expansion must now be followed by a period of contraction, because some of the new credit instruments and practices are unsound and unsustainable. The ability of the financial authorities to stimulate the economy is constrained by the unwillingness of the rest of the world to accumulate additional dollar reserves. Until recently, investors were hoping that the US Federal Reserve would do whatever it takes to avoid a recession, because that is what it did on previous occasions. Now they will have to realise that the Fed may no longer be in a position to do so. With oil, food and other commodities firm, and the renminbi appreciating somewhat faster, the Fed also has to worry about inflation. If federal funds were lowered beyond a certain point, the dollar would come under renewed pressure and long-term bonds would actually go up in yield. Where that point is, is impossible to determine. When it is reached, the ability of the Fed to stimulate the economy comes to an end.

Although a recession in the developed world is now more or less inevitable, China, India and some of the oil-producing countries are in a very strong countertrend. So, the current financial crisis is less likely to cause a global recession than a radical realignment of the global economy, with a relative decline of the US and the rise of China and other countries in the developing world.

The danger is that the resulting political tensions, including US protectionism, may disrupt the global economy and plunge the world into recession or worse.

The writer is chairman of Soros Fund Management

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Here is the link to the FT piece.

Comments welcome.

Think Green Locally For 2008

Here is an excellent New Years resolution for 2008.With all the concern about global warming here is something you can do on a local level to be part of the solution. Earth911.org is an excellent resource for ideas and how to's in helping you and your family on a local level do your part in keeping the earth green.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Treat - A Big List Of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff

Here is a link to a big list of sites that teach you how to do stuff on the Internet.
This ia a great way to enjoy the holidays in a leisure way and learn something new in the process. Enjoy the Holidays.

I belated Merry Christmas. Enjoy this little Merry Christmas animation!

Neighbor's View: An Interview With George Soros

Katonah resident, George Soros in conversation with Google CEO Eric Schmidt discussing his book The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror and other domestic and world view opinions as part of the Authors@Google series.

This conversation took place on August 9, 2006, at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

Free Books on The Internet - Early Holiday Present

I just came across this and thought I would share it with readers of this blog.

I think it is really neat.. you can download these books for FREE! Seems to be no hidden agenda going on.

It is like a virtual bookstore for FREE!

Here is is the site: wowio.com


Comments welcome.

Chief Katonah (Song For Marthat Stewart) Download

Katonah resident and singer Marc Black's "Chief Katonah(Song For Martha Steward)" - a take on the Katonah Trademark issue - can be sampled/downloaded from here:




On a serious note (excuse the pun) Marc is an accomplished musical artist.

Check out his website to listen to some of his work.

Katonah "Trademark" Dispute Settled

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., the Katonah Village Improvement Society, Katonah Paint and Hardware, Inc. and Katonah Architectural Hardware Ltd. have reached an amicable resolution to their trademark dispute.

Here is the link to a joint statement.

Halloween Day Sightings

Here are Halloween Day Sightings in the neighborhood.

Halloween Night Sightings

Here are some Halloween Night sightings in the neighborhood.

Katonah Area Fall Foliage Update

Katonah area is still seeing low levels of color change and are at midpoint.

New York Fall Foliage Forecast

Week of October 10-16 2007

In the Katonah Area green leaves still predominate with hints of red and orange beginning to emerge.

Katonah Avg Home Sale Price Highest In New York State

According to the 2007 Coldwell Banker ® Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI) released September 26, 2007, in the New York markets surveyed, Katonah ranked as the most expensive with Rye ranking as a close second.

According to the HPCI, the average home sale price of a home in Katonah is $904,750.


Here is the link.

Presently, Realtor.com list 119 available properties in the Katonah zip code (10536) ranging in price from $477,777 to $9,985,000.

An instant appraisal (two) of your home can be determine at Yahoo Real Estate.

Since it is an "instance appraisal" your real home value will vary - more likely downward.

Local realtors can be very helpful in establishing your real home value in today's real estate market.

MARTHA STEWART SONG BY MARC BLACK (ascap)

Here is the Martha Stewart video song by Marc Black (Katonah resident) that is getting a lot of views (28,000 plus) on YouTube (posted about a week ago). Runs a little over 6 minutes.



Here is a link to Marc Black's website.

KVIS Campaign - Nobody Owns Katonah

Katonah Village Improvement Society has underway a campaign to prevent the name of Katonah from becoming a registered trademark of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

If you would like to help their efforts to block the trademark applications by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia you can send a contribution made payable to KVIS:

Nobody Owns Katonah
Katonah Village Improvement Society
PO Box 263
Katonah, NY 10536

Here is the link for more info on the KVIS campaign.

1914 Children's Book With Katonah Poem Up For Sale on Ebay

The book is Grandma's Country Life Stories for the Children, by Mrs. Emmet Smith, put out by the Methodist Book Concern, New York, 1914. The first poem is titled Katonah, and it is a poem to that town.

Named from tribe, and Indian chieftain, In the Valley of the Croton, With its lakes and sparkling water, and its hills and towering summits, and its roadways, so inviting, With their flowering shrubs and grass plots, Such is beautiful Katonah.

Here is the ebay link auction ends June 7th.

About the Indian Chieftain:

Chief Katonah

Chief Katonah was a Native American tribal chief from whom the land of the town of Bedford, New York was purchased. The hamlet of Katonah, New York, located within Bedford, is named for him.

Chief Katonah lived in the area in the late seventeenth century. Records show that in 1680 he sold local land to settlers. Legend has it that he died of grief after his wife, Cantitoe, and their son were killed by lightning. Chief Katonah is said to be buried with his wife and son in Katonah Woods, off Rt. 22. The Chief, as the story is told, is said to be buried beneath a giant boulder, and his wife and son are buried beneath two smaller immediatley ajacent boulders. It is said that on a warm summers night, when the moon is full, you can hear the Chief and his family weeping for the land that the white man has abused and disgraced.

Source: Answers.com

Local Writer Starts a Newsletter to Lampoon Katonah Trademark Issue

Bill Tisherman a local writer has started a satirical newsletter, The Marthometer, a comic put down on Martha Stewarts attempt to trademark the Katonah name.

Here is the
link.

CBS News Video: Katonah Says No Thank You Martha!

The Monday CBS News evening broadcast did a piece on the Katonah Trademark issue.

Here is the video link. You may need RealPlayer to view this video.

If you do not have RealPlayer you can download it here - it is free!

Martha Stewart Plan Trademark Katonah Collection May Not Be Legally Possible

Martha Stewart is planning to trademark a line of furniture – “Katonah Collection”.

Some resident’s of Katonah thinks this is not a good idea.


Reasons giving:

“We don’t think it’s a good idea for her to assert trademark rights over a name that’s been in use as a place name since 1852,”

“Doesn’t mind that Stewart uses the name for furniture but doesn’t understand the need to trademark it.”

“I don’t think that someone should actually own the word ‘Katonah.’ ”

Martha Stewart’s spokesperson response:

“Martha Stewart, number one, loves Katonah; number two, seeks to honor the town and the hamlet by using the word Katonah.”


Martha Stewart has associated the name Katonah also in the home building business.

KB Home and Martha Stewart Living launched a project to build 650 houses, which will come in many different variations. The homes, which KB says are "inspired" by three of Ms. Stewart's own houses in New York and Maine, have names such as “Katonah” and "Lily Pond."

Here is a link to the Katonah Model Homes

http://www.kbhome.com/martha/katonah.aspx


I was curious as to what the US Patent Office web site indicated on this point:

Under U.S. trademark law, geographic terms or signs are not registrable as trademarks if they are geographically descriptive or geographically misdescriptive of where the goods/services originate. The theory is that other producers in that area would need to be able to use a geographic term to describe where their goods/services are from and that one person should not be able to prevent others from using that term. If a term is misdescriptive for the goods/services, consumers would be mislead and/or deceived by the use of the term on goods/services that do not come from the place identified.

It would seem to me as a layperson that since the “Katonah Collection” of furniture is not made in Katonah it cannot be trademarked.

The residents of Katonah taking issue that you cannot owned the word Katonah look to be 100% correct under the US Patent laws.

Christmas Eve 2006

Here are some photos taken around the area on Christmas Eve.

101 Classic Christmas Videos Online

For this holiday season, someone has taken the trouble and time to list (in categories) 101 Classic Christmas Videos that you and your family can look at online. Here is the link enjoy!

Season's Greetings

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Bedford Road And Katonah Avenue

Katonah, New York

A Walk Along Maple Avenue In The Fall

 

I come across many walkers, runners and folks out walking their dogs along
this great area to walk in Katonah - Reservoir Road and Maple Avenue. This shot is the incline on Maple Avenue that goes toward Route 22. It is about 5 miles to make the round trip walk/run from Route 22 at Reservoir Road to Route 22 at the end of Maple Avenue. An excellent calorie burner- hilly, slight inclines, straight sections. It is an especially delightful walk in the middle of the Fall season.