News in brief

briefs _ New Rochelle Walk of Fame at Library Green — City touts famed ties to lure visitorsThe New Rochelle Business Improvement District and city officials recently inaugurated the New Rochelle Walk of Fame, a downtown historical stroll past 25 interpretive stations commemorating nationally renowned individuals with distinct tries to the city on the Sound. Â Placed in the Library Green pathway gardens, the signboards tell the stories of the city”™s luminaries in the arts, business, politics, education, the media, entertainment and sports. They were created and funded by former New Rochelle resident and historian Roderick Kennedy Jr., working in partnership with the BID, the city parks and recreation department and city historian Barbara Davis.“The Walk of Fame will enliven one of New Rochelle”™s great public spaces, while also celebrating some of the remarkable individuals who have shaped our city”™s history,” New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson said in a statement.The first inductees include the political pamphleteer of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, painter Norman Rockwell, artist Frederic Remington, actress Irene Castle, New York Yankee great Lou GehrigÂ and Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American to be canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.Â Port Chester

Restaurant Depot opens in Port Chester

Port Chester, the self-proclaimed restaurant capital of Westchester County, has added a new supplier for its bounty of restaurants while revitalizing industrial space with the recent opening of a 78,000-square-foot Restaurant Depot at 305 S. Regent St.

Restaurant Depot CEO Stanley Fleishman was joined by Port Chester Industrial Development Agency officials at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The village IDA approved sales and mortgage tax exemptions for the project and negotiated an agreement on payments in lieu of taxes. Port Chester IDA Chairman Neil Pagano said the PILOT agreement froze the assessed valuation of the industrial building at $10,687,500 with a 10-year schedule of fixed increases .

“Since nearly 50 percent of the existing building was demolished as part of the project, the potential existed for the property taxes to be dramatically reduced,” Pagano noted.

Deputy Mayor Joseph Kenner, vice-chairman of the IDA, said 39 of the 55 jobs created by the Restaurant Depot project were filled by Port Chester residents.

Verizon provides $135,000 to nonprofits

The VerizonÂ Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications Inc., will provide grants totaling more than $135,000Â for services and programs at 25 WestchesterÂ nonprofits.

Among the recipients are the Sisters of the Divine Compassion in White Plains, Junior Achievement of Hudson Valley,Â Westchester Community College, the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon,Â African American Men of Westchester and Ossining public schools.

“Over the past 10 years, Verizon has donated more than $5 million to nonprofits across the county, benefitting residents in areas of technology and education and raising awareness of domestic violence,” said Verizon Vice President James Gerace.

Grant winners were selected from a competition this year in which nonprofits submitted proposals that outlined how they could effectively reach the communities they serve by using technology and education to raise awareness of domestic violence, literacy and health and safetyÂ issues.