Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

Summer Kitchens

July 5th, 2009

Most are aware that Tuckahoe has a long history of Italian immigrants settling in this village. This fact has certainly given the village flair of its own and many customs shared among the long residing families are based around this cultural connection. While the introduction of foreign customs is common for nearly every ethnic group, this particular group spawned a cultural phenomenon that I feel bears discussion. I am speaking of the so-called "summer kitchen" and its greater implications.

The summer kitchen is an additional kitchen located in the basement of a residence and is not unusual for some older homes of our village. In my youth, I became personally familiar with a variation of this phenomenon from the homes of my Italian friends in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn variation comprised of not only a full working kitchen in the basement, but a living room as well. The odd part of this variation was that no one was permitted to use the first floor living room or kitchen. I don’t mean just dirty kids; I mean no one in their own family either. It just served as a sort of frozen piece of interior design art only to be viewed. Those friends, whose homes in which this occurred, would tell me, of course I didn’t get it – it was an "Italian thing". While I accepted this explanation, it still always struck me as weird. While being generally accepting of others’ customs, I must confess my understanding is often lacking. For example, I also don’t get "the love of food thing" that many cultures find central to their heritage.

In an attempt to better understand this phenomenon I did some basic Internet research and, as luck would have it, there were many writings available on the subject. I discovered the basement kitchen phenomenon is common for Italian immigrant households throughout much of North American, including Canada. Oddly, two kitchens are rare in Italy, but those who came here soon adopted this custom. Completely outdoor kitchen versions for summer use aren’t uncommon in Italy though. Reasoning for two kitchens in America ranged from a lack of air conditioning to women' liberation from a homeland' formality. My own European consultant informs me that a basement kitchen is a necessity for the preserving of the garden produce throughout the summer. This extra space assures no interference with the everyday cooking duties.

Now enough of the sociological implications — let's get to why the heck I am bothering writing on this subject. While the community has a great many properties with this addition, sadly many aren’t legally filed with the Building Department. Furthermore, when these homes are passing to new ownership, often the new owners believe they can rent this space as an additional apartment. We have found this occurring more and more recently. Once discovered, any owner is required to rip out the second kitchen or appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals for approval. Tuckahoe Zoning Code only allows one kitchen per dwelling unit.

For the record, I am not against people finishing their basement for more space but not kitchens. I even find no problem with having a bathroom in the basement. I wish I had a bathroom in my basement, since my home only has one for all six of us. Unfortunately, since my basement could have been the set for "Silence of the Lambs", this is not the most conducive spot for doing anything. Additional kitchens, however, lead to some taking advantage of a situation. My dilemma is the existing homes where residents are not renting or do anything nefarious may still be in violation. I have no problem dropping the hammer of justice on the heads of those renting this space. Nevertheless, I find hassling a little old lady preserving tomatoes from her garden or cooking manicotti that is so light it melts in your mouth, unpalatable.

One resident recalled to me his family' summer kitchen served to facilitate a rental apartment during the great depression. He said they were grateful not to have lost their property during that national turmoil. Now certainly we have people losing their homes to foreclosure yet again, but are we again prepared to overlook our codes to assist? I am not prepared to go there. I realize most people want nothing to do with the Building Department. They don’t want their taxes increased and they definitely don’t want the fines associated with non-filed work. However, if you have an illegal kitchen and decide to remove it before any of the abovementioned problems, make sure you use licensed contractors. Feel free to contact the Building Department if you have any questions.

The job of the Village Board to continually review whether zoning law is strengthened or loosened is taken very seriously, I assure you. Trustees of the Village Board have expressed a desire to open public hearings on two subjects in particular that may affect the village. One is the current ability for residents to have a boarder, and the other is the definition of what constitutes a commercial vehicle and where they may park. Personally, I feel now that I would vote only to strengthen our code on both of these matters, but I look forward to the public debate. The matter of the summer kitchens, however, I felt required a less formal discussion with our residents. I hope you’ll send your thoughts to www.Tuckahoe.com