Greenburgh Halloween traditions face new liability waiver requirement

Well, a Halloween tradition in a Westchester community could be in trouble. Yeah, for years, neighbors have worked with the town to create safe trick-or-treating areas. But that could change. News 12's Jackie Gillis has the story. Halloween is in two weeks. Yards are decorated. And parents and children are getting ready for a night of spooky fun. I've got, what, 15 days? And for Greenburgh's Rebecca Berry, the pressure is on to save a neighborhood tradition. They say the cemetery is haunted. For six years, the town has dropped off-street barricades to make for a safe night of trick-or-treating. Rebecca and her husband would set them up and take them down, but now Rebecca says the town board wanted a million dollars in liability insurance. It's just frustrating to all of a sudden have all these hoops to jump through when it's been no big deal. That same message was sent to Robert Hack, who lives in the Orchard Hill section. Hack and his family have hosted a huge Halloween event for years. They wanted to close off their street, too. We've never had a problem, we've never had any risk of any kind of collisions, but it's Halloween, we wanted to reduce the risk given the number of people. The town board has since backtracked on the insurance requirement, but due to police safety concerns, the town attorney has created a liability waiver to encourage event organizers to better protect people walking in the right-of-way and limit the town's liability. The clause, which can be read here, clarifies that the town's concern is keeping cars away from people in the street. I understand the town's need to protect itself and to make sure that this isn't just random events happening. Rebecca and Robert say they aren't quite sure what they're going to do just yet, but the town attorney says the liability waiver must be required. In Greenburgh, Westchester County, Jackie Gillis, News 12.