5 Things for the Week Ahead: Civics, Gardening and the Arts

Don't forget this Tuesday is Election Day. Cast your ballot and let your voice be heard!

This week's events range from a property tax panel to lecture about a great English gardener to a play about a musicologist on the trail of Beethoven's last obsession.

Re-Assessing Property Taxes in Westchester, Wednesday, March 20, 7 p.m. New Rochelle City Hall, 515 North Ave., New Rochelle, NY. Updating property tax assessments in Westchester County to ensure fair taxes will be the topic of a panel discussion sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Westchester (LWVW) and LWV of New Rochelle. The program, “Reassessing Property in Westchester: Fair or Foul?” will feature state, county and local perspectives on the issue. About half of the municipalities in Westchester have reassessed, are reassessing or are planning to reassess, most for the first time in decades.Panel includes representatives from Pelham, Bronxville, the Town of Rye, and New Rochelle. For further information, go to www.lwvwestchester.org, www.newrochelleny.com, or call Janet Zagoria at 914-739-6518.

Thursday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, 895 Shore Rd., Bronx, NY. During a sabbatical from law firm Debevoise & Plimpton—where she was the first woman partner—Barbara Paul Robinson worked as a gardener for Verey at Barnsley House in Gloucestershire, England. She came to know her both personally and professionally and remained close to her for the last 20 years of her life. Registration requested. Cost $10 adults; $7 seniors and students; members free. For more information, call 718-885-1461.

33 Variations: A Play. Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 8 p.m. Rochambeau School, 228 Fisher Ave, White Plains, NY. Tickets: $18. At the height of his powers, Beethoven was obsessed with writing not one, but 33 brilliant variations on an insignificant beer hall waltz. Two centuries later one obsession leads to another. Katherine Brandt, brilliant musicologist, in her own race against time, is obsessed with “Why?” And even though they are separated by 200 years, these two people share an obsession that might, even for a moment, make time stand still. For more information, call 914-946-5143.

Sunday, March 24, 2 p.m. New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY. The Westchester Review, the only literary journal of Westchester writers and poets, will present a reading by authors who were published in the 2013 issue. The reading is scheduled for Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 pm at the New Rochelle Public Library in the Ossie Davis Theater and Meeting Room. For more information, call 914-632-0262.