Nov. 27, 2007

Are you in need of hundreds and hundreds of rolls of Chanukah wrapping paper or thousands of Passover tchatzkies? Look no further than the Westchester County eBay site

Passover Kiddush cups, holiday stickers, matzoth ball bean bags and kids games, you’ll find them there. Wrapping paper of various kinds – too many rolls to count.

“We have used our eBay site to auction off lots of unusual surplus items over the past couple of years, but these have to be our most unusual sales,” said County Executive Andy Spano. “Truckloads of these items were abandoned on county property, so now we are looking to get rid of it on eBay. For anyone who wants  this, it is a real bargain. I encourage synagogues in particular to check it out.”

County law bars the county from just giving it away or throwing out items, unless they are declared un-salable. The first two auctions were completed Monday.  Someone purchased 100 rolls of Chanukah/Passover wrapping paper for $46; another bidder paid $31 for two cases of Passover novelty items.

Items posted today include various Jewish-occasion mugs and Passover children’s games and supplies.  Other lots will be posted on the eBay site in upcoming weeks.
The property was removed last May by county police from old box trailers that were parked on county property near the South County Trailway in Ardsley, behind the old Selecto building. The merchandise filled two full trailers and amounts to 39 pallets worth an estimated $300 to $400 each. The merchandise is now being stored at a county owned warehouse in Elmsford. County officials are uncertain if some of the unopened cartons contain items beyond those for Jewish holidays due to the quantity of the merchandise.   

The county attempted to find a legally  responsible party for the merchandise, but was unsuccessful due to a change in ownership of the business that originally had the legal right to store property on the site.

County police provided the following information on how the trailers came to be in Ardsley:

Many years ago, Selecto Inc. owned a building that bordered the county bike trail off  Rt. 9 in Ardsley. Selecto needed more room, so it purchased nine old box trailers. The county charged Selecto rent  for the space where  the trailers were.  Several years ago Selecto sold the building and business separately. The investigation showed that  the trailers did not go along with the sale.  However, they show no ownership by anyone at this time. Indeed, at this time both former and current owners of the business have waived any rights to the merchandise.