Bridge Celebration & Mother Nature Up Front
Wednesday at 5PM please join us at the newly completed Broadway Bridge for a ribbon cutting ceremony. The program will include remarks about the history of the bridge, the ecology of the kill, as well as a presentation of a bowl carved from a tree from the gorge. The forecast is looking good for this community gathering which will include a walk along the Sing Sing Kill Greenway to stand under the Broadway Bridge where the commemorative plaque has been installed. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.
This past week was filled with nods to Mother Nature: the statewide plastic bag ban began yesterday; Ossining hosted a day long Waterfront Resiliency Workshop with neighboring communities facilitated by the Hudson River Waterfront Alliance and the Nature Conservancy, setting the stage for collaborative partnerships that bring smart planning decisions and greater access for grant funding; and all eyes were on the new food scraps collection program at Cedar Lane Park thanks to a partnership of the Town of Ossining, Teatown and Green Ossining. Do you have your food scraps collection kit yet?
Click here to learn more
.
Addressing the challenges presented by climate change demands efforts on all fronts. Renewable energy presents one of the greatest opportunities for progress. Ossining has long been a leader among solar installations for residents. This is thanks to the environmentally conscious mindset of Ossining residents, as well as a streamlined approval process for rooftop installations and participation in programs offered by Sustainable Westchester like Solarize Ossining/Briarcliff. Despite years of talk about municipal solar, there has not been a clear path to making this a financially viable option, until now. On Wednesday I joined leaders from across the region at a program to learn about the new opportunity presented to us by Westchester County, Sustainable Westchester and the New York Power Authority (NYPA). The first step is to simply provide a complete list of Village owned properties so they can be evaluated as host sites for rooftop, ground-mounted or parking canopy installations. There are no upfront costs for the municipality. This initiative will play a substantial role in achieving the ambitious goal for NYS to draw our electricity from 75% renewable sources by 2030.
The highlight of last week's work session was a presentation about the work of our Village Historian Dana White, with special guest Joyce Sharrock Cole.
As is anticipated in this agenda
, we also moved forward initiatives related to a new leak detection system for the water system; designs for replacing the roof at the Operations Center and improving accessibility at the facility with an elevator; and more. To view the meeting
video click here
.
Community Connections
Open Office Hours with the Mayor
will take place tomorrow in the Board of Trustees office on the first floor of Village Hall from 10:00am until 12:00noon. No appointment is necessary, and all are welcome to discuss any topic, concern or idea of interest to you.
Have a burning question or idea, at any hour of the day or night?... Email me (mayor@villageofossining.org), Village Manager Karen D'Attore (kdattore@villageofossining.org) or the Board of Trustees (bot@villageofossining.org).
Wednesday's Legislative Session
This week's meeting includes robust continuing business and new business agendas. We will continue consideration of proposed changes to policy and code related to the municipal tag parking lots, as well as transferring responsibility for dog licenses to the Town.
Click here to view the full legislative agenda
.
The legislative session will take place at the courthouse on Spring Street and begin at 7:30pm. There are a number of invitations for community members to offer comments. If you would like to spread the word about an upcoming event, please take up to two minutes during Organizational Announcements. Folks who would like to comment on the resolutions included on this week's agenda may do so for up to four minutes at the start of the Village Board Resolutions portion of the meeting. The meeting closes with an invitation for community members to comment for up to three minutes during Visitor Recognition about any topic of relevance to the common good of the Village.
We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday at 5PM at the Broadway Bridge to celebrate the preservation of local history as an integral part of the foundation for our future.
With Regards,
