Mayor's Weekly Update

June 21, 2022

MAYOR'S UPDATE

From the desk of Mayor Rika Levin

Trustees Quezada, White and I had the pleasure of welcoming dignitaries from Portugal, raising the Portuguese flag and welcoming the community to the 25^th Annual Portuguese Day Festival. A time-honored tradition in our Village.

This past Sunday, the Ossining Juneteenth Council hosted their 3rd Annual Juneteenth Independence Day Celebration.

The event is inspired by the first Juneteenth celebration in Galveston, TX, in 1866 and was curated to recreate that momentous day. The ceremony focused on history and included musical performances from Grammy-nominated Manza Gorey's drum core, African dance, Alvin Riley Dancers, and delicious African food. Green Ossining was there, as always, helping the environment. In addition, Community Keepers Awards, Community Service Awards, and Trailblazer Awards were presented in sincere appreciation for their dedication and effort to inspire generations of community members! A special thank you to Village Historian Joyce Sharrock Cole and Althema Goodson.

The 2022 Best of Westchester winners have been announced! Readers were given a chance to vote on Westchester's best offerings, and the results are in! We are pleased to say that Ossining has some of the best in the county, with 4 local business winners in the Village! These superlatives range from Food & Drink to Health and Beauty, with everything in-between. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate these businesses on this honor and thank them for making Ossining the home for their successful business. Click here to learn more: https://bit.ly/39B5Aql

Mike Risko Music School

Reader’s Pick: Shopping: Music Store
Reader’s Pick: Kids: Music School Reader’s
Pick: Services: Adult Classes

The Tasty Table

Reader’s Pick: Food & Drink Avocado Toast

ärketekcher

Reader’s Pick: Home & Garden Architect

Ossining Public Library

Reader’s Pick: Kids Children’s Library

For the Wednesday’s Work Session, the agenda is set to include the following topics:

Sustainable Westchester will be back to discuss the CCA MOU.
Corporation Counsel Kahan will lead a discussion about a request for a license agreement for the retaining wall at 85 Narragansett—surveys are embedded in the agenda.
We will be discussing changes at Village-owned parking lots (turning the lots at Main & Spring into paid lots during the day and Overnight Muni Parking at night, as well as converting the Quimby Street lot and, later, Quimby Street into much-requested "pay by the day" commuter parking).

For the Special Meeting (following the Work Session), we will have (3) resolutions:

Sustainable Westchester CCA MOU
The Village of Ossining has an agreement with Capital Markets as our Financial Advisors, who was recently named as a defendant for charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Staff feels it is prudent to terminate the contract with Capital Markets, so the BOT will be asked to pass a resolution enabling us to enter a contract with Munistat Municipal Finance Advisory Services effective immediately, so the Village is able to have the Continuing Disclosure document, due by June 30, 2022, filed by Munistat.
The Village will be accepting a donation from the Ossining Public Library Foundation for a Little Free Library to be installed at Gourdine Park near the Kiosk. For those unfamiliar, it is a place where folks can take and leave books for others to enjoy. There are several around Ossining, and we think it would be an excellent complement to the Kiosk area.