Mayor's Weekly Update

June 7, 2022

MAYOR'S UPDATE

From the desk of Mayor Rika Levin

Last week, we hosted two events. First, on Thursday, with the support of our local community, the Ossining Juneteenth Council raised the Juneteenth Flag in Market Square. This event is held at the beginning of June to launch a month of recognition for the liberation of enslaved people in the United States. Dating back to June 19th, 1865 – it was on that date that the Union Soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, spread the news that the Civil War had ended and those enslaved were now free.

This Juneteenth event was followed on Friday when together with the Ossining LGBTQ+ Alliance, we proudly raised the official Progress Pride Flag in Market Square. Our event was attended by local, county, and state elected officials and representatives from the LGBTQIA+ community.

The rainbow flag is raised in June, the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which was the catalyst for Pride Month. During this time, we reflect, honor and amplify the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community past, present, and future.

Last night, the Ossining Public Library (OPL) brought back their Annual Meeting and Report to the Community – IN PERSON! As a part of this event, they celebrated a year of excellence at OPL and volunteer of the year. Whether it is volunteer teaching at Ossining High School, creating community events, or performing your Historian duties of obtaining and organizing historical data from libraries, archives, and artifacts to determining the authenticity of historical data - your dedication is transformative to Ossining. Congratulations to Joyce Sharrock Cole for being named both 2021 AND 2022 Volunteer of the year – and THANK YOU!

Please join us at this weekend’s 40th annual Ossining Village Fair being held in downtown Ossining on Saturday, June 11! This is our community’s quintessential event in the heart of our Village. You can expect festivities including live entertainment, yummy food with vendor and community booths. I look forward to seeing you there!

The Village of Ossining is seeking local college and graduate-level students of various disciplines who have an interest in municipal government to serve as summer interns. These paid internships will be performed under the supervision of Village staff through mid-August 2021. Click here for more info: https://bit.ly/3tnbz9B

For this week’s Work Session (6/8, 7:30PM over Zoom), the agenda is set to below the topics as below:

Sustainable Westchester will be joining our Work Session to answer the board's questions regarding an opt-out community solar program that prioritizes households using low-income assistance programs since they cannot take advantage of the electric discounts under CCA.
Village Engineer Paul Fraioli, PE, will be joined by Richard D'Andrea and Philip Gotthelf from Colliers Engineering to discuss next steps on the 5 Corners Intersection project.
Village staff, including Chief Sylvester, Clerk Donnelley Corporation Counsel Kahan, and Assistant Village Manager Zachacz, will be the discussing In Lieu Fee for downtown parking and 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).
Treasurer Brennan will be with us to discuss the establishment of a Capital Project for sidewalk improvements as part of our match for the CDBG project at James and Williams-- the $200K will be coming from a serial bond issue.