Supervisor's Update - May 13, 2022

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Last Updated: 13 May 2022 13 May 2022

Happy Friday! Hope you’ve been able to enjoy the beautiful weather this week! 

It was an eventful week in the Town. On this Friday the 13th, we commemorated events that began, for us, on another Friday the 13th - March 13, when we began shutting down to distance and adapt to COVID. I along with Councilmembers Liz Feldman and Angelo Manicchio joined the Village of Ossining for the COVID-19 Remembrance Memorial Ceremony at Nelson Sitting Park this morning. Proclamations were presented to our first responders - Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Ossining Fire Department, and Ossining Police Department. Joyce Sharrock Cole (who also happens to be the Village Historian and played an instrumental role in memorializing the history of the pandemic in real time) accepted a proclamation on behalf of Richard Wishnie, Commissioner of Emergency Services for Westchester County.  

 

 

In Ossining, we really all pulled together during the pandemic to do everything we could to ensure that everyone in Ossining stayed as healthy and safe as possible, and it was great to come together now and acknowledge those incredible partnerships strengthened during extraordinary circumstances.  As Chair of the County Board of Legislators Catherine Borgia remarked, we all got into public service to serve our communities.  It was some of the hardest work we've had to do, but it definitely reminded us why we chose to do this work in the first place. 

 

 

In other big news: after two-plus years of work, many Steering Committee meetings, public hearings, surveys, and much more, we are finally adopting our new Comprehensive Plan with Sustainability Elements, Sustainable Ossining!  

 

 

Thank you to my current Board colleagues, as well as previous Town Board Members Jackie Shaw and Northern Wilcher, for supporting this project. Thanks also to the Comp Plan Steering Committee, and to all the members of our public who came to meetings, put stickers on poster boards, emailed, called, or participated in some way in shaping this plan. And of course, a big thank you to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for helping to fund it with a grant from the Climate Smart Communities program.  

This plan sets forth laudable goals in the areas of Connectivity & Mobility, Open Space & Natural Resources, Housing, Preservation & Development, Sustainable Infrastructure, Community & Culture, and Economy.  We now have a fantastic roadmap to make the Town of Ossining more sustainable in every sense of the word, and we can’t wait to get the work going. 

At next week’s Work Session, our Town Planner, Valerie Monastra, will be back before the Town Board to discuss next steps to bring this plan to life.  We do not intend for it to sit on a shelf collecting dust; we want to work towards implementing the goals it sets forth and make our community better for the future.  Let’s get to work!

In other Town news, we celebrated National School Nurses Day this week. On Tuesday, the nurses were presented with a proclamation at the school board meeting, and on Wednesday I attended a virtual luncheon with the nurses to thank them for all of their hard work. Especially in these most challenging times, we are extremely fortunate to have the caring, intelligent, dedicated staff that we have taking care of our children. 

We also participated in the State’s Climate Action Council draft scoping plan process. NYS is leading the way on climate with the adoption of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), and this scoping plan will serve as a roadmap for meeting climate goals. Last week, the Town Board held a discussion of the plan. We are happy to support it, and yesterday I voiced my support at a public hearing in Peekskill at the Paramount theater. We all need to do our part to reduce emissions and curb climate change. The scoping plan will give us much-needed guidance to take more impactful steps. 

 

You can learn more about the CLCPA and the draft scoping process at a lunch-and-learn webinar coming up at noon next Wednesday, May 18. Sustainable Westchester and the New York League of Conservation Voters will be hosting a panel of experts. Click here to register.  

 

As you’re going about your weekend plans, consider taking some time to think about the Village of Ossining’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), and how the different project ideas might enhance our local area. Last week, the Town presented to the community and the Local Planning Committee of the DRI our request for funding for a new performance space at Louis Engel Park. It was great to hear that the project was well received by the community members and LPC members, and we are now working on refining our vision with concept plans for the new stage. You can review our plan and all of the project plans in the Virtual Meeting Room, and share feedback using this link. The survey is open until May 20, 2022. 

Other things you might do this weekend: browse the Westchester Craft Crawl; attend the rescheduled I Love My Park Day at the Old Croton Aqueduct on Saturday; take the Westchester County Health Survey; and swing by Fable’s Farm Fest this Sunday! For more ideas, keep scrolling!

--Dana

If your business, non-profit, or community group has an event that you would like to submit to be a part of the Supervisor's Update, please complete this form. We are happy to pass along events that provide a benefit to the community and support our local economy. Thank you for helping us to highlight all the best Ossining has to offer!

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Read more: Supervisor's Update - May 13, 2022

Town Board Special Meeting and Work Session - Tuesday, May 17, 2022

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Last Updated: 13 May 2022 13 May 2022

Town Board Special Meeting and Work Session

Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 7:30pm

The meeting will be held via Zoom videoconferencing ONLY in accordance with State authority. 

Via computer or mobile app:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81047460057

Meeting ID: 810 4746 0057

Members of the public can listen to the meeting by dialing in via phone:

(929) 205-6099

 

Special Meeting Agenda:  pdf 05 17 22 Special Meeting (194 KB)

Work Session Agenda:

1. Radish Health Proposal for Town of Ossining

2. Discussion - 2022 Capital Projects & Bond Resolutions

3. Departmental Report - Highway and Cemetery Superintendent Pete Connolly

4. Discussion - Comprehensive Plan Implementation Next Steps

 

Supporting Documents for Town Board Meetings are available via Google Drive.

Supervisor's Update - May 6, 2022

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Last Updated: 06 May 2022 06 May 2022

We’ve made it to the end of another week! Hope your week was a good one. 

 

First, a round of applause to our local police and schools for responding effectively to an incredibly frightening situation yesterday at Ossining High School. We are glad that no one was gravely injured. Kudos to everyone who handled this situation so well by looking out for one another and following the protocols that keep our community safe. 

 

In other youth news, earlier this week I attended a coalition partner meeting for Ossining Communities That Care (CTC), our local coalition dedicated to improving the overall well-being of youth and families. We listened to updated data from the annual teen substance use study, and I was happy to learn that, in spite of the pandemic and recent moves to decriminalize and legalize adult marijuana use, teen substance use in Ossining has continued to decline. It is important to have conversations with young people in your life about substance use and abuse, to ensure they are well-informed about the risks and also the fact that substance use and abuse is not the norm among their peers, despite what they may think. Visit the CTC’s Grown Ups Show Up page to learn more about how to start these conversations and keep them going. It makes a difference.

 

 

This week, the Town and the Village of Ossining received 2,000 free COVID-19 test kits to distribute from Westchester County, and we are very appreciative of the resources from our partners in County government.  A portion of the test kits will be dedicated for our community’s seniors and will be distributed via our Senior Nutrition Program.  We are also distributing free COVID-19 test kits to residents at the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps (OVAC) Headquarters at 8 Clinton Avenue in Ossining. Residents can pick up two kits per household while supplies last, anytime between 9 AM and 5 PM on weekdays. Additionally, we received COVID-19 test kits from State Senator Elijah Reichlin Melnick, which we have distributed to our essential workers in the Town.  Assemblywoman Galef’s office has also provided additional test kits to OVAC per our understanding so please do take advantage to pick up these kits now while you are healthy, in case you need them when you are not feeling so great. (Hopefully that will be never, but better safe than sorry!)

COVID-19 is still unfortunately still very much here, so remember all the tried and true mitigation efforts – wear masks in indoor public settings, get vaccinated and boosted, get tested if you are exposed or are experiencing symptoms, and of course, stay home if you are feeling sick!  We hope these test kits, and the free testing available at OVAC every Monday and Friday, will help our community stay resilient in the face of another wave of COVID cases.

 

Now that it is spring, many of our road paving and rehabilitation projects can resume, including the McCarthy Drive Road Rehabilitation project.  The Town’s contractor paused operations during the winter months, but will be re-mobilizing on site to complete the project starting Monday, May 16.  Residents along McCarthy Drive and surrounding roads who are directly impacted by the project have received a more detailed update, which can be found here.  We also anticipate that the Morningside Drive paving project will start back up sometime after Memorial Day; stay tuned for more updates.

 

Yesterday we learned that so far this year, the Food Scrap Recycling program has diverted 15 tons of food waste out of the trash stream. Now, instead of creating greenhouse gas emissions at (and reducing the efficiency of) the incineration plant in Peekskill, those scraps are turning into nourishment for our gardens. And today, the Food Scraps Recycling Program began our second annual Compost Give Back! 

 

 

In case you missed it, there’s still time to pick up your compost. Participants in the program can pick up 6 gallons of free compost at Cedar Lane Park anytime between 9 AM to noon tomorrow as well.  Registration in advance is preferred, but not required to participate in this fun day and get your garden started! Click here to register and let us know you’re coming. And if you haven’t yet begun recycling your food scraps, visit ossiningcomposts.org to learn more about our program and order a kit to help you get started. 

 

 

For other green news and goings on in and around Town, scroll on! Many events this weekend, including the Riverkeeper Sweep events here in Ossining, will be happening rain or shine, but you should check in with the organizer on their social media or otherwise if you are unsure. Green Ossining will call a rain date for the Town-wide Tag Sale if indicated by tomorrow at 7 AM; check their website before heading out tomorrow, if that’s in your plans! We have heard that I Love My Parks Day is being postponed until next Saturday, May 14. As always, we share everything we receive here, but if you want an even more comprehensive list of events happening in and around Town, visit the new OssiningEvents.com community calendar, sponsored by the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce. 

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone celebrating this weekend! We will see you soon - till then, be safe and healthy! 

--Dana

 

If your business, non-profit, or community group has an event that you would like to submit to be a part of the Supervisor's Update, please complete this form. We are happy to pass along events that provide a benefit to the community and support our local economy. Thank you for helping us to highlight all the best Ossining has to offer!

Subscribe to our email blast list and receive Town news and updates. 

Read more: Supervisor's Update - May 6, 2022