From the Mayor
Welcome to the inaugural digital edition
of
Our Village
!
Happy Autumn Larchmont Residents! The Village now has a Constant Contact account and will be sending out
Our Village
regularly, as well as periodic email updates when there is important news or event information to share. You’ve received this because you already signed up (good job!), but may I ask that you let your friends and neighbors know to sign up too? Thanks!
I thought for the first edition I’d do a look back at the last 6 months in Larchmont. Quite a lot has happened since April Fool’s Day…
On the event front, we had great weather for the annual Larchmont-Mamaroneck
Memorial Day Parade
, an incredible number of runners came out for the
Sprint to Flint Races,
our youngest residents were entertained by Marcia the Moose, the
4
th
of July races
were awesome as always (and not as hot as last year) and we ended summer with the
4
th
Annual Larchmont Day
to celebrate our 128
th
birthday as an incorporated village.
Downtown we welcomed Bango Bowls, Taaru Majeure, Mixed Enerjy, Route One and Avon Coffee Shop, celebrated the 10
th
anniversary of Bread & Cocoa and saw Circle 7 Framing and Groove settled in their new ‘forever’ homes. At 1912 Palmer Avenue, “the burned-down building”, rebuilding has begun and, after some unanticipated extra work shoring up the two adjoining buildings, they are back on track. I expect it won’t be long before we are able to see a skeleton rising up behind the plywood wall. And recently I had the pleasure to meet with Charles Cohen, the owner of the Larchmont Playhouse Theater. The Playhouse is moving along and Charles shared his excitement for the progress being made on the interior construction details and theater designs.
On parking, we put into action some of the recommendations made in the downtown parking study completed last year. Palmer Avenue and Boston Post Road parking permit districts were created, we added some new merchant permit options and instituted an across-the-board senior citizen discount for Village residents. The parking consultants’ main recommendation, for paid on- and off-street parking, is now being considered. Finally, new, more clearly-worded signs have been placed in the train station parking lots and we plan to replace all other lot and parking wayfinding signs in the near future.
I am happy that we have an opportunity to work with the owner of a property in the heart of our downtown to thoughtfully develop a derelict property and bring added public amenities to the village. This proposed project, Centro Larchmont, is just beginning to make its way through the essential public review process and, as this continues over the coming months, the Village will rely on all necessary qualified consultants and land use boards to make this a win-win for Larchmont.
All around town there has been lots of activity in our parks and public roads. We started the
Trees-4-Larchmont
program (see more below), celebrated the grand opening of the NEW
Turtle Park Playground,
and went out to bid for the renovation of
Constitution Park.
In
Pine Brook Park,
as part of our commitment to a walkable Larchmont, new steel stairs were built to connect the Coolidge Street neighborhood to the park and downtown shopping. And have you noticed flags, colored markings and plywood covered holes in Flint Park? Those are signs that the Village DPW is preparing to replace a broken water main that services Flint A and B fields. This project is part of a larger initiative by the Village Parks and Trees Committee, working with the Flint Park Conservancy, to rejuvenate and re-imagine some of the existing elements of this glorious waterfront park, such as the playhouse, paddle tennis courts and nature trails.
To the more mundane, yet no less important, aspects of Village life, we restored 5570 feet of curb, replaced 1250 square feet of sidewalk and paved 4350 feet of road. All the traffic lines, cross walks and bike lane markings have been repainted. New sharrow markings will be painted to highlight a route for students to use biking from the Manor to Hommocks Middle School. And we managed to make Larchmont even more welcoming with restored Neptune sculptures and new signs at 4 of the entrances to the Village.
Lastly, at Village Hall we continue our inexorable march into the 21
st
Century with our first ever on-line tennis clinic sign-ups! Coming soon…. on-line parking permit sales and water bill payments.
Porro et sorsum!
If you are still with me, please use the links at the bottom of this newsletter to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And remember to spread the word to sign-up for Constant Contact emails.
See you next month,
Mayor Lorraine Walsh
