MAYOR'S UPDATE
From the desk of Mayor Rika Levin
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What can I say – it was a busy weekend of incredible events in Ossining this past weekend. I am pleased to say that I had the pleasure of attending many of them. Fun was at the center of it all.
Saturday morning began with a “Conversation with the Mayor” at Market Square, where community members could discuss any issue they might have. I truly enjoyed speaking with so many of you. I even had the opportunity to talk with Ossining NAACP leader Aaron Moore and County Executive George Latimer!
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Next on the agenda was the Ossining Children’s Center’s donor recognition breakfast and the Curran Family Sports Field dedication. This event included a ribbon-cutting and commemorative ceremony for their bricks – where I was able to see the one dedicated by my family. The Ossining Children Center has been a gem of a facility serving our community for more than 120 years. We hope they continue to serve and educate our children at their new location for another 120 years. |
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Later, and just down the street, I joined so many in our community for the annual fish fry fundraiser at Star of Bethlehem, another institution in our community that has been around for more than 135 years. And on we went to be part of the long-awaited 115th Annual WCVFA Convention Parade, hosted by the Ossining Fire Department; along with all of the Village Trustees, Senator Reichlin Melnick, members of the Town Council, and over 20 area fire departments. Amazing! Their weekend’s full event schedule included not only the parade but also training, speakers, and apparatus judging for our volunteers. Ossining hosts this event about once in 10 years. Thank you to everyone who participated, and a special shout out to Montrose Fire Department for earning the top award for BEST OVERALL! |
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I am proud to unveil a new section to our site, designed to inform all in our community about challenges and solutions to our changing environment. Hurricane Ida should have made us all think about the effects of our environment on our daily lives. Click here to visit our new section of our site. We are establishing a more focused approach to the greening of our Village. This will create better infrastructure solutions for flooding, health, and well being, with coordination among various government agencies and community grassroots organizations, education, jobs, good neighbor advocacy, legislation, enforcement, environmental justice, and of course, practical ways to lower emissions gases that benefit everyone's health. I thank all the staff members and my colleagues who made this possible with a big shout-out to Jaimie Hoffman, who manages this site and eblasts, and Maddi Zachacz, who facilitates our environmental grants, committee meetings, and intergovernmental affairs. When I ran for Mayor, the environment was one of my priorities. It takes a Village to create the Greenest Village…. Thank you.
On that note, The Village & Town of Ossining with Green Ossining invite you to participate in the 2021 International Car Free Day this Wednesday, September 22! In partnership with 511NYRideshare, we encourage Ossining residents and community members to reduce their single-occupancy driving and instead: telework, bike, walk, carpool, vanpool, drive an electric vehicle, or drive an electric vehicle ride a train, bus, or subway. For more than a decade, my family has been driving electric vehicles. With so many new choices, what better time to look at your options! Feel free to contact me if you want to learn more about my own experience and learnings about electric vehicles.
Be sure to stop by the following businesses – which will have special offers for those that are car-free or car-lite on 9/22.
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- Historian Cole will be with us to report back on her research regarding two potential street re-naming; 1) for Barbara Klapkowski and 2) for Dream Ioni Shepherd.
- Marilyn Geraldo, Director of Section 8 Program, will be with us to give her annual report on the Section 8 program.
- Youth Services Director Mike Garcia will make his formal Work Session debut with a presentation about the Youth Bureau's progress thus far and the next steps for the BOT to establish the Youth Advisory Board.
Zoom info is as follows:
Webinar ID: 929 2724 2629
Members of the public can listen to the meeting by dialing in via phone: +1 929 205 6099
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Village of Ossining | www.villageofossining.org
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