This past weekend, we had an incredible turnout for the Honorary Street Naming for Dr. George W. Hill at Academy Place and State Street for his many contributions to the Village of Ossining. Click here to learn more: https://www.villageofossining.org/village-historian/pages/honorary-street-naming

Have you submitted an application for the newly created Placemaking Committee for the Village of Ossining? "Placemaking" is the practice of designing, programming, and developing public spaces around the needs and desires of the community of users. The placemaking process contributes as much benefit to community empowerment as it does to creating public spaces themselves, blurring the lines between laypersons and professionals to develop a strong 'community of makers'.

By working with the community in a collaborative process, this committee will initiate concepts and serve as a sounding board for ideas in making recommendations to the Village Board of Trustees. There will be a focus on improving connectivity and walkability to ensure that the Village's public spaces are attractive and welcoming to all. In identifying specific locations in the Village that could benefit from enhancement, this committee will be able to suggest cost-effective improvements to transform these places through public art, landscaping, streetscaping, historical signage, and events.

The application submission deadline is on Monday, May 15^th. Don’t miss out - Click here for details and to apply.

Did you miss last week's Transformational Thursday webinar, What's Happening Downtown? If so - Here is the recording of the webinar I led on May 4^th https://youtu.be/XtHmc9s2Ctw.

The presentation focused on how the DRI projects, along with the NYS Route 9 Road Diet, the redevelopment of Main and Spring Street lots, and the 5 Corners Intersection project work, will collectively enhance Ossining's vibrant and sustainable future.

We also debuted our new interactive Story Map, which allows residents and visitors to learn more about ongoing projects Village-wide virtually.⁠ ⁠

Don’t miss this week’s second webinar in the Transformational Thursday Series: Community Center(ed), to be held on Thursday, May 11, 2023, @ 6:00 PM.

With renovations for a refurbished pool area and new locker rooms underway, the Joseph G. Caputo Community Center will start planning for renovations and upgrades that will vastly improve the use of existing space for a wide range of programming opportunities designed for community members of all ages. Learn what plans are in store and provide your input.

Are you looking to reduce your carbon footprint? Good news, you can recycle your food scraps here in Ossining.

Food scraps are one of the largest components of trash sent to landfills and incinerators. However, food scraps are not trash, they are a resource that can be turned into useful compost. Recycling food scraps into compost captures their nutrients and energy and returns them to the environment.

This resource is lost when food scraps are sent to a landfill or incinerator. Food scraps in a landfill create methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps CO2 and contributes to global warming. When sent to an incinerator (as most waste is in Westchester County), food scraps reduce the efficiency of the incinerator because of its high water content. Composting food scraps turns that story around. Instead of wasting energy trying to burn food, or creating methane from landfilling it, composting food scraps produces a useful and valuable product that gives back to our nutrient life cycle resulting in cleaner soil, water, and air.

Good compost can be made in a backyard composter or a commercial composting facility. The difference is that a backyard composter is limited to certain foods (fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells), while a commercial composting facility can accept any food. Food such as meat, fish, dairy, bones, shells, pasta, bread, rice, fats, and oils can all be composted at a commercial facility. If you already have a backyard composter, it is suggested to keep composting in your backyard and use this service for those foods that can't go into a backyard composter.

Click here for more information: https://ossiningcomposts.org/ 

Bicycle Sundays in Westchester County are back!

For over 40 years, bike riders can enjoy a 13.1-mile traffic-free loop of the Bronx River Parkway. That means that folks can get outside and walk, bike, and jog. Be sure to visit their events page for more information!

This week’s Work Session will be held on Wednesday, 5/10, at 16 Croton Avenue.

·        Finally, Paul Fraioli, P.E. Village Engineer & Stuart Kahan, Corporation Counsel, will be back to discuss additional requests for license agreements for properties along Upper Main Street.