Supervisor Blog

Happy Friday! Our format varies this week, since RiverJam is on hiatus to make way for the annual firefighters’ parade, hosted by the Ossining Volunteer Fire Department. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates for a lovely evening; be sure to follow @townofossining on Facebook and/or Instagram for the latest updates just in case!

The parade will start at Roosevelt Square (the intersection of Pleasantville Road and Croton Avenue) and make its way down Croton, across Highland Avenue, and down Main Street before ending at the waterfront.  Two of our Town elected officials, Councilman and Deputy Chief Manicchio as well Town Highway Superintendent and Deputy Chief Connolly, will be marching in full fireman’s uniform. Look for the rest of the Board in the apparati waving, and then reviewing all the very shiny trucks and bands in the stand on Main Street. We can’t wait to see everyone for this annual event celebrating Volunteer Fire Departments in the Hudson Valley and beyond!

If you are looking for a good place from which to view the parade, Mike Risko Music Store hosts a viewing party en route.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that it is also the First Friday of the month, which means that Ossining First Fridays is back! This five month old initiative, born of a collaboration between ENU Builds and the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce, aims to bring the community together while highlighting local businesses and other attractions. For the latest details on participating vendors and events happening as part of First Fridays (and every other day of the month), visit the new community calendar, OssiningEvents.com. The calendar is very comprehensive, thanks to the diligent work of Jermain Smith. 

You can enhance your Community Crawl experience using Otocast, a popular tour guide app created by Ossining resident Eric Feinstein. Download it at OssiningEvents.com. One can load the Community Crawl (or other tours) on Otocast to follow a map highlighting the stops from start to finish. An exciting addition to Otocast that just debuted this week: Museum in the Streets! It has been digitized thanks to a collaboration between the Chamber, former Village Mayor and local historian Miguel Hernandez, and Otocast. Be sure to check it out!

In other Town news, we learned earlier this week that Mary See, a longtime employee of the Town Clerk’s office, has passed away. She and her family are in our thoughts.

A lot of us are facing difficult times now, particularly as we look at our utility bills. For those of you who have been following, we are happy to report Westchester Power/Sustainable Westchester was able to secure a new bid for green electricity, so we are hopeful we can get back on track with fixed-rate, renewable electricity supply soon. To get more information, or if you wish to opt out of the program, you can call Westchester Power at 844-605-7650. 

As we work to reduce our carbon footprint, we also recognize the need to become more resilient in the face of climate change, as it is already happening. To that end, we are continuing our public engagement around the Shoreline Revitalization Project. We need your input as we design a climate adaptive shoreline. Get the latest on this project and provide your input at the Shoreline Revitalization Project virtual open house website. 

This week, Ossining's Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) got up and running. MCRTs enable behavioral health experts supported by police to address people having mental health crises, helping to de-escalate situations and improve follow-up. Our police department is one of seven Countywide that hosts an MCRT serving a small area (in our case, Ossining, Briarcliff, Pleasantville, Mount Pleasant, and Sleepy Hollow). I was pleased to represent Ossining along with Lt. Brendan Donahue at the press conference announcing the Westchester MCRTs back in May, and am even more pleased to see this initiative get underway. 

Lastly, some notes about staying safe and healthy in the face of heat advisories and new viruses. Ossining’s Joseph G. Caputo Community Center is available this week as a cooling center during the excessive heat. The community center will be offering a safe place to cool down through today from 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday from 9 AM to 5PM and Sunday from 8AM to 3 PM.⁠ ⁠ In addition, we will make the pool available for open swim through Friday from 7-8:45 PM, Saturday from noon – 5:45 PM, and Sunday from noon – 2:45 PM. There is a fee of $5 per person for those in the community that are not members. Also, the Louis Engel Spray Park will have extended hours from 11 AM to 8 PM daily through Sunday. If you’re having difficulty paying your utility bills, consider visiting mybenefits.ny.gov to see what assistance programs you may be eligible for. 

Though monkeypox is not likely to become as pervasive a problem as COVID-19, it is important to learn more about it and take steps to contain its spread. Click here to read more information from the New York State Department of Health regarding the disease. 

We are happy to report Westchester County is now able to offer free vaccines for those at higher risk of contracting the disease. This includes those who have traveled outside the US to a country with confirmed cases of monkeypox or where monkeypox activity has been ongoing, or those who have had contact with someone who had a rash that looks like monkeypox or with someone who was diagnosed with confirmed or probable monkeypox. Westchester residents can call Westchester Medical Center at (914) 326-2060 to schedule a vaccine appointment from Monday through Friday 9 AM - 5 PM. The Loft LGBTQ+ Community Center will also host monkeypox vaccination clinics on Thursday, August 11 and August 18th. Vaccines are free. You can sign up here, on the NYS Dept of Health website - if no appointments appear available, check back periodically. And stay tuned to the Westchester County Department of Health website for more opportunities. 

Because COVID is a continuing concern, consider getting yourself some free COVID test kits, available at Assemblywoman Sandy Galef’s office (2 Church St., Suite 203, Ossining, NY 10562). You can pick up one test for each member of your household.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

That’s all for now! For ideas for what to do this weekend and beyond, keep scrolling. A reminder about summer schedules for the Town. Summer hours started on July 1, with most Town offices (except for the Town Clerk) closing at 3:15pm on Fridays through Friday, September 2.  Please stay safe and healthy and keep cool and we will see you soon!

--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. 

We have made it to the end of another week! It’s a Summer Friday, so here’s your Ossining RiverJam news and administrative update.

We are so excited to have another of our local Ossining favorites taking the stage tonight at 7 - the Mike Risko Band! If you love high-energy renditions of your favorite songs featuring awesome guitar solos and powerful female vocals, you won’t want to miss this! It’s always a great time when they play - be sure to join us. Note that next week, Friday, August 5, RiverJam will be on a hiatus so as not to conflict with the Fire Department parade.

The food truck lineup for tonight, starting at 5 PM, is as follows:  Brothers Fish and Chips, Cravin' Jamaican Cuisine, Delicias Peruvian Kitchen, Homestyle Desserts and Creamery, Jegoma Food, New England’s Finest Lobster, Weenie Wagon, Bigfoot Creamery, Tacoish, Wanna Empanada, and La Bella Sophia Pizza. The Brewery at the CIA will be joining Sing Sing Kill Brewery at the Craft Beverage Corral, and the Chamber will once again host menus for some of your favorite local eateries in case you want to order delivery to the park. We will have a designated area to make that super easy and to support our local brick and mortar businesses. Note that parking near the waterfront area is extremely limited on Friday evenings - you are likely to have more luck if you look for parking in the train station area before the overpass. Although it seems like the rain will hold off until the concert is safely over tonight, for up to the minute updates in case of weather delays or other issues, be sure to follow @townofossining on Facebook and Instagram.

As always, I am extremely grateful to those who help make this series possible - our Ossining RiverJam partners Mike & Miriam Risko, Eric Gearity of Sing Sing Kill Brewery, Gayle Marchica and Johnny G of the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce, Jermain Smith of ENU Builds, Brian Sheridan of Hothouse Design, Recreation Superintendent Bill Garrison, our Town Parks crew, and of course, Keith Heilmann our fantastic soundman. And I cannot forget our event sponsors: New York Presbyterian, Gracelane Kennels, Bigfoot Creamery, Coral Sea Pools, Seiden Real Estate Team, Matero Fine Jewelry, PKF O’Connor Davies Accounting, who join the Town and Mike Risko Music, Sing Sing Kill Brewery, the Chamber of Commerce, and Ossining Recreation in providing the funds that make this event possible.

At this week’s Town Board meeting, we heard a presentation about the Clean Path NY project, which is proposing a transmission line bringing clean, renewable energy generated upstate down to New York City to benefit the downstate grid, which also powers Westchester. On Tuesday, Clean Path also presented the project to the public at the Ossining Public Library.  As this project has the potential to impact the Ossining community, we asked the project team to come before the Town Board as well to give an introductory presentation and provide the Board with an opportunity to ask questions. If you were unable to join one of the information sessions at OPL, you can view the virtual open house here. Their presentation to & discussion with the Board is viewable on the Town’s YouTube page along with the rest of Tuesday’s meeting.

On Thursday, we joined the Village, the Ossining Library Foundation and Bigfoot Creamery to cut a ribbon on the latest local Little Free Library, sited at Henry Gourdine Park. In attendance were Ossining Village Trustee Dana White, Victoria Gearity from Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick’s office, Recreation Superintendent Bill Garrison, IFCA Executive Director (and former Town Board member) Jackie Shaw, Ossining Library Board Trustee Amanda Curley, Ossining Public Library Director Karen LaRocca-Fels, Leslie Allen from the Ossining Library Foundation, Bigfoot Creamery owner Laryssa Jardine and her daughter (and adorable pup, not pictured!). We are so excited for all the happy folks who will be able to pick up a book after stopping for ice cream.

And here’s some more exciting news: I am happy to report that we are getting closer and closer to revealing our new Town of Ossining website!  This project has been many years in the making. We were slightly delayed with COVID and other projects, but thanks to the expert help of our website wizard Dean Pacchiana and graphic design guru Brian Sheridan, we think the public will find the website much easier to navigate and find the information they are looking for.  The Supervisor’s Update will also get a design refresh - stay tuned for more on this soon!

Thank you for your patience this week as we improved the road near Cedar Lane Park. Some of our young Town residents have been creating beautiful art at CLAC recently - take a look! Thank you to Cathy Faiella for sharing!
 

In other news, the County recently reported that there are close to thirty active monkeypox cases in Westchester. See the infographic below for information about monkeypox from the State Department of Health. In an effort to keep incidence low, the County Department of Health is administering monkeypox vaccines to individuals at risk of contracting the virus from noon to 3 p.m. Mondays and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays at 134 Court St. in White Plains, by appointment only. For more information about eligibility and more, please visit the Westchester County Department of Health website: https://health.westchestergov.com/

A quick note about an ongoing road closure. The Town of New Castle will be continuing the closure of Hawkes Avenue on Monday, August 1 and Tuesday, August 2, after they take a break for the weekend.  This work is to complete some repairs necessary for paving. A large excavator and other machinery will be working on the road.  Provisions for emergency vehicles have been made.

Earlier today, Highway Superintendent Pete Connolly and I met with Con Ed on Route 134 to discuss their continued gas infrastructure work in the area of 9A and 134.  The work will continue in this area through the summer and fall with the hope of completing by October, but if they do not finish by November (when the winter moratorium on roadwork begins for State roads), they will mobilize again in March.      

That’s all for now! For ideas for what to do this weekend and beyond, keep scrolling. A reminder about summer schedules for the Town. Summer hours started on July 1, with most Town offices (except for the Town Clerk) closing at 3:15pm on Fridays through Friday, September 2.  Please stay safe and healthy and keep cool and we will see you soon!

--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. 

Hope you’re doing well despite the heat! It’s a Summer Friday, so here’s your Ossining RiverJam news, followed by an administrative update (including ways the Town is helping residents stay cool).

Tonight, enjoy a river breeze and food from the following vendors, starting at 5 PM:  Brothers Fish and Chips, Cravin' Jamaican Cuisine, Delicias Peruvian Kitchen, Homestyle Desserts and Creamery, Jegoma Food, New England’s Finest Lobster, Weenie Wagon, Wrappers Delight, Bigfoot Creamery, Paradise Taqueria & Birrieria and Dough Nation Pizza Truck. Defiant Brewing Company and Nine Pin Cider will be joining Sing Sing Kill Brewery at the Craft Beverage Corral. Also, the Chamber will once again host menus for some of your favorite local eateries in case you want to order delivery to the park. We will have a designated area to make that super easy and to support our local brick and mortar businesses. Note that parking near the waterfront area is extremely limited on Friday evenings - you are likely to have more luck if you look for parking in the train station area before the overpass.

Tonight’s musical guest is a performer who needs very little introduction here in Ossining - the incomparable (and our very own!) KJ Denhert! We are extremely fortunate to have this critically acclaimed artist in our midst. Her act has been a favorite of this series for many years and we cannot wait to welcome her back tonight.

As always, I am extremely grateful to those who help make this series possible - our Ossining RiverJam partners Mike & Miriam Risko, Eric Gearity of Sing Sing Kill Brewery, Gayle Marchica and Johnny G of the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce, Jermain Smith of ENU Builds, Brian Sheridan of Hothouse Design, Recreation Superintendent Bill Garrison, our Town Parks crew, and of course, Keith Heilmann our fantastic soundman. And I cannot forget our event sponsors: New York Presbyterian, Gracelane Kennels, Bigfoot Creamery, Coral Sea Pools, Seiden Real Estate Team, Matero Fine Jewelry, PKF O’Connor Davies Accounting, who join the Town and Mike Risko Music, Sing Sing Kill Brewery, the Chamber of Commerce, and Ossining Recreation in providing the funds that make this event possible. 

If you need help staying cool in this heat, here are some options for you. The Joseph G. Caputo Community Center will be open as a cooling center through 9pm tonight, then tomorrow, Saturday from 9am to 6pm, and also Sunday from 9am to 3pm. The pool will be available for open swim today, Friday from 7-8:45pm, Saturday from 12noon-5:45pm, and Sunday from 12noon-2:45pm. There is a fee of $5 per person for those in the community who are not members. The spray park at Louis Engel Park will also be open extended hours from 11am to 8pm during the heatwave.

Please remember that swimming is not allowed at the Louis Engel Park beach – there is no lifeguard on duty and we cannot determine that the water quality is safe for swimming. See the pic below: ducks only may swim there (and maybe a few geese!) Please be safe, hydrate, and if you can, try to enjoy summer until we find ourselves complaining about the cold weather again! 

At this week’s Town Board meeting, we discussed a proposed local law regulating bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters in the Town. We are planning to re-open the public hearing on this draft local law at our meeting coming up this Tuesday, July 26. The discussion comes as the Village of Ossining’s Project MOVER proposal has become a finalist for a $7 million NYSERDA grant aimed at building clean transportation infrastructure. If successful, the Village, the Town and surrounding communities would become eligible for a portion of the funding and begin installing e-bike lending and charging stations. You can read more about the program and its potential in this River Journal article. 

In other grant news, requests as part of the State’s Consolidated Funding Application are due next week. This year, we are submitting applications for Louis Engel Park Stage Improvements via Empire State Development, Ryder Park Planning & Design via NYS Parks, Recreation, & Historic Preservation, and Beach Sanitary Survey for Louis Engel Park via the NYS DEC Non-point Source Planning Grant program.  These projects will help improve our parks and hopefully make all of the things we enjoy doing over the summer even better - an incredible performance space for RiverJam and other live shows, improved drainage for little league games, tennis and pickle ball courts, and strolls along the trails at Ryder Park, and hopefully one day, swimming at Louis Engel Park Beach.  Big shout out to our grant writers with Millennium Strategies and the amazing Victoria Cafarelli, Budget Director, for their tremendous work on these grant applications! 

If you haven’t already, be sure to take some time to learn about the Clean Path New York project this week. We have asked the folks from this project to come speak before the Town Board, but there will also be open houses for the public to attend in Ossining this coming Tuesday, July 26 from 10:30am-12:30pm and from 4pm-6pm at the Ossining Public Library.  At this time, Clean Path New York is proposing an approximately 175-mile underground/underwater transmission line that will transport up to 3,800 megawatts of new solar and wind power generated in New York State, increasing the reliability of the state’s transmission system and helping transition New York to a clean energy economy.  They are in the process of developing the siting for the transmission line, which will need to exit and re-enter the Hudson somewhere between Peekskill and Ossining. We encourage members of the public to attend an open house to learn more. If you cannot attend in person, you can view the virtual open house here.  

A quick note about an upcoming road closure. The Town of New Castle will be closing Hawkes Avenue from July 27th through August 2nd, excluding Saturday and Sunday, for the hours of 7am to 5pm to complete some repairs necessary for paving. A large excavator and other machinery will be working on the road.  Provisions for emergency vehicles will be made. 

That’s all for now! For ideas for what to do this weekend and beyond, keep scrolling! A reminder about summer schedules for the Town. Summer hours started on July 1, with most Town offices (except for the Town Clerk) closing at 3:15pm on Fridays through Friday, September 2.  Please stay safe and healthy and we will see you soon!

--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. 

We have made it to another Summer Friday–get ready for more great tunes, yummy eats and that very special Ossining Waterfront vibe we’ve got going! Before getting into the administrative update, here’s your Ossining RiverJam news.

Tonight we have the following food vendors joining us at 5 PM: Brothers Fish and Chips, Cravin' Jamaican Cuisine, Delicias Peruvian Kitchen, Homestyle Desserts and Creamery, Jegoma Food, New England’s Finest Lobster, Weenie Wagon, Wrappers Delight, Wanna Empanada, Tacoish and Bigfoot Creamery. Peekskill Brewery and Forthright Cyder will be joining Sing Sing Kill Brewery at the Craft Beverage Corral. Also, the Chamber will once again host menus for some of your favorite local eateries in case you want to order delivery to the park. We will have a designated area to make that super easy and to support our local brick and mortar businesses.

We are in for an extra special treat at 7 PM, as Billy and the Showmen take the stage. This band has been getting audiences out of their seats and on their feet for five decades, and they have quite a resume. They were the back-up band for The Chiffons from 1973 to 1988, and at different points in time toured as the opening act for Jay Black and the Americans, the Four Tops, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Billy and the Showmen have played all of the big venues on the East Coast including Madison Square Garden, the Omni in Atlanta, Rhode Island Civic Center, Long Island Coliseum and the Boston Garden - and tonight they’ll be here on stage at Louis Engel Park!

It takes a very talented and dedicated team to make events like this happen. A big round of applause for our Ossining RiverJam partners – Mike & Miriam Risko, Eric Gearity of Sing Sing Kill Brewery, Gayle Marchica and Johnny G of the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce, Jermain Smith of ENU Builds, Brian Sheridan of Hothouse Design, Recreation Superintendent Bill Garrison, our Town Parks crew, and of course, Keith Heilmann our fantastic soundman. And a huge THANK YOU to our event sponsors: New York Presbyterian, Gracelane Kennels, Bigfoot Creamery, Coral Sea Pools, Seiden Real Estate Team, Matero Fine Jewelry, PKF O’Connor Davies Accounting, who join the Town and Mike Risko Music, Sing Sing Kill Brewery, the Chamber of Commerce, and Ossining Recreation in providing the funds that make this event possible.

Last week, I participated in a meeting with our Planner, Valerie Monastra, and Victoria Cafarelli from my office to learn more about the prospective Clean Path New York project. At this time, Clean Path New York is proposing an approximately 175-mile underground/underwater transmission line that will transport up to 3,800 megawatts of new solar and wind power generated in New York State, increasing the reliability of the state’s transmission system and helping transition New York to a clean energy economy.  They are in the process of developing the siting for the transmission line, which will need to exit and re-enter the Hudson somewhere between Peekskill and Ossining.  We have asked the folks from this project to come speak before the Town Board, but there will also be open houses for the public to attend in Ossining on Tuesday, July 26 from 10:30am-12:30pm and from 4pm-6pm at the Ossining Public Library.  We encourage members of the public to attend to learn more. If you cannot attend in person, you can view the virtual open house here. I attended one of the open houses yesterday in Peekskill and I can see that it is a great opportunity to have one on one time with the project partners to get straight answers to questions you might have and to understand the details, so mark your calendars.  I anticipate they will also be adding more dates in other neighboring municipalities as well and the information they are presenting is also available on their website.  See below for more specifics.

We also have learned of an exciting program called Submerse NY, which is a program funded by FEMA with a focus on flood risk awareness through interpretive programming like art and other public events. We learned of this program via NYS Water Resources Institute, who inquired if the Town may be interested in hosting this free program. It would require participation from the Town and relevant stakeholders to brainstorm programming that would be impactful in terms of education on flood risk to the community. It seems like a very interesting and informative program, so I have let them know we are interested in participating, and will bring back more specific information to the community soon.  On the topic of flood resiliency and sustainable shorelines, we are gearing up for some more public input on our Climate-adaptive Design Studio Phase 2 project underway.  Stay tuned for more information to participate in an upcoming virtual open house! 

In sustainability news, at this week’s Town Board meeting, we held a public hearing on a local law to enable the Town to participate in the Westchester Power Opt-Out Community Solar program. The current version of the legislation came through Sustainable Westchester, and in its initial iteration will allow those who qualify for other assistance programs to participate in Community Solar and enjoy reduced costs for their electricity supply. We believe it will also become open to others as the program and the supply become more robust.  We anticipate adopting this local law at our next legislative session on July 26 and look forward to sharing more information about how Ossining’s residents can participate in the new program when it launches soon. 

In other news, on Monday I had the opportunity to recognize two very special people, Pete Connolly and Robert DiCioccio, who are celebrating (slightly belatedly!) 50 years of volunteerism to the Ossining Fire Department, both as members of Holla Hose.  Congratulations to Pete and Robert on this significant milestone– and for all of you out there, please join us in celebrating Pete Connolly Day on Saturday, July 16 and Robert DiCioccio Day on Sunday, July 17 in the Town and Village of Ossining!  

Pete is a little extra special in the Town as he is our elected Highway Superintendent and Superintendent of Dale Cemetery.   Celebrate Pete Connolly Day in the most fitting way possible - drive around the Unincorporated Town of Ossining and admire all the new street signs, guard rails, and other infrastructure improvements completed during his tenure.  And then make sure to give him a big THANK YOU next time you see him around Town!  

A quick note about an upcoming road closure. The Town of New Castle will be closing Hawkes Avenue from July 27th through August 2nd, excluding Saturday and Sunday, for the hours of 7am to 5pm to complete some repairs necessary for paving. A large excavator and other machinery will be working on the road.  Provisions for emergency vehicles will be made.

That’s all for now! For ideas for what to do this weekend and beyond, keep scrolling! A reminder about summer schedules for the Town. Summer hours started on July 1, with most Town offices (except for the Town Clerk) closing at 3:15pm on Fridays through Friday, September 2.  Please stay safe and healthy and we will see you soon!

--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.