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
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