Happy Valentine’s Day! Even for those who may not be celebrating, today is a great reminder to show everyone in your life a little extra love, patience and understanding. It’s also a wonderful excuse to visit our local merchants for meals, flowers, baked goods, and a night out on the town just for the fun of it!

This past weekend, I was joined by Village Trustee Dana White and Town Supervisor Liz Feldman for the first installment of the “Village Retrospective”, where third generation Ossining resident Kendall Buchanan interviewed our Village Historian Joyce Sharrock Cole (herself a multi-generational Ossining resident.)  

We sometimes take for granted the vast and deep history of the neighborhoods in our village, and this conversation was an excellent reminder of where we have been, informing where we still need to go. Special thanks to Hudson Valley Books for Humanity for hosting the first of many installments in this unique and thoughtful series. 

During my trip last week to the Winter Legislative Session for NYCOM (the New York Conference of Mayors), one topic that was broadly discussed was Governor Hochul's "New York Housing Compact" proposal, which is part of the 2023-2024 executive Budget. This proposal, in summary, would amend the General Municipal Law to foster the development of residential housing throughout the state; based on the current calculations, the Village of Ossining could be asked to add 300 housing units over a three-year period. It is not yet clear whether units we already have in the pipeline (specifically, the 109 all-affordable units at 30 Water Street) would be counted towards this total.

While most reasonable people can agree that there is a housing shortage in New York (and in Westchester County specifically), NYCOM as an organization (as well as elected officials from many local governments state-wide) have expressed concerns about the Governor's proposal on a variety of fronts, most notably the fact that New York is too big and diverse a state for a "one size fits all" approach to anything, let alone the delicate and nuanced fields of land use and housing, in particular. We will continue to do our homework on the trajectory of this legislation and will keep you posted as we learn more about the 2023-2024 State Budget as a whole.

We were notified late last week that, for the third year running, the Village has been named a “Tree City” by the Arbor Day Foundation. Congratulations to all! As we continue our quest to become the Greenest Village in the Country, our Board will continue to prioritize work with the Environmental Advisory Council to update our tree laws, while also pursuing grant funding to preserve, expand, and protect our tree canopy.

We still have some work to do—the Village’s Tree Equity score, though rising, still has room for improvement, but we are moving the needle and this honor from the Arbor Day Foundation is an acknowledgement of the hard work, both in policy and in practice, from the Village. We have to remember that trees are our natural air filters and that the more trees we have, the better the air quality for all.  

The Village Board has a packed agenda for this week’s Legislative Meeting—I invite you to join us, either in person at 16 Croton Avenue or virtually over Zoom. Please review the full agenda for specific items of interest (there are many)—but one of the most exciting and informative items will be a short presentation from our Youth Services Director Chima Monday on the recently-completed Needs Assessment performed for the Ossining Youth Bureau.

After releasing a Request for Proposal for this work, funded by a grant from Westchester County, the Village contracted with Aperio NY to conduct this mission-critical study, and the firm’s founder Otoniel Lopez will be with us on Wednesday night to review his work and discuss with the Board where he recommends that Chima and his team focus efforts going forward. A copy of the Needs Assessment can be found linked in the agenda.

As a reminder, Village and Town offices will be closed on Monday, February 20^th in honor of President’s Day, but will be open bright and early to assist you first thing on Tuesday, February 21^st.

The news following the last week's earthquake in Turkey has gone from bad to worse as the recorded death toll has surpassed 40,000. My heart is with the families in Turkey, in Syria, and in our very midst whose loved ones are among the missing. Please continue to send love, prayers and hope to those whose lives have been forever changed by this disaster and take heart in the news that survivors continue to be found.