Message from the Mayor: James Street, Quarry Park RFP, Downtown upgrade, Village Crawl and more…
Posted on: November 18, 2018 - 10:35pm
Fellow Residents,
Some updates, and community news items of broad interest. As we head into the lovely holiday of Thanksgiving, we can take a moment to appreciate our good fortune.
Update on James Street
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Trustee Lopez, who continues to forge ahead on the James Street effort, reports: We ran a test of no left turns from High street onto James, Hudson and Warren Streets during the morning hours of 7am to 9am to gather information for an analysis by the traffic engineer retained by the village.
As of November 13 we have been gathering baseline data in preparation of testing prohibiting left turns from Tompkins onto Jordan and James in the afternoons between 4 and 6pm beginning November 26th. Once all of this data is gathered, we will convene a public meeting with the traffic engineer to review the results and help us make an informed decision on next steps.
Quarry Park RFP has been issued
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The last remaining open parcel to the east of the train tracks, off Aqueduct Lane, is more than 5 acres that was once a quarry (one of the first non-farming businesses in Hastings) and then a beautiful park, and then turned into a dumping ground and eventually closed behind chain-link fencing. A volunteer resident committee and the Village Manager and Board have spent ten years working through a remediation plan, landscape design and are now in the implementation phase. The Village has issued out a Request for Proposals for contractors to carry out the remediation of this parcel and restoring it to its ultimate final use as a park – the last addition of significant parkland to a garland of parks throughout the Village. We hope to select a contractor before the end of December and to see this work begin hopefully early next year. When this work is done, it will be a remarkable addition to our park system.
Downtown Upgrade effort
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Other priorities have delayed the process of issuing a request for Landscape Architecture firms to help us determine how to most effectively use the monies that have accumulated from the movie and TV shoots that we have designated to improve the downtown. To move this effort forward more quickly, we will be pulling in some residents to give us a hand and we hope that with their support we can make more rapid progress. We would very much like to see a plan completed by Spring of next year so the work can begin by the summer.
This Year’s Village Crawl
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Village Crawl tickets are on sale now at a range of stores and restaurants downtown. Please join us on December 7th for the kick-off to Hasting's annual Holiday Festivities, including our Tree Lighting, and the Village Crawl. For those of you unacquainted with this great tradition, you buy a booklet for $20 that gets you five coupons, each redeemable for something at the fifteen restaurants that are participating this year - including two new restaurants: Divino Cucina Italiana (the former Tony's Steak & Seafood) which hopes to be open in time for this event(!) and Palo Vivo (formerly Hastings House) which will open this Spring. Meet the owners who will be in front of their building at 555 Warburton to greet us and offer us a taste of things to come. Full list of offerings for what the coupons buy as well as other information (HERE). Shops and the Upstream Gallery will be open late and the first 25 people to visit the Upstream Art Gallery that evening receive one complimentary Crawl pass. Hope to see you on the 7th!
Shop Hastings First
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As you plan your holiday shopping, please "Shop Hastings First" whenever you can and support the businesses that are here for us year-round. We used to live local-centric lives before the Big Box stores and the Internet threatened to rob us of that – and we’ll miss it if it goes. This is your chance to set aside some portion of your holiday spending to ensure we hold onto it longer. It’s the only way it will happen. Please check out the plethora of options (HERE) 2018 Hastings Shop Local Guide and join our Shop Local social media contest by posting a photograph of you and/or your friends and family enjoying shopping, dining or attending any of our holiday events with #DestinationHastings and you'll be automatically entered to win a $20 gift certificate to a local business.
Post-Thanksgiving Blood Drive
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Every year, there is a blood donation drive at the Library. It will run from 11AM - 3:30PM and is a great way to give thanks in another way. To schedule an appointment click HERE
Energy Notification Letters
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As mentioned previously, we have renewed the contract to offer default green energy to all Village residents at a rate the same as last contract. The notification letters for this new contract went out last week on Wednesday and should be in your mailboxes by now. They are NOT junk mail but rather notification of good news and should cause no alarm. To help you recognize these, samples of the letters as well as the envelope are HERE.
Project Share Thanksgiving Dinner
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This annual event is now only two days away. This tradition offers a full Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings, served by student and local resident volunteers, to over 700 people who are brought to the festively decorated High School gym. It is entirely paid for by donations, and they are still a little short of where they want to be to make this happen for as many needy people as they can manage. Please, help by clicking HERE and give generously.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski