Message from the Mayor: Annual Plan, Deer Project, Hillside Woods, Garbage trends, new venues, election results

Fellow residents,
 
A fair amount to report: an annual plan is rolled out, the deer project concludes for the season, the hillside woods project kicks off, some new venues in town, social indicators that fall out of garbage statistics, and finally, election results.
 
Annual Plan
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The Board divides work in a way that is unusual for most communities – each Trustee owns an interest area where they push initiatives and are responsible for the work in that area. Annually, we set out what we intend to do, broadly speaking, in terms of new initiatives for the year, and then I organize when they will roughly occur, and major milestones, so we have a hope of getting through the agenda. This year, we have much on our plate including a range of sustainability efforts, two rezoning efforts, determining the disposition of the Water Tower, the renovation of Uniontown Park and the start of the Quarry Park renovation, transportation projects, Comprehensive Plan updates, institutionalization of the deer project, and, of course, the ongoing business of the village such as budgets, new personnel, policies, and new initiatives that arise during the course of the year. (here to view 2017 plan
 
Deer Project
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The Humane Society team ended their fourth darting season with 23 new female deer inoculated – a record, in record time. Each inoculated deer is tagged, and this latest (and final) batch has tag numbers that read 51-76. This puts our total count at 71 does – several have died in the last couple of years, leaving 68, which represents at least 80% of the female deer population in Hastings. (For the eagle-eyed accountants out there, while the tags numbers range up to 76, 3 are on bucks, 1 was on a deer that was retagged because previous tags had ripped off, and one tag was skipped.) Based on previous years, almost all the deer inoculated this year were already pregnant, as is typical in March, but the 45 previously inoculated (and still living) deer should not bear fawns this spring. As a result, this is the first year that we should see a substantial drop-off in fawns. The Deer Team will be returning in late summer,and for several more years to re-innoculate this population and monitor the impact of the program on the population size. Meanwhile, we will begin discussing how to begin to shift this project to an ongoing, locally-driven effort so that when the Humane Society is finished, this continues on a sustained basis if we are seeing the results to merit that decision. Thanks to Trustee Dan Lemons, who husbanded this effort through this darting season.
 
Hillside Woods Project
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Our Hillside Woods are stressed by a number of factors that have impacted its long-term health and even viability. Deer consume the understory, invasive vines envelope trees, dogs run free, fertilizers wash into the streams and result in algae blooms, erosion damages pathways, and other factors impact the ability of the woods to regenerate, thrive, be an environment with a diverse ecology. We kick off an effort to understand the issue and the possible solutions with a forum next Sunday, April 2, at 3-5pm, in the Community Center (here), preceded by guided wood walks for anyone wishing to participate. If you are interested in the health of one of Hastings’ greatest natural resources, please attend.
 
Social Trends in Garbage Statistics
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An interesting side note – we monitor waste flows over the years to understand and react to trends. Municipal solid waste is composed of regular “trash”, paper recycling, and comingled (plastic, glass, aluminium) recycling. Trash waste has declined 17% over the last 8 years, comingling has climbed 11% as people recycle more, but the really striking number is the drop-off in paper recycling – almost 30% over the last ten years. Clearly, people are not recycling *less* since the comingling has gone up, so the likely alternative explanation is that people are subscribing to fewer physical newspapers. An interesting manifestation of a national trend in an otherwise local and seemingly unrelated statistic (available here).
 
Three new venues
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Sakura has added a new space to its restaurant, more than doubling is size, in what used to be the Roadhouse – and it’s a beautifully renovated space worth seeing. Its designed to be able to host parties or events, should you be in search of a space, and will offer a range (at least 40!) of sakes (Japanese rice wine) for those who want to sample the variety. Forty North, meanwhile, is under new management. This restaurant, often overlooked because of its location over the tennis club on the other side of the tracks, has new management and a new chef. They’re featuring a Caribbean menu and drinks that I can vouch personally are delicious. Reservations can be made at 212-274-8655 and they’re open Tuesday thru Sunday for dinner from 5PM to 10PM, with catering available. This represents a new cuisine to the burgeoning and - very high quality – restaurant scene that now calls Hastings home: we’re punching way above our weight class. Finally, we have the new NLighten Sauna open, located at 157 Southside, adjacent to Saint George Bistro. The owner of this serene infrared-based sauna is local resident Naomi Ortiz-Honor, who invites you to learn more and set an appointment here: http://nlighteninfraredsauna.com   
 
Election results
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Finally, last week had 710 people showing up to vote in an uncontested election for the Board of Trustees – a remarkable showing given that uncontested votes more typically draw 150-250 votes. Marc Leaf joins the Board of Trustees, bringing his deep family history in Hastings, long civic participation, and sharp analytical mind. He will be replacing Trustee Meg Walker who forewent another term, after an eight-year run. We’ll have more to say on Meg’s contribution and departure later. Marc Leaf drew 680 votes, Trustee Lemons drew 661, and I drew 673 - there were 23 write-ins for mayor and 22 write-ins for trustee. (Details here) Uncontested elections may lack the drama posed by a contest, but votes there are still signals of support, and for that, we thank you.
 
As always, any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to one of us.
 
Sincerely,
 
Peter Swiderski
Mayor
mayor@hastingsgov.org