Message from the Mayor: Barges, Cleanup, Lights, Crawl, Fundraisers, Chess
Posted on: December 1, 2016 - 8:11am
Fellow Residents,
I feel like I threaten to overwhelm with too many emails, but: There. Is. Just. Too. Much. Going. On.
Barges in the Hudson
==================
This following Tuesday, December 6th, marks the last moment you can submit a comment regarding your thoughts about the concept that the Coast Guard is considering of parking fuel barges up the Hudson River, including eight right in a neat phalanx right in front of our Village. Not ideal. Please share your thoughts with the Coast Guard here (comment button is upper right) about what you think. Yes, it is a terrible idea. You don't have to leave a tome - but please do leave your thoughts. The more people that do this, the better. (The Village has joined with Yonkers and other affected communities and will be submitting a brief describing our objections. That will be published out in the next day or two.)
Tappan Terminal
===============
Much of our focus on the waterfront has been on the northern two-thirds owned by BP Arco. The southern third is owned by Exxon, Chevron and a bankrupt firm called Uhlich and has been under remediation now for years. The contamination in that part of the waterfront has largely been with what are known as VOC's (Volatile Organic Chemicals, or, to simplify, things like gasoline and paint thinner) that were stored on this site and saturated the soil when they inevitably leaked. The Exxon Mobil portion of this site has been declared remediated and is ready for what is known as "limited residential" development (which means no single family homes, vegetable gardens or active recreation, but condos, parkland, commercial and other uses are fine). You can read about this here Please suppress your high hopes for any productive or recreational use of this property soon: there is no easy access to this 8-acre parcel. The bridge at the southern end of this site is compromised as a result of fire a while back, and there is no easy access currently through the BP site. And then there is the small issue that the site is owned by Exxon. So, unless a developer is willing to purchase the site, replace the bridge and wait for the property to be rezoned by us (a process that gets underway next year) so it can be used for something other than "marine industrial", nothing is happening soon. But still, its clean. That's 8 acres down with 34 to go.
Holiday Lights
============
The Holiday Tree is lit this Friday at 6PM at the Community Center. Hot chocolate. Cookies. (Thanks VFW!) Tree gets lit. People sing songs. And the big guy in red shows up as a special treat to visit with your children or those with the heart of a child. Pretty much a perfect way to kick off the season. A Village tradition (though now moved indoors, negating weather risk).
Village Crawl
============
Another new Village tradition, this Friday from 6PM to 10PM. You buy an envelope for $20 (at The Mill, Harvest, Maud's, Penny Lick or Suburban Renewal) which contains five coupons. Each coupon gets you a drink or appetizer or small meal at just about every restaurant or food service establishment in town. From 6PM to 10PM, you wander with your friends from place to place, sampling drink and fare at a range of places. The only challenge is coming to agreement with friends on which of the 16 places to go. It's a lot of fun, and our third year running. The new places in town (Boro6, Juniper and Bread & Brine) will all be participating, so here is a chance to sample the new wares. Details here (Art galleries will be open late too...) Twenty-five percent of your $20 goes to the food pantry, by the way.
Family-to-Family Fundraisers
=========================
Local exemplary charity Family-to-Family has two fundraisers this holiday season that raises money for their many efforts to assist less advantaged families.
Closet for Good
---------------------
Closet for Good is a shopping spree-themed fundraiser at 416 Warburton Avenue from 11/29 to 12/9, 10am to 6pm (and on Thursday until 8pm). You get a bag at the door ($35 if you donated clothing, $50 if you did not) and then you get to stuff it full of whatever you find that you like. A bargain.
Family Holiday Party
----------------------------
There's also a holiday party hosted at the American Legion Post on Farragut Avenue from 3:30 to 6PM on Saturday. They're encouraging people to bring a "bath pack" (composed of toiletries, more here ) Cocktails, cookies and the pleasure of each other's company. (If you want to bring food or a drink, please do…)
Chess Club
=========
Unrelated to absolutely anything holiday-oriented, but a great reminder of the diversity of interests here and the people who meet together to enjoy themselves, if you have a hankering for a game of chess, join the other chess lovers who congregate at the Library on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30, players of all skills welcome. A chance to meet new people and fire up some neurons.
The Hastings Historical Society is open on Saturday from 2PM to 4PM with their new exhibit that covers Hastings' history prior to 1899 on display. I can pretty much guarantee you will find it worth your time. Hastings-themed goods are also on sale, and if you can't make it to the Historical Society, a subset of those goods will also be on sale at the Farmer's Market this Saturday.
Parking downtown is free for 2 hours starting Saturday, so shop away in peace knowing it won't cost you.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski
Mayor