Message from the Mayor: More concerts, CV, Electric Charging, Uniontown Park, and store closings
Posted on: June 29, 2018 - 12:55am
Fellow residents,
Nothing terribly earth-shattering, but an accumulation of news items requires a communication to keep you abreast of things underway.
Waterfront Concerts underway
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The new Summer Concert Series is off to a fine start, with the next show this coming Tuesday on July 3rd with “Mark Morganelli & the Jazz Forum” and the “Brazil Project” with Eleanor Dubinsky and Wesley Amorim. (You park in the commuter lot and make your way to MacEachron Park.) These concerts are managed by River Spirit Music, run by resident Peter Shafran with Village sponsorship and support from a number of local and other firms.
Subsequent concerts are on July 17th with “Wess meets West”, on August 7th with “Dead Sage” (a Grateful Dead tribute band) and “The Black Capsule”, and on August 21st with “Jim Gaudet & The Railroad Boys” and the “Bruce T. Carroll Band”. All concerts are from 7PM to 9PM and are free. They are introducing food and vendors, so stay tuned. Mark your calendar. Hard to beat this on a summer evening. Click here for more information
Update on Children’s Village
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Following our appeal last week for assistance to the unaccompanied children housed at Children’s Village, residents quickly rallied to donate a tremendous amount of material that is pouring in to local charity Family-to-Family. Volunteers are sorting it and have begun already bringing it to CV in carload after carload of deliveries. The community’s generosity, in terms of both goods and financial donations, has been so tremendous that Children’s Village has indicated they are not accepting more than has already been promised. Community response was the fastest and most generous I have ever seen: over $10,000 in donations were received within 48 hours, and the targets for donations of clothing, games and other goods was met within the same time period as well. I am not surprised, and everyone should be heartened by the clearly manifested desire to help those in sad circumstances. I am sure these children are reassured by the generosity and desire to make them feel welcome here as they await reunification with their families.
Electric Charging Stations
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The Village secured a grant to cover the installation of a couple of electric vehicle charging stations. These will be installed in Steinschneider Parking Lot before the end of the summer. Thank you to our Energy Working Group, supporte by Trustee Lemons, for their focus on securing these monies. Another piece is laid for a more sustainable future. Thank you.
Uniontown Park
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A big upgrade to the Uniontown baseball field is coming to an end: the field has been expanded to regulation size and over thirty parking spots have been added. The grass is taking root, a final layer of paving is due, and by September, the field should be ready for play. The parking should go a long way to addressing a long-standing complaint in the neighborhood and the regulation field will allow the Little League to host regulation-scale games. Planning continues on the playground (which shrunk to accommodate the other changes): it will be getting overhauled as well. Thanks to the Village Manager and his team for shepherding this project along to its conclusion.
Paving Underway
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Curbs are being installed (HERE) and a fairly serous spate of road paving (HERE) will follow as we carry out the second year of our effort to catch up on road repairs. The repaving will come and go within a few weeks. Patience, please.
Downtown Renovation
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We now turn to initiating the work on how to best spend the monies accumulated from the movie and series shoots in Hastings. We have over $220,000 in the till – enough money to move the needle, so to speak, on downtown appeal. We are putting out a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) to hire a design firm to help us plan and manage this effort. I am working with Trustee Lopez and the Village Manager to issue the RFP and get a firm hired, and then we can see where this goes. We are shooting for design work to commence this fall, and implementation early next year.
Stores closing
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We have three Hastings institutions closing as owners retire. Panvell Jewelers has been with us for close to 40 years. Daraius and Freny Panveliwalla have run the most reasonable watch and jewelry repair in Westchester and people recount in awe the stories Daraius told of raising tigers and meeting remarkable people like the Duke of Edinburgh. At 92, Daraius is entitled to finally retire. Indigo, as well, has been with us since 1979 and Carol and Ruth also will be missed as they take their accessible and graceful taste in clothing and jewelry with them (my go-to holiday gift! Oh no!). Finally, Avi, who has turned the Station Café into a community institution is also heading off into the sunset. His avuncular and easy presence (and delicious coffee and food) made the morning commute more bearable and his charm and smile will also be sorely missed. Local stores are more than just places that sell things – they are part of the village fabric, and the proprietors become a part of our community family. We are blessed by their steady, friendly presence over the years – something that can never be matched by Amazon or the big box stores. And when they finally leave us, they have earned our gratitude and hearty best wishes. We wish them the best in their next journey.
Stay cool.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski