Message from the Mayor: Waterfront news, James Street, Concert, CV update, CCA
Posted on: July 13, 2018 - 6:10pm
Fellow residents;
More news on the waterfront, James Street traffic issues, and other updates and a reminder about the upcoming concert in our Summer Concert Series. Glorious summer days.
Waterfront Developer, Part Two
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A few weeks ago, we announced that BP Arco was in contractual discussions with SunCal, a major developer, for the remediation and ultimate development of their 28-acre portion of the 42-acre waterfront. The remaining 14 acres, located at the southern end of the waterfront parcel, are split between Exxon, which owns 7 acres and Uhlich, which owned the other 7 acres. Uhlich has sold their parcel to Argent Ventures, a real estate and development firm best known for their signature investment, Grand Central Station. Argent Ventures has submitted a vision for the entire waterfront that is conceptual in nature (see here). The Uhlich property is largely remediated: it was not the site of the industrial uses that left the PCBs and heavy metals found under BP Arco’s soil and so the effort there is complete (largely driven by blooms of fertilizer-fed bacteria that munched through the volatile organic chemicals that were the residue of paint and fuel storage once there). Not much can happen however on this property, for a lack of access (the bridge is bust), no right-of-way access through BP’s property, and, most importantly, no suitable zoning to permit the sort of .
The Village has appointed a Waterfront Rezoning Committee six months ago, and they have been ramping up their efforts as they orient themselves to the history and task ahead of them. One of their tasks is working with Professor Nolon of Pace University Land Use Center to determine the interaction protocols for involving developers in the rezoning process, without coopting or diminishing community input or interests. This is private property, currently zoned in a way that effectively leaves the land fallow (it is zoned for a variety of industrial uses, which are unlikely in the most expensive labor and power market in the country). The process of rezoning that land (also known as “entitling”, and will take a couple of years) determines the value, use, and restrictions on those 42 acres of property. Too-restrictive zoning will render the waterfront unbuildable; too lax and it becomes an overbuilt mess that fails to serve the community. Involving the developers in some fashion during this entitlement process provides the community a chance to come to reasonable compromises that can benefit both parties. But the trick is how to navigate that so the Village interests and community voices are preserved and valued. We’re no experts on that, but Professor Nolon is – and with his and, eventually, a planning consultant’s guidance, we believe the Village will navigate this rezoning successfully.
James Street
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James Street is one of several thoroughfares cursed with traffic issues that render it unpleasant and not ideal for pedestrians. We have circled the problems there for a very long time: many solutions have been proffered over the years, but many had lingering issues that delayed or forestalled implementation. In an organized assault on this problem, which has only worsened with time, the Transportation Working Committee tackled the options with a traffic consultant to evaluate various alternative approaches to calm the traffic there. The results were reviewed on Wednesday night and it was decided to pursue the option of prohibiting left turns onto James, Hudson and Warren Streets during rush hour in the morning, and prohibiting left turn from Tompkins onto Jordan or James in the evening rush hour. We are working out the details on how this will work and will reach out to the community in the next few weeks as this is finalized. Kudos to Trustee Georgia Lopez and the Transportation Working Group for slogging away at this issue to a tangible (and hopefully successful) recommendation.
Summer Concert Series
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The new Summer Concert Series, which has already kicked off with 2 concerts, has another one coming up this next Tuesday, June 17th at 7PM at MacEachron Park on our waterfront with “Wess meets West”. Three more concerts are now scheduled beyond that. Park your car in the commuter parking lot and either walk on over or catch the shuttle bus. More information here. People are really enjoying this series (and thanks to Peter Shafran for that), so come on down. The price (free) is right, the vibe great.
Children’s Village Support
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As reported before, Children’s Village operates a program that has sheltered and reunited unaccompanied children with family members now for 14 years, including some that were forcibly separated from their families more recently at the border. Federal monies support this program, but are contractually limited on what they can be spent. Family-to-Family (a Hastings-based charity) has stepped in and collected the sort of items that these monies cannot pay for, but that provide the children with tangible items that make their lives better as they wait. As a result of our appeal, Family-to-Family was deluged with donations for these unaccompanied children housed at Children’s Village (no more, thanks!). We also successfully collected more than $10,000 in direct donations: Family-to-Family is working closely with the librarian at Children’s Village to build out a decent Spanish-language library (something that was missing) so that these children have something to read while they wait for hopefully quick reunification. Family-to-family is also working with CV to get “exit kits” for these children, packed with the sort of useful items that will ease their travels once they have been re-unified with family. Thank you, thank you to the many generous people who stepped up to donate goods or money, and helped to sort and deliver the donations to CV. In an era where our collective attention spans are short, it is worth remembering that this dark moment is still with us – while some of the forcibly separated children have been reunited, most remain in terrible limbo awaiting reunification. We will provide updates as we have them. Thank you, Pam Koner, for your deep humanity and ability to organize help.
Community Choice Aggregation (“CCA”) results
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Two years ago, we banded together with a number of other communities in Westchester and contracted to supply the Village with green energy as the default choice for electric power (unless you consciously chose another electricity provider) instead of the more traditional “brown” Con Ed standard energy. This was the result of a bid process where providers competed to win our collective business. We got a fixed rate that was lower than the historic average “brown” rate: we believed and hoped that this would prove true moving forward. After two years, we are pleased to report that, indeed, the green fixed rate you are likely paying has proven cheaper that standard “brown” energy, saving us collectively $276,800. (This translates to a per-home saving of $128.) Not incidentally, this deferred the release of 9,236 mean tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (!) and providing a steady demand for renewables that can spur further investment. It is hard to overstate the importance of these sorts of efforts. As the market and demand for renewables grows, their cost drops and becomes competitive with fossil fuel sources and hastens the necessary transition away from fossil fuels if we are to forestall the worst of potential climate change impacts. We participate directly in this transition through the CCA program. Kudos to Trustee Armacost for initiating our participation in this effort and for Trustee Lemon’s support.
Street Sweeping
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In earlier years, during the Great Recession, the Board sought ways to cut expenses without having to cut positions. One of the actions we took was not replacing the street sweeper when it expired from fatigue, and instead subcontracting the street sweeping services out to a private firm. It was not one of our more successful experiments, and after several years of episodic and inadequate subcontracted sweeping, we applied for some state monies through Assemblyman Abinanti (who was successful in helping us win those monies), and last year we purchased and rolled out a new sweeper. To no one’s surprise, the downtown streets (and elsewhere throughout the Village) are much cleaner and lesson learned.
Enjoy the summer, soak up the outdoors, and see you around.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski