Message from the Mayor: Waterfront Shoreline, CCA, Casino, Vets, Caucus, Vines

Fellow residents,
 
A range of topics to cover. There is no quiet time.
 
Waterfront Shoreline effort
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Last week, some sixty residents gathered for a community design effort to help determine what should be located on the shoreline edge of the future waterfront, the 42 acres owned by BP Arco,  Exxon and Uhlich in various stages of remediation from pollution damages of a 100 years of industrial use. Far from a theoretical exercise, this design effort is the second of a series of projects that will inform what we want to see on the waterfront when the remediation is done.  (The first, an infrastructure planning project, determined the outlines of where roads and development would go and to plan for where infrastructure should be laid to support it. This was completed a year ago. That effort already has had an impact on BP's planning.)  This latest community-led visioning of what will one day be our waterfront parks will inform BP's engineering design of the clean-up that they are now engaged in. Where a fishing pier, kayak/canoe ramps, a ferry docks and other waterfront features should go will determine some components of BP's design so they harden the appropriate areas, preparing ramps or paths or other features as part of the clean-up. (It is much less expensive to do that when the ground is open during remediation and it will leave the waterfront more valuable and a more quickly usable area.)  This process is far from done – the consultants will take the input and turn it into a series of possible designs that will then be brought to the public for thumbs up or down. Stay tuned.
 
CCA Results
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Earlier in 2016, the Village moved to a new default community electricity provider. Prior to that moment, Con Edison provided the default traditional "brown" (primarily drawn from natural gas and coal plants) electricity to the village if you didn't sign up with an independent electricity service company ("ESCO"). A new law enabled us to join with other Westchester communities and hold an auction process where ESCOs bid for the opportunity to become the new default supplier.  We asked for two bids - a brown energy and a green energy bid.  The winner (originally a Con Edison subsidiary now sold off to another provider) offered a green energy bid that set a fixed price which appeared lower than the average default monthly prices out of “brown” Con Edison, though no promises were made.  We've had eight months of experience now and the graph found (here) compares how we are doing to if we had stayed with Con Edison “brown”.  In one or two months, Con Edison “brown” did a fraction of a cent better than our new fixed price, but most months we did better, and in some cases a *lot* better.  Hard to say definitively how much you're saving monthly on account of this, but it's likely somewhere between $60 and a $100 a year.  That adds up to between $120,000 and $225,000 a year for the community, which is money that can be spent elsewhere (or saved) which is nice.
 
Casino Night
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The Hastings Booster Club, which promotes activities to support our school's sports teams, holds its biggest annual fundraiser this coming Saturday night, January 28, 7PM to 11PM at Tarricone's Equalize Fitness Club (1 Odell Plaza).  It's a casino-themed night where the coupons you win at the classic casino games then allow you to bid for the many great prizes they offer. Tickets are $60 at the door and the whole night is a hoot. An open bar, food, and (of course) card, dice and roulette games.
 
Vets Exemption
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We passed a tax exemption for veterans earlier in January that will provide those vets who choose to claim it a discount off their Village taxes.  The Village had discontinued such an exemption back in the mid-1980s and with the new tax assessment and clean-up of our tax rolls, it seemed a good moment to revisit this topic.  It doesn't kick in until 2017, and we will put out a notice on how and when to apply for it.
 
Village Caucuses
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The Hastings Republican and Hastings Democratic Committees held their annual Caucuses last Tuesday to choose candidates that will run on the respective party tickets in this March election for mayor and two trustee positions.  The Republicans decided not to field a slate and the Democrats have selected me for the Democratic line for mayor, Marc Leaf, who is running for Trustee Walker's open seat, and Trustee Dan Lemons who is running again.  New York State election laws allows for March elections for local offices.  Villages often choose to hold elections at the off-season so that the local candidates and issues aren't lost in the noise of the general elections held in November.  The Village has resisted the temptation to save some money and fold the election into the bigger November elections cycle to maintain this traditional focus on local issues.
 
Vine Lop
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What a mild winter we're having—perfect for getting out and taking care of our trees! Help us tame the wild tangle on the west side of Farragut Parkway between High Street and the Saw Mill Parkway tomorrow, Saturday, from 10am to noon by participating in the entirely volunteer-driven “vine lop” effort to beat back the invasive vines that threaten to swamp Westchester.  The group provides equipment, and asks that you were rugged shoes and clothing. vinesquad@hastingsgov.org gets you the inside scoop.
 
As always, questions or issues, please feel free to reach out.
 
Peter Swiderski
Mayor