Mayor’s Column - October 1, 2024.
As summer comes to an official end, the Trustees and I would like to thank our
community partners from the Bronxville Beautification Council who made the
Village so beautiful this summer by nurturing flowers in more than a dozen
locations throughout the Village. Their efforts were in coordination with our small
but mighty Public Works Department who are unsung heroes.
The Department of Public Works consists of two divisions - Sanitation and Highway.
The total team has six employees dedicated to sanitation – not an easy task indeed,
leaving the remaining seven gentlemen to maintain all of our streets, parks
and their infrastructure. This includes the grounds at Village Hall, the Library, the
recently restored Maltby Park, Sagamore Park, Dogwood Park at the tennis courts
and almost a dozen islands throughout the Village.
And as I write, the Working Gardeners are making plans to restore Dogwood Park
to fittingly deserve its name by planting six dogwoods along the walkway to the
tennis hut. This is another 50/50 landscape partnership with the Village which is
proving essential to keeping taxes at bay. We have the same incredible relationship
with our two other garden clubs; Boulder Ledge and the Bronxville Beautification
Council who work collaboratively on every beautiful thing you see in the downtown
area.
As icing on the cake, thanks to our enduring partnership with the Bronxville
Historical Conservancy, the three pairs of historic pillars at the entryway to
Lawrence Park received a much needed restoration and just nearby, the Hilltop
Association purchased personalized and lighted trash receptacles at heavily
traveled locations throughout the Hilltop that are now maintained by our DPW
team.
Again, in another enduring partnership, the Village and the Junior League are
collecting “Thanksgiving Sides” from November 6 th to November 13 th at Village Hall.
The items will be delivered to Beulah Church in Mount Vernon for distribution with
the annual turkey distribution in conjunction with Feeding Westchester. Needed
items for donation include instant mashed potatoes, canned sweet potatoes,
stuffing mix and juice in non-glass containers.
In other more routine initiatives throughout the Village, the DPW has been
working on paving/curbing modifications throughout the Village to keep water
along the edge of roadways and redirected to storm drains.
In addition to these modifications, the Village began a project in late summer
that continues into the fall of lining our sanitary sewers and rehabilitating old
manholes to reduce the likelihood of stormwater entering the sanitary sewer
systems, thus eliminating sewage backups.
Over the summer months, our outdoor municipal lights have been converted to
LEDs and additional lighting conversions are currently happening at the Library
and Village Hall. Not only does this save us thousands of dollars, but it helps the
Village to continue in a state program which will qualify us for reimbursement
for many of our Eco goals, which result in savings to our taxpayers.
The Hudson Valley Regional Council of the Department of Environmental
Conservation awarded Bronxville a Momentum Award for achieving notable
milestones in a remarkably brief timeframe. Specifically, Bronxville was
recognized for passing a Climate Action Plan for Municipal Operations and an
Energy Audit of our municipal buildings. Thanks goes to our hardworking Climate
Smart Communities Task Force: Assistant Village Administrator Stephen Shallo,
Trustee Helen Knapp, Ellen Edwards, Chair of the Green Committee and Carole
Upshur who wrote the Climate Action Plan for Municipal Operations and has
made invaluable contributions in all areas of our green work.
The Village is launching a new website and switching to a new vendor for more
efficient mass email notification in January as well as a complimentary outlay for
the upgrade of our existing cable system.
Our leaf collecting begins mid-month continuing until early December. Almost
incredulous, our annual leaf removal costs regularly top $100k per season and
this does not include the additional cost of repairing clogged drains as
rainstorms routinely send the leaves directly into our storm sewer system.
Drains clogged with leaves also vastly increase the risk of localized flooding. To
help the Village, both on the financial and ecological fronts, we ask that you
either bag your leaves or if not possible, keep them on your property and off the
Village streets and right of way. Based on our extensive drain-cleaning program
undertaken over the summer, it was quite clear that drain capacity was inhibited
by a proliferation of leaves that went directly into our system. Not only do the
leaves affect our water conveyance but as they begin to decay on the streets,
harmful phosphates and nitrates are released eventually ending up in the Bronx
River, further polluting those waters. The same leaf piles are also a significant
traffic hazard as they are often placed on narrow roadways creating slippery
road surfaces.
The fall also signals the return of all the children to our Village for school and
play. In order to increase the safety of all those now walking about the Village,
our Village-wide speed limit is 25 mph, the lowest allowed by New York State.
The only exemption is the 20 mph permitted in marked school zones. Any
further speed reduction requires New York State legislation which must be
predicated on documented evidence of accident rates, speeding data and traffic
volume, something the Village cannot demonstrate. Despite repeated requests
from residents, the Village cannot install “Children at Play” or “Slow Children”
signs because State and Federal standards reject their use as they openly
suggest that playing in the street is acceptable and give children a false sense of
security.
Finally, our Eastchester Fire District Budget Hearing is scheduled for 6pm on
October 16th at Fire Headquarters at 255 Main Street, Eastchester. The proposed
2025 budget of $23,872,423 is a 14.41% raise over the 2024 budget of
$20,866,263.
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