Letter to the Editor: Ossining Mayoral Election

To the Editor:

For the past two election cycles I have voted for Mayor Bill Hanauer but this year I am throwing my support behind his challenger Victoria Gearity.

I have lived in Ossining for going on 9 years and in that time there has been moderate positive change. But I can’t help but sometimes feel that there is often a half-baked approach to the Mayor’s initiatives.

Yes, Mayor Hanauer has had some accomplishments. No one will deny him that. But his policy towards invigorating our downtown seems along the lines of “If you build it, they will come.” Yes, the buildings have been going up at a swift clip. But many have been sitting vacant for quite some time - for example the beautiful new retail space on State Street, not to mention the several vacant storefronts on Main Street and Croton Avenue.

The mayor has stated that he believes that adding more residential buildings to Ossining will bring more people and create a “critical mass” that will eventually entice commercial businesses in our downtown.

That’s all well and good, but what about the effects of that “critical mass” on our ballooning student population? It’s inexplicable to me that there has been no accounting for the effects on our schools vis a vis the Mayor’s residential expansion plan. If you will allow me I will share my firsthand experience:

Last year for the first six months of school, my son would come home with his lunch hardly touched. “I had no time to eat,” he would tell me. “Why”, I asked his teacher? Because there were *so many* kids squeezed into the school that they were forced to limit lunch periods to 20 minutes. 20 minutes. For five year olds. Who chat and horse around. I encourage all you adults out there to try and eat your lunch in 20 minutes. I know I can’t. And lots of kids can’t either. So what will happen when more residents move in? 10 minute lunches?

And what about paying for school staff? Or renovations and expansions to accommodate the growing population of our youngest citizens in their learning environments? How will this push for residential “critical mass” affect our school taxes until the commercial heroes swoop in to reduce the residential tax burden? The current mayor has insufficiently considered and addressed how a residential boom will affect our schools and in turn our property values and taxes.

In fact, instead of looking for more ways to save money and work within the tax cap instituted by Gov. Cuomo, Mayor Hanauer has several times tried to lift the tax cap to increase our already burdensome taxes.

It is for these reasons (and quite a few others, I might add), that I believe Ossining needs better management. We live in a wonderfully diverse community. We are a slice of American pie. And if I were to use one word to describe all the various peoples in our town I would say that the Citizens of Ossining are a Practical People. We may not have as many diamond rings and Maserati’s as some other towns in Westchester, but we’re (generally speaking) OK with that. As a citizen and mother in Ossining, with experience as a Village Trustee, Victoria Gearity has the firsthand, practical experience and motivation to improve our local government so that it better serves the people of Ossining. Victoria has shown herself to be open, engaging and dynamic - qualities we need in a mayor to move our Village ahead.

Ossining is at a kind of a crossroads. We should expect more than half-baked policies if we want to see our Village at its best. I think we can do a lot better with an open, engaging and direct communicator at the helm. I encourage other Ossining residents to consider voting for Democrat Victoria Gearity this November 4.

Your neighbor,

Erika Boetsch-d’Arlhac