Letter to the Editor: We're Voting for Hanauer

To the Editor:

My wife and I have lived in the Village of Ossining for about six years, and we love it here. Ossining is a diverse, interesting community with enormous potential. Not everything is perfect, of course – but we’ve seen great improvements and strong momentum since we’ve lived here. And that’s why on Tuesday, November 4, I’m voting for Mayor Bill Hanauer – his record so far has been impressive and he’s really moved Ossining forward in many areas. To disrupt that growth and improvement now could set Ossining back at a critical point, when it’s finally turning a corner.
Having lived in another up-and-coming community before moving to Ossining – Jersey City – I’ve seen that it takes patience and commitment to revitalize a downtown. There is only one way we can both keep taxes down and revitalize our downtown: we need to bring in new residents through sensible residential development in Ossining. When we get new residents, we expand the tax base, and also make Ossining more attractive to retail and restaurants. When we have more foot traffic in the heart of the village, the businesses will come.
What troubles me most about Mayor Hanauer’s opponent, Victoria Gearity, other than her lack of executive and administrative experience, is the fact that she seems to believe that Ossining’s retail and restaurants will increase without residential development. While I understand that “development” is a concern for many, the bottom line is that the smart growth Mayor Hanauer has moved forward in his time as mayor is exactly what will bring commercial development to Ossining. In downtown Jersey City, new businesses would occasionally start – only to falter because the residential base couldn’t support them. It was only once there was a critical mass of residents close to downtown businesses that they really took hold and flourished.
This is one of the often challenging realities of trying to move a community like Ossining forward – it requires someone with experience, knowledge, and the conviction it requires to occasionally make tough decisions.
I’m voting for Mayor Hanauer not only because I’ve gotten to know him -- as friendly, honest and accessible as anyone could hope for in their elected official – but also because in the midst of the longest economic recession in recent memory, he’s been bringing new development into Ossining. This will keep our tax burden under control as these projects come to fruition. The biggest of these is Harbor Square, 350 units of market-rate condos near the train station. On waterfront property that has been inaccessible to the public for over a decade, and was stalled during the recession, it’s finally being built. Under Mayor Hanuaer’s leadership, the Village negotiated to ensure that the developer include a public park on the water and a restaurant.
Ossining still faces many challenges, and is recovering from decades of poor development choices, fires and neglect. We can all dream of the change that we would most like to see — more parks, cute shops, restaurants and the like — but the reality is that the village doesn’t have money to make this happen on its own. We need developers and businesses to believe in the Village before they will invest. It takes someone with serious leadership and negotiation skills to make that happen. His challenger has yet to prove herself in this regard, whereas Mayor Hanauer has the experience and is getting the job done.
Please take all of this into consideration on November 4th — and vote for Bill Hanauer on the Working Families line.

Ted Weinbaum