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Irvington Mayor Brian Smith has begun writing a weekly email for Irvington residents. Smith has allowed The Daily Tarrytown to reprint his notices for those residents who have not signed up for the village's email notifications.
I am happy to report that all Irvington residents have their power back on. I believe that Con Edison did as well as they could under the circumstances, they kept village management well informed and were accessible throughout the restoration process. While some residents were certainly disappointed with prolonged outages, Irvington was treated fairly considering our low population density. For future outages, please remember that it is very important to call in your outage to Con Edison, even if your neighbors already have informed them. Con Edison uses the total number of outages when they prioritize their resources so every notification is important. I recommend you program in Con Edisons number (1-800-752-6633) into your cell phone now so if you lose power, you can still report it.
As we continue to clean up from the storm, the Department of Public Works has suspended some of the rules for organic debris pick up. There will be an e-mail coming from the Village that will provide the specifics.
Standard Time Returns
At 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, we will be setting our clocks back one hour, ending daylight savings time. This time of the year has become the traditional time to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. While many of you may participate in the fresh battery holiday many more of you may not be aware that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors have expiration dates. So, when you change your battery this weekend, check the dates on the back of the detectors to ensure you are still being fully protected by these potentially lifesaving devices. If you have expired units or want to add additional units, our friends at the Irvington Hardware Store (81 Main Street) have generously offered a 20% discount on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to anyone who mentions this e-mail. If you have general questions about placement of detectors, please e-mail me and I can arrange for someone from the Irvington Volunteer Fire Department to perform a home inspection for you.
Fire Horn
Speaking of the fire department, several residents have asked me if we can discontinue sounding the fire horn when alerting firefighters to alarms, especially at night. The fire horn currently serves as the secondary notification system, backing up the paging system. Unfortunately, the paging system is not 100% reliable; there are many dead zones in the Village, particularly near the DPW garage where a number of volunteers work. So, for the foreseeable future, we will continue to sound the horn during the day. Overnight, on a test basis, we are going to shorten the horn sequence to just a few blasts, rather than the usual pattern that conveys the location of the alarm. We are also going to look at a new backup system that utilizes e-mail and text messages. While I am sensitive to people being awakened or annoyed by the fire horn, the last thing I want to do is to delay the response time to an emergency. That being said, we are looking for a long term alternative to the fire horn and when we have confidence in that system, the horn can become a true fall back, only used if the other systems have failed. So, until that day arrives, the next time you are annoyed by the fire horn, please consider the volunteers who are leaving their families, jobs and free time to respond to the call.
November 8th Elections
When you vote next Tuesday, you will see a local proposition that requires your yes or no vote. If approved by the voters, a local law we passed on September 26th to allow fundraising raffles by authorized organizations would go into effect. The types of organizations that will be allowed by state law include not for profits, church groups, volunteer firefighters and veterans groups. We are one of the few villages or towns in Westchester County that does not have this type of law on the books.
Pasta Lunch Fundraiser
On Sunday from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., there will be a pasta lunch fundraiser at the Senior Center in Scenic Hudson Park (29 Bridge Street). The cost is $10 a person or $25 for a family. The proceeds will be used to restore service cuts to the senior programs. I hope to see a lot of you at the Senior Center for some great food and a chance to have fun with your neighbors.
As always, please contact me with any problems, issues or ideas you may have with the village.
Brian Smith, Mayorbsmith@irvingtonny.gov(646) 265-3950 (Cell)
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