Saturday, February 17, 2007

On Ossining's need for tenant protection

Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out a copy of the County's summary of Ossining statistics from the 2000 federal census. I spent about 20 minutes juggling some simple and fairly obvious equations; the questions below (and attached) are what I came up with. There are other relationships lurking there, just waiting to be exposed. Question: Have any of our Village officials ever reflected on the implications in some of these?

Bill Cowan

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A RETROSPECTIVE LOOK AT OSSINING


IF THE 2000 CENSUS SHOWED THE NUMBER OF HOUSING UNITS OCCUPIED BY
RENTERS AS ……………………………………………………………..3,940

AND IF THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE SHOWN IN THE CENSUS WAS ……………. 2.6

THEN, THE TOTAL POPULATION OCCUPIED BY RENTERS WOULD BE
APPROXIMATELY 2.6 X 3,940, OR ……………………………………10,244

IF THE VILLAGE POPULATION WAS …………………………………………………….. 24,010

THEN, THAT MEANS THAT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION, THE PERCENT THAT
MIGHT BE AFFECTED BY THE EMERGENCY TENANT
PROTECTION LEGISLATION (ETPA) WOULD BE …………………… 43%

AND IF (ACCORDING TO THE 2000 CENSUS) 1,491 RENTER HOUSEHOLDS WERE
"COST-BURDENED" (I.E., SPENT MORE THAT 30% OF INCOME
ON COST OF HOUSING), THEN 2.6 X 1,491 ………………………… 3,876
… RESIDENTS WHO NEEDED ETPA 6 YEARS AGO!!!

MAYOR HANAUER, DO YOU BELIEVE THESE NUMBERS
HAVE IMPROVED IN THE PAST SIX YEARS?

Friday, February 16, 2007

Summary of Comprehensive Plan Committee Meeting, 2/15/07 at Operations Cntr.

FROM BILL COWAN:

Summary of CompPlanComm Meeting, 2/15/07 at Operations Cntr.

Chair: John Codman. Only 8 members present, two of them Borgia & Hanauer.

Most of the discussion focused on the upcoming (March 1) Transportation & Infrastructure Workshop, to be held at Park School.

The hired consultants (Phillips Preiss Shapiro Assoc) prepared a rough draft of a 21-page power point presentation for that meeting, and I have a copy. If any of you want to see it, I can fax it to you. It has some errors and some duplications that will be corrected before the meeting.

In general, the approach will be to pick up concerns expressed at the first general public meeting at which a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) approach was used, then go into "Break-out" groups for further discussion.

The concerns from the first meeting are summarized as follows:

Strengths –
* Public transportation: MetroNorth, Bee-Line Bus. (Need to re-configure Metro-North station
for handicap access.
* Croton Aqueduct Trail / bike paths (unique amenity)

Opportunities –
* Re-striping of Route 9
* Transit Intermodal Transfer Center
* Covered downtown bus waiting area

Weaknesses –
* Traffic congestion
* Lack of sidewalks / sidewalks need repair
* Difficult pedestrian access across Route 9
* Lack of traffic light coordination / stop signs
* Lack of info about buss routes
* Lack of coordination among municipalities
* Speeding / poor driving skills

Threats –
* Strengths attract more residents / traffic
* Vehicular access / parking on riverfront
* Indian Point Evacuation Plan / lack of access for emergency vehicles
* Construction impacts of transportation projects
* Concerns of re-striping Route 9

Some of the ideas suggested in that first meeting were: A trolley service … diagonal parking on Rte 9 … Upgrades along the Aqueduct Trail … Walking & biking paths … Central school bus pick-up … Speed bumps on Rte 133 … Tunnel traffic under the river … Beautify entrances to village with trees … More crossing signs … Pedestrian bridges … One-way routes around the village … Improve emergency access … "Green" transportation … Coordination of transportation agency efforts.

Discussion of additional public meetings

3/1 – See above.

3/29 - Economic Development. May be held in the High School cafeteria

4/19 – Quality of Life. Location to be announced.

6/? - Preiss Shapiro will be asked to make their recommendations before school lets out. Codman will not hold meetings in July-August. If recommendations are not ready, he will postpone to September.

9/? - Preiss Shapiro will be asked have a draft plan ready for public discussion. These will be followed by SEQR hearings and then Planning and Zoning input meetings.

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