Thanks to the Enterprise our letter to the editor late in 2022 raised all the money Hastings Helps the Hungry will need in 2023 to provide a monthly healthy dinner for all those who visit the Yonkers YWCA for a hot meal. Thank you!

Many of the roads owned by New York State have lots of potholes and are in bad shape. Motorists frequently experience car and tire damage when driving over a pothole.

Lower Main Street has become a parking disaster since the Village decided to allow free parking until the new parking plan is finalized and implemented. Since August the meters have been hooded and the 2-hour parking rule in the central business district is not being enforced regularly or at…

More than 100 families experiencing food insecurity in our community rely on the Hastings Food Pantry, a program operated by the Hastings Youth Council and Youth Advocate Program out of the James V. Harmon Community Center. During the holidays, the pantry received numerous generous donations…

While I am not a lawyer and certainly don't understand all the nuances of the court's rulings and the statutes that exist, the last thing Ardsley needs is yet another gas station. In our small village we have three gas stations all within a very small distance from each other. I assume that …

I am writing to draw attention to the recent Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees decision to opt in for cannabis dispensaries, which reverses the 2021 opt out vote. The trustees Dec. 13 vote disregards respectful requests to table the decision from our schools superintendent, chief of police, loca…

The Ardsley Democratic Committee is accepting résumés and introduction letters for residents who want to run in the November 2023 election for Ardsley Village elected offices. Three seats will be up for election — those of mayor and two trustees. Mayor Nancy Kaboolian and Trustee Andy DiJust…

I have been a resident of Dobbs Ferry for 21 years. I want to applaud the efforts of a group of citizens who have initiated a petition around town, asking eligible voters to sign requesting the decision to opt into cannabis dispensaries to go to a village wide vote. The topic of a cannabis d…

As a longtime High Street homeowner now residing at the Riveredge Cooperative Apartments on David Lane off Dudley Street, I am sensitive to the Village’s need to increase tax revenues. Yet I am opposed to the massive Electric Owl film studio’s film production project that, if granted major z…

As reported in last week's issue of The Rivertowns Enterprise, the appellate division's decision to allow the construction of a nonconforming gasoline station in downtown Ardsley in 2023 is a civic tragedy.

On Dec. 21, 2022, Hastings seniors were invited to a concert and dinner at Hastings High School. This event was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid, but it had been held for many years prior to that. This is an event that the seniors look forward to every year, and they tell me how much th…

I want to begin by thanking the Enterprise for its coverage of Rivertowns Rotary's fundraising efforts benefiting the Graham-Greenburgh School District in Hastings-on-Hudson in the Dec. 23, 2022 issue, as well as its coverage of our efforts for the Cabrini Nursing Home in March. I also want …

A wonderful way to greet the New Year will be to attend the exciting art exhibit “Beauty as Fuel for Change,” a collaboration between Concerned Families of Westchester participants and The Masters School students. This exploration of embracing, creating, and sharing beauty is a new project b…

On behalf of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 1195, based at the Admiral Farragut American Legion Post 1195, I want to thank everyone who participated in our third annual holiday raffle. The drawing was held on Jan. 1 at the Legion Hall on Farragut Avenue, and streamed live on our Fa…

As we put down the garden tools for the season and rest, it’s a good time to reflect on the role that your garden is currently playing in a larger ecosystem. Because while our gardens may seem bleak and drab, there is life within and beneath the winter landscape.

In October, Irvington was one of the 31 school districts which received air purifiers purchased with federal funds by the Westchester County Department of Health (Enterprise, Nov. 18). With hope, these air purifiers were set up inside immediately to help mitigate the air pollution outside th…

For 25 years, I have witnessed this one-room enterprise, Galapagos Books, honed by its proprietor. Amada’s gracious hands, and those thousands of patrons and authors who visited her, shaped it into a legacy not to be easily forgotten. I am certain its influences will continue to flourish in …

For 25 years, I have witnessed this one-room enterprise, Galapagos Books, honed by its proprietor. Amada’s gracious hands, and those thousands of patrons and authors who visited her, shaped it into a legacy not to be easily forgotten. I am certain its influences will continue to flourish in …

In October, Irvington was one of the 31 school districts which received air purifiers purchased with federal funds by the Westchester County Department of Health (Enterprise, Nov. 18). With hope, these air purifiers were set up inside immediately to help mitigate the air pollution outside th…

Readers should know that a developer is planning to jam 21 townhouses, like a proverbial can of sardines, onto a small parcel of property at 1 Warburton Ave. This ill-conceived project will require excavating more than 8,000 cubic yards of material, much of it solid rock. To do this, they wi…

Every night when I drive home, I see pedestrians in dark clothing.  It's difficult to see them from a car if it is dark outside and they are not in bright clothing, using a flashlight, or wearing a reflector.

I was saddened to learn that Galapagos Bookstore will be closing in early 2023. What a loss for our community.

In 2023, three seats will be up for election in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson — those of mayor and two trustees. Mayor Nicola Armacost and Trustee Tom Drake have indicated their intention to seek re-election next year. Trustee Mary Lambert will not be running again, and we thank her grea…

Yet another late-fall day passes in bucolic Irvington due to the endless drone of gas-powered leaf blowers (GLBs). When I wrote to the Irvington mayor and trustees about the 110dBA noise levels filtering into my yard last week due to GLBs, I was told this amount of noise was not “egregious” …

At a recent meeting, Dobbs Ferry’s Board of Trustees considered a proposal by the Village’s fire department to build a brand new emergency services facility, which would house all of the Village’s fire trucks and its ambulances at one site. I am concerned that the Village has not adequately …

As the “point person” for Hastings F.I.S.H (Friends in Service Helping) I want to express my deepest, personal, most sincere thanks to each and every one of our dedicated and generous volunteer drivers. One and all, they are good-natured men and women, always friendly and willing to help ano…

Westchester County Executive George Latimer deserves to be praised for offering residents free bus transportation during the upcoming holiday season and for providing Westchester commuters with free bus service during the summer months. This is an exciting and bold initiative that I hope wil…

On Nov. 22, Julien Amsellem, the student editor-in-chief of the Hastings High School newspaper “The Buzzer,” wrote an article entitled “‘Undervalued and Underappreciated: Understanding the Impact of Teacher Raise Discrepancies and Why They Matter.” Based on some in-depth research and many in…

I read with great interest and skepticism the Enterprise’s hilariously tongue-in-cheek coverage of the preposterous Electric Owl Studios’ proposal to build and operate a “filming complex” of six huge sound stages, three mill buildings, office space, and a parking garage on property now owned…

As this year comes to its end, those of us at Hastings Helps the Hungry want to continue once a month, providing a wholesome, hot chicken meal with a fresh salad and fruit, juice, and brownies for the Yonkers YWCA patrons. This is possible with our thanks to Hillside classes for providing th…

It’s daunting that 33 years have passed and like rotations of the sun, 33 Thanksgiving dinners have been hosted by SHARE the Project, giving so many a chance to experience community and commitment, love, and respect in ways they may not have been privileged to know. 

There is a public hearing planned for the next Hastings Board of Trustees meeting, on Dec. 6, on Proposed Local Law H of 2022, amending Chapter 282 Vehicles and Traffic, Article IX Parking, Standing and Stopping to amend the provision for fines for idling of motor vehicles.

The holiday season is now in full swing, one of the most important times to focus on our local small businesses. Everyone has a busy schedule this time of year and online shopping from national brands is convenient. Other than checking off a to-do list item, what kind of feeling do we get fr…

Too far from zero indeed! Thank you to the Enterprise editorial staff for highlighting the Zoom event “Moving Westchester County Towards Zero Waste” in last week's edition. The event was sponsored by the Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions (WASS) which is based out of Peekskill, a…

Many Hastings residents may not be aware that rather suddenly, a proposal for transformational change and major development of one of our remaining large properties — the Graham School campus — is being presented to our Village Board and the public, with great speed and not (yet) through the…

Thank you to all of the voters and volunteers who contributed to my successful campaign for the New York State Assembly. It has been a long year, but our message — following the science and data, fixing our infrastructure, working on effective solutions to our challenges, and upholding the d…

I would like to offer many thanks to Marge Criscuolo, OCDS and president of the Discalced Carmelite Secular Community, for her recent delivery of a four-part series on St. Therese of Lisieux. Also spoken of as the “Little Flower,” St. Therese is known for sending a “Shower of Roses” in respo…

Every year, during the Thanksgiving season, Temple Beth Shalom in Hastings partners with The Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry to deliver uncooked, full-course meals to the homes of Children’s Village families. TBS would like to publicly thank and acknowledge the following local businesses/o…

The intersection of Heatherdell Road and Concord Road is long overdue for stop signs that are “all way” stop, with additional advance signs posted on Heatherdell Road of “Stop ahead.”

I read with interest the new study of Dobbs Ferry parking conducted by Laybel Consulting and agree with most of its suggestions, especially reducing the byzantine system of parking rules, durations, and methods of payment; encouraging merchants to yield their on-street parking to visitors an…

During these challenging times of election politics, lingering Covid, and world tension, it is appropriate to take a moment on Veterans Day to remember and honor the millions of men and women who have served our country in war and in peacetime.

I am writing to urge my Rivertowns neighbors to vote for Kathy Hochul for governor and to do so on the Working Families Party line. Under New York State law, votes on that line count every bit as fully as votes on the Democratic line; the two are added together. 

In their letter to the editor last week, former Mayors Swiderski and Kinnally suggested that moving the date of the Hastings Village election to align with the general election in November would take the focus off Village candidates and issues, and “reduce the chances for a write-in candidat…

Hastings’ youth become Hastings’ young adults. It’s an obvious progression, but one brought in stark relief by Lisa O’Reilly’s powerful witness in last week’s Enterprise to seven fatal overdoses since 2015 (“Coalition to host Narcan training session”). O’Reilly, a longtime employee of the Ha…

Please consider donating clothes that are suited for cold weather to benefit Lakota children on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, where I volunteered at a YMCA camp this past summer. Donation boxes are located at the Hastings High School lobby, Hastings Public Library lobby, Do…

Hastings is long plagued with trustees and a mayor appointed to their seats, then running as incumbents with the Democratic Party endorsement. Now Hastings has a chance to do something about it. Move the Village vote from March to November, with the rest of the voting. A ballot proposition i…

The Hastings-on-Hudson Senior Citizen Advisory Committee, also known as the Senior Council, is tasked by the Village to “identify, develop, and coordinate services that help meet the needs of the village’s older residents.” To that end, older residents of Hastings will receive a brief survey…

A lot of oxygen is taken up right now with the focus on elections in the battleground states — but all elections matter. Who we elect here in New York State will make a difference in quality-of-life issues for all New Yorkers, but especially women and families. Voters have many issues on the…

In this election — critically important for so many reasons — we New Yorkers have the opportunity to vote for both the environment and the economy by flipping our ballots over and voting “yes” on Prop 1: The Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Bond Act. We urge everyone to cast this “yes” …

I am writing to encourage my Hastings neighbors to deepen democracy in our village by voting “yes” on the referendum to move our village elections in March to Election Day in November, as Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown, and Ardsley have done.