It is good to see that the idea of hiring a Downtown Ossining Manager is finally going to happen. However, the level of success in downtown’s resurgence is contingent on several factors: First: This person must have the full backing of the Mayor, Village Trustees, and Village Manager to coordinate all Village resources such as the sanitation, parking, planning, recreation and other governmental activities that impact on the smooth functioning of what essentially is “a village within a village.” Unless this individual is unable to bring all of the above resources to bear, he or she will be like a football quarterback who can’t depend on his teammate to score touchdowns. Second:Tthe Village government, the downtown residents, business and property owners must organize into a Main Street “collective.” It has to develop a conceptual “vision” of a comprehensive downtown management strategy that is financially feasible, and has notable stakeholder governance, financial support and a degree of specificity described over a timeline so as to give the concept some measurable goals and objective against which to measure success. There already exists a 2009 comprehensive plan that identifies several objectives for downtown: to promote it as a business location, However, stakeholder organization and input is not mentioned. As it stands without this key and on-going component, the plan may not be realized to its fullest potential. Third: Fortunately, there is a National Main Street Program. It has developed a comprehensive Main Street Four-Point Approach that can serve a viable model for downtown revitalization. Since 1980, more than 2,000 affiliated Main Street programs have been launched in 43 states It has a considerable success record and this program should be seriously considered for Downtown Ossining. View Comment

Did the English colonists really eat turkey during their first harvest meal with the Indians? No one is sure. They did dine on fowl of various sorts. However, it seems that some of the fowl they served resembled ones they called “Turkie cockes and Turkie hennes. ” These birds originated in Turkey and were brought to Europe and England and by the late 16th century these "turkies" became the principal food bird in the British empire. The North American version that the English colonists came upon was probably a varient of a bird the Aztects called, "Huexoloti." This avian was also brought to Spain by Cristobal Colon, aka Columbus and other Spanish explorers and they called it "Pavo" meaning pheasant. View Comment

Hello Marcia: You have kept a very low profile since leaving government in 2004 and as they say, "out of sight out of mind." Regardless, I apologize for my "Rick Perry Moment." You were indeed born in Ecuador and the first immigrant from that nation to serve as Ossining Village Trustee. That said, I wish Manuel Quezada well in his quest to serve all of the people of Ossining. Miguel Hernández Former Ossining Mayor and Village Trustee View Comment

Although the official vote count in the Ossining Village and Town elections is not in,all indications are that the Democratic Party's candidates were victorious. congratulations to them all and while I am at it, let me also congratulate Mr. Steve Dewey of the Republican Party. He is always gracious and as in past elections, he conducted himself in a fair and professional manner. View Comment

Mr. Fuchs: Your article clearly implies a a singular connection between the presence parking meters and the awful state of many downtown shopping and business districts. All the studies show that parking meters per se have little or no impact on people/s willingness to shop in these places. The problem is much more complex and communities have to develop a multi-teired approach to the porblem/ Such a strategy must include, among other things,the creation of walkable streets and sidewalks; intra- and inter-core transit; culture and entertainment; increased safety and cleanliness; a real estate policy, a parking management program and programming and marketing. View Comment

Many years ago the Village of Ossining removed its parking meters in the downtown district because mechants complained that they hurt business. However, this did not improve the business climate and store employees and even owners tooktheparking spaces that should have gone to customers for hours on end. Chalk marks on tires were erased and other ways were devised by crafty drivers to overcome the posted time limits. Around 2004 the parking meters went back up to assauge complaints about lack of parking and to assure a rotating supply of spaces.Today parking is easier but even so business has not improved. It's clear that the problem of dormant downtown shopping districts in small towns and villages is a complex problem and not due to meters as Mr. Fuches contends. Removing the meters will not bring business back to his hometown. Private landlords, business owners and other stakeholders need to band together to manage local business districts as a single entity much the same way that large shopping malls management corprations do. Parking, store hours promotional events, street cleaning, security and store facades, signage and parking etc need to come under a single umbrella. Parking fees that presently go to the municipal coffers could be diverted to pay for the centralized managment and property owners could pay into an assessment fund to pay for other ammenities. View Comment