Mayor's Message – Hastings Recognized for Climate-Related ... - Village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY |

Mayor’s Message - Hastings Recognized for Climate-Related Initiatives | Village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY

Mayor’s Message – Hastings Recognized for Climate-Related Initiatives

Posted on: October 4, 2023 - 1:06pm

Dear everyone,

A few weeks ago it was “Climate Week” in New York City and around the world, but on Monday it was “Climate Day” in Hastings-on-Hudson! For more about it, and for information about some new climate-related campaigns you can participate in, please scroll down.

A Climate Celebration

It is a rare thing when discussing climate change that there is cause to celebrate, but Monday was such a day! We were joined for a special ceremony by Commissioner Basil Seggos, of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, County Executive George Latimer, County Legislator David Imamura, Greenburgh Town Councilperson Ellen Hendrickx, the Mayors of Tarrytown, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle, as well as other elected officials and administrators including Trustees Lambert and Fleisig and Village Manager Murphy. The event was a celebration of 23 Climate Smart Communities that have advanced under the program, acquiring either bronze or silver certification. In the case of Hastings, we were re-certifying as a silver-level community (re-upping expired points and accumulating new points for new actions) – to view our submission see

It is a rare thing when discussing climate change that there is cause to celebrate, but Monday was such a day! We were joined for a special ceremony by Commissioner Basil Seggos, of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, County Executive George Latimer, County Legislator David Imamura, Greenburgh Town Councilperson Ellen Hendrickx, the Mayors of Tarrytown, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle, as well as other elected officials and administrators including Trustees Lambert and Fleisig and Village Manager Murphy. The event was a celebration of 23 Climate Smart Communities that have advanced under the program, acquiring either bronze or silver certification. In the case of Hastings, we were re-certifying as a silver-level community (re-upping expired points and accumulating new points for new actions) – to view our submission see
HERE. There are only ten silver-level communities in the State, four of them are in Westchester (the highest number per County) and only two of the ten are Villages (Croton-on-Hudson is the other). It is a pretty remarkable achievement and we are incredibly proud of everyone involved for the roles they’ve played in helping us achieve this goal, especially our CSC Task Force and our Conservation Commission. Thanks to also goes to every member of our community who participated in, or volunteered for, one of our climate-related programs … for supporting the Take It or Leave It Garage, for checking out the Repair Café, for collecting food scraps and composting, for cloth and book recycling, for shopping local including at our Farmers Market, for choosing to walk or ride a bike, for vine lopping, planting trees and protecting our woods, for being a pollinator pathway enthusiast, for contributing to one of our climate research reports or participating in our various energy reduction community campaigns… You are all fantastic and we couldn’t have reached this point without you! For those of you who are interested see HERE for a video of the whole ceremony, and for the Governor’s official announcement see

Hastings-on-Hudson Community Solar

On the note of

On the note of
community campaigns, we are spreading the word about an exciting community action that has been in the works for a long time. For the last few years it’s been impossible for residents to sign up for community solar as all the Westchester sites were fully subscribed, however … we are thrilled to announce the launch of a brand new Hastings-on-Hudson Community Solar project, which will only be available to residents of our Village. A quick reminder: community solar makes renewable energy savings available for everyone. It enables you to support a local community solar farm through your utility bill and save money at the same time. All the solar energy goes into the local grid system and is sold at a discount to subscribers of the project, saving them money on energy costs. In a nutshell, as a result of signing up, you will get (more or less) 10% off your electricity bills. The sign up process takes less than 10 minutes, there are no fees, no cost to join or to cancel, and no catch! Almost everyone is eligible to participate (homeowners, renters, business owners and not-for-profits), you just need a Con Edison account. In fact, the only real caveat is that you can't participate if you've installed solar on your roof already. In Hastings, the local community solar farm will be located on the roofs of the Hastings High and Hillside Elementary Schools and will include approximately 700 kW of solar. Installation of the solar panels will take a few months but you can sign-up in advance to save your family a spot even though the site is not operational yet. Sign-up is available on a first come first served basis. To learn more about how to participate see HERE and to sign up see

National Drive Electric Week Celebration – October 14, 9 to 11 am, Commuter Lot

The week of September 22 to October 1, was “National Drive Electric Week” and we had planned a fun celebration on Saturday, September 30, but … it poured with rain. So we’ve rescheduled the event to October 14 from 9 to 11 am (see

The week of September 22 to October 1, was “National Drive Electric Week” and we had planned a fun celebration on Saturday, September 30, but … it poured with rain. So we’ve rescheduled the event to October 14 from 9 to 11 am (see
HERE). It will take place in the commuter parking lot alongside the Hastings Farmer's Market. The celebration is part of our ongoing Charge Up Hastings! Electric Vehicle (EV) campaign. You’ll be able to check out new affordable EVs and e-bikes, talk to residents who already own them and to dealers who are offering discounts/deals (including on an all-electric compact SUV), and bring your kids, as there will be an EV quiz they can participate in. There will also be information about recent Federal and State rebates and discounts. At the event, you’ll also be able to learn about our ongoing EnergySmart Homes campaign, which promotes clean heating and cooling (e.g. geothermal and HVAC systems). The event is co-sponsored by the Hastings Conservation Commission and Climate Smart Communities Task Force and is being spearheaded by Trustee Lambert. Thanks to all of them for their advocacy and engagement. Also, if you’ve bought an EV or a plug-in EV since June 2023 please email chargeuphastings@hastingsgov.org and let us know. If we can document 15 residents who’ve bought one since then, we’re eligible for a grant from NYSERDA!

The Deluge

Last weekend when New York experienced one of the wettest days in its history, we were all reminded about the very serious impacts of climate change. Special thanks to our IT Department for sharing detailed warning messages with the community about the potential flash flood dangers, for keeping our emergency preparedness information current (see
HERE) and for providing other important information such as MTA schedule changes. Also, thanks to our Fire Department who responded to flooding conditions on Old Jackson Ave (you can read more about their rescue

Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

We will be holding a public hearing about banning gas powered leaf blowers at our next Board of Trustees meeting on October 17th (for the current draft of the legislation under consideration see
HERE). We would love to know your views about this topic, so please contact us and share your opinion: boardoftrustees@hastingsgov.org.

I will be writing again soon to flag some fun events that will be happening in October, but you can always check out
Upcoming Community Events(which is the link posted in the Board of Trustees Agenda each month) for the current list of activities we are planning.

Sincerely,

Nicola Armacost