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M-F 9:00 to 3:00 PM Mayor Village Clerk: |
A Statement From Mayor Bob Weitzner
I am very eager and excited to begin a new era in Port Washington North's history. With it comes a hard working Board of Trustees and a creative vision for the future that will "reinvent Port North". This vision revolves around various initiatives taken on by myself and my fellow Board members. The ultimate goal is to make Port North a more beautiful, safer, and ultimately, better place to live.
I would like to explain what initiatives we will focus on for our Village in the coming year. Click on the links below to jump to the specific area of interest.
Quality of Life
Infrastructure
Sense of community
Restoring our gateways
and aesthetics
Safety
Power outages
Trees
Tight fiscal policy and
controls
Techology
Upzoning
One final note
Some describe Port North as paradise. We need to keep it that way. Nothing is more important that how we live and move about within our Village. Services and amenities that our Village offers must be second to none. That's why we have been acquiring waterfront property, and developing it as recreational open space. Aggressively pursuing road projects to improve our streets, curbs, and sidewalks. And working diligently to prepare plans for the proposed new Village Hall and Village Club project. All this will serve well in helping to make homes in Port Washington North more desirable to own, and a pleasure to stay in.
We are committed to improving the condition of our roads and sidewalk. We will continue to provide, and where possible, improve, our services, including street sweeping, snow removal, leaf and garbage pickup and road repair. We have begun an aggressive campaign to define and fund road repair projects and fix our sidewalks. Rusted and illegible signs in our village should be a thing of the past. I am tired of looking at old worn signs. This Village needs to look sharp and clean, and replacing these eye soars goes a long way towards achieving that.
How many of you moved into Port North, without even knowing what that meant. What was the big difference between living in the Terrace section or in Soundview or Smull Place. It appears to me that when people first move into our Village, it takes time, years in some cases, to know who is running the village, what services are offered, and in some cases, where Village Hall even is. That's got to change. We will explore ways of educating and informing new residents of the virtues of living in Port North and helping them get acclimated in our Village. The sooner they know about their Village, the sooner they will be willing to help their Village. We will also reach out to our commercial business owner to explore ways of reminding our residents to shop Port North first. We must continue to inform our residents of the ways to communicate with our village. Not just monthly meetings, but the internet, the cell phone, and written correspondence. And Village hall must continue to respond promptly to those correspondences.
Restoring our gateways and aesthetics
People need to know they are entering Port Washington North. It is not enough to just see a blue oval sign with our Village's name on it. We have to clean up our existing Village Of Port Washington North gateways. The blue signs should be refurbished and attractive to look at. We should create small gardens at these locations where possible to beautify our gateways. Perhaps the Village could pay for the plants, and the bordering residents could maintain them. We also would like to explore creating a distinct street sign design for our village. Currently there are at least 4 different sign types in the Village. Lets' replace all street signs with one uniform design that distinguishes us from neighboring Villages and the Town and creates a sense of pride and unity in our Village. Commercial signs must be regulated, to insure they comply with our codes and our vision of a true waterfront community.
I am tired of seeing people speeding down Radcliff, whizzing their way through Soundview, and using Shore Road as a speedway. We will expand local law enforcement; add new signs to alert motorists that we live in a community of families with children, the elderly, and the handicapped. The charm of our Village is in its roads and sidewalks. We will not tolerate anyone who thinks they can take that away from us.
We are also exploring why o why we lose power so much in our Village. We are reaching out to LIPA, and forming a committee to tackle this annoying phenomenon. There is no reason we should be losing power 5 times a year. We are owed an explanation and what it will take to resolve this problem.
We will establish the Villages's first tree assessment policy, which will include inventorying our trees, determining its type and condition, and creating a process by which residents are notified in advance of any impending removal. We have hired an independent arborist who will inspect any trees that are questionable, and he will report his findings to the board. Currently, no tree will be cut down, except in dire emergencies, without board knowledge and board approval.
Tight fiscal policy and controls
In lieu of Roslyn, the Village has been putting numerous processes in place to create checks and balances on our finances. To date, we have instituted tight financial management controls and produce the most comprehensive reports to our Board and residents in our Village's history. We are financially very healthy and will continue to employ the necessary changes to keep us that way.
We have a website that keeps reinventing itself, and that will continue. Our office is becoming more automated. A day will come where residents can come up to the front desk and access their files, obtain information, and receive forms via computer, instead of sifting through mounds of paper files. Our building dept. will also be modernized and it's records will soon be safe from disaster. We are currently digitizing all building records that will be stored on a computer and on disk off site.
Committees to explore upzoning many of our existing zoning districts, so they conform better with the vision of what Port North should look like today and in the future. There are challenges ahead. We must continue to pursue sources of funding for our village. Last year we were awarded 2 grants. This year we have been awarded 4, and it's only August. We will continue to explore ways of gaining access to funds to pay for waterfront acquisition and restoration, road improvements, and funds for specific projects. Road repair and snow removal represent a large part of our budget. We will explore ways to reduce those costs, including researching the prospects of creating a public works dept.
The Village Hall and Village Club project is moving forward. The Village Club plan is very much alive. What we need is to decide on a location to build it, do the due diligence on how it will financially work, and bring that plan to the community for review.
The proposed land swap of 7 1/2 acres of Village owned land for the 11 acre Thomson industries site has far reaching implications for our Village and the community. We will continue to work towards communicating with the Village and the Port Washington community of its virtues. We believe the securing of usable open and recreation space near our waterfront will not only benefit Port North residents, but Port Washington Residents as well.
Those who dream of what can be inspire, and those who settle for status quo lie dormant. We are a board of dreamers who see the future for our Village and our community, and will work hard to achieve nothing short of greatness for Port Washington North. What I ask of the community is to join us, assist us, in achieving this greatness. The saying many hands make light work has never meant so much as it does today.
Bob Weitzner
Email the mayor with any questions or comments
portnorthmayor at optonline.net (@ sign ommitted to combat spam)
Webmaster@portwashingtonnorth.org
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