Gas Prices

A resident read my last blog entry and emailed me with another great site to check for gas prices. To visit it click here. It is hosted by MSN and gives you gas pricing data from over 90,000 gas stations across the country. What's cool is that it is updated every night. As of right now the lowest price is $4.29 and the national average is
$4.47. While your checking how much your gonna pay at the pump check out this site. It tells you how gas prices work and well, who to blame. Happy trails ...

Month in Review

Well, it official. Summer is halfway over. But wait! My office is still in summer mode and we have got lot's in store for the remaining few weeks. Before I get into that let's recap what's been happening so far. I recieved the new NYS Handicap Parking Meter permits from the State. Applications are available in my office for your doctor to fill out if you believe you are a candidate for one of these waivers. Over the past couple of weeks commuters have voiced there concerns over the parking at the train station. Some have told me that commuters sometimes park their vehicles outside of the white lines of the spot. Please, be courteous of other drivers and park within the white lines of your space. I have asked the Police Traffic Division to paint the lines again to make them more visible. Because there are so many cars the painting has to be done in stages but by the end of the summer the whole commuter lot should be repainted. In other news, my office went mobile for the first time this past Saturday at Trotta's West Street Pharmacy. From 10am - 1pm residents took advantage of obtaining parking permits, Notary services, Organ Donation information as well as dog licenses all from the comfort of their local pharmacy. I would like to thank Trotta's Pharmacy for being gracious hosts and look forward to other mobile hours there. Look for me at the Concert in the Park on August 14th at Ma Riis Park from 7pm - 8:30pm. My mobile hours in West Harrison park got rained out last Wednesday but I will be announcing another date and time to be back in West Harrison soon. On another note, I had the pleasure of speaking with a number of students at Blythedale Children's Hospital on Friday. I want to thank them all for inviting me to their center. I can not begin to tell you how deeply touched I was by their graciousness and spirit. If you would like more information on Blythedale Children's Hospital please visit www.Blythedale.org.

In looking ahead, the next Town Board meeting is August 7, 2008 at 7:30pm in Town Hall. If you would like to be placed on the agenda you must submit a written request to my office by 9:30am Thursday July 31, 2008. Hunting licenses go on sale August
18, 2008. I plan to have my office open late one evening around that date in order to accomadate more residents. I will announce a date when the time gets closer. The new HarrisonClerk.com is coming along and I hope to have it live soon. That's all for now. Oh wait, I couldn't resist mentioning gas prices in this entry. So, here goes. If you are like me you try to find the lowest gas prices around. I drive an SUV so yeah, after I fill up my tank I usually cry myself all the way home (sniff sniff). Anyway, I checked out this pretty cool site and thought I would share. www.NewYorkGasPrices.com. It's a site where people find low gas prices and sumbit it for others to know about. You can search by your area you live in. They don't have any for Harrison but White Plains came up with three. Check it out if you feel like you have to take on a second job just to pay for gas. Happy travels ...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. Today, I began the day with a press conference at Ma-RIIS Park to discuss two troop support programs I am now involved with. With the Presidential campaign in full swing we, not only as a community, but as a country must pause to recognize that there are troops fighting the real battle out there for us. Not just troops, but brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. Over the next few months we are going to see republicans and democrats battle one another in an historic political war. But we must remember who is really fighting the battle no matter who what political party you belong to. My message today on this Fourth of July was simple: remember those that allow you to call this country the land of the free. I am proud to announce that I have joined the Manhattanville College "My Soldier" Program (www.MySoldier.com) and "Cells Phones for Soldiers (www.CellPhonesforSoldiers.com). These two programs, although started from two different organizations share one great common cause and I am proud to join them.

This evening, I concuded my Fourth of July celebration at Roy Alletti's fireworks show. I must compliment Roy and his family for hosting such a wonderful event. Despite the rain, Harrison family and friends packed the Food Emporium shopping center to celebrate America's birthday - Harrison style. Way to go Roy and THANK YOU!

Thank You 4th Graders!

I want to thank all of the Harrison AvenueSchool 4th Graders for visiting me this past week. I recieved all of your Thank You notes and have to say, I am the one who should be thanking you. Your enthusiasm for learning about Town Government and your active participation during the presentation made my experience all the more enjoyable. I hope you enjoyed yourselves and all of your Thank You notes are proudly on display in my office.

I must say, working with these students was probably the most fulfilling part of my job so far. Answering their questions, seeing their reaction to the K9 demonstration, teaching them about the various government departments. I hope they had a great a time as I did. It is important that students today understand how our local government works. After all, it is their Town and they will someday inherit it.

Thank you all again, and my best wishes to you all for an enjoyable summer!
*****Pictures coming soon!*****

URGENT! Special Town Board meeting

I was told this morning that a special Town Board meeting will be held tomorrow evening, Wednesday June 18, 2008 beginning at 7:30pm at Town Hall. The topic of the meeting will be the investigator for the Police Department. The public portion of be called to order at 7:30pm and immediately be adjourned to executive session.

Gone Fish'n

I am happy to report that fishing licenses are now on sale in my office. When I first arrived back in January I noticed the computer that was being used to register residents for hunting and fishing licenses was outdated and obsolete. In fact, it was taking up space. So, I spoke with representatives of the Department of Environmental Conservation and asked them if we could use our own computers instead. They agreed and now, we have a brand new laptop which uses a web based software to issue licenses. We are also utilizing the computer when it is not being used for licenses to look up general info for office visitors and it takes up half the space of the state owned computer. I want to thank the residents who hung in there while we got up and running and also thank Mamaroneck for taking on the extra work of issuing licenses to our residents during that period.
Stop in today to get your fishing license. We offer the serice Mon-Fri 9am-4pm.

Busy Weekend in West Harrison

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MR. TONY SANCHEZ AND MR. GREG SANCHEZ

I want to mention some important events I attended this past weekend in West Harrison. On Friday evening, St. Anthony's Church held its first annual "Blue Mass" which honored all the Firefighters, Police Officers, EMT's and Civic Officials in Harrison, West Harrison and Purchase. It was very welll attended. I want to first wecome St. Anthony's new addition, Father Chris to our community and thank him for hosting such a wonderful event. Also, congratulations are in order because Chief Pat Galluzzo of the West Harrison Fire Department announced that Father Chris was named "Department Chaplain" and an official helmet was presented to him. It was a great experience to see such admiration from both Father Chris and the Department. After the service, a blessing was bestowed upon all the emergency vehicles outside the Church inlcuding the new 2162 Chief's Truck driven by 1st Assistant Chief Dino Delsignore of the Downtown Fire Department. Lookin good Chief DelSignore - best of luck.

On Sunday, I attended the West Harrison Fire Department "Wet Down" for the new Utility 85 Truck which was recently purchased. As you can see above, this truck will be put to good use and will serve not only West Harrison Firefighters but, surroundng communities during mutual aide calls. Many people have asked me "what is a wet down?". A Wet Down is an event that is held everytime a Fire Department gets a new vehicle whether it be a truck, an engine etc. It is the celebration before the "maiden voyage" if you will. It is first blessed and then a bottle of champagne is usually broken over it to sybolize its beginning. Lastly, comes the wet down - and I mean WET! Picture the coach of the winning team at the end of the Super Bowl - only 100x bigger. Be sure to bring a bathing suit if you ever want to stand close to the vehicle while this is happening. Trust me.

Well, that was it. A great weekend with great friends. What more could you want? Okay, I could have stayed a little dryer ; )