Irvington Green Team
NEWSLETTER

June 4, 2025 

All the Updates

The Green Team has been busy!


The next Route 9 Complete Streets meeting is tonight from 6-8pm at the Mercy University Rotunda, Mercy Hall, 555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry. Join the public meeting to be sure to give input on the alternatives and potential benefits. This is our chance to make Broadway safer and more friendly for bikes, pedestrians and vehicles.
 

We have launched a free Sustainable Landscaping Consultation service for residents. They will come to your property and help you find strategies to save money and support a healthy ecosystem. We hope that this will help to alleviate the algal blooms occurring in our ponds which are impacted by excessive fertilization of lawns. Thank you Leola and Aditi for this offering! At the same time, we are working with the Water and Parks Departments to have water samples tested to understand exactly what is occurring at Halsey Pond. Thank you Warwick, Zoe, Lisa, David, Chet and the Friends of Halsey Pond for all of your wonderful ecosystem stewardship. 

The Irvington Woods won a grant from the NYSDEC for $382k. Chet and the Greater Irvington Land Trust have also helped us to secure a $16,000 grant, plus matching funds, for the wetlands that Warwick is restoring. Ecological discoveries continue to delight – be sure to follow Warwick on a tour when possible! I am happy to share that CJ Reilly is returning to the O’Hara Nature Center later this month and the Woods Committee has lots of ideas and energy for novel projects.

The Village won a grant to install solar panels and battery backup on the Senior Center, which is one of our primary heating and cooling centers. The 87.4 KWdc system is projected to generate 89, 200 KWh/ year. It will cover the center roof and create a canopy over the adjacent parking lot. The battery storage will provide flexibility and maximize use of solar energy adding to the cost savings and decreasing reliance on the grid. It will support ConEd's GridRewards program, reducing use of power during peak demand times for an anticipated energy savings of $9, 812 per year. Installation of the solar panels and battery storage will directly benefit users of the Senior Center, 72.4% of which are low to moderate income residents.

Sustainable Westchester is launching a new Solarize campaign and Irvington has signed on.

The Waste committee launched a video competition in the school for students to educate each other on how to properly sort materials in the cafeteria. The school has managing to secure compostable trays in the bid with Aramark, and set up compost bins in the cafeteria, however the waste streams continue to be mixed together. Education is needed. The winning videos will be seen by all middle and high school staff and students. Kids would, ideally, film before school ends, edit over the summer and submit by September 15^th. Know any students with filmmaking flare? Please help to get the word out. Guidance can be found here.

We are rebranding from the Green Policy Task Force to the Irvington Green Team. We prefer to highlight the growing camaraderie, fun and games. 

Speaking of gamifying solutions, I am happy to share that Irvington Zombies was a huge success. 

As part of our Climate Adaptation work, the Irvington Green Team identified gaps in our planning and will be working with the Emergency Response team (police, fire and emt) to update the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan later this year. In preparation for Irvington Zombies, we created an Emergency Protocols document for residents and set up a Vulnerable Persons Registry (please share this with anyone you know who might need help in an emergency). We also created an Irvington Neighborhoods Networks Map, dividing the Village into zones based on natural geographic designations and self-organized communications channels, which is being updated as residents provide feedback. Does your zone reflect your neighborhood? Find all of this and more at IrvingtonGreen.org/climate/emergency-preparedness

We had 48 registrations with interest from 17 neighborhoods resulting in 7 teams. Teams were encouraged to complete tasks through May, listed here, which focus on self-organizing for resilience. A handful of neighborhood networks have emerged and begun to map out their populations’ vulnerabilities and resources and disseminate emergency preparedness materials. And the work has only just begun. The next game is tentatively planned for mid October with more theatrical haunted zombie shenanigans in mind. Want to get involved?

Thank you to the core Green Team crew who helped pull this together - Juliette, Bruce, Kamran, Blaine, Lisa, MJ, Anne, Jasena, Chris, Todd, Laird, David and Ilene! And thank you to our teenage killer zombies! It is as much a pleasure to engage the community as you volunteers.

You can see the full write up and photos by scrolling down to our past events here. And see the Hudson Independent article here. The Rivertowns Dispatch piece will be out soon.

Yours,

Charlotte Binns, Irvington Sustainability Director
and the Irvington Green Team