Livable Tarrytowns

It’s time to do something about Washington Street

Aftermath of December 15, 2025 crash at Washington and Wildey Streets, as seen through a rearview mirror.

On the afternoon of December 15, 2025, a crash involving three vehicles took place where North Washington Street intersects with Wildey Street.

At around 7pm on the evening of January 13, 2026, a van speeding northward on Washington Street went through a red light at Central Avenue, turned left, struck a pedestrian in the crosswalk, and fled the scene. (The teenage victim, while incurring significant injuries, survived; and Tarrytown police identified and arrested the driver.)

These collisions are, unfortunately, part of a pattern. According to data from the New York State Department of Transportation, there were eight crashes along Washington Street between 2022 and 2025. The crashes, and those unrecorded by officials (the NYSDOT data did not include the crash on December 15, 2025, for example), serve as a reminder of the dangers associated with the Washington Street corridor.

Washington Street is critical for many reasons. It is the major pedestrian thoroughfare that connects Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. On days when the TaSH (our local farmers market) operates, when special events take place in Patriots Park, and during tourist season, use of the street is especially heavy. On a more regular basis, it serves as a crucial point of crossing or access road for children, parents and guardians walking to and from the public schools. It is also important for people going to and from the Warner Library, the Neighborhood House, or C-Town.

Washington Street is also neglected for many reasons. It spans the two villages, allowing each to point a finger at the other. It is hilly, prompting some officials to claim that speed humps would be useless and nothing can be done. And it is used by many drivers as an alternative to Broadway.

Residents of Washington Street and those who frequent the thoroughfare have long expressed concerns about speeding drivers and the associated dangers for pedestrians and bicyclists.

In early 2024, twenty residents of the stretch of North Washington Street between College Avenue and Wildey Street submitted a petition to the mayors of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown calling for safety improvements. “We often see and hear cars speeding by,” they wrote. “Parked cars along the street have been damaged and had their mirrors swiped by speeding drivers. We are sometimes scared driving along the curve because it’s difficult to see what’s coming. We are concerned that we or our children could be hit while crossing the road.”

Sleepy Hollow’s Mayor Martin Rutnya had stop signs installed at the intersection of North Washington Street and College Avenue, but he took no additional action. Tarrytown’s Mayor Karen Brown did not respond at all.

Encouraged by Mayor Rutnya’s modest response, residents submitted a second petition to Sleepy Hollow’s government in June 2025. The petition, signed by 25 residents, requested the implementation of traffic calming measures and a “speed hump” close to the border with Tarrytown “to reduce the incidence of drivers traveling at excessive speed.” Residents also submitted an online petition that included comments such as this one: “In the past two years my daughter and I have both nearly been hit by cars that drive right through the intersection [on North Washington where it intersects with College Avenue]. Many don’t even slow down at the blinking lights. In the evening cars drive right through the lights as well. I know this because I live right at the intersection.”

Since then, in early January of this year, Sleepy Hollow installed stop signs at Chestnut and Washington Streets, while also altering the traffic signal at the intersection so that it is always flashing red. This compels all drivers to stop. The change has the added advantage of reducing the tendency of drivers to increase speed as they approach the intersection to “beat the light.”

Meanwhile, the Village of Tarrytown has done nothing along its stretches of the thoroughfare to address the street’s dangers.

Figuring out what to do about Washington Street is undoubtedly challenging. This is one reason why Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown must work together to make Washington Street safe and do so before someone gets badly hurt.

The good news is, both villages now have professional planners on retainer to assist with such matters.

Below are some remedies that Livable Tarrytowns suggests the villages consider implementing.

Speed bumps and raised crosswalks along Washington.
More stop signs and/or flashing red lights along all of Washington Street (including the intersections with Wildey and Main Streets).
Chicanes—alternating curves or obstacles, like curb extensions, that require drivers to weave left and right and, thus, slow down. (See examples below.)
Beyond these short-term measures, a major makeover of the thoroughfare so that it prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists. One manner by which to do so is to make different segments of the street one-way (for motor vehicles) in different directions, and install a protected, two-way bike lane.
In addition to constructing chicanes that also act as green infrastructure, a major makeover should include the creation of small spaces, perhaps near intersections, with benches for people to sit down and relax. Washington Street should be more than a road for vehicles and people to pass through; it should be a streetscape for people to enjoy.

We call upon all readers to share their ideas, contact their elected officials, and help us work toward solutions for this important street in our two villages.

Seattle, Washington (above and below) shows that chicanes, when designed well, can help beautify streets, in addition to making them safer.

“Neighborism” and the Urbanscape

Protesters gather in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in response to the killing of Renee Good, Jan. 14, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Credit: AP photo.

I first heard Trump compared with Hitler during the pandemic. It was a German neighbor who said it. I was horrified and insisted on what I then considered to be important differences. I am a German translator and at the time had been working on preparing primary source documents related to the Holocaust for a database maintained by the German Historical Institute. The terrorizing of people identified as foreign, which has driven people into hiding for fear of being captured on their way to work or while picking up their children from school, leaves me no choice but to agree with my neighbor. Such comparisons have now become commonplace. In the German media, ICE is referred to as a “paramilitary organization.”

But a clear alternative has been shown in the recent events in Minneapolis. In an article in The Atlantic of January 26, the journalist Adam Serwer used the word “neighborism” to identify the shared conviction that has motivated residents’ commitment to protecting people with whom they live side by side. Serwer contrasts this with the xenophobic attitude driving the ICE crackdown across the United States as articulated by the U.S. vice-president, JD Vance. On an October 29, 2025, podcast, the U.S. vice-president said: “It is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don’t want to live next to four families of strangers.’”

In Minneapolis, we have seen the brave actions of people who believe that the simple sharing of space with others—living near to them, the condition of being a neighbor—is the strongest commonality. Frauke Steffens, a New-York based writer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, observes that through the practice of neighborism as Serwer describes it, “community becomes a political concept” that “offers an alternative vision for the future than that of MAGA.”

We are motivated to do the work we do at Livable Tarrytowns because of how it contributes to the political concept of community. Livable Tarrytowns is founded on the principle that the shape of our villages fundamentally influences how we interact with one another. Roads with fast traffic, no sidewalks, and inadequate public transit have long served as physical barriers that enforce the “neighborhood” as a domain of the economically and racially similar. A lack of affordable housing pushes entire neighborhoods beyond the municipal boundary.

Communities are created not through socioeconomic equivalence or by excluding those who are different. Communities arise through acknowledging our differences at the same time as we work to maintain what we hold in common. When we share the sidewalk, we are able to notice one another, exchange a greeting, or sometimes have a longer conversation. Villages that encourage this through their design make us better able to recognize our shared humanity.

In the weeks, months, and years to come, we will do what we can to make our public spaces welcoming and keep our villages safe for our neighbors.

—Elizabeth Tucker

“ICE Out Everywhere” protest in Boston, January 31, 2026. Photo by Kelly Chan (Boston.com).

Remembering Anne White, Celebrating Her Legacy

Livable Tarrytowns lost a great friend earlier this month when Anne White passed away.

Anne was a longtime advocate of “complete streets”–at least from the time she moved to St. Paul, Minnesota (in 2003). A former professional photographer and, beginning at the age of 80, a writer of poetry, Anne relocated to Sleepy Hollow in 2016. Over the last few years, Anne was a constant, enthusiastic, and tireless presence at Livable Tarrytowns gatherings. The building of bridges between advocates/activists and village officials was a chief concern of Anne’s.

Anne’s commitment to environmental sustainability and safe streets for all will continue to inspire the work of Livable Tarrytowns. In this way, and in many others, she lives on.

To learn more about Anne, please see these tributes to her in The Hudson Independent and on the website of Sustainable Sleepy Hollow, for which she served as co-chair.

A Crucial and Contested Election for Sleepy Hollow’s Trustees

Sleepy Hollow’s Mayoral and Board of Trustees election this year is contested—with the Sleepy Hollow Democrats facing off against the Unite Sleepy Hollow ticket on November 4, 2025. It is an election whose outcome will have long-term implications for the safety of village streets, the availability of affordable housing, and the general well-being of Sleepy Hollow residents.

Of the Sleepy Hollow candidates, Jared Rodriguez and Cory Krall, both on the Democrats’ slate, responded to Livable Tarrytowns’ recent questionnaire on livability and housing issues. Both showed notable areas of agreement on what direction they believe the village should move in. And both proposed interesting ideas that Livable Tarrytowns believes voters should consider as they make their choices this year.

Trustee Rodriguez, who is seeking re-election, and Candidate Krall agreed on three out of the five Sleepy Hollow intersections that they would most like to improve for pedestrians and cyclists: Chestnut/North Washington/Valley, Beekman/Broadway/Bedford/New Broadway, and Pocantico/Broadway. Both Broadway intersections are encompassed within the Route 9 Project that will shortly produce a final design. The trustees elected in November will play a critical role in determining what portions of that design are built and when. They will also impact what the final designs look like.

On our village-controlled streets, Trustee Rodriguez proposed a particularly exciting solution for the frustrating and dangerous Chestnut/North Washington/Valley Street intersections, He calls for “reimagin[ing] [them] and the park here as a public square. We could leverage these improvements to also expand housing opportunities and transform this triangle into another coveted public space for Sleepy Hollow.”

The proposal calls to mind the Central Square plaza at Cortlandt and Beekman that Trustee Rodriguez implemented during his current term. Public squares were a feature of the original streets of Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow. An example is the original plaza at Tarrytown Station that featured a fountain and spilled into a vibrant commercial and residential area. It’s a reminder that our local representatives have the power to re-envision streetscapes that are currently a hassle and a danger, remaking them into usable and beautiful public spaces that benefit us all.

When asked about why making streets safe for all neighbors is a matter of equity, Candidates Krall and Rodriguez both emphasized that many people who live here simply cannot afford the enormous cost of owning a car. Safe streets matter not only because people should have the choice to walk or bike, but because some people have no choice about doing so.

The trustees elected in Sleepy Hollow will have a lot of leeway to decide whether and how to cooperate with Tarrytown’s trustees to accomplish goals that benefit both villages. Candidates Krall and Rodriguez showed a promising desire to work with Tarrytown’s government in their responses.

Candidate Krall noted that she’s interested in “coordinat[ing] bike lanes and sidewalk planning, particularly on our connecting streets like Broadway, North Washington, and Cortlandt” and “unify[ing] our signage for pedestrians and cyclists” between the villages.

Trustee Rodriguez suggested the concrete step of requiring that Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown’s official transportation committees “coordinate…[to] collaboratively implement projects that benefit both villages.” Livable Tarrytowns strongly supports this type of cooperation. Despite the arbitrary dividing line drawn through Patriot’s Park, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow is one community, and all of us are impacted by what happens on both sides of that line.

Regarding the housing affordability crisis in our villages, the two candidates articulated specific actions they would support. Trustee Rodriguez explained that the village itself can build truly affordable housing on land it owns—and that he would like Sleepy Hollow to directly develop “homes our Village volunteers and other working-class folks can afford and maybe even own. Our fire department, DPW and ambulance corps cannot survive without local folks serving their village.” Candidate Krall similarly stated that she backs the creation of “workforce affordable housing targeted at our Village volunteers so that those who serve in our fire and emergency services department can live in the community they bravely serve.”

In describing their vision for the village, both candidates had some specific proposals that Livable Tarrytowns finds particularly exciting.

Candidate Krall suggests “a downtown revitalization task force that focuses on filling empty storefronts and preserving the culture of our small Village[,]” as well as offering real-time translation services of public meetings—a critical service in a community that is home to many Spanish speakers.

Trustee Rodriguez, who has long focused on complete streets and livability issues, suggests advancing that work by coordinating with other Rivertowns to pursue “efforts like railbus/shuttle operations between commuter rail scheduled departures [and] cross-Hudson ferry service.” One example is the weekend Ossining-Haverstraw ferry service that he previously helped to launch. Enhanced connections among the Rivertowns would expand options for traveling through our region without ever needing to use a car—and could help reduce the crush of motor vehicles entering our community during tourist season.

If Trustee Rodriguez and Candidate Krall emerge victorious, we’ll all have the chance to say hello to them on Sleepy Hollow’s streets and share with them what we think about their ideas for the Village. Both have promised they’ll be walking to more than ten Board of Trustees meetings next year!

Local government impacts our everyday lives in direct and profound ways. So, be sure to show up this year and vote for the kind of village you want to live in!

—Giselle Schuetz

Responses to Livable Tarrytowns’ Candidate Questionnaire

In late September, Livable Tarrytowns emailed several questions to all the candidates running for office in Sleepy and Tarrytown regarding their positions on matters relating to safe streets, housing, and general livability. (Elections in both villages will take place on Tuesday, November 4.)

We asked the candidates to respond by October 14, 2025. We also promised to post their responses so that our readers could be better informed about where each candidate stands on matters central to Livable Tarrytowns’ mission and work.

To view the responses of a candidate, please click on their name underneath their photo.

Sleepy Hollow

For the Village of Sleepy Hollow elections, there are two slates of candidates–the Sleepy Hollow Democrats and Unite Sleepy Hollow. The slates are competing for three seats on the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the position of mayor.

**Jared Rodriguez**, candidate for Sleepy Hollow BoT

Two of the four Sleepy Hollow Democrats running for the Board of Trustees, Cory Krall and Jared Rodriguez, responded to our questionnaire. (Jared Rodriguez also directed us to his letter to the editor in the River Journal that discusses his vision for Sleepy Hollow’s public spaces.)

We received no responses from any of the Unite Sleepy Hollow candidates.

If and when any of them do respond, we will post the response. (The same applies for any yet-to-be-received responses from the Sleepy Hollow Democrats.)

Tarrytown

All of the Tarrytown candidates are running unopposed. Three are running for reelection to the Board of Trustees and one is running for reelection to the position of mayor.

**David Kim**, candidate for Tarrytown BoT

As with the Sleepy Hollow candidates, we will post any outstanding responses after receiving them.

Two of the three individuals running for the Board of Trustees, David Kim and Becky McGovern, have responded to our questionnaire.

**Becky McGovern**, candidate for Tarrytown BoT

The mayoral candidate, Karen Brown, did not directly respond to the questionnaire. So, we have instead published an email she sent us. It lists things accomplished by the Board of Trustees during her current tenure as mayor.

Tarrytown “opts in” to the Good Cause Eviction Law!

Attendees of the meeting September 15, 2025 meeting cheered after members of Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees voted to approve the new law.

The Tarrytown community came out in force to support good cause eviction protections—and the advocacy made a difference!

On September 15, 2025, the Tarrytown Board of Trustees voted to opt in to the Good Cause Eviction Law. Under the new law, landlords can’t refuse to renew a tenant’s lease unless they have “good cause” (such as nonpayment of rent or misconduct toward other tenants), and tenants can challenge rent increases that are excessive under the law’s definition.

A Tarrytown tenant has the protection of the new law if:

1) their building isn’t already rent-stabilized or otherwise subject to other laws regulating rent and eviction;

2) their building was built before January 1, 2009;

3) their landlord does not also live in the building–unless the building has more than 10 residential units ; and

4) their landlord owns more than one rental unit in the State of New York.

Livable Tarrytowns congratulates the advocates who have worked so hard to achieve this new protection for about 70% of Tarrytown’s tenants. We also thank the Board of Trustees for taking this important step in support of more affordable housing and better living conditions for renters.

To see Tarrytown’s version of the law that was passed on September 15, go here.

Why Tarrytown Needs a Strong “Good Cause” Eviction Law

Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees will soon vote on whether the Village should opt into New York State’s Good Cause Eviction Law. The law sets fair rules and clear expectations for landlords and tenants alike. Under the law, landlords must have good cause (e.g., non-payment of rent) to evict someone; it also sets reasonable parameters around the amount of a rent increase at the time of a lease renewal, unless a landlord can demonstrate good cause for exceeding those parameters.

The law has many exemptions. It only applies to buildings built after 2009, for example, and excludes government-regulated buildings, co-ops, and condos. In addition, the law exempts owner-occupied buildings with fewer than 11 rental units and units owned by “small landlords,” a term that individual municipalities can amend to best suit their locality’s needs.

To ensure that Tarrytown’s version of the law is sufficiently strong to protect renters—our neighbors—there are two amendments that are needed. The current draft of the law, which will be up for debate at the public hearing on Monday, Sept. 15 at 7 pm at Village Hall, features those amendments in their strongest form. It is that version of the law that the Board of Trustees ought to pass.

First, the current draft denotes that Tarrytown should increase the rent amount eligible for exemption from the law from 245% of fair market rent (as determined by U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development) to 345%. The amendment will make it harder for landlords to raise rents to avoid the law; it also reflects the continued disparity between the rising cost of living and stagnant wages.

Second, the current draft defines a “small landlord” as one whose New York State real estate portfolio is comprised of no more than one rental property. There are many reasons for doing so:

1. Lowering the number to one increases the number of renters protected by the law.

2. A lower number makes it more difficult for unscrupulous landlords to falsely claim that “good cause” does not apply to them, and easier for tenants to find out if a landlord exceeds the legal limit. (In theory, the law requires landlords to let a tenant know how many units they own, but there is no mechanism to ensure that landlords are honest. Moreover, many landlords, especially large corporate ones, hide their ownership through LLCs, limited liability corporations. Indeed, some landlords have multiple LLCs, making it very difficult for a tenant to know how many rental properties they actually own. There’s no database that provides such information

3. A growing number of LLCs own property in Tarrytown. LLCs now own more than 17 percent of the parcels in the area bounded by Central Avenue, North Washington, Wildey St, and Mechanics Avenue, for example.

4. The growth corresponds to rising eviction rates in Tarrytown: According to data gathered from the Statewide Landlord Tenant Eviction Dashboard, there was a 1500% increase (from 2 to 32 cases) in eviction filings from 2023 to 2024, in housing court. As of late July, there had already been 38 filings in 2025. Those numbers fail to capture the full reality of housing insecurity as most struggling tenants cannot afford the time or expense to pursue legal remedies in the face of problems with landlords and focus instead on finding new housing for themselves and their families.

5. A lower threshold is a disincentive for corporate property owners aiming to purchase multiple properties. It thus provides more opportunities for small, local property owners, who will be more likely to have fairer and more equitable relationships with their tenants and be more community focused.

A strong Good Cause Eviction law will make Tarrytown more stable, more affordable, and fairer for all!

Please attend the meeting of the Tarrytown Board of Trustees at Village Hall—at 7pm on Mon., September 15, 2025, when Trustees will discuss and possibly vote on the law.

You can also write (via email) to the Trustees to voice your support for the draft law.

If you would like a handout version (81/2″ x 14″) of the above to share with others or to post somewhere, please download the pdf below.

Good Cause Eviction handout–final Download

Do you want to help build a nature trail to the Tappan Hill School?

Please consider joining Livable Tarrytowns and the Horseman Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to build a nature trail that will access the Tappan Hill School in Tarrytown. The trail will go from Ichabod Lane (where there is already an accessible entrance) to Rosehill Avenue.

The fun/work will involve picking up trash, clearing brush, and raking the trail. Both young children and older folks are welcome to participate.

The trail-making will take place on two dates: Saturday, May 31, 2025, and Sunday, June 1. On each day, there will be two time slots: 9am – 12pm, and 12pm – 3pm.

If you would like to learn more, or if you simply want to sign up for a particular day and time, please go here (and scroll down to the bottom of the page).

Livable Tarrytowns calls upon Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees to Support “Good Cause Eviction” Law

This morning (May 19, 2025), Livable Tarrytowns sent a letter (see below) to Mayor Karen Brown and the other members of Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees, urging them to opt into New York State’s Good Cause Eviction Law.

At the Board’s meeting in April, economist Brian Callaci presented on what he sees as the multiple benefits of the law. (Video of that testimony is available here.)

At tonight’s Board meeting, opponents of the law representing the real estate industry and landlords will offer a very different take.

The Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on the matter at its meeting on June 16, 2025.

Livable Tarrytowns encourages folks to turn out at the June meeting and to call upon Trustees to follow the lead of municipalities such as Beacon, Croton-on-Hudson, and Nyack by opting into the Good Cause Eviction Law.

2025, May 19 letter to TT BoT re good cause eviction Download

The Village of Tarrytown needs to act quickly to protect students attending the Tappan Hill School

Starting in September 2025, first-graders of the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns will attend the Tappan Hill School. Kindergartners will follow at a later date.

Located on Ichabod Lane in the Crest neighborhood of Tarrytown, the Tappan Hill School is surrounded by busy commuter thoroughfares (Altamont, Highland, Marymount, Rosehill, and Union Avenues, and Crest Drive). None of these streets have sidewalks or bicycle lanes, making them inhospitable to pedestrians and cyclists.

When the school opens, increased traffic in the neighborhood will make the existing situation even more dangerous. For this reason and more, concerned parents and Livable Tarrytowns have been in dialogue with officials in the Village of Tarrytown for almost a year to bring about infrastructure changes that will allow for walking and biking safely in the area surrounding the Tappan Hill campus. Thus far, such changes have not happened.

Only a little more than 3 months remain before school opens in the fall. As such, Livable Tarrytowns is pushing the Village of Tarrytown to implement low-cost, interim solutions by the end of August. The goal is to provide an alternative to transportation via school bus or private automobiles (and clogged roads and increased air pollution) for students and their caretakers.

Such a goal is consistent with the school district’s “Student Wellness” policy. The policy calls for, among other things, the promotion of “walking/biking to school (with proper storage of bicycles), safe routes to school, and ‘walking’ school buses.”

In this spirit, Livable Tarrytowns has proposed the implementation of various measures—ones that are within the purview of the Village of Tarrytown.

One entails the making of “quick-build” walking lanes by appropriating some of the space now fully dedicated to motor vehicles. This would involve the installation of concrete or plastic delineators.

Such changes, by narrowing the roads, would have the added benefit of slowing down drivers. (See image below.) It is well documented that wide roads encourage speeding

There are also things that the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns can do to facilitate safe passage to and from the Tappan Hill School.

Cars parked over the sidewalk at the Tappan Hill School.

One is to widen the sidewalks on the Tappan Hill campus so that they allow for strollers to pass and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Another is the moving of parking away from the edge of the sidewalk. Currently, vehicles parked on the campus often intrude on the sidewalk, creating a hazard-prone situation.

To bring about such changes, Livable Tarrytowns has called upon Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees to hire a planner to propose low-cost, short-term solutions as well as a long-term transformation of the area around the campus.

What can people do to help?

Please email the members of Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees (see the list of members below) and voice support for walkable schools!

Karen Brown <kBrown@tarrytowngov.com>,

Kenny Herzog <kherzog@tarrytownny.gov>,

David Kim <DKim@tarrytownny.gov>,

Thomas Mitchell <tmitchell@tarrytownny.gov>,

Becky McGovern <bmcgovern@tarrytowngov.com>,

Effie Phillips Staley <EPStaley@tarrytownny.gov>,

Paul Rinaldi <prinaldi@tarrytownny.gov>.

And please look out for future notices from Livable Tarrytowns as our campaign to ensure safe pedestrian passage to and from the Tappan Hill School continues to unfold.