Tag: tarrytown

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–finalDownload

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

Photo credit: NYS Senate Media Services

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 evictionDownload

Making the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail Welcoming to Pedestrians and Cyclists

Mayor Brown, Lesley Walter, and Dan Convissor (of Livable Tarrytowns) on the OCA on October 5.

On the morning of Saturday, October 5, 2024, Tarrytown Mayor Karen Brown joined Lesley Walter, President of Friends of The Old Croton Aqueduct, Robert Lee, Assistant Manager of Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, and members of Livable Tarrytowns’ Old Croton Aqueduct (OCA) working group, for a walk along the OCA trail. The trail is important for many reasons. Chief among them is that it is a well-used route for students and their families walking to and from the Washington Irving School and the John Paulding, middle school, and high school campus.

Beginning at East Franklin and Broadway in Tarrytown, the group headed northward to Bedford Road in Sleepy Hollow. Along the way, the group stopped at each street crossing to evaluate it and consider measures to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. Below we outline Livable Tarrytowns’ suggestions for improvements.

The first stop was Elizabeth Street. The intersection needs three improvements:

  1. ADA conforming curb cuts on both sides of Elizabeth Street;
  2. a painted and raised crosswalk; and 
  3. a “daylighting” of the northside of the crossing area, with a 15-foot clearance on either side.
Elizabeth Street, looking northward to the OCA.

The group then proceeded to Neperan Road, a two-way street that sees a good deal of traffic. Of particular concern is the high speed at which many vehicles come down the hill as they head toward Broadway. This is concerning not only for people traveling along the OCA trail, but also individuals coming to and from nearby Neperan Park, many of whom cross Neperan Road. As such, a broader set of interventions are needed. They include:

  1. a 3-way stop sign at Altamont and Neperan to force vehicles to slow down at what is a blind curve;
  2. a painted crosswalk that connects the curb cut at Altamont and Neperan to the entrance at Neperan Park;
  3. the installation of an ADA curb ramp at the access point of Neperan Park;
  4. a painted crosswalk with signage on Neperhan at Grove Street;
  5. a painted crosswalk with signage at the OCA crossing and a curb extension or bump out on the north side; and 
  6. the removal of the two parking spots immediately adjacent to the OCA trail entrance on the north side of Neperan.

Hamilton Place was the next stop. Participants in the group identified three measures that are needed:

  1. a painted crosswalk, along with signage, connecting the two sides of the OCA trail at Hamilton; 
  2. an ADA-conforming curb cut on the southside of Hamilton; and
  3. the prohibition of parking on the southside of Hamilton within 15 feet of the OCA trail (see the red vehicle in the photo below). 
Hamilton Place, looking southward.

After Hamilton Place, the group continued northward to McKeel Avenue, a street of major concern for area residents. It was near the OCA crossing where a vehicle struck and killed Mr. Anthony Napoli on August 4, 2022. A crosswalk, signage, and ADA curb cuts are already in place on McKeel (see photo below). Nonetheless, further improvements are needed–not least because of the width of the road and the fact that pedestrians must cross two lanes of traffic. Given these factors, curb extensions or bump outs are needed on either side of the crosswalk. Also necessary are measures to slow down vehicular traffic, particularly at times when the sun makes it difficult for drivers to see the road. Possible measures include: a narrowing of the road, chicanes, and/or speed bumps.

McKeel Avenue at the OCA.

Cobb Lane, a very steep and narrow street, was the next stop. Despite many pedestrians using the street to access the OCA, the various schools on the TUFSD campus, Patriots Park, and other points on Broadway, there is no sidewalk or barrier to protect them. Here are two changes that could improve matters:

  1. the painting of a 5-foot wide “sidewalk” (with some sort of raised edge) along the north side of Cobb Lane from the OCA to Broadway; and
  2. making Cobb Lane from the OCA to Broadway a one-way street.
Cobb Lane at the OCA, looking toward Broadway.

Finally, the group went through the campus of Sleepy Hollow Middle School and Sleepy Hollow High School. Because part of the school building sits atop the actual aqueduct, the trail goes around the east side of the building. Then, north of the building, because several property owners on Hudson Terrace have blocked the OCA’s right of way up to Bedford Road (Route 448), trail users must travel through a parking lot. Resolving these difficulties requires short term and long term steps.

Short term:
  1. Wayfinding signs at appropriate locations on the school campus;
  2. a dedicated walkway on the east side of high school parking lot adjacent to the baseball and softball fields;
  3. unlocking the  gate at Bedford Road on the east side of parking lot to allow walkers and bikers to access the trail system connecting the OCA and Tarrytown Lakes;
  4. an adjustment of the driveway gate so there is a five-foot-wide passage for bikes, adaptive bikes, and wheelchairs; and
The current driveway gate, as seen above, does not allow for passage of bicycles and wheelchairs.

5. the relocation of the map sign from the school side of Bedford Road (see photo below) to the trail side.

Currently, there is no map on the north side of Bedford Road to indicate to people heading southward where to go to continue on the OCA trail.
Long term:
  1. A raised crosswalk on Bedford Road, with signage, at the north end of the high school parking lot; and
  2. reclamation of the OCA property behind Hudson Terrace.

Livable Tarrytowns will push for these changes and more by working with officials in both Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown as well as with the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns. If you have suggestions for additional improvements, please reach out!

Walking on the OCA trail on October 5, 2024.