State Sen. Pete Harckham met with Peekskill Plaza tenants last week about their living conditions — but he wasn’t the only official there.
At Monday’s Common Council meeting, City Manager Matt Alexander shared he had joined Harckham in meeting with tenants in the lobby of 901 Main St. around 3 p.m. on Dec. 9. He also toured a few of the individual apartments to learn about some of their problems.
“There are still reported drug use and sales going on in the building,” Alexander said. “They have a rocky relationship with their security companies, so they’ve replaced one of the companies, and then getting used to how they use the security companies and how often they use them.”
Some issues tenants reported to Alexander, he said, included complaints of random fees being assessed to apartments on top of rent, staffing only being at the front desk three days a week, mold, billing errors, repair requests not being addressed quickly, and a lack of oversight of the entrances and gates.
“There was a report of pest infestation and I can tell you that our building department has responded very very much to this issue,” Alexander said. “We’ve gone out, we have a list of all the apartments that we’ve been inside and we encourage anybody that is experiencing this problem in an apartment situation to call the whole building department.”
The meeting with tenants had to be held in the building’s lobby due to the community room designated for the meeting being locked by management.
One tenant reported to the Herald that a woman was escorted out of the building in handcuffs on Monday for a drug-related incident.
A spokesperson for the Peekskill Police Department said officers arrested two people at 901 Main St. on Monday, including one for a drug related offense around noon and another for trespassing around 2:21 p.m.
During the meeting Councilman Dwight Douglas questioned when the scaffolding at 901 Main St. would be removed and asked about fines if it’s not removed in a timely fashion. City Manager Alexander said prior to last week’s meeting he met with the manager and owner of the building and spoke about that facade replacement project.
“We have been working with them on making sure that they can get the project going,” Alexander said. “They were not able to get the project bid out with the right dollar amount and so they backed away from the project and they’re restarting that project.”
According to a DPW permit from July, the work at the temporary sidewalk shed was supposed to be completed in October 2024. At the council meeting, Alexander noted the city is interested in the project being completed, but would consider fines if necessary.
Other quality of life reports from Alexander included a new fire inspector recently finishing his training and being able to do work for the city; code enforcement responding to complaints of illegal signs; a reminder about residents and businesses not putting more garbage in bins than legally allowed, and the police department issuing about 330 parking tickets during the first snow weather alert.
Alexander also gave updates regarding some projects: including the launching of tree inventory work, a restroom being prepared for installation at Fleischmann Pier, additional samples and mockups of selected wayfinding signs coming to the council in the upcoming weeks, the Hollow Brook Dam project being 80 percent complete and on hold for the winter, and an active application for a $1 million project at the Paramount Hudson Valley to replace the HVAC.
Leaves all over
Leaf pickup is currently behind schedule and that is because of an issue with the city’s leaf vacuum, City Council members shared on Monday.
City Manager Matt Alexander said the Department of Public Works continued to do citywide bagged leaf pickup.
“The leaf vacuum had to be repeatedly worked on during this year’s leaf season,” he said. “We were about two to three days behind at least every day that we were working. It does look like the city should consider replacing the leaf vacuum. The estimated cost of that would be about $250,000.”
During the citizens desiring to be heard portion of the meeting, Peekskill resident Valerie Eaton asked council members if leaf pickup could increase the amount of times they do leaf pick up.
“There are now mounds and mounds and mounds of leaves on just about every street corner that I turn and it’s just difficult to get around,” Eaton said. “And if I’m on a two way street, forget it. It’s like people have to wait to go because there’s so many leaves.”
Mayor Vivian McKenzie said the city doesn’t just go out once or twice to collect leaves, but that it’s been difficult this season, in part due to the broken vacuum.
“Every street is assigned so they’re out all the time,” McKenzie said. “It’s just that we’re backed up because it has been broken. But it’s not just once or twice, it’s throughout the whole season of leaf collection.”
Peekskill resident Elena Walker also shared with council members that the phone system for Section 8 wasn’t working, preventing callers from leaving voicemail for the staff.
Resolutions, a new judge sworn in, and several food volunteers recognized
A public hearing amending Peekskill vehicle and traffic regulation and parking time limit was approved for Dec. 23.
It was one of several resolutions that were passed at Monday’s Common Council. Other resolutions included several on street closures, accepting a $50,000 grant award for an anti-violence program and workforce development training, and authorizing an agreement with the city and the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership for sustainability consulting services for the year of 2025.
All resolutions passed unanimously with the exception of one to appoint John Paul Cardo to the Historic and Landmarks Preservation Board. Councilman Ramon Fernandez was the only member to say no and declined to comment on the matter with the Herald. Members unanimously voted, however, to appoint Emily Bicht to the same board.
The council also passed a resolution supporting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in their application to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Federal State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program to fund the MTA Metro-North Railroad’s Croton-Harmon to Poughkeepsie signal replacement phase II project.
Mayor Vivian McKenzie, who had a cold, did not vote on any of the resolutions due to having to briefly step away to cough.
During the meeting, Sophia Trott made history by being sworn in as the first African American woman judge in the City of Peekskill. Before taking her oath of office, Trott had requested an invocation; one of her close associates recited a prayer. Trott was joined by her husband, children, family, colleagues including fellow judges, and community members.
“I’m very excited about this position,” Trott said. “I’m very excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the city. I’ve been doing this type of work, been a lawyer for over 33 years, and now I’m going to the next station in life and I look forward to it.”
Trott wasn’t the only person recognized on Monday. Several volunteers who helped feed people during a community Thanksgiving dinner held by the Unlabelled Awards Committee were recognized by the city with certificates.
