Months after holding two public hearings in September and October on limiting restaurant business hours, the Common Council is still determining what they want to do.
At Monday’s meeting, members removed a resolution from the agenda seeking to hold another public hearing on proposed legislation to limit restaurant business hours from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Instead, next week council members will discuss a revised resolution that corrects those hours from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. and makes the law citywide rather than limited to the specific district originally proposed here.
The proposed legislation was brought about in part due to a fatal stabbing in June around 3:40 a.m. and complaints of business owners irresponsibly serving alcohol to rowdy customers in the late hours. Currently the city allows restaurants and bars to be open until 4 a.m.
Police Chief Leo Dylewski said there were a total of 1,413 arrests in the downtown area in 2024, up 400 from 2023, with the majority of them being from quality of life issues.
“We’re having these constant calls, whether they’re issues with people being intoxicated, being loud and obnoxious, noise complaints, altercations, intoxicated people, DWI arrests,” he said. “We’ve had these issues increasing.”
Mayor Vivian McKenzie said they chose 5 a.m. as the opening time to ensure restaurant owners can still make breakfast for people going to work early in the morning and added that she hasn’t seen anything to indicate businesses closing between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. would reduce their incomes substantially.
“I’ve been to several of our restaurants, we found that you can’t get a meal after 10 p.m. in what is supposed to be a restaurant,” McKenzie said. “And every restaurant that is serving alcohol that’s open to two, three, or 4 a.m. needs to have a full kitchen with a full kitchen staff serving a full menu, not a french fry, not a peanut, not whatever, but a full menu.”
During the September and October public hearings, several business owners opposed limiting hours, saying it would punish businesses and customers rather than criminals, as well as decrease the amount of taxes the city collects from businesses.
Deputy Mayor Patricia Riley said in addition to restaurant owners, it was important to consider Peekskill residents who are making phone calls in the middle of the night.
“I’m thinking about our residents,” Riley said. “I think it’s important. As a child that grew up across from a bar my entire life as a kid, those bars were open at 4 a.m. and there was a lot of problems back in the day.”
Councilman Ramon Fernandez, who insisted additional discussion was needed before voting on the resolution Monday, requested more data from the police chief on the quality of life issues at restaurants during 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. and said he didn’t believe the legislation was a solution for all the problems the city has.
“I can mention to you that we have [a] robbery in the parking lot for the church,” Fernandez said. “I mean, this is crazy. We have drunk people in the daytime [who] don’t go to bars. I would like to see [what] the other towns did to control that because it’s almost like a pandemic about the alcoholic people.”
Fernandez compared the June fatal stabbing which was around 3:40 a.m. to another stabbing he said occurred a week later around 11:30 p.m. The councilman didn’t believe the legislation would be a solution to these issues. (Editor’s note: In an email to The Herald, Fernandez noted the incident he referred to actually occurred in early July. The Herald has not confirmed any details of the second stabbing incident described by Fernandez.)
Chief Dylewski said he was present back in 2003 when the original law for delis in the downtown area was made in response to a man being murdered in front of a deli back when they were open 24/7.
“Did it solve all the problems at Peekskill?” Dylewski asked. “No, but it was a tool that we used. It helped us and it helped us a lot. It controlled for many many years a lot of the issues that we were having in the downtown area.”
Fernandez said an officer who was around the same period told him after the city went forward with that local law, the issues went back instead to the residential area. Dylewski said he did not recall that.
Mayor addresses concerns about Downtown Revitalization Initiative
Several complaints about “ongoing delays and lack of communication” from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) marketing and branding funds prompted a response by Mayor McKenzie at Monday’s Council meeting.
“We prefer to address the rumors directly and take concerns very seriously,” McKenzie said.
Last week Peekskill resident and social media consultant Chloé Wareham-Gordon posted a sample email on social media that called for transparency and updates on marketing and branding funds, and encouraged other residents to write to city officials. Her post noted the urgent need for a cohesive marketing strategy.
“With businesses in Peekskill continuing to close their doors and foot traffic dwindling, we cannot afford further delays in utilizing these funds effectively to support our community and attract visitors,” the sample letter read.
The letter called for an update and timeline of the $60,000 branding project, clarity on the signage grant program, the release of the contract and payment details for those managing city social media accounts, and an audit of those social media analytics.
Mayor McKenzie said that the DRI wayfinding signage work is fully funded and is not impacted by marketing and branding changes. She added that the city is working to move forward with the branding initiative and will soon have news about the selection of a firm.
“Properly vetting more than 90 proposals requires time and effort,” McKenzie said. “We want to get the selection right. We want to assure you that the marketing and branding work was undertaken following a competitive procurement process.”
Back in October 2023, the city hired Weinrib & Connor to film and produce videos, design a logo, and create a branding and marketing strategy. However, after months of work, the city ended their work with the firm and compensated them for their work. McKenzie said the city expects to have a new firm develop a city logo and brand ready by the spring.
“We too are eager to attract tourists and customers and strengthen civic pride in Peekskill,” she said. “So for all those letters that have gotten received saying that we need to do an audit and so forth, please know that the city is on it and that we are working according to state laws and rules and keeping the city secure in this procurement procedure.”
Following Mayor McKenzie’s address of the letter, Wareham-Gordon created another sample email responding to the mayor’s comments and requesting further clarity and next steps on the marketing strategy.
Mayor says winter parking rules should be “plastered everywhere”
On the evening of another winter storm, council members discussed giving some relief from winter parking rules prohibiting cars from parking on most streets overnight.
According to City Manager Matt Alexander, city staff have been reluctant to advise winter parking rules be significantly changed due to a need for city emergency and plow vehicles to navigate streets limited by snow and ice.
Other possibilities mentioned included looking for locations where one side of the street can be used for streets which have sufficient space for emergency vehicles and plows to move, having winter parking allowed on one side only for streets wide enough, and approved ADA parking spaces be legislated with an alternate side of the street ADA parking space.
Mayor Vivian McKenzie said one of the issues they needed to address was signage due to several residents’ grievances and confusion of not knowing all of the rules.
According to Police Chief Leo Dylewski, at every main entrance into the city is a sign that states winter parking is in effect from Dec. 1 to April 1, and no parking is allowed on any city streets unless it is designated. He added that there is only alternate side of street parking if there is a sign.
“I think we need to have that posted on our website,” McKenzie said. “It needs to be in places where people can see this because a lot of people don’t know… In general, the rule needs to be plastered everywhere so that people know.”
Deputy Mayor Patricia Riley also asked if it would be possible to include a notice to residents on a bill that everybody gets. Councilman Brian Fassett proposed putting the notice on the city’s newsletter and social media accounts.
Dylewski said that at the beginning of every snow season for about the first ten days there is a grace period in which the department does not issue citations and instead puts 5,000 fliers a night informing residents of the parking regulation changes starting on Dec. 1.
Further conversation about placing more signs in the city, expanding winter parking, is something that the Department of Public Works has to be involved with to go forward, Dylewski said.
A full winter parking map is available here.
City Planning seeks to formalize Peekskill Arts Council
Planner Peter Erwin proposed a law that would formally establish the Peekskill Arts Council (formerly the Peekskill Council on the Arts) and act as an advisory board to the Common Council on matters concerning public art.
Duties include advising public art work, establishing an inventory of all public art work, maintaining an accessible application process for new art proposals, fostering collaboration in Peekskill’s art community, and recommending actions to increase the city’s budget for public artwork.
Per the memo, the Arts Council shall consist of nine members appointed by the Common Council, with a minimum of five living in Peekskill, and with the council able to appoint up to two members between 16 and 21. Though the council already appointed members to the board last year.
For six months, the city worked with those board members to draft a comprehensive set of municipal art guidelines from scratch, Erwin told the Herald in a statement Wednesday.
“These rules will inform how we promote artists, maintain artworks, and fundraise going forward,” Erwin said. “The local law is to ensure that we maintain the Peekskill Arts Council in perpetuity.”
Erwin said the guidelines developed and local work will be similar to how boards like the Historic & Landmarks Preservation Board functions.
“It was very helpful to appoint the board members early, given their expertise, so they could have input on the guidelines and the local law,” Erwin said. “The board members are volunteers and we met once per month over the six months to develop the guidelines.
Several council members voiced their support for the arts council. The city is seeking to set a public hearing on the proposed local law on Jan. 27.
City of Peekskill designates official banks for 2025
The Common Council unanimously voted to authorize a list of 11 official banks for the City of Peekskill to use in 2025.
The list of banks included Wells Fargo Bank, Webster National Bank, M&T Bank. It also included Signature Bank, a former New York City bank shut down in March of 2023.
Comptroller Toni Tracy confirmed to the Herald the inclusion of Signature Bank was an error and was supposed to be updated to Flagstar Bank, which acquired loans and branches from Signature Bank.
