I had a very positive chat with new Mount Pleasant Town Supervisor Joan Maybury yesterday.
I’d called Town Hall looking for an update on the Hawthorne/Valhalla Train Station Meeting held Monday night, which I’d hoped to attend but the bedtime stories with Little G ran late.
Maybury getting sworn in across from her predecessor, Robert Meehan. Image: Journal News.
I was happy to see Supervisor Maybury not only call me back–she doesn’t know me–but call me after 5, which tells me she’s not simply punching the clock.
In fact, I got much more of a sense of “public servant” than “politician” from Supervisor Maybury, who took over the town’s top job when Robert Meehan was appointed to a county job by new County Exec Rob Astorino. (For what it’s worth, Maybury, Meehan and Astorino are all Hawthorne residents, making our dinky hamlet Westchester’s center of power. )
Working with the civic group Mount Pleasant Today, Maybury is making the “kinda dismal” (her descrip) appearance of the Hawthorne station–the sorry state of the old station house, the Exxon Valdez-ian oil spills left behind by the taxis housed there–a priority. The stately grandfather clock, which the town has been raising funds for pretty much since we moved in over three years ago, is going up in May or June, Maybury said.
“There’ll be a rejuvenated look to the area,” she said. “We’ll certainly clean up the building.”
That may include getting the cab company’s storage junk out of the main room and opening it up to the public; Maybury hinted that the town would push Mount Pleasant Taxi to be better, cleaner neighbors or set up shop elsewhere. The town may entertain suggestions from the community as to how to best use that space; a coffee shop or book club were two off-the-top-of-her-head potential uses from Maybury.
The greenery fronting the station will also get a face lift, with rose bushes and other flora. “We hope to see a whole new scape there,” said Maybury. “We hope by August it’s 100% better, and we have plans to make it even better after that.”
Valhalla, meanwhile, is getting 104 new parking spaces. Bids are due back in April, and the town is shooting for September. That lot also has security cams, and Hawthorne’s soon will too.
Maybury gave me all the time I needed, and even threw it back to me–as a daily commuter, she said, what do I want to see done? (No one ever asks me what I want!) I mentioned the busted bike rack, and she said the highway deparment plans to fix it. I mentioned how some sort of sidewalk or paved path connecting the bottom of Bradhurst, going under the highways, to the rear train station entrance on Broadway–it’s currently a muddy and somewhat dangerous shoulder of Rte. 100–would encourage people to walk from the area around Hawthorne elementary school to the train.
Maybury agreed, and said it was going on her to-do list.
Of course, what polititicans–or public servants–say and what they actually do can be vastly different animals. But Maybury encouraged me to call again, and follow up on the issues we spoke about until they’re completed.
Accountability from holders of public office? Maybe it’s the start of a trend.
Nice to know they’ll be fixing up those stations. I don’t frequent them like you do, but I take the train from them occasionally, since they are both close to where I work.
I’m not exactly sure why, but every time I end up at Valhalla I always imagine the bridge at the north end of the platform get painted. The platform is right under it, and a mural over the whole arch would look pretty cool. (Under the bridge, over the platform) Not like it would ever happen, but I always think that when I see it.