'Country's Most Famous Floating Crane' Begins Journey to Hudson

Get involved and stay informed with this round-up of the week's events in our villages.

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter, and check out the events calendar to make sure you don't miss a thing. Have an event you'd like to share with the community? Add to our calendar here.

Monday, Dec. 23

_The town of Ossining board meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in the 3rd Floor Conference Room, 16 Croton Avenue with this agenda including the correction of some budget typos, accepting the resignation, "with regret" of Deputy Tax Receiver Regina Manwaring, effective December 30th, 2013, and "authorizes the appointment of Julie Davis, Ossining, to the full-time position of Deputy Receiver of Taxes, effective January 2nd, 2014, at an annual salary of $43,115."

_A message on Croton sanitation schedule: "This is Marco Gennarelli, Superintendent of Public Works for the Village of Croton on Hudson. This is a reminder that due to the Christmas holiday, the sanitation schedule for [this] week will be revised as follows. If your regular garbage pickup is Monday, your pickup will take place on Monday. If your regular garbage pickup is Tuesday, your pickup will also take place on Monday. This change in the schedule is for this week only. If you have any questions, you can refer to the sanitation and recycling brochure, or call the Department of Public Works at 271-3775."

_Calling all Village of Ossining Businesses! The Office of Downtown and Economic Development is currently developing a catalogue of local businesses that will include a brief description of businesses in the Village of Ossining. If you are a local business in the Village of Ossining and interested in featuring your business in this catalogue: please provide a description that includes the following; a maximum of three sentences; font, times new roman; font size, 12; provided in word format and please send to Ingrid M. Richards, Manager of Downtown and Economic Development, 16 Croton Avenue, Ossining, NY10562, (914) 941-3554 (n), (914) 941-5940 (f) irichards@villageofossining.org by Thursday, January 9, 2014. Be sure to include your contact information in the description. The catalogue will be provided to new residents. This is a great way to inform new residents about the wonderful businesses we have in our community. If you would like to offer a special promotion to people who mention this publication, please include it in your description.

_Don't let the bustle of the season make you overlook that STAR registration deadline and lose your Star property tax breaks. NYS requires every homeowner who receives Basic Star to register by Dec. 31. If you do not register you lose your tax breaks. If you have not received a letter from the state, call (518) 457-236 or apply online at http://www.tax.ny.gov. Note: This does not apply to enhanced STAR which must be applied for every year!

_Kids are home from school - what are you doing with them? Traveling? Hanging out and crafting? Getting them into one of these holiday camps that seems to popping up everywhere? Share your strategy and advice to parents below.

_Left Coast Lifter on the Way!

Forget SantaTracker; how about mapping the route of the Left Coast Lifter?

This weekend, writes the Thruway Authority in their latest "New NY Bridge" update, "one of the country’s most famous floating cranes will weigh anchor and begin its journey, traveling from Oakland Harbor, near San Francisco, to the site of the New NY Bridge project. Named 'The Left Coast Lifter' for its use in the replacement of the eastern span of the San Francisco—Oakland Bay Bridge, the floating crane will be used in the construction of the New NY Bridge.

"A highly experienced crew of mariners will guide the 400-foot-long crane along the West Coast, through the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico, and then up the East Coast before arriving in the Hudson River. The trip is approximately 6,000-miles long and will take between six and eight weeks to complete."

Pretty impressive. Let's hope the tentative, yet still unfunded, plans for a viewing station to come to Tarrytown's riverfront will come soon.

Patch had heard the Left Coast Lifter was closer to our side of the country a while back but one Californian was quick to fact-check, providing this cool shot of the famous crane (above) and this timeline and correction. From David Hindin:

Citizens,

I write as a citizen of the San Francisco Bay Area and a keen observer of the “Left Coast Lifter.”

Despite reports of the giant crane making its way its last assignment completing the rebuild of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, in fact, the Lifter remains berthed in the Oakland Outer Harbor (OOH) at the Port of Oakland, Burma Road Terminal, Berth 7.

Your long wait for the Lifter began with a bogus tweet on 3 Jan 2013 at @NewNYBridge, the Official Twitter account for the New NY Bridge Project:

"Unique Left Coast lifter crane will save time and money. On it's way from Okland Calif. thru Panama Canal."

@NewNYBridge issued an update of sorts on 30 May 13, with this Tweet: "The Left Coast Lifter, one of the world's largest floating cranes, will sail to New York from California this summer."

The Lifter did move locally in July to a San Francisco Dry Dock for some bottom paint but returned to the Oakland berth.

Summer is over and the Lifter is still in Oakland.

David Hindin, Sunnyvale, CA

Stay tuned!

Enjoy your holiday week and stay safe!