Village of Red Hook Climate Smart Communities Monthly Report March 2025
The CSC continues to meet monthly typically on the third Thursday of the month - however, in April due to Spring Break the committee will meet a week earlier (April 10th) at Village Hall, feel free to join us! We received updates on the RHHS compost program (currently only in their kitchens). We talked about the Village’s Compost program that will be launching later this spring. And as a quick refresher, we received a grant from the County to start a new food waste drop off/collection site. This will be a 24/7/365 food waste hub - meaning residents will have access to it whenever they want. Residents are urged to express interest now and once the program goes live, you can register for it. After residents register, they will be provided with instructions on how to move forward to officially be signed up with the Village’s compost program. Residents will receive complimentary countertop compost bins, while supplies last. And the Food Waste Hub/Drop off will be in the municipal lot. If you are interested in being informed about this new initiative, please reach out to myself or the Clerk’s office. A subcommittee of the CSC did some research into the Safe Routes to School program itself and what it entails and was happy to learn that the Village had already engaged with an engineer to work on speed limit and particularly a School Zone. We discussed an upcoming “Tour de Red Hook” that is being organized by the Red Hook Public Library - and could be a good chance to do some resident canvassing regarding bike/pedestrian use of roads to and around the schools. Additionally, it is a great opportunity to engage residents about the Safe Routes to School program. In the meantime, they are tasked next with compiling a list of action items to recommend to the Board for consideration prior to moving forward on action items for the CSC program. In March, I attended the CAC Roundtable event hosted by Dutchess County Planning and Development at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Dutchess Campus and a few days later was at the 3rd annual Climate Summit held at SUNY Orange. Both provided great opportunities to discuss with experts in the areas and other municipalities what they are doing to address climate change and any hiccups they foresee along the way, especially with the current federal administration and funding concerns. Additionally meet with volunteers who are in similar taskforces/committees and the work they are doing within their committees/taskforce.
CSC taskforce meetings are open to the public and we are actively recruiting members. If you are interested in joining the task force or just sitting in, feel free to reach out to me or check the Village’s Calendar for upcoming meetings. Our April meeting was moved forward a week due to Spring Break, so we just met; however, we meet the Third Thursday of the month at 4 p.m. at Village Hall - so the next meeting is scheduled for May 15th.
Upcoming events of interest: Film Screening of Legion Monday, April 21 @ 6:30 p.m. hosted by Sustainable Hudson Valley Repair Café - Saturday, April 26 @ RHCC
Tour de Red Hook - Sunday, May 4th Drive Electric Vehicles Demo May 10th from 1-4 at the Red Hook Town Hall