boatingonthehudson.com HOLIDAY 2013 15
described how this allowed the
block and tackles to winch the
bulging basket at the end of the
seine to a point that men could
fling the striped bass up into
the truck, at one time 12,000
pounds of stripers in a single
set!
These are tales of the river in
days gone by, priceless heri-
tage and history, stories that
should be told and retold for
generations to come.
As of this writing, the Board of
the Town Of Ossining has com-
mitted to a feasibility study
focused on the objective of dis-
mantling the historic Ossining
Boat and Canoe Club home and
replacing it with new construc-
tion that would share the space
with a high-end restaurant in-
tended to bring revenue to the
town’s coffers. The Town main-
tains that this is the “best use”
of the space for the town, and
cite flooding, post-Sandy FEMA
guidelines and financial need
as motivation. OBCC members
maintain that the club is de-
signed specifically to withstand
flooding, and point out that, less
than a decade ago, prior Town
Supervisor John Chevrokas vol-
unteered town resources in the
vicinity of $100,000 for structur-
al preservation of the building,
executed by marine engineers
who bolted the physical struc-
ture to the pilings secured at
the bottom of the river. Further,
OBCC members believe that to
demolish the building after Su-
pervisor Chevrokas’ investment
would needlessly squander Os-
sining’s scarce municipal funds,
and destroy a unique piece of
Ossining’s architectural history
and community traditions in the
process.
Also, OBCC members point out,
in 2008, two of the current Town
Board members were instru-
mental in the resolution to de-
clare OBCC public parkland for
the enjoyment and recreation of
the public, not to be devoted to
any other use or purpose what-
soever.
Many of the clubs along the
Hudson River that do not own
their property or that are licens-
ees of property from a local
municipality could share the
same dilemma that now faces
the Ossining Boat and Canoe
Club. It seems that the story is
the same everywhere; as the
value of waterfront property in-
creases, developers or elected
officials who hold the title of
the property try to change it for
financial gain.
What invariably happens is that
public park land and use for
every person is forever lost so
that people in the private sector
can make yet more money.
“Speaking only for myself, in
my opinion, this entire situa-
tion is an agenda-driven matter
that is being pushed through
by a handful of individuals in
local government for reasons
that, truly, are unclear to me,
although I believe they will
eventually become appar-
ent.” says OBCC member and
trustee Meaddows Ryan.“What
we know is that the Town wants
to build a new building on the
land that OBCC has inhabited
for decades in order to bring
a high-end restaurant to the
location. First we are informed
that we will no longer be able
to store boats on the property in
the off-season, despite always
having done so. Next, we are
informed that we can no longer
maintain or make repairs to the
building as we always have.
Shortly following that, members
of the Town Board have been
practically a weekly presence at
the club, looking for matters at
the building that are suddenly
problematic, (despite not hav-
Ossining High School students sing at OBCC’s Veteran’s ceremony
earlier this year
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