At virtually every meeting of the board of trustees, a well-meaning resident suggests that St. Paul's be converted into a new high school or village hall. But, the board of trustees has already looked into both these alternatives, and neither idea has proven feasible. First, the school board (a separate legal entity) has been asked if it would be interested in acquiring the St. Paul's buildings for use as a new high school; and has declined - and for good reason. Trying to refurbish St. Paul's into a modern school while simultaneously preserving its historic architecture would be considerably more expensive than simply building a new high school where the current one stands, and state law prohibits spending more money to preserve a "historic" structure (and place a school within it) than would be spent to build a school from scratch. As for a new village hall, our consultants have advised us that the architecture of St. Paul's is simply unsuitable for village use without major renovations that would impact the fields. Moreover, even offsetting it with a sale of the present village hall, the cost of such a re-fitting of St. Paul's would be unreasonably expensive. Bottom line: Whatever alternatives to AvalonBay there are, neither a new high school nor village hall are likely among them.

The Department of Public Works will start collecting leaves on Monday, Nov. 3. Collections will start in the Western section on a sporadic basis, depending upon the amount of leaves in the street and weather conditions. As accumulation increases, full collection will begin in the Western section on a street-by-street basis and proceed easterly through the entire village. Weather conditions permitting, this route will be repeated on a two-week basis.

We ask that residents observe the following guidelines: Place only leaves in the street. Other items may damage machinery and slow down operation. Do not place leaves on medians and malls as this will kill or damage the grass. For reasons of safety, our streets are cleaned of leaves on a more frequent schedule than are the medians. Avoid parking cars over leaves as this slows our operation considerably, and is also a fire hazard. Each year a number of cars are seriously damaged or destroyed by fire as a result of their being parked on dry leaves. Please do not obscure fire hydrants by piling leaves around them. If you have a gardener, instruct him to place your leaves in the street, and not on the malls. Many gardeners find it convenient to bring leaves in from other communities in which they work for disposal by the village. This practice is prohibited and the Police Department will be issuing summonses.

Last fall the Street Department along with the Parks Department removed 20,000 cubic yards of leaves. These leaves were then turned into mulch and were made available cost free for use by residents and landscapers. This recycling of leaves saves the village thousands of dollars annually in disposal costs. Our combined efforts will keep our village beautiful and reduce waste. If you have any questions concerning our leaf collection schedule, please call the Department of Public Works at 465-4003 or 465-4004.

As a reminder, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 result in two consecutive odd days. All residents with automatic sprinklers should remember to reset their clocks at this time to comply with the village's lawn watering regulations. As a further reminder, the last day for lawn sprinkling is Nov. 30. On a personal note, Happy 13th Birthday to my daughter, Victoria (on Oct. 22)! The next regularly scheduled Board of Trustees' meetings for the month of November are Nov. 6 and Nov. 20. Correspondence addressed to the mayor and board must be received by Oct. 31 for the Nov. 6 meeting and by Nov. 14 for the Nov. 20 meeting to be included with the Board's Communications for this meeting. I encourage residents to periodically utilize the village's website for information regarding the village's operations, as well as items of seasonal and special interest. The address is www.gardencityny.net. Also please be aware that I have a village email address and would be delighted to hear from village residents about their concerns - it is as follows: MayorPBee@gardencityny.net.