A good thing to do at the start of every year is to take a walk through town. Have a good look at all the small businesses that make Rye the great place it is. If you’re new to town, you might not know that many of these businesses are older than the average resident – and still thriving.
Many have changed the way they do business and the kinds of services they offer to keep up with the times. They’ve been here in good times and bad, and they’re still smiling.
Starting with this issue, we celebrate all the businesses that have been in Rye for more than a decade.

In a school morning in mid-January, The Rye Record took a tour of Rye High School, accompanied by Principal Patricia Taylor and School Board President Laura Slack and Vice President Ray Schmitt. We walked from class to class to see how serious the overcrowding is and how outdated the science classrooms are, the primary reasons for a school bond.

If Assemblyman George Latimer decides to run for the State Senate seat of fellow Democrat Suzi Oppenheimer, who this month announced she would not be running for a 15th term this fall, former Rye Mayor Steve Otis says “it’s no secret” he’ll run for the Assembly seat. Assemblyman Latimer told the paper he’s doing the “due diligence” and will make his decision before the February school break.

Four months to the day the original $20 million school bond was defeated, the Rye City School District will give it another go. The Board of Education approved a resolution at their January 24 meeting that gives residents the opportunity March 13 to decide the fate of a revised $16.35 million bond.

Despite reservations held by several City Council members, Deputy Mayor Peter Jovanovich is requesting the Board of Ethics once again review the matter of Mayor Doug French’s building violations at the 13 Richard Place residence he rents out, as well as the additional STAR exemption he received on the property for over a decade.