Main Street Choices
Everyone, we imagine, would like to see Phoenicia and even
our smaller hamlets thriving. In the warm weather and on the
right days of the week, it does sometimes look that way. But
the truth is we all know there’s an element of the ephemeral
if not the illusional to that appearance. No, this is still
a very difficult place to make any business work week after
week, let alone year after year. The fact we’ve as many
businesses as we do that are hanging in for the long haul
probably says more about the commitment and determination
of our local business owners than about any measure of their
objective success. And everything that says about our local
business community, we think is positive.
Our vision of Phoenicia in the future would be the same as
most people’s and it’s basically more of what
we have now: great shops and restaurants, a lively street
life, and a comfortable place to gather with our friends and
families. Those charms are part of what brought many of us
here to begin with over the years, whether we live in the
hamlets or elsewhere in town. What we’ve seen since
the 1980’s and even before has been an organic growth
in our community that’s reflected exactly what people
said they wanted in the one and only detailed survey ever
done, back in 2000 for one of our Comprehensive Plan committees.
That study told us that overwhelmingly we want Shandaken to
grow but not change. We want a vibrant, hamlet-based economy
that keeps its small town feel. We want to feel safe, keep
taxes low and improve our infrastructure. But above all, people
in Shandaken want to protect our town’s rural character,
its natural resources, and its scenic beauty. And those things
held true regardless of whether people were born here or moved
here, or how they’re registered to vote.
We respectfully remind people of this because it’s easy
to forget how much most everyone’s visions of our town’s
future really appear to be basically in synch with everyone
else’s. And so it’s only within this framework
of basic agreement that our collective and much talked-about
political differences have been shaped. There are, to be sure,
differences in perspective. Most of them, one way or another,
have been framed through our six and a half-year conflict
over the Belleayre Resort proposal, through related, especially
planning issues, and by how these things and a few others
have been handled by our town government.
We believe that period in our town’s history is now
winding to a close. On the other side of that we think, is
a far brighter future for people working together in Shandaken,
with an emphasis where it belongs, focused on hamlet redevelopment.
We think what’s emerging is a picture that’s both
clearer and less tilted than some might have wanted us to
believe. Hardly anyone we think, is still buying the idea
Shandaken’s going to economic hell in a handbasket which
it clearly isn’t. There aren’t enough of us to
fill the jobs now open in town, ask any restaurant owner or
most contractors. Housing remains tight and its residential
market strong, land is scare and prices high. But we do have
a different set of challenges concerning our infrastructure
coming to a head in the near term, and we do need to reach
past our sense of division to resolve them for our collective
benefit.
The most critical short-term issue we’re facing now
is centralized wastewater treatment, something we see as absolutely
essential to Phoenicia’s long-term growth and Shandaken’s
economic future. After months of battling, the Coalition of
Watershed Towns now appears to be joining us in insisting
the City of New York pay for that system’s operating
and maintenance costs. We need to prevail on this and we can,
but it is going to take a more serious and concerted bipartisan
effort than we’ve ever been forced to muster. Still,
muster we must. We leave it to our elected and other negotiators
to determine how, though should ideas run short just give
us a call sometime guys, we’ve plenty to spare.
We also think similar efforts need to be made on behalf of
the future of adequate cellular communications in Shandaken,
now we think, seriously jeopardized by the town’s dreadfully
ill-advised contract with Masterpage Communications. As with
wastewater, this isn’t a political issue but it is one
that’s going to require concerted and creative reworking.
Our view is we’ve now lost three years on getting a
system up, and if one’s finally coming, we want it,
at least, to work.
In the spirit of realism and not biting off more than can
be chewed, these two issues constitute our summer agenda.
We hope you all had a great 4th of July and you’re all
hard at work on your floats for Shandaken Eagle Day. Meanwhile,
let’s get out there, spend some money on Main Street,
and support ourselves by supporting each other. There’s
nobody but us and some visitors to help us do that, and they,
you remember, go home.
BP
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