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Follow Up on the News

Wastewater Talk

The background of the project was sketched in by project attorney Kevin Young and executive director of the Catskill Watershed Corporation, (which engaged the Lamont firm to assess the feasibility of wastewater projects in Bloomville, Hamden and DeLancy as well as Boiceville), Alan Rosa, explained the options the town can exercise in regard to the company’s findings and recommendations.
The Cobleskill-based firm has a record of adapting to a variety of water-related structures since the 1980s, operating exclusively with state and federal grants and loans. It has, for instance, built treatment facilities in Hobart, Schoharie, Richmondville and elsewhere. It constructed a waste water collection and treatment system at Richfield Springs in 1988 and 1990 and a filtration plant there in 1992. Its expertise extends also to projects like flood area housing rehabs and landfill closures and projects such as improvements to a Wal-Mart distribution center in Sharon Springs which received $800,000 in grants from the NYS Urban Development Corporation and the NYSDOT Industrial Access Program (plus $700,000 in loans which Wal-Mart repaid).
The project is expected to conclude its study phase by the end of August, when details of the proposal will clarify, and enter a pre-construction phase of planning and discourse with town officials and residents. If all signs are “go” by mid-2006, the schedule calls for construction to commence in early July of next year.
The precise type of water remedy deemed appropriate for Boiceville is yet to be determined and decisions on the part of town officials will not enter the flow until after that point.

Second Time Budget

“I promise the district my total commitment, dedication, and ethical outlook on all decisions that will be fair and equitable for the entire district. You have entrusted me with a position on a Board that I am confident I can work for in a very positive way,” wrote former budget opponent and boardmember-elect Rita Vanacore in a letter to local papers (see inside). “At this time, I would like to also offer my personal endorsement for a Yes at the next budget voting.”
Cindy O’Connor, who also came in as one more of the trio of Olive candidates who won seats May 17 in a protest vote against the district’s implementation of the Large Parcel issue (that also took down the proposed budget), similarly pushed for a yes vote on the budget on June 21, to show that the May 17 vote was issue-specific.
“I believe our Superintendent, Justine Winters has worked very hard to come up with a responsible budget and has listened to the community,” O’Connor wrote in a letter that came in after this publication’s deadline. “When was the last time you ever saw $500,000 cut from our budget? Although I know and am aware that many believe more needs to be done I am asking you again for your trust and support by voting yes to the Onteora School Budget on June 21, 2005, and give the new Board of Education the tools they need to get the job you want done.”
The proposed budget represents a 3.6 percent hike over last year’s contingency budget spending figures, and under $100,000 differentiation from what would be implemented should the budget fail again this time around. Winters said this week that she and others at Onteora don’t want to think about what would be necessitated should the district be faced with its second contingency budget in a row.
“We feel that it is a very thoughtful and prudent budget. We really listened to the community,” Winters said. “There would be significant impacts should this fail.”
Voting will be at the district’s four elementary schools. Those applying for absentee ballots must submit applications for receipt by the District Clerk at least seven days prior to the election and vote (June 14) if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or by the day before the election and vote (June 20), if the ballot will be picked up personally by the voter. Completed absentee ballots must be received in the Office of the District Clerk by no later than 5 p.m. on the day of the Election and Vote (June 21). All individuals who have a permanent illness or disability and whose record has been marked “permanently disabled” will receive subsequent absentee ballots without applying for them.

For further information, contact: Jeanne Shultis, District Clerk, Onteora Central Administration Offices, (845) 657-8851.

Following the voting on Tuesday, June 21, at approximately 9:30 p.m., the Onteora Board of Education will hold a Special Meeting to canvas the votes cast. The meeting will be held in the Cafeteria of the Onteora Middle-Senior High School in Boiceville.

First Battlelines Drawn

It’s our process. You have a right to do that. But the budget vote took me by surprise. I have a feeling- and everybody said it election night- the Town of Olive sent a message and I think the next budget vote is going to be a much more positive one.”
Patterson, who was the sole board member to vote against exercise of 2004’s Large Parcel Law option for school districts to redistribute sizable tax
revenues from one of its constituent towns, is considered a swing vote on the newly constituted board. He said that he felt that the budget’s defeat was “the result of a lot of emotion and people saying ‘let’s take care of it once. We know they can put it back up (for a second vote) if they choose.’ But I thought (the budget) would pass even in light of the hard feelings that residents in Olive have for board members because of how they voted with regard to the large parcel (law).”
Asked if he anticipated that the large parcel option would be declined in the next vote, Patterson said he did. Then, emphasizing high emotions on both sides of the issue, Patterson noted that Onteora superintendent Justine Winters was well aware of the sensitivity of the budget’s situation within the debate and that “she had to go in with a very tight budget.”
”She and Victoria Garone, our business administrator, did a phenomenal job of presenting each piece of the budget with extensive detail, like I’ve never seen before,” he said. “It wasn’t just numbers but showing the program cuts and what the school was going to be like next year under that budget. It was very solid work.”
Superintendent Winters also had a positive feeling about the next vote, scheduled from 2 to 9 pm on June 21.
”It was my sense that the negative vote on the budget that we saw on May 17 wasn’t purely a vote on the budget as a stand-alone issue,” Winters said. ”It was part of a bigger sweep of negativity related to the large parcel law.”
Reached near Syracuse, where she was attending a conference, newly elected board member Rita Vanacore clarified her support for a budget revote on June 21. ”I personally don’t feel that the budget is as good as it could be,” Vanacore said, “but I am, personally, going to vote for it. One of the reasons that I decided to run for the board is that I believe that (the budget) has deficiencies- from listening to previous board meetings and research that other people have done on it. I really need to be able to see the cold, hard facts for myself. I want to research how we can spend money more efficiently and for the betterment of education rather than just to try and match budget to budget. ‘Look! We only took it up 3%! Isn’t that wonderful? It may be but I really want to know what’s going on in this budget.” Vanacore said that she wanted to show her constituents in the school district that she didn’t just run for office to negate the large parcel law but because she truly cared about what was happening in the district. She said she also didn’t want the district to lose the state funding a second defeat might eventuate.

Although the trend among Olive residents seems conciliatory in general and favors adopting the budget, it is by no means unanimous and some resentment appears to still smoulder. One active resident, for instance, writes: “I would like to know at some point why the four other school districts that voted their budgets down said they would sharpen their pencils prior to re-vote, and Onteora doesn’t feel it necessary. OCSD claims that the anger will subside by the next re-vote, as if the financial distress of hundreds of people has never entered their mind and does not exist. The other school districts are responding to the very real concerns and needs of the bill payer by focusing on trimming the fat. And there is fat to be trimmed. ”The largest percentage of people that I’ve talked to are saying they will vote for the budget this time because we made ourselves heard,” said Vanacore. “Rejecting the large parcel option had to come before supporting anything else because nobody- including the media- was giving the Town of Olive any credence at all and we needed to band together to show people that we felt it was a dishonest and dastardly thing to do to our town. With that aside, I feel it’s time to focus upon the quality of the education of our children.”

Jazz In The Country

Co-creator of Kingston's successful Wall Street Jazz Festival and founder of the Olive Jazz Choir, Stern is also a pianist who performs locally, nationally, and internationally, composes and records, gives private lessons, and teaches 7- to 10-year-olds in the Kingston schools.
Attracted to the "Wild West" character of the Catskills, Stern settled here after living in New York City, Seattle, Westchester, and various other places. She knew she had the found the house she would buy when she saw the roomy addition to the garage, with a skylight - a perfect music studio. She has been in her Boiceville home since early 2001 and doesn't regret the decision, despite the challenges of making a living as a musician in a rural area.
Keeping her busy currently are preparations for the second annual Wall Street Jazz Festival, which takes place June 25th in the Stockade District of uptown Kingston, from 2pm to 11pm. Last summer's debut festival surprised everyone - including Stern and her co-producer John Bilotti - with its success, as crowds filled the street throughout the afternoon and danced until the last band left the stage. This year is expected to be even better, with top-notch guest artists and support from the City of Kingston, including shuttles from the Rondout. Both Wall and North Front Streets will be closed off, and an audience tent will be erected just in case the weather is not as cooperative as it was last year. "Bring your own chairs!" Stern adds.
The unique feature of the Wall Street Jazz Festival is that, while males appear in the backup bands, all its headliners are female - as Stern says, "mothers in jazz." This year's lineup includes Betty McDonald, Francesca Tanksley, Marilyn Crispell, Rebecca Martin, Sumi Tonooka, Dena DeRose, Erica Lindsay, and others. Stern will also perform - both solo and with the Olive Jazz Choir. She is also a member of Estrella, the hot Latin dance band that will close the show. A wide range of musical styles will be heard during the day, all under the heading of "jazz," giving meaning to the Wall Street Jazz Festival's new slogan: "Where the progressives meet the traditions and all the leaders are women."
The Olive Jazz Choir was born a couple of years ago because, says Stern, "I love voices in harmony." She calls jazz choruses her "hobby," and she has led them at jazz camps and workshops all over the country. The Olive Jazz Choir is open to anyone and currently averages about 14 members, all recruited simply through word of mouth among musicians. The choir is accompanied by Stern on piano, Rich Syracuse on bass, and occasionally by a jazz ensemble, as seen at the Wall Street Jazz Festival. They meet once a week for rehearsal and give two major concerts a year, most recently at the Woodstock Artists Association. "The payoff for me," Stern says, "is I get to write tunes and do new arrangements of standards."
Although she says her "main thing" is playing jazz in small ensembles, composition is a very important part of her life. Stern has 10 CDs to her credit, on a variety of labels both American and European, that contain her own original work as well as interpretations of other composers. "I like to name my tunes by what is happening to me at the time," she says, so that a history of her life is encoded into her music. As her most important artistic influences, she cites Eddie Palmieri, Keith Jarrett, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. But jazz is not her only love. She also plays classical music and has recently taken up the cello.
One of the ways Stern has fun is playing with Estrella, a Latin band with an ever-changing lineup of musicians from around the area. "That's the way a band should be," she says, " - amorphous, always changing according to the gig and the members' availability."
The challenge of paying the bills is partly met by another of Peggy Stern's "hats" - the music teacher. She has taught every level of student, up through graduate school, but the ones she enjoys most are her elementary school students. They have "the most available minds," she feels, and this past year, she has enjoyed writing a lot of music for them to perform. This includes a musical, part fantasy and part science, called "What Happened on Mars," complete with air-bag shaped Martians who remind the hungry Earthlings of marshmallows and almost get eaten up before a peaceful settlement is reached.

Peggy Stern is one of the people that makes our region so well known as a hotbed of world-class creativity. Now that she's here in our midst, does she think about settling anywhere else? "This is my home, " she says. She talks about her love for the greenery, the wildlife, the birds, the quiet, the ease of living that allows you to "concentrate on your own inner workings." And she says, "It's magical to me - the way you never know what the weather will do, and when it does it, it does it with a vengeance. It makes you pay attention!" Unpredictable, fascinating, dramatic - like good jazz and the people who play it.