Follow Up on the News
Edelman, who replaced Gabriel Buono at the Assistant Principal position after Buono took the helm as principal of Bennett Elementary School following Laurie Cassel’s resignation (she also went to BOCES), will start his new job in December. Currently, former interim superintendent Jack Jordan has been serving as the district’s interim high school principal. Edelman worked for the Beacon City School district for ten years as a psychologist and coordinator for the pupil personnel service. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY New Paltz, Masters of psychology from Marist College and a certificate of advanced study in education at SUNY New Paltz. More on his plans in our next issue…
Still No Budget In Sight
According to Town Clerk
Laurilyn Frasier, the proposed budget remains in the preliminary form
that it was set at on October 10th.
The package, called a preliminary budget, outlines spending that’s
slated to go up $265,106 from this years $3.7 million budget, or approximately
a seven percent increase. That, however, is not the projected tax increase
because, according to Supervisor Robert Cross Jr., it is too soon to
tell.
He claims that key elements of the budget formula which would greatly
impact the amount to be raised by taxes are still unknown.
Cross, a Republican who is not seeking re-election, told reporters that
the audit of projected revenues and existing fund balances has not been
completed. Both usually offset tax hikes. This year, for example, $570,000
left over from the 2006 budget was used to offset taxes that property
owners contribute.
It remains unclear why that information is not yet available as it has
been in the past.
Cross promises to have that information at least in time for the November
8th public hearing on the budget proposal. The hearing is set for 6:30
pm at Town Hall and immediately precedes the 7pm town board meeting
when the board is expected to adopt an official budget plan for 2008.
At a recent meet the candidates session, many of the hopefuls running
for town board said they felt the budget could be reduced.
She said events unfolded
quickly starting around 10 PM, when she and her husband Herry’s
dog, a Terrier named Digger, began to bark outside after being let out.
As she went to investigate, the bear attacked the dog about 30 feet
from the house. As the dog, which wasn’t injured, managed to break
away, the bear turned and charged Pearlman. She was knocked to the ground
and the sweatshirt she was wearing was ripped as if clawed.
Although she was knocked to the ground and suffered some lacerations
to the head, she was not seriously injured. Pearlman and her husband,
both Emergency Medical Technicians, own and operate the Terrace Farm
Nursery on Old Plank Road, just east of the Phoenicia business district.
Following the incident she was immediately treated at the scene by her
husband and later checked into Benedictine’s emergency room for
required rabies shots.
Although stiff and sore following the incident, Pearlman said she is
otherwise OK. She said she is not sure if it was due to the bear or
the fall she took
Monday night, due to the attack, the State Department of Environmental
Conservation live trapped a bear on the Pearlman’s property, but
neither DEC officials nor Pearlman think it was the bear that attacked
her.
The trap will be reset. The bear caught will be destroyed and tested
for rabies.
.Although the altercation lasted only seconds, Pearlman made it clear
that it was a harrowing experience that left her, and Digger, badly
shaken up.
“I was scared,” she said. “I didn’t sleep all
night afterwards.”
At the time of the attack, the bear did have an escape route she said,
and was not cornered by her or the dog.
“It happened so fast…something came flying around the side
of the house and we collided…as soon as it knocked me down it
turned and left,” she said.
After the attack, the bear remained in the immediate vicinity of the
house for the entire night, apparently foraging for food. On the two
preceding nights a bear, presumably the same one, had broken into the
feed room of their barn, ripping a heavy door from its hinges to get
to a 50-lb bag of dog food and some horse feed.
The Pearlman’s, who operate a small farm on their property, believe
the animal to be female, possibly 300 to 400 lbs, most likely with two
cubs. It is believed that the bear caught Monday night is one of them.
According to DEC bear specialist Matt Merchant, the incident appears
to be the first such bear attack on a human in our region since a 2002
incident near Ellenville where an infant was fatally mauled after being
taken from a porch by a black bear.
Merchant said that based on the Pearlman’s accounts, it didn’t
sound as if the attack was predatory but instead a defensive act, with
a mother bear possibly startled both by the dog and seeking to protect
her cubs.
According to Merchant there are probably between 1,200 and 1,500 bears
in the Catskills.
Merchant stresses the importance of activity discouraging bears from
making contact with people, by making that contact with people unpleasant
for them. In addition to removing potential food sources such as birdfeeders
and dirty grills, he says we should yell at them, blow car horns etc,
so that they don’t seek to acclimate to our presence and instead
avoid it.
In a town with a reputation
of unruly public sessions, the civility of the event, led by the League
of Women Voters, did not go unnoticed.
Jane Todd, candidate for town Supervisor, joked that perhaps the League
of should run town meetings. Then again, the current Deputy Supervisor
who insisted on speaking about the town’s need to be lead, rather
than share leadership processes, was also the only candidate to bring
up the idea of negative campaigning… as if she had been expecting
attacks at the event.
Todd was joined by Democratic opponent Peter DiSclafani and Independent
opponent Frank Nazzaro, who is running on his Genuine Shandaken Party
line.
Asked if they had an economic development plan, Nazarro said the town
board should promote business and faulted the current administration
for being “anti-business.” Todd agreed that business has
not been welcome in Shandaken and said that the town should consider
changing local zoning codes if the current ones stand in the way of
businesses.
Asked about public participation in town government, DiSclafani faulted
the current administration for shutting residents out. He promised there
would be more dialogue between the town board and the public. Nazzaro
said government should be open. “I’m going to open it up
100%,” he said.
Todd said she would get resolutions out to the public sooner than has
been the case under current Supervisor Robert Cross Jr., but stopped
short of agreeing with the others about public participation. While
there would be public participation, Todd made it clear that the town
board is also responsible for leadership.
“What the town needs is an enema and I’m just the man to
administer it,” said Nazzaro, drawing the event’s biggest
laugh.
Jack Jordan and Vince Bernstein, the two official Republican candidates
(although Bernstein seems to have gone out on his own for his campaigning).
Democrats Tim Malloy and Peter DiModica, and Independents Lynn O’Brophy
and Jerry Pearlman, all of whom are running for the two board seats
up for grabs this year, were asked to share views on the town’s
pressing issues such as the lack of cell towers, the Phoenicia sewer
question, development, open government and what can be done to make
sure the Onteora School District keeps the Phoenicia Elementary School
open.
The candidate’s responses were remarkably similar given the divisiveness
in town. All agreed that a sewer for Phoenicia is a good idea, but that
New York City should be convinced to pay for it. Town government should
listen to the public, and all pledged to do so, just as all pledged
to do whatever they could to keep the Elementary school open.
Jordan, who was Interim Superintendent of the Onteora school district
last year and is currently acting High School Principal, separated himself
from the crowd on the school issue, saying he would attack any closure
efforts on merit.
“It makes absolutely no educational sense,” he said.
O’Brophy also showed personal understanding of the school issue,
noting that as Director of the local head start program, which operates
on Phoenicia School property, she is very aware of the need for a school
in that portion of the sprawling district.
While all agreed cellular service is needed, only Dimodica and Pearlman
criticized the current plan to build a tower on town property. DiModica
said there should have been a town wide plan for cellular communications
before making a deal on just one tower. Pearlman called the tower plan
“arbitrary” and “a mistake.”
Development was a topic where the candidates spoke more freely. Bernstein
wants to see it happen in the existing hamlets. DiModica fears that
large development now proposed in town may, if built, may set up the
town for stronger restrictions on development elsewhere within town
borders. Jordan noted that there were “legal limits” to
what a town board could do about development. Malloy also felt growth
is best suited in the hamlets and commented how a recent Oktoberfest
at Belleayre Ski Center, in his opinion, took business away from Phoenicia
on Columbus Day weekend… a sign of just how sensitive the local
economy is.
Pearlman mentioned the proposed Crossroads Ventures resort, saying he
did not think the community can support the consequences of large scale
development.
Bernstein spoke about holding listening meetings in the town’s
firehouses and other community centers to draw in more public involvement,
and not less.
All running for town council felt that the town’s 2008 ambulance
budget, slated to increase about $30,000, needed to be reviewed. Malloy,
Bernstein and Pearlman all think the ambulance budget can be trimmed.
Jordan suggested going down the proposal line by line and deciding afterwards.
O’Brophy said it wouldn’t to look for savings but was committed
to making sure the services are not reduced.
For Highway Superintendent, incumbent republican candidate Keith Johnson
noted several times that he was doing the best job he could, and seemed
uncomfortable being faced by the public. Conservative Ken Berrryann
appeared somewhat glib, tending to agree with Johnson and suggesting
chemicals be used to remove snow instead of sand and salt. Eric Hofmeister,
running as a Democrat, spoke about instilling green technology, including
solar panels, at the highway garage and working towards future savings.
For Town Clerk, 20-year incumbent Laurilyn Frasier spoke about her years
serving the town but seemed ill-at-ease addressing any changes for the
future. Her Democratic challenger, Carol Shaleaw, suggested the clerk’s
office doing more public relations to increase Shandaken’s tourism
profile, along with other business-like upgrades she picked up in a
high-power hospitality industry management career.
For Town Assessor, all three candidates seemed uncomfortable before
the public, although Republican John Horn, a former Westchester County
mayor who admitted being “a fanatic” for assessment facts
and figures, spoke strongly in favor of a townwide revaluation of all
properties. Heidi Clark, presently the assessor office’s clerk,
talked about doing a good job, no matter what it entailed. Rotella addressed
people’s needs not to see their taxes going up.
Perhaps the evening’s most telling matter of difference between
candidates, or at least types of political viewpoints, came when one
candidate repeatedly misused the word “Diversified” for
“Divisive.” Combined with several comments about what was
being lost in the demographic changes affecting the town and region,
the gaffe ended up highlighting the sense that for some of the candidates,
change was something to be feared and fought against, whole others it
should be welcomed as part of a community’s lifeblood.
Yet those distinctions never became overt and by meeting’s end,
everyone was shaking hands and speaking about the wonders of democracy.
On, now, to the voting booths on Tuesday, November 6, open from 6:00
am to 9:00 PM.
We’ll be letting you know what happens…
But for now, those transport
modes came together only at a sometimes testy meeting of the Ulster
County Railroad Advisory Board on October 16, where city and county
officials and members of the public and a non-profit group seemed to
have divergent views about how far a tourist train should run into the
city, if at all. But there are powerful incentives to act to bridge
the differences. Literally millions of dollars in federal state and
local funding are being made available to turn the vision into reality
over the next decade. Mike Berardi, the chairman of the advisory board
vowed to move the discussion from theoretical to practical as soon as
possible but the next step is uncertain, though it certainly requires
higher level involvement than the advisory board. Mayor James Sottile,
after the meeting, stressed his support for efforts to turn the railroad
into a tourist attraction. He extolled the potential of linking an urban
hiking trail through historic Kingston with a scenic train ride through
the countryside. He particularly praised a new proposal that surfaced
at the meeting, that would run a classic dining car from a siding near
the Holiday Inn to the scenic vistas of the Ashokan Reservoir, a round
trip of about 20 miles. But Sottile said the railroad belongs west of
Washington Ave, saying Kingston would be better served by turning the
currently little used track bed snaking from the eastern side of Washington
Avenue through midtown into a linear park for everyday use by residents
and visitors for hiking and biking, instead of intermittent use as a
tourist train. Sottile’s idea, though, is somewhat at odds with
the proposal being promoted by the Catskill Mountain Rail Road, (CMRR)
a non-profit volunteer driven group that has leases the track bed from
the Ulster County IDA. The group announced at the railroad board meeting
that they plan to run a holiday excursion train from near the Boice
Dairy in mid-town Kingston out to the siding behind the Kingston Plaza.
They said they hope to run such a train during the upcoming holiday
season. About ten citizens and Ringwood attended the October 16 meeting,
at the same forum where the CMRR presented ideas. They objected to the
potential diesel plume, pesticide use, noise and traffic delay along
Washington Avenue, if a train were to run east of that divide. They
provided board members with a letter dated October 5 from Kingston Mayor
James Sottile, who was not present, to county legislative chairman David
Donaldson. Writing that he has received “numerous complaints”
regarding better potential uses and lack of maintenance of the tracks
by the CMRR, the Mayor’s letter reads, “I write to request
that the [county] legislature dedicate the tracks from within the City
limits from Elmendorf Street to the Holiday Inn as a bike trail and
walking path.” Sottile adds that solution would resolve the complaints
and “enhance the use of the tracks for residents and visitors
to the City of Kingston.” The CMRR now leases the rail road right
of way from the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency, a lease
that expires in nine years. But some in Kingston have pointed out ways
in which the railroad group had failed to meet the terms of the lease,
including falling short of their obligation to refurbish the track bed
at the rate of a mile per year and suggested that the county could get
out of the lease based on those failings. Harry Jameson, chairman of
the CMRR, conceded that shortcomings in fulfilling the lease have arisen,
but said that since he took over as chair of the organization two years
ago, the group has consistently met its obligations. “Welcome
to the new CMRR. This should have happened long ago, but its happening
now,” Jameson said. He expressed support for a joint railroad
and trail project, but said it should not mean tearing up tracks. Berardi,
after the meeting, praised the CMRR for progress in recent years and
said they had shown a new flexibility in working with other stakeholders
recently. And he said that changes may be needed, though he stressed
he thought concerns could be alleviated amicably. “I think we’re
getting close to a critical mass for a decision regarding the lease,”
Berardi said, adding, that while it shouldn’t be severed, “I
do think in a lot of ways the lease has become outdated.” The
October 16 meeting has been set up as a chance by the CMRR to update
officials about their quarter century long efforts to upgrade the old
Ulster and Delaware right of way to run a tourist along the former route
of the Ulster and Delaware railroad roughly 40 miles from the Rondout
in Kingston to the Belleayre Ski Center in the Catskill Mountains, near
the Ulster County border with Delaware County. The right of way is between
33 feet to 66 feet wide, measured from the center of the tracks, or
the rail bed and totals about 300 acres. At the meeting, the dividing
line in competing visions appeared to be Washington Avenue, at the Holiday
Inn plaza. The CMRR wants to create a crossing at the location and the
Mayor and other Kingstonites oppose it. But the seeds of compromise
and the potential for complication all arose at the meeting. Jameson,
of the CMRR, discussed a proposal to bring a class dining car called
the Silver Flyer from its currently underutilized route, off the beaten
track in Arkville, to a new home near the Thruway traffic circle, for
an excursion to the Ashokan Reservoir. He noted that the idea had been
proposed by the current operator of the Silver Flyer, who said that
he had been repeatedly told by tour bus operators that their attraction
was tempting, but too far from the Thruway to be viable. To make it
work in Ulster County would require enough space to turn the Silver
Flyer around at both ends of its run and space enough to park tour buses
that would arrive from the Thruway. But those difficulties are not insurmountable,
in light of current work by Kingston and Ulster County to create what
is being called an inter-modal transportation hub to serve the county’s
mass transit needs. Although it is basically a glorified bus terminal,
broader ideas include linking foot trails and bike trails, providing
parking for cars who wish to park and ride, and in the most grandiose
vision, a way of linking rail. There are no firm plans yet on the configuration,
location or cost of the project, but the possible proximity to a potentially
lucrative tourist train facility would undoubtedly be figured in by
planners. Mayor Sottile extolled the idea of a completed track system
running all the way to the ski center at Belleyare Mountain. “Imagine
waking up at the Holiday Inn, walking to the train, having breakfast
in a dining car traveling through beautiful snowy scenery, right to
the ski slopes, or viewing at the foliage while having lunch and dinner
in a rail car. That would bring people here,” said Sottile. But
he noted that could and in his view should all take place west of Washington
Avenue. And Berardi, the county legislator and chairman of the railroad
advisory board also lauds the prospect, “Could you imagine that
attraction? To me, that sounds utopian, that’s unbelievable, that’s
great stuff. That’s the real deal, especially with that train.”
The idea is surfacing at a potentially fortuitous juncture. The county
has just approved its latest Transportation Improvement Plan which earmarks
about $11 million for the 40 mile stretch of track, citing a recent
study that says it could best be utilized as a combination rail road
and hiking-biking trail. Complication abound, including the sensitivity
of New York City to encroachment on watershed lands around the Ashokan
Reservoir, the narrow width of the right of way and the rugged topography
it traverses. Funding for studies and scoping for the project is slated
to begin with a $500 thousand appropriation in 2010. The first $3.3
million in construction funding is slated to arrive in 2012. The rest
of the funding would be the subject of upcoming decisions for another
TIP, which is updated every two years for a five year planning and funding
horizon. Now, the question is how best to spend the money. “This
is going to kick in a higher level discussion,” said Berardi.
“We’re going to have to get stakeholders together, the city,
the county the railroad and the residents and understand everyone’s
concerns and work to get a solution where everyone appears to get a
piece of the pie. That’s going to take some doing, but that’s
what we need to do.”