Follow Up on the News
A single-assessor
referendum soundly defeated by voters two years ago won’t be coming
back.
And at least one pay phone in the Route 28 corridor will stay, owing it
seems to some corporate arm-twisting by County Exec Michael Hein, with
the added benefit that Verizon may actually now consider locating a cellular
transmitter atop the still-vacant tower at Glenbrook Park.
Those were the highlights from September’s town board meeting, a
3 1⁄2 hour epic now playing regularly on cable channel 23. There
were presentations, a 20-year service award to Dennis Frano from the Ambulance
Department, along with a letter of thanks from Belleayre. County Public
Health Coordinator Eleanor Tracy reported on the H1N1 Flu virus, saying
we should wash hands frequently, get the regular seasonal influenza shot,
and keep kids out of school for 24 hours after their fevers subside.
There were concerns expressed by many about how we’ll all fare,
individually and municipally, in the cutrrent economy, and loud warnings
of worse times to come.
But the biggest presentation, and the subject that drew the most pent-up
resentment, was the condition of Route 28. Present to discuss the issue
in detail were county legislators Brian Shapiro and Don Gregorius, together
with County Planning Director Dennis Doyle, who chairs the group responsible
for planning the use of transportation funds.
Doyle explained that between January and June, three “final”
lists were submitted for funding stimulus projects under the President’s
ARRA, including requests for $13 million to repave 28 from Rt. 375 to
the Delaware County line, all as part of about $85 million requested for
highway projects countywide.
“We programmed for $22-25 million,” said Doyle, noting that
the actual amount available for highways turned out to be $18.2 million.
“Where’d the money go? The short answer is it wasn’t
there. “
Of the available funds, $2.8 million went for the repaving of Route 28
between route 212 at Mt. Tremper and Rt. 214 at Phoenicia, with the balance
of the ARRA funds going to highway projects in Gardiner and Saugerties,
and a major bridge replacement in Kerhonkson. As to why one section of
28 was prioritized over others, Doyle explained that at about 8,000 cars
per day, traffic between Mt. Tremper and Phoenicia was about twice the
volume it was further west in Shandaken, and that all the other projects
funded were higher volume roadways than 28 and in worse condition.
“The (Ulster County) Transportation Council will continue to push
for additional funding for Route 28 repaving,” said Doyle. “But
there are enormous needs in infrastructure and little funds to match.”
“People in the western part of the town are underserved, “said
Gary Gailes, calling the road condition “a serious hazard”
and noting “you’ve got a lot of angry people around here.”
“We can’t continue to live with this kind of highway here,”
added Al Higley, who owns the roadside produce stand in Mt. Tremper, with
customers using the state roadway for parking.
In response, Gregorius explained that although they’ve been trying
very hard to find funding for repaving the whole of Route. 28 through
the county, “We can’t fix it from what we do in the legislature.”
As the discussion wound down, Doyle also touched on the county’s
looming cash shortfall, now projected at $8 million for next year based
on lower-than-anticipated mortgage and sales tax collections. But he also
explained that county officials are hopeful that additional federal stimulus
money may soon become available for expanding broadband service via alternative
new technologies to some of the county’s more remote areas, including
the western portion of Shandaken.
In other matters, the town’s Recreation Committee chair, Heather
Roberts, announced that $7,200 had been raised by Opera in the Park and
other summer fundraising events toward the installation of a $14,400 Starclimber
play structure for the Parish field in Phoenicia. To complete the purchase,
the board agreed to allocate $1,200 still available from the town’s
Parish Field fund, $2,000 from the current general Recreation budget,
and $4,026 from Good Neighbor funds supplied by NYC DEP in 1998. The structure
is expected to be installed this fall.
Roberts also spoke of other planned Rec. Committee undertakings including
youth athletic, adult recreation and outdoor education programs, and asked
that anyone interested in helping with these and other projects attend
their next meeting, October 7 at 6:30 at town hall.
As for next year’s town budget, which we will go into more detail
about in our next issue, Supervisor Peter DiSclafani said he still needed
to review things with the town’s accountant, but that he was looking
at “about a 2 percent increase” in expenditures for 2010.
DiSclafani’s proposed budget will be presented at a public hearing
set for Monday, October 5 at 6PM, prior to the next town board meeting.
Of the major expense categories, the only one which drew negative comments
was a possible 3% salary raise for all town employees. Subsequent to the
meeting, DiSclafani said he and the board had opted to remove elected
officials from those receiving salary increases next year.
If finalized in the two percent range, next year’s spending increase
would be the town’s lowest since the mid 1990’s.
In other business, the board voted to return $2,100 in water service overcharges
to Ernest Fudge of Phoenicia, billed for service over a number of years
to non-existent trailers in a trailer park. Also, Shandaken Historical
Museum director Mary Herrmann presented to the board a completed grant
application seeking repair funding for the former school building in Pine
Hill.
The Town board next meets on Monday, October 5, at 7PM.
“…And
as the school board sits only a few windows down in the library,”
Kocher said, “I know we walk today in silence, that our message
was heard loudly.”
In a separate interview, Corey Cavallaro, President of the Onteora Teachers
Association, said, “We need to bring attention to our cause that
the board is refusing to come to the table to negotiate in a good faith
manner.”
He explained that the board has not been involved in “negotiations,
mediations or fact finding sessions up to this day.” Following mediation,
the union and administrators had one meeting with a fact-finder as appointed
by PERB (Public Employment Relations Board). Details of fact-finding can
be made public within five days after that the report is submitted.
According to Labor Relations Specialist Jeffrey R. Benton, the district
is not even close to reaching that goal. For teachers in New York State,
there is no such thing as binding arbitration. He said only police and
firefighters can submit their issues to a neutral representative and that
person decides what the contract should be.
“Public employees don’t have that in New York State,”
he said, adding that everything is about the “collective bargaining
process.”
Onteora Schools Superintendent Dr. Leslie Ford explained, in the regular
meeting, that the board has not met with the appointed lawyer yet and
will decide in the next couple of weeks on what route to take. She said
the board has been in negotiations, but when asked about direct talks
with the union she said, “The board has been involved through its
negotiating team, which would be Victoria (McLaren), myself and the lawyer.”
The board would need to decide if it wants to get directly involved, according
to Ford, but to date has made no decision on sending members to the table.
During the board meeting, school board president Laurie Osmond said, “As
most of you have seen, we had Onteora teachers picketing outside. I just
wanted to say we thank them for being here, we thank them for what they
do and we all hope that we can get any kind of contract disputes resolved
very, very quickly.”
During the regular meeting part of the evening Sept. 8, the board unanimously
chose Tom Hickey and Rob Kurnit as the two new members who will fill the
seats left vacated by Michelle Friedel and Richard Wolff. Hickey and Kurnit
were the only two who presented themselves before the school board and
were asked a series of questions by trustees. Both have been involved
with the school district for several years.
This was Hickey’s third and successful attempt to become a trustee.
He is a resident of Shandaken, has two kids in the Middle/High School,
and volunteers for school functions. He also sits on the Shandaken Zoning
Board. He would like to run for school board when his seat is up in May.
His background experience is in business, financial consulting and music
composition. He supports the arts but also makes note of fiscal responsibility.
“I think there is a point where you have to make a decision to make
the education we give our children the best we can afford,” he said,
“as opposed to the cheapest we can afford.”
Kurnit has lived in Woodstock for 18 years and has attended board meetings
and other board related forums regularly for the past four years. He is
a fine woodworker and cabinetmaker. He is interested in a run for school
board in May and said this was a way to get his feet wet.
“I think these are difficult times in many ways,” he said.
“I would like to see us do what is best for the kids and that is
really my main interest.”
Kurnit added that he believes that with such a large district, it is important
to maintain local schools and does not support centralization.
The school board accepted the resignation of district secretary Elizabeth
Sopata, who allegedly stole a sum of money (possibly exceeding $9,000)
from the Extra Curricular Account, monies raised by school groups. Ford
was not sure if Sopata was arraigned yet because there was a mix-up on
the location, but said if it did not happen already, it would soon. Sopata
is charged with, third degree grand larceny, second degree forgery and
second degree falsifying business records.
Is Belleayre In Limbo?
At the same time, private
advocates of Belleayre Mountain have again started crying for action
on the state-owned ski center, suggesting that Gitter’s project
and the 60-year old resort need not be kept together as a single economic
development engine… and again asked why no federal stimulus dollars
have been coming to the local winter sports attraction.
It all started with the September 15 release of a letter from seven
environmental organizations giving Gitter and his development company
60 days to complete a 1,200 acre land transfer to the state or be considered
in breach of the 2007 Agreement in Principal, brokered by former Governor
Eliot Spitzer, that essentially settled a series of major legal obstacles
against the giant development.
Gitter’s spokesperson replied, in a same-day press release, that
Crossroads Ventures welcomed the environmentalists’ call to hasten
the land sale’s completion, and hoped to finish the deal even
sooner than the 60 days ultimatum.
This past Monday, September 21, Joe Kelly of the Coalition for Belleayre
sent out a press release calling for the state to complete its long-awaited
Unit Management Plan for Belleayre and proceed with renovations and
growth at the state-owned facility.
But later that same day, NYS Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith
Enck reiterated a statement by Gov. David Paterson made last week that
Belleayre should not expect any funding for the coming term, given the
state’s financial straights.
The land transfer in question, put into jeopardy by the Albany officials
statements, was the key to the environmentalist’s signing of what
has come to be known as the Spitzer AIP, which promised to drop major
adjudication battles over a long list of issues and tie-in state investments
to publicly-owned Belleayre Ski Center. The key, though, was Gitter’s
promised sale of the eastern half of his properties to the state.
Earlier this past summer, representatives of Crossroads Ventures expressed
public worries about drops in the state’s cost offer, at drastically
reduced prevailing rates, for the 1200 acres in question. The issue
came up when attorney Anthony Bucca asked Ulster County, via it’s
legislature’s Public Works and Capital Projects Committee, for
a deed to county-owned railroad property as a means of increasing its
property values. At the time, Bucca made a direct threat that, should
the state’s purchase offer stay low, the developers might have
to renege on their plans to drop development on the eastern portion
of their holdings and maximize profitability through subdivision and
other means.
The September 15 letter to Gitter came signed by directors at the Catskill
Center for Conservation and Development, the Natural Resources Defense
Council, the New York Public Interest Research Group, New York Trout
Unlimited, Riverkeeper, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers and the Zen Environmental
Studies Institute. All had been part of a coalition of national, state
and regional environmental groups that had come together as interested
parties for the project’s SEQRA review process, which eventually
saw over a dozen issues be set aside for adjudication.
At the signing of the Spitzer AIP on September5, 2007, everyone talked
about construction on the proposed resort starting within a year, following
completion of Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements on the part
of the developers and the state, including substantial new climate change
predictions and mitigation for both.
“We believe that the failure to complete a contract for sale of
this parcel to the state, or to a recognized land trust, within the
next 60 days, would constitute a breach of the letter and the spirit
of Agreement in Principle,” noted the letter.
Requests to Gitter’s office for comment, as well as his firm’s
top legal staff in Albany, were answered within hours by a press release.
“For its part Crossroads has in good faith done everything in
its power to expedite the land transfer process contemplated in an Agreement
in Principle (AIP) signed over two years ago by these same environmental
organizations, along with the State and City of New York,” it
read, after noting the letter received that morning and the difficulties
involved in land transfers for “18 separate properties, as well
as the fact that the State has been under severe budgetary constraints
the last two years.” “It is and remains Crossroads’
intention to consummate the land transfer as quickly as possible, recognizing
that every day of delay is both costly to Crossroads and undermines
the spirit and intent of the AIP.”
Later, when asked to elaborate on the release, Crossroads’ Project
Consultant Gary Gailes added that, “Crossroads does not consider
the 60 day time period cited in their letter as an ultimatum but rather
as a spur to all parties to move the process forward. It is my personal
judgment that this matter can be settled in a matter of days, not weeks
or months.”
And what about that other element involved in all the deals… the
long-awaited SEIS, which Enck had earlier said was being held up on
the developers’ side, and not the state’s.
“I think the most important issue for Crossroads has been to make
every effort to respond to the many questions raised during the project’s
scoping session,” Gailes wrote in an e-mail received on Sept.
16. “While this has taken a considerable amount of time, Crossroads
believes that a much better project design has evolved from the process.”
Meanwhile, Kelly’s Coalition release claimed that the state is
using the delays in the resort review process to delay the release of
a Unit Management Plan (UMP) for the ski center, as well as needed improvements
there.
In a separate interview, Kelly noted that the Governor’s remarks
about not being able to add any funding to Belleayre for the next two
years was “unacceptable.”
Enck, who helped prepare the AIP after chairing the talks that first
brought 12 environmental groups to the table with Gitter (five never
having signed the AIP), said Monday that the State remains committed
to the agreement, but it would have to now take longer than anticipated.
The issue, Enck said, is that there are no funds in the current funding
cycle to pay for either any Belleayre work or the purchase of the 1200
acres. Nor is any expected in the next state budget. Therefore, the
state does not feel any need to rush to prepare its end of the plan.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to honor the AIP,”
she added. “Slow and steady wins the day.”
As for the idea, which Kelly has repeated, that a hastened completion
of the UMP would pave the way for federal stimulus funds to be used
to begin construction at Belleayre now, Enck said that would not happen.
She pointed out that the stimulus money was and will continue to be
used for safety-related projects like bridge and road repairs, not ski
lodges.
“Not that that’s not important, but there are other priorities’
she said.
Meanwhile, on the evening before the 60-day threats rose and were answered,
it the Chairman of Ulster County’s Public Works and Capital projects
Committee, Kingston legislator Peter Loughran, introduced a resolution
strongly supporting the construction of the Belleayre Resort project.
But after discussion amongst committee members as to whether the matter
was appropriate for them to consider, the motion was withdrawn and referred,
instead, to the County’s Economic Development committee.
The earlier bill before Loughran’s committee regarding the railroad
crossings, meanwhile, hasn’t come up again since it was first
introduced and tabled months ago. Crossroads has since requested that
the $500 it paid to have their request heard be returned.
Which it has been.
“Two weeks ago,”
he said, “175 of us walked. Tonight, 300 of us have marched.”
Kocher explained that the teachers have united with the “common
goal to get what is fair and what it right.”
During the time of their march, the school board was in executive session.
The teachers are going into their second year without a contract and
both unions have gone to a third party fact finder through the Public
Employment Relations Board (PERB). To date OTA has had one meeting,
while a scheduled second meeting was cancelled. ONTEA announced two
weeks ago that it would be seeking a third party for mediation due to
stalled meetings.
Corey Cavallaro, the President of OTA, was asked in a separate interview
if the school board’s recent move to change legal representation
was a positive step. He had no opinion either way, but said, “Getting
to the table is a positive sign.”
During the board meeting public comment section, Cavallaro stood with
seven teachers who represented the negotiating team. Cavallaro said,
“As you are aware, the Onteora Teachers Association approached
the district on several occasions to continue negotiations in good faith,
but we have been met with silence.” He invited the board to meet
them at their new crisis center located directly across the street from
the High School.
“The OTA negotiations team is prepared to stay through the night
tonight to create a successor agreement should the BOE choose to re-start
negotiations,” Cavallaro stated.
The OTA will be having grand opening of their crisis center on Friday
September 25. The pubic is invited from 3:30 to 7pm. It is across the
street from the High School on Route 28 in Boiceville.
In regular business during the meeting, Onteora Director of Transportation
Dave Moraca presented maps of elementary school boundaries and the density
of population. The board has been exploring ideas on redistricting as
a way to alleviate crowding issues at Woodstock Elementary.
Board members assured jittery parents who may be concerned that their
children might be forced to another school that they are not re-drawing
boundaries or redistricting any time soon.
“Everything that ended up being discussed in public, redistricting,
really came about because class size,” said trustee Tony Fletcher.
“How do we best even out the district that’s got anywhere
from 13 to 28 children in a particular class… I think that’s
what were looking at.”
Moraca said that Woodstock and West Hurley carry the largest population
of kids.
“The bulk of Woodstock/West Hurley students live in the town,
with Woodstock as our most urban area,” Moraca said. “I
wouldn’t exactly call it urban but that’s where the bulk
of the kids are.”
Phoenicia carries the largest undeveloped landmass, but lowest population
of children, he added. Woodstock is shared between three elementary
schools. It is also split between three school districts — Onteora,
Kingston and Saugerties.
Woodstock’s two first grade classrooms are at their maximum capacity
of 25 children per class. New children coming into the first grade had
to attend other schools in the district. Phoenicia elementary currently
has one grade six classroom with 28 kids, but does not have a cap.
“I wanted to point out that we have a guideline of 23 for the
lower grades, and 25 and 27 for the upper grades,” trustee Anne
McGillicuddy said. “Why, then, was a class of more than 27 allowed
to exist?”
The district policy does not dictate maximum classroom size, nor do
regulations. It only gives a suggestion of low, medium and high range.
School board president Laurie Osmond suggested adding an amendment to
the policy.
“If the board wants to amend existing class size policy, we can
do that with the policy committee,” she stated.
Setting concrete limits on class size maximums will be discussed at
a later date as the board gathers more information.
Killian Mansfield loved
origami, and was taken by the ancient Japanese legend that promises
that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish,
such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. So the word went
out-- over facebook and twitter, through email, on the phone-- send
cranes. Make them and drop them in a box at the West Shokan post office.
Or send them to the Mansfield’s house. Just keep folding. For
the past few months, while his cancer took a greater and greater toll
on his already frail body, there were crane-folding parties for Killian,
a thousand teeny-tiny black cranes in an origami ball sent from Australia,
families on vacation, all folding madly. A thousand? That was for weaklings.
Tens of thousands. Yes, that’s the way Killian lived.
How can you explain a family so generous that they let a whole community
mourn with them? Barbara, Phil and Cally Mansfield (Cally writes this
paper’s Kid’s Corner) let Killian’s death come into
our lives in the same way Killian did--- fiercely and with purpose.
Always a presence when his family owned the Olive General Store, Killian
had a sense of humor and a sense of style that held him to this earth
way longer than anyone could imagined.
In the year before his death, Killian was hard at work on his amazing
album, Somewhere Else. With performances by Levon Helm, Dr. John, Kate
Pierson, John Sebastian, Todd Rundgren and others, it showcased Killian’s
spot-on ukulele playing, with the proceeds going to the Killian Mansfield
Foundation, which will help children with cancer get alternative therapies,
like acupuncture, reflexology, and aromatherapy.
But the memorial--- ah, what a day. The sun shone on those cranes, and
inside the church there were tears and laugher. But mostly laughter.
There was music, just the way there always is at the Mansfield’s.
A dozen or so people spoke, remembering Killian’s humor, his love
of music, those hats and sneakers, the orange ukulele case, and farts.
Yes, farts were a recurring theme, reminding us once again that while
cancer took him, Killian was still a kid.
Afterwards, those inside the church were joined by hundreds of others,
and we walked the mile to the cemetery, singing all the way, surrounded
by friends, cranes, and Killians’ spirit.
At the cemetery Cally spoke, people put even more cranes on the uke
case, the Mansfield’s tried to hold themselves together. And then
we walked back to Davis Park and partied all night. Bands played, food
kept coming, people who hadn’t seen each other for years danced
til their sides hurt. And really, isn’t that just what Killian
would have wanted? (Donations can be made at Killianmansfield.org)