Newsbriefs

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9/27/2007

Climate? Bah!
New York State officials are hard at work preparing a blueprint for the buildout of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, despite growing reports from world climate scientists that winter snow in the Catskills is likely to be a thing of the past within 20 to 30 years.
Known as a Unit Management Plan, the blueprint must reflect the details of the agreement reached this month between New York State and developer Dean Gitter, who is building a mega-resort with an 18-hole “organic” golf course on the western border of the ski center.
On Monday, September 24, Belleayre Superintendent Tony Lanza said that he was not at liberty to discuss the details of the plan.
“We are working on the UMP right now very hard,” he said, adding that the goal is to have it ready for public review in March 2008.
In the meantime, Lanza has had informal discussions with the membership of the local Food and Lodging Association, but says those talks have not been about the UMP. Lanza, who meets on a monthly basis with the Association membership, said he was only offering his opinion to the group on how the upcoming construction phase of both the Resort and Belleayre’s improvements would impact members.
Under terms of the agreement between the State and Gitter’s development group, Crossroads Ventures, the Trust for Public Land will purchase 1,216 acres of the development group’s holdings on the eastern side of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center and 78 acres on the western side which is the old Highmount Ski Center. Most of the land will, in turn, be conveyed to the state, added to the surrounding Catskill Forest Preserve and designated “forever wild,” as is the rest of the preserve. The 78 acres will be added to Belleayre, which will be upgraded.
Law prevents Belleayre from having more than 25 miles of trails. It now has just over 14 miles. Under the agreement, 9 more miles are planned and would include the two and half miles of trail already located at the Highmount Ski Center.
Joe Kelly, the Chairman of the Coalition for Belleayre, said the Belleayre portion of the deal would make the facility “one of the foremost ski centers in the east.”
Kelly recalled that over a decade ago his Coalition tried to convince the state to purchase Highmount Ski Center but was unsuccessful. The inclusion of Highmount, which he calls “a turnkey operation,” will be a great benefit to Belleayre skiers, he said, but an even more important element of the deal calls for the development of three miles of new trails on Belleayre’s eastern side.
Lanza and the DEC are compelled to produce the UMP quickly. It and the plans for the Belleayre Resort are to be reviewed simultaneously under the State Environmental Quality Review process, something that opponents of the resort project fought for several years ago but were unsuccessful.
In 2004 Lanza made public presentations of a proposed UMP, but later refused to release the details when opponents of the resort insisted that the resort plans must be reviewed in the context of whether or not the resort project would place limitations on the expansion of the ski center.
Lanza on Monday would not say if the UMP he is currently preparing would include any details from the 2004 version.
Another element of the recently-announced Gitter agreement that should interest locals with an eye to the Belleayre expansion is a clause that enables the possibility of skiers sliding directly into the Village of Fleischmanns. A 203 acre Gitter-owned parcel, identified as the “Adelstein property,” has been pinpointed as a parcel that could be used for “passive recreational uses” associated with Gitter’s resort. No lodging would be allowed, but the agreement allows for the construction of ski trails or lifts “for the purpose of providing ski access to Fleischmanns.”
The Adelstein property project is not yet part of the overall resort plan. It would only go into effect once Gitter obtains all the approvals to begin construction of his resort. Which is also when, it turns out, the state would get both the Highmount property and be able to purchase the Big Indian Plateau acreage at just over $10,000 per acre.
Talk about a sticky web of intertwining interests and requirements… No matter no one’s daring to bring up the threat of climate change.

People Say No
Residents in the Delaware County towns of Andes and Bovina have managed to thwart the building of a series of large industrial windmills for the private generation of electricity, with each community’s town boards recently rubberstamping local sentiment, built up after years of grass roots level activism, against character changes to their communities.
The controversial proposals ultimately defeated included proposed commercial wind farms that would have installed massive wind turbines and generated millions of dollars. Individual turbines would have been up to 350 feet in height… and noisy. Public opposition was based on the advent of such industrial structures into a pristine rural area, as well as the turbines propensity for killing masses of birds.
In Bovina, the Town Board ultimately rejected the wind proposal because of strong community opposition to the project. Tom Craveiro, co-director of the Alliance for Bovina, said in a statement that the town was determined to “preserve the scenic, rural and agricultural character” of Bovina.
A similar move in Andes was made after several attempts to close down raucous public meetings filled with wind power opponents led to fears of political retribution and the town board decided to say no to the developments because of public sentiment.
Seems that towns can find ways of dictating their own futures based on shifts in majority sentiment…

Budget Time...
There is no word yet in Shandaken on the proposed 2008 budget, the document that spells out exactly how much taxpayer money gets spent next year and what the money would get spent on. At press time the accountant hired by the town to assemble the budget, which must be in draft form by mid October, was at town hall reviewing information supplied by the town’s department heads and beginning to put that information together in a way that would provide a clear picture of both revenues and expenses. That draft will then be distributed to the town board for review.
“I hope we see something in a couple of days,” said councilwoman Jane Todd Tuesday.
Todd, who is running for town supervisor this fall, said she is not sitting in on the sessions with the accountant because to do so would be premature and time consuming.
“I don’t like going to 10 hour meetings,” she said.
Pete DiSclafani, another town board member and Todd’s Democratic challenger for the supervisor position this election, said he was at town hall while the accountant was at work. DiSclafani said current supervisor Robert Cross Jr. had a brief discussion with him about the budget package, but DiSclafani felt that, as of Tuesday, the information was still not put together in a way to allow him to predict how much of a pinch, if any, taxpayers would feel.
He did say it appears the ambulance department is seeking a $30,000 increase, but that he knew of no other large hikes.
The budget, once prepared, must be adopted as a preliminary budget next month. Then the public and the town board discuss the plan and the town board can make revisions to the package before adopting a final budget in early November.
The total town budget for 2007 is $4.3 million.

The Hotel’s Fate...
Will the Phoenicia Hotel be torn down? Or can it be saved?
These questions remain unanswered this week, or at least unresolved, as the Town of Shandaken has asked the property owner, Richie Stokes, to produce an engineering report showing that the structure, which was badly damaged by fire last month, does not need to be razed because it still can be rebuilt. Town Building Inspector Tom Burt has determined that the Main Street structure needs to be removed, but Stokes has disagreed. Fearing liability issues, the town has warned Stokes that if he does not produce the report then there is no compelling reason to contradict Burt’s decision.

Solar Kingston!
Empire State Development, New York’s economic development arm, announced on September 24 its commitment to provide up to $1.5 million in support of solar-related companies. The money will be available directly to companies that relocate to the Hudson Valley.
ESD will seek input from The Solar Energy Consortium, a public-private partnership designed to foster solar energy research and production in the state.
Vincent Cozzolino, co-founder of The Solar Energy Consortium said the announcement shows the state’s “commitment to addressing the looming energy crisis and the harmful effects of global warming by not only investing in clean renewable power but doing so in a way that will create jobs in the Hudson Valley and across the state.”
Congressman Maurice Hinchey said the state fund, along with the $3.5 million he has secured for the consortium, “will revolutionize the way we all live while helping to save the planet from global warming.”
State Senator John Bonacic said the funds are “an investment that will not only create jobs, but will help create an energy source for the future.”

Park Lark
The Fourth Annual Lark in the Park, an event started by the Catskill Mountain Club as a means of encouraging greater use of the Catskill Park we inhabit, is taking place this year from September 29th through October 8th with more than 20 hikes, walks, bike rides, kayak excursions, driving tours, book signings and presentation, and even a photo scavenger hunt, which are all spread out around the 705,000 acre Catskill Park. All of the events are free and open to the public.
Some of the Lark in the Park activities planned for this year include hikes to Sunset Rock, Vernooy Kill Falls, Diamond Notch, Alder Lake, Huckleberry Point, Giant Ledge, Wittenberg Mountain, Indian Head Mountain, the Blackhead Range, and the Hunter Mountain fire tower; bike rides between Alder Lake and Big Pond, on the Catskills Scenic Rail Trail, and through the rolling hills of Delaware County; a kayak excursion on the East Branch Delaware River; a guided driving tour of covered bridges and a self-guided driving tour of the Beaverkill Valley; the annual Catskill Park Photo Scavenger Hunt; and a Catskill Trails talk and slide show.
Lark in the Park was first organized in 2004 as a way to bring people together to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Catskill Park. A complete schedule of 2007 Lark in the Park events is available online at www.catskillmountainclub.org (click on Activities &Events) or www.catskillpark.org (click on Lark in the Park). Participants should check for pre-registration requirements for each event and call or e-mail the event leaders directly to sign up. For information on travel and lodging in the Catskill region, visit www.catskillregiontoday.com .

Coalition Shift?
The leadership of the Coalition of Watershed Towns unanimously endorsed Hunter Town Supervisor Dennis Lucas to head up the regional advocacy group now that long time Executive Committee Chairman Patrick Meehan has resigned. The decision was made last week when the Coalition’s Executive Committee met at Catskill Watershed Corporation headquarters in Margaretville.
Lucas, a Democrat, has been a member of the executive committee for several years, serving as one of the two Greene County delegates to the group, which represents watershed communities in five different counties. He has a reputation of being short fused in matters pertaining to the City of New York and its regulatory enforcement arm, the Department of Environmental Protection.
Meehan, the Republican supervisor of Greene’s town of Windham, now leaves a vacancy on the committee and will be replaced with another public official from Greene. Meanwhile, the rest of the executive committee, made up of reps from all five counties of Ulster, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and Schoharie, showed united support for Lucas to be the new Chairman.
Lucas has a track record of not agreeing with the stance of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that the Coalition frequently battles. While many disputes between the two groups drag on for years through long discussions and negotiations, Lucas has shown himself to have a different approach in such matters.
As the top official in Hunter, Lucas cut through the red tape last year and took the DEP to court over the recreational use of City owned lands. Lucas wants those lands open to the public in the same way state land is. The courts agreed with Lucas. DEP is appealing that ruling.
After his appointment last week, Lucas told reporters that while his predecessor was inclined to find common ground with the City, Lucas himself was not a compromiser.
In related news, the Coalition has filed a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency over EPA’s issuance to the City of a 10 year long waiver from filtering the Big Apple’s water supply. That waiver, in the making for a couple of years, was supposed to be only for five years. That’s the amount of time used by the Coalition to decide what watershed dwellers would get out of the bargain if the City was granted the waiver from building a filtration system estimated at between $8 and $12 billion to build and hundreds of millions a year to operate.
At the same meeting that Lucas was appointed, the Executive Committee met in a closed door session to discuss how to proceed with the case.

Hospitals Merge
Officials of three Ulster County hospitals have finally signed the master alignment agreement creating a new corporation to over their operations.
The state’s Burger Commission last year called on Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals to join forces and the hospitals later announced that they had reached a joint operating agreement, but the did not call it a merger. The master alignment agreement okayed last week now also includes Margaretville Memorial Hospital.
The hospitals will share nearly $48 million in state money to carry out the state-mandated affiliation of the two facilities, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Richard F. Daines announced on September 20, in advance of the agreement signing at Wiltwyck Golf Club on the 21st. $4.1 million of that will be used to establish a clinic where birth control-related medical matters could be looked after.
The new company will be known as Health Alliance Planning Inc. The affiliation will consolidate some overlapping services and reduce the total number of beds at the two main facilities from the current 367 to between 250 and 300.
The $47.6 million for the local affiliation is coming from a $550 million pool that was set aside by the state to help designated hospitals and nursing homes in New York implement the Berger Commission’s mandates.
A president and CEO of Health Alliance has not yet been chosen; for now the board chairs of all three hospitals will co-chair the new agency. The new organization will ensure that all three hospitals will retain their basic characters and boards.
Meanwhile, the Kingston/Benedictine hospital affiliation watchdog group HealthCare STAT has said that the $4.1 million plan to build a clinic where abortions and other women’s reproductive services would be performed is better than what was originally proposed. But they have added a request that the center be operational before the planned alliance of Kingston and Benedictine hospital is completed.

Housing News…
The number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. last month more than doubled versus August 2006 and jumped 36 percent from July, a trend that signals many homeowners are increasingly unable to make timely payments on their mortgages or sell their homes amid a national housing slump.
A total of 243,947 foreclosure filings were reported in August, up 115 percent from 113,300 in the same month a year ago. There were 179,599 foreclosure filings reported in July. The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages.
Accompanying the foreclosure figures, house prices have generally fallen to their lowest averages in 16 years.
Be careful…

STAR Time
As part of a massive mailing to about 2.7 million property owners across New York State, Ulster County residents who receive the STAR exemption on their school tax bill will receive an application for a new tax relief incentive: the 2007 Middle Class STAR Property Tax Rebate program.
Governor Spitzer’s new Middle Class STAR Property Tax Rebate program was designed to provide property tax relief for senior citizens and middle income families. The rebate arrives in the form of a check and is provided in addition to the STAR relief that was already reflected on school tax bills. The State will calculate rebate checks on a sliding scale based on income and town within each school district. The benefit gradually decreases as income rises. Taxpayers earning over $250,000 are not eligible for this additional new relief, but will continue to receive their current STAR benefit.
Qualifying taxpayers who wish to take advantage of the Middle Class STAR opportunity must complete and return the application by November 30, 2007. Seniors 65 years or older who already receive the enhanced STAR exemption do not have to apply, they will receive their STAR rebate check automatically.
The statewide mailing will be complete by the end of September, allowing people ample time to fill out the application prior to the November 30 deadline. Applicants are encouraged to apply online for the fastest check processing service, but must wait until their applications arrive in the mail because each notice contains a special STAR code unique to the individual property. Filing the application is fast, secure, and free. Once your application arrives, simply go to the Tax Department’s website at www.nystax.gov and follow the directions for online filing.
More detailed information is also available on the website, as well as through the Tax Department’s Call Center at 1-877-6-STAR-NY.

Sexy Emerson?
A federal judge is expected to rule next Thursday, October 4, on whether sexual harassment and discrimination claims by two former employees of the Emerson Resort will go to jury trial in the coming months. The lawsuit, outlined here last year, claims federal and state human rights law violations by the resort as evidenced via a growing mountain of sexually charged depositions and evidence, including a corporate hiring questionnaire asking employees to rate their frequency of sexual relations and their sexual satisfaction.
The lawsuit names as defendants Wright and Margaret Inge, a consultant hired by Emerson Place; as well as Spotted Dog Ventures, doing business as Catskill Corners/Emerson Place; and Kaatskill Payroll Services Inc. The suit does not specifically name Gitter, the sole owner of Kaatskill Payroll Services and one of the owners of Spotted Dog Ventures, as well as managing partner of the Emerson Spa and Resort and of Crossroads Ventures, the development company that has proposed the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park mega-development recently granted a conceptual go-ahead by Governor Elliot Spitzer.
According to recent reports, questions of witnesses have centered on comments about thong underwear, the meaning of the phrase “We need more tits and ass here,” and accusations that former Chief Executive Officer W. Theodore Wright fostered a sexually harassing atmosphere at the resort. The details are contained in legal filings and within the complaint brought by two former employees - Carol Martineau-Lopez and Bonita Benjamin - in U.S. Northern District Court in Albany, as well as depositions from the resort’s employees and owner, developer Dean Gitter.
. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe is expected to hear the case October 4 and decide whether it merits a trial..
Beth A. Bourassa, the defendants’ attorney, said she submitted a request in June for dismissal of the case, which she argued is “wholly lacking in merit.” Her case rests on painting the two plaintiffs, both longstanding local residents, as schemers.

Ulster Tomorrow
Over 200 Ulster County residents are serving as volunteers on the Ulster Tomorrow economic strategy plan for Ulster County. Announced last March as a partnership between the Ulster County Development Corporation, the Ulster County Legislature and the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency, Ulster Tomorrow is “an inclusive plan for Ulster County’s economic future” that is currently matching 15 specific strategic plans with strategy groups made up of a cross-section of the local community that have been meeting since April to devise action plans and to establish “deliverables” for each of the strategies.
The assembled strategy team members met at the Hillside Manor in Kingston on September 18 to give updated reports on the overall plans, working towards a full progress report scheduled for release in November.
The 15 strategies and their designated leaders are: 1. Cultivate a Community of Leaders, 2. Create a Culture of Change and Collaboration, 3. Develop Measured Accountability, 4. Target Assistance to Emerging Businesses, 5. Redesign Service Networks, 6. Streamline Local Permit Review Process, 7. Develop Appropriate Infrastructure, 8. Preserve and Enhance Quality of Life, 9. Recruit a Diverse Business Base, 10. Retain and Expand Existing Businesses, 11. Create a Labor Force in Line with Business Needs, 12. Enhance Travel and Tourist Industry, 13. Strengthen and Maintain Economic Viability of Agriculture, 14. Develop am Advantage in “Green” and Renewable Technologies and 15. Nurture the Creative Economy.

Employed Yet?
Almost 10,000 new jobs were created in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions year over year in August, according to statistics from the state Labor Department. The largest job gains were in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester area with 7,000 new positions. That was followed by Orange-Dutchess with 2,200 jobs, Ulster with 1,600, Sullivan County with 300 new jobs and Greene County with 100. Columbia and Delaware counties both lost 100 jobs.
Labor Department analyst John Nelson Thursday said the numbers bear out that the region is doing well. The private sector job growth rate is 1.2 percent, which matched the national rate of 1.2 percent, he said. “We outpaced just about all other regions in the state with the exception of New York City, which came in at 1.8 percent, and the North Country, which came in at 1.3 percent.”
Unemployment held steady during the same month, with a few tenths-of-a-percent increase or decline in most counties.

Garage Rumble
Calling all Teen Bands in the Hudson Valley… Submissions are again being accepted to enter the 3rd annual regional Garage Rumble, the teen band battle dedicated to promoting and launching talented and musically diverse teen bands from the Hudson Valley, currently in its third year! Eight area bands will get a chance to perform before a panel of music industry movers and shakers, raise the roof at the competition at the historical Bearsville Theater on Sunday, November 11th, from 3-8 pm. Bands will rumble to win the grand prizes of a recording session with Chris Andersen at Nevessa Production and an opportunity to perform live for a November 15th slot on the Hudson Valley’s exclusive music TV show Poughkeepsie Live on Time Warner Cable 6. More super prizes, band gift bags, and backline will be provided by national and local sponsors including Vox, Marshall, Tech 21, Barcone’s Music, Audix Microphones, ESP guitars, Guild Acoustic Guitars, Gretsch Guitars, Jackson, SWR Bass Amplification, and many more! To qualify band members must be 13 to 19 years old (some exceptions may be granted) and have at least one member that is a Hudson Valley resident.
If your band qualifies please submit an audition package including: A recording of one of your original songs in CD, DVD, or cassette format. Please be sure to put the band name and contact info on any format that you submit. This will be evaluated for creativity, lyrics, melody, energy, musicianship and song structure. A lyric sheet. An information sheet including the band’s name; name, age, address, and school, if applicable, of each band member; a contact person’s email, phone, and snail mail address; stage plot and equipment needs; a photo or snapshot of the band, and a $35.00 non-refundable processing fee with check payable to: Gleaming Iris Productions.
Please submit the above by mail to Garage Rumble/Gleaming Iris Productions, 18 Artist Road, Saugerties, NY. All submissions must be post marked by October 26th, 2007. For more info check out www.garagerumble.com.
Get rocking!

Political Brains
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work. Scientists at New York University and UCLA showed through a simple experiment reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information. Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives, and are more consistent in the way they make decisions. Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.
Using electroencephalographs, which measure neuronal impulses, the researchers examined activity in a part of the brain — the anterior cingulate cortex — that is strongly linked with the self-regulatory process of conflict monitoring. The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine. Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this ... should be changed.”
“The results showed “there are two cognitive styles — a liberal style and a conservative style,” said UCLA neurologist Dr. Marco Iacoboni.

Cauliflower!
There will be music, fine crafts, history and lots of activities for children at the Fifth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival Saturday, Sept. 29. But fresh, local, wholesome food in all its glorious variety will be the featured performer at this popular event, which pays tribute to the region’s agricultural heritage while promoting today’s vital Catskill Mountain growers and producers
The flavorful fun actually begins on Friday, Sept. 28, when a special kick-off event, Small Plates, pairs locally-produced foods with the culinary talent of chef Jean-Paul Biasutto at Summerfields Restaurant, Main Street, Margaretville. Chef Biasutto, the former Phoenicia Fire Chief who won top prize in the professional category of the Cauliflower Cook-Off in 2006, will prepare several dishes using vegetables, meats, smoked fish and other Catskills products.
The Cauliflower Festival is sponsored by the Greater Margaretville Chamber of Commerce. It is made possible by the A. Lindsey and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation, Kids in the Katskills, Pure Catskills and community donors, and is supported by the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. For more information, call 845-586-3303 or go to www.cauliflowerfestival.com

Desirable…
“Creating Desirable Communities” will be the featured topic at Catskills Local Government Day Wednesday, Oct. 17 in Margaretville. David Ivan, Michigan State University Extension Director and Economic Development Specialist, will give the lunchtime address at Hanah Country Inn, where the annual gathering will be sponsored by the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) and the New York State Department of State (DOS). Ivan’s presentation will be a lively look at some of the 225 communities he recently surveyed in 10 Midwestern and East Coast states to determine how the most successful ones manage to fill storefronts, capitalize on art and cultural heritage, engage citizens and attract young professionals.
Several morning workshops are also scheduled for Code Enforcement Officers, financial managers and other municipal officials. Topics include Intermunicipal Cooperation in Building Code Enforcement, Enforcement of Zoning and Other Local Laws, Information Security for Municipalities, and Shared Services: Benefits, Examples, Encouragement and Funding. Municipal officials and staffers, planning and zoning board members, economic development coordinators and other interested citizens are welcome to attend. Space is limited for these workshops so those interested are advised to register without delay. For an agenda and registration materials, go to www.cwconline.org/special/gov_day, or call 845-586-1400.

College Aid
A $254,000 grant from the Dyson Foundation will fund scholarships for State University of New York at New Paltz secondary education students who transfer from Ulster County Community College. The program is designed specifically to help alleviate the teacher shortage in math and science within high-needs districts throughout the Mid-Hudson region. It requires that its recipients serve their student-teaching semester in these districts and also agree to teach for three years in high-needs districts and disciplines in the region.
The Foundation awards grants of up to $6,000 to each of six students per year for two years. After all coursework has been completed, the students receive a stipend of $2,000 for living expenses for the student-teaching semester. The first scholarships under this grant will be awarded for students enrolling at New Paltz in fall 2007.
More information on this grant opportunity is available by contacting the Transfer Admissions Office at New Paltz at (845) 257-3200.

Stock Sale…
The Nasdaq Stock Market is selling a nearly 20 percent stake to Borse Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and is taking control of the Nordic exchange operator OMX. In a global stock market shakeup, Borse Dubai and a group from Qatar also moved to become the largest stakeholders in the London Stock Exchange.
But the transactions involving Dubai and Nasdaq could face scrutiny in the United States, where a Dubai-owned company’s plan to manage some U.S. ports previously raised an uproar.
The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. would take control of Stockholm-based OMX while selling to Borse Dubai a one-fifth stake in itself as well as a 28 percent in the London Stock Exchange. Nasdaq had owned a 31 percent stake in the London exchange.
Hours later, the Qatar Investment Authority said it had bought 20 percent of the London exchange _ possibly setting the stage for a battle for control of Europe’s largest exchange, which has fought off a multitude of bids in the past few years and is now nearly half-owned by Middle Eastern groups.
The deals are subject to approval by shareholders and regulators in Europe and the United States. Nasdaq and Borse Dubai said the agreements had unanimous support in both boards and that they planned to “submit voluntarily the transaction for consideration by the U.S. government.”
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, expressed doubts about the deal, saying it “will raise serious questions that will need to be answered.”

Meteor Changes
An apparent meteorite estimated by astrophysicists to have been 10 feet in diameter crashed to earth in southern Peru September 18, leaving an crater 48 feet long and 15 feet deep, and causing an impact large enough to register as a minor earthquake on regional seismographs. The impact site in a remote area six miles from Lake Titicaca and close to the Bolivian border quickly drew large numbers of visitors from nearby villages as well as Peruvian television and other press coverage. According to witnesses, the object made a terrifying sound as it passed, followed by a rain of smaller rocks that lasted for several minutes. Witnesses said the impact crater was partially filled with mud and water, which was hot enough to have boiled for several hours, emitting a strong sulferous odor. According to initial reports from Peruvian health officials, seven police officers were among over 200 visitors to the site treated by local hospitals and doctors and suffering from vomiting, dehydration, and diarrhea. Livestock and other animals were also reportedly affected. Following these initial reports, Peruvian officials said doctors were unable to identify any organic cause of the illness, which they suggested was psychosomatic in origin. As of press time and since 48 hours after the event, no additional news on the phenomenon has been released.

Doomsday Seeds
The Norwegian government is planning on building a $3 million “doomsday vault” on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Sea, which would house 10,000 seeds from various plants in case of nuclear war or sudden and severe ecological or environmental change. As reported by BBC News, the Norwegian government built this bank by hollowing out a cave on Spitsbergen and then putting in as many seeds as possible in the vault, with support from countries around the world. The proposed bank will have top security, blastproof doors and would have two airlocks amount of seeds deposited will depend on the number of countries participating in the project. The bank will be designed to withstand global catastrophes like nuclear war or natural disasters that would destroy the planet’s sources of food. Seed collection is being organized by the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
“What will go into the cave is a copy of all the material that is currently in collections [spread] all around the world,” Geoff Hawtin of the Trust has said. “What we’re trying to do is build a back-up to these, so that a sample of all the material in these gene banks can be kept in the gene bank in Spitsbergen.”

Traffic Changes
Ever since Shandaken developer Dean Gitter asked Governor Elliot Spitzer at a Kingston press event whether there could be a Catskill Parkway and was told not to get too greedy, there’s been much speculation about what a forecast increase in traffic on Route 28 will result in, road-planning-wise.
According to Dennis Doyle of the Ulster County Planning Department, the only thing under consideration right now, as far as he’s heard, is a long-stalled restarting of the process by which the local roadway, which links Kingston with the central Catskills, Delaware County, Oneonta, Cooperstown, and eventually the Adirondacks, gets named a Scenic Byway. This, he said, would bring in new funding possibilities, as well as key aesthetic guidelines for both development along the vital roadway… and any widening of it to four lanes, should that one day occur.
He also said that any such moves would be quite a ways off, due to the complexities of the process involved, and open for full public review and local governmental input.
In other roads business, tthe New York State Thruway Authority announced this past week that an independent traffic consulting firm, Stantec, has revised its traffic growth projections for the Thruway, resulting in projected out-year funding gaps in the Authority’s 2005-2011 Multi-Year Financial Plan. Stantec has attributed the reduced traffic growth projections along the Thruway to the continued historically high gasoline prices.
That, says the Thruway Authority, could mean higher tolls on the superhighway.
Since 1995, the number of full-time staff at the Authority has declined by 453 positions; the Authority will continue to reduce staffing levels in future years. Even after constraining operational costs to a low level, significant operational deficits and low debt service coverage ratios would remain in the out-years of the Plan. As a result, absent substantial reductions to operations and/or the Capital Program, revenue options need to be progressed.
It is anticipated that any preliminary proposal presented to the Authority’s seven-member Board to address out-year gaps will evaluate the Authority’s existing E-ZPass discount programs, as well as the potential for modest fixed adjustments between 2008 and 2011. Any revenue actions would be phased in, allowing the strategy to be revisited should traffic volumes return to previously projected levels or the Authority’s financial circumstances change in any significant way over the next four years.

Environmental…
County lawmakers have set an Oct. 10 public hearing on establishing an Ulster County Department of the Environment. The session will be 7 p.m. in the sixth floor chambers in the County Office Building at 244 Fair St.
Officials said the additional public hearing was needed because changes were made to accommodate authority to the county executive in making appointments to the new department under the new county executive form of government to go into effect Jan. 1, 2009. During a public hearing earlier this month, county Environmental Management Council Chairman John Maley said the department could assist municipalities conduct inventories of natural resources.
Responsibilities of the department are separate from the county Environmental Management Council and would include: Preparing, reviewing and recommending methods of planning municipal projects. It would also prepare open space plans for municipalities; Having a county Planning Board vote on all municipal planning and zoning decisions using open space criteria, scenic byway requirements, and farmland protection mandates; Preparing and incorporating a comprehensive land use and resource plan. It would also provide technical assistance to the Legislature on all planning and construction issues; Educating municipalities on the need and benefit for regional and Inter-municipal planning.
Meanwhile, the Ulster County Planning Board and Environmental Management Council have completed a thorough public consultation and planning process to create a draft Open Space Plan for managing the county’s natural resources. A public discussion meetings, reviewing the Plan, will be held at 7 pm on Thursday, September 27 at the Woodstock Community Center. This will be followed by a public hearing October 3, 6 pm at the Ulster County Office Building, Kingston. For info, visit www.co.ulster.ny.us/planning/ospace.html or contact Jennifer Schwartz at 845-340-3340.