Follow Up on the News
Although there were no municipal races beyond a ballot initiative to bond a financing increase for the Phoenicia Library in Shandaken, which passed easily, the big countywide race for sheriff went solidly for Shandaken’s own Paul Van Blarcum, a former town councilman. Furthermore, although unable to win over enough voters in the widespread 41st State Senate District to overcome the well-funded popularity of longstanding incumbent John Bonacic, county legislator and former New Paltz supervisor Susan Zimet did defeat the GOP candidate as a Democrat in total Ulster County votes, as well as in all individual districts in both Shandaken and Olive.
Zimet lost her overall bid based on large Bonacic margins in Sullivan County, near his Orange County home base, and Delaware County, where the entire county Board of Supervisors came out in his support.
Similarly, statewide races for Governor, U.S. Senator, Attorney General, and even Comptroller all went handily to Democrats, despite past records that saw Shandaken traditionally voting solidly Republican, like neighboring Greene County, and Olive holding enough of a GOP minority to keep it in play.
The only point of electoral contention in either town, it seemed, was the countywide proposition to shift Ulster’s form of government to a new charter system that will involve a smaller legislature and the election of a county executive to oversea day-to-day functions. Although both towns went narrowly for the proposition in the end, as did the county on a slightly wider margin, both Shandaken and Olive saw one district go against the measure.
The plan to increase the amount of funding the Phoenicia library gets from the Town of Shandaken sailed to success with a total of 607 votes in favor and only 310 opposed.
District one voters (Phoenicia) supported the measure by a vote of 283 to 105. District two (Shandaken) also supported by a vote of 105 to 58 and District four (Mt. Tremper) helped usher the increase in with a vote of 122 to 46. Only District three (Pine Hill) which has its own library, failed to support the plan with only 97 voting in favor and 101 voting against.
The Phoenicia Library Association had on the ballot a budget referendum to increase the funding the town of Shandaken supplies the Main Street Library from the current $54,550 to $83,000.
That’s a hike of $28,450. Library officials estimate the average increase to taxpayers will be about two dollars a year each.
Supporters say the library has only received an increase of $4,243 over the past six years.
The national news regarding Democrats, as noted voluminously elsewhere, has seen the House of Representatives and very likely the U.S. Senate shifting to Democrat hands, the latter via razor-thin margins in two states that would likely remain nail-biters throughout the coming weeks. New York State played a large role in both, and appeared poised as of press time to hold significant influence on a national basis over the coming two years.
The race for control of the House ended up being called on behalf of the Democrats with the surprising but hard-fought victory of political novice Kirsten Gillibrand, 39 of Hudson, over incumbent John Sweeney in the district directly to our north. Sweeney had been a major supporter of the controversial Belleayre Resort project being proposed by local developer Dean Gitter, and had recently brought in the federal Environmental Protection Agency to push for approvals of an alternative development plan put forth by Gitter to avoid full adjudication of his plans before the state Department of Environmental Conservation, now shifting to Democratic hands for the first time since 1998. Sweeney had also been instrumental in stalling PCB cleanups of the Hudson River that has been pegged to be paid for by General Electric, one of his major supporters.
Also of key importance, from a local to a national level, was the election of former Woodstocker and Orleans frontman (and singer/songwriter) John Hall to the 19th House District to our south, as well as the replacement of retiring GOP moderate Sherwood Boehlert by Democrat Michael Arcari to our north and west. Not to forget the national leadership of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer in strategizing the Democrats’ win of the Senate, re-elected Senator Hillary Clinton’s efforts at bringing out the vote for her party statewide, and the various New Yorkers now scheduled to gain powerful committee chairmanships and influence in the new Congress.
Statewide, the sweep of all major government positions by the Democrats, led by new governor Eliot Spencer, suggests upcoming shifts in policy towards the region, although how that plays out is yet to be seen, given the Downstate roots of all those elected.
The new county charter, which passed 15,533 to 15,371 outside the City of Kingston and 2,631 to 2,076 within it (both being needed for such a matter), will take effect Jan. 1, 2009, with a new county executive to be elected in 2008 following the election of a county comptroller in 2007. The charter implements a separation of powers between a county executive and a slimmed-down Legislature, and replace the current part-time Legislature chairman’s position as chief fiscal officer for Ulster. The executive will appoint and supervise the heads of each of the county’s departments, making the legislature more of a policy-making body, with approval power for all of the executive’s appointments and expenditures. 21 of the 57 counties in New York are currently under the direction of a charter.
As of press time, Van Blarcum was ahead of former state trooper Kevin Costello 35,409 to 19,548. In 1998, he ran unsuccessfully against current Sheriff J. Richard Bockelmann in 1998.
Bonacic was winning his bid for re-election with a total of 46,325 votes to Zimet’s 33,815 districtwide, with 255 of 291 in. But in Ulster County, his tally was only 18,519 to the Democrat’s 19,443. Early results showed Republicans on track to hold their 35-27 majority in the State Senate, with only a few races showing a possible gain for Democrats in the metro area suburbs. Democrats similarly stayed firmly in control of the 150-member state Assembly, where they held 104 seats.
In Shandaken, voters went for Zimet over Bonacic 584 to 447 on strict Democrat/GOP party lines, and 626 to 555 with Conservative, Independence and Working Family lines included.
In Olive, Zimet took Bonacic 1147 to 447 on party lines, or 1307 to 583 overall.
The Charter passed in Shandaken 438 to 403, with only District Two, Shandaken, going against it 88 to 62.
In Olive, the Charter passed 631 to 625, with District One, Shokan, running 174 to 167 against it and District Two, West Shokan, going 130 to 102 in the negative column.
An Unacceptable Risk...
That determination, expressed in an October 25 letter to US Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Alan Steinberg by Watershed Inspector General James Tierney and his Chief Scientist Charles Silver, is widely understood as expressing the position of the incoming Spitzer administration.
“We write to make clear that we agree with your staff and further to indicate that the development proposed for the eastern portion of the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park poses an unacceptable risk to the quality of the Ashokan Reservoir,” said Tierney. “On the other hand,” he said, “we believe that a properly designed and appropriately sized development project on the western portion of the site…is technologically feasible.” The letter also appears to recommend that the acreage comprising the eastern portion of Crossroads’ proposed project site be acquired by DEP.
Tierney, an Assistant Attorney General jointly appointed by Spitzer and outgoing Governor Pataki, told The Phoenicia Times the position reflects his office’s detailed scientific and technical review previously submitted to all parties in the project’s now 6 1⁄2 year old environmental review. It comes on the heels of EPA’s recent determination to refer the entire project, including a 20% downsizing option proposed by Crossroads in recent months, back to its ongoing SEQRA process for full trial-like adjudication. The developer’s appeal of that decision by state Administrative Law Judge Richard Wissler is still pending.
The critical issue, according to Tierney and Silver, is the danger posed by the project to the waters of the Ashokan Reservoir which they call “the most serious threat to (the city’s) overall water quality.” That reservoir is currently classified as “impaired” by DEC, because of its high level of suspended sediments or turbidity, which Tierney and Silver believe could be significantly impacted by the level of construction proposed for the resort.
According to Tierney and Silver, “turbidity interferes with the effectiveness of drinking water disinfection and assists in the transport of pathogens,” posing a significant public health threat. To keep the Ashokan’s water drinkable, DEP has had to add to it some 24 tons of aluminum sulfate or alum every day, for much of the past two years. This, explained Tierney, is a “last resort” measure to keep the Ashokan’s water usable, and is both complicated and expensive. According to some estimates, he says, every day the City has to add alum to the Ashokan’s water also costs them $65,000 in dredging expenses, just to remove it from Westchester’s Kensico Reservoir, where it settles as sludge now 6 feet deep in many places, and that has to be removed by divers with giant vacuum pumps. “Without this extended alum use,” say Tierney and Silver, “ New York City would have violated regulations that would, in turn, trigger filtration.”
Thus far, the City has managed to forestall filtering the Ashokan’s water, at an estimated $8 billion for the plant and $100+ million annually to operate it. That “Filtration Avoidance Waiver,” or approval from the federal government to continue using the water unfiltered, is expected to be renewed for another five years by EPA early in 2007. But that approval is based on the city’s compliance with, among other things, EPA mandated mitigation measures to reduce turbidity which the proposed resort construction would jeopardize.
Developer Dean Gitter declined opportunity to comment for this story, providing instead a November 1 response letter from Crossroads Ventures counsel Dan Ruzow to EPA’s Steinberg. Ruzow pointed out that the principal source of turbidity in the Ashokan Reservoir is “the operation of the Shandaken Tunnel by DEP itself.”
“We are at a loss,” said Ruzow, “to understand why Mr. Tierney and Dr. Silver decided to share at this time their largely outdated comments... which have been largely superceded by the scaled back concept in design presently being explored with regulatory agencies...We continue to believe that the Belleayre Resort poses no threat to the water quality of the Ashokan Reservoir.”
But for two town board members that shave was not enough. Republican Councilman Robert Stanley was unhappy with a $5000 raise for Cross and he continued to look for answers about Ambulance Department spending just as he did the week prior at a budget meeting on the board.
Democratic Councilman Peter DiSclafani was not satisfied with the explanations used by Cross to defend some spending. Both voted no on the plan.
“I have reservations,” DiSclafani said.
The discussion on the budget, which was also the subject of a public hearing that same evening, was a free wheeling one that lacked any real data. Even a small item like the pay for a town Webmaster ended with more questions than answers. This year the job paid $1200. Cross’s plan called for the pay to double next year. The board agreed to drop it back down after Stanley noted that there was no proof to show why the pay should go up so much, but by the time the budget vote came everyone forgot to make the change so it stayed at the $2400 Cross wanted.
It was easy to forget things at that point. The town hall was alive with news that Shandaken’s ambulance squad had revealed that it couldn’t provide adequate coverage to the town on winter weekends because it had to cover Belleayre Mountain Ski Center instead (see related articlebelow).
The news came out after Stanley questioned the need for a $60,000 amount in the Ambulance Budget to hire more ambulance staff.
During the public hearing on the budget there were complaints about the lack of financial data supplied by the town to the public for review at the only opportunity for public comment on the spending plan.
The proposed budget was available, but it contained no figures from the 2006 spending plan to compare to.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Pine Hill resident Richard Blacksberg.
In addition, the Onteora board of education has started mulling over costs and bond methods as they move forward in reconstruction proposals for the school district’s five buildings based on a recent bond presentation given by Salvatore Pennini of Public Finance Associates. Although the school board has not decided on any of the three plans proposed, or the scope of reconstruction costs, ball park figures for the cost of such efforts are quickly shaping up.
The Meet the Candidate session has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, November 17 at the Onteora Middle-High School auditorium in Boiceville. All in attendance will be given a copy of the candidate’s brief Resume and a Reaction Form to fill in and promptly return at the end of such session. All Reaction Forms will be presented to the Board of Education for their review and consideration.
According to board members, the candidate to be met is Leslie Ford, who is currently the principal and superintendent of a 607-student charter school district in Hanford, California. With a master’s degree in psychology from Chapman University, a master’s degree in educational counseling from the University of San Francisco, and a doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of LaVerne, Ford has drawn deep praise from all board members and is scheduled to spend the entire day before her evening session with the public Nov. 17 meeting district staff and support groups.
Last Spring, the board decided against hiring both Granville schools Superintendent Daniel Teplesky or Cherry Valley-Springfield Superintendent Nicholas Savin to replace the late Justine Winters, who stepped down from the superintendent’s position because of health problems in February, following two years of popular service to Onteora, and then passed away from cancer in May. Peter J. Ferrara, a former Ellenville superintendent, was hired as an interim superintendent but resigned when the board learned about civil rights and special ed troubles he’d encountered at his previous position. Since then former Sullivan County school administrator Jack Jordan, a Pine Hill resident and former candidate for the school board, has served as interim superintendent.
As for the pending repair and reconfiguration issues, Pennini noted that currently it was a good time to finance a building project, since interest rates are relatively low and gave bond figures on two types of building constructions including 31 percent of State aid. Depending on the type of construction to the buildings, interest rates range from 4.10 to 4.25 percent.
A new building or additions can allow up to twenty years of state aid and reconstruction will allow up to fifteen years, Pennini said, explaining new structures in State aid. He said in the past state aid was more tailored to the bonds, but now the state has its own set aid rate.
“For a reconstruction project you will get your aid over fifteen years, regardless of how many years you elect to finance the project for.”
Therefore, Pennini continued, “it is important that we structure the bonds to match the way you’re going to be receiving your rate…we try to match these, one-to-one.”
Reconstruction costs include any type of renovations or reconfigurations to the buildings.
“So what does this mean to my tax bill?” said Pennini. Based on a fifteen-year fluctuating bond chart each town is rated per $1,000 on the assessed value. In the first year, the town of Hurley is rated at $.0194, Marbletown at $.0197, Olive at $.0144, Shandaken at $.0780, Woodstock at $.0215 and Lexington at $.0251. To figure out the total cost in dollar amount, the assessed value of a homeowners property is divided by 1000 and then multiplied by the tax rate shown for each town, times the amount of a bond proposed. This will give an approximate figure of taxes owed yearly for any particular bond.
Using this formula, a rough figure on each town was calculated based on a $200,000 house. If all the district’s buildings were renovated as proposed in Plan A, the estimated cost would be $40 million. Taxes based on that particular years’ rate, a household in Woodstock would pay $172; Hurley $155; Marbletown $157; Olive $115; Shandaken $149, and Lexington $148.
If the district’s buildings were renovated including a Master Plan of separating the middle school from the High school, while adding an additional grade six at the Boiceville site, the total cost estimate is $70 million. Based on a $200,00 home, on that years’ bond rate a household in Woodstock would pay $301; West Hurley $271; Marbletown $275; Olive $201; Shandaken $259, and Lexington $259. Woodstock would pay the highest amount of taxes and this is not including the Large Parcel Legislation, which may also cause a shift in the tax rate.
The school board has not decided on which of the three plans proposed and how much money to ask from taxpayers. Armand Quadrini of KSQ architects wanted to express that this is just a snapshot on how a bond could work.
Pennini replied that his figures tend to be conservative, noting that he found the 4.25 percent interest rate on the twenty year building additions schedule “a little bit high,” while other incentives might possibly come into play to bring the costs down. Interim Superintendent Jack Jordan said if a bond were passed this school year the district may be eligible for an additional ten percent from State aide.
Except for the central campus plan, where all schools would close leaving only the Boiceville site, the Onteora district has no plans to add additional exterior space. If this plan were chosen, KSQ architects discussed an additional wing to the High School in order to extend the middle school beginning at grade five. Costs have not been specifically pointed out for the addition, but the total bond cost for the central campus plan is estimated at $62 million.
Assistant Superintendent for business, Victoria McLaren added that the district currently holds a triple A credit rating from Moodys financial services, an independent credit rating company. This will make bonds easy to purchase.
Having taught herself to play guitar, taken lessons with Cool Jazz virtuoso Lennie Tristano, and studied music at various colleges—Barnard, Hunter, and Bard—she acquired an eclectic taste in music and found herself eventually drawn to the beauties of classical songs and chamber music. Voices of the Valley features pieces written and, in some cases accompanied by, contemporary composers living in the Hudson Valley. Several upcoming CD release parties (see below for details) will give classical fans the chance to hear Woerner perform with artists from the CD, including musical comedian Peter Schickele of PDQ Bach fame, pianist Barbara Pickhardt, who is also conductor of Kingston’s Ars Choralis chamber choir, cellist Susan Seligman, and composer and pianist James Fitzwilliam.
The inspiration for the CD came from a concert Woerner performed in 2000, when she was among the first artists to participate in SUNY Ulster’s artist-in-residence program, created by the late Larry Berk, then director of the college library and information services. (The CD is dedicated to Berk, who passed away on October 29.) The concert showcased local composers Woerner had worked with, including Schickele, Fitzwilliam, Robert Starer, Aurora Northland, Robert Baksa, and Alan Shulman. Audience response convinced the participants to make the collection of songs into a CD.
Recording began in fall 2001, soon after the events of 9/11, adding poignancy and significance to Fitzwilliam’s song cycle Eternity, a setting of five Emily Dickinson poems reflecting on death. Anna Margarita’s Will by Woodstock author Gail Godwin was set to music by Starer, who also lived in Woodstock before his death in 2001. Godwin reads the text aloud on the CD. Woodstock poet Pearl Bond provided text for a series of songs composed by Aurora Northland. Woerner explains, “Pearl wrote extraordinary poems about her relationships with unicorns, which were very real to her. Aurora turned these voluptuous poems into songs.” Schickele’s Three Songs for a Wedding consists of poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and fifteenth-century English poet William Cavendish. “The Cavendish songs are funny—I don’t think Peter can help himself,” says Woerner. “The Rossetti is one of the most beautiful songs I know, about having known a person in another life.”
Originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Woerner has performed professionally in New York City and with local groups such as the Delaware Valley Opera in Middletown and the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. She teaches voice at Vassar College, at Dutchess Community College, and in her home studio. She is a soloist with Ars Choralis and an organizer of Voices for Peace, which has performed songs of protest at Martin Luther King Day in Woodstock, the Rosendale Music Festival, and several rallies in New Paltz.
She recently wrote an article for Classical Singer magazine on the process of self-producing a recording. “There’s nothing like performing for a live audience,” she says, “but I also want to focus on recording—that’s where your legacy is.”
CD release parties for Danielle Woerner’s Voices in the Valley will be held Saturday, November 11, 2-4 p.m. at the SUNY Ulster library in Stone Ridge; Saturday, November 18, 5-7 p.m. at the Kleinert-James Arts Center in Woodstock; and Saturday, December 8, 2-4 p.m., also at SUNY Ulster. She will be signing CDs on December 1st (during the annual Woodstock Open House) from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Golden Notebook. She will be performing as a soloist in Bach’s “Magnificat” with Ars Choralis on Saturday, December 1st at 7 p.m. at Holy Cross Church, Kingston, and Sunday, December 2 at 4 p.m. at Reformed Church, Saugerties. For further details, see http://hvmusic.com/artists/danielle/playdate.shtml.
