Follow Up on the News
Kevin Young, the attorney representing the town, came to last Thursday’s special board session with updated cost projections for all 53 businesses in the proposed sewer district. Those projections, based on the most up-to-date metered water flow data, show the annual expense for all of them to be substantially lower than previously predicted, causing many in the audience to view them with suspicion.
Mike Ricciardella, a Phoenicia Restaurateur and one of the largest water users, was pleased with the predicted rates but wanted them backed up.
“If you can guarantee these figures I think we’ve got a deal,” he said, adding that a contract could be drafted stating the town pay for overruns if actual costs were more than the estimate. No such guarantee would come from the town board, Young responded, because it would be illegal for the board to make such a deal. Young was then asked if he would guarantee the figures himself. He said he would not.
“Now you know how we feel,” said Susan Bernstein.
On Monday however, Delaware Engineering’s principal John Brust confirmed they could guarantee the system’s operating cost, although by contract with the Town Board representing the sewer district, instead of with its individual users, as Ricciardella had originally requested.
“We prepared the budget for operating the plant,” said Brust. “We know what it takes to do that and we’re happy to do it for what we say it will cost. I understand the Town Board will be asking for a letter of intent to that effect, and we will provide that.”
Thursday’s meeting differed from most in that under current town practice, audience participation is usually severely limited by meeting rules developed by Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. But in an unusual turn of events, the audience and even members of the local press were allowed to speak and ask questions almost at will during the meeting. As a result, a freewheeling brainstorming session led to the conclusion that the board would ask Delaware Engineering which designed and is expected to operate the system, to review the numbers and commit to a guarantee that they would not rise more than fifteen percent. The company was not represented at the session as according to Brust, they hadn’t been notified of it until the day before, when arrangements were hastily made for them to be simultaneously reachable by phone.
Cross, who was the chief negotiator for Phoenicia while the hamlet was unsuccessfully demanding a better deal from the City of New York, suggested that the company should be asked to commit to a deal that lasted only five years, a term which raised no objections from the audience.
. Based on the current proposal, homeowners would pay $100 a year for septic service and businesses would pay $200 a year plus 56 cents per gallon of average day’s usage. Under this formula a business using 200 gallons a day would pay an additional $112 per year above the $200 minimum.
Details of a cost cap agreement have yet to be worked out, with the apparent parameters acceptable to all seeming to be in the 10-20% increase range over a 5-year period. The agreement would presumably be drafted by Young.
Ricciardella, who has on occasion publicly exploded with anger over earlier figures provided by the town’s Wastewater Committee, had previously expressed fears that the newest estimate may have been a lowball figure designed to convince the community to accept the plan.
“I love these new figures, but I don’t believe them,” Ricciardella said, at the meeting’s outset. By its end, he appeared cautiously optimistic. But several days later any optimism on his part seemed to have faded.
“There’s a $50,000. contingency item in the operating budget that comes straight from the project’s block grant,” Ricciardella said. “We’re only going to have that for the first year, by the time the project’s built that money’s going to be gone, which means that it’s the commercials that have to pick that up. What that means,” he said, “is that by year two the bills are going to be four times what they’re telling us they’ll be.”
Young, who noted the cost estimates were not prepared by Delaware Engineering but by himself with flow data provided by a volunteer that supports the project, admitted they would be quite a deal compared to other communities in the region that are involved with the same Watershed program.
“The numbers are on the low end,” he said, “Lower than probably any other town.”
Ricciardella, who has also served as one of the Wastewater Committee’s negotiators, also said that contrary to the Committee’s reports, DEP had previously been willing to pay for the systems O & M, the same costs currently in dispute, but only if the agency itself were to oversee the operation of the plant instead of Delaware Engineering. That offer, he said, never made it out of committee.
“These guys will say anything to get this project approved,” said Ricciardella.
Brust however, stands by his numbers, saying the $50,000 contingency has nothing to do with the block grant, and will not only be available after the first year, but that it’s a reserve fund the City’s compelled to replace if it ever has to be spent for emergency equipment or repairs. The $375,000 annual operating cost budgeted is the real cost he says, and the company will guarantee that contractually to the town.
A referendum vote amongst deeded property owners in Phoenicia is scheduled for Saturday, February 3.
Multi Media, Mountain-Style
The Pine Hill Community Center (PHCC), in the western reaches of Shandaken, has been organizing events from crafts workshops to concerts to a summer farmer’s market since its creation in 1999 in an attempt to help build community in a town of sparse population, distant from major cultural attractions. Among its target audience are local teens, who have famously “nothing to do”, a situation seen as a breeding ground for trouble.
PHCC director James Krueger discovered one day that he had in common with Susan Penick, who teaches archery at PHCC, an affection for radio. Growing up in New Jersey near several huge WRAN towers, Krueger heard the radio bleed through every time he turned on the stereo or picked up the phone. When he began to record music as a teenager, the budding singer-songwriter went to the station with his tapes.
“I worked in college radio in the Bay Area in the sixties,” said Penick. “It was so exciting. It was part of the political landscape, and there was a lot of personality and variety on the radio, instead of the half-baked, corporate-run commercial radio we have now.”
Together, Krueger and Penick envisioned a radio station that would be open to anyone in the community who has something to say or music to play, while the combination of technology and music would appeal to teens looking for an outlet. They were joined by Julie Greenwood, a computer programmer who used to have a weekly show, “Soup of the Evening” on WKZE. She also helped the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper set up their Internet station, WZEN, and has had a show on the Vassar College station, WVKR, since 1997. PHCC received a grant from Kids in the Kaatskills for the teen project and an anonymous grant from a local foundation for equipment.
Launched on the web about six months ago, the station is gradually building up a schedule that includes former Shandaken town supervisor Peter DiModica’s twice-weekly show of esoteric music; an Irish music show DJ’d by Jack Mansberg, an elder who lives in Phoenicia; a heavy metal show put together by the teens; interviews conducted by musician Elly Wininger; folk music DJ’d by Krueger; and Penick’s show, which she hesitantly calls “adult contemporary” or “pop”, featuring music from Tom Waits to Motown. In between shows, music runs without commentary from a playlist, so the station is running 24 hours a day, but the goal is to fill up the schedule, and anyone is welcome to take a stab at recording their own show with the help of the PHCC staff.
On Saturday, December 10, the station threw a party, with a live feed to the web, at the community center. The event was judged a success by the organizers, except for a technical glitch that prevented the proceedings from being recorded. Wininger was the MC, with a David Letterman setup—desk, couch, a house band to one side playing a theme song written for the station. She interviewed guests such as Mary Savage, who teaches storytelling to New York City parents who want to entertain their kids. Penick later described her on-the-air archery demonstration, which incorporated sound effects:
“Elly told the audience, ‘Front row, duck down!’, and you heard two shots hitting the target, then one breaking glass. Then she said James would shoot an apple off Casey’s head, and you heard a scream, and then the audience laughed and screamed. We had signs to tell the audience to applaud or to scream. It was hokey in a way, but it was fun.”
Mansberg was heard to say at the party, “This is the best radio station in the universe!” Dubbed the Catskill Cabaradio, the live radio party is scheduled to recur every three months or so, with the next one planned for early March.
“I think it’s very cool that here in the village of Pine Hill we have a radio station that anyone in the world can hear,” said DiModica. They have occasionally heard from listeners as far away as Sweden, Spain, and Japan.
Penick admires the freedom of expression involved. “We have no commercials, and we’re not beholden to anyone except the community center, which means no swearing on the air at 11:00 a.m.”
There are, of course, still bugs to be worked out. To make the station accessible to those people who still have dial-up Internet access, the group chose to transmit at a low bit rate, which reduces download time while sacrificing somewhat on the sound quality. (Switching to a higher bit rate is under consideration but will also make storage more expensive.) Nevertheless, said Greenwood, dial-up users with older computers may find the listening experience irritating, with stops and starts. The transmission is not a podcast, in which a file is downloaded and can be listened to at any time, but rather a stream, with data sent to the desktop in small packets and then deleted after playing.
The station is working with Live365 software, which can be downloaded for free to facilitate listening. “It’s not perfect,” admitted DiModica. “Sometime the scheduling gets messed up or the song ID’s at the end get cut off.”
The schedule still has a lot of holes, so shows are repeated over the course of two or three weeks before being replaced. But new projects are underway, such as Wininger’s plan to work with the teens on a show with commentary and interviews on topics they choose, beginning in January.
Anyone interested in proposing their own radio show may contact the community center at info@pinehillcommunitycenter.org or (845) 254-5469. On Tuesday, April 25, a workshop on hosting radio shows will be held at the community center for people who want to take a look at the basics before deciding to take the plunge. The station also welcomes further financial sponsorship.
The decision was not part of the agenda at the board meeting held at the Woodstock elementary school, and D’Orazio said Ford has already accepted their offer.
In response to Ford’s hiring, teacher’s union president Corey Cavallaro noted surprise at the process and spoke out in restrained anger.
“I would also like to thank you for sharing your decision tonight about hiring a new superintendent; this is the school board’s job to share their decision for the new superintendent but it is unfortunate the board chose not to put their decision on the agenda for this evening because now you will have to wait a whole month to hear how people feel about the choice you made,” Cavallaro said. “Since I am here, I would like to say thank you for showing the Onteora staff, teachers administrators, students and community how much you valued the information that we gave to you, the input and all of the feedback we gave to you.”
In a separate interview, Cavallaro expanded on his comments to the school board. He explained that he was part of a committee to speak with the board about information he gathered from the school community. They presented their findings to the board… “And the shared decision making process that we followed, our suggestions were obviously not listened to, neither was our suggestions on how to go forward and maybe revamp the shared decision making process and that disappoints me,” he said. “I don’t think that the information that they have…that if I was given the information in their positions I don’t know if I would have made the decision this evening, that they made.”
If the administration has doubts about Ford’s leadership, are they willing to work with her, Cavallaro asked.
“She could be the greatest superintendent we ever had and I look forward to working with her; however it is going to be a very long educational process because now she needs to be educated on New York Ed law, special education law, she needs to pass a bond, a budget and negotiate three contracts in the next year and a half,” Cavallaro said. “She knows nothing of the curriculum and she needs to be educated on this and hopefully she will listen to the people who know.”
In a separate phone conversation, D’Orazio responded to Cavallaro’s concerns.
“We followed the process, the same exact process to the letter for choosing Justine Winters, the same screening and it was the exact process with Dr. Ford,” the board president said.
Based on questionnaires to administrators, teachers and the community, compiled by Richard Lerer consulting firm, “leadership skills, strong knowledge on curriculum, education, cultural knowledge, communication with others…qualities that these groups identified-these are the very qualities Dr. Ford exhibits,” said D’Orazio and they had, “equally as many positive responses about Dr. Ford from teachers, parents and town supervisors.”
D’Orazio pointed out that the board read all letters and gave additional time to administrators who were concerned with Ford’s administrative experiences as someone who is not from New York.
“It is not rationale to say she is at a disadvantage because she is from a different state,” D’Orazio said. “Just because she is from California does not mean she has no understanding of public needs…she turned a poorly performing middle school into a blue ribbon school.”
D’Orazio also pointed out that the district has good lawyers, a good business administrator and they always advise the superintendent.
Ford is currently superintendent of a Kindergarten-through-eight charter school district in Hanford California with around 600 students. California has a different tax structure where property taxes are collected and distributed by the state, unlike New York where the decision is based on voter referendum.
Ford, who just married a New Yorker, has been actively seeking employment in the area.
Onteora’s orchestra is one of fifteen high school groups in the country chosen to compete and perform at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Invitations were based on recommendations from state officials of organizations such as the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA). The three-day trip will include clinics with world-renowned music educators, composers, and judges, who will also give feedback on each group’s strengths and weaknesses. “Playing in a world-class concert hall is an experience in itself,” said Paetow. “The kids are pretty psyched!”
The trip will cost each of 34 strings players $529, and the students are busy fundraising to pay the way of five members whose families cannot afford the expense. Originally, they were also trying to raise enough to cover the $3000 to $4000 needed for a bus and the driver’s overnight accommodations, but the school board has agreed to pay the transportation cost.
Paetow expressed gratitude to the school board and to principal Barbara Ruben, who has been “unbelievably supportive,” she said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these kids.” Fundraising efforts have included bake sales, candy sales, an all-day Practice-a-thon, and a “Black Wednesday” right after Halloween, when donors of $5 got to wear black all day, plus a bright purple ribbon. At the winter concert, audience members bought raffle tickets for a chance to conduct the orchestra. The winning ticket went to artist Kate McLoughlin, who teaches at the Woodstock School of Art and used to be a substitute teacher at Onteora. McLoughlin sashayed onstage and conducted “Purple Haze” with verve and humor.
In addition to the crowd-pleasing rock number, the orchestra performed several classical pieces, both with and without the addition of woodwind, brass, and percussion sections. One of the more challenging pieces was Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony #5”. The audience gave the musicians a standing ovation.
Principal Ruben’s husband decided to sponsor a student after hearing the orchestra play. Olive town clerk Sylvia Rozzelle sent in a donation, and several banks have contributed in response to letters from Paetow, who will put any surplus funds into treating the students to a special meal on their trip to the city.
Being selected for this competition is the highest honor yet for the Onteora music department, which has already racked up a number of awards. Two of the orchestra’s subgroups, the chamber music ensemble and the electric string band Mango, received first-place awards at last year’s Six Flags competition in New Jersey. For the second year in a row, Onteora was runner-up in the Grammy awards for high school music departments. In 2003, the orchestra and chorus were invited to Washington, D.C., to perform at the base of the Washington Monument as part of the Salute to America festival. The band, under the direction of Steve Murphy, has won honors in numerous competitions, including the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Manhattan.
Paetow is hoping her eclectic style will pay off at Lincoln Center. “A lot of people have a purist attitude that orchestras are only supposed to play the music of dead white guys. NYSSMA has jazz categories for vocal and band but not for strings, and they don’t have fiddling. People are writing music for jazz and rock orchestras, and there are lots of electric strings out there, plus Scottish and Celtic music. The orchestral world has not recognized them yet. I’d love to take ‘Purple Haze’ to Lincoln Center. I don’t know what the reaction of the judges will be. They’ll probably fall out of their chairs.” She does not know yet whether the competition regulations restrict the type of music to be played, or whether an adult is permitted to participate, although drummer Sultan, whose daughter sings in the Onteora chorus, has already expressed his interest in playing along.
Paetow has been at Onteora since 1984, but she actually began teaching 31 years ago at the age of twelve. “I owe a great debt to the world of music,” she said. “I went to a conservative high school, and my brothers were valedictorians, but I was not a great student. Music really saved me. My music teacher encouraged me to get private lessons and play outside of school.” In addition to teaching, Paetow plays regularly with the Woodstock String Quartet, which supplements their classical repertoire with arrangements of Hendrix, José Feliciano, the Beatles, and Cole Porter.
It is a testament to the skills of the Onteora music teachers, including department head and chorus conductor Krista Cayea, that around 200 students participate in the orchestra, band, or chorus, out of a total school population of just over 700. Paetow commented, “I try to make it non-threatening to the kids. It’s not about intimidating them—that’s not going to bring out the music. I have people telling me, “I see you’ve got some of the brightest kids in your group.’ But we also have autistic kids, special ed kids—music helps them. Some of the average kids work their way up. In the last twenty years, studies have shown that learning the language of music opens up other rooms in the brain.”
Donations for the Onteora orchestra’s trip to Lincoln Center may be sent to Wini Paetow, Music Department, Onteora High School, Boiceville NY 12412. Checks in any amount should be made out to “Onteora Central School”.
