Follow Up on the News

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Nine fire companies converged onto Phoenicia’s Main Street early Sunday to battle the blaze that ultimately destroyed the majority of the Phoenicia Hotel, established in 1854 and long considered the physical heart of the community’s business district.
The fire itself was out within a few hours of hard work. Only one firefighter suffered any injuries. But all were tired and heartbroken by the evening’s toil… keeping contained what did cause roof and some inside damage to neighboring Key Bank, and could have easily spread across the street to the gas tanks at the Country Store, or the businesses all around.
Richard Stokes, the owner of the property at the time of the fire, said he was devastated by the fire, even though he was in foreclosure proceedings on the property, which had been shuttered for six months, at the time it burned. He says he suspects foul play. Although the building was secure, Stokes thinks someone intentionally set the fire.
“I hope they are brought to justice,” he added before securig boards to all entrances to bar further damage, or injury.
The insurance had lapsed on the place, Catskill Watershed Corporation attorney Tom Cox said, acknowledging that his institution had a $69,000 lien against the property and was in line, along with Wilbur Bank and the SHARP Committee, to get back their loans.
Cox added that the building’s septic system had collapsed since its shuttering last autumn. If anyone had wanted to buy and open a business there – and reportedly, one local businessman claimed to have gone to contract for just that purpose while another, from Greene County, was filing suit to keep him from buying the property – they would have had a lot of work to do to get the place up and running.
Then again, that was why everyone with an interest in the hotel had been strongly in favor of the hamlet accepting a City-built sewer system, it was said.
Cox noted that the CWC had been ready to finance a restoration of the old hotel, just as it had decided to do the same for a long vacant old hotel in the Delaware County town of Stamford recently.
Phoenicia Fire Chief Gary Carr told reporters that when firefighters arrived at the scene, the blaze had already fully engulfed the rear of the building and quickly spread, with flames bursting through the roof and thick smoke billowing into the night sky. He said that it had been determined that the fire erupted at about 12:50 a.m, and that arson investigators were attempting to determine what caused the two-alarm blaze that drew more than 150 firefighters to the scene from as far away as Margaretville. Carr said that no exact cause had been found.
No one was inside the hotel at the time of the fire and there were no civilian injuries. One firefighter, Linda Michela, suffered a sprained ankle. She was treated at a hospital and released, Carr added.
As evening turned slowly to the gray of day, firemen rested and spoke of memories of the place. The hotel had rooms on the second floor that sometimes rented to tourists, but just as often became long-term abodes. The bar in the middle and back of the place was large and rounded so everyone could keep an eye on each other. There was a restaurant space that had had various owners. A pair of front shops with large windows looking out onto Main Street had hosted local realtors, including Phoenicia stalwart Ric Ricciardella for years. There had been a bookstore for a spell, an art gallery.
People remembered when the B-52s sang karaoke there. And George, who seemed like he’d never leave. And then he was gone.,.. like all of it now.
Now, they talked about how they learned of the fire when their lights went out all over town around 3 AM. And some wondered, Sunday afternoon as yellow tape stretched around the site and the tangle of hoses that had stopped all traffic through town for hours got put away, whether Phoenicia would now go the way of a Hunter or Fleischmans, where similar fires of hotels in their hamlet centers started slow declines never fully abated. Or whether some of the bigger developers in town would turn away from their desired plans for some real community service.
The shell, at least from its Main Street frontage, looked like it could become a front for something modernized. If done in time, people added. There was a two year time limit on fixing grandfathered properties with dicey septic systems.
Then again, Sweet Sue’s had a fire and rebuilt better than before. The same with the Emerson, down the road in Mt. Tremper. Even though La Duchesse Anne never went back to what it was, it survived and even thrived in a new incarnation for years.
Even Friendship Manor, in Pine Hill, had its upside after burning. What remained became affordable housing.
There were many possibilities for a community like Phoenicia, where the streets were again full with diners and walkers two nights after it all occured. And with interest from reghional entities...
Someone else mentioned the sewer…
And life went on… with planning, with investigations continuing, with bids still awaiting acceptance and lawsuits pending.
And with the drunks still making their way through the muggy summer nights, looking for a break...

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How’s The Summer Going?

One guy that needs to make his entire annual income during the summer is Harry Jameson, the operator of the Town Tinker Tube rental. On Tuesday Jameson’s report was a somber one.
“It’s off this summer,” Jameson said as he was rolling dozens of black inner tubes out of his barn in expectation of the customers that had yet to arrive.
He recalled days gone by when there were lines of wannabe tubers out onto Bridge Street at nine o’clock in the morning every day of the week. But that was 15 years ago. Not any more.
Jameson wasn’t the only one remembering the good ole days. Phoenicia based realtor Ric Ricciardella had a similar take on this summer.
“Business is down,” he said.
Ricciardella said particularly bad this year is the seasonal rental trade. He used to rent out cabins and homes for the entire season. Now he said, the calls come in dribs and drabs and those would be renters only want to spend a week, not a season.
Up in Shandaken the reports get a little more sunny. Robert Jones Jr., a partner in Farmer Jones Barns, said that the new equipment rental enterprise he opened this summer is exceeding expectations.
In Pine Hill Jerry Pearlman says his Belleayre Plaza is doing surprisingly well this season.
“I’m shocked,” he said. I thought it was going to be an off year due to the high gas prices, but it’s been very good. We’re selling lots of gas.”
Down Olive-way, over at the American General store in West Shokan, owner Barbara Mansfield says business is “going gangbusters” with a strong local clientele coming through the doors on a regular basis as well as weekenders.
However, Mansfield said that road problems around the reservoir have hurt what she calls the day tripper trade, those anglers that come to town to catch some fish on the Ashokan and then head for home as the sun sets.
Mansfield’s only had the store since last July, so it’s hard to compare to previous years, especially since she has already developed another draw: A concert series held in the back yard. This attraction, she said, generates a healthy trade for the shop and gives visitors a great time along the way.
“We get about 75 people coming to them,” she said, adding that additional information on upcoming concerts can be found on the store’s website at www.americangeneralstore.com.
James Gallagher, the owner of the Wine Steward in Shokan, says business has been about as good as last year. Without checking the books, Gallagher suspected that summer 2007 may be only slightly slower than 2006, but he chalks that up to the high gas prices.
“We’ve certainly had good weather,” he added.
The news on the construction end of things, from Shandaken’s building department, is that this year is neck and neck with last year. The summer season usually brings about 100 building permits, and the way it looks so far that is exactly what will happen in 2007. Figures from Olive’s building department were not available.

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Large Parcel No Vote

The lack of unanimity on the matter reflected a tighter 4-3 vote against a resolution put forth by Shandaken-based board member Maxanne Resnick, and seconded by Woodstock’s Herb Rosenfeld, that asked that the matter be tabled for two weeks so the vote could be publicized to residents in the school district, and more information could be brought forth for a meaningful discussion. That matter was brought up after introduction of the first resolution, with Board Vice-President Cindy O’Connor backing Resnick and Rosenfeld’s request for more information, stating that any such request by a board member should be respected.
“This gives us an out on a difficult issue,” Resnick read from a prepared statement. “We have not been given ample time for discussion, plus no numbers to discuss… It is our obligation to collect taxes, and that is effected by this.”
Rosenfeld, noting that the original premise by which the law was enacted four years ago was probably moot because of the Town of Olive’s revaluation of its tax rates two years ago, said that he welcomed a meaningful discussion of the matter that would look into new ways of funding education in the state.
Board member Rita Vanacore, who seconded the original motion, answered the two by sharply speaking about “misperceptions” regarding matters of equality, noting how a report put together by new Board President Mary Jane Bernholz’s husband Michael had proved that there never had been inequalities between town’s taxes “beyond a doubt.”
“To bring this up seems a waste, to me, of the board’s time,” she added emphatically.
No one else offered any discussion regarding their votes.
In other matters throughout the meeting held at the Junior/Senior High School in Boiceville, quiet and efficient unanimity was the order of the day.
Bernholz, chairing the evening with a quick but friendly efficiency, noted that henceforth public input would be limited to two 15 minute sessions, one before and one after the board’s regular business was handled.
“With each speaker limited to two minutes, that would mean “a likely maximum of seven speakers,” she added.
Those wishing to speak would have to sign up to do so with the Board’s Clerk beforehand, she late added.
Meetings, she announced, would have preparations one time, and then discussion and voting two weeks later.
“We’re trying to encourage more people to participate and be more efficient on the board,” she explained.
District superintendent Leslie Ford noted that she and the board had just spent a number of hours in a retreat, and would be holding a special session on August 28 to “develop more goals” beyond the three currently outlined on all the district’s correspondence.
During public be heard, two Phoenicia School parents again questioned the board’s decision to shift the district to accommodate a 5-8 Middle School, which most assume will result in the closure of an existing elementary school… most likely Phoenicia.
Laurie Osmond suggested that promoting community schools might be part and parcel with an even greater new goal: to increase local enrollment figures by attracting new residents via better education.
Rosenfeld later brought up the idea of quality education a second time when he asked that the board set aside time among its coming sessions to discuss the recent story that came out in Forbes Magazine which listed Ulster County and its schools amongst the lowest in the country.
Others countered by questioning the vaulted economic magazine’s criteria. No firm date was set, though.
New board member Michelle Friedel asked for detailed information on Regents Test scores, wondering whether she could find out what specific elements of the curriculum, and by assumption which teachers, might need to be bettered.
Ford noted that such matters were not divulged in”an item by item analysis.”
Friedel’s fellow freshman boardmember, Richard Wolff, asked whether the board could take five minutes before some of its meetings to make building inspections of facilities around the district. Vanacore pointed out such a thing might entail a policy change.
Each time an issue arose from a board member requesting discussion, Bernholz would wrap things up with a quick, “I need a consensus.”
Except, that is, with Large Parcel.
The board’s next meeting is at the Junior/Senior High School in Boiceville on August 14. Start time is 7 PM.

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Shooting A New Thing

Seated before a screen that they’ve been watching dailies on in the new media lab created for this project at the Catskill Mountain Foundation in Hunter, their digital photography teachers from the International Center of Photography (ICP) and digital video mentors from New York’s Educational Video Center (EVC) to the side of them, the kids speak about their experiences learning media craft, watershed politics, and the intricacies of getting to know others like you even though they come from completely different experiences.
They’re all excited about the upcoming show of the photos they’ve taken, and the film they’re still working to finish, that came off successfully on Wednesday, August 1, from 3 PM to 6 PM, at the Hunter Movie Theater. But more importantly, they’re jazzed about all they’ve been up to.
“It’s a lot of work but I’m learning so much… about making films, shooting photographs, where water comes from,” says Emmanuel from Brooklyn, words spilling over themselves as he tries charting all that’s got him excited.
Kaelani of Chichester explains how the current opportunity came to she and the other Upstate kids via the Indie Program, now at all three schools, and had been put together by ReelTeens Film and Video Festival director Barry Kerr of Saugerties, who’s on the sideline cheering on the students with the enthusiasm that seems endemic to the room.
“This really teaches us how to use the tools we’ve been learning in an active and creative way,” she adds.
Xzen, from Brooklyn, saunters into the darkened media room in Hunter and describes how learning the ins and outs of the editing system Final Cut Pro has been “pretty sweet.”
Several kids speak about how they’d at first figured that the subject of water would be either a breeze to deal with or just plain boring. They were more interested in getting to work with others like and unlike themselves with professional equipment.
Then they started shooting interviews, on the street in New York and with town, county and regional officials up here. They learned the history of the watershed from Last of The Handmade Dams author Bob Steuding, and Diane Galusha of the Catskill Watershed Corporation. They found that requests for interviews from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection were being stonewalled.
They realized they’d stepped into a political hornet’s nest.
Kiernan, from Boiceville, talks about having shot an interview with a local barber still angry about the city’s land-takings 90 years ago while the man who’s hair he was cutting kept silent, only to later note that he was “one of the enemy” when leaving. Others note the footage they got of kids playing in front of No Trespassing signs by reservoirs and other DEP lines… things they’d never noticed or thought about before.
Anna, a Brooklyn girl who wants to be called Blue, talks about what a revelation it’s been to spend time under stars, swimming in clean water, getting to appreciate nature.
Juan, from Queens, talks about having had his eyes opened up to “a much bigger picture” and how he wants to return to work on other nature-oriented projects with his new friends.
“We’ve got eight days to finish. That’s some pressure…” says Aaron, another Brooklyn kid in Hunter. It seems the city students are speaking up more than those here from more local haunts.
Everyone’s staying in dormitories in town, so it all feels new. Alyx, from West Shokan, speaks about that, and what it’s been like to learn the collaborative process after making her own videos for years.
Kerr speaks about how that day they’d all been to the Ashokan Reservoir, where the DEP provided two officers to escort them to scenic places for shooting purposes. Then he gathers the teachers around a computer, letting the students go for the evening, while he proudly shows off the still photographs people have been getting… beautiful close ups, courageously individualistic angles with a deep sense of emotionality, a vivid realization of the emotional impact of the stories they’re uncovering.
The students are asked: are they gaining from this a sense of commercial possibility or a passionate feeling, a bit of revolutionary empowerment?
The latter, all agree emphatically. They’re excited about what they can do to change things, to get the full human story of the world they’re readying to enter.