Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Mon., Feb. 13, the Department of State has awarded grants to 13 upstate communities hit hard by flooding last year. Communities located in Greene, Delaware and Schoharie counties were each awarded up to $50,000 to support specific rebuilding projects. ”This funding will help towns and villages rebuild and find ways to make sure they are better prepared for future flooding,” Cuomo said in a statement. The list of Community Recovery Grant recipients included the towns of Prattsville and Blenheim. Prattsville, in partnership with Greene County, will complete a strategy that builds on the initial planning work started with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The town’s plan includes a detailed feasibility analysis for priority housing, economic development, and community facility projects ($50,000). Blenheim will establish a way to address revitalization needs relative to housing, business, community facilities, infrastructure and environmental assets ($50,000). Other recipients include Middletown, the villages of Fleischmanns and Margaretsville and Rotterdam.
You are currently browsing the archive for the Delaware County category.
Ivan Lajara at The Daily Freeman thinks it is no joke that LAFTOR is the acronym for the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Their “proposals are laughable” according to Lajara’s headline in the paper, over a story about the redistricting proposals released Thu., Jan. 26. Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner said, “These maps appear to continue the long tradition of partisan gerrymandering we’ve come to expect. There are major demographic changes that are simply not reflected on these maps.” Governor Andrew Cuomo has vowed to veto any redistricting that is not created by an independent body. This plan was created by the the legislators themselves, so, as almost everyone is pointing out, they have drawn the lines to ensure their own re-election. Republican-leaning districts, now lean more. Democrat-heavy districts are heavier. They have created a new 63rd Senate seat, pairing Greene County with Albany and other points north in Senate District 46. Lajara quotes an AP news account and says, “The story continues, ‘The added Senate district would include part of Ulster County (including the city of Kingston), all of Greene County and parts of Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties.’ So imagine my surprise when a total of zero public meetings were scheduled in the area.”
Local effects
• Ulster County may be in the worst situation in the entire state. The proposal cuts the county into four Senate Districts, up from two. The people of Ulster County will have almost no representation in the Senate, as those four politicians will care little about its collective well-being, and not even cater much to the few voters they will have there, focusing on their majorities elsewhere.
• Greene County would see much change. Republican James Seward would, under the plan, not be Greene County’s senator anymore, but would retain a very safe seat to the west. The new seat includes all of Greene and Montgomery counties, and most of Albany and Schenectady counties, and several towns in Ulster County to the south. In the Assembly Greene is being split into two separate districts. Assemblyman Pete Lopez would continue to represent Ashland, Windham, Durham, Greenville, New Baltimore, Coxsackie, and Cairo in the proposed 102 District which now also includes Coeymans, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville in Albany County, all of Schoharie County, and towns in Otsego, Herkimer, and Oneida counties in what will continue to be a very safe district for him. The southern half of Greene County — Athens, Catskill, Hunter, Jewett, Lexington, Halcott, and Prattsville — would be in the proposed 101st Assembly District, which also includes much of eastern Delaware County, four Ulster County towns, and two Orange County towns, and Germantown and Clermont in Columbia County. 
• In Columbia County, the Senate District used to be dominated by Dutchess County, as Poughkeepsie Steve Saland currently represents the area in Albany. In this proposal, Columbia County moves to Senate District 43, paired with all of Rensselaer County and parts of Washington and Saratoga counties to the north. In the Assembly, most of Columbia County is represented by the 106th District including Stuyvesant, Stockport, Hudson, Greenport, Ghent, Claverack, Livingston, Taghkanic, Copake, Ancram, and Gallatin. Millbrook in Dutchess County, interestingly, is no longer in the district, and the candidates (Republican Richard Wager and Democrat Didi Barrett) trying to replace Marc Molinaro for the 103rd Assembly, which is similar to the proposed 106th, live in Millbrook. So while they may fight for the seat in March, they may be in 105th District election in the fall. As mentioned before, Germantown and Clermont join the proposed 101st District, stretching across southern Greene County to parts of Delaware, and Ulster and Orange counties. The rest of Columbia County — Kinderhook, Chatham, Hillsdale, Austerlitz, Canaan, and New Lebanon — join most of Rensselaer County and two Washington County towns in the proposed 107th district, which is similar to the area Republican Steve McLaughlin represents, though without any of the Greene County towns it used to include. 
Public hearings
No public hearings between Albany and New York City. The closest public hearing to our area is this Mon., Jan. 30 at 10:30 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building, Second Floor in the Hearing Room. (See the complete list of all public hearings after the link below.)
Tags: Didi Barrett, elections, James Seward, LAFTOR, Marc Molinaro, New York State legislators, Pete Lopez, redistricting, Richard Wager, Steve Saland
The National Weather Service issued a Freezing Rain Advisory for all counties in the WGXC listening area from midnight until noon Mon., Jan. 23. Temperatures in the upper 20s overnight will turn to the mid-30s in the morning, and roads could be icy or very slick. Watch for possible opening delays Monday morning.
Tags: Freezing Rain Advisory, weather
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for all areas south of Greene and Columbia counties. Delaware, Ulster, Dutchess, and points south may get hit with up to eight inches of snow tonight, while the forecast for Greene and Columbia counties is just an inch or two.
Tags: snow, Winter Weather Advisory
The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services granted Greene County $893,000 to improve first-responder communications. Sixteen counties received $20 million in the program, with neighboring counties Delaware, Ulster, and Schoharie also awarded funds. The grant precedes Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, but those local storms did show that local communications are lacking. Counties receiving awards can use the funding for mobile radios, and base stations capable of using national interoperability channels and other local mutual-aid channels. Also included are projects to construct new equipment at towers and antenna sites, projects to deploy microwave equipment to provide more reliable transmission between sites and facilities which is needed in mountainous Greene County, and projects to implement gateway technologies for linking county systems. Equipment purchased using these grants will allow different agencies to use common channels during incidents where multiple jurisdictions are involved. This is the first round of awards from the Statewide Interoperable Grant program, a new multi-year, competitive reimbursement program funded from the State cellular surcharge.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cell phones, communications, emergency communications, Hurricane Irene, microwave signals, radio, radio signals, Statewide Interoperable Grant, transmission, Tropical Storm Lee
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Upstate Storm and Recovery Task Force announced Monday in Windham that they are indeed giving the Town of Windham a five-year, no-interest loan of $882,000. Last week voters in Windham approved the town taking out a million dollar loan to fix the Windham-Ashland-Jewett school damaged by the flooding associated with Hurricane Irene. At the meeting, Governor Cuomo also announced that he has asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for FEMA to cover 90 percent of the recovery costs instead of the normal 75 percent. Many local towns including Windham and Prattsville are facing enormous clean-up bills if FEMA only covers 75 percent of the costs, and are wondering how they will ever raise enough to clean up all the damage. Cuomo also announced $1.5 million in grants to help small businesses in nine municipalities in three counties in the first round of awards from the $3 million Main Street Fund to help local businesses recover. Other items from the Upstate Storm and Recovery Task Force meeting in Windham:
• Main Street Fund
Greene, Schoharie, and Delaware counties are each receiving $500,000 through the New York State Agricultural and Community Recovery Fund to provide money to Main Street businesses money to rehabilitate buildings for commercial and main street residential use, repair and replace permanent fixtures and equipment, as well as for inventory and working capital. In Greene County: Prattsville, Hunter, Windham, and Catskill will get funds; in Schoharie County: Middleburgh and Schoharie; in Delaware County: Margaretville, Fleischmanns and Sidney.
• Highway Repairs
More than 400 road segments and bridges were closed on the state highway system after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hit the area last summer. As of November 28, three highways and three bridges remain closed.
• Assistance for New York Farms
The State Department of Agriculture and Markets has issued contracts to 25 Conservation Districts for over 353 awarded farms ($4,519,817) using the $15 million Agricultural Community Recovery Fund. Construction and farmland restoration is underway on many if not all of the most devastated farms. The program also has a farm operations component to aid farmers who lost feed in the flood and farmers who have continued operation of their farm stands, farmers’ markets efforts and CSAs. For this program, 196 applications have been submitted, and grants will be distributed in the near future. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Hurricane Irene, schools, Tropical Storm Lee, Windham-Ashland-Jewett School District
Julia Reischel in The Watershed Post talks with Arkville musician Steve Koester, whose band Two Dark Birds just released its second album, “Songs for the New.” Reichel askes:
JR: You’ve talked about engaging with a “Catskills sound.” What do you mean?
SK: I think this area has, historically, a sound to it. It’s a mix of folk and soul and country and rock. An intermingling of acoustic and electric instruments. It’s a little bit hillbilly and a little bit urban. I’m thinking a lot in particular of the great records that were made around Woodstock in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The Band’s first couple records. Dylan’s output from that period. Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey” and “Moondance.” And, maybe my favorite of the lot, Karen Dalton’s “In My Own Time.” They all have this loose American soulfulness that centers around folk-rock but isn’t limited to it. It’s roots music, but filtered through a more urbane viewpoint. Not that that’s any better (or worse) than pure country music – that’s just where these guys were all coming from, and where we’re coming from too. . . You still hear those sounds in a lot of bands around here.
Read the full interview and see a link to one of the band’s videos in The Watershed Post.
Windham-based RIP Radio, which runs WRIP (97.9-FM), which is on 97.5 in other parts of Greene and Columbia Counties, has added a small translator in Stamford, in Delaware County on 104.5-FM. Stamford is west of Windham and Prattsville on State Route 23. Translators are radio station that do not originate their own programming, but pick up a signal, in this case WRIP.
The New York State Department of Transportation announced Tue., Nov. 1 that State Route 23 from Route 296 in Windham to through Prattsville to the Town of Roxbury in Delaware County is now open to all traffic after being at least partially closed from storm damage ever since Hurricane Irene blew through in late August. Also, Route 23A in both directions from NY 296 to NY 23 is back open to all traffic.
Tags: Hurricane Irene, road work
Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for Greene, Columbia, Albany, Dutchess, Delaware, Rensselaer, and Ulster counties, along with others farther south, because of Saturday’s large snowstorm. Saturday around 10 p.m. there were no major road closures in our area, according to the Governor’s press release.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, snow, state of emergency
The Daily Freeman reports that the unemployment rates for counties in the WGXC listening area all ticked up slightly from August to September. Greene County unemployment went from 7.8 to 8.3 percent, and Columbia County went from 6.8 to 7 percent unemployed. Ulster County rose from 7.7 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September, Dutchess County increased from 7.1 to 7.2 percent, and in Delaware County the jobless rate went to 8.1, up from 7.5 percent. Hurricane Irene hit the area in the last week of August. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.
Tags: Hurricane Irene, jobs, unemployment
Lissa Harris in The Watershed Post reports that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), a federal program that one in five New York State households rely on to help pay their winter heating bills, is facing drastic cuts. New York State officials have already announced that, “the program would be cutting benefits, delaying the start date of the program from November 1 to November 16, and cutting almost two months off the end of the season, meaning that heating aid will be available only until mid-March, when snow is still on the ground in much of upstate New York,” Harris writes in an exhaustive investigation. The Times Herald-Record reports, she relays, that President Barack Obama’s proposed 2012 budget reduces funding from $5.1 billion to $2.57 billion. “Current residential heating oil prices average $3.86 per gallon for the state, up from $3.10 the first week of October 2010, according to an Energy Information Administration,” Harris reports. “Current residential propane prices in New York average $3.14 per gallon, up from $2.70, said the group, which also expects electricity prices to increase by 2.3 percent in 2011 and by 0.6 percent in 2012.” Read the long, well-researched story at The Watershed Post. Harris and Julia Reishcel host “The Half-Hour News Hour” from The Watershed Post at 3 p.m. every Wednesday on WGXC (90.7-FM), and at 1 p.m. Wednesday on WIOX in Roxbury.
Tags: HEAP, heating oil prices, home heating, propane prices, WGXC, winter, WIOX
From Wikipedia.
Tags: agriculture, apple cider, apples, farms
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tue., Oct. 4, that $1.2 million more in aid from the state’s Agricultural and Community Recovery Fund (ACRF) will be distributed among 127 farms to help them recover from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Locally those farms in the latest round of aid include:
Greene County Soil & Water District – $69,350
Projects: Debris removal, fence repair, grassed waterway repair.
• Crystal Valley Farm, $9,000
• John Falke Farm, $34,500
• Stoneledge Farm, LLC, $12,500
• John J Farber Farm, $13,350
Columbia County Soil & Water District – $64,000
Projects: Access road, stream crossing, fencing repair, debris removal from crop fields and stream bank stabilization.
• Doyle Mtn. Farm, $26,000
• Klein’s Kill Fruit Farm Corp., $14,500
• Robert Meyer Farm, $10,500
• Buster Creek Farm, $13,000
Albany County Soil & Water District – $34,425
Projects: Reconstruction of access roads, stream crossings, fence repair, and gravel deposition removal.
• Kevin Sisson, $13,200
• Robert Rapp, $8,500
• Windy Hill Farm, $9,725
• Kenneth Crawford, $3,000
Delaware County Soil & Water District – $21,280
Projects: Debris removal; fencing; access road replacement and repair, stream bank stabilization.
• James Hull Farms, $6,000
• Dairy Smith Holsteins, $1,180
• Felice Sulla & Jerry Raeder, $14,100
Dutchess County Soil & Water District – $19,139
Projects: Debris removal from pastures, access road repair, fence repair, downed tree removal and vegetative buffer planting.
• FW Battenfeld and Son, $9,639
• Briggs Hollow Farm, $9,500
Rensselaer County Soil & Water District – $800
Projects: Fence replacement and repair; stream bank stabilization, debris removal, and access road repair.
• Terry Wasielewski Farm, $800
Schoharie County Soil & Water District – $207,950
Projects: Debris removal including gravel piles, whole trees, buildings, fuel and propane tanks in crop fields; milk house waste treatment system replacement; fencing; access road replacement and repair’ stream bank stabilization; cover cropping; field repair, water control structure repair.
• Schoharie Nurseries, $29,200
• Barber Family Farm LLC, $58,000
• John Vanderwerken Farm, $36,250
• James Buzon Farm, $7,000
• Chris Lawton Farm, $8,000
• Fox Valley Vail Farm, $22,500
• Eleanor Reinhart Farm, $2,500
• Rock & Pinkster Farm, $21,500
• River Run Tree Farm, $6,000
• Maurice Downs Farm, $3,000
• Theresa Murphy Farm, $4,000
• Mountain Valley Angus, $10,000
Ulster County Soil & Water District – $102,589
Projects: Stream crossing for equipment repair, critical area seeding, irrigation system repair, fencing, orchard repair, debris removal, access road repair and cover cropping.
• Greiner Bros Farm Inc, $30,860
• Pinegrove Ranch Inc., $1,692
• Woodcrest Farms, $4,734
• Watswyck Farm, $1,170
• J & B Trapani Co Inc, $27,095
• J. A. M. of New Paltz, Inc, $10,736
• Jaway Farm, $25,702
• The Farm, $600
Tags: agriculture, farms, floods, Hurricane Irene
Nearly 1,000 state layoffs land in Albany County
Jimmy Vielkind reports in Capitol Confidential that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has targeted 3,496 government jobs for elimination, though only eight are in Greene or Columbia counties. Cuomo began the layoffs last week when the Public Employees Federation voted down a tentative contract agreement. The total layoffs per area counties:
• Greene County, 5 jobs
• Columbia County, 3
• Albany County, 998
• Rensselaer County, 49
• Delaware County, 7
• Dutchess County, 115
• Ulster County, 5
Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
High-impact hydraulic fracturing hearing Thursday
While the Department of Environmental Conservation’s public hearings about high-impact hydraulic fracturing will be held farther south away from our area, the New York State Assembly holds a hearing Thursday closer, in Albany. The Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Conservation holds a hearing Thur. Oct. 6 at 9:30 a.m. at Hamilton Hearing Room B, 2nd Floor of the Legislative Office Building in the State Capitol. To testify, one needs to fill out a form.
Greene Dems elect new leader
Greene County Democrats changed leaders Monday, Oct. 3, electing Doreen Davis chair, and Terry McSorley vice-chair, and Marie Metzler at Gallagher’s in Cairo. Davis has been the town of Catskill’s Democratic Committee chairwoman and treasurer for the county party. Previously, Tom Poelker was chairman, Brud Miller was vice chair, and Metzler was secretary.
Occupy Albany meets
WGXC’s Jack Ross-Pilkington attended the Occupy Albany meeting Sunday, where organizers of the offshoot protest movement from Occupy Wall Street, planned similar actions. Ross-Pilkington writes: “When I first got there, there were about 20 people, but the number rose to about 150 by the time I left. There was no apparent leader, and took much pride in that. There were lots of proposals (15) such as providing transportation to NYC, creating a video expressing solidarity with Wall St protesters, and researching possible places for an Albany occupation. They have more videos and information at their website, occupyalbany.org.” Wednesday, union organizers are joining the Occupy Wall Street protest, and there a planned student walkout and protest at SUNY Albany at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Doreen Davis, elections, government jobs, high-impact hydraulic fracturing, layoffs, Marie Metzler, Occupy Albany, Occupy Wall Street, Terry McSorley, Tom Poelker
Cuomo announces $175,000 for Greene farmers; $44,000 for Columbia County
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $2.4 million from the state’s Agricultural and Community Recovery Fund (ACRF) to 125 New York farms to help recover from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Specifically, money will go locally to:
Greene County Soil & Water District – $174,650
Projects: Debris removal, fence repair, and grassed waterway repair.
Columbia County Soil & Water District – $44,000
Projects: Access road, stream crossing, fencing repair, debris removal from crop fields, and stream bank stabilization.
Albany County Soil & Water District – $30,250
Projects: Replacement of alternative water supply and reconstruction of an access road, fencing, and gravel deposition removal.
Delaware County Soil & Water District – $101,214
Projects: Debris removal, milk house waste treatment system replacement, fencing, access road replacement and repair, stream bank stabilization.
Dutchess County Soil & Water District – $17,403
Projects: Debris removal from pastures, access road repair, fence repair, downed tree removal, and vegetative buffer planting.
Rensselaer County Soil & Water District – $184,060
Projects: Fence replacement and repair, stream bank stabilization, debris removal, and access road repair.
Ulster County Soil & Water District – $190,252
Projects: Stream crossing for equipment repair, critical area seeding, irrigation system repair, fencing, orchard repair, debris removal, access road repair, and cover cropping.
The Conservation Program is administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets in consultation with the New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee. Applications for funding will be accepted from County Soil and Water Conservation Districts within the eligible counties.
From DEC.
Hurricane Irene is taking another victim this fall: pheasant hunters. Greene and Schoharie counties may not get any pheasants released on hunting lands, “due to flooding in some areas and other logistical problems, there are currently no stocking sites in Greene County; however, if conditions improve birds may be released during the regular season,” according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC just announced it is releasing 30,000 adult pheasants on lands open to public hunting for the upcoming Fall pheasant hunting season.
In Columbia County there are four release sites:
• Kinderhook – County Rte. 21 southeast of Dahlgren Rd. (RS)
• New Lebanon – South side of Cemetery Rd., west of Royce Hill Rd. (RS)
• New Lebanon – County Rte. 5A and Old Post Rd.- Ask permission (RS)
• New Lebanon – South side of Rte. 20 east of Old Shaker Rd. Access with limited parking on farm road just east of Stewart’s Shop (RS)
Albany County
• Berne – Partridge Run WMA – See maps at all informational kiosks. (YH, RS)
• Knox – Margaret Burke WMA – west side of Cty Rte 254. (YH, RS)
• New Scotland – West side of Diamond Hill Rd. north of Clipp Rd. (RS)
Delaware County
• Colchester – Bear Spring Mtn. WMA – Trout Brook Rd. (YH, RS)
• Franklin- Off Rt. 357 across from Merrickville Rd. on Town property. Must obtain permission to hunt surrounding private land. (RS)
• Harpersfield – Peters Rd. northwest of Bruce Hill Rd. Park at designated parking sign. Two vehicles maximum. (RS)
• Walton – Bear Spring Mtn. WMA – West Trout Brook Rd. (RS)
Dutchess County
• Amenia – Wassaic Multiple Use Area (RS)
• Milan – Lafayetteville Multiple Use Area (YH, RS)
• Red Hook – Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area (YH, RS)
Rensselaer County
• Nassau – North and south of Jefferson Hill Rd. at the intersection with Middle Rd. – Must ask permission by calling 518-766-4346 after 5 PM. (YH, RS)
Ulster County
• Hurley – Gill’s Farm – Must obtain permission from landowner. (RS)
• Rochester – Davis Farm – Must obtain written permission from landowner. (RS)
• Rochester – Kelder Farm – Must obtain written permission from landowner. (RS)
• Wawarsing – Ver Nooy Kill State Forest (Lundy Estate), access from Lundy Road off 209 (RS)
The pheasant hunting season begins on October 1 in our area.
Gibson: I’m disappointed in [Wednesday] night’s vote
Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential reports that Rep. Chris Gibson (R, Kinderhook) voted unsuccessfully Wed., Sept. 21 to pass a larger House spending bill directing storm aid to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency with open offices in Greene and Columbia counties, and an agency that may run out of money this week. “I was disappointed to see my colleagues on both sides of the aisle vote against this CR, which provided critical aid money for FEMA and our district,” Gibson said in a statement. “Helping our communities rebuild is far more important than playing political games. I will continue to advocate for immediate passage of FEMA disaster relief and urge leaders from both parties to come together and get this done. I will vote for any legislation we consider in the House that provides disaster relief funding.” Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
Cuomo announces food stamp benefits for local storm victims
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced The Disaster Food Stamp Benefits Program for residents in counties affected by Hurricane Irene became available as of Thu., Sept. 22. Greene and Columbia county residents affected by the recent storms are covered by the program, as are those living in Albany, Delaware, Dutchess, Schoharie, and Ulster counties. The federal government oversees the Food Stamp Program, which is operated in New York State by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). To qualify for disaster food stamp benefits, applicants:
· Must have lived in one of the designated counties at the time of the disaster. Applicants may be eligible if they are temporarily living outside of the disaster area but within the State at the time of the disaster.
· Must plan on purchasing food during the month of September.
· Must have experienced at least one of the following:
o Loss of food or food stamp benefits.
o Damage to, or the destruction of, the household’s home or self-employment business.
o Disaster-related expenses not expected to be reimbursed during the month of September (e.g. home or business repairs, temporary shelter expenses, etc.).
o Loss or inaccessibility of income including reduction or termination of income, or a delay in receipt of income for half a month.
o Inaccessible liquid resources (e.g. banks are closed due to the disaster).
Call 1-800-342-3009, or contact your local department of social services for more information.
FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers to close on Sundays
Lissa Harris in the Watershed Post reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and New York Office of Emergency Management Disaster Recovery Centers operating in New York State will now be open only six days a week. Hours are now Mon-Sat, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at these locations:
Greene County: Main Street, Prattsville.
Delaware County: Sidney Civic Center, 21 Liberty Street, Sidney.
Schoharie County: Cobleskill Fire Department, 610 East Main Street, Cobleskill.
Ulster County: Belleayre Ski Center, Route 28, Highmount.
Read the full story in The Watershed Post.
Tags: agriculture, budget cuts, Chris Gibson, DEC, farm flooding, FEMA, hunting, Hurricane Irene, pheasant hunting, pheasants, Tropical Storm Lee
Repair work on Route 73 near Keene, being repaired Mon. Sept. 5. Photo from NYS Governor's Office.
If the storms associated with Hurricane Irene weren’t enough, there were heavy rains late Sunday night and late Monday night, and more rain is expected Wednesday and Thursday as what is left from Tropical Storm Lee dumps more water on overly saturated ground. Last time that happened, with Irene, Western Greene County was devastated, and is still digging mud out, repairing bridges, and assessing unfathomable damage. The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for Greene, Columbia, Delaware, Schoharie, Rensselaer, Ulster, and Albany counties through 7 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Greene Grime
Dick May, in his Seeing Greene blog, reports yet another local business has abandoned downtown Catskill. Last Wed., Aug. 25, Jeffrey Meyers closed Café 355 telling May, that “I can’t afford to stay open” and is working in Albany. Read the full story in Seeing Greene.
Hundreds turn out for Republican caucus
Melanie Lekocevic reports in The Greene County News that Greenville Republicans picked justice candidate Jens Lobb, incumbent Town Supervisor Paul Macko, Tax Collector Mary Yeomans and Councilman Greg Davis, town clerk candidate Jackie Park, and incumbents Highway Superintendent Richard Hempstead and Councilman John Bensenat at the Greenville Public Library Monday Aug. 29. Macko, Davis, and Bensen were unopposed. Lobb defeated Walter Schelling 110 to 97. Christine Wickes. For town clerk, Park beat Christine Wickes 120 to 85. Hempstead defeated Joseph Licata 118 to 84 for Highway Superintendent. Read the full story in The Greene County News.
Tags: Flash Flood Watch, Greg Davis, Jackie Park, John Bensenat, Mary Yeomans, Paul Macko, Richard Hempstead, weather
WGXC coverage map.
WGXC’s Technical Director Al Davis prepared this map of WGXC’s effective coverage area. We will be beaming signals to the areas above all weekend long, live during Hurricane Irene’s arrival in our area.
Governor Andrew Cuomo launched his Capital Region Regional Economic Development Councils Thu., July 28, setting up regional development groups. Greene and Columbia counties are included in the Capital Region Regional Council, led by Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Michael Castellana, President and CEO of SEFCU, who will serve as Regional Co-Chairs over Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties. Donald E. Gibson, President, CEO & Director, The Bank of Greene County is included on the council, as are spots for the Chairman of Greene County Legislature, which is currently Wayne Speenburgh (R-Coxsackie), and Chairman Columbia Board of Supervisors, which is currently Roy Brown (R-Germantown). “New York can no longer afford one-size-fits-all economic development plans that ignore the unique assets and challenges of the state’s many diverse regions,” Governor Cuomo said in a press release. “Today, we are taking a groundbreaking approach that will send a clear message that New York is open for business. With the Regional Councils, we will empower individual areas like Capital Region to chart their own course for economic growth, bringing jobs and investment to New York.” Dutchess and Ulster counties are included in the Mid-Hudson version of the council, while Delaware County is in the Southern Tier.
Capital Region Regional Council Members
Regional Co-Chairs
Michael J. Castellana, President and CEO, SEFCU
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
General Members
Joseph F. Raccuia, President & CEO, Finch Paper LLC
Gary Dake, President, Stewart’s Shops
Bill Hart, Controller, Irving Tissue Inc.
Victor R. Abate, Vice President, Renewable Energy, General Electric
Peg A. Murphy, Corporate Secretary/Director of Human Resources, Espey Manufacturing &
Electronics Corporation
Omar Usmani, Executive Partner, Aeon Nexus Corporation
Ann C. Moynihan, President, Documentation Strategies Inc.
Linda Davis Pedlar, Owner, LDP Consulting Group, Inc.
Christine Edgerly, President, Adirondack Mechanical Services LLC
Jeff Stark, President, Greater Capital Region Building Trades Council
George M. Phillip, President, University at Albany
Karen Bilowith, President & CEO, The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region
James J. Barba, President & CEO, Albany Medical Center
Todd Erling, Executive Director, Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation
F. Michael Tucker, President & CEO, Center for Economic Growth
Dennis Brobston, President, Saratoga Economic Development Corporation
Linda Hillman, President, Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce
Donald E. Gibson, President, CEO & Director, The Bank of Greene County
Elected Officials
Albany County Executive
Chairman of Schenectady County Legislature
Rensselaer County Executive
Chairman Saratoga Board of Supervisors
Chairman Warren Board of Supervisors
Chairman Columbia Board of Supervisors
Chairman of Greene County Legislature
Chairman Washington Board of Supervisors
Mayor of the City of Albany
Mayor of the City of Schenectady
Mayor of the City of Troy
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Capital Region Regional Council, Donald Gibson, Roy Brown, Wayne Speenburgh
McLaughlin mulls primary, McDonald talks economy
Rick Karlin in the Albany Times-Union’s Capitol Confidential blog reports that, after just being elected to a first term, GOP 198th District Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin is considering a new job, possibly running against fellow Republican, Sen. Roy McDonald, because of the senator’s vote legalizing same-sex marriage. “I wouldn’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind,” said McLaughlin, who represents parts of northern Greene and Columbia counties. The Assemblyman says he’s gotten calls from Republican and Conservative party members in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. “I’ve heard there is some unrest. And that’s probably why I’m getting the amount of phone calls and e mails I’ve been getting.” He says he will take the guidance of the district’s town and county party committees. “If they support Roy, fine,” said McLaughlin. “That’s going to weigh heavily on anybody’s decision.” Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
Delaware leaders oppose fracking ban in watershed
J. Blake Killin reports in The Daily Mail that the Delaware County Board of Supervisors opposes proposed regulations that would ban gas drilling in watersheds that are located within the county. Proposed DEC regulations would ban the extracting natural gas from shale formations using horizontal drilling and the injection of water, sand and chemicals under extremely high pressure to fracture the rock formation to release the gas from within the New York City watershed. “The Board of Supervisors Chairman James E. Eisel Sr. has written a letter to the Coalition of Watershed Towns seeking its support in opposing any special regulations that rob residents of Delaware County of the mineral rights on their property without due compensation,” Killin wrote. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.
Basilica Hudson a new temple of contemporary art
Amy Griffin in the Albany Times-Union profiles the new owners of Basilica Hudson, musician and artist Melissa Auf der Maur, filmmaker Tony Stone and his parents, Bill and Nancy Stone, also artists, as the New Art Dealers Alliance, a collective of independent curators and for-profit and nonprofit galleries, comes to the large facility near Hudson’s train station this weekend. “It’s a bit of an experiment, but the response has been great so far, and a lot of people are going to show up. I think it’s going to look really interesting,” says Heather Hubbs, director of NADA. “For us, it’s a dream. Basically, it’s going to showcase the space, this location, this building and all of its potential, probably like no other event we could have, because every single room will be like a maze of art hidden in all of the different wings of our building,” says Auf der Maur. Basilica has a 6,000-square-foot main hall, a small theater, a west wing and a finished art gallery. The story also mentions how, “prominent performance artist Marina Abramovic has also purchased a large building with plans to open an institute for performance art, and The Art Newspaper reports that art collectors Steven Johnson and Walter Sudol have purchased the Charles Williams School, with plans to turn it into an art center, as well,” both also in Hudson. Read the full story in the Times-Union.
Tags: Basilica Hudson, Bill Stone, gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing, Marina Abramović, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Nancy Stone, Natural Gas, Roy McDonald, same-sex marriage, Steve McLaughlin, Tony Stone
Rep. Chris Gibson at Chatham Middle School, at town meeting March 23. Photo by Tom Roe.
Congressman Chris Gibson (NY-20) will testify before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Thursday on his legislation, H.R. 1609, the “War Powers Reform Act.” The Committee hearing is titled “War Powers, United States Operations in Libya, and Related Legislation,” and Gibson will explain his position on the balance between executive and legislative power on the issue of bombing foreign lands. Gibson says his bill , “would prevent the President from acting or expending funds without the authorization of Congress, unless the action met a specific set of criteria.” The hearing is at 10:30 a.m. The War Powers Resolution enacted over the President’s veto in 1973 requires the President to seek Congressional authority after engaging the American military in hostile actions, has been ignored by all presidents of both parties. Gibson wants the authority limited to, “when there has been a declaration of war, when there is congressional authorization by statue or commitment under a treaty, or when the US is attacked or in imminent danger of being attacked.”
No progress on Hudson school budget
Lynn Sloneker tweets from last night’s first effort to redo the Hudson School District budget after voters rejected it May 17, and the School Board first accepted it, then rejected the budget a week later. Sloneker reported, “First post-election budget workshop ends with little resolved. BoE will meet again Thur…fish or cut bait time.”
House Advances Budget With Significant Cuts to FDA
Helena Bottemiller in Food Safety News reports that House lawmakers unveiled a proposal Monday that seeks $285 million in cuts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next year, an 11.5 percent reduction from current spending. Former chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), told Republicans on the panel that she believes their cuts, which were approved by the subcommittee in a voice vote Tuesday, will roll back “years of progress on food safety.” DeLauro said foodborne illness is a major threat and called the proposal “unacceptable.” Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), chair of the subcommittee, emphasized the austere budget circumstances in which Congress is operating. It’s “been tight for all of us,” he said. “We have tried our best to focus on waste and duplication.” Read the entire story in Food Safety News.
Food on the March
Scott Baldinger in the Word on the Street blog notes that Hudson has several new inexpensive places to eat:
•Tortillaville, the Mexican mobile stand, reopens from its winter in the Florida Keys this weekend, back at 347 Warren St.
•The Italian Market and Deli (518-671-6610), at the corner of Columbia and Park Place.
•The mobile Winnie’s Jerk Chicken and Fish Shack, parked Thursday through Saturday (Wed-Sat. starting in June) in front of the historic freight depot at State and Seventh. Owners Winston and Jai Francis, from Jamaica, report they will be at the spot until next winter. Read the entire item in Word on the Street.
Circuit board “fried” at WIOX, replacement is on order
Julia Reischel in The Watershed Post reports the signal at WIOX 91.3-FM in Roxbury has been off since Monday night as a circuit needed to be replaced. The radio station’s managing consultant, Joe Piasek, believes they will be back on the air Thursday afternoon. Read the whole story in The Watershed Post.
Thursday audio clips
•Click here to listen to mp3 recording of Richard Koweek interview on “@Issue” on WGXC. Interview by Victor Mendolia, who is head of the Hudson Democrats, and Debora Gilbert, who writes for The Columbia Paper.
•Click here to listen to nine-minute interview with Woodin that includes a performance from the Evander Quartet.
•Click here to listen to an interview with Pamela Badilla about “The Rooster and the Crocodile,” with Tom Roe on the WGXC Afternoon Show May 25.
2010 CENSUS: Population up in local counties, state
The Daily Freeman, and other local papers, leads with a story on the release of new 2010 cenus information, finding that the region’s population grew by 5.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, and only one local county – Delaware – had a decline in residents during that period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Greene County had a population of 49,221, up from 48,195 in 2000, a gain of 2.1 percent; Columbia had 63,096, a gain of just two people from 63,094 in 2000; Dutchess County had 297,448, up from 280,150 in 2000, a gain of 6.2 percent; Ulster had 182,493, up from 177,749 in 2000, a gain of 2.7 percent. Delaware County lost 75 people, for a total of 47,980, similar to losses in the Mohawk Valley and Western New York. The City of Hudson lost 811 people, or almost 11 percent, for a current total of 6.713. The Town of Catskill lost 74 people for a current total of 11,775. The state’s population in 2010 was 19,378,102, a gain of 2.1 percent from 2000’s 18,976,457, the Census Bureau said. More on this info in the coming weeks…
Legislators optimistic of budget deal Friday
Jimmy Vielkind of the Times Union reports that legislative leaders in Albany emerged from a closed-door meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo late on Thursday, March 24 optimistic that a budget agreement could be announced Friday, March 25… a week before its April 1 due date. The millionaire’s tax seems to have disappeared from talks, along with any renewal of New York City rent stabilization laws or a property tax cap. But that’s also with Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos taking the media lead, and longstanding Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver expressing some caution on pronouncements for the moment and the Governor staying mum for a day.
Report: Albany area loses 4,900 jobs
The Albany Business Journal reports that government job losses continue to choke the Capital Region’s economy, according to new state data. While area businesses continue to add jobs, albeit at a slower clip than most other areas of the state, job cuts in the public sector keeps overwhelming any of that growth. For the third month in a row, the core Capital Region had the largest job losses of the 13 metro areas in the state, when combining government and private-sector jobs. Right now, the fastest-growing job market in the state is in Kingston.
BOE looks to slim down
Francesca Olsen of the Register-Star writes that the county Board of Elections is planning to consolidate some of its 58 election districts and it will end up with around 51, according to the county’s election commissioners. “While no countywide plan has been finalized, the commissioners have a pretty good idea of what they’d like to do, and will be visiting town board meetings in the coming months to explain their plan to residents and officials,” Olsen reports. “The plan to consolidate districts will save around $32,000 annually, said Republican Commissioner Jason Nastke. That’s $3,750 for every district that’s eliminated and $1,000 for every poll site that’s eliminated. It will also give the BOE an opportunity to address accessibility issues at its poll sites.” The changes should be in place by Primary Day, September 13.
2 C-H trucks up in flames
Colin DeVries of the Daily Mail reports how an electrical fire destroyed two Central Hudson pickup trucks on March 24. He writes that Catskill Fire Chief Jonathan Dees said one of the two charred trucks had not been used for over a week and recently had its electrical system repaired, and that the fire likely originated from a short in the electrical wiring. The vehicle was eventually completely engulfed at the power company’s substation off Route 9W outside the village of Catskill. The fire from the first truck, which was a Dodge Ram, then spread to the Chevrolet pickup truck beside it.
Chatham police chief retires after 35 years
Emilia Teasdale of The Columbia Paper reports that Village Police Chief Kevin Boehme has retired after 35 years on the force. His retirement became official as of 3 p.m. on Monday March 21 even though Boehme filed the paperwork to retire last fall, said Village Clerk/Treasurer Carol Simmons. No one knows whether there will be a new chief. The department has a deputy chief, Mark Leggett, who will stay in that position. Boehme’s older brother, Paul, is the current mayor of the village and will hold that post until the first Monday in April.
Tags: budget talks, cenus figures, chief of police, job losses, truck fire
The National Weather Service has announced a Winter Storm Warning to remain in effect primarily for Greene and Ulster counties until N12 noon on Thursday, March 24. Heavy wet now with accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are expected for the Catskill Mountains and environs into Thursday morning, although impacts into more snow and poor visibility will make for dangerous travel and roads in the mountains will become snow covered and very slippery. Heavy wet snow may cause some isolated downed tree limbs and power lines resulting in power outages. Strong winds are also possible. For Columbia County and the Hudson Valley, the forecast is for two to four inches of similar wet, heavy snow, with clearing expected by noon tomorrow. School closings for tomorrow are already being announced for most area educational institutions.
Tags: Winter Storm Warning
Flooding remains a concern in region
The Daily Freeman is looking hard at the weather, noting that sunny skies aren’t expected until Monday. They highlight flood warnings in along the Wallkill River in New Paltz, and planned water releases from the Ashokan reservoir into the Esopus Creek… as well as a wind advisory for western Ulster and western Greene counties that would affect mostly the higher terrains, with winds of 25 to 35 mph, and gusts up to 45 to 55 mph predicted overnight in the Catskill Mountains. A state of emergency has been declared in Shandaken. Roads flooded on Monday in Columbia County are also expecvted to get repeat flooding today and tomorrow.
Dealing with the fallout of flooding
The Register-Star has a story about the things one should be aware of when surviving floods, from the avoidance of contaminated water and food to turning the power off in one’s basement before evacuating a house, clean-up tips, and ensuring that one stays attentive to cleaning any minor wounds because of the threat of infection from flood waters.
Cuts in state aid hit C-A district hard
Melanie Lekocevic reports in the Daily Mail that the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District is looking for ways it can trim down its budget, facing rising costs for salaries, which will increase by $610,000, employee benefits, which will rise by $680,000, transportation, and a BOCES’ increase in addition to sliced aid. This is THE topic of the year, and possibly our younger generation…
We just didn’t salt away enough
The Times Union has a story about how Capital Region communities have scraped the bottoms of their salt barrels to clear away the 83.6 inches of snow and ice that have piled up this winter.
USDA: Let’s revise lunch
Andrew Amelinckx of the Register-Star has been asking around to see how local school districts in Columbia County are reacting to the recent proposal by the United States Department of Agriculture to change the way school children eat, and has found that while many are enthusiastic about offering more fresh fruits and vegetables, they are also worrying we may not be able to afford such healthiness.
Assembly proposing a bona fide millionaire’s tax
The Times Union’s Capitol Confidential notes that the state Assembly is drafting a budget plan to be introduced next week with an actual millionaire’s tax, meaning that people at seven figures of income and above would be assessed an additional surcharge above the rest of taxpayers. The measure dovetails with similar calls from the GOP-dominated State Senate, and may work to whittle away the state deficit via revenue, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state opposition to renewing such taxes on the wealthy.
NY among country’s healthiest states
Need some good news? The Albany Business Journal reports that a new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index report says 25 percent—one-in-four—of New York residents are obese, putting it below the national average of 26.6 percent. The state with the lowest obesity rate was Colorado, where 20 percent of its residents are obese. The south and upper Midwest have the worst obesity rates, at present.
Tags: flood warnings, flood watch, obesity, school budgets, snow accumulations, state of emergency, USDA school lunch standards
Firefighting at 90
The Daily Mail’s Colin DeVries has a story about Kiskatom Fire Company member Jim Katt, who joined the company a year after it started and celebrated hisr 57th year as a fireman along with his 90th birthday recently.
Chatham Co-op kicks off Friday Feasts
Paul Crossman writes in the Register-Star about how nearly 40 people showed up at the Chatham Real Food Co-op for the first of three First Friday Feasts on March 4, a series of benefit dinners to help raise money for the educational initiative “Chatham Chickens,” a collective of seven young adults in their late teens and early 20s who are starting an enterprise to raise heritage breed chickens for organic, free-running and pastured egg production.
Ulster lawmakers plan hearings on hydrofracking
The Daily Freeman reports that Ulster County hearings on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas are being planned for May to help county lawmakers gather information about impacts of the controversial process, put together by County Legislature Government Operations and Environmental Services Committee Chairman Brian Shapiro of Woodstock. Shapiro said a date will be set after determining the availability of state Department of Environmental Conservation officials, and expects the sessions will take place at Ulster County Community College.
Get ready for more flooding
Lyssa Harris at Watershed Post reports on flooding in the Catskills, which is at its worst in Delaware County and downstream below the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County. In Greene and Columbia counties, ice and snow abated the flooding, although high waters have been reported on a number of back roads where flooding usually occurs.
State health care oversight lacking bids
The Times Union concludes a weeks-long inquiry with a report on the no-bid situation surrounding most state health insurance, with no one knowing exactly how or why the situation ended up this way, “suggesting the contracts are sort of evergreens that are extended without review.” The Office of the State Comptroller official said that major parts of state insurer United Healthcare’s deals “never got passed on for approval, contrary to what is supposed to happen.”
Tags: Chatham Real Food Coop, flooding, oldest fireman, snow, state healthcare
You know all that information published by the New York Times this week about gas drilling? The Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York countered this week with a press release that starts, “As the State Senate considers the confirmation of a new commissioner at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and Governor Cuomo and the Legislature strive to identify budget-balancing solutions for our state, New York’s oil and gas industry offers a realistic solution: Natural gas development in New York’s Southern Tier.” The piece goes on to highlight the “outward migration of our best and brightest young citizens; the highest taxes in the nation; shuttered businesses throughout the state; sky-rocketing energy costs; and job losses in the tens of thousands” as reasons why “the viable solution and an element of the state recovery is under our feet in the form of natural gas.” The press release then turns into a missive as the association “asks Commissioner designate Joseph Martens, the Legislature and Governor Cuomo to consider the potential economic impact and at the conclusion of the Department’s environmental review of the processes associated with capturing natural gas, and to move swiftly to capitalize on an opportunity that advances energy independence and economic growth.” The interesting factoid? Instead of focusing statewide, or on the Catskills watershed counties of Delaware and Sullivan, the association is stressing action only in Broome, Tioga and Chemung counties.
Tags: fracking, gas drilling, Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York
Get ready for more/Snow blankets county
The weather dominates all our local papers again today, with both the Daily Mail and Register-Star leading with snow stories that are closely followed by updates on how the white stuff is starting to eat at annual budgets, and new calls for snow emergencies in our cities and towns.
Painful road to recover ahead
The Times Union offers reports and analysis of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s release of a new 2011-2012 state budget yesterday, while local papers are running with local politicos responses to the proposal, most of it respectfully “positive” towards its tough love measures.
Hospital sees increase in flu
The Register-Star checks in at Columbia Memorial Hospital and finds that because the press wasn’t going on about any new strains of flu this year, fewer people got flu shots, which has resulted in more people coming down with the flu in December and January. It’s not too late to get the shot now, doctors say.
Deportation of Saugerties resident on hold another year
The Daily Freeman has an upbeat update on the immigration saga of Argentinian restaurateurs Emilio and Analia Maya, who own Tango Cafe right in the center of the village, who have been given a one year stay on deportation proceedings as Rep. Maurice Hinchey moves a bill on their behalf through Congress.
Yes Virginia, there is diesel in frac fluid
The Watershed Post updates everyone on new ingredients being “leaked” in hearings on the controversial gas drilling process that’s proposed for the southern Catskills and much of central New York. This story will get a full update later today.
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Church, in Greene County's Lexington, centers an Upstate community that sees their remembered Carpathian Mountains in the local Catskills, as do parishioners at St. Nicholas Ukrainian on Union Street in Hudson.
Tags: Carpathian Mountains, Kickstarter, Linda Norris, Soyuzivka, The Pickle Project
Watershed Post has posted a new video from Delaware County real estate agent Frank Lumia, one of its business underwriters, produced for the environmental news and video website BigGreenTV that explains water pollution by using magic tricks. Lumia is a well-known local magician and entertainer as well as being a real estate broker, and “he has outdone himself to make point source, nonpoint source, and thermal water pollution entertaining with a blues harmonica, a green screen, different kinds of colored sand, a backup band, and several goldfish,” according to WP’s Julia Reischel. For inventive ways to underwrite programming on WGXC online and on-air, click here…
Tags: underwriting, water pollution
Shared services are the buzzword in news items coming out of regional school districts facing capped spending over the coming term, municipalities and counties looking for ways to keep their own tax loads down while maintaining basic services and infrastructure repairs, and everyone looks to strap in for a bumpy economic road ahead. In the City of Kingston, the mayor is talking about sharing services, as is Ulster County’s executive. Meanwhile, Mid Hudson News Network reports today that State Assemblyman Pete Lopez is talking about the issue in terms of rural school districts as well as county and town governments.
As governments have begun to assess their historical ways of doing business, they are looking at ways of reinventing themselves to save taxpayers money. On the state level, there is talk of a property tax cap and curbing unfunded mandates placed on localities.
Tags: economic development, Pete Lopez, property tax cap, shared services
Hunter Tannersville Central Schools are among several of the region's districts looking at potential mergers as a means of overcoming the current economic climate, which seems to be pusing for greater consolidations in the name of greater efficiencies.
Tags: BOCES, property tax cap, Questar III, school mergers
Unemployment rates in Mid-Hudson counties were higher in November than in October, the state Labor Department reported on Thursday.
In Columbia County, the November jobless rate was 7.2 percent, compared to 6.8 percent in October. In Greene, the rate jumped from 7.7 percent in October to 8.4 percent in November.
November unemployment rates in other local counties were as follows.
• Albany: 6.9 percent, up from 6.6
• Delaware: 8.2. percent, up from 7.7.
• Dutchess 7.5 percent, up from 7.3
• Orange: 7.9, up from 7.6.
• Rensselaer: 7.3, up from 6.9
• Saratoga: 6.5, up from 6.1
• Schenectady: 7.5, up from 7.1
• Schoharie: 8.3, up from 7.6
• Sullivan: 9.4, up from 8.5.
• Ulster: 7.9, up from 7.4
Tags: unemployment figures
Although fracking, the best-known term for the controversial gas drilling procedure that’s been a major environmental issue throughout the region this year, has slipped from the front pages following last week’s state Assembly vote in favor of a statewide moratorium on such activity into May, and outgoing governor David Paterson’s expected signing of that decision into law over the coming weeks, environmentalists and concerned citizens are pointing out that much is still happening in regards to the issue behind closed doors. As well as in neighboring states and on a federal level. The Watershed Post has a compendium story on draft regulations released by the Delaware River Basin Commission’s issuance of its long-awaited draft regulations for the development of gas drilling within the river’s watershed, which includes parts of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. which shows both environmentalists and New York City crying foul… calling the release “a black day for the Delaware” while drilling proponents have started talking about how they are “moving the process forward.” The regulations — which some see as an arbiter of what’s tgo come from our own state’s Department of Environmental Conservation — won’t require a cumulative impact study of the wells before they’re drilled, currently being undertaken by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Even though top geologists point out that there are no gas deposits under our region, the issue has gained strength as it raises health and safety issues relevant to many of New York’s top urban areas, including the New York City watershed.
For full story click here.
Tags: DEC, DEP, DRBC, fracking, gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing, Marcellus Shale
ALBANY — The Times-Union reports this morning that Greene County’s two private ski areas in Hunter and Windham have again started to take on neighboring, state-owned Belleayre Mountain ski center, in Ulster County, claiming their state competition is dumping too many free tickets to draw skiers. And this at the same time tyhat the state-owned region is shifting most of its employment from full- to part-time and seasonal, with deep staffing and other spending cuts gaining political traction in the deep Catskills, as reported HERE..
The two ski areas, it is reported, used the state Freedom of Information Law to obtain Belleayre’s records on free and discounted tickets during the two previous ski seasons, which showed the state facility was giving away about 10 percent of its skier visits for free. That’s about five times what a privately owned ski center might do with promotional free tickets, according to Scott Brandi, president of Ski Areas of New York Inc., a group that represents the state’s ski mountains, including Hunter, Windham and Belleayre.
Tags: competition, free tickets, public-private, ski industry, skiing, winter sports
Murphy still busy as terms nears end
Debora Gilbert in The Columbia Paper has an interview with outgoing Congressman Scott Murphy who says he is most proud of visiting every one of the 137 towns and cities in his district during his abbreviated term (he is pictured at one of those meeting’s last March in Coxsackie). “He also held 150 healthcare town-hall-style meetings,” the article says, though that is clearly not true (that would be one meeting every three or so days, and without counting those 137 town meetings that would be impossible.) “I helped get money for bridges, high speed Internet and broadband. I enjoyed listening and learning, and working to access federal support for people,” Murphy mused, saying he was not sure what he would do next. “We helped with loan programs, grants for fire departments for equipment and materials. We worked to reform Wall Street so that never again will Main Street have to bail out Wall Street. We worked to make the economy stronger at both levels, micro and macro.”
Kentucky horse farm expands into NY
Robin K. Cooper in The Business Review reports Vinery Ltd., a Kentucky-based thoroughbred breeding and racing farm, has taken over Empire Stud farm at 5384 Route 9H-23 in Hudson. The company also operates a farm and training track in Florida. Empire Stud currently employs eight.
WIOX starts webcasting
WIOX, the new full-power non-commercial radio station based in Roxbury, New York, now has its webstream up and running.
Double duty
Fred Rosen in The Daily Freeman writes about Brian Daniels, one of several associate commissioners in the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, directing the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped and an ordained rabbi, leading Temple Israel of Catskill, 55 miles away from Saratoga County, where he lives with his wife and children. “We are a Reform Jewish congregation and our wish is to fulfill the spiritual needs of Jewish people of all ages in Greene County and its environs,” Daniels told Rosen. “We fulfill this through emphasizing the principles of our sacred tradition, including welcoming the stranger, celebrating joyous moments together, providing comfort and sharing in grief during moments of sadness and, just as importantly, fulfilling the expectations set forth by our teachings, which have been inspired by God, whose presence we welcome and feel through our communal pursuits.”
Birthdays
Nov. 29 birthdays include Christian Doppler, C.S. Lewis, and James Rosenquist.
Tags: Brian Daniels, Empire Stud, Ltd., Scott Murphy, Vinery, WIOX
The Watershed Post has an update on a story that’s been percolating around the region for years, involving the rural Delaware Electric Cooperative’s wish to adapt European technological advences to New York City’s reservoir system upstate, generating local power via mini-generators in gravity-fueled waqter tunnels.
Implications ae that the system could eventually be adapted to all municipal water and sewer systems for energy creation. Talk about powering the lights every time one flushes!
“After being courted for years by an upstate electric cooperative seeking to develop hydropower on city-owned dams, the agency that runs New York City’s water supply says it finally wants to tango. But it may be too late,” the Watershed Post reports this morning. “In a press release issued on Monday, the agency announced that it is looking for partners in the private sector to help them develop hydroelectric power on four reservoirs: the Schoharie, Cannonsville, Pepacton, and Neversink.”
The obvious candidate to build the generators would seem to be the Delaware County Electric Cooperative, a nonprofit, cooperatively-owned electric utility that has long sought to develop hydropower on the reservoirs, and that has been in negotiations with the DEP for years over the issue. A 2008 proposal by the DCEC to use water already spilling over the dams to generate up to 63 megawatts of power earned strong political support at both the local and state level, including support from Congressman Maurice Hinchey and U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.
But after a long and unsuccessful effort to convince the DEP to allow it to develop the reservoirs, the DCEC has little stomach to do further battle with the agency. In an interview with the Watershed Post yesterday, CEO Greg Starheim said that while the DCEC has not made a decision on whether to respond to the DEP’s open call to developers, he doubts the cooperative would want to enter into another round of negotiations with the city.
“This has been an enormously costly and time-consuming proposition for our membership. I don’t see that as a very viable and smart thing for us to do,” he said.
And though the DEP appears to be welcoming private developers with open arms, Starheim has little faith that the agency has any real interest in developing power on the reservoirs.
“The city has considered hydroelectric generation at some of the facilities in the past, going back thirty years ago. And they’ve always abandoned those pursuits,” he said. “We have tried extensively to negotiate with the city and have not been successful.”
For the full story click HERE.
SULLIVAN COUNTY – The Sullivan County-based Catskill Mountainkeeper environmental organization, founded three years ago to battle Catskills casino development, new power lines through the Delaware watershed, and then the rise of what is being called gas franking, is calling on President Obama’s administration not to approve any more natural gas drilling permits until the EPA’s study of the impacts of hydrofracking has been completed, according to a report from the Mid-Hudson News Network this morning.
Mountainkeeper said that while the United States, especially in the Marcellus Shale region, have reserves of natural gas and there is interest in developing them, they are “enormously concerned about the idea of fast tracking natural gas exploration and the risks such actions will bring.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Catskills, frasching, gas, Marcellus Shale, Mountainkeeper, Titus
Unemployment rates were little changed from September to October in Mid-Hudson Valley counties, according to state Labor Department data released on Thursday. The jobless rate in Greene County was 7.7 percent last month, up from 7.5 percent in September but better than the 7.9 percent rate of October 2009. In Columbia County, joblessness stood at 6.8 percent in October, compared to 6.7 percent in September and 7.2 percent in October 2009.
Unemployment rates in other local counties in October were:
• Ulster County: 7.4 percent last month, unchanged from September and down from 7.6 percent in October 2009.
• Dutchess County: 7.3 percent in October, the same rate as in September and a slight improvement from the 7.8 percent rate of October 2009.
• Delaware: 7.7 percent, compared to 7.6 in September and 8.1 in October 2009.
• Orange: 7.6, compared to 7.7 and 7.7.
• Sullivan: 8.5, compared to 8.2 and 8.5.
From Julia Reischel in The Watershed Post:
Yesterday at 5 p.m., Roxbury’s new full-power FM radio station [WIOX, 91.3-FM] cut the ribbon on its broadcast headquarters on Bridge Street in Roxbury. All sorts of local dignitaries were in attendance, inlcluding State Assemblyman Clifford W. Crouch (above left), Chairman of the Delaware County Board of Supervisors Jim Eisel (above right), and Roxbury Town Supervisor Thomas S. Hynes (above with the scissors). Even Governor David Paterson was there in spirit, when Peg Ellsworth, the executive director of the MARK Project, read a letter from Hizzoner congratulating the new station on its launch. Read the entire story in The Watershed Post.
Tags: radio
New York Assemblyman Pete Lopez, who represents Greene County in Albany, will speak at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 24 at the Delaware, Greene and Schoharie Counties’ Community Health Festival at Grand Gorge Civic Center, 60933 State Highway 30 in Grand Gorge.
Tags: Pete Lopez, town meetings
On The Air
WGXC is on 90.7-FM now, at full-power, 3300 watts. We cover all parts of Greene County except parts of the mountaintop, and all of Columbia County except for a bit of Western Columbia County south of Germantown. WGXC also covers a large part of southern Albany County. We have heard reports that the signal is getting from Delaware County to Great Barrington, from Selkirk to Saugerties, from Pine Plains to the I-90 extension.
Local weather/webcams
National Weather Service, Albany
Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page
When the computer is turned on, the Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page reports weather information in Harlemville. Check dates and times to see whether reports are live or from when the computer was turned off.
Greene County webcams:
Catskill webcam: Thomas Cole House Claude Mirror
Nearby webcams:
Recent Comments