Letters (5/16-5/23)
Success or disaster? In a recent letter to the editor (May 9, 2013), members of the League of Women Voters (LWV) reported on their recent panel discussion, “Town-Village Police Consolidation Revisited.” The panel consisted of the Chief of Police Joseph Sinagra, Lieutenant Steven Filak as well as elected officials from the village and town. The...
Town holds off on increased water regulations
A proposed local law on water resources in the town of Saugerties has been tabled following questions raised at a public hearing on April 25. Councilwoman Leeanne Thornton said the number of questions and criticisms of the proposed law raised at the hearing led the Conservation Advisory Committee to table it for further revision. At...
Former mayor passes
John Mull Robbins died peacefully Saturday, May 4 at Kingsway Arms Nursing Center in Schenectady with his family by his side. He was 84. The son of the late Austen and Grace Robbins was born April 4, 1929 in the Bronx. His family moved to Saugerties in 1931, where he resided until moving to Schenectady...
Lighthouse TV23 now streaming on the web
Not that long ago, if you wanted to watch a local program, you’d have to catch it when it aired on channel 23. This month, the channel added online streaming to its website, which allows anyone with an internet connection to tune in from anywhere. The system also allows storing programs on the cloud –...
No Winston Farm concerts this year
The Saugerties Town Board recently announced that there would be no concerts happening this summer at the Winston Farm site that Woodstock ’94 promoter Michael Lang is planning to reactivate as a home for traveling and weekend-long mini music festivals. “We pulled the plug for this year a while ago,” Lang said this week. “Things...
Food truck quota mulled
“Food trucks are cool things,” said Marc Propper at the May 6 Village Board public hearing on a law designed to regulate them. Propper brings a unique perspective to the food truck issue, owning two village restaurants, Miss Lucy’s Kitchen and ‘Cue, both on Partition Street, and as the owner of a food truck that...
Opposition to Central-Hudson takeover
On the same day that U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer joined with Ulster County Executive Mike Hein to recommend the Public Service Commission (PSC) give the proposed $1.5-billion takeover of Central Hudson by Canadian power company Fortis more scrutiny, two PSC administrative law judges assigned to evaluate the deal wrote that the proposed merger’s minuses outweighed...
Vision of the future
After two years of work, the volunteer Comprehensive Plan Committee voted May 7 to adopt the third draft of a plan meant to serve as a vision of the future for the town and village. Since the first draft was released late last year, significant revisions have been made, particularly to sections relating to casino...
Letters (5/2-5/9)
Tyranny of the screamers This past Thursday was the second public hearing for the proposed Water Resources Protection law, about which David Gordon wrote a clear and comprehensive explanatory piece for this paper. Only about 20 citizens came to comment on the proposal, which, like all law, would affect everyone in town. Thirteen signed up...
Student leadership conference
Eleventh grade students Jaclyn Greco and Hunter Igoe recently attended the Students Inside Albany Leadership Conference organized by the League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation. The 13th annual event took place at the Albany Hotel from April 14–17. Fifty-five students from across the state were brought together to get a firsthand...
What it means to be from Saugerties
When I moved back to Saugerties from college in 2008, I did so reluctantly, and for financial reasons. Over time, I taught myself to see the town in a new way, the way that tourists do. I began to appreciate its quaintness as a vacation spot. But it was only recently I truly began to...
Police merger a success, says panel
For decades, Saugerties leaders talked about merging the town and village police departments, but it took a fiscal crisis in the village to make it happen. In the years leading up to the merger, which took effect Jan. 1, 2011, village residents expressed concern that the loss of the department would mean diminished service. Other...