Here's a rundown of how the Christmas holiday will affect various services and offices in the coming days.
•Amtrak: Sunday schedule today. Regular schedule on weekend.
•Banks: Most closing early today. Closed Saturday, reopening Monday.
•County offices: Closed today, reopening Monday.
•Federal offices: Closed today.
•Financial markets: Closed today.
•Greene Co., Columbia Co., and Hudson City Transit: Regular schedule.
•Mail delivery: Regular today, none Saturday.
•Metro-North: Saturday schedule today. Sunday schedule on Saturday.
•State offices: Open today.
•Trailways: Regular schedule today and Sunday. Holiday schedule on Saturday.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Kisten Gilllibrand and family are moving from Mt. Merino Road outside Hudson to Albany."][/caption]After weeks of speculation, it's finally been stated officially... U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has sold her Columbia County home. The Register Star reports this morning, with a house photo, that, "after seven years in Greenport, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, her husband Jonathan, and sons Theodore and Henry, are pulling up stakes. On Dec. 5, they sold their home at 358 Mt. Merino Road for $1.3 million to Time magazine managing editor Richard Allen Stengel and his wife, Mary Pfaff Stengel."

The story references the days after Gillibrand defeated Congressman John Sweeney in 2006 when she kept an office in Hudson, as well as how they bought thgeir home from a previous owner who moved after it became known that the new towers from the since-built Athens Generating Plant would be in the home's viewshed, as well as the proposed St. Lawrence cement plant, since abandoned.

The five-bedroom house stands on 13 acres overlooking the Hudson River. It has 4 1/2 bathrooms, a guest cottage, formal and informal gardens, patios, porches, a barn and a four-car garage, according to the online description by Nancy Felcetto of Halstead Hudson Valley. In addition to the 13-acre parcel, there is also another 7-acre parcel adjoining it. Gillibrand spokeswoman Bethany Lesser said the Gillibrands want to move to Albany to be closer to her family.

The property first went on sale in April at a price of $1.71 million. By October, it had dropped to $1.48 million, before reaching $1.3 million at the closing.

The Gillibrands purchased the house from financial executive Dimitri Sevastopoulo and cable television executive Catherine Maguire Rasenberger in 2003.

Sevastopoulo and Rasenberger had purchased the property in 1995 from the Key Trust Co., who had acquired it from Floreida Bates, who is listed in a 1986 directory as “retired.”

According to a New York Times article of May 18, 2007, the Sevastopoulo/Rasenbergers came to Mt. Merino in 1995, expecting “a bucolic retreat,” but soon found themselves in the midst of the battle over the siting of the Athens Gen Power Plant, whose towers could have disrupted their view.

The 2002 Polk City Directory for Hudson and Greenport lists 358 Mt. Merino Rd. as the address of “Citizens for the Hudson Valley,” of which Dimitri Sevastopoulo was executive director.

He was one of the plaintiffs in a 2002 suit against Athens Generating Co. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, charging that the Army Corps permit on the grounds that an Environmental Impact Statement was not required.

According to the NYT article, the Sevastopoulo/Rasenbergers decided to move back to the city when they heard of the plan to build a cement plant in Greenport.

On July 31, 2003, they sold the house to the Gillibrands, who paid $895,000 for the main parcel and $450,000 for the smaller one.

In 2006, Kirsten Gillibrand defeated U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, a Republican, to become the 20th District congresswoman. She won re-election in 2008, defeating former state Republican Chairman Sandy Treadwell handily.

Gillibrand had a Warren Street office and was frequently seen at local events and gatherings.

On Jan. 23, 2009, Gov. David Paterson tapped her to take over the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton when she was named secretary of state.

As well as being the managing editor of Time magazine, Stengel oversees “TIME.com,” “TIME For Kids,” and other brand extensions. He collaborated with Nelson Mandela on Mandela’s 1993 autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” and was coproducer of the 1996 Oscar-nominated documentary “Mandela.”

He and his wife, Mary Pfaff, a native of South Africa, have two sons.

Nancy Felcetto’s description of the house reads in full, “Mesmerizing sunsets and all day long stunning views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains welcome you to a surreal magical landscape that you might think you once stumbled upon in a childhood dream ... this once in a lifetime slice of heaven is the perfect backdrop to make memories generation after generation.

“Beginning with the private drive guarded by towering shade trees through which the light bounces off Ol' Man River, informal and formal gardens, patios and porches greet you with each gentle rolling slope of the velvet lawn as it rolls down over the river.

“The main house is an early twentieth century with classic lines, bright open rooms and countless windows framing the magnificent views. The grand day room with its gracious kitchen, eating and sitting areas with its wood burning fireplace surrounded by walls of French doors is the perfect place to greet the dawn, or unwind at dusk.

“A delightful guest cottage set perfectly amidst the landscape will greet your guests. Barn/4 car garage. This is the storybook cottage made for dreaming. 13 acres (additional 7 acre lot available). Minutes to fabulous Hudson restaurants, galleries, antique shops, boutiques and side of the road country farm stands. (and Amtrak). 2 hrs to NYC.”

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="170" caption="From the church's website."][/caption]

Christmas Eve performance
CHRIST CHURCH EPISCOPAL 10:30 p.m. service includes a carol sing. 11 p.m. performance from mezzo-soprano Mary Deyerle Hack, trumpeter Brent Wheat, and violinist David Woodin, with the choir, at Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street, Hudson.


Weather
AROUND FREEZING A little wind.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 23: Howard Hughes, I.F. Stone, and On Kawara.

The Columbia Paper follows up on the story the Register-Star reported Sunday that Copake firefighters put out three burning piles of construction and demolition material at Salvatore Cascino’s Copake Valley Farm on Route 22 Saturday afternoon, after being called to the scene by a state Department of Environmental Conservation officer who was allegedly investigating illegally controlled burns. This came two days after Cascino was found not guilty of a charge that he dumped more than 70 cubic yards of solid waste and petroleum at an unpermitted facility in Clermont. Now Diane Valden reports two days after Saturday's incident, a truck driver who works for Cascino and was driving a truck owned by Cascino, was ticketed for hauling a load of construction debris from Cascino's Copake land to his property in Dover Plains, Dutchess County. From The Columbia Paper story:

"The DEC's Region 3 press office provided The Columbia Paper with a list of 10 offenses for which the driver and Cascino's business entities were cited by DEC Officer Deo Read III. Truck driver Steven P. Grafals was charged with transporting an uncovered load of solid waste, a violation that carries a fine that can range between $1,500 and $15,000 if the person or company is guilty. He was also charged with the release of 30 cubic yards of solid waste into the environment, a misdemeanor for which the penalty is a fine ranging from $3,750 to $22,500 upon conviction. Taconic Meadows, LLC, and Bronx County Recycling, LLC, Mr. Cascino's business entities, were each cited for release of 30 cubic yards of solid waste into the environment, a misdemeanor; operating a solid waste facility without a permit, a violation ($1,500 to $15,000 fine); disturbing a protected stream without a permit, a misdemeanor (possible fine of up to $10,000); and altering a fresh water wetland without a permit, a violation (potential fine of $500 to $1,000)."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Mahayana Buddhist Temple, Cairo"][/caption]One of the things one learns owning property Upstate... you've got to deal with the beavers. Especially if one has watercourses of any sort on one's land. This lesson has been learned, apparently, by members of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple and Retreat on Ira Vail Road in the Greene County town of Cairo, where the not-for-profit who owns the property, Buddhist Temple of America, has just applied to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to rid themselves of a growing beaver problem by 1) removing approximately 700 cubic yards of sediment for pond maintenance; 2) stabilizing the temple island with the addition of 15 cubic yards of stone rip-rap; 3) constructing a water impoundment feature along the pond outlet at the site of a breached beaver dam to maintain water levels; and 4) replacing an existing triple culvert with a larger elliptical culvert to restore function and prevent flooding. The DEC has declared that there are no negative impacts from the proposed actions, although it also seems that by their actions, beavers may be a totally atheistic species, with little care for either human spiritual beliefs or human architecture.

The complete Public Notice:
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Notice of Complete
Application
Date: 12/20/2010
Applicant: CAIRO-LEEDS LLC
710 IRA VAIL RD
SOUTH CAIRO, NY 12482
Facility: BUDDHIST TEMPLE OF AMERICA
710 IRA VAIL RD
CAIRO, NY
Application ID: 4-1924-00244/00001
Permit(s) Applied for: 1-Section 401- Clean Water Act Water Quality Certification
1-Artice 15 Title 5 Stream Disturbance
Project is located: in CAIRO in GREENE COUNTY
Project Description: The proposed project consists of four aspects: 1) removal of approximately 700 cubic yards of sediment for pond maintenance; 2) stabilization of temple island with the addition of 15 cubic yards of stone rip-rap; 3) construction of a water impoundment feature along the pond outlet at the site of a breached beaver dam to maintain water levels; and 4) replacement of an existing triple culvert with a larger elliptical culvert to restore function and prevent flooding. the water impoundment feature will be constructed with a 1 on 5 slope to allow for the passage of aquatic organisms, and appropriate pollution controls will be required for all in-water work. The project is located off Ira Vail Road in the town of Cairo, Greene County.
Availability of Application Documents: Filed application documents, and Department draft permits where applicable, are available for inspection during normal business hours at the address of the contact person. To ensure timely service at the time of inspection, it is recommended that an appointment be made with the contact person.
State Environment Quality Review (SEQR) Determination: Project is an Unlisted Action and will not have a significant impact on the environment. A Negative Declaration is on file. A coordinated review was not performed.
SEQR Lead Agency: None Designated.
State Historic Preservation Act (SHPA) Determination: Cultural resource lists and map have been checked. No register, eligible or inventoried archaeological sites or historic structures were identified at the project location. No further review in accordance with SHPA is required.
DEC Commissioner Policy 29, Environmental justice and Permitting (CP-29): It has been determined that the proposed action is not subject to CP-29.
Availability For Public Comment: Comments on this project must be submitted in writing to the Contact Person no later 01/13/2011 or 15 days after the publication date of this notice, whichever is later.
Contact Person: SARAH H. EVANS NYSDEC 1130 NORTH WESTCOTT RD. SCHENECTADY, NY 12306 (518)357-2049
DM1T#47454

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Columbia, Dutchess and Greene counties as natural disaster areas due to losses caused by a drought that began June 13 and continues. The Daily Freeman reports today that farmers in all three counties, plus contiguous Ulster County,are also eligible for assistance for losses caused by frost, freezing, high winds, hail, excessive snow, excessive rain and cold temperatures that occurred from Feb. 15 to May 12. The designations make qualified farm operators in the designated areas potentially eligible for low-interest emergency loans. Farmers have eight months to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. Additional information is available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

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.

Lopez, whose district includes portions of Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties, said the shared services model should be carried over to school districts as well.

“Maybe you don’t have to consolidate a school, but maybe you share a superintendent between schools,” he said. “You add those sorts of things together, share services with towns and village governments,” he said. “You add that all together and it could have a meaningful impact on the property taxpayer.”

Lopez said as the new state legislature convenes next month, the top priority should be turning the economy around.

So what happens to a defeated politician, especially a Congressman or woman who rode to power against great odds, narrowly won election, and seemed to gain popularity from at least his or her constituency while in office? For U.S. Senator Kristin Gillibrand, our area's former representative, the sky seems to be the limit now that she's been seen nationwide as one of the lead voices prodding her GOP opposition top action on the so-called 9/11 Responders bill. A new story from the PostStar in Glens Falls, meanwhile, shows outgoing U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy saying he's ready to get back to being just another hard-working dad with ideas about how to make Glens Falls a better place to live.

From PostStar :

But the approximately 20 months he spent representing the region in Congress has been a great experience, he said in a telephone interview from Washington on Tuesday.

"The frustration people feel with government and partisan gridlock is very real. ... But the process of being involved in government is very rewarding," said Murphy, who lost his re-election bid in November to U.S. Rep.-elect Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook.

Murphy, who leaves office on Jan. 2, said he plans to continue living in Glens Falls and stay involved at least to some degree in local and regional issues, once he finds a new job.

At this point, he's not certain whether that job would be in business, government or self-employment.

Murphy worked for a venture capital firm before he was elected in a March 31, 2009, special election to represent the 20th Congressional District.

Earlier he worked in finance and government and started and sold several businesses.

One of the good things about serving in Congress, Murphy said, is getting to meet lots of people.

"I've met thousands of new friends and acquaintances, and everybody's got a different plan for me," he said, with a laugh.

"So there's lots of ideas out there, which I really appreciate -- people thinking of me. We'll take some time and figure it out," he said.

One option not on the immediate horizon is making another run for elected office.

"Oh, I have no real idea," he said when asked if he expects to run for elected office again. "Not this week -- that's for sure."

Murphy said he would like to stay involved in discussion of regional economic development issues, particularly the expansion of broadband Internet.

"So, we're trying figure out what's right where I can still have an impact on economic development and creating jobs and opportunities and at the same time try to be available for watching my kids grow up and being a part of their lives," he said.

In the meantime, Murphy said he's focused on closing out the congressional session and trying to help his congressional office staff find new jobs.

"I'm still trying to make sure that everybody finds a new home for next year," he said. "Some of the folks have taken jobs, but there's still a lot of people that are out interviewing and looking around."

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Catskill's Black Bridge spanning the Catskill Creek."][/caption]One of the keys to Catskill's future plans has been a revitalization of its waterfront along Catskill Creek, a haven for boaters... and home to a number of historic old structures in various stages of rehabilitation in recent years. And key to that revitalization is the old span known locally as The Black Bridge, a former railroad bridge which now carries water and sewer pipes across the water and also hosted a popular walking path until deterioration forced its closure earlier this year. This morning's Daily Mail reports on how the Village of Catskill Board of Trustees got an update at its December meeting earlier this month on different ways to seek the cost of plans to repair the Black Bridge. Village Superintendent of Public Works Lewis O’Connor told board members that the village has officially publicized its Request For Proposal notice, which seeks companies to submit an outlined plan for determining what the bridge needs, as well as a cost estimate for actually creating that engineering plan if their company is selected. O’Connor added the committee that is overseeing the effort will review the RFPs when they come in, and said there is no requirement upon the part of the village to accept or select any of them, if the village so chooses. “It’s costing us no money,” he said. “If we decide we can’t afford it, then we drop it.”

Word in the community is that wishes are leaning towards an eco-friendly, artistic refurbishing of the span along the lines of what Sherburne Falls did by creating its own Bridge of Flowers in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts in recent decades, although formal plans have yet to materialize. Or money. The bridge was built in 1882 and is the last remnant of the former Catskill Mountain Railroad, one of the region's first.


O’Connor said each committee member will receive a copy of the RFPs, and if a recommendation for one is reached -- but the village determines the finances are not in place -- then it will be forwarded to Greene County Planning Department, which in turn, he said, will make its own decision of whether or not to request funding for it from the Greene County Legislature.

O’Connor indicated there is outside grant funding for developing the RFP, once selected, but that because it is a reimbursement grant, the county’s money would essentially first be needed to pay for the plan up front.

O’Connor indicated that if the county opts not to have the engineering study done, then it “dead ends.”

Village Trustee Joseph Kozloski, however, stressed the importance of determining the needs of the bridge, and solutions for them.

“But we have to know something,” Kozloski said, “because we have village sewer and water going over it.”

Kozloski said he is concerned what will happen in decades to come if the bridge’s needs are not identified and addressed now.

Village President Vincent Seeley asked whether there was any immediate or pending danger of structural failure, and O’Connor said there is not, again noting the RFP is just to get a cost estimate for getting the answers, in the form of what specific engineering results would be provided, if implemented.

O’Connor indicated the study is basically an absolute requirement for ever getting funding to actually do work on the bridge.

“To file for (grants), you need an engineering study,” he said, adding that if one is generated from the RFP process, it will meet that necessity.

The growing phenomenon of home and business copper theft again hit the front pages this morning with the Register Star's sterling crime reporter Andrew Amelinckx, soon to be a WGXC programmer as well, posting a story about an ex-con from Chatham pleading guilty for stealing the shiny (though as often patina-colored) metals from a number of buildings around the county. Seems that entire rings of criminals have been working similar copper-stealing beats up and down the Hudson Valley, working in second homes and closed buildings to take out plumbing, electrical wiring and fixtures while home or business owners are away. Amelinckx reports that Ronald K. Oakley, the ex-convict from Chatham, pleaded guilty to a multi-count indictment Wednesday for stealing copper and other items from numerous buildings in Columbia County and is now facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars. And that's not just for the copper but a long shopping list of petty crimes. Driving the copper thefts is a particularly robust secondary market for the materials, particularly in New York City.


The last time Oakley, 45, was in the Columbia County Courtroom of Judge Paul Czajka, Oct. 13 of this year, he had pleaded not guilty to the same indictment, but has since flip-flopped.

Arrested by the New York State Police in April for stealing copper wire and tubing from a Claverack business, Oakley was later charged with a laundry list of other crimes. The grand jury indictment includes 20 counts of third-degree burglary, class D felonies, one count of second-degree burglary, a class C felony and one count each of third-degree grand larceny, a class D felony and petit larceny, a class A misdemeanor.

Oakley admitted Wednesday that he broke into buildings in Chatham, Claverack, Ghent, Kinderhook and Stockport and stole items, mostly copper and brass piping, from January to April of 2010.

Police said Oakley targeted buildings that appeared to be abandoned.

Theft of copper wire and tubing has skyrocketed across the country as the price has gone up again recently after dropping last year. With the price of copper fluctuating, so too have the associated crimes, according to Sr. Inv. Gary Mazzacano, speaking to the Register-Star recently about an unrelated case.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that metal theft costs U.S. businesses around $1 billion a year.

During Wednesday’s hearing Oakley told Czajka that in regard to one charge of burglary he had never entered the building, but only climbed onto the roof to steal copper wiring. Columbia County District Attorney Beth Cozzolino withdrew that charge, third-degree burglary, leaving Oakley with 22 charges.

Czajka told the defendant that if he pleaded guilty to the charges he would be facing a “possible sentence, although perhaps reduced by operation of law, (that) could be over 100 years.”

Oakley answered that he was aware of that and only asked that “consideration be shown to my nephews.”

Three other individuals were named by the police as Oakley’s accomplices in his crime spree, brothers Kevin and Michael Beahn, of Chatham — nephews of Oakley — and Robert J. Knott, 51, of Philmont. The three were also arrested in April, a week after Oakley’s arrest. Kevin Beahn, 20, was charged with one count of third-degree burglary. His brother Michael Beahn, 22, was charged with one count of second-degree burglary and three counts of third-degree burglary.

Knott was charged with one count each of attempted fourth-degree grand larceny and trespass. Those three defendants’ cases are still pending. All three allegedly confessed to authorities, as did Oakley.

In statements taken by the State Police from Oakley, he recounts breaking into a residence in Kinderhook and stealing various items, including copper and brass vases and candle holders and what turned out to be “cheap jewelry.” According to the report, Oakley discovered that the house was not abandoned as he said he believed it was. “I looked in a bedroom and saw an old lady sleeping,” he told authorities. “We ran out of there ... We didn’t think anybody lived there.”

Cozzolino said Wednesday that the woman was 91 years old.

Oakley was on parole at the time of his arrest, having been out of prison since September 2009. He served eight years and three months for a conviction of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. That case was also before Czajka. Oakley’s convictions and prison time stretch back for more than two decades and include burglary, grand larceny and attempted escape. Oakley will be sentenced Feb. 16, 2011 at 10 a.m. He was remanded back to the Columbia County Jail where he has been since his April arrest.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="140" caption="Image from Walking the Dog Theater website."][/caption]Added
EXTRA SHOW Walking the Dog Theater's take on "A Christmas Carol!" gets an added performance today at 5 p.m. at Space360 in Hudson. Tickets must be purchased or reserved in advance here or by calling 1-800-838-3006.


Town meetings today
HUDSON HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 10 a.m. public hearing on the proposal to rebuild the front wall of 211 Union St. and to alter the building to make it appear as it may have looked when it was the home of General William Jenkins Worth. The public hearing will take place at City Hall and will be followed, at 10:30, by a special meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission to decide whether or not to grant the project a certificate of appropriateness.


Weather
SLIGHTLY COLDER Partly cloudy.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 23: Chet Baker, Harry Shearer, and William Kristol.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)'s Environmental Board today approved new stricter performance standards for new outdoor wood boilers (OWBs) sold in the state. The regulation will go into effect 30 days after it is filed with the Secretary of State. Many, including Greene County's representative in the New York State Senate James Seward, complained that the DEC rushed this process without proper public input. Environmentalists can cheer the stricter guidelines, with new OWBs burning 90 percent cleaner than older models, according to the DEC. "This is about ensuring that new outdoor wood boilers burn cleaner -- not only for people who buy OWBs and their families, but also for their neighbors. It's not unlike the switch to cleaner cars," said Acting DEC Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz in a prepared statement. "It's also to ensure that OWB stacks are high enough to disperse emissions rather than having them blow directly into houses and other dwellings. That's important for public health. Also, we have listened to the agricultural community and made appropriate exceptions for farming operations." The regulation approved today includes stack height requirements for new OWBs that will reduce the impact of emission plumes on neighboring property owners. In addition, new OWBs will be required to be set back a minimum of 100 feet from neighboring properties -- except for OWBs used in agricultural operations, which must be at least 100 feet from neighboring homes. Both new and existing OWBs will be subject to fuel restrictions limiting boilers to only clean wood. The text of the final rule before the Environmental Board is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/69348.html on the DEC website.

What's involved in the state’s Smart Growth Policy Infrastructure Act, the bill signed into law late last summer, and enacted at the end of September, which requires state agencies that are funding projects to meet 10 goals aimed at focusing development around already existing infrastructure? "Smart Growth is an attempt to balance in local and state planning the interests of job creation, environmental stewardship and social equity,” noted Paul Beyer, director of Smart Growth of the Governor’s Office, at a regional conference on the act, and how a region such as the Hudson Valley can benefit from it, held in Fishkill earlier this month. “That’s the key to the movement, to balance those three aspects of community planning.” The Act, Beyer added, is intended to address sprawl by requiring certain state agencies to approve, undertake and fund infrastructure projects in a manner that is consistent with ten smart growth principles aimed at focusing development around already existing infrastructure. According to an HV Biz story on the recent conference, which tended to stay focused on the parts of the valley to Columbia and Greene's south, reporter Jim Gordon noted how, "the Hudson Valley with its centralized towns and city centers, hamlets and railroad lines and existing highways is ideally positioned to take advantage of the new law. It requires key state entities, including the Department of Transportation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Department of Education, and the Empire State Development Corp. to focus their infrastructure spending in developed areas. But," he added, "the potential advantages of smart growth for the Hudson Valley are diluted by the sprawling nature of the region, with cities from Yonkers to Kingston and towns from Dobbs Ferry to Rhinebeck, spread among five counties, all competing for increasingly scarce municipal resources and investment funds." And that's NOT counting in Columbia and Greene counties. Or Westchester, it seems... For the full story click by Gordon, a stalwart regional reporter who will be contributing to WGXC coverage once we're on the air, click HERE...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="125" caption="Can a swell of community protest save Vasilow's yummy Toffee Pistachios? Photo by Carole Osterinck."][/caption]With all the political news so many of us are driven to follow these days, it's easy to forget our other obsessive compulsions... like candy! Amidst a flurry of on-the-button blogging (and reporting) about the many developments along the City of Hudson's waterfront, Gossips of Rivertown recently ran a sweet little piece about a favorite candy being given the boot... combined with a plea for help.

It has come to Gossips' attention that Vasilow's Confectionery will no longer be offering their beloved Toffee Pistachios. The bag in the picture--more than three-quarters empty--is the last one ever. The rising cost of pistachios is blamed for the cessation in the production of this delectable treat. This situation is, for many, intolerable. Gossips asks its readers to urge Vasilow's to do whatever is required to bring back Toffee Pistachios.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="225" caption="New York Conmgressional Districts, as of now... pre-redistricting."][/caption]Capitol Confidential has a fun piece today that draws together two major state news stories of the last week: the final settling of state senate races that gave the legislative body's majority back to the GOP after a two year hiatus of rare Democratic rule, and the reapportionment battle that will decide how New York's congressional delegation will look with two less seats. The story looks at press releases from "the Democratic and Republican press shops," surmising that the two parties "have already swapped identities as completely as in one of those brain-exchange sci-fi movies" and concluding that chances at an independent bipartisan commission for redistricting are rapidly shrinking.

The piece continues...

Here’s the Democratic statement (attributed to John Sampson and Martin Dilan), which amounts to the sort of foot-stomping and finger-wagging previously seen from the GOP minority — the word “should” makes what will likely be the first of many appearances by the new minority conference:

“As we begin to assess the new Census data New York uses to draw its political lines, Senate Republicans are already making it clear they will not keep their pledge to reform state government through non-partisan redistricting.

“On the day they claimed the Majority the GOP broke their first promise – Senate Republicans signed onto Mayor Koch’s NY Uprising pledge, but incoming Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is now refusing to take a firm position on nonpartisan redistricting. Imagine how many other election promises will be broken in the New Year.

“We are disappointed that New York will lose two congressional districts as a result of the 2010 Census. This must serve as a wake-up call to state government to improve our economy and grow New York’s population, especially Upstate and in Western New York.

“We look forward to receiving actual redistricting data in March. The redistricting data will inform us where New York has gained or lost population and guide us in the redrawing of district boundaries for the House of Representatives and State Legislature.

“Senators truly committed to reform should support both an independent redistricting process and new district lines that will fairly represent all New Yorkers without bias or partisan advantage that disenfranchises key regions of the state and in diverse communities.

“The main source of Albany’s dysfunction is the absence of competitive elections which stem from the drawing of partisan political lines that protect political incumbents instead of preserving the public’s interest. Non-partisan redistricting, broad ethics reform, and continued improvements to the state’s electoral system will ensure more voter participation and instill greater faith in our government.”

In case you’re wondering: Sampson is listed as a Hero of Reform on the NY Uprising website (just like Skelos and, uh, Vincent Leibell), while Dilan is listed as an Enemy. Pedro Espada Jr., however, seems to have been dumped as a Hero.

And here’s the GOP response (from spokesman Scott Reif), which emphasizes several issues completely unrelated to redistricting reform — similar to previous Democratic releases parrying Republican foot-stomping and finger-wagging with an emphasis on economic issues:

“Our new Senate Republican majority will enact a comprehensive package of reforms so New Yorkers can have faith in their government once again. However, in the immediate term we are focused on working with the Governor-elect to balance the budget, reduce spending and taxes and help the private sector create jobs for workers who need them, and we are hopeful that the Senate Democrats will join us.”

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Gov. David Paterson"][/caption]Among the various last-minute bills currently working their way through exiting Governor David Paterson's desk over his final week in office is one that would give debtors and people filing bankruptcy in New York some more rights and the ability to keep a bit more equity in their homes and cars when they get in trouble and the debt collectors come calling, according to Rick Karlin of the Times Union. The bills, S7034 and A8735,would need to be signed, allowed to pass into law or vetoed by Dec. 28, although Karlin notes that, "Advocates say they’ve heard rumblings the governor is under heavy pressure by banks and credit card issuers to veto the measure, which they say would update some of New York’s comparatively draconian standards for the value of personal possessions that people can keep when they are being chased by creditors or are filing bankruptcy."

Among other things, the bill would raise from $2,400 to $4,000 the value of a car that could be shielded by bankruptcy or debt trustees and it increases the equity in one’s home that can be protected from $50,000 to $75,000 ($150,000 in costly downstate counties).

There are also increases for possessions like tools, and personal possessions.

“Please governor, no lumps of coal for the most struggling financially vulnerable New Yorkers,” said Haven, echoing others who fear a veto, if one is in fact planned, could m.

Supporters point to the fact that the exempt amounts haven’t been raised in years, and the high level of debt and bankruptcies that have hit New Yorkers and all Americans due to the Recession as a good reason for the bill.

The Senate version of the bill was sponsored by former Senator-turned Attorney General-elect Eric Schneiderman who also has a prevailing wage bill that are among the last batch of bills facing the governor.

The City of Hudson's beloved trolley buses, in operation since the early 1980s, are about to become a thing of the past as new bus routes throughout the city have started getting publicized and the city eliminated the trolley system from its budget for the coming year and chose, instead, to go with a new Coxsackie Transport system, pending approvals. The Register Star reports today that Mayor Richard Scalera’s office has formulated a new bus route through the city — pending approval from the county and Coxsackie Transport — which adds stops at four crucial locations and will eventually expand service by two hours in the morning and evening.

The shift will combine Hudson’s trolley stops with the county’s Greenport Shopping Shuttle while also incorporating new stops at Columbia Memorial Hospital, the Department of Social Services at 25 Railroad Ave., Hudson High School on Harry Howard Avenue and the Crosswinds Housing Project down the street from the high school. Officials hope to enact the new bus route at the start of 2011, but it may take a few weeks longer if County Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Ken Flood and Coxsackie Transport owner Wayne Parks are not on board for whatever reason, Scalera said. In the case that further kinks need to be worked out, Scalera said there is still some money left in the budget to continue running the old bus service for a few weeks if need be, ensuring no lapse in service for diligent riders.


The additional stops will, clearly, make the original route a little longer, with less loops and different stops than what riders have been used to since the 1990s.

“There are going to be people inconvenienced and we understand,” said Scalera. “Even if it’s just one person, I feel for them, but we have a fiduciary responsibility — if the bus services is hemorrhaging money — to do something about it.”

There are plans to expand the bus services’ hours from its current 9:05 a.m. to around 3 p.m. to as early as 7 a.m. until as late as 5 p.m. This won’t be taking place in January as originally planned, Scalera said, because the county has not ordered its new buses yet and they may not arrive until as late as March of next year.

The buses will still be county owned but manned and operated by Coxsackie Transport employees, which may impose some additional costs on the city, Scalera said.

The city will retain ownership of its trolley buses for another year as they are currently under a 10-year agreement with the state Department of Transportation which does not permit the buses to be operated outside of Hudson. However, once that year is up, Scalera said the fate of the buses is “up for discussion” but selling them is the most likely scenario.

The main changes in the bus route are as follows:

The bus will still arrive at Stewart’s on Green Street from Albany (where the county’s buses are stationed) at 9:05 a.m. and proceed up State Street over Second Street to Providence Hall. The bus will then, as usual, go down Front Street and loop around the Amtrak station and then to Warren Street.

Normally, the next stop would be the St. Charles Hotel on Park Place at 9:18 a.m., but the new route will bypass this stop and instead arrive at the Columbia Memorial Hospital at 9:22 a.m.

Under the old schedule the bus would then continue straight out of the city into Greenport from the St. Charles Hotel to bring passengers to ShopRite, Peebles and other various retailers. But the new route dictates that from CMH, the bus will return to Stewart’s at 9:25 a.m. and then proceed to DSS at 25 Railroad Ave. at 9:30 a.m., then to the Crosswinds development at 9:35 a.m. and finally to Hudson High School at 9:37 a.m.

Under the old schedule with less stops, the bus looped around the city, out to Greenport and back again eight times. Under the new schedule with the additional four stops, it will only loop five times throughout the day — that is, until the expanded hours are able to be adopted.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="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."][/caption]The effects of dissatisfied taxpayers, shrinking federal and state aid to local school districts, and the increasingly serious threat of a two percent property tax cap have seen local school districts, from Kinderhook in Columbia County to Hunter-Tannersville on Greene County's Mountaintop, starting to look into drastic, large-scale mergers... with some prompting now from the state Boards of Cooperative Education Services, the statewide entity of 37 educational regions around the state set up to improve educational efficiency in the state in the late 1940s. Now, as regional BOCES (known as Questar III here in Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer counties) look into greater efficiencies to make it through the financing web ahead, where mandated budget increases are looking to outpace any property tax cap put in place (as has happened in neighboring New Jersey this year), local boards of education are starting to rear back and wonder about issues such as home rule, long bus rides, and empty school buildings in their midst. Today's Daily Mail has a story about the growing concerns at HTC, which serves a rural population and is being discussed in terms of a merger with schools in neighboring Delaware and Schoharie counties. Which dovetails with stories in the Register Star over the last month about budget concerns in Kinderhook, where a merger between the Ichabod Crane and Schodack central districts has been talked about, and even today's Daily Freeman piece about an old school building in the city of Kingston burning to the ground last night. Keep an eye on this issue over the coming year, folks... Continue HERE or HERE...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Hal Turner, the former talk radio provocateur sentenced this week to 33 months in prison for hate speech."][/caption]Five years ago this past November, all eyes in the Hudson Valley turned to Kingston where a New Jersey radio talk show host put together a white supremacy rally to protest the ways in which a local high school case involving a student fight was moving through the courts. This past Tuesday, December 21, Hal Turner -- now a blogger after his radio shows were stripped from him -- was sentenced in federal court in New York City to 33 months in prison for making death threats against three federal judges in Illinois, according to a brief blotter piece in today's Daily Freeman. The case stemmed from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2009 by three judges that upheld a district court decision dismissing lawsuits that challenged handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill. Turner protested the decision with inflammatory remarks posted online. Prosecutors say he crossed the line by declaring, “These judges must die.” Turner, meanwhile, had claimed his tirades were protected by the constitutional right to free speech. The case was eventually moved to Brooklyn based on a change-of-venue ruling. Two previous trials ended with hung juries. In Kingston 5 years ago, public worries leading up to Turner's rally were thwarted when more people turned out to protest the right-winger's protesters than Turner could turn out himself. Two years later, however, the local blogger who invited Turner into town, "Yankee Jim" Leshkevich, of Hurley, killed himself and his wife, a local teacher, during an online rage based, partly, on his earlier experiences with Turner's rally.

Although the term earmarks makes home turf congressional expenditures sound like unwanted pests, in actuality they have a whole other affect within regions such as the Hudson Valley, and towns and cities like ours. They involve local institutions, local jobs, and local needs not addressed otherwise by regular federal, state or municipal budgeting, which tends to be done on large-stroke theme bases. Which is the sense one gets from an ambitious piece in today's Register Star and Daily Mail working from wire service stories about the effects of the Senate GOP's recent blockage of an omnibus spending package that had some substantial economic aid for our region in it. The earmarks mentioned as being planned for our area, and now held back indefinitely given the strengthening partisan battles in Washington, included $650,000 for health information and technology equipment at Columbia Memorial Hospital, $500,000 for a program at SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry designed to combat Asian Long-Horned Beetle in state forests, nearly $4 million for solar energy research and production tied to the regional Solar Energy Consortium, and $19,000 in pre-disaster mitigation for the town of Livingston. For the full story, which includes more analysis and commentary on DC politics than is usual for our local papers, click HERE..., or for the full story on what the earmarks setback will be doing to the mid-Hudson Valley's hopes for economic re-emergence tied to renewable energy resources, backed with government money, click HERE...