[caption id="attachment_2473" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ellen Thurston at the Hudson Common Council meeting."][/caption]WGXC volunteer Victor Mendolia recorded tonight's Hudson Common Council meeting which you can hear here. The Council discussed the Draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), the vinyl siding on the Emmanuel-St. John’s Lutheran Parish at Sixth and Union, and other issues. The meeting was Chaired by Alderman Ellen Thurston (pictured) as Council President Moore is on vacation. Paste the following url into your computer's media player to listen to the mp3:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/HudsonCommonCouncilmtg_080910.mp3

Assemblyman Tim Gordon (I-Bethlehem), who represents parts of Greene, Albany and Columbia counties, will appear at a second trap-shooting Sportsmen Care event to raise money for NYS Cancer Services 9 a.m. August 15 at the Ravena-Coeymans Sportsman Club on New Baltimore Road in Hannacroix. Proceeds from the event, which will be hosted by Gordon in coordination with several local sportsmen clubs, NYS Cancer Services and the American Cancer Society, will benefit NYS Cancer Services of Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene counties. All shoots are noncompetitive and open to the public, and no pre-registration is required.

All five Hudson Common Council surpervisors surprised everyone in town Saturday morning with a letter to the editor in the Register-Star demanding that the Council immediately pass the Draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP). Predictably, the online public comment at this turn of events has created a buzz both on the internet (at The Gossips of Rivertown, Columbia County Common Sense, and eslewhere), and in word-of-mouth. We expect a packed 7 p.m. Common Council meeting Monday night, with reactions from all sides, and WGXC volunteer Victor Mendolia will make a recording that we hope to have online by 10 p.m.

[caption id="attachment_2438" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Susan Falzon speaking at Beattie-Powers Place 080810."][/caption]Susan Falzon, Secretary-Treasurer of Friends of Hudson, spoke at Beattie-Powers Place in Catskill today about "Industry in Our Midst," mostly the Ravena Lafarge cement plant and the Catskill Holcim cement plant. Click here to see information about this event. Click here to listen to an mp3 recording or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/SusanFalzon_BeattiePowers_WGXC_080810.mp3

WGXC fundraiser
Aug. 22, 2010: 8 p.m., $15
at Cannonball Factory, 359 Columbia St., Hudson, NY 12534
Vetiver returns to Hudson to play a benefit to bring community radio to Greene and Columbia counties. Other special guests to be announced. Live webstream from WGXC Online Radio at www.wgxc.org, and archived recordings there too after the show. From Wikipedia: Vetiver are an American folk band headed by songwriter Andy Cabic and often joined by Devendra Banhart, drummer Otto Hauser [who lives in Hudson], keyboardist Sarah Versprille, guitarist Daniel Hindman, and bassist Bob Parins. Their music has been described as "surreal," "lullingly pleasant," "tender and accessible," and "quirky and warm."

Congressman Scott Murphy (NY-20) announced Friday that the Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl will receive a $4.8 million loan from the USDA Rural Development’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program. Charles B. Slutzky, of Hunter Mountain said in Murphy's press release, “This is great news for Hunter Mountain and for all of Greene County. This loan will enable us to build a new, state-of-the-art six-passenger chairlift that will dramatically improve our facilities and our ability to attract visitors to our region."

Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R,C,I-Red Hook) will host New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), New York League of Women Voters, and Common Cause/NY for an educational forum moderated by Blair Horner of NYPIRG followed by a traditional town hall-style meeting Thursday, August 12 at the Millbrook Village Hall, located at 35 Merritt Avenue. The educational forum will begin at 6:30 and the town hall at 7:30 p.m.

It is the apocalypse in the Catskills this week: in a few years seven percent of the New York forest will be gone, as a little bug is wiping out the ash tree population. Now Lissa Harris in Watershed Post links to a journal story about how the brown bat is being wiped out:

A paper published in the prestigious research journal Science on August 6 makes a dire prediction: The little brown bat, the Northeast's most common bat and an important species in the ecology of the region, could become extinct in the region within 16 years ((The executioner, in case you haven't been reading the news lately, is white-nose syndrome, a fungus that attacks hibernating bats over the winter and causes them to emerge from hibernation early, causing massive fatalities in caves that once were teeming with bats.) From Science News:

In the team's worst-case scenario, which assumes that 45% of the little brown bat population continues to die each winter, there is a 99% probability of regional extinction within 16 years. "That hit us like a brick," Kunz says. (The little brown bat lives throughout North America, so the species itself won't go extinct). If mortality declines to 10%, some little brown bats would last for 80 years, but the population would be dramatically smaller. Because brown bats eat a large amount of insects, including pests, a decline in their number could threaten farm fields and forests. Read the entire story in Watershed Post.

The Greene County Council on the Arts mailed a desperate fundraising letter to their membership this week, explaining how the state's late budget has them in a two-month hole with little funding. The missive read: "Due to the late state budget in Albany, we have very limited cash flow to keep the lights on and the doors open! Government funds we count on for operational costs will not be distributed for another six to eight weeks or more. We are at our maximum with the line of credit extended by the bank. We are in full financial "red line" crisis!" The Council saw an almost 20 percent cut in local, state and federal fund last year and closed its Windham gallery, and expects a similar 15-20 percent cut in government funding this year. To contribute to their cause send tax-deductible contributions to the Greene County Council on the Arts, 398 Main Street, P.O. Box 463, Catskill, NY 12414. Credit Cards are accepted by phone or mail. For more information, call 518-943-3400 or e-mail gcca@greenearts.org.

(Art by Chris Neumann, digitizing by Bob Mechling, text design by Michael Chameides.)

This September, Prometheus Radio Project and WGXC will hold Prometheus's 12th community radio barnraising. Radio barnraisings are weekend-long radio and movement-building events. Individuals from the local community, participatory media advocates, and artists from around the country will converge in Hudson, NY to share ideas, experiences, and skills in the launching of WGXC's full power community radio station.


The Prometheus Radio Project has helped many groups, including farmworker unions, civil rights groups, and rural arts organizations build their stations while training a new generation of radio organizers across the country. The collaboration with WGXC, which will broadcast at 3,300 watts as opposed to the 100 watts of low power stations, will be Prometheus's first full-power barnraising. This new station will be uniquely decentralized with three main studios spread out across the listening range, allowing broader participation from residents of New York’s Greene and Columbia counties. Partnerships are already forming with schools, music venues, and town halls to create live feeds from various locations, furthering the scope of the station.

WGXC: Hands-On Radio will be much more than just a radio station, with regular exhibitions and events, ongoing media trainings, a news blog, and community meetings. “We are all aware of the urgent importance of protecting and supporting our local resources, food system, watersheds, farmland, and local arts and cultures,” explains Kaya Weidman, a member of WGXC's Radio Council and co-founder of Germantown Community Farm. "WGXC is simply local media, a key tool for all these crucial issues."

"For the past ten years, we've been fighting to take the airwaves out of the hands of the powerful few and place them in the hands of communities. We've supported many groups in starting low-power and full-power FM radio stations that serve as tools for social justice organizing and a voice for community expression," says Andalusia Knoll, Community Radio Coordinator with the Prometheus Radio Project.

The WGXC Prometheus Barnraising will take place in Hudson, NY with workshops and events from September 24-26. To register for the Barnraising go to http://prometheusradio.org/WGXC_barnraising

Registration is now open!

* LOCAL REGISTRATION: Local registration is open for folks attending the WGXC barnraising who live in Greene, Columbia, Dutchess, Ulster, Albany, Rensselaer, or Delaware counties in New York or Berkshire County in Massachusetts.

* GENERAL REGISTRATION: If you do not live in one of the above counties, please go the general registration page.

http://prometheusradio.org/WGXC_barnraising

New York State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) will be in Coxsackie at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the rebuilt Riverside Park playground at the Riverside Park Festival.

Click here to listen to WGXC volunteer Richard Roth introduce a phone interview by WGXC"s Sam Sebren and Alan Skerrett of Jim Michaels of Bradford County, Pennsylvania (near Scranton) who lives near shale gas drilling, or hydro-fracking, sites. Michaels talks about his experiences with the process of extracting gas from the ground by shooting high pressure liquid. On Wednesday the New York Senate voted for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until May 2011. Assemblyman Tim Gordon, who represents parts of Greene, Columbia, and Albany counties, supports the measure and told WGXC's Tom Roe, “If we want to proceed on this, I think we need to do it right, and there are still some unanswered questions.” This is the first report created by the WGXC Audio Training program led by Dharma Dailey and Emily Bennison. Help with research from Sara Kendall and recording and editing from Goro Ikeda-Iyeki. File is mp3 audio file. Paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/WGXC_Roth_Sebren_Skerret_interviewJimMichaels_080510.mp3

From Wikipedia:

"Hydraulic fracturing (called "frac jobs"[1] or "frac'ing" in the industry[2][3][4] and recently, "fracking" by the media) is a process that results in the creation of fractures in rocks. The most important industrial use is in stimulating oil and gas wells, where hydraulic fracturing has been used for over 60 years in more than one million wells. On the other hand, high-volume horizontal slickwater fracturing is a recent phenomenon. The fracturing is done from a wellboredrilled into reservoir rock formations to enhance oil and natural gas recovery.... Man-made fluid-driven fractures are formed at depth in a borehole and extend into targeted rock formations. The fracture width is typically maintained after the injection by introducing a proppant into the injected fluid. Proppant is a material, such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped. Natural hydraulic fractures include volcanic dikes, sills and fracturing by ice as in frost weathering. Considerable controversy surrounds the current implementation of hydraulic fracturing technology in the United States. Environmental safety and health concerns have emerged and are being debated at the state and national levels." Read the entire entry in Wikipedia.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="490" caption="Catamount People’s Museum in Catskill by Matt Bua."][/caption]Artist Matt Bua's Catamount People’s Museum at 21 West Bridge St. in Catskill -- a handmade structure in the form of a lounging bobcat using discarded tree branches and cut-offs from local mills -- opens soon and he is looking for contributions. From Bua, "The interior of this over-sized Lynx Rufus houses a collection of materials and displays celebrating the people, stories and history of the Catskill Mountains. Content for displays are collected from both historical organizations and the surrounding community. The museum has a unique focus of seamlessly blending the stories, visions and personal collections of residents with the voices of historians. The folk legends, urban myths and favorite, almost forgotten tide bits on display make this new public space a place to soak in what this area is really all about." Bua is collecting stories, ideas, books, xeroxed notes of interest, photos and artifacts from noon to 3 p.m. Sat. Aug. 14 to add to the museums growing collection. The museum will open Saturday, September 4 from noon to 6 p.m.
Sponsors and Support: The project is sponsored by New York Foundation for the Arts(NYFA) and made possible with a grant from the Harpo Foundation. Special Thanks to the Village of Catskill, Catskill Valley Pools, Dimensions North LTD, Tony Fallon's Hardware Store (Cairo) Skip Kelly's Lumber (Cairo), West Side Villa Pizzeria, Box Art Inc, MBZ framing, WGXC Community Radio
For mail in submissions:
Catamount People’s Museum
Po box 581
Catskill ny 12414
Contact : Matt Bua 917 291 7404 mattbua@gmail.com

Russ Buettner in The New York Times is reporting that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined O&G Industries $16.6 million in connection with an explosion at their Connecticut plant that killed six workers. O&G Industries also runs a controversial trucking company in Hudson. OSHA found, according to the article, accusations of 371 violations, including 225 considered “willful.” Read the entire story in The New York Times.

Late last night the New York State Senate passed an array of legislation, but the one bill that might impact our area the most
was a measure requiring prisoners be counted as residents not of the (mostly upstate) prisons where they reside, but where they lived before they were incarcerated (most often, New York City). "Most of the state’s prisoners (66 percent) are New York City residents, but the vast majority of them (91 percent) are counted as residents of upstate prisons," according to Prisoners of the Census. Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat running for attorney general told The New York Times, “If other states follow us, it would represent a major shift of political power back to these poor urban communities.” Indeed, this bill would mean that Greene County would lose a sizable portion of its population, and all sorts of funding could be lowered to reflect that change. The inmates inside Coxsackie Correctional Facility (approximately 1,000) at 11260 Route 9W; Greene Correctional Facility, 165 Plank Road, Coxsackie; and the Hudson Correctional Facility (about 600) at 50 East Court St. in Hudson; would no longer be counted as local residents. The Greene County Planning and Economic Development site counts 3,280 "institionalized" people, or 6.8 percent, many of which would, presumably, be counted elsewhere if this measure were to become law. Carole Osterink, in her blog The Gossips of Rivertown, analyzes what might happen in Hudson:

Since the Hudson Correctional Facility is located in the Third Ward, it would reduce the weighted votes of the Third Ward aldermen. The votes of Aldermen Ellen Thurston and Chris Wagoner now each represent 266 toward the 1,011 needed for a simple majority. The only votes on the Common Council more powerful than theirs are those cast by Aldermen Robert Donahue and Richard Goetz, whose votes weigh in at 278 each. Read the entire story in The Gossips of Rivertown.

Coxsackie would obviously face similar "re-districting" if this measure is passed, and possible local funding tied to population could be lost, and perhaps fewer regular visits from State Assemblyman Pete Lopez, State Senator James Seward, and Congressman Scott Murphy as their districts might be enlarged geographically to make up for the loss of prison population. Clearly, Seward is worried about the proposal, as he told The Daily Mail: “I clearly see this as a move to dilute the upstate population numbers to benefit downstate,” he said. Susan Campriello in The Daily Mail reports:

"According to a 2002 report Prison Policy Initiative report by Peter Wagner, roughly 3,000 constituents could be removed from Seward’s district. Such losses could decrease the area’s population to nearly 6 percent below the required average district size of 306,072."... Three facilities are located in [Seward's] district, which includes all or portions of seven counties. Two facilities are in Coxsackie, one is in Summit, in Schoharie County. Read the entire story in The Daily Mail.

Tracy Huling, a WGXC Founding Member in Greenville, and author of "Building a Prison Economy in Rural America," writes in in the comments:

My understanding is that the language of the legislation eliminating prison-based gerrymandering leaves intact federal and state aid to prison towns and counties. See North Country Public Radio’s story:
http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16081/inmates-to-be-excluded-from-north-country-districts
Also, Greene County (like 12 other counties in New York) already removes prisoners for the purpose of redistricting. See the Senate bill language at: http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6725

From The Business Review (Albany):

The apple harvest this year will be early and the crop will most likely be smaller, according to the New York Apple Association. Apple growers expect a crop of 27 million bushels this year, down from 33 million bushels last year, ranking New York second to Washington State. The decline in this year’s crop was attributed to some frost damage, when some trees bloomed early and were then damaged by a deep freeze in early May. The association, based in Fishers, New York, said the consensus of New York’s apple growers is that this year’s crop got off to the fastest start in recent history because of record temperatures in April. Apple picking will begin 10 days to two weeks earlier than last year, said Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association.
New York's crop numbers for the past five years:
2009: 32.8 million bushels
2008: 29.8 million bushels
2007: 31.1 million bushels
2006: 29.7 million bushels
2005: 24.7 million bushels
Source: The New York Apple Association. Read the entire story in the Business Review.

Julia Reischel in Watershed Post links to a Times Herald-Record report that, "an unconfirmed [ash tree borer] larvae was also found Thursday in Catskill, in Greene County:

Adam Bosch at the Times Herald-Record had a terrifying story on Saturday about the newfound emerald ash borer infestation in the Catskills. Apparently, things are far, far worse that we originally thought:

"My best guess is that there are thousands of trees infested," said Mark Whitmore, a forest entomologist at Cornell University who's assisting the investigation. "The bug is here to stay, and we're looking at maybe having all of the ash trees disappear." New York is home to some 900 million ash trees, accounting for 7 percent of the forest.

Since the Department of Envionmental Conservation's July announcement that ash borers had been found in Saugerties, ash borers and their larvae have been found across Ulster County and possibly in Greene County as well. Bosch writes that because the beetles can infest trees for a while without any discernible signs, the infestation might already be a few years old. The beetles can live in an area for years before signs of infestation appear, like dead canopies of ash trees or pin-size holes in their trunks. Initial evidence suggests the ash borer has been here for one or two years. And, because there is no "chemical or natural method" of killing the beetles, there isn't that much that can be done.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Scott Murphy at Coxsackie Senior Center April 1, 2010."][/caption]Congressman Scott Murphy (NY-20) announced today that Mid-Hudson Cablevision will receive $3,473,919 in USDA funding for rural broadband infrastructure projects. Murphy sent letters and made calls in support of Mid-Hudson's application, in addition to working with the USDA. Murphy says the funding will allow Mid-Hudson Cablevision to expand coverage in Columbia and Greene counties, specifically the Towns of Ashland, Jewett, Lexington, Cairo, Catskill, Windham, Coxsackie and New Baltimore in Greene County, and The Towns of Taghkanic, Copake, Claverack, Ghent, Chatham, Hillsdale and Austerlitz in Columbia County. "Expanding rural broadband in our Upstate communities is key to building businesses and creating jobs,” said Rep. Murphy in a press release. “This project will benefit everyone from farmers and small businesses looking to sell their products online, to volunteer firefighters needing high-speed Internet to keep the public safe.” In Murphy's press release, James Reynolds, president of Mid-Hudson Cablevision, said, “This government support will help make it possible to extend service to rural marketplaces that would otherwise be very difficult reach.”

Doron Tyler Antrim wrote a very detailed story in this morning's The Daily Mail:

Government records show that Holcim has been cited for more than 300 safety violations carrying fines totaling $455,000 since it became the Smith’s Landing plant operator in 2008. The records, compiled by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which regulates U.S. metal, nonmetal and coal mines, show over the last two years the plant has racked up 310 violations, 97 of which the government says could lead to serious injury or illness. During Holcim’s first year as operator, 155 violations were found carrying fines totaling almost $264,000. In 2009, 65 violations were cited with penalties of almost $165,000. So far this year, the plant has been hit with 90 violations costing $26,000. Fines have yet to be assessed for 28 of the 90, however....Furthermore, according to the records, Holcim has been able to reduce its fines from $455,000 to $384,000. To date, the company has paid only $250,500. It’s challenging the remainder of the fines, $133,500 — a legal procedure under current U.S. regulations. Most of the violations carry small fines between $100 and $1,000. But others carry larger penalties from $2,000 to more than $25,000.... Holcim officials have defended the plant’s safety record, saying it’s the top priority. “I think what you’re seeing is not an accurate reflection of the plant,” said Tony Madrazo, Holcim’s human resources manager, during an interview on Monday. “I don’t think we have a poor safety record.” Madrazo admitted, however, the plant is not perfect. “(The inspectors) will find stuff,” he said. Officials also contend many of the violations are resolved while a MSHA inspector is still on site. However, the records show most of the violations are repeatedly cited throughout the past two years. Read the entire story in The Daily Mail.

The New York State Senate voted 48-9 to impose a moratorium on shale gas drilling early this morning, just after midnight, passing the Thompson (S.8129B) / Sweeney (A.11443-B) measure. The bill would place a halt on granting new drilling permits until May, 2011. Locally, Steve Saland and James Seward voted for the moratorium. Assemblyman Tim Gordon, who represents parts of Greene, Columbia, and Albany counties, supports the measure and told WGXC, "If we want to proceed on this, I think we need to do it right, and there are still some unanswered questions." Assemblyman Pete Lopez recently came out against the moratorium, saying, "In this case, (a moratorium) just gives the (Department of Environmental Conservation) cover so they don’t have to come out with the regulations."