Carole Osterink at The Gossips of Rivertown has the most detailed account of the public hearing on the draft LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program/Plan) and GEIS (Generic Environmental Impact Study) was held at John L. Edwards School in Hudson last Wednesday. She estimates 150 folks attended, but names the ten people who spoke: a representative of the Hudson Power Boat Association; a spokesperson for the Fugary Boat Club, the squated settlement at the north end of Front Street; Hendrick von Ritter, who has an ongoing lawsuit against the City of Hudson; Elsa Leviseur; Patrick Doyle, owner of Basilica Industria; local business owner and activist Peter Jung; Christopher Reed, board president of Friends of Hudson; Hilary Hillman; Mark Wildonger, planner for Scenic Hudson; and Osterink herself. Click on her blog to read what they all had to say about the future of Hudson's waterfront.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

The Hyde Collection joins the Albany Institute of History and Art and the University Art Museum (University at Albany) as the third collaborative sponsor of the oldest regional juried art show in the United States. Founded in 1936, this annual exhibition showcases contemporary art by living artists from the Upper Hudson and Mohawk River valleys. The exhibition rotates among the three organizations and will be hosted by The Hyde Collection in the fall of 2010. Charles Desmarais, Deputy Director for Art at the Brooklyn Museum since 2005, will serve as guest juror. At the Museum, he has overseen major exhibitions of the work of Ron Mueck, Takashi Murakami, Hernan Bas, and others. Prior to his appointment in Brooklyn, he spent almost a decade as Director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. He was responsible for the widely hailed public, programmatic, and physical transformation of that institution, which culminated in a new building designed by architect Zaha Hadid. Desmarais was director of the Laguna Art Museum from 1988 to 1994. From 1981 to 1988 he directed the California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside, where he oversaw the creation of another award-winning building, designed by Stanley Saitowitz. In the past twenty-five years, Desmarais has organized more than fifty exhibitions, written numerous articles and books, and was awarded an Art Critics Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979. Information, entry guidelines, and the entry form are available in pdf format here.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

We always complain that The Greenville Press lacks a web site, since the reporting is high-quality. In this week's issue editor Linda L. Fenoff reports that Supreme Court Judge Joseph Teresi gave a declaratory judgment, saying that the Town of Durham board has discretion to apply its codes. A ruling is expected in "a few weeks" on whether a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) review should be conducted for the Handel family's Blackthorne Resort plan to reintroduce motorized racing to the site.

The Daily News is reporting that NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will announce in March that he will challenge Gov. David Paterson in a Democratic primary election later this year.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Diane Valden in The Columbia Paper reports Carlo DeVito's new movie "LOCALS: Greenmarkets, Farm Markets and the People Who Grow Your Food" will be screened at The Chatham Real Food Market, 15 Church Street, in Chatham Friday, January 29, at 5:30 p.m. DeVito co-owns the Hudson-Chatham Winery.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Is it just me or does it seem like the blogs in Greene and Columbia counties all raised their games recently? And there are more good new ones too, such as ccScoop contributor and former Hudson 1st Ward Alderman Carole Osterink's new blog about local Hudson issues, called The Gossips of Rivertown (h/t Sam Pratt). The first entry, about the new plan for the Washington Hose building at the bottom of Warren St. in Hudson, is detailed, inquisitive, complete, and a great story.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Walking around Columbia and Greene counties this weekend, the only story everyone was talking about was the suicide of Copake dairy farmer Dean Pierson, who took his own life Thursday in his dairy barn after he killed all 51 of his milk cows with a rifle. He left 50 heifers and calves alive. The Register-Star story by cites personal issues Pierson encountered lately (and the Albany Times-Union talks to his widow), but also mentions the dire state of the dairy industry. From the story:

“The economic situation is one more piece of the puzzle,” said New York Farm Bureau Vice President Eric Ooms, who operates the A. Ooms and Sons dairy farm in Kinderhook with his father and brothers. “My father’s been a farmer his whole life. He said he’s never seen a year like this. It’s a year like no one has ever seen.”

Jamie Larson's breaking story ended with a heart-clutching quote: “It’s a hard time to be a farmer these days,” one man said from inside the fence, and The Register-Star should also be applauded for releasing the original breaking news of this story during the afternoon, rather than waiting until it usually releases its news after 2 a.m. each evening. The paper's Greene County sibling, also broke the Catskill High bb gun story this week as it happened, and it is good to see the two papers joining the 24-hour news cycle here.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

FRIDAY


Mother Fletcher
8 p.m. at Main Street Pub, Philmont.

Backburners
Kyle Esposito, acoustic guitar and vocals; Doug Marcus, upright bass and vocals; Manuel Quintana, Drums; Kevin Mau, Dobro.
at Rhinecliff Hotel.

SATURDAY


Vetiver, Kevin Barker, and DJ Jean Deux
The last big show at Jason's before it closes.
9 p.m. at Jason's Upstairs Bar, Hudson. $10

Blue Sun
Tommy Sharp on guitar, Johnny Fay (Boombats) on bass and Ben Ziegler on drums perform as Blue Sun.
9 p.m. at Savoia Restaurant, 214 Warren St., Hudson.


MONDAY

Women of Note Haiti fundraiser with Bar Scott, Mary Courtney, Abby Lappen, Rebecca Martin, Erin Hobson, Kelleigh McKenzie, Gail Ann Dorsey and Marta Topferova
6 p.m. at Rhinecliff Hotel. Sponsored by WKZE.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

The Northeast Organic Farmers Association has organized the NY Organic Farming & Gardening Conference this weekend in Saratoga Springs, and WGXC has someone making recordings we will share after this weekend. The conference includes more than 80 workshops, three keynote speeches, an organic trade show, entertainment and local organic meals.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Diane Valden in The Columbia Paper wrote an excellent story about The Stiehle house, which was recently sold to the Ancram Fire District, but the Ancram Preservation Group says the transaction was a breach of contract and has filed a lawsuit against both the seller and the buyer.

From the story:

Chairman of the Ancram Fire District's Board of Fire Commissioners Terry Boyles told The Columbia Paper Tuesday, January 19, that he would have no comment on the matter until the litigation had run its course. The humble, two-story, grimy-yellowish Stiehle house has stood sentinel at the east end of this hamlet at the crossroads of state Route 82 and county Route 7 since sometime in the first half of the 18th century, according to the website for the Ancram Preservation Group (APG). The only thing that separates the front of the house from eastbound traffic on Route 82 is a metal guardrail. To the passerby, for the past 10 or 20 years anyway, the house seemed forgotten, untended, until the rear part of the structure started to collapse down the side hill above the Ancram Mill about two years ago. That's when the APG stepped in. According to APG President Christopher “Kit” White, the Stiehle house is one of three historic buildings in the center of the Ancram hamlet. The Simons General Store and the Tinsmith house, across the road from the Stiehle house, are the other two. The APG purchased and restored the general store several years ago, and that building is currently for sale.

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Dick May's "Seeing Greene" blog takes on the Catskill Police Department's lack of transparency as Village Police Chief Dave Darling will not release arrest reports. In the best local internet drama of the week, May accuses and lets Darling respond.

He pretends, contrary to established law, that his officers’ incident and action reports are not public documents. For his success in sustaining that fiction, Chief Darling depends on the acquiescence, if not the active support, of his employers: the Village Trustees. And for the endurance of their collusion in this law-snubbing practice, the Trustees and the chief depend on the passivity of appropriate protestors, such as publishers of newspapers and, gulp, of news blogs.

Chief Darling disputes our version of his position. When asked (on Thursday, 1/14) to respond to the preceding paragraph, he said “It’s not fair, and it’s not accurate. I never said that our reports are not public documents.” He maintained, however, that “I have no way of giving you free access to our ‘blotter’. Our incident and action reports are now done on-line; no more ring binders full of paper. Internet access to the on-line reports is restricted to authorized personnel. And I’m not going to let just anybody come into a secured area at police headquarters, and sit down for an hour or more in front of one of our computer screens reading a day’s or a week’s reports.”

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

From Casey Seiler in Capitol Confidential:

[A] multistate settlement, just announced by the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, includes 11 other states and affects operations at 13 cement plants — including the Ravena facility that’s been the subject of controversy for years.

According to the Attorney General’s press release, the settlement requires LaFarge to take the following steps:

* Eliminate a total of over 9,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 26,000 tons of sulfur dioxide each year from its plants, including those in upwind states whose pollution impacts New York.
* Either construct a new Ravena plant – as the company has proposed – or retrofit the existing facility with aggressive air pollution reduction technology. In either case, Ravena’s air pollution emissions will be cut by roughly 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide each year – equivalent to reductions of more than 30% and 80%, respectively.
* Pay a civil penalty and provide funding for environmental benefit projects totaling $5.07 million, with $3.38 million of that amount going to the federal government and the coalition of states receiving $1.69 million. Of that amount, New York State will receive $490,000 to fund energy efficiency and pollution reduction mitigation projects in communities near the Ravena plant.

Emilia Teasdale in The Columbia Paper reports that Crandell Theater owner,

"Anthony Quirino Jr., better known as Tony, died suddenly Sunday. He was 62. Mr. Quirino's father, Anthony Sr., bought the Crandell in the 1960s, but Tony owned and operated the theater for the last 25 years. He did just about everything at the theater from selling tickets to running the projector to cleaning up. He and his wife, Sandy, who worked concessions, were there most every night. He had other jobs and worked at different businesses, including owning an auto repair shop in Ballston Spa. He was a Vietnam veteran who received a Bronze Star. But he grew-up in the Crandell, telling this reporter during an interview once how he used to fall asleep behind the screen while his parents ran the theater The Crandell opened on Main Street in 1926 and has only been run by two different families in the intervening 84 years. Mr. Quirino was actually on the verge of retiring when he died unexpectedly. The Chatham Film Club has been raising money, through the Crandell Legacy Campaign, to buy the theater and plans to maintain his tradition of low ticket prices and family-friendly films."

The Greene County Council on the Arts and the Greene County Camera Club welcome submissions for "Lumina," a juried group exhibition of photographs exploring light as a subject, concept or process. Juried by Arts Council and Camera Club representatives, Fawn Potash and Jill Burkholder. To be eligible:

* Join both organizations for the discounted price of $40. Current GCCA members include $20 to join the GCCC. Current GCCC members include $20 to join the GCCA. Current members of both organizations submit for free. Discounted Senior/Student memberships available.

* Include your name, address, phone and email at the top of a list of image titles with frame sizes, purchase price or insurance value. Jpegs should be 600 dpi on the widest dimension, jpg or sRGB format, 72 dpi. Label each jpeg with last name, first initial and image number (ex: SmithJ1, SmithJ2, etc…)

* Send up to 10 jpegs by mail or on CD. If mailing jpegs, please compress the files into a zip file, because some email servers may limit file size. Sending files in several emails is OK.

* Email your entry to jill@danburkholder.com or post to Jill Burkholder, 67 Woodland Lane, Palenville NY 12463.

Submission Deadline: February 1, 2010
Location: Catskill Gallery, 398 Main Street, Catskill NY 12414 518/943-340
Exhibition Dates: February 20th – April 10, 2010
Jury Notification: by February 8, 201
Accepted Print Drop-off: February 15 -16, 2010
Applications available at www.greenearts.org or by calling 518/943-3400.
Call Jill Burkholder for Greene County Camera Club membership info at 518-678-7186.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Feb. 13, 2010: 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
at Nicole Fiacco Gallery, 336 Warren St., Hudson, NY 12534
518-828-5090

Admission: $10

Curated/Organized by: Paul Smart & Max Goldfarb

This event benefits WGXC's fundraising efforts to launch its FM signal in 2010. The evening will include performances and readings (with MC Norman Douglas) by: Bunnybrains, Brian Dewan, Cornelius Eady, Maggie Estep, Peter Head, Lady Moon, Bernadette Mayer & Philip Good, Prana, George Quasha, Jody Rael, David Rothenberg & Matt Bua, Luc Sante, Sparrow, Studio Stu, Kimberly Truitt w/Peter Head, Sam Truitt, Peter Wetzler & Julie Hedrick, and Rebecca Wolff.

Artworks (see special preview hours) will be on view and available by Yura Adams, Nancy Azara, Doug Beube, Vincent Bilotta, Darla Bjork, Dawn Breeze, Marco Breuer, Victoria Brill, Carl Van Brunt, David Chambard, Sasha Chermayeff, Nicole Cherubini, Leona Christie, John Cleater, Steven Courbois, Peggy Cyphers, Sue Daley, Dan Devine, Jeanne Englert, Jacques Flechemuller, Clyde Forth, Alsion Fox, Mimi Graminski, Steve Gross, Jan Harrison, Peter Head, Christine Heller, Jeremy Hoffeld, James Holl, Philip Howie, Rainer Judd, James Krewson, Melora Kuhn, Lisa LaMonica, Ken Landauer, John Lees, Ruth Leonard, Gay Leonhardt, Justin Lieberman, Mimi Lipson, Amy Maddon, Paul Matthews, Ieva Mediodia, Wayne Montecalvo, T.P. Moynihan, Portia Munson, Annie Nocenti, Caitlin Parker, Margo Pelletier, Chris Piazza, Myron Polenburg, Fawn Potash, Lucio Pozzi, Christopher Quirk, R. Keith Rendall, Howard Saunders, Sam Sebren, Nancy Shaver, Slink Moss, Allyson Strafella, Kianja Strobert, Oscar Strodl, Deirdre Swords, Nitin Vadukul, Susan Wides, Jennifer Zackin, Jared Handelsman, Ryder Cooley, Kahn & Selesnick, Jason Middlebrook, Tim Clifford, Earl Swanigan, Jackson, Nitin Vadukul, and others.

Special thanks to Nicole Fiacco for generously hosting this event.

WGXC is a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. Our inclusive programming connects diverse voices, and distributes information across the public spectrum in New York's Greene and Columbia counties. This multi-faceted project will be much more than just a radio station. With studios in Catskill, Cairo, and Hudson, WGXC activities will include special exhibitions and events, workshops and media training for youth and adults, a news blog with writing and photography, and a local calendar of events, meetings, and other resources.

WGXC volunteers are working hard to launch a 3,300-watt community radio station. More than 78,000 people throughout Greene and Columbia counties will be able to receive the signal on 90.7-FM. WGXC received its license from the FCC and a grant from the US Commerce Dept that will cover 50 percent of our equipment needs. We now need to raise matching funds in order to get on the air. Join us on February 13 and help launch WGXC-FM.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

From Ariel Zangla in The Daily Freeman:

The Village Board on Tuesday unanimously endorsed abolishing the village police department, pending a possible public vote on the matter.... Village residents now have until Feb. 22 to decide whether to challenge the board’s action. If a petition carrying the valid signatures of at least 625 registered village voters is submitted by that date, the village will hold a vote in which residents will decide whether to abolish the police force. If no petition is submitted, or if a vote is held and the results support the board’s action, the village police force could be dissolved by Jan. 1, 2011.... If the police department is disbanded, law enforcement in the village would be handled by a consolidated town of Saugerties police force. That force, which would use some officers from the current village department, would have 13 officers, five sergeants and two detectives.... Village officials previously said if the village police force was not abolished by the end of 2010, there could be a village property tax increase of at least 25 percent to maintain current services.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

The Catskill Community Center will hold a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser Creekside Restaurant, 60 W. Main St (943-6522), in Catskill on Sunday, January 31 from 3 – 6 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the Community Center’s year-round programming. Tickets are available at the Community Center or at the door, $10 per person (children 2 and under are free.) Call the Community Center at 719-8244 or stop by our 344 Main St. location for more information or to purchase tickets. WGXC will have a small studio in the Catskill Community Center when we go on the air later this year.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

Emilia Teasdale in The Columbia Paper reports:

The January 12 special school referendum results in Chatham were:
*395 Yes votes and 102 No votes on Proposition #1 for $4.2-million, which will pay for the bulk of the work on the three school buildings and the campus for the elementary and high school.
*308 Yes votes and 183 No votes on Proposition #2 for $320,000, to replace the aging, inefficient lights at the athletic field.

See WGXC.org for more info about WGXC.

There are several musical fundraisers in the works locally for the earthquake victims in Haiti, as James Taylor just sold out the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington Jan. 22; the "Women of Note" show with Bar Scott, Mary Courtney, Abby Lappen, Rebecca Martin, Kelleigh McKenzie, Gail Ann Dorsey organized by WKZE takes place 6 p.m. Jan. 25 at The Rhinecliff Hotel; and, we are hearing about a possible benefit in Hudson soon too. Mother Fletcher's Azouke is from Haiti and has been affected by the earthquake. UPDATE: Taylor added a second show on Jan. 23, and WAMC (90.3-FM) will air it live, according to WTEN. And the Hudson Moose Lodge 1184 is accepting donations of money, shoes, sneakers, clothes, and bottled water for the survivors of the Haiti earthquake.

See www.wgxc.org for more info about WGXC.

The public can view the plans for a proposed Price Chopper store on Rt. 66 in the Town of Ghent at the Ghent Planning Board’s next regular meeting on February 3 at 7 p.m., according to an article in ccScoop by Mike McCagg. The 43,000 square-foot store, on land adjoining the existing Price Chopper Plaza, would be adjacent but separate from the existing plaza. The plans include many trees blocking the view of the store from the road, according to the story. The store would be next to a proposed extension of the Harlem Valley Trail from its current northern end in Copake to Chatham.

From the ccScoop story:

"[Planning Board Chair Jonathan] Walters said town planners are generally pleased with the proposal as it stands...the project still has some major hurdles to clear. Among them, developing a plan to deal with the wetlands in the area to satisfy the State Department of Environmental Conservation, traffic entrances and exists that meet with the Department of Transportation’s guidelines, and the extension of water and sewer lines from the Village of Chatham. The latter has been the subject of great debate among village leaders, some of whom are supportive of extending the lines for a fee and others who question the ability of the current system to handle a new demand."