Thankful for the charter
I am writing to express my support for the strong executive form of government created by the Ulster County Charter. Specifically, I have witnessed a focus on Catskills advertising and a coordinated flood response. As a business owner in Shandaken, these efforts have been critical to my business. In addition, we have seen a virtual flat-line to county taxes under Mike Hein because of his willingness to make tough choices, from consolidating departments to looking at whether government should be in the home health care business.
Thank goodness Ulster County voters adopted a Charter that gave our executive the responsibility to make tough decisions and that we elected a leader willing to tackle the hard issues.
Scott Fawaz
Innkeeper
Alpine Osteria B&B
Highmount
Giving away the store Thank you Saugerties voters for electing me. The amount of support I received was overwhelming. I will do my best to serve and represent you. As the year draws to a close and the sitting Town Board ends its reign with Helsmoortel as supervisor, it’s important to notice what’s happening. This week prior to the public hearing on the town budget the Town Board held another illegal town board meeting. Closed session, no public notice, no reason specified for the meeting, press not notified. I am fed up with this pattern of failure to adhere to New York State Law and am filing a formal complaint with the New York State Committee on Open Government. The 2012 Town Budget is stuffed with additional salary enhancements for the police department. Police overtime utilized in 2010 was $31,100. In 2011 Police overtime was budgeted at $175,000. This year they’re asking for $250,000 in overtime. This is OUTRAGEOUS! Police salary budget line is also padded with a raise for lieutenant and an additional $125,000 that has not been specified. Quite by accident I discovered, that the Town Board held an illegal meeting where all members were present to interview a candidate for a new position they are creating: assistant police chief. This position has not been advertised, specific budget provisions have not been made, a vote was not taken to create this position. Only one candidate is being considered. Once again it’s all done in secret. Hidden in the back pages of the budget is a provision for a bond anticipation note of $512,000. What’s this for? I asked. Apparently the town needs to borrow a half million to quietly pay off a lawsuit against them. If you look up Bonded Concrete, you will discover a 13-year history of lawsuits. Wow.This is not how government should function.I’ve been criticized for asking that the supervisor’s position be designated full-time and compensated fairly. The current town supervisor makes four-grand less than the dog catcher. I don’t need the $18,000 family health insurance package. A full-time position with fair salary could be accomplished by a health insurance buy out – at no additional cost to taxpayers.This week a public meeting was held on the town’s proposal to involuntarily designate Opus 40 as an historical site. This designation is against the property owners wishes and also against the wishes of the new not-for-profit that is responsible to protect, preserve and market the site. This designation will place an undue hardship on the owners, significantly restrict site use, and may set the town up for a future lawsuit for interfering with property owners rights.With the elections over and holidays coming most of us turn our thoughts to good cheer, friends, faith and family. This time of year the public is distracted and less likely to pay attention to what local government is doing. Well, they’re giving away the store… please pay attention and watch carefully.Kelly MyersSaugerties
Improper request Supervisor-elect Kelly Myers’s tone-deaf remarks at last week’s Town Board meeting, as reported in the Times’s November 24th edition, do not augur well for her forthcoming term. If Ms. Myers truly believes that circumstances warrant an increase in the supervisor’s compensation, then to show a decent respect for propriety and to demonstrate a clear absence of self-interest, she should stipulate that such an increase, should it be approved, take effect after her term expires.John BasslerSaugerties
Thoughts on election 2011The non-voters have spoken. Now let them wallow in it.Ralph Childers Saugerties
Republicans have Stockholm Syndrome Would anyone be surprised that the five former Democratic Presidents – Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Harry S. Truman – all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican presidents – George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford- all oversaw an increase in the country’s indebtedness? You would? Well, it’s a fact.Am I surprised that our new town supervisor wants an increase in her pay for the work that Greg Helsmoortel has done for years with no complaint? I would be if I didn’t read the news every day to hear that the Republicans won’t increase taxes on the super wealthy but insist on keeping the ridiculously low Bush-era tax cuts for this 1% (remember that he presided over a large portion of Republican accumulation of debt).I’m a clinical psychologist but I’m at a loss to understand how middle class people can vote Republican! There is a concept called “identification with the aggressor” where people in abusive situations feel helpless and will identify with the abusers. This may be the case when they vote for the Republicans who refuse to extend unemployment benefits or financial aid for those losing their homes and want to cut social programs (which the wealthy don’t need). The Republicans are looking out for themselves, not us – they need and want the millions of dollars that the wealthy will give them to win their elections. Democracy for sale!I hope my fellow Democrats and Eisenhower Republicans won’t be sitting home in 2012 but will get out there with their time and money and help our country get back on track. With a Democratic Congress, Senate and House of Representatives, we can get a government that looks out for us, not themselves or their super-rich funding sources.Meyer RothbergSaugerties
Myers keeps her promise on KeepI commend Supervisor-Elect Kelly Myers for keeping her campaign promise regarding the Dickinson’s Keep housing proposal. If state officials approve the developer’s request for housing credits, then the tax agreement negotiated by the current Town Board majority goes into effect. This would have a devastating impact on Saugerties property taxpayers. Realizing the state could act before she takes office in January, Kelly wrote a letter to state officials to notify them know she doesn’t support the project. Town Councilman Jimmy Bruno also signed the letter. Although he voted to rescind the tax agreement in August, Councilman Freddie Costello, now safely reelected, refused to sign the letter. Why? Perhaps he’s afraid to tick-off his Democratic Party handler, Patti Kelly, who supports the project. Given Costello’s true nature, his latest flip-flop is hardly surprising. I’m sure the Saugerties voters he conned into supporting him based on his August vote will remember his lack of action the next time he runs for office.Joe Roberti, Jr.Chairman. Saugerties GOP
Historic strip mines of SaugertiesWhen Harvey Fite bought his High Woods property in the late 1930s, he built a house with a magnificent view of Overlook Mountain, but also a view of a great scar, filled with bluestone rubble. It was an old bluestone quarry. He proceeded to reconstruct the rubble into what is now known as Opus 40, a National Historic Site and a Saugerties historic place. Did Harvey Fite ruin a historic site? Should he have been subject to a local commission’s idea of how to construct his masterpiece? Of course not. But, that is what the current effort on the part of the Historical Commission is about.There are dozens of properties in the High Woods area that are old strip mine quarries. Are they historic? Perhaps, but only to the point that they are old history. There are six acres that include the Opus 40 sculpture, the remaining 44 acres are woodlands, with a few old quarry sites scattered about. My own 10 acres in High Woods has the same strip mines and huge piles of bluestone rubble. I wish it had never been mined. It ruined the woods for me. But the historical commission would have us believe that it must be regulated. So if I need to create a woodroad, cut down some trees, clean up hurricane damage, move my woodshed or what else, I would have to submit a plan for their approval. They then would become a big part of the decision of what I can do on my own land.My family, then I, have been paying taxes on the land for 85 years. And so it is with the land adjoining Opus 40. It is just woodland, with some ugly scars of bygone strip-mining.How many property owners in Saugerties own a “significant” piece of land — perhaps with a pond, a stream, a waterfall or a strip-mine? Someday you might be notified by the commission of a public hearing, designating your property as historic so they can be in control of how you should use your land. The Richards family ( Harvey Fite’s heirs), weren’tasked, nor was a meeting held to discuss the pending designation of their property. They were just notified of a public hearing and now are passionately fighting to keep their property their own.The Town Board can stop this from happening and I hope they will.Hans GunderudSaugerties
Unanswered questions on Opus 40 This Opus 40 deal seems very complicated. The difficulty in disposing of property belonging to a not-for-profit raises complex questions about ownership of certain of the corporation’s assets. In the case of Opus 40, I imagine that much of the property is in fact art (sculptures, paintings, etc.) that may be worth much more than the real estate, perhaps millions. Normally, assets are transferred to another not-for-profit.When secrecy and misinformation surround transactions we are forced to ask uncomfortable questions about the corporation’s assets and how they are disposed.Bart FriedmanSaugerties
Don’t cut consumer bureau I am very concerned about the scheduled cut (very little time to correct this before the end of December!) of the Ulster County Consumer Fraud Bureau which advocated for me earlier this year. No matter what I did, said, or wrote (even after their tank was disconnected from my home), the gas company (forgive me, I hesitate to mention publicly, they really shook me up after awhile ) who promised to correct their billing errors, did nothing to stop the phone calls from collections, nor the recurring and ever-increasingly mistaken bills.I communicated with the gas company for months, and was feeling frustrated by the promises combined with non-action, and confusing interactions where my issues began to be unaddressed in our interchanges.This three-person office, which I hadn’t known existed, was the only agency able to help and I was finally reimbursed, which seemed like a miracle, for a significant amount.It appears doubtful that if the office is cut and panned off to the state office as planned so far, that any consumer in the state would be able to get the attention and help they need. After all, Ulster is one very populated county, and I now know that I am not the only citizen who has experienced this kind of occurrence. While we are focused on the occupations, we still need to watch our own back yards, it seems.Davida LuminabesWoodstock
An apology from the Farmers Market We volunteers of the Saugerties Farmers Market wish to extend a heartfelt apology to all our customers who came to the holiday market celebrating Thanksgiving. Customers found a much sparser market than they and we expected with many fewer items than we promised in the “Saugerties Times” of Nov. 18, 2011. At the last-minute, six vendors who were scheduled to participate in the market were unable to attend. You could say it was the perfect storm. Collectively, the vendors who could not attend reported a house that burned down on the day of the market, a critical illness, a death in the family, two sick employees, and a no-show driver along with several more run-of-the-mill setbacks.Four of the six missing vendors expect to return for the Christmas/Chanukah market on Sunday, Dec. 18, and we are working on replacing the two who may not be able to return until later. Again, please accept our apologies along with our assurances that future holiday markets will offer more of the wonderful local products you expect.We look forward to your joining us at the Senior Center on Sunday, Dec. 18 from noon to 4 p.m. to support our local farmers and we ask you to visit our website, SaugertiesFarmersMarket.com, to give us your feedback on what we are doing well and what we could be doing better.Barry Benepe, Edith Bolt, Debbie Burklund, Joe Hernandez, Tony Hitchcock, Ann Krupp,Judith Spektor, Sara Stern, Rickie Tamayo, James Tamayo, Masha ZagerSaugerties Farmers Market Committee
Privatization makes sense Taxpayers need government willing to change. Real leadership evaluates whether taxpayers should provide services that compete with the private sector. Where government provides the same service at greater cost, a change must be made. County government does not need to be in the nursing home business and should sell Golden Hill. Those who need care will get it from one of the many private nursing homes, and county taxpayers need a break. I support County Executive Hein for taking a position on this difficult issue.Brian DonoghueSaugerties
Cuomo has sold out If there is a governor who has sold out to the 1 percent, it is our very own Andrew Cuomo. He won’t restore taxes for the very rich, giving our greediest citizens another huge tax cut at the expense of everyone else. He says the billionaires will leave the state if we pick on them, even though several studies have shown that this has never been the case in the past. They like their Park Avenue penthouses and thousand dollar lunches too much to move.Governor 1 Percent has even drawn a parallel between his father’s principled stand against the death penalty and his own “heroic” defense of an embattled minority: billionaire bankers. How about the embattled workers of New York State? For us, the governor slashes pensions, fires teachers, raises tuitions, and busts unions.For pompous hypocrisy, Governor 1 Percent just can’t be rivaled. The oil giants want to start fracking without environmental oversights to protect our drinking water. Governor 1 Percent is there, protecting another embattled minority, Exxon Mobil and Halliburton. Wall Street barons don’t want a nickel tax on multi-million dollar stock transfers. Governor 1 Percent is there, protecting their obscene profit margins.When the Albany Common Council passed a resolution supporting the free speech rights of Occupy Albany, and the district attorney refused to prosecute, there was our courageous governor again, sending his state trooper friends to arrest dozens of campers each night.How long will the 99 percent tolerate this grotesque sellout as governor of New York State?Fred NagelRhinebeck
Successful benefit for Kenyan kids The Kodi Kids Benefit, an evening of music to raise school funds for a Kenyan sibling orphans group, has become a yearly fixture in our community. It always takes place right before Thanksgiving, when so many of us take the time to acknowledge our good fortune. Once again, our generous community has come through for the Kodi children. When our music extravaganza began, we had five children in school. As of today, two have graduated and one awaits her national exam results to learn if she too is a graduate, leaving us with two remaining students. Many people and businesses are part of the children’s school success. Thank you to the performers George DeLeon, K.J. Denhert, Emily Einhorn, Peter Einhorn and Peter Tomlinson, the merchants Adams Fairacre Farms in Kingston, Hannaford in Kingston and Ulster, Hudson Valley Dessert Company, Shop & Stop in New Paltz and Sunflower Natural Foods Market and thanks to the wonderful donors.Christine DinsmoreWoodstock
Thankful for the library I am thankful for the Saugerties Library for a variety of reasons. Not only do I use in the typical way, i.e., checkout books, movies and books on tapes, I have found friends there! I am part of the KnitWits knitting group and we regularly meet there. I belong to a book group and it is so easy to go online to request our next book, and if (when) I owe money on overdue books, I can pay that online as well!Rita FordSaugerties
I am thankful for our beautiful Saugerties Public Library for many reasons. I try to be thankful for life’s many blessings all year round but sometimes life can get in the way. This library, to which I am thankful to be a newly elected board member, provides so many services to the community, especially helping many who find these times economically challenging. It makes reading and books, newspapers, magazines, using computers and the Internet accessible to everyone. It may help a struggling family use the Internet to find a much-needed income in order to survive, put food on the table, pay the bills. All you need is a free library card. I am thankful for the weekly story times that provide a fun and entertaining way to introduce the adventures that are hiding in a book to small children. They learn their ABCs through fun songs and books. I am thankful that the Saugerties Public Library is still encouraging my children to open a book and read. I am also thankful for the friendly, knowledgeable staff here at our newly remodeled library and look forward to being a part of the team for many years.Becky Mignano-CampbellSaugerties
Thankful for the charter I am writing to express my support for the strong executive form of government created by the Ulster County Charter. Specifically, I have witnessed a focus on Catskills advertising and a coordinated flood response. As a business owner in Shandaken, these efforts have been critical to my business. In addition, we have seen a virtual flat-line to county taxes under Mike Hein because of his willingness to make tough choices, from consolidating departments to looking at whether government should be in the home health care business. Thank goodness Ulster County voters adopted a Charter that gave our executive the responsibility to make tough decisions and that we elected a leader willing to tackle the hard issues.Scott FawazInnkeeperAlpine Osteria B&BHighmount
Join the family! 
