Volunteers Tony Lauro and Jack Becker handle the turkeys for the recipients at People’s Place prior to Thanksgiving 2018. (Photo by Phyllis McCabe)
A lot has changed in the Hudson Valley since 2009. We’re wondering how readers feel the sense of community where they live and work has changed since that time.
Sense of community can mean not just “community spirit” and volunteerism, but the perception of residents that the place they live is a community, not just a number of residential and commercial structures that happen to located within the same area.
Please feel free to elaborate in the comments section!
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Less strong in New Paltz… way too many people coming up from the city, trying to change this place. It was so much better before.
Ugh, I feel that my sense of community is pretty much the same. I love where I live, the good times and the bad. I’m basically married to this place, and I’m okay with it.
The people are an afterthought. I avoid those I can’t stand, and seek out those I can.
Site location, neighborhood location and community location.
My site location has lost its nature, my neighborhood has gained a bad nature and my community is unnatural.
And that’s just one house.
The honest truth is that I would never want to live anywhere but in the Hudson Valley.
Its home.
And despite some real glaring problems at times, its nonetheless a wonderful home.
Grew up in Woodstock and the community is completely changed. It is a retiree center mostly filled with stereotypes of reasons why families resent going home for the holidays………….. Before there used to be ppl of all ages, gatherings where you could find anyone (ethnic, age, orientation, etc) and they came as people of Wdsk, nothing more. Ppl used to give rides, $$ and help and now sadly, only the old-time hippies or the children of them still retain that spirit. Debate was allowed where even 5 yr olds could chime into the conversation and now even that can’t be held without name calling, income disparaging and an urge to shut up the “little guys”. It is doubly amazing when you think of the fact the core of Wdsk is republican – and they allowed single mothers, families with children, pets etc to live there (etc – hippie/artist family units) and now, with the democrat majority they have closed the doors – women with 3 children are turned away from having too many kids, single mothers are turned away, freshly graduated kids, seniors – you name it. It is ironic, because so many are vocal on social injustice, but they themselves are making sure the “undesirables” right down central and south american refugees – never can live in their neighborhood. People can come clean toilets, mow the lawn, etc but can’t live there. I can’t wait for the next wave of ppl to replace the current ones.
quality of life SUX here quite frankly, unless u r of the elitist -1%ers….
good luck finding anywhere to actually live if u r a non-silver spoon local….
air b n b is the fing catastrophic…. n not only in this area is it despicable;
and unlawfully if not criminally somehow gone ‘wild west’ UNREGULATED….!??!….
this is a MA$$IVE EPIDEMIC CRISIS the world over…. gee, thx air b n b, n thx.
an awful lot poor excuses for so called ‘local, community, county, regional, state, federal, national, world wide…. ‘representatives….” u SUCK.
good luck even affording existence here unless u r uber privileged….
i know local businesses court tourism….
but for local residents…. UGH. sometimes some of the local businesses especially those who cater mainly to tourists and who set prices to gauge as many tourists as possible while they can…. seem to forget how to treat local residences, on top of what seems to have formed into a lack luster CULTure of blase’ (sp?) greediness….. n some local businesses seem to forget it is the local residents who r still here when majorities of the tourists leave after the seasons close out, when local businesses r making it through the less touristy less busy times…. not everyone here is a 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th etc etc ‘home owner….’ not everyone here is a fing tourist…. as hard as this may be to believe…. it is somehow miraculously still so; even if barely…. imo our so called ‘community’ is much less colorful, much less friendly, much less close, much less caring, much less forbearing, much less inhabitable, much less affordable, n much more full of itself than ever…. not that there is nothing good here…. of course there r still some good things n also some positive {ish} progressions; maybe more so mixed bag developments…. in more recent times as well…. it has become way more so colonized by yuppies than it is at this day n age a so called ‘creative artist colony….’ not to mention how over the top the local corruption can be; n heinously so even while under the color of law…. not regarding the whole lot of em…. obv. referring to certain corrupt ones especially in particular…. thankfully there r some good, honorable, lawful, decent ones too…. (tho honestly, re: the latter, i m afraid it may be the lower %..?!!?.. i do hope we have a least some good ones in greater positions tho now, at least..!!?!!..) there is not nearly enough of an authentic (non-systemically oppressive, non-threatening, non-further-endangering, non-discriminatory, actually effective, efficient, honorable, lawful, successful n forbearing) individualized safety net of help, support, assistance structures for vulnerable local people here…. there r some quality good people who do try to do their best to go above n beyond volunteering to help in more broad strokes re: certain essentials; n more so specifically, resources like the food pantries n such…. ‘family’ the org. tries to do some good things, they help feed people too…. some good folx volunteer there n at pantries, n even there r certain people who r people to be thankful for in positions where they do their best to be helpful for people in need however they r capable to whatever extents…. n any amounts of authentic helpfulness def. counts n is very much so appreciated…. etc etc…. yet there is still way too much of essential value missing here for anyone in real, urgent, dire, emergency, acute, chronic, vulnerable need…. etc etc…. i realize this is probably a systemic issue that is not only a problem in this area…. tho this area has a long way to go in this regards, imho…. (n some poor excuses for so called ‘people’ n ‘orgs’ n ‘businesses’ that r supposedly ‘serive oriented; to help people in need….’ (PPPP$$$$HHHHTTTT. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.] r utter fraud$; B$ front$; n r thee worst most horrible ever..!!!!?!!?!!!!.. i do not know how they live with themselves…. ****
oops, edit: air b n b is an outrageous catastrophic existential bane…. (somehow i did not manage to finish my sentence…. n there is no edit button on my already posted comment….
another edit: not everyone here is a fancy pants uber yuppie -1%er over-privileged elitist BIG-$pender…. tourist n/or 9th – 10th ‘home owner….’ ‘fare’ for the unrea$onably greedy price ‘gouging….’ etc etc….
**NOT A DUPLICATE COMMENT…. PLEASE POST….**
ugh too many typos and no edit button….
there r not near enough qualified specialized intensively extensively educated trained experienced professional top quality authentic ****service**** oriented (not serive….) support people working in social safety networks…. tho there r some good quality people…. there r not nearly enough thoroughly trained experienced skilled n adept at helping in complex, acute n chronic, n emergency scenarios…. no doubt some of the ‘orgs’ n ‘businesses’ r fraudulent fronts…. stealing funding that would otherwise be able to be truly helping to assist people in need n cover the costs of paying (reasonably; not way over the top; not way over priced; not over blown….) costs of helping people in need….. it is my understanding that some of the better orgs r not receiving enough funding and they r under staffed n over worked n there is too much bureaucratic preoccupation n not nearly enough focus on training nor on intently actually really helping people in ways that make the real n true positively life changing differences…. etc etc…. the workers tend to be spread way too thin, overall…. n of course some people r way better at their chosen fields than others who seem to be in wrong fields…. to say least…. imho. more typos i could ‘edit’ / important point to add…. but all this overall says a lot, tho i m prolly forgetting some important things too…. ****
i also heard the pay structures r overly complicated n bureaucratic nightmares….
which fing SUX BAD cuz it negatively impacts people’s ability to genuinely help others in need, n it negatively impacts people’s abilities who r in need to receive the real time help n support on the required levels; way too often way too long overdue n imminently necessary…. yet still way too elusive…. yet there is money changing hands n people r getting paid…. (the underlings tend to not be paid all that adequately i have heard….) while those in need r shuffled through an exhaustive load of bureaucratic BS; run ragged through the [poor excuse for a so called] ‘system;’ exploited as ‘cash cows’ for the heads of the FO$ ‘orgs….’ n then too often to not even ever actually really help the people in need who were sent to them for help n who never received the help they so desp. need n were told is available for them…. yet…. to not ever get it; to waste vulnerable people’s time energy resources that we can not afford to have wasted on fing corrupt n FO$ outrageous lame insane beurocraTICK run round B$…. there r literally ZERO check n balances in place..!!??!!.. i m not trying to devalue anyone who is truly honorably commendably authentically doing anything n everything they can to do good work for helping people in need…. of course…. bless the real n true good quality authentic helpful supportive people…. i wish there were many more like u, n for there to be an actual working system too…. ****