The current phase of a comprehensive Central Hudson natural gas main and service replacement program in the Village of Saugerties has a few local business owners concerned that the work is cutting into their customer traffic.
Sina Clark opened Violet’s Bakery at 81 Partition Street in mid-March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread shutdowns around the globe.
“I was open for six hours and then closed for three weeks,” said Clark, who said she made it through the early months with walk-up business before things began to return to a relative sense of normality.
“Things were going okay,” she said. “I was able to pay all my bills, meet all my financial obligations. I was able to pay off credit cards and equipment that I had bought, even though it was COVID. And now that is not the case. Now I am struggling to meet all my financial obligations. And I thought things were going to get better as COVID faded into the background.”
The current work by Central Hudson’s construction partner J. Mullen & Sons, Inc., is the latter phase of a project that began in the summer of 2017, then continued two years later with a roughly four-month period that saw the replacement of over 13,000 feet of gas lines from Mill Street, up along E. and W. Bridge Street, to Livingston and Elizabeth streets, even briefly impacting Ulster Avenue between Cross and Elm streets. It also hit the southernmost part of Partition Street, but did not extend up that road any further into the village beyond Allen Street.
Village of Saugerties Mayor Bill Murphy said the first two phases of the project, which also closed portions of Main Street, did not yield any issues from local businesses, and he said that’s largely been the case with the current phase as well, particularly as closures are infrequent, some ordinarily one-way streets have temporarily opened for two-way traffic and the work day is rigidly adhered to.
“This is a complicated project,” Murphy said. “And we always knew this would be the more complicated one because it’s Partition Street, which is a very narrow, very congested street to begin with.”
Murphy said the current phase began in late May, over a month later than scheduled because of similar work being completed by the same crew in Newburgh. But, he added, the utility company, the construction team and the village government have tried to keep local businesses in the loop every step of the way.
“From day one, I had central Hudson and (J) Mullin (& Sons) go door to door to every business, multiple times door to door, explaining to the people what’s got to be done,” Murphy said, adding that he also communicated frequently with business owners through an e-mail chain.
“Ninety percent of the business owners were like, ‘Hey, yeah, it’s got to be done. We understand, it’s a gas line’,” Murphy said, adding that two businesses said that July has been their best month ever. “There’s one or two businesses out there that are complaining. And the majority of businesses have contacted me and said this has not affected them.”
But Clark, along with two other business owners who declined to be quoted on the record, say the project is hurting their businesses at a time when they need help the most.
“Everybody knows that summer is the only time to make money in Saugerties,” she said. “It is dead in the winter. It’s not as busy as you think during the holidays. So if we can’t make money during the summer, and summer sustains most of the businesses until the next summer in terms of their rent, how many months do they have left in them? I think it’s really going to be devastating. I hope it’s not, but if we can’t make the money you usually make in the summer, what’s the logical conclusion?”
Murphy said that while the project is underway later than anticipated, it had to happen during the summer because the New York State Department of Transportation doesn’t allow the sort of road work integral to the project to occur after November 15 due to seasonal blacktop plant closures.
“And it’s a gas project,” Murphy said. “You want your heat turned off during the winter?”
Both Clark and Murphy agreed that the crews have been sympathetic to the difficulty the project has caused for business owners.
“John Mullen…he did come in and buy a bunch of stuff from me a couple of days for his guys who were working,” Clark said. “And that helped tremendously. I mean, there was one week that I didn’t know how I was going to pay anything, that’s how bad it was. And he came in and just bought a bunch of stuff and kind of saved me. Now, obviously that’s one man doing something, and he’s being kind. But you know, you can’t go around and do that to all the businesses.”
On Friday, July 22, Murphy sent what he said would be his final e-mail to local businesses about the project, in part due to the criticism he’s faced from some local businesses.
“I know this project is a burden and hence why we have had this line of communication going from day one,” Murphy wrote, adding that he resented a remark about his lack of leadership, “but I will get over it.”
A week later, Murphy expanded upon the barb, saying it didn’t make sense.
“One guy…blamed me for lack of leadership,” Murphy said, noting that this took place in an e-mail chain that began three months prior to the start of the project to ensure local business owners were kept apprised of what was happening. “So you want to call me an asshole, call me an asshole or whatever, but don’t ever accuse me of lack of leadership. I live for this village…When this project is done, we will have completely new water lines, gas lines, and sewer lines in our village. They’ve all been replaced. That’s infrastructure. That’s why you can have businesses here, because our infrastructure is up to date.”
Murphy added that Partition Street and other areas covered by the project aren’t permanently closed.
“The project is designated 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so they’re done by four o’clock every day,” he said. “And the streets are open every day by four o’clock. So all the restaurants are fine in the evening. Everything’s open in the evening. They’ve never worked past four o’clock…and it’s never been closed prior to nine o’clock in the morning. And three weeks ago (the construction crew) decided, ‘Hey, we’ll give you Fridays off.’ So they’re not working on Fridays.”
Murphy added that in the week of July 25-29, the only day Partition Street was closed was Thursday, July 28.
Clark said she was not included in Murphy’s e-mail update chain and hadn’t received the kind of communication she’d have liked throughout. She added she believed that fiscal fallout from the ongoing project could result in some businesses leaving Saugerties.
“I love Saugerties,” she said. “I believe in Saugerties. I love the community here. I love the people here. But there’s got to be something we can do so that the businesses don’t feel like no one cares or, or they’re being ignored. And I don’t mean by the residents, because plenty of people do come out and try to support small businesses. I mean, by the town, or the Village Board or the mayor or whoever. It does feel like we’re just being ignored it, and I don’t know why you would want to do that to your local economy.”
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