SamPratt.com: Towns

45 entries categorized "Towns | Greenport"

March 11, 2013

Tragedy at the Transfer Station

Newman Road, Greenport (NY).

in Humor, Towns | Greenport | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 8, 2013

Greenport opposes Premier PILOT

It hasn’t been reported in the local press yet, but on Wednesday the Greenport Town Board unanimously passed a resolution expressing its opposition to the payment-in-lieu-of-tax plan for Premier Brands.

The PILOT proposal under consideration by the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency would allow Premier to avoid paying its full share of taxes over the next 10 years. The Westchester-based company intends to site a warehousing operation in the now empty Wal-Mart space on Fairview Avenue, in the Price Chopper plaza.

Notably, the attorney representing Premier is Bill Better, the former Columbia County attorney who stepped down after three female County employees filed sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits against him in 1997. One of those suits alleged that that “Better forced her to contribute to the local GOP, and was sexually harassed and stalked by him,” and was settled for $120,000. Another similar suit was reportedly settled for $210,000. Better denied the charges, with his attorney characterizing the suits in the Times-Union as “a stick-up.”

Better is also currently representing PCB processors TCI of NY before the Ghent Planning Board, and was retained last year by the Stuyvesant Town Board at a $250-per-hour rate to address lawsuits related to Will Pflaum’s dog boarding business.

in Economic Development, Planning & Land Use, Politics | Columbia County, Towns | Greenport | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 27, 2013

Purple Greenport

Sky over Widewaters Plaza, Greenport (NY).

in Landscapes, Photographs, Towns | Greenport | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 21, 2012

The great American melting pot

Now if I could just find some Tex-Mex lasagna, my life would be complete. (PHOTO: Laetitia Hussain)

in Towns | Greenport | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 28, 2012

Primary turnout in Columbia County

As first reported here, voter turnout for Tuesday’s Democratic Congressional primary contest between Julian Schreibman and Joel Tyner was dismal. Fewer than 1 in 10 registered Democrats bothered to participate in the new 11-county 19th District.

That sub-10% figure also applied to Democrats here in Columbia County. Below is a town-by-town chart of how each municipality in the County did, turnout-wise, correlating Board of Elections tallies and voter registration data obtained last March:

Remarkably, County Democratic Chair Cyndy Hall characterized these numbers as a “tremendous victory” for her party committee... If 9 out of 10 voters staying home is a tremendous victory, one wonders what a tremendous failure would look like.

UPDATE: Primaries 0f course tend to attract fewer voters than general elections. However, as a point of reference showing how poor Tuesday’s turnout was: More than 550 Democrats voted in the 2011 primary between Nick Haddad and Linda Mussmann; but this week, fewer than 150 voters cast ballots in Hudson.

June 22, 2012

Windswept

Several thousand customers National Grid’s Hudson/Greenport/Claverack service are without power this late Friday afternoon. The company estimates on its outage map that electricity will be restored at 9:30 pm, but experience suggests adding at least a couple hours to that estimate.

One report says that some sort of mini-tornado may have ripped along 3rd Street, taking down trees and lines with it. Certainly great deal of wind and hail was observed this afternoon in town.

Some businesses closed up as a result of the outage. I’m told Spotty Dog is still serving (it is, after all, the end of the workweek). Another option while waiting out the outage might be to take the ferry across the river.

June 12, 2012

Rent MODification

Carole Osterink reports from Hudson that the Front Street restaurant MOD was abruptly padlocked as part of some sort of landlord/tenant dispute.

Owner Dana Wegener has now posted this notice on MOD’s website:

We would like to personally thank you for your support, patronage, and friendship over the past six years. Some of you may have already heard, or have been wondering, and I would like you to hear it from us.

We regret to say that MOD Hudson has permanently closed as of Monday June 11, 2012. We are so grateful to all of you who have been loyal customers both at the cafe in Catskill and for the last year at our restaurant in Hudson.

Dana will continue to dish up her hearty meals prepared with love. Please email for private chef services or off site catering. The dedicated staff will be finding new paths as well.

According to the 2012 Tentative Assessment roll for Hudson, 18-22 South Front Street is owned by Andrew King.

Gossips also passes along “a rumor that Joe Fierro, owner of American Glory, wants to open an Italian restaurant in the space.”

Another Italian restaurant—great thinking! As Marty Davidson noted Hudson already has Ca Mea, Vico and Baba Loui... Not to mention Scali’s, LaBella’s, Rigatony’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Joe’s, plus a half-dozen or so other 12534 restaurants with either pizza or pasta on the menu.

Hudson still doesn’t have any Greek or Thai places, or a Jewish deli, or easy access to countless other national cuisines... But, hey, why do something different that expands Hudson’s horizons, when you can compete with other local businesses for a limited market?

May 29, 2012

Olana Modern

Noted architectural photographer (and Greendale resident) Peter Aaron has a must-see suite of photographs of the Olana landscape on view at their Coachman’s House gallery through late October.

Aaron spent some three years on the project, “wandering Olana’s hills and surrounding landscapes” to capture the site during different seasons, weather and lighting conditions. He writes that before becoming a Hudson Valley homeowner, he

... considered Frederic Church an almost expressionist painter who exaggerated all he saw. Now, having lived down the hill from Olana for twenty-five years, I recognize that Church’s swirling, flame-colored clouds, twisted trees, river reflections, God-rays, fog, and deeply saturated colors are in evidence for every visitor to see.

Walking the landscape at dawn or dusk is an experience that’s always full of surprise and beauty. There are moments when a light snowfall blankets the carriage trail but not the woods, creating serpentine shapes through the trees. In the fall, a tube of fog forms over the Hudson River at dawn, disappearing before full sunlight comes.

“I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a modern perspective on Olana,” said Joan Davidson at the opening which coincided with the region’s Heritage Weekend, a concept with which she is credited.

April 9, 2012

Daylight robbery

According to a solid source (who owns a police scanner), the Bank of Greene County branch on Fairview Avenue on Greenport (where I have an account, darn it) was the target of a robbery attempt this afternoon by one or more suspects on foot.

in Crime, Towns | Greenport | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 22, 2011

Hurry up & wait

Word is that the counting of Hudson absentee and affidavit ballots will now occur on Monday, the soonest that Bill Hallenbeck’s attorney Giff Whitbeck is available.

With just 27 votes separating Hallenbeck and his mayoral opponent, Nick Haddad, there are an estimated 220-225 absentee and affidavit ballots to be considered, though 10-20% of those could prove invalid. Ballots for the Hudson race only came out of their impoundment yesterday, with recanvassing of the Hudson results and logging of the poll book information and affidavit ballots taking place yesterday. (The Board of Elections has to first verify the election night results, and also review the books to make sure no one who submitted an absentee ballot also voted on the machine on November 8th.)

Ballots for other close races in Claverack, Greenport, Hillsdale and Taghkanic will likely hit the tables today (Tuesday) and presumably will be complete before Thanksgiving.

The already-slow pace of the counts has been further reduced by the existence of a super-tight judicial race between Republican Catherine “Kiki” Cholakis and Democrat Ray Elliott, with lawyers for each observing counts in every town in a seven-county area.