The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program in partnership with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) has awarded the team of Milone & MacBroom, Inc., Hudson & Pacific Designs and EarthRise Designs a grant of $75,000 to design a sustainable shorelines demonstration project at the Dockside property in the Village of Cold Spring, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced. The site is part of the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve.
The purpose of the grant is to design improvements to the riverbank to enhance habitat for aquatic species, reduce erosion, and increase the property’s resiliency to sea-level rise, storm surges and wave action resulting from coastal storms.
“The Hudson River Estuary Program is helping people enjoy, protect and revitalize the Hudson River and its valley,” Martens said. “This grant will fund plans and designs to stabilize the shoreline and enhance the public use of the park. The project will also establish a model that can be used in similar settings with both tidal and riverine characteristics.”
The Hudson River Estuary Program is a project of the NYS Environmental Protection Fund. Funding will help achieve goals of the 2010-2014 Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda, a plan for conserving, protecting and revitalizing the Hudson River estuary.
What about all the people that used and enjoyed Dockside before the DEC took over the property? There was a wonderful restaurant that attracted thousands of people to Cold Spring over the years, people who ate, shopped and spent money in town. I really don’t understand why the restaurant was taken out in the first place and how keeping the property vacant will help people “enjoy…and revitalize” the Hudson River Valley, or at least this part of it.
You want to revitalize Cold Spring? The answer in a word: Lights. Not just Christmas lights, street lights all year round are needed.
There are 28 electric poles on Main Street that have no light fixtures on them. The existing lights are outmoded, inefficient and an eyesore. What’s keeping this project from happening? There’s all kinds of money being thrown around on fairly useless things like the trolley, for example. How much does it cost the taxpayers per year to run a bus that nobody uses? Really, any day, any season, check it out — most of the time it’s empty or has one or two people on board. It would be cheaper to get private cars and taxis for anyone who needs a ride along the route.
Dockside Restaurant was a disaster waiting to happen. Read my book, Lament of An Expat, and you will get the story of what happened there. It is all very well to criticize, but, Patti, you should gather facts before you criticize.
In between all the commentary about Roger Ailes, I was able to find your description of the alleged dilapidation of the former Dockside, which sadly, is certainly not how many remember it.
In any event, that was not the point of my commentary which really concerned the misplaced priorities of the Powers that Be who seem to be running the Village of Cold Spring. As someone who’s had a business in town for way longer than me, and who’s obviously well versed in its history, maybe you know the answer as to why the streets are so poorly lit, even though there have been businesses up and down Main Street for decades. Has anybody except me noticed the mass exodus that occurs after sunset, especially during prime shopping hours in winter? Why is nothing being done about a truly hazardous condition, i.e. unlit streets and sidewalks, that could cause someone to have a nasty fall? Are not the Village officials concerned about negligence lawsuits?
As far as the politics of the situation, I don’t think it’s about the two newspaper owners in town; rather, the issue is one of justice for the taxpayers who are getting royally screwed by just about every branch of government from D.C. on down. I’m still trying to find out what Putnam County is doing for us that costs upwards of $143 million this year.