- In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cold Spring Village Board voted unanimously on Tuesday (July 14) to cancel large-scale events through the end of the year. They include the Putnam County Wine and Food Festival, the Hops on the Hudson beer fest, Community Day and picnics organized for seniors and volunteers. It also canceled visits by the Seastreak cruise line, which each fall bring hundreds of shoppers to the village. Last year Seastreak also paid $22,500 in docking fees. Mayor Dave Merandy said the village may need a more in-depth review of large events to “see if this is something we want to continue.” Trustee Fran Murphy suggested the village could hire an events coordinator, to be paid with event revenues. “That’s not a bad idea at all,” Merandy said.
- Merandy said the Cold Spring Police Department was alerted about graffiti painted on the asphalt on Fair Street near Mayor’s Park that read “Death to Gays.” It was removed by the Highway Department.
- The public restrooms near the Visitors’ Center on Main Street, which have been closed during the shutdown, could reopen on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. under a plan presented by the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce. Volunteers at the information booth would clean the restrooms periodically and the Highway Department would clean them on Friday night and Sunday morning. “We want to open the information booth, but we can’t unless the restrooms are open” because volunteers would be inundated with unhappy visitors, said Jack Goldstein of the Chamber. Board members raised concerns about liability.
- Roberto Ruiz, who lives next to village-owned property on Benedict Avenue where the Highway Department dumps leaves, grass and tree branches picked up curbside from residents, said the volume is more than the site can handle. He said it also attracts illegal dumpers and animals, and it smells. The board agreed to his request that a gate be added but said the yard debris is a more difficult challenge because the alternative would be paying to have it hauled away. The board discussed a number of strategies, such as mulching, controlled burns or the use of an outdoor furnace at the highway garage.
- The Cold Spring Police Department responded to 59 calls for service in June, and officers issued 50 parking and eight traffic tickets. The Cold Spring Fire Co. answered 15 calls, including seven activated carbon monoxide or fire alarms; three assists to emergency medical services; two motor vehicle crashes; a rescue at Breakneck Ridge; and mutual aid to the Garrison Volunteer Fire Co. for a structure fire.
- Village Accountant Michelle Ascolillo reported that, as of July 8, the village had collected $1.65 million in property taxes, or 93 percent of the levy. Property owners have until Jan. 31 to pay before the bill is sent to the county as delinquent.
- The Historic District Review Board is reviewing an application for the first of three single-family homes to be built on Paulding Avenue as part of the Butterfield redevelopment project.
- The board deferred action on a request to purchase a 125-by-30-foot strip of village-owned property adjacent to 37 Fair St., the former Impellittiere Motors, now owned by a New York City-based artist, so that the parcel can be appraised.
- Highway Crew Chief Robert Downey said repairs to the village garbage truck, which was damaged in an accident on an icy road last winter, could cost as much as $134,000. A new vehicle could cost up to $225,000. He said village crews collected 62 tons of trash and 21 tons of recyclables in June.
Merandy and company have been looking for a way to shut down our Main Street businesses for quite some time and now, thanks to the COVID-19 madness, they got what they wanted. I have had my shop in this liberal/Democratic/Socialist stronghold for over eight years years and during that time there has not been one public official in either Cold Spring or Philipstown who has stood up for the business owners who help keep the property taxes relatively low. By the way, that includes County Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who sang a different tune when she was running for the position. Not one official or even a bureaucrat who realized the financial benefits of having a robust Main Street business district in the town. Instead, it has been an uphill fight all the way, especially with this latest bunch on the Village Board who seem to have as their mission the complete destruction of retail commerce in Cold Spring. There is something almost inhuman about their lack of concern for their neighbors who have been struggling during this crisis, to keep body and soul together and keep their establishments open. These are people who invested their own blood, sweat, tears and money into setting up shop here, with no government safety net in case something went wrong. You would think that with all the concern they have for outside causes and movements, they would do something to try and help the people of their own community, but their hypocrisy knows no… Read more »
I hope that the graffiti incident is being investigated and documented by our village police and county sheriff’s department as a hate crime, and that The Current will follow up as it has done with other local hate crimes.
Canceling visits by the Seastreak seems so unfair to the Main Street shops that are trying desperately to stay open. [via Facebook]
The Seastreak owners themselves are questioning the wisdom and safety of packing 300 to 400 people on a boat for two hours and depositing them in the village while COVID-19 cases are rapidly rising in 80 percent of the nation. New Yorkers have done an exemplary job of addressing this public health crisis and we are beginning to emerge from it. Relaxing our vigilance would be disastrous.
Data shows that all the pop-up COVID-19 clusters in New York are directly tied to large gatherings where social-distancing protocols are impossible or ignored. With 30 percent of our residents being seniors, allowing such gatherings would put their lives and everyone else’s at risk. Large gatherings also endanger our five-member highway crew, which we rely on for so much. Some have already fallen ill. This beast is not tamed yet. [via Facebook]
Miller is a member of the Village Board.
Your response omits the impact that protests and riots throughout the nation, in New York City and even those in Putnam County, have had on the incidence of the virus. Indeed the data for the county is ever upward. Did the virus recognize a potentially destructive antibody and purposely bypass them for hours and weeks on end?