Mayor: ‘A fair degree of chaos’ in Cold Spring
Mayor Kathleen Foley commented at the Wednesday (Oct. 23) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board on what she described as “a fair degree of chaos” on streets and sidewalks during the previous Saturday as a procession of vehicles in a political rally drove through the village on one of its busiest days of the year.
After gathering in Carmel, the participants drove down Main Street honking horns and waving flags to support former President Donald Trump’s re-election bid.
“The individuals in the caravan were within their rights to travel through Cold Spring; no permit was required,” Foley said. But she said neither the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office nor Philipstown residents who participated informed the Cold Spring Police Department that the caravan was headed to the village. As a result, she said, village police were unprepared.
“While the sheriff may not have known the intended route of the caravan, for the sake of public safety, his office should have alerted all Putnam County law enforcement agencies to be at the ready for the passage of a large number of vehicles ranging in size from sedans to utility trucks,” Foley said.
Calls from the Cold Spring department for assistance brought New York State troopers and sheriff’s deputies to the scene.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt,” Foley said. “We do not condone belligerent behavior, intimidation or threats of any kind to our staff, our police officers, to our neighbors or toward our visitors.”
Before the mayor’s comments, the board spent more than an hour in executive session, which is closed to the public, to address public safety. Foley declined to say what was discussed.
In an email to The Current on Thursday, Foley said there were heated disputes in the street and on sidewalks while the convoy traveled through Cold Spring.
“Police response was particularly difficult because the village was already overwhelmed with visitors,” she said. “Mutual aid units from the Sheriff’s Department and the New York State Police had difficulty getting into the most heated areas.” She said Cold Spring officers were able to de-escalate confrontations and move the convoy along.
“Meeting aggression with aggression only escalates tensions and delivers what events like this seek: reaction,” Foley said. “This just isn’t how civil discourse happens, regardless of one’s position.”
In other business…
■ The board passed a resolution approving temporary changes “to manage and control traffic and respond to emergencies safely within the village” during busy fall weekends. The following changes are in effect on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 24, to be implemented by police when deemed necessary: (1) Traffic can be diverted from Main Street to Fair Street and (2) on-street parking can be suspended on Fair Street and Northern Avenue on the north and westbound sides between Route 9D and Church Street if signs are placed at least 24 hours in advance.
■ The board accepted a $416,800 bid from Gallo Construction to remove and replace clarifier and filter media and recoat tanks at the water treatment plant. A $400,000 bid was rejected because the company could not provide satisfactory references. Much of the funding will come from a federal grant.
For anyone who missed it, the Saturday’s Trucks for Trump rally in Cold Spring was quite a spectacle. I’m not exactly sure what they hoped to accomplish but it was the biggest and most beautiful monster truck rally in the history of Trump truck rallies in Cold Spring. At least that’s what everyone is saying. So creative and majestic.
I especially loved the obscenity-laced banners. So much effort with so little to say. It sets just the right example for children and young adults. How proud our forefathers would be if they were only here to witness the deranged mess that has become our political discourse. As for messaging, I can’t say that there was much inspiration but rather a truckload of anger, profanity and threats. Good job, Trumpers, and best to all of you. You really are making America great again.
Darn! I missed it! I was hoping to sit this one out but they couldn’t find anyone else to run on the Republican ticket, I guess.
Every week, I read The Current with growing trepidation to learn about the latest decisions made by the real estate agents, developers and associated capitalists who run this town that will negatively impact the quality of local life. Mayor Kathleen Foley here says that Our Lady of Loretto parishioners will lose their essential Fair Street parking “on busy fall weekends” so long as we get 24 hours notice. I got to Loretto 10 minutes before Mass began on Oct. 27 — a good bit earlier than usual. The lot was full, but the church was half-empty. I assume that the several dozen people who later filled the pews parked, at their own expense, somewhere much farther from the church. If they were elderly using walkers or canes, they made it somehow. As we all know, faith life has its communal expression on weekends for the most part, and as everyone who lives here knows, Loretto’s location lower in the village means that parking sprawl is as impossible as it is undesirable. Its postage-stamp-size lot cannot accommodate all Sunday worshippers, who greatly appreciate the city’s willingness to open a side street one day a week. I suppose that, in a few months, the mayor will announce that the village is taking away Fair Street parking on busy spring weekends and busy summer weekends, at which point the only time it will be OK for Loretto parishioners to park there is when the snow is a foot deep at the curb. After… Read more »
I do not know who may be the title holder of the parking lot adjoining Our Lady of Loretto, and used by the church, not only for services but also for community activities, such as blood drives. If the parish owns it, of course, it is the church’s prerogative to set usage rules, subject to law and regulation; parking on village streets is the village’s to control.
If there were a lease between the village and the parish covering this arrangement, I would expect the village government to have made the terms of any such lease known to the public before taking any action so vital to the church, the parishioners and the community as a whole. Who pays for maintenance, security and insurance? What effect will any Fjord Trail proposals be expected to have? When? Where, as they say, is the money?