Poughkeepsie
School District to Rename Three Buildings
The city school district plans to rename the Samuel F.B. Morse and Gov. George Clinton elementary schools and its Christopher Columbus administrative offices.
The names are “out of alignment with our most important community values,” said Fatimah Carmen Martinez Santiago and Andrew Rieser, co-chairs of an Ad-Hoc Committee Building Names Study Group, in a statement. The district asked residents in a survey for suggestions for new names.
Morse was co-creator of Morse code and Clinton was New York’s first governor. The committee said the three men had no direct connection to the school system and owned slaves or supported slavery.
Putnam Valley
Town Will Receive $300,000 in Settlement
The town has reached a settlement in which a Yorktown Heights contractor and Mount Vernon materials recycler will pay $300,000 over dumping in 2016 at the site of the new firehouse on Oscawana Lake Road.
The volunteer fire department sued to recover $1.75 million it said it spent cleaning up the contaminated fill, which included asphalt, bricks, concrete and lumber.
The state fined the fire department $5,000 for operating a solid-waste management facility without a permit and ordered a cleanup, which was completed in 2021 by an engineering firm that removed 4,235 tons of fill and 83 tons of asbestos.
Newburgh
City Gets $2M for Community Programs
New York State on Dec. 20 announced that 10 cities, including Newburgh, will receive $2 million community grants through the Project RISE program. Newburgh also received a grant last year.
The Newburgh funds will benefit the Boys & Girls Club, M.A.R.C.S Friends, Dandelions are Flowers Too, Exodus Transitional Community, After Incarceration, The Restorative Center, Youth Advocate Programs and the HookElite Boxing Club.
Project RISE funding supports mentoring, mental health services, restorative practices, community trust building, employment and education support and youth development. The other recipients were Albany, Buffalo, Hempstead, Mount Vernon, Rochester, Syracuse, Troy, Utica and Yonkers.
Putnam Valley
Airbnb DJ Cited
The Putnam County Sheriff cited the DJ at an overnight party at an Airbnb rental for excessive noise.
The sheriff said deputies were dispatched at 7:45 a.m. on Dec. 16 to a residence on Lake Drive, where they found a party with loud music. A deputy had responded earlier about the same complaint, but the DJ turned off the music. There also had been multiple complaints to 911 over two days about noise and parking.
Jesus Oliveras-Sosa, 25, was cited for violating a town code that bans “unreasonably loud, disturbing or unnecessary noise.”
Newburgh
Family Sells Historic Building
The Kaplan family, which has owned the former Regal Bag Corp. factory on the waterfront for nearly 73 years, announced on Dec. 20 it has sold the building to Ted Doering, who founded Motorcyclepedia. The Water Street building, which was built in the early 20th century as a cotton mill, is now filled with artist studios.
“This decision was not made lightly as the time we’ve spent building a community in this space has been one of the most rewarding chapters of our lives,” the family wrote. “Your dedication, creativity, and partnership have made this building so much more than just a property — it has been a hub of collaboration and inspiration.”
Newburgh
Town to Build Rec Center
The town on Dec. 19 celebrated the launch of a 36,400-square-foot, $13 million recreation center to be constructed on land it owns at Chadwick Lake.
The center will be funded by state and federal grants and a $4 million donation by Resorts World. The town will contribute $2.5 million.
The center will have a gymnasium, two full-sized basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, volleyball and pickleball courts, a two-lane walking track, an exercise room and office space. A ribbon-cutting is scheduled for August.
New Windsor
Drones Shut Down Stewart Airport
Officials shut down New York Stewart International Airport for an hour on Dec. 13 because of drone activity that has caused widespread concern in Orange County and New Jersey.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said federal authorities were deploying a detection system. Last month she authorized the New York State Intelligence Center to investigate drone sightings and coordinate with federal agencies. She called on Congress to strengthen oversight of drones by the Federal Aviation Administration.
