Saturday, April 14, 2007

Mid-day Bits

TODAY (4/14/07) in downtown Catskill, the festivities are going to be more festive than ever. Lots of activity at the Community Center, on the street (including the 4:30pm parade), at the movie house, in the galleries. Music, dancing, costumes…. To learn all about it, see the newest of new things in the ever-improving village: the splendid web site, still in the making: www.welcometocatskill.com

BEFORE the festivities begin at 2 pm., however, also of keen interest would be a 1pm forum on economic development at the VFW Post on Main Street, organized by Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand.

DAILY MAUL. Regarding Ms Gillibrand, incidentally, Hudson scribe John Mason recalled not long ago (D.M., 3/25) that early in 2006 “Morris Guller…was planning to primary her for the Democratic nod.”

CANDIDATES for Catskill School District Board positions have surfaced. In addition to Betty Xedis, they now include Michael Battaglino, Eric Holsopple and Matthew Liebowitz. More filings may eventuate by Monday’s deadline.

GASOLINE PRICES in GreeneLand have climbed, and climbed some more. They also show a remarkable range, from about $2.84 for a gallon of regular (Hess, on West Bridge St) to $3.04 (Sunoco, at Freeway Exit 21). The recent country-wide average per gallon of regular was $2.80. For the East Coast, $2.75; New York State, $2.93; New York City, $2.80.

HAGAR’S HARBOR will soon become Athens-on-Hudson (the marina) and Yanni’s III (the new restaurant). The buyers are Mary Ann Chalifoux (of Sleepy Hollow Realty), her partner John Jackson, and Yury and Inga Kornitsky. The new restaurant, to open early in May, will be Marc Yanni’s third; but the second, at Coeymans Landing, is called Yanni’s Too.

AND the 8.2 -acre riverfront property just to the north, with sprawling stone house built by Hagar’s founder Louis Gerrain, has just been sold to a Westchester family. After being on the market for four years with a $1.2 million price tag, the property sold, with Ronnie McCue as broker, for less than $800,000.

THE COMMONS. Before Wal-Mart, before Ames, before Jamesway, the West Bridge Street site was a big weed-choked field, where circus tents went up each year, along with fairs. Of those days, Debby Allen recalls “the ride with the seats on two chains that swing way out as it gets going. My friends and I were watching the riders one time and we heard a huge crack (like a gun shot) just over our shoulders. One of the riders had on wooden Dr. Scholl sandals and a sandal flew off and hit my friend in the forehead. He went down in a flash and we rushed him to Catskill Hospital. All was well after lots of stitches.”

COSTLY BOTCH: snowplowing at the Catskill schools following the big March 17 snowstorm. So poorly was the work done, we hear, that several on-staff custodians were needed to work overtime on Saturday, Sunday and early Monday. They get double time for Sunday work. They were called on to do what the contractor, T & T Services of Cairo (as in Tom Ivery), failed to do.

GONE from the headquarters building of Catskill School District: the nearly new gutters that were installed only recently, but with, we hear, unsuitable nails. They were falling down, dangerous.

REVISED: Plans for the United Mobile Homes development in Coxsackie. Company president Sam Landy now proposes that the housing units be modular, rather than mobile, although this would drive cost to residents up from $130,000 per dwelling to $250,000. This is the second major change in the proposal. The first consisted of replacing the policy of access to all kinds of buyers and families with restriction to people who are over 55 years of age. The approval process is tortuous.

STIEFEL LABORATORIES of Oak Hill, in addition to cutting staff, is asking the State Department of EnvironmentalConservation to approve “modification of their existing Air State Facility Permit” (according to legal notices). The plant on Route 145 in the Town of Durham would add a “10,044,000 btu per hour boiler.” It would continue to be permitted to emit up to 80 tons per year of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide and up to 20 tons per year of “volatile organic compounds.” The Department is poised to approve. The place currently makes and packages dermatological products. Comments on the proposal will be received officially until April 27th. (That date is mentioned at one point in the legal notice. But elsewhere, reference is made to a limit of “30 days from the date of this notice,” the latter being March 16th). For more information call Patricia Pinder, project manager, at (518)357-2337 or (518)357-2069 (there being two numbers cited in the notice). “If comments are received which raise significant issues or provide additional relevant information, the Department may modify the draft Air State Facility Permit.”

“QUEENS OF THE CATSKILLS” is the title of an article in the April issue of Chronogram magazine. The story by Jay Blotcher is about Casa Susanna, in Jewett, a resort and training camp for cross-dressers. Blotcher’s source is a 2005 book of photographs compiled by Michael Hurst and Robert Swope, who have been hired to write a movie treatment. Blotcher also writes about Gallae Central House, catering for inter-sexed persons, in Palenville. (Check it out at www.chronogram.com )

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laurie Cornelius running for County Clerk good news for Dems and Republicans .

Unknown said...

Regarding the snow removal at the school. We had something of the same deal at Serta with the big storm this year. It was done horribly the first time. They were called to come back and actually clear the parking lots this time. They did, and sent another bill for close to $7000. Low bidder isn't always the way to go. It's not T&T, but yet another letter combination that I can't remember at this moment.