If the clandestine way the Hein administration has done business is any indicator, the local development corporation charged with marketing and sale of the facility will do most of its deliberations in secret, going public only to announce a decision, perhaps by next summer. Meanwhile, both the attorney general and the state comptroller are investigating abuses in LDCs.
Around the county
In Kingston, voters wanted change and they got it, with a whole new cast of characters, headed by freshman mayor Shayne Gallo and six first-term aldermen. As outgoing mayor Jim Sottile observed, comparisons of Gallo with his late mayor brother Thomas Robert (T.R.) are neither fair nor valid, though Sottile might come to wish it were. The comparisons will be with Sottile’s 10-year tenure just ending.
Early indicators suggest Gallo will very much go his own way, the right direction for a lot of city residents. An attorney with unusual political savvy, Gallo will be buttressed by notable legal talent, the canny Andy Zweben as corporation counsel and the hard-working Dan Gartenstein as chief assistant. Both were key players in Gallo’s primary election.
Gallo will look for first-quarter headlines to establish his mayoralty on firm footing. Snagging a commercial developer for the vacant King’s Inn site on Broadway would be a good start.
Around the county’s town halls it’s pretty much the same cast of supervisors. Newcomer Kelly Myers of Saugerties may find a steep learning curve from village trustee. She probably shouldn’t ask for a raise right away.
Woodstock’s Jeremy Wilber returns older, but is he any wiser? Real progress on a town hall renovation will tell.
After eight tumultuous years in the county legislature, the second Susan Zimet era in New Paltz gets underway Jan. 1. Zimet’s high-energy intensity can be wearing on friend and foe. Will she last more than two terms this time?
Republican Paul Hansut was never happy in a do-nothing county legislature, despite rising to majority leader after only one term. Whether ground level politics and constant phone calls as Lloyd town supervisor suits him better remains to be seen.
Up the Albany stairs
State and congressional redistricting should be finalized by March. People who watch these things carefully predict little change in mid-Hudson senate and assembly districts, though population growth in Orange County could create conflict between long-time incumbent Republican state senators Bill Larkin and John Bonacic. Unless, of course, one or the other retires.
Of particular interest are two vacant assembly seats, the late Tom Kirwan’s in southern Ulster-Orange and Dutchess executive-elect Marc Molinaro’s riverfront district. Either or both could switch with a determined Democratic drive. Traditionally, the “people’s house” frowns on extended vacancies — 90 days being the norm — but redistricting could alter things. My guess is there will be special elections, perhaps in late March, with winning candidates running in the newly apportioned districts. Only those with deep pockets and/or rich friends need apply.
Artsy-Fartsy Dept.:I am really hoping you will go into show business, Hugh. I wanted them to start making the movie “Honey, We Shrunk Jeannette Provenzano!”, subtitled “To Try to Make Room For Someone Else Who Needs To Sit Down” based on the seating arrangements the other day at city hall, starring you, with your costar in this film Ms. Bernardo, but of course, had they tried this before, Sottile would have taxed the production company so much it would never be made. [YNN tells me they have a shot that could be used as a promo poster for this film–if it is made]. Joe Marchetti whispered to me “I can PAINT a promo poster for it!!” I said, “that’s not high tech enough”, to which he replied, “Look–what COMPUTER can paint a donut hole–or any hot air at all for that matter?” I was left…..devoid of words with which to reply just like the first time I met him years ago on Hasbrouck Ave. (As for the maintenance man given credit by Mr. Noble who left the seating a stupid situation leaving most people having to stand…Enh–they did it right for the opening ceremonies of the place but certainly not this time around) Quigley was up and down more times than a man with BP in the middle of the night,and his wife wouldn’t move over one time to let him in on the opposite side–could it be she preferred him NEXT to her? And Hinchey had a WHOLE bench to himself–is this the “democracy” ideal touted by Mr. Noble?!)This reminds me of the time I was told a pack of lies by a bunch of neighborhood kids who told me in a baseball game:”It’s a PRIVILEGE to play the BENCH.” But it is noted that even though this may NOT work AT ALL in childhood, this DOES seem to work at times in adulthood and HERE is a prime example of this!! Maybe the Yiddish kid in the Rabbi’s story SHOULD have asked for a BENCH of his own— IN LIEU of “all three things”!!