Car Show expands
Together with the Kiwanis Club, his many sponsors, volunteers and employees, Sawyer Motors owner Bob Siracusano put on one heck of a show Fourth of July weekend. Following the parade, which has become so iconic it inspired 11 photographers to create a show around it (On display last summer at spaf), Bob and the Kiwanis got the weekend rolling on Saturday with the best Independence Day weekend carnival in years. Maybe ever. Hundreds of cars, a home run derby, sky divers, the pinewood derby, the biggest flag most had ever seen, a pie contest, hot air balloon rides, great music and, of course, the best fireworks in the area.
When he told the audience assembled at the trophy ceremony that the more they give the more Sawyer Motors can give back, Bob summed up a philosophy that has made him one of the best loved and most successful businessmen in Saugerties.
A new festival
The most beloved new festival of the year was almost cancelled at the height of its popularity. After four events at the parking lot at fiberflame arts and crafts studio on Rt. 212, the town shut down the monthly Food Truck Festival due to safety concerns in August. Attendees parking on the shoulder and walking to and from their cars were creating a safety risk, and the tent had not been approved by the building department. Organizer Marc Propper was initially discouraged by the town’s intercession, and wasn’t optimistic about finding a new location and gaining the required permits before the cold weather set in.
But Supervisor Kelly Myers, saying she didn’t want the festival to “fall by the wayside,” suggested Cantine Field as a possible site, and by September it was up and running once again – bigger and better than ever.
Smart meters
On the frigid February night the town decided to pursue water and sewer upgrades that included replacing the water meters in the Glasco water district with new lead-free meters that could be read remotely, similar to what other towns have installed over the last couple decades, no one could have predicted the scene six months later when a flustered rep from the meter company would flee a sweltering meeting at the Glasco Firehouse, dubbing the attendees a “lynch mob.” That August informational meeting was convened after the town was flooded with calls from citizens concerned about cancer-causing radiation supposedly caused by the meters, then being installed. The controversy died down after most residents were satisfied that such claims were not about these meters specifically, but all radiofrequency energy, including microwaves, wireless Internet and cell phones.
By the end of the year, nearly all the meters in the district had been replaced, though a few of the most ardent opponents kept their old meters. Perhaps the town reasoned it would be less trouble to send around a water department employee on foot to read the meters of a handful of holdouts rather than force them to comply or shut off their water.
Esopus Creek releases
Preventing erosion and environmental damage from water releases from the Ashokan Reservoir during heavy rains by the New York City’s DEP was a major issue throughout the year. As the permit allowing the city to operate the reservoir without a filtration plant was being considered by the state Department of Health, Saugerties Supervisor Kelly Myers and other local officials were demanding the impact of releases on downstream communities be considered. Instead, the releases were addressed separately by the DEC, which ordered the city to allocate $2 million for stream management projects in the Lower Esopus. Releases of up to 600 million gallons per day will still be allowed. Myers called the action a “drop in the bucket” and estimated $50 million in damage had been done to creekside properties. In late October, Myers, County Executive Mike Hein and Senator Charles Schumer asked the EPA to get involved in the issue. Expect this latest chapter in the sometimes contentious relationship between New York City and the upstate communities in and around its watershed to continue to make news in 2014.
