Voices rise as Shandaken board discusses short term rentals
The acrimony was prompted by a request to the county for info on how many local homeowners are renting out their homes using sites like Airbnb.
All posts by Violet Snow
Miracle on Main Street: Phoenicia celebrates the holiday season
The December 8 festivities kick off with the Phoenicia Library holiday open house, from noon to 2 p.m., with cupcakes and a family concert by Uncle Rock. At 5 p.m. is the tree-lighting ceremony, with Santa and live music in front of the Ice Cream Station. The party begins at 6 p.m. at Parish Hall, complete with crafts, face painting, photos with Santa, free refreshments, and more.
Bruce Weber tracks down Woodstock artists’ histories
“The core of what I’m writing about,” said Weber, “is what the art colony was about: community and friendships between artists, and their relationships with people in the town.”
Poetry in Harmony: Tuesday night readings are back
After a hiatus of nearly a year, Tuesday evening poetry readings at Woodstock’s Harmony Café will resume on December 4 at 8 p.m.
Woodstock menorah lighting ceremony takes place on village green
On Sunday, December 2, and Sunday, December 9, events will begin at 3:30 p.m. and will include latkes, apple cider, music, and a Hanukkah gelt drop, in which the fire department will sprinkle down the traditional foil-wrapped chocolate coins.
Tourist train to return to Ulster
The Delaware & Ulster Railroad, which operates tourist trains from Arkville to Roxbury in Delaware County, has been awarded a five-year permit to extend its operations into Ulster County, bringing passengers to Highmount, opposite Belleayre Ski Center, for the first time in nearly two decades.
Half of Ulster County’s short-term rental proprietors are now paying the bed tax
Since sending out letters to over 900 local short-term rental owners, Ulster County has collected between $25,000 and $30,000 of the two percent bed tax owed by residents renting their homes on Airbnb, HomeAway, and other online platforms.
Woodstock’s composting effort gets a big boost from transfer station collection
Composting has the potential to remove an estimated 25 to 30 percent of material going into our waste stream in the form of food scraps.
DEP to rehab aqueduct
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is beginning a multi-year, $158 million project to clean, repair, and upgrade 74 miles of the Catskill Aqueduct, which conveys water from the Ashokan Reservoir in Olive to the Kensico Reservoir in Westchester County.
DEP, Shandaken and agencies slow down Chichester’s ‘Bowl of Doom’
For years each heavy rain washed mud down a steep, curved slope of bare clay, nicknamed the “Bowl of Doom” by watershed officials, and the creek turned a muddy brown for days or weeks at a time.