Ulster County executive Pat Ryan’s press conference late Wednesday morning, December 18 in Kingston underlined just how serious the situation has become for the embattled owner of the sprawling, obsolete, polluted and ill-maintained 258-acre former IBM plant in the Town of Ulster.
Volunteers are preparing for the arrival of the town’s most important guest of the year. Of course, it’s Jolly ol’ Saint Nick himself. How will he arrive this year? How will he top himself again with his grand entrance?
Don’t worry about making reservations; Dixon Roadside, like its sister Phoenicia Diner, doesn’t take them. It won’t even have normal table service, but a counter service and staff to run orders to people…sort of like the classic old roadside spots of 50, 60 years back.
Ulster County executive Pat Ryan signed his first-ever budget on December 12 at Esopus’ town hall. The budget includes a quarter-of-one-percent tax-levy decrease, and totals $342.28 million, an increase of four percent over 2019’s $329.26-million budget.
Mike Kavanagh could become Ulster County’s ranking law enforcement official on Jan. 1. But, barring an unprecedented failure in the county’s elections infrastructure, his tenure will be very short.
In this op-ed, Ulster County comptroller-elect March Gallagher acknowledges she was one of the unnamed women in the investigation of county legislator Hector Rodriguez for inappropriate behavior, and that she did not speak out until now because she needed Rodriguez’s vote on the budget for her office. “More than a few of my advisors have cautioned me that I risk my reputation by admitting I traded acquiescence for the comptroller’s budget,” she writes. “That, actually, is the whole point. For too long women have had to make horrible tradeoffs in silence. By speaking out I hope to effect change.”
Part IV in a series on Hervey White. Erroneously named “founder” of Woodstock by Life magazine in 1938, White [1866-1944] is better described as godfather of a town he personally transformed into America’s most famous Bohemia, earlier even than 1920. But despite this fact, and although admired by artists and farmers alike, Hervey lived and died an enigma. Some knew part, but none knew all his secrets.
Woodstock Artists Association, One Hundred Years of Community and Art includes essays by noted Woodstock scene art historians Tom Wolf and Bruce Weber, a valuable arts timeline put together by WAAM archivist Emily Jones, and 300 pages filled with the best Woodstock art of the past 100 years and longer. It’s scholarly, placing Woodstock art among the best of American 20th century achievement, and alongside the best anywhere.
The Woodstock Jewish Congregation (WJC) is one of 90 organizations, so far, to earn a Seal of Sustainability from Hazon: Jewish Lab for Sustainability, described as the largest faith-based environmental organization in the U.S. Based on an audit of the synagogue’s operations, covering facilities, food, and ecosystems, achievements were noted and inspiration was gained for future improvements.
The site has been used as a quarry before, but opponents are concerned the new use could have a negative impact on the surrounding Bluestone Wild Forest.