Weekly newspaper disappears The former editor and publisher of The Putnam County News & Recorder says the 158-year-old newspaper has been sold but the identity of its new owners is a mystery and the Cold Spring weekly was not published on Wednesday (April 24). Douglas Cunningham told readers on April 17 that he was retiring and had sold the newspaper. He did not identify the buyers and, when reached by email, declined further comment. Cunningham purchased The PCNR and The Putnam County Courier in December 2016 from Roger Ailes, then chairman and CEO of Fox News, and his wife, Elizabeth, who owned a home in Philipstown. At the time, Cunningham was the editor and associate publisher. His wife, Sheila, became the majority owner. The Courier, which dates to 1841 and was published on Tuesdays, also did not appear this week. "We are retiring," wrote Cunningham, who lives in Beacon. "We have grandchildren now. We have appreciated your reading, your support and your encouragement. I hope you'll provide the same support to the new owners." Eric Gross, who has been a reporter for The PCNR and The Courier for decades, said he planned to continue contributing to both papers. He would not comment on the identity of the new owners. The PCNR's Facebook page has been taken down, and the most recent posts to its Twitter and Instagram accounts are from 2023. Its website was last updated on April 16. The paper was founded in March 1866 as The Cold Spring Recorder by Charles Blanchard, who promised readers "a family journal devoted to the dissemination of general and local news, and the impartial discussion of questions of public interest." He sold the paper in 1867 to a group of residents who appointed the village postmaster, Sylvester Beers Allis, as editor. Nearly 20 years later, in 1886, a county history reported that The Recorder, now owned by Allis, was "independent in politics, fearless in expression of opinion and has an extensive circulation." In 1938, The Recorder merged with The Putnam County News, founded five years earlier, to form The Putnam County News & Recorder. In 1965 the paper adopted the motto - "We are 100 Years Old - But New Every Wednesday" - for its centennial. Roger Ailes purchased The PCNR from Brian O'Donnell in 2008, and Elizabeth Ailes became publisher. In early 2009 the Ailes bought The Courier, which had stopped publishing six weeks earlier.

Voice concerns in letter to state parks The mayors of Cold Spring and Nelsonville and the supervisor in Philipstown issued a letter on Wednesday (April 17) opposing plans to start the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail in Cold Spring. The letter, signed by Kathleen Foley of Cold Spring, Chris Winward of Nelsonville and John Van Tassel of Philipstown and read aloud by Foley and Van Tassel at meetings, is addressed to Meagan Fitzgerald, the deputy commissioner of the state parks agency and Linda Cooper, the regional director. State parks is partnering with Scenic Hudson, an environmental nonprofit based in Poughkeepsie, to construct the HHFT, which is proposed to run from Cold Spring to Beacon along the Hudson River. It is the lead agency in the environmental review of the project. "Having the actual trail enter the Village of Cold Spring by any route would irreversibly change the landscape, viewshed and character of the village as well as the experience of all Philipstowners who consider Cold Spring the heart of our town," the three elected officials wrote. "The trail's necessary size, scale and construction requirements, particularly to meet the accessibility goal identified by the HHFT design team, would be outsized for our small residential village." The officials asserted that creating a gateway to the trail in Cold Spring, especially a proposed route beginning at the state-owned Dockside Park, would itself become a tourist destination, creating "an unbearable, unsustainable increase in visitor volume that no number of trash cans and toilets will offset." Instead, the letter advocates simple, "residentially scaled" paths and sidewalks from Cold Spring to an HHFT entrance north of the village, describing that approach as "far more appropriate to our historic, livable community." Foley said the letter represents the views of the three officials but not necessarily of the Village Board. (Van Tassel said the same about the Town Board.) On Wednesday, Cold Spring Trustee Aaron Freimark remarked that he would have appreciated receiving a copy of the letter before the meeting. "It is your right to act unilaterally," he said. "But as a courtesy, we're reminded that we work together as a board." "I accept your good feedback," Foley responded. "At some point, we need to calendar this as a public discussion." Foley also read comments into the record from an April 3 statement by members of the HHFT Data Committee, which includes two Cold Spring residents and Winward, that was critical of HHFT. Thanking the Data Committee for its work, Foley said: "We picked people who know their fields and bring expertise ranging from data analysis to public administration to legal perspective; I wanted that to be part of our record." In a statement on Thursday (April 18), MJ Martin, director of development and community engagement for HHFT, wrote: "HHFT, along with state parks, has been in continued conversation with municipal leadership on the project. Both the letter by the supervisor and mayors and the media statement by the Philipstown members of the Data Committee came abruptly, in the middle of an ongoing process meant to gather information and understand community members' priorities. "It was surprising to learn municipal leadership is taking this stance, as local support for the Shoreline Trail is well documented in both a survey administered by HHFT and a recent independent survey by a Cold Spring resident. Philipstown, including the villages, is a community composed of diverse viewpoints. It is important that all voices be heard."

Spending plan, capital project could mean dual tax increases While the breakdown of state aid, property tax revenue and district funding will not be known until next week, the Beacon City School District has set its tax levy for its 2024-25 budget at $47.68 million. That's a 3.91 percent increase over what it collected for 2023-24 and would trigger a modest tax bump. The levy increase is based on Beacon's tax-base growth factor (one of the highest in Dutchess County), the consumer price index and other factors and does not exceed a state-mandated cap. Voters will consider the proposed budget on May 21. According to the district, the annual increase for a Beacon resident who owns a home worth $425,000, the median value in Dutchess, would be $88. For Town of Fishkill and Town of Wappinger residents in the district, the estimated increase would be $100 and $106, respectively. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a tentative budget agreement with lawmakers on Monday (April 15); once the plan is finalized, public school districts will know how much state aid they will receive for 2024-25. According to the governor, the budget will include $35.9 billion in school funding, including $24.9 billion in Foundation Aid, which considers factors such as a district's relative wealth and the number of students it serves. On Monday, Superintendent Matt Landahl told the Beacon school board that he expects the district will receive about the same amount it did last year, which was $30.8 million. "Everything that we're reading is that school districts in the 'save harmless' [no decrease] category, which Beacon is, should not be expecting an increase in Foundation Aid," he said. "That's been the messaging for the last several weeks." Despite flat funding, Landahl said the district plans to maintain small class sizes, full-day pre-K, expanded extracurricular clubs, access to collegiate and advanced coursework, and salary increases and professional development opportunities for employees. A pilot program to support reading instruction for elementary students would also receive funding. "It may not be a budget where we have a laundry list of things we're adding next year, but it's a budget where we're really proud to be keeping these wonderful things in place that we've fought hard to get," Landahl said. The district intends to implement a "position-control" policy to determine, case-by-case, whether to replace staff members who resign or retire. The policy isn't meant to cause panic, the superintendent said, but administrators will look "at every single aspect of the district" in trying to save money through attrition. Positions funded by federal American Rescue Plan funds will be reviewed, along with contracts, most of which are for services provided by the Dutchess Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). In addition to the budget and three board seats, the May 21 ballot will include two propositions related to student transportation and one to allow the district to borrow money for a proposed $49 million capital project. The first proposition would allow the district to purchase a second electric school bus. Voters approved buying one electric bus last year but it has yet to be purchased. The district has received conditional approval from New York State for vouchers providing $257,250 for each bus, which, including a charger, sells for $495,000. The second proposition would permit the district to spend $485,000 to buy three 72-passenger, gas-powered buses. (State law requires that school buses purchased after 2027 run on electricity; all 50,000 gas-powered buses in New York must be replaced by 2035.) The third proposition asks voters to approve an initiative for capital improvements across all six district school buildings. It would include heating, ventilation and energy-efficiency upgrades, new roofs on some buildings, secure visitor entrances and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, among many other repairs. Many classrooms will re...

Says feds should have final say on discharge The company decommissioning the Indian Point nuclear power plant south of the Highlands sued New York State in federal court on Thursday (April 18), asking a judge to overturn a law that bans the discharge of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. Citing the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, its filing claims the 2023 law is a "blatant infringement on the federal government's exclusive right to regulate the discharge of radioactive materials from nuclear power plants." "The failure of New York State to respect federal law and follow the facts and science of the issue left us no other means for remedy," it said. The state Assembly and Senate approved the law after Holtec announced last year that it planned to discharge more than 1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater from spent fuel pools. Holtec noted that radioactive water had been routinely discharged into the river during the 50 years the plant operated. Although the water would be filtered, that process would not remove tritium, a radioactive isotope. According to the lawsuit, "Holtec's plan to treat and dispose of the tritiated wastewater in the Hudson River from Indian Point fully satisfies NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] regulations and is well within federal limits on radiological discharges." That failed to mollify many residents, elected officials and environmentalists, who argued that, even if the effects were negligible, the perception of a "radioactive river" could harm the local economy and property values. In the spring of 2023, Assembly Member Dana Levenberg and state Sen. Pete Harckham, Democrats whose districts include Indian Point, introduced the legislation to prohibit discharges. It passed both houses with bipartisan support. Holtec's lawsuit notes that the initial version of the bill cited "the protection of drinking water and health and safety," while the final version only mentioned economic concerns. Victoria Leung, a staff attorney for the environmental organization Riverkeeper, said that while the federal law preempts state regulation in the field of nuclear health and safety, "it does allow for states to regulate its own interests, such as economic interests." "So we don't think it comes in conflict with federal law," she said. "We maintain that this law is an appropriate exercise of state power as it seeks to regulate the state of New York state's economic interest, not nuclear safety." In a statement on Thursday (April 18), Harckham said: "Holtec's litigation does not change these facts: The New York State Senate unanimously approved legislation to stop the dumping of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson, and the governor signed it into law because most residents want to protect this vital waterway, as well as the economic activity generated by the river." The next meeting of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board is scheduled for Thursday (April 25). In a statement, the board said that it did not plan to discuss the lawsuit but would continue presentations on alternative methods of wastewater removal.

First national standards for local drinking water The Environmental Protection Agency last week issued the first national standards for a class of chemicals that shut down the drinking water supply in Newburgh and have been detected at lower levels in Beacon and Cold Spring. The EPA standards issued on April 10 cap at 4 parts per trillion the legal limit for PFOA and PFOS, two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They have been called "forever chemicals" because of their duration in the environment, and the human body. The new maximum for PFOA and PFOS is more stringent than New York State's 10 parts per trillion. In addition, the EPA set limits of 10 parts per trillion for three other PFAS chemicals and declared that no level of PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is without risk. PFAS chemicals, used for decades in nonstick cookware, water-repellant clothing and other consumer products, as well as firefighting foams, have been linked to various health problems, including cancer, low-infant birthweights and high cholesterol. The operators of as many as 10 percent of the 66,000 drinking-water systems covered by the standards nationwide may have to take action because their PFAS levels exceed the revised guidelines, according to the EPA. Based on recent tests, Beacon and Cold Spring have not reached the threshold where action is required. According to the most recent report available, the level of PFOS measured in Beacon's water supply topped out at 2.4 parts per trillion in 2022, and PFOA levels were measured at 1.88 ppt. The most recent report for Cold Spring, provided by the Putnam County Health Department, shows PFOA levels of 1.59 parts per trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021. Neither PFOA nor PFOS was detected in any other test that year. Newburgh's primary water supply, Washington Lake, was shut down in May 2016 because of high levels of PFOS (140 parts per trillion); the city began buying water from New York City. Authorities said the contamination came from runoff from Stewart Air National Guard Base that contained the residue of firefighting foams. More recently, the Putnam Valley Central School District installed a filtration system in a well that supplies its elementary school after tests showed levels of 38.3 parts per trillion for PFOS and 23.3 ppt for PFOA. The district traced the problem to the Putnam Valley Fire Department's use of foams at its firehouses. Jonathan Jacobson, whose state Assembly district includes Beacon, is a longtime Newburgh resident who consumed the city's contaminated water before it closed Washington Lake. "The need for these new standards is not just theoretical," he said. "It is personal to me and my neighbors." Newburgh, Putnam Valley and Dutchess County are among the municipalities suing 3M, DuPont and other companies that manufactured and used the chemicals. 3M, which said in December 2022 that it would cease making PFAS by the end of 2025, announced last year that it would pay $10.3 billion over 13 years so operators of public systems can treat contaminated water and test for the chemicals. Twenty days earlier, Chemours, DuPont and Corteva said they would pay a combined $1.2 billion into a fund to settle claims. In addition, the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021 includes $1 billion for public water systems and the owners of private wells to test their water for PFAS and treat contamination.

Magazzino exhibit shares 1960s work by talented, but troubled, artist One takeaway from the exhibit Germinal at Magazzino Italian Art in Philipstown is how often the artist, Mario Schifano, shifted visual and technical gears over just 10 years, from 1960 to 1970. In Italy, the groovy 1960s collided with lingering post-World War II malaise and radical politics. Schifano visited New York City three times during the period, hobnobbing with jazz masters and hanging out with Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Robert Rauschenberg. A cheeky account states that "the Rolling Stones stole his girlfriend," Anita Pallenberg (who dated Brian Jones and had three children with Keith Richards). Later in the decade, Marianne Faithfull left Mick Jagger for Schifano. One photo in the exhibit shows Jasper Johns preparing a libation as Schifano relaxes. The Italian's extensive photos and films of old New York are priceless, but he also picked up a heroin habit and did not return to the city after interest in his work waned. He continued to create, but ill-gotten fame grew with successive arrests. After spending time in a mental institution and with a band, he died in 1998 at age 63. He had exhibited all over Europe and around the world, from Tokyo to Los Angeles and South America. This show, curated by Filippo Fossati, reimagines and streamlines the museum's Schifano exhibition from last fall, focusing on the period when his dalliances in New York City and Italian politics informed his work. At first, the artist's textured monochrome paintings attracted the interest of Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend, among the world's most renowned art dealers at the time. In his expansive studio at 791 Broadway, he created many large works, some of which conveyed motion as stencil-like people beat feet, hands extended as if marching down an urban street. One is clearly derivative of Da Vinci. "Elemento per grande paesaggio" (1962) "Compagni compagni" (1968) "La testa della madre 1913" (1965) "Futurismo rivisitato a colori" (1965) "Ultimo autunno" (1964) "Particolare di propaganda" (1962) The works on display at Magazzino are smaller, including an installment of his recurring series Propaganda, which incorporated interpretations of the Coca-Cola and Esso (precursor to Exxon) logos beginning in 1962 and earned inevitable comparisons to Warhol. His handlers wanted Schifano to keep knocking out single-color works, but he rebelled and they dropped him. The show features abstracts, what he called "anemic" landscapes, more realistic landscapes and two loud, strident images of workers holding hammers and sickles. There is also one painting from a series of collaborations with poet and neighbor Frank O'Hara, who wrote on the canvas: "There was a lot of static - Lately deciding to be relatively evil or not I bought a wrist radio." He added: "Images were shy and oblique and I love Federico Fellini more than grass." Schifano overlaid several works with plastic or plexiglass, including an untitled collage with yellow strips of jagged Perspex hanging from the top and "52 Delle Grotte Alley from the Inside in the Early Morning," which depicts a window with an interior perspective but is covered by what resembles the material used to cover fluorescent lights. Recurring motifs include words and slogans splashed across canvasses along with outlines of wood rulers and drafting tools, as if left on the table of a quasi-abstract artist. Many works are embellished with random, geometrically rigid shapes disconnected from the rest of the image, like the red strips punctuating "Anemic Landscape I" and a bright-green rectangle that clashes with the unfinished red, white and brown canvas in "Propaganda Detail." Schifano painted flourishes around a photo of his artistic heroes, the Futurists from the early 1900s, although their faces are blanked out. Pieces from another series were influenced by his infatuation with television. The exhibition's title is drawn from the artist, who claimed t...

Beacon building sold; last day is April 21 Richie Kaplan, the proprietor of Max's on Main, has sold the building that hosts what he contends is "Beacon's oldest bar." Kaplan plans to close Max's, at 246 Main St., on April 21. The well-worn establishment's future is unclear; a former restaurant and bar owner from Brooklyn identified as the buyer did not immediately respond to an email or text asking about plans for the 1870 building. Regardless, Kaplan, 71, said it's time for a change. Day and night, he scrambles with a stooped gait to bus tables and tend to customers. Soon, he will take down the whimsical wall decorations and babysit his grandchildren. "I hear Foreigner needs a drummer," he said, with a laugh. A wooden phone booth sits in the lobby for the upstairs apartments. The tenants must leave by mid-June, according to one resident. Only six people occupy the 20 rooms, she said, adding that some pay $500 a month. Setting up the gear for a gig at Max's, Steve Mittelstadt said he was disappointed to hear the building has been sold. "It's a great place to come in, watch football and see people you know, but gentrification is unavoidable," he said. "This is one of the last remaining community-based, family run gathering spots, and it's going to be hard to replace," he said. "A lot of people will sorely miss it, but we can only hope that whoever comes in keeps it the same." During some downtime just before midnight on April 6, Kaplan and Shirley Hot, the owner of Pandorica restaurant, another mainstay on Main Street, reminisced about Joe's Irish Pub (now Momo Valley) and the crime that once plagued the city. "We stayed open until 4 a.m. - we were crazy," said Kaplan, referring to his brother and partner, Harvey, who died last year. Max's, named for their father, opened in 2006. "There was an army of drug dealers; we escorted people to their cars at night." Hot, who blames her hearing loss on the bands at Joe's Irish Pub, remembers when "no one wanted Beacon. It was a depressed city and now, 25 years later, we can't afford to stay. There's been so many changes and so much turnover on Main Street, it's incredible." Max's on Main, at 246 Main St., is open through April 21 from noon to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday. See maxsonmain.com or call 845-838-6297.

Restaurateur approved to open dispensary Beacon restaurateur Kamel Jamal has won the city's second license to sell recreational marijuana, whose sales are increasing as more retailers open. Jamal, who owns the Beacon Bread Company and Ziatun, was one of 101 applicants approved by the state's Cannabis Control Board on Thursday (April 11) to grow, process and distribute marijuana, and to sell buds and cannabis products at retail locations. He applied as 463 Station Inc. a reference to the former police station he owns at 463 Main St. Last fall, he hosted a state-approved "showcase" there, a program that gave farmers and processors places to sell buds and edibles while awaiting the opening of more dispensaries. Jamal declined to discuss his plans, saying he wants to "focus on our buildout and process." In September, when asked about his application for a license, he said it was essential to have legalized dispensaries selling products from state-approved growers. "If money can be counterfeited, they can also counterfeit cannabis packaging," he said. The Cannabis Control Board awarded Beacon's first cannabis license in February to Aaron Sanders and Skyla Schreter, who own LotusWorks at 261 Main St. Their microbusiness permit allows the couple to grow cannabis, process the trimmings into distillates and rosins, and sell buds, extracts and edibles. LotusWorks plans to plant its first crop in the spring of 2025. In the meantime, the couple said it will source buds, rosins and distillates, as well as joints and edibles such as gummies, from other farms and processors. They will launch the business at The Yard in Beacon on April 20, an annual, unofficial holiday in cannabis culture. The event, from 2 to 9 p.m., will include complimentary joints, artwork, live music and yoga. Grant McCabe, who owns The Leaf, a Main Street shop that sells cannabidiol and hemp products, has also applied for a license. Another company, Pleasant View Harvest in Brewster, has applied for a microbusiness license to sell products from 137 Main St. in Cold Spring. Overall, the Cannabis Control Board on Thursday approved licenses for 35 dispensaries, 25 growers, 22 microbusinesses, 11 distributors and eight processors. High Moon LLC, a company based in Carmel, was among the recipients of a microbusiness license. That typically allows an applicant to grow, process and sell cannabis products at retail, but High Moon's license does not include a retail component. The board also approved a provisional retail dispensary license for Serenity Greens LLC, based in Newburgh. Sales from the state's 103 operating retail dispensaries have totaled $102 million since Jan. 1, said John Kagla, director of policy for the Office of Cannabis Management. Weekly sales exceeded $9 million for the first time in March and are on pace to exceed $10 million this month, he said. Total sales should exceed last year's $160 million by June.

To observe a total eclipse in the American West in 1878, a group of female astronomers from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie made a cross-country journey to the outskirts of the fledgling city of Denver and stationed themselves atop a hill next to a Catholic hospital. Steadfast in their pleated dresses behind a cluster of telescopes, and in full view of a contingent of stunned reporters and nuns, they showed that women were just as capable of contributing to the grand march of science. My journey from the Hudson Valley to the totality in 2024 was considerably less perilous, with the exception of some backups on the Thruway. My wife, son and I drove north to Rochester, under clear skies with the roadside willows blooming gold. We had chosen Rochester for two scientific reasons: First, it was smack in the middle of the Path of Totality, the 100-mile-wide belt stretching from Mexico to Newfoundland (the Highlands only reached about 93 percent). Second, my wife is from Rochester, meaning we had free places to stay instead of spending $699 for a motel room that is usually $69. We put the eclipse on our calendar two years ago. We checked in with everyone we knew in Rochester until we had secured a place to stay, a backup place to stay and a second backup. A million people descended on the Flower City, and we joined what seemed like all of them for a festival at the planetarium. Since I had pulled my son out of school, I felt he could not return without learning something. So we learned that the last total eclipse in Rochester a century ago was hidden by clouds - which I should have recognized as foreshadowing. We learned how fast you would have to fly from Mexico to Canada to keep up with the totality (the speed of sound). And we learned how remarkable it is that our sun and moon are exactly the precise sizes and distances from the Earth to line up occasionally. On other planets, the moons are too small or too big. On Monday, we assembled in my uncle-in-law's backyard/field. We had telescopes and cameras and a tray of novelty cookies decorated to look like the moon covering the sun. We had everything we needed except an enormous fan to blow the clouds away. I was disappointed, but then things started to get weird. About 20 minutes before the totality, the clouds looked less like clouds and more like William Blake's exaggerated drawings of clouds. The shadows became darker, and the clouds pulled toward us, as if the flat sky was becoming topographical. Ten minutes later it was noticeably colder. Swarms of mosquitoes, the first of the year, appeared from nowhere. The spring peepers went from a whisper to a roar. The sky changed to a bruised mixture of black and blue that I had never seen. The streetlights came on. I tried to take photos but the camera in my phone kept trying to "fix" the image. A thin band of sunset persisted at the bottom of the sky, in a 360-degree ring. And then, from west to east, a wave of brightness washed across the universe. It was over. The lights flickered off and the peepers faded. We hoped that the mosquitoes would also go away, but no luck with that. Had you told me beforehand that clouds would block the totality, we might not have made the drive. But I'm glad we did. We remained stunned for several minutes. And the telescopes didn't go to waste: After the sun went down the skies became crystal clear and we were treated to dazzling views of the Pleiades, the Orion Nebula and Jupiter and its moons. The next total eclipse over the continental U.S. won't be for 20 years, but there will be one over Sydney, Australia, four years from now on my birthday: July 22. We've marked our calendar.

'Heart' of trail to lie north of Breakneck Officials from the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail on April 3 expressed a willingness to limit access to its planned Cold Spring-to-Beacon connector if visitors overwhelm it and threaten the environment or local communities. In a two-hour program, staff and consultants for HHFT, a subsidiary of the Poughkeepsie-based environmental group Scenic Hudson, outlined potential ways to reduce the impacts of the planned 7.5-mile linear park paralleling the Hudson River, Metro-North train tracks and Route 9D, a state highway. They said the path's "heart" and focus would lie between Breakneck Ridge and Dutchess Manor, at the southern tip of the Town of Fishkill, although plans call for a trail to begin in Cold Spring. The discussion, held at Dutchess Manor, centered on "visitation management," which John Moss, a consultant from ORCA (Operation Research Consulting Associates), said entails "balancing supply and demand. We don't want attendance to ever outpace the ability of the park or trail to support it." He added that "we recognize that it may be necessary, in a worst-case environment, to control entries into your trailhead, into your parking lot, to manage demand." Moss said he came to Cold Spring for firsthand research on busy weekends in 2023 and saw the crowds exiting Metro-North trains, the overflowing sidewalk trash cans, the long lines at the public restrooms on Main Street near the train tracks, and the traffic. "I completely understand what we've been up against," he said. Along with the other HHFT representatives, Moss suggested strategies to alleviate problems, such as signs to guide visitors; bathrooms at Dockside Park, Little Stony Point and the Breakneck and Notch trailheads; a visitor center at Dutchess Manor; 600 parking spots (including 235 new spaces); and a trailhead shuttle. "No Fjord Trail parking is intended in Cold Spring" and more parking between Cold Spring and Beacon will ensure that "it's not one big, aggregate mall parking lot in the middle of the trail corridor," Moss said. He said HHFT will manage and maintain the restrooms, shuttle operations, parking lots and other trail facilities. Al Shacklett, also with ORCA, said that, even without the Fjord Trail, heavy tourism is expected to continue and "conditions you see today are going to get worse" outside the Cold Spring restrooms. At present, about a third of village visitors are hikers, Shacklett said. He said that, in recent years, interest in Breakneck Ridge has appeared to drop while increasing at the Washburn trail, opposite Little Stony Point, just outside the village limit. With the Fjord Trail, he said, hikers will be steered toward picking up the trail at Breakneck, where the train stop is being upgraded. With those changes in place, Shacklett estimated that 50 percent of the hikers who now take the train to Cold Spring will instead continue to Breakneck. In that case, "we still have a surge, but the surge is much mitigated by the shift" from one station to another, he said. Shortly after the meeting, members of a Visitation Data Committee established to help HHFT with analysis issued a statement that outlined its concerns with recent Fjord Trail materials, including a claim that visitation to Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve had increased by 7.6 percent between 2016 and 2023, although, the committee members said, the state parks department reported a 10.7 percent increase. The five committee members, who include Nelsonville Mayor Chris Winward, argued that HHFT and its consultants had inadequately considered the effects of social media and marketing on visitation and the Highlands' proximity to population centers. "We hope that HHFT will revise their research" so that future reports can be "more reliable," the committee said. Responding on Monday (April 8), Amy Kacala, HHFT's executive director, called the committee's reaction "premature" because its "discussion and review of the visitation projection ...

Cold Spring district says no to set rate Will Haldane always be an option for Garrison graduates? That's the big question underlying a dispute over the terms of the tuition agreement between the school districts. Garrison educates students through the eighth grade, after which they enroll at Haldane, O'Neill in Highland Falls, Putnam Valley or a private high school. Garrison pays about $17,000 in tuition for each student who attends a public school and has reached five-year agreements with O'Neill, Putnam Valley and Haldane. But Haldane reserved the right to negotiate the tuition for incoming ninth graders each year. "We're looking for budget consistency and long-term planning," said Kent Schacht, the Garrison board member who pleaded the district's case at Haldane's board meeting on Tuesday (April 9). Haldane has balked at agreeing to the price for ninth graders because it wants to "keep open the option of negotiating the tuition rate should something unforeseen occur," said Peggy Clements, president of the Haldane board. Speaking at the Garrison school board meeting on Wednesday, Schacht proposed asking for a deal that sets the price for ninth graders but allows Haldane to renegotiate with two years' notice. The uncertainty of an annual tuition negotiation raises the question of whether Haldane High School will remain an option for eighth graders, said Carl Albano, Garrison's interim superintendent. "We can't guarantee them Haldane because we don't have a negotiated rate." He noted that Garrison seventh graders don't yet have Haldane as an option because the districts haven't agreed on a rate for the ninth graders enrolling at Haldane in 2025. That uncertainty isn't an issue for O'Neill or Putnam Valley because each agreed to a five-year schedule for all students that raises the rate annually at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. O'Neill and Haldane reached their agreements in 2022 and Putnam Valley in 2023. According to Joseph Jimick, the Garrison business administrator, the district paid tuition for 84 students for the current school year, including 47 at Haldane, 33 at O'Neill and four at Putnam Valley. Next year, it expects to pay for 95 high school students, including 51 at Haldane, 27 at O'Neill and 17 at Putnam Valley. For 2023-24, the district paid $16,825 per student at all three high schools. The dispute dates to the spring of 2022, when Haldane wanted to charge Garrison $21,500 per student based on the "Seneca Falls formula," named for the district involved in a lawsuit that established the formula in 1949. Haldane had been charging Garrison about $14,000 a year. Garrison, facing a deficit that would require a 6.6 percent tax increase, said it couldn't afford that rate, and Haldane agreed to charge $16,500 for 2022-23 as negotiations continued. "Haldane has worked to find a compromise that recognizes the challenges that Garrison is experiencing," said Clements, the Haldane board president. But, she added, "We think an education at Haldane is worth the non-resident tuition rate, which the state has calculated for Haldane as $18,982." Haldane board members say the district is committed to accepting Garrison students, as it has for decades. "There is a long history and a relationship," said Clements, who noted that districts are intertwined in many ways, such as with shared middle school sports teams and classes for students with disabilities. The Garrison board on Wednesday adopted a proposed $13.3 million budget for 2024-25 with a 4.44 percent tax increase that matches the state cap calculated for the district. The budget will be on the ballot on May 21.

Problems plague new federal form Alison Chi's daughter has answered one big question: where she will attend college after she graduates in June from Beacon High School. The other big question - how much it will cost - is taking longer. "She's decided where she wants to go," said Chi. "But until we know what the whole financial package looks like, she can't commit." Families in the Highlands with students planning for college in the fall have been in limbo for months following the U.S. Department of Education's debut of a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which determines eligibility for grants, loans and work-study jobs. The agency reduced the maximum number of questions from 108 to 46 to make the online process less challenging. However, technical problems have left colleges waiting to receive the information they need to calculate how much aid they can offer, which is a vital factor for many students when selecting a school from among those that accept them. Students already in college are also waiting; families must complete the FAFSA each year. Before Congress approved legislation in 2020 mandating the simpler FAFSA form, students could begin applying on Oct. 1. Within five days, the Education Department would send colleges the needed data. This year, students and their parents had to wait until Dec. 31 to begin completing the FAFSA form and faced outages and glitches. The Education Department said that, once an application was submitted, it could not be corrected (such as by adding a missing signature) until late January, which was pushed back to mid-March and then to April. Colleges began receiving data for some students on March 11, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, but the process had to be stopped because the Education Department used the wrong formula to calculate financial need. The Education Department said on Tuesday (April 9) that it has sent information for 7 million applicants to schools, states and scholarship organizations and is now processing applications within three days of submission. Chi's daughter applied to 18 schools; some have reported receiving her FAFSA data but others are still waiting. At a recent program for students accepted to Emerson College in Boston, one of her daughter's choices, "you could hear the frustration in the voices of the people from the financial aid department," said Chi. In February, the State University of New York (SUNY) pushed back its deadline for enrollment deposits by two weeks, to May 15, for state residents. Other colleges also have extended deadlines, said Amanda Cotchen, a guidance counselor at Haldane High School. "A lot of admissions offices have fortunately recognized that this is putting pressure on families," she said.

150 Years Ago (April 1874) The Cold Spring Recorder reported that an intoxicated driver had checked his horse so suddenly at Main and Furnace streets that the passenger was thrown backward onto the floor of the wagon. The driver "laid all the blame on the horse, as is usual with men in his condition." At 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Thomas McAndrew, the watchman at the lower switches, found a bundle of dry goods beside a track. After taking it to his shanty, he spotted a tall man and a short man looking for it. When he confronted them, the men dropped a bundle they were carrying and ran. Authorities believe four bundles were thrown from a train by accomplices who had broken into a freight car. The Recorder editor worried that a drunk man passed out on the porch of a Main Street grocery did not elicit any pedestrian response, even from children, that the younger generations were destined for "innate coarseness of taste, if not hardened hearts." When a stone boat used to move a secondhand iron safe down Main Street became stuck on the tracks, red flags were sent to trains in each direction while the "unsafe safe" was yanked free. In an illustrated lecture at the Baptist Church, Prof. James Chandler of Waterbury, Connecticut, shared lifelike scenes of astronomy and spectrum analysis, views from the Holy Land and the burning of Chicago. The Recorder pondered why a young man would take a job as a clerk for 16 to 18 hours a day for less than a third of what he could earn working 10 hours a day in a factory. A Thursday night birthday party at a Main Street home devolved into a "disgraceful scene," according to The Recorder, when young men wearing masks began pushing and screaming, insulting the girls and throwing dirt and stones. The bandits dispersed upon the arrival of Officer McCaffrey. A longtime railroad worker was fired after temporarily leaving the switches in the hands of a young man whose inattention caused a derailment. The Library Association received 24 bound volumes of its papers and magazines from 1873, including Harper's, The Atlantic and Scientific American. Henry Baxter accepted a position on a South American steamer. The Recorder said it would not publish any further criticism of sermons. The local furnace discharged its workers because of the low price of iron. The Cold Spring Village Board proposed a budget of $3,743.50 [about $102,500 today], but voters only approved spending $1,656 [$45,000]. The Plate Glass Insurance Co. replaced the display window at Pelham's after it was broken by a stone thrown at a dog. Four inches of snow fell in the village on April 29. The National Amateur Base Ball Association invited the Kellogg Club of Cold Spring to send delegates to its annual convention at the Astor House in New York City. The association had 29 members in six states. 125 Years Ago (April 1899) Dr. G.W. Murdock, who was considering an office on Main Street in addition to the one in his home on Morris Avenue, received approval from the Cold Spring Village Board to erect a telephone pole on Church Street. The Recorder noted that, with warmer weather, "the baby carriage parade will soon commence." John Hesson, who the previous winter fell from his boarding house window and broke his leg, then ended up living at the county poorhouse, returned home. He was promptly arrested for public intoxication and sent to the county jail for 30 days. The telephone that had long been at the Forson Brothers store on Garrison's Landing was moved to the Reading Room. The brothers said "it interfered too much with their business." When asked by the village president to take the position of assessor, Trustee Farrell declined, saying: "No use being assessor if people won't pay taxes." Trustee Ferris said the Village Board should have a lawyer. J. Bennett Southard was nominated and appointed. The village president said he had received an anonymous complaint about two saloons operating on Sundays. The board's newly appointed lawyer said ...

City will submit application for state funding The Beacon City Council unanimously agreed on Monday (April 1) to support an application for state grant funding for GarageWORKS, an artists' studio and gallery that will be constructed at 3-5 Henry St., formerly an auto repair shop. Beacon artist Michael Braden purchased the one-story building, which was constructed in the early 1940s, in February 2023 for $825,000. He plans to convert the one-time Studebaker showroom into a carbon-neutral, solar-powered studio for himself and three other artists. It will also function as a gallery for exhibits and a venue for public events, including for students, he said. Braden has received a $2 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and will now ask the state for $1.5 million through its Restore New York program, which in its latest round of funding will invest $60 million in municipalities' efforts to rehabilitate and restore blighted structures. The asbestos-filled roof on the building will be replaced with a photovoltaic energy system; hot water will be supplied by solar power; and contaminants left over from decades of automotive uses will be remediated, Braden said. The deteriorated sidewalks surrounding the building will be repaired, with street trees and landscaping added. Once restored, the property will remain on the city's tax roll. Although the Restore New York grant is for privately owned buildings, the application must be submitted by a municipality, which is why Braden approached the City Council last month. Braden said he envisions the project as a way to engage Beacon's art community while educating the public on environmental sustainability. "It's meant to be a model of how to do a building," he told the council during its March 11 workshop. The new funding would help "balance the books" for the $7.3 million project, which Braden said he is financing through "a huge amount of my own personal resources." Braden and Sophie Henderson, a consultant who previously worked on two successful Restore New York applications in Hudson, prepared the submission. City Administrator Chris White said he "saw this as an opportunity that didn't use any of our financial resources and very little of our time. I wanted to get the experience under our belt and then we could assess where we go next year" if there are similar proposals. Empire State Development, which administers the program, is expected to announce the grant winners in the fall. Before voting on Monday to back the application, the council held a public hearing on the project. Noting its "primary, premium location" on the corner of South Chestnut and Henry streets, in Beacon's off-Main Street "Transitional" zone, resident Clark Gebman said he felt the site could provide up to 30 affordable housing units. "You're being asked to endorse this one person's vision," he said. While the artistic community is important in Beacon, "is it really more important than providing affordable housing?" In 2021, a developer proposed replacing the structure with a three-story, 16-apartment building with retail space but the project did not progress. Braden said during the March workshop that he had considered housing at the site but felt previous proposals had been poorly received and that there is "a real shortage of high-quality spaces for professional artists." Three other speakers on Monday supported the project, including Kathleen Griffin, who said she moved to the region for its creative energy. "I'm part of a very large cohort of people who made their life in New York City as an artistic professional and came to the Hudson Valley for opportunities like the one being proposed," she said. "It's impossible to quantify what having the arts brings to people, particularly at-risk children. As a teenager, it was exactly opportunities like the ones being created [at GarageWORKS] that took me out of one situation and opened the doors to something tota...

Westchester-Putnam chapter holds first meeting Charlie Roberto says he lost track of his age after he turned 60; he's counting again, but now it's butterflies. Roberto, who grew up in Mahopac and lives in Croton-on-Hudson, is a true conservationist. He advises the Putnam Highlands Audubon Society and has participated in its annual Christmas bird count since the 1980s. He also advises the Saw Mill River chapter of the National Audubon Society, Fahnestock State Park and Croton Point Park, and serves on the board of Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining. He is now the driving force behind a new Westchester-Putnam chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). He had tried to start the chapter in 2020 but was sidetracked by the pandemic. Butterflies are important, he says, because their health "relates directly to the health of our overall environment. They're like the canary in the coal mine." Along with birds, honeybees, bats and other animals, butterflies help pollinate everything from apples and strawberries to peaches and coffee. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 75 percent of flowering plants and about 35 percent of global food crops rely on animals to pollinate them. But butterfly populations are declining worldwide as a result of habitat loss, especially due to changes in land use, along with the use of pesticides and insecticides, and climate change, including increases in severe weather. Invasive plant species are also contributing to the decline. "Japanese stiltgrass, for example, has been here since the 1980s and entered Fahnestock within the last 10 years," Roberto says. "It crowds out and eliminates many plants that host butterflies." At the same time, milkweed, which monarch butterflies rely upon as a host plant, is declining, putting further stress on that species. Signs of Trouble Studies indicate that populations of 17 butterfly species declined by almost 50 percent across the European Union between 1990 and 2011. In 2021, Science reported that, over the four previous decades, the populations of more than 450 species of butterflies in the western U.S. declined by an average of 2 percent per year. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the number of eastern monarch butterflies that migrated south to winter in Mexico in 2023-24 decreased by 59 percent from the previous year. In an article in American Butterflies, NABA President Jeffrey Glassberg recalled the annual butterfly counts that began in Westchester County in 1984. "There were butterflies everywhere; it was thrilling," he wrote. "Some years, the absolute numbers were amazing." But the species began to disappear from northern Westchester County by the 1970s, and at least six species were extirpated by 2013. The more than 8,000 butterflies tallied in a one-day count in 1989 decreased by half. In counts near the Teatown Lake Reservation, spotters have documented as many as 60 types of butterflies, including giant swallowtail, monarch, tiger swallowtail and great spangled fritillary. The diversity has held steady, Roberto says, but the total number of butterflies has been dropping, even as the number of people counting them has increased. Roberto notes an unusual behavior called "hill-topping" that butterflies adopt as their numbers fall. "They fly up to the highest point of land and circle, waiting for the opposite sex," he said. The Westchester-Putnam chapter plans to conduct its first count in July, Roberto said, adding that counts have been moved earlier in the month to account for species whose movements have shifted due to climate change. The chapter's inaugural meeting on March 21 drew 22 participants. The group plans to meet about eight times yearly, with summer field trips to local habitats such as Pound Ridge in Westchester and Shenandoah Mountain along the Appalachian Trail in East Fishkill. Over the past four years, the Philipstown Garden Club, in partnership with 11 other environmental organizations, has been teaching ...

Bills focus on senior buses, college aid, housing Gov. Kathy Hochul has already signed two bills introduced this legislative session by Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose Assembly district includes Beacon. One prohibits Central Hudson and other utility companies from charging customers for electric and gas services older than three billing periods. The other clarifies that requirements for supplemental uninsured and underinsured auto insurance apply to police vehicles "principally garaged and used" in New York state and do not apply to self-insurance policies. Those bills are among the proposals introduced during this year's session of the state Legislature by Jacobson and two other local lawmakers: state Sen. Rob Rolison, a Republican whose district includes the Highlands, and Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown. During the current two-year term, which began on Jan. 4, 2023, Rolison has introduced 52 bills; Levenberg, 40 and Jacobson, 71. Here are some of the lawmakers' newer bills, which may or may not be passed before the Legislature ends its session on June 6. Rolison S8460: Creates a grant program in the Office for the Aging to allow municipalities to apply for up to $100,000 to purchase Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible buses to transport seniors. Status: Assigned to Finance Committee S8387: Requires the Comptroller's Office to study the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed funds, as some states do. New York holds $18.4 billion in funds deposited with the state after the person, estate or business could not be located. To retrieve the funds, people must search online at osc.ny.gov/unclaimed-funds and file a claim. Status: Assigned to Finance Committee S8181: Allows prosecutors to charge someone with promoting a suicide attempt and second-degree manslaughter if their conduct "significantly contributes" to a decision by "an incompetent or physically disabled person or a vulnerable elderly person" to take their own life or try killing themselves. Rolison said the legislation was inspired by the case of an autistic Poughkeepsie resident, Bailey Bates, who killed himself in 2017 at age 19 after a woman and an accomplice conned him into exchanging his disability insurance money for a phony check. Former Sen. Sue Serino, now the Dutchess County executive, introduced the legislation in 2018 as Bailey's Law. 9 Status: Assigned to Codes Committee State Legislators Sen. Rob Rolison (R) District 39, including Highlands rolison@nysenate.gov | 845-229-0106 3 Nepture Road, Suite N22, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Assembly Member Dana Levenberg (D) District 95, including Philipstown levenbergd@nyassembly.gov | 914-941-1111 8 Revolutionary Road, Ossining, NY 10562 Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson (D) District 104, including Beacon jacobsonj@nyassembly.gov | 845-562-0888 47 Grand St., Newburgh, NY 12550 Jacobson A8953: Requires that each high school senior complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an application for the state's Tuition Assistance Program or a waiver if not attending college. Jacobson cites studies showing that low-income students and their parents are more likely to overestimate the cost of college and have less knowledge of available aid and that first-generation and low-income students are likelier to apply for aid without their parents' involvement, increasing the likelihood of errors. Status: Assigned to Education Committee A8460: Requires that firearms and rifles bought by police agencies at gun buybacks be disassembled and destroyed, with the destruction recorded on video and listed in a log filed with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. Jacobson cited a New York Times story published in December that detailed how some guns acquired through buybacks in other states are turned over to companies that remove the parts with serial numbers and sell the rest in kits to private buyers. Status: Assigned to Codes Committee A9210: ...

Beacon council to consider alternatives, plus meeting decorum A group of mental health advocates will be unable to tie ribbons on lampposts along Beacon's Main Street to recognize May as Mental Health Awareness Month. Doing so violates the city code, which prohibits posting flyers, stickers or other items on city buildings, trees or lampposts and utility poles unless authorized. That was news to the Mid-Hudson chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which hung the white ribbons in Beacon from 2014 to 2022. Representatives from the organization asked the City Council during its March 18 meeting for permission to tie ribbons and place lawn signs as part of its promotion this year. Doing so reminds passersby of the importance of mental health and helps reduce the stigma around asking for help, said George Czornyj, executive director of the Mid-Hudson chapter. The nonprofit said volunteers would remove the items by the end of May. Following NAMI's presentation, City Administrator Chris White objected, saying the city has undertaken a multi-year campaign to clean up its lampposts. There was no further discussion that night, but during the March 25 workshop several council members said they hoped the city could compromise with NAMI. White said on March 25 that, since his hire in 2021, cleaning up visual clutter on Main Street has become one of his signature issues. "We have removed - and this is no exaggeration - thousands of flyers, lawn signs, stickers and other things," he said. The city has already repainted half of the decorative lampposts on Main Street and is about to paint the other half, White said. Sixty traffic signs have been replaced because stickers made them illegible. At the city's request, Royal Carting also empties Main Street trash cans six days a week instead of four. Three years ago, when he permitted NAMI to hang ribbons, White said he was less familiar with the city code, plus "there was no reason to stop it because the poles were full of everything." Council Member Jeff Domanski said he appreciates the efforts to clean up Main Street, "but with a public health issue like this one, drawing as much physical attention as you can to it is essential." Domanski, Dan Aymar-Blair and Paloma Wake said they would contact NAMI to see if the group would consider an alternative method of getting its message out. "It's important to elevate this, to normalize talking about it," Aymar-Blair said. White noted that Beacon spends $80,000 each year to have a behavioral health specialist work with its police department and in 2022 gave NAMI a $3,400 grant for its peer-to-peer counseling program. "I'm glad to do real action that supports mental health," he said. "Thirty years ago, you had no other way to get the word out. We have so many ways to communicate now that don't involve putting visual litter all over Main Street." White also said he would have to allow other groups to post their materials if he permits NAMI, "so I've just said 'no,' and your [city] code supports that." Domanski argued that there's a distinction between mental health and other issues. But "the moment you start making distinctions, you've already violated the law," said Mayor Lee Kyriacou. Czornyj said Wednesday (March 27) that he is open to working with the city on an alternative. "We want this to be a win-win for all," he said. Meeting decorum The City Council hasn't changed its rules on decorum at meetings, but said it may enforce the rules more strictly. The council was flooded with public comments in recent weeks as it considered a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. The March 4 meeting began with a 3-hour public comment session that grew heated at times, including when a woman from Wallkill began shouting at the council after she went over the three minutes allowed for each speaker and White unplugged the microphone. Council Member Pam Wetherbee acknowledged on March 25 that many people came from outside Beacon for the ...

State demanding costly dam repair In 1987, when Marie-Louise Best and her family first toured the house they would buy on Aqueduct Road in Continental Village, they noted the view of Sylvan Pond from the windows. Eight years later, neighbors and a crew from the Philipstown Highway Department worked together to pull mattresses, hardened bags of cement, a cash register and other debris from the water. In a paean Best wrote for the Putnam Reporter Dispatch after the cleanup, she quoted Henry David Thoreau, who described a lake as "a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." "It is such a pretty view," Best said on Wednesday (March 27). "In the fall it's beautiful, with the leaves reflecting off the pond." The view could be gone by as early as summer 2025 because Putnam County plans to drain Sylvan Pond and eliminate what has been a spot for contemplation and recreation for residents on Aqueduct, Ridge Road and Lake Court. While information on the history of Sylvan Pond and how Putnam came to own it is scant, Neal Tomann, a Philipstown resident who is interim manager of the county's Soil & Water Conservation District, said the state Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an ultimatum: fortify the earthen dam or drain the water. The agency's concern, Tomann told the Town Board on March 20, is that a storm could fill the shallow pond and send floodwaters toward downstream properties along Sprout Brook Road. He described the dam, which has a channel that drains pond water to an unknown destination, as "highly improvised" and designated by the DEC as Class B, meaning there is the potential for severe damage to nearby properties if it fails. Rebuilding the dam to reduce that risk would cost an estimated $750,000 - an amount Tomann said is more than the county's annual budget for dams. Putnam owns nine dams, Tomann said, acquiring many of them through tax liens. He does not know how Sylvan Pond became one of them; online property records do not list a previous owner. A history of Continental Village published in 1972 and written by Carlton Scofield, a former Peekskill historian, includes a map identifying Sylvan Pond. Best and another resident, Kendra Parker, recalled it as a spot for fishing, ice-skating, swimming and other activities. Parker and several other Continental Village residents who attended the Town Board meeting asked Tomann about alternatives. She worries about losing habitat for ducks, snapping turtles and other wildlife. "We don't want to live around a swamp," she said. Tomann said that even if residents bought the property, they would still have to repair the dam or drain the pond. In her 1995 column for the Putnam Reporter Dispatch, Best described how her young daughter and son fed ducks and skipped rocks in warm weather and skated with their father when the pond iced over in the winter. A neighbor named Justine Bruno, armed with a wheelbarrow, launched the 1995 cleanup effort when she began clearing overgrowth around Sylvan Pond because her daughters had returned with rashes after feeding the ducks, said Best. Other neighbors joined in and soon after, the Philipstown Highway Department brought a backhoe, wood chipper, dump truck and "elbow grease" to their aid, she said. Now, a faded green sign inscribed, "Please Keep Pond Clean, By Troop 2280" juts from the ground a short walk from a part of the shore where two rocks protrude into the water. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen a kid sitting on those rocks thinking, and young families taking their kids down there," said Best. "It's really nice."

Magazzino café offers a taste of Italy Fast to flash a quicksilver smile, chef Luca Galli is a born schmoozer who enjoys lingering over a well-prepared meal or cup of espresso. But when duty calls in the kitchen, he is serious as a surgeon. Galli is developing the menu at Café Silvia, a restaurant and beverage oasis in the new Robert Olnick Pavilion at Magazzino Italian Art in Philipstown. It is named for Olnick's wife, Silvia, mother of Nancy, who founded the museum along with her husband, Giorgio Spanu. Over the last six months, in-the-know locals consider it to be a best-kept secret - and one open on Mondays. "It's a divine hidden gem that has resonated in the community," says Melissa Meyers, a Garrison resident and neighbor of Spanu and Olnick. "I had heard about this project and never expected it to be this wonderful. You look out and it feels like Tuscany." She refers to the picture window that offers a view of the donkey corral, 20 garden beds for growing ingredients and a ridge in the background. The café doubles as the museum gift shop and the concrete confines are surprisingly cozy. An interior window peeks in on one of the pavilion's galleries. Spanu and Olnick met Galli 20 years ago in Italy. They make him feel at home by providing a culinary playground with two critical Italian imports. Standing in the near-pristine kitchen, Galli beams with pride over his Unox oven and Irinox blast chiller, which execute myriad food preparation techniques at the press of a digital button. Galli, who lives in Garrison, goes for simple, subtle and delicate. "If the waiter has to explain the dish, the flavors are going to be difficult to identify," he says. He started easy, with panini and a frittata of the day made with eggs from Spanu and Olnick's farm. He recently introduced lasagna Bolognese, chickpea and scallop soup and ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese and a light dusting of Parmesan cheese. Fish and vegetable dishes are in the works. Also a sommelier, Galli will expand the wine list from the current selections of red, white and prosecco. By late spring, when the patio opens, the plan is to transform it into a trattoria apertivo with small plates and boards filled with meat and cheese. "I have a lot of ideas, but I'm not going to rush anything," he says. Galli, who was born near Milan, worked in restaurant kitchens in Italy, London and New York City. He also spent 15 years cooking on yachts that sailed the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. The attention to detail at Café Silvia can be remarkable. Serving trays are lined with sticky rubber, and Galli worked with his coffee consultant in Italy to test the water's pH level to determine the ideal beans to use in the espresso (a blend of Arabica and Robusto to add acidity). He even calibrates the coffee grinder. Only observant visitors will notice the fresh-made jams, soups and sauces packed in sealable jars tucked onto shelves below the main counter. A chest-high window opens into the kitchen, where the chef and his assistants, Jack Cimino and Robert Betterbid, improvise dance moves like the twist or shoulder shimmy to avoid colliding. With 40 indoor seats and 20 more outside, the place can get busy in a hurry. Galli spoke about building bonds with his staff, which is pivotal to delivering on the vision. "My expectations are high, even for myself," he says. Enjoying a dish during downtime, Cimino turns introspective. "When I started here, I was unmotivated, depressed and had no lust for life," he says. "I was this close to firing him," says Galli, almost pinching together his thumb and index finger. "He pushed me in a way that drew me out of my shell and instilled a strong work ethic," says Cimino, who lives in Cold Spring. "I thank him for bringing new value to my life." Then, a group of diners arrived just before closing time. Like athletes called into the game, the men clicked into performance mode. Café Silvia, located at 2700 Route 9 in Philipstown, is open Friday to Mo...

For someone with an artistic tempest inside his head, Mike "Skatchface" Long is a mellow dude. Art is not what he does - it's how he lives. Long grew up skating with the older kids in Poughkeepsie, developed his style and became low-key but well-known, especially among the tight-knit street art crowd. The latest issue of Newburgh-based hardcore punk 'zine Outsider devoted a spread to his work. A storefront he painted in Miami was included in Mana Public Arts: Murals by Leading Street Artists from Around the World, published in December. Last summer he moved to Beacon and calibrated his living circumstances well. He works at a modest home studio, his sons attend school nearby and one of his gigs is across the street. He just landed a job in New Windsor painting sets for Broadway shows, which he prefers to commuting to New York City. "Here, artists are taken seriously," he says of Beacon. "You can be creative and make a living; it's not a pipe dream." At 43, he is at a turning point. He still bombs around on a skateboard but sometimes his back flares up. His oldest son is in high school and his youngest is 9. So far, he has managed to pay the bills making art. He earned a degree in graphic design and got his nickname from an Austrian classmate who often asked to see his "skatchbook," meaning sketchbook. The face in Skatchface refers to his specialty. Some have grotesque, distorted expressions. Some scowl, others look frightened, and nearly all are painted in the wild. "The art establishment has no awareness of what the graffiti artists do," says Beacon pop artist Ron English, for whom Long has apprenticed over the last four years. "They're anti-capitalist, for one thing. One part of their social life is creating art on freight trains that will travel around the country. Highbrow artists try to sell what they create. But it's like jazz: When you do a deep dive, you understand and appreciate it more." With a family to support, Long took white-collar design jobs that he says slowly crushed his spirit. "It wasn't helping the creative process when the sun would come up and go down while I sat at my desk," he says. But he kept other outlets alive. "My passion is finding that cool spot at an abandoned place, being outdoors and creating." Around 100 of his intricate pieces stretch from Miami to Boston, and Long is starting to add his mark to the expansive brick and concrete canvases at the abandoned industrial sites that dot the Highlands. Taggers gotta tag, so his scrawled signature is also seen on the back of street signs, in bar bathrooms and on traffic light-control boxes. He affixes stickers to accommodating surfaces. Through Long's work with English and English's wife, Tarssa Yazdani, he has become part of the family. Part of his job is to complete practical tasks with computers and cameras to help conceptualize projects, but the trio also dreams up weird ideas and often films them. One brainstorm evolved into a sardonic book-burning event during Beacon Bonfire. Participants chanted slogans, contorted their faces like maniacs and toasted marshmallows. Long's sons took part. He supports their creative expressions but is laissez-faire. Clearly, he is proud that his eldest plays guitar in an alt-punk band, his youngest doodles and they both skate to a degree. To stretch his skill set, he plans to delve into sculpting and enjoys playing with an air compressor-powered spray paint gun for the first time. "They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks," he says, wearing cutoff shorts splattered with blotches of paint. "So if you keep learning new tricks, you're not an old dog."