Summer programs 2014

July 5 CPOA events:

• 10am: general meeting
• 6 pm: cocktails and barbecue

July  26:
     Progressive Dinner and desserts

30 July - 3 August:
     Phoenicia Festival of the Voice

August 16:
     CPOA DIY BBQ

August 23:
     Train ride: Arkville - Roxbury

August 30:
     Labor Day weekend cocktails and barbecue

• 10am: general meeting
• 6 pm: cocktails and barbecue

Phoenicia Voice Festival

Setting up for the Festival, Saturday 26 July 2014:

Monday 28 July 2014:

Opening night, Wednesday 30 July 2014:

Seen on Main Street on Saturday 2 August, before The Barber of Seville:

Phoenicia seeks to increase spring water flow to municipal system

A Daily Freeman article.

Due to booming business during a summer that has brought throngs of thirsty visitors, the Phoenicia Water District has started a project to reclaim precious spring water for the hamlet to make sure there’s enough to go around.
   Water Commissioner Rick Ricciardella said Monday work will soon begin on carving a road up the mountain across the street from the district filtration plant to grant access to the half dozen natural springs that have supplied water to the hamlet for the past 100 years.
   After a century of thunderstorms, spring thaws and summer droughts, erosion has gradually restricted the flow from those springs to reservoirs built to hold the supply, he said.

Ulster County lawmakers endorse plan for trail only on Kingston-to-Ashokan rail corridor

Daily Freeman story:

The Ulster County Legislature has made it county policy that the former Ulster and Delaware rail corridor that stretches from the city of Kingston to the Ashokan Reservoir be converted to trail use when the county’s lease with the Catskill Mountain Railroad ends in 2016.


Ulster County Legislators voted 18-4 on Tuesday to adopt a resolution that adopts the “segmented trail and rail” plan championed by Ulster County Executive Michael Hein. That plan calls for a walking trail only from Kingston to the western side of the Ashokan Reservoir and a tourist train between Mount Tremper and Phoenicia.



But legislators didn’t completely give up on the prospect of a future railroad operation in the corridor. Among the amendments made to the resolution is one that requires legislative approval to remove any railroad tracks.

Postal official tells Shandaken hamlets it may have to cut hours

Story from the Woodstock Times includes:

The postal service, which is not supported by taxes, faces a $10 billion deficit this year, due largely to the ubiquity of email. In order to reduce the annual shortfall, hours have been cut back at rural post offices over the past few years. In 2013, the Lake Hill and Mount Tremper post offices were cut to four hours per day of counter time, and Chichester is slated to make the same reduction. “I understand it’s a major change for some of us,” said Fitzpatrick. “We will do everything we can to make it seamless.”