Maverick opens its 100th season

Article from the Recordonline:

NEXUS kicks off the official opening of Maverick's 100th season.

 

The traditional summer concert series kicks off this weekend. Following the Actors & Writers workshop on June 26, which features a reading from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” is a Young People’s Concert the next morning featuring the world-renowned percussion group NEXUS. The Young People’s Concert is free for children; their parents pay $5.

“Two of the four Young People’s Concerts this year have the same artists in the morning working with the children as are performing later in the evening for the adults,” says Segal. “Garry (Kvistad of NEXUS) will bring instruments for the children that even I haven’t seen before. …

“Then that evening, there will be the world premiere of Peter Schickele’s work,” says Segal of Percussion Sonata No. 3, “Maverick,” which was commissioned for Maverick’s centenary by Garry and Diane Kvistad and the Woodstock Chimes Foundation and will be performed by NEXUS.

Maverick website: http://www.maverickconcerts.org/

Owners of closed Shandaken farm stand are again seeking town approval to operate

Story in Daily Freeman.

ALLABEN >> The owners of the farm stand forced out of business in Mount Tremper are going to try once again to gain town approval to reopen.

At a Shandaken Planning Board meeting June 10, owner Al Higley asked the board to help him restart the approval process.

Higley’s representative, Don Brewer, who is also chairman of the town Planning Board, said the proposed farm stand would require several variances from town zoning law to be approved.

With a new application, Higley would be seeking a waiver from laws that he says restrict the size of the business. A surveyor by trade, Brewer said town law allows only 2,687 square feet of structure, parking, septic field, and other activity.

“The size of the farm stand is bigger than what’s allowed,” he told the board, adding that Higley is looking to use almost 7,000 square feet instead.

On Nov. 27, 2013, state Supreme Court Justice Mary Work gave the Hanover Farms owners 60 days to take down their farm stand, which is located on state Route 28.

That gave Higley and his son, Alfie, until Jan. 25, 2014, to remove the structure and end the legal battle between Hanover Farms and the town of Shandaken that began in 2012 when the Higleys filed a lawsuit against the town and former Shandaken code enforcement officer Richard Stokes.

The removal of the part of the farm stand that was rule to have been illegally constructed was tabled while the Higleys attempted to go through a new application process last year with the town’s Zoning Board. On Oct. 15, 2014, that application was denied “due to a lack of response from the applicant and failure to submit the required documentation from the Department of Transportation as requested by the [Zoning Board].”

Shortly afterwards, the Higleys moved their operation out of town, setting up shop in a former bank branch building in the town of Olive and calling it Greenheart Farms.

As requested by Higley, the town Planning Board voted last week to send the matter to the town Zoning Board of Appeals for review.

As was the case previously, the Zoning Board would need to grant the zoning variances before the Higleys could move ahead with any further review by the Planning Board.

MARK Project will help Pine Hill and Phoenicia

Article in Daily Freeman:

The hamlet of Pine Hill is in the Ulster County town of Shandaken. Photo by Tony Adamis

By Jay Braman Jr., Posted: 06/11/15, 2:57 PM EDT | Updated: 2 hrs ago

SHANDAKEN >> The town of has taken steps to get financial help from the MARK Project for two hamlets.

At the June meeting of the Shandaken Town Board, MARK Executive Director Peg Ellsworth asked for and received full support from the four board members present. That support allows MARK to take a more regional approach to fundraising for Main Street revitalization projects.

Ellsworth said that, in the past, such projects were isolated efforts that benefited one town at a time. But now, MARK will prepare a truly regional proposal for a territory that not only crosses town lines but also the border of Ulster and Delaware counties.

MARK is preparing a grant application for costs associated with a regional NY Main Street Façade Program. MARK will propose to assist at least four mixed-use or commercial structures in Grand Gorge, Arkville, Halcottsville, Margaretville, Fleischmanns, Andes, Pine Hill and Roxbury. If successful, MARK will allocate up to $15,000 per façade and up to $75,000 to help fund an “anchor activity.”

Also, Shandaken Supervisor Rob Stanley has asked MARK to prepare a grant application for the Phoenicia Water District to secure funds for four separate projects: the connection of a water main on upper High Street, relocating a pump station out of the Esopus Creek floodway, reclaiming an infiltration gallery and installing a third filtration pump for Phoenicia’s water system.

Ellsworth said MARK would prepare the grant application at a cost of $3,500. It must be submitted by July 31.

2014-2015 photos

A look at the Chichester-Silver Hollow neighborhoods across the months, from road work on Route 214 near the entrance to the CPOA grounds, across early 2014, the Phoenicia Voice Festival, autumn, the reopening of the Phoenicia Library, into 2015.


Route 214 work (Autumn-Winter 2013-2014)


January-February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

Summer 2014

Phoenicia 2014 festival of the Voice

September 2014

Autumn 2014

November 2014

Phoenicia Library reopens


Winter 2014-2015

Article in Woodstock Times:  Byrdcliffe, VOICETheater collaborate on renovation of Theater.

This summer, there will be only one production, Our Country’s Good, based on a Thomas Keneally novel about a play performed by prisoners in one of the first penal colonies in Australia. The show opens in July. Committed, as ever, to educational outreach, Kanter is setting up scene-based workshops in local schools to address the problem of bullying.

Escape Brooklyn, go to Phoenicia

By chance, found this item on the Web. Poor grammar and spelling and a plethora of apostrophes aside, it makes for (somewhat) interesting reading.


Phoenicia, New York
Phoenicia is a beautiful and sleepy little town in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. Between it’s scenery (it’s in the middle of a state park) and close proximity to NYC, it can get touristy in the summer. But with only a handful of hotels with small capacities, Phoenicia holds it’s own with awesome, friendly locals and weirdo townies.

It's an its and an it's.

Where to stay: As far as hotels go, the go-to for New Yorkers is The Graham & Co.  The structure is an old-school motel that’s been totally renovated by a team of designers based in NYC. Rooms are designed to be simple, but beautiful; think “Donald Judd meets outdoorsy.” 

Upon check-in, expect stellar treatment from the impossibly cool staff, and a can of Budweiser with your room key.

I thought one was given PBR.


Shopping: After you get off I-87, you’ll drive into Phoenicia on NY-28 which is practically lined with barn sales, antique shacks, thrift stores and the like. One of our very favorite places is the antique barn somewhere between Kingston and Phoenicia, pictured above.. It’s on the right side of the road coming into town about 10 miles outside of Phoenicia.

Somewhere.

Eating & drinking: There aren’t many options in Phoenicia, but fortunately the few options are all good options. Probably the best meal in Phoenicia is breakfast because you can have your pick. First up, Sweet Sue’s is an impossibly cute breakfast and lunch joint with pancakes that will blow your mind. The Phoenicia Diner is also awesome; the design feels straight out of Brooklyn but has a great mix of locals and vacationers at all times.

Straight outta Brooklyn. (And, remember, Sweet Sue's is now closed.)

Memorial Day 2015

On Sunday thirty of us got together for a brunch at the CPOA house, opening up the 2015 season in great style. The table was laden with good food brought in by community members.

On Monday the hamlet of Phoenicia put on its annual Memorial Day parade. It was a beautiful, warm morning, and the community turned out to salute its veterans and Onteora School majorettes and marching band, Boy Scouts, and the Phoenicia and Shandaken-Allaben Fire Departments and Ambulance Corps.

Shandaken might sell 4-acre parcel to NYC DEP

Story in the Kingston Daily Freeman:

The department has expressed interest in a 4-acre parcel between the Phoenicia Diner and the Phoenicia Plaza on the south side of state Route 28.


The town bought the land several years ago as a location for a planned Phoenicia wastewater treatment plant. But buying the land is as far as things got. The town ultimately dropped the construction plan amid community opposition, and the land remains vacant.


“After the project was closed, the town had the property appraised and placed on the market for sale,” said Shandaken Supervisor Rob Stanley. “There have been no takers ... and now the DEP would like to know how the town wishes to proceed.”



The city department is interested in the parcel, now appraised at $107,000, because it can be developed. It also abuts parcels owned by the city department and the state.

Phoenicia Library reopens

Official reopening of the Phoenicia Library, back on Main Street.

Donated desk will highlight rebuilt Phoenicia Library

The new circulation desk, custom built and donated by Ben Mack. (photo by Violet Snow)

Article appearing in the Woodstock Times

The Phoenicia Library’s move from temporary quarters on Ava Maria Drive to its renovated home on Main Street is tentatively scheduled for December, announced library director Elizabeth Potter, who hopes to open in the updated space by January 1. With the reconstruction nearing completion, the moving date will depend on when the new shelving is ready to be delivered, and the library will be closed for two to three weeks during the transition period.

An electrical fire gutted the Main Street building in March 2010. The $800,000 rebuild was financed through a mix of insurance money, state grants, personal donations, and fundraising initiatives. Energy-efficient and handicapped-accessible, the structure has been enlarged to accommodate a ramp, elevator, and community meeting room.

Employees will be getting used to the new technologies of the building, including lighting, the elevator, and the “passive house” heat-exchange system, which will require no heating fuel. Staff will also be getting up to speed on the new computers, provided through a grant from New York State.
Patrons will have to plan ahead once the moving date is firmed up, as it will not be possible to check out books in Phoenicia for a couple of weeks. When placing a hold, patrons can specify pick-up at nearby libraries, such as Olive, Pine Hill, or Woodstock.


When the moving and opening dates are set, they will be posted on the Phoenicia Library website, http://phoenicialibrary.org, or the library’s Facebook page.

No septic, no loan: Phoenicia Pharmacy sale falls through

Woodstock Times article, by Violet Snow on Sep 18, 2014 • 5:00 pm

(Photo by Dion Ogust)

Pharmacist and WellCare founder Ed Ullman’s plans to buy the Phoenicia Pharmacy have been scotched by the refusal of the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) to grant him a low-interest loan for renovating the property. Ullman’s is the second application to the CWC since the Phoenicia town board’s failure to act on the sewer system proposal resulted in New York City’s withdrawal of funds from the project in 2012. Both Ullman and the previous applicant, Mike Ricciardella, who was seeking a loan to renovate the former Al’s Restaurant, were turned down by the CWC.

Ricciardella succeeded in obtaining private financing for his new restaurant, now renamed The Phoenician and scheduled to open this fall in its expanded building on Main Street. Ullman pointed out that Ricciardella, as owner of three other restaurants in town, has plenty of collateral, and The Phoenician is not in the floodplain. Ullman, doubtful about the prospects of getting a private loan for the pharmacy, has withdrawn his purchase offer.

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.”

Phoenicia Pharmacy on the block, hopes for independent takeover

Woodstock Times article.

(Photo by Dion Ogust)

A Phoenicia icon has been on the market since early April, with pharmacist Marty Millman contemplating retirement after 34 years in business at the Phoenicia Pharmacy. Millman, about to turn 78, is selling both the building, with an asking price of $395,000, and the business, also priced at $395,000, in the hope that he can find a buyer who will keep a pharmacy in operation at the site.

The Gordon Brothers Pharmacy operated for several years on the south side of Phoenicia’s Main Street, where Ruth Gale Realty is now located. Phillip and Joe Gordon built the present pharmacy building in 1950. When the Millmans arrived, they rented half of the building at first, then bought it from the Gordons in 1981. The Head-to-Toe Shop sold ladies’ clothing in the other half until that shop folded, when proprietor Dorothy Cutrone went to work for the pharmacy.

On a High Note

Story from the Chronogram on the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice.

• The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice will be held on July 30-August 3

When the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice returns to the Catskills this July, it will have raised the bar—about two octaves higher.

Celebrating its fifth season this year, the festival welcomes countertenor Brian Asawa to its mainstage. Asawa is one of the world's foremost countertenors, having brought his powerful, flexible, and impressively high vocal range to such world-class venues as the Metropolitan Opera, the Palais Garnier in Paris, and Madrid's Teatro Real. Capable of singing within typically female vocal registers—contralto, mezzo-soprano, and sometimes even soprano—countertenors are today relatively rare. The festival will feature Asawa in this summer's edition of "Voices of Distinction," a program of some of the most exceptional vocal works of the Baroque period. The artist will also host a free lecture titled "The Art of I'castratti," in which he will discuss the historic, long-abandoned practice of castrating young singers as well as the vocal aesthetic of a modern countertenor.

Another high note of the festival, and an accent of this year's Spanish theme, will be a staging of Gioachino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville." Based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comic French play of the same name, the opera buffa is one of the most popular and widely performed operas in the world—few today can hear its overture without Bugs Bunny coming to mind. Festival Executive Director Maria Todaro and internationally acclaimed baritone and Phoenicia newcomer Lucas Meachem will top the bill, singing the principle roles of the beautiful Rosina and the clever Figaro.

Brazil v. Germany

Embattled Mount Tremper farm stand moves to Olive, changes name

Story from Daily Freeman:

A sign outside the former Hanover Farms stand on state Route 28 in Mount Tremper announces the business’ relocation. Photo by Jay Braman Jr.

The embattled Hanover Farms stand has left the town of Shandaken for neighboring Olive and has changed its name.

Closed since last year for violating Shandaken restrictions regarding its size, the farm stand is relocating to the Olive hamlet of Shokan.

“FARM STAND RE-OPENING AT OLD BANK IN SHOKAN!” states a sign at the business’ former location on state Route 28 in the hamlet of Mount Tremper.

The site to which Hanover is moving, also on Route 28, was occupied by a Bank of America branch until the spring of 2013. Hanover owners Al and Alfie Higley have been setting up their business in a tent in the bank’s paved parking lot, near the former drive-up window.

A sign at the new site proclaims the business’ new name: Greenheart Farmstand.

World Cup 2014

Hudson Valley Weather

Posted to Facebook today at 1.45pm:

The Mid Hudson Valley from New Paltz to Saugerties is taking a pretty good beating at the moment. Frequent lightning, heavy rain and hail are impacting this region, please post observations below.

A Spacious Log Home in Chichester: Stony Clove Retreat

Chronogram article

"Aside from the terrific unspoiled wilderness feel of the area, and the wonderful neighbors, the best thing about owning a home in Chichester is the opportunity to belong to the Chichester Property Owners Association," says Marrazzo. "It's like a private club, with about 100 members, representing about 35 different families, mostly descended from people who owned summer places here in the 1940s."

Deborah DeGraffenreid

US vs. Germany in World Cup

New York City’s watershed land buyout program raises concerns among Shandaken town planners

The Shandaken Planning Board is expected to take a long, hard look at the details of a controversial plan to allow the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to buy homes and businesses in local hamlets and villages.

Ashokan Reservoir fountain in Olivebridge off until mid-August

The fountain at the Ashokan Reservoir in Olivebridge will be off until mid-August. NYCDEP photo

Stony Clove Creek

Memorial Day weekend, 2014

Shandaken resident seeks ethics probe over renovation plan

Story from the Daily Freeman:

This week’s meeting of the Shandaken Town Board ended with a heated discussion about the ethics of some town officials — some named and others not identified — after a Phoenicia resident complained about what he said was the uneven way town laws are enforced.

Chris Fisher, who lives on Main Street nearby the former Al’s Restaurant, came to the board asking how to request an ethics investigation, alleging that some building projects, like the one now underway at Al’s, are being done above the law, while others, like the controversial Hanover farm stand in Mount Tremper, fall victim to overwhelming scrutiny.

Fisher said that his problem was not with Mike Ricciardella, the eatery’s current owner, who is renovating the structure, but with town officials who authorized the renovation. He said the building is being expanded beyond what the law allows.

“Either enforce the law or don’t enforce the law,” he said. “It’s got to be equal across the board.”

Blaming the town’s Planning Board for granting permission for the project, Fisher asked how to go about requesting an ethics investigation. When he was told to bring the matter to Supervisor Rob Stanley, who was absent from the meeting, Fisher said Stanley is “part of the problem.”

It was noted by audience member Robert Kalb that Fisher attended the public hearing on Ricciardella’s renovation project and did not make any complaints.

At Monday night’s Town Board meeting, Fisher said new information about the project had come to light after the hearing.

Town Building Inspector Al Frisenda, who is responsible for issuing building permits, told the Town Board that if Fisher has a problem with any action of the Planning Board, his only recourse is to sue the town.

Fisher said he does not want to sue the town.

“My issue is the unethical behavior,” he said.

The following morning, Stanley said he had no involvement in any Planning Board or Building Department actions, nor did any other member of the Town Board.

He also said he had been made aware that, at the Monday night meeting, Fisher publicly described him as “crooked,” and that he will now look into taking legal action against Fisher for what he said is a slanderous remark.

Roadwork on Route 214

Slowly, but surely, the roadwork on Route 214 was completed in the Autumn of 2013. A culvert passing under the state road was completely rebuilt. Water now flows freely and, it is hoped, safely under the road. A stretch of a couple of hundred feet of blacktop was redone. Several yards of crushed stone were graded on the CPOA driveway leading to the Ostrander Bridge.

Herein, a pictorial narrative.

Ulster town's plowing policy draws scrutiny

St. Francis De Sales parishioners leave the church in Phoenicia after Sunday Mass. The Shandaken Highway Department plows the parking lots of local firehouses and four churches, including St. Francis De Sales. The highway department uses St. Francis De Sales' lot to dump snow into the Esopus Creek. Kelly Marsh/For the Times Herald-Record


The Town of Shandaken's decades-old practice of plowing snow from the parking lots of local firehouses and churches is under fire. Shandaken resident Lance Hoffman asked the town board Feb. 10 not to continue the practice. "I told them that municipal plowing of churches was unconstitutional, because it's a violation of church and state," Hoffman said last week. "It's a frivolous municipal largess; they're just throwing away taxpayer money, and the town could be held responsible for any damage." The board approved it anyway. Unanimously.