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Town Board August Amendments to the agenda Executive Session – the specific litigation must be announced. They use this one a lot to hold backroom meetings.
And the fire department building – this should not have been an amendment. There should be announced meetings where the public can address their concerns. Eddie McCarthy did a good job of explaining. Patty Villanova did a good job of questioning. Both got a little irritated at the end. The public needs more information. The fire department did their homework, but did not share that homework until this was all planned. The public should be able to ask questions and they should know ahead of time that this is the topic. An $8 – $12 million project is not a mere last minute presentation at the beginning of a Town Board meeting. This subject deserves its own, well advertised meeting. Someone other than testy Tendy should Chair, so that there will be no badgering, “What was the question? This is a question and answer session.” And no one should feel that if they have concerns, and want to ask questions, that they are un-American, or do not appreciate what our volunteers do for [...]
The major issues with the current project are the drawing of 900 gallons per day from the stream and the segmentation of the environmental review. [...]
Putnam County will be using new optical scan voting machines in this primary election, September 15, 2009. These machines are being demonstrated throughout Putnam County. [...]
August 10, 2009
There has been a change in the Planning Clerk, and a change in the Planning Board agenda. I don’t know if those two changes are interrelated. “Communications” is on the agenda again for 5:30. That means that the Planning Board’s backroom meetings are legally noticed. That is an improvement. However, it does not satisfy the legal requirement that the public be accommodated. At these backroom meetings, the public is generally me, although in the last few months, I haven’t been able to get there. I arrived at 5:45 for this meeting…. and I was not accommodated. If you’ve never been in there, go in and look at the conference room. There are lots of file cabinets, and a large table with 5 chairs. There are 6 members of the Planning Board. There is a planner; there is an engineer; there is a wetlands inspector; there is a clerk; normally, there is an attorney, although not at this meeting. On this agenda, HYH was being discussed, so there was an additional engineer, and an additional planner. The Code Enforcement Officer was present. Does that sound crowded? It was. Isn’t this a little ridiculous? Why do they do [...]
Peekskill Hollow Road – update I’ve been down this road before.
What Has Happened They have changed their language. Since everyone is in favor of road maintenance, bridge maintenance, drainage improvements and a safe entrance at the high school, that is what they talk about now. Nobody explains quite what that means.
The resolution – the county says they won’t do anything about Phases II and III of the project. Everyone knows that the resolution does not change anything. A future legislature could reverse the resolution. It was a good will gesture and should be taken as such. There has been lots of talk about scenic and historic designation. The Friends of Peekskill Hollow Road do not feel that scenic designation offers protection, and therefore, want historic designation. Additionally, they would like the Town to pass its own law, along the lines of other Town laws protecting roadways, most notably that of North Salem. A Town resolution, sent to the county, as well as a local law, designating the road as historic, would be a good start. A county law protecting the road would help.
And while we are on the subject of what has happened, what is [...]
July Town Board meeting – July 15, 2009
I arrived late so as to avoid the razzle dazzle, but it didn’t work. When I got there they were going on about the ag law. It wasn’t on the agenda. I asked the person next to me why they were talking about it, and she said they had extended the public hearing, so they didn’t have to put out a public notice of the continuation. Huh? I had heard someone say at the work session that there were farmers who could not attend so they didn’t want to close the hearing. Is that the same as publishing a notice that there is a public hearing?
This is a bad law. Mr. Adorno’s attorney was at the real public hearing. He said that you cannot discriminate against farmers, and rezone their parcels if they stop farming. The Town cannot unnecessarily restrict farming. This was all discussed before, so why did we even go to a public hearing with this law, and then why would we have a continuation without public notice. They voted to close the fake public hearing.
These meetings go on and on pointlessly.
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An historical perspective on musical chairs, also known as politics in Putnam Valley.
You may need a flow chart for this one.
Six years ago, the local Democratic, Republican, and Independence Party committees conferred and decided that they would support Republicans Fred Finger and Bob Tendy for Town Board, and the Town voters would have no choice.
This decision so inflamed Democrats, they rose up and found their own candidates to oppose the Tendy menace and the hopeless control of one party rule. They came up with Democratic candidates for that election, and the Putnam Valley Party. And they mounted a campaign to overturn the powers that be, and restore democracy in Putnam Valley.
The Tendy supporters challenged the Putnam Valley Party petitions. Specifically, those challenges were brought by Don Laurence, Charlie Ferrante, and George Gallinger, an interesting confederation of political allies.
While there were questionable aspects to their legal challenge, they succeeded in throwing the Putnam Valley Party off the ballot.
Mr. Laurence continued his tenure on the Democratic Committee, without ever supporting the local Democrats, until his decision to be on the local ethics board. While he cited a conflict between politics and ethics board service as [...]
Tompkins Landscaping on Morrissey Drive in Putnam Valley
Since last August, there has been a(nother) controversy brewing in Lake Peekskill. Tompkins Landscaping has been fueling trucks at their business there. Last summer, I contacted the building department about the fueling. They said they would check into it.
I waited. I received no response.
Then I contacted them again. I was told that they were not fueling trucks. But they were fueling trucks. I had seen them.
So then, I emailed Councilwomen Whetsel and Keresey about the situation. I received no response.from either councilwoman.
I wrote a letter to the Code Enforcement Officer, Irv Sevelowitz, which I copied to both councilwomen. I received no response.
At that point, I posted photographs of the fueling. There is video also. The photos were posted on the lohud blog. I did not identify the business, because I did not want to make an accusation, in the event that the activity was not prohibited.
It would seem that the fueling of vehicles in the Town of Putnam Valley is prohibited. It would seem that the delivery of fuel to any business for the purpose of fueling vehicles is prohibited.
When I was [...]
Planning Board Putnam Valley, April 20, 2009
I am one Planning Board meeting behind, but the April 20 meeting was noteworthy enough to go back to it.
There is a lot of noise on the tape, and in the meeting room. Would the Town Board please resolve this problem?
For me, there were three major issues at this meeting – 1) the interaction of this board with the public, 2) making decisions without having all the documentation in hand, and 3) the ever popular White Rock Road.
1)There were a couple of public hearings, and some members of the public trying to understand the projects. On most projects, the interested parties are not notified, and the public hearings are not held until after the board has gone through its full process, and has already made its determination, even though they have not made their formal decisions. The consultants say that their comments have been addressed, but do not specify what their concerns were. I would like to see earlier notification to neighbors. I also think there should be a format for presenting projects to the public that really informs them. Chairman Maskiell of the Zoning Board of [...]
Obviously, every thought, as well as every affirmative act of a public official as it relates to and is within the scope of one’s official duties is a matter of public concern. [...]
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Putnam Valley Planning Board
The major issues with the current project are the drawing of 900 gallons per day from the stream and the segmentation of the environmental review. [...]