Highlands Current Audio Stories

Mexican restaurant began in Philipstown

After 25 years of serving his trademark Mexican cuisine at locations in Philipstown, Fishkill, Beacon and Wappingers Falls, Luis Pinto, the owner and affable presence at the Maya Café on Route 9, has sold the business.

He and his restaurant had come a long way since his days growing up in Merida, the largest city on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. "It had about 250,000 people when my family moved to Dallas when I was 15," recalled Pinto, 69. "Now it's a city of 1.5 million!"

In 2000, Pinto moved to Philipstown, where he still lives, and a year later opened the Maya Café in Perc's Plaza (now Philipstown Plaza) on Route 9. "It was the best thing that happened in my life," said Pinto, who still runs into his original customers. "They told me it was the best Mexican food they had ever had."

They were also fond of his spiked "Mexican lemonade," which he provided at no charge. The café initially didn't have a liquor license, but a wine store next door made it easy to bring your own. The staff consisted of Pinto and a friend.

In 2005, he moved the restaurant up Route 9 to Fishkill, where he purchased Moog's Farm Restaurant. Steve Carlson, a Philipstown contractor, renovated the building. It was a significant expansion. At Perc's Plaza, the cafe served 30 to 35 people. In Fishkill, Pinto could seat up to 140.

Pinto learned to cook in his mother's kitchen in Mexico and from his grandmother, who prepared meals for the employees at the family bakery and grocery. "My grandfather was the best baker in Merida," Pinto said. "He made everything by hand and supplied 40 stores."

As a high school junior in Dallas, Pinto worked as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant. As he took on more duties, he became known as "the king of nachos."

In 1986 Pinto met his wife, Joni, while working at a hotel in Cancun. The Buffalo native spoke no Spanish, but the two operated a stall at a Cancun market, where they sold tacos, and Pinto served his favorite recipe, cochinita pibil. "It's a typical Yucatan dish," he said. After marinating a pig with sour orange for a day and adding spices, it's wrapped in banana leaves, buried in a charcoal pit and roasted for several hours.

Pinto said he has kept his café menu "pretty authentic," but he didn't use much oil and included plenty of vegetables. He traveled to Mexico regularly to purchase about 90 pounds of spices per trip. "You can get the same spices here, but the quality isn't the same," he said.

He still enjoys cooking and creating dishes. One of his Saturday night favorites has been salmon and avocado stuffed with shrimp, surrounded by fruit.

Pinto operated a Maya Café in Beacon for a year in 2006. He ran a Wappingers Falls location for 15 years until it closed in 2025.

Last month, Pinto sold the Fishkill restaurant to the Van Wyck Restaurant Group. "I'm at a point in my life where I want to visit my daughter and grandchildren in Dallas more," he said. "Joni retired 10 years ago, and I want to travel with her."

Pinto said he had his children and grandchildren in mind when he kept a small piece of the business as part of the sale. He will continue to be a presence at the café for a while, but the 60-hour workweeks are over.

Asked to join Cold Spring, Philipstown lawsuit

The chances that Cold Spring and Philipstown will have Putnam County's resources in their quest to overturn New York State's approval of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail environmental review just dimmed.

One week before a May 20 deadline for the village and town to file a court challenge, the Putnam Legislature's three-person Protective Services Committee voted 2-to-1 to refer a request for the county to participate to the Legislature's legal counsel. Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley in the Legislature, cast the "no" vote.

If the committee had approved the request on Wednesday (May 13), it would have gone to the full Legislature, which does not meet until June 2. But Thomas Regan Jr., who chairs the committee, said the request from County Executive Kevin Byrne came two days before the meeting — without a draft lawsuit, cost estimates and enough notice to include the item on the meeting agenda.

"Regardless of my feelings on the topic, it would be ill-advised in any circumstance — for just learning about something and say, 'We're going to go in with this lawsuit and see where it goes,' " he said.

Before the vote, Cindy Trimble, a Philipstown resident, demanded that Montgomery recuse herself because she has expressed support for the trail and "has not publicly addressed" concerns about the project.

"What law says I have to recuse myself?" asked Montgomery.

Regan repeatedly asked Trimble to limit her comments to the vote on whether to refer the request to the legislative counsel. He banged a gavel as the back-and-forth continued. "This landed on our desk 48 hours ago, which has now put us in a hot seat," said Regan. "We have constituents who have concerns on both sides of this, and we want to do right by everybody."

In a "findings statement" dated Jan. 20 that concluded the mandated environmental review, state parks said that HHFT "avoids, minimizes or mitigates potential adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable" and "will achieve a balance between the protection of the environment and the need to accommodate social and economic considerations."

The town and village boards said the review of the project — a 7.5-mile trail between Dockside Park in Cold Spring and Long Dock Park in Beacon — did not adequately address potential visitor impact on parking, traffic, emergency services and local quality of life. The municipalities have 120 days from the date of the findings statement to file an Article 78 proceeding. Earlier this month, their respective boards authorized Mayor Kathleen Foley and Supervisor John Van Tassel to ask Putnam to join a lawsuit.

After the Protective Services Committee voted to refer the request, Van Tassel asked the legislators, "Can I just mention the timeline that we're up against?" Legislator Jake D'Angelo responded: "That's not our problem."

The last time I spoke to Shannon LaDeau at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in February, we were in the middle of our first classically cold winter in several years, thanks to a wonky polar vortex.

I asked Shannon if all the deep freezes might lead to a down year for ticks and tick-borne illnesses. She reminded me that blacklegged ticks, the buggers responsible for Lyme disease, are well-adapted to cold weather. However, to pass pathogens to us, the ticks must feed on an infected animal, typically a deer or a white-footed mouse. If the brutal cold affected them, we could frolic with less concern.

Unfortunately, it appears we will not have a carefree tick season. LaDeau and her colleagues are starting their annual tick counts in Millbrook, and there isn't any hard data yet on the deer and mice populations, but "the ticks so far do not seem to be showing any signs of suffering from winter effects," she said last week.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that emergency room visits for tick bites are three times what was reported at the same time last year.

That's especially bad news considering a report that LaDeau and the Cary Institute just put out with researchers at SUNY Albany: Ticks in the Hudson Valley are becoming more likely to carry more than one pathogen, increasing the chances that you could get multiple diseases from just a single bite.

The Cary Institute has been studying ticks for more than 30 years. It has decades of data and ticks placed in cold storage in anticipation of additional funding and improved technology. For the recent study, the researchers screened 10 years' worth of nymphal blacklegged ticks — the poppy-seed ones that are so difficult to detect — for 16 pathogens.

They found that about 10 percent were carrying more than one pathogen, but that the rate had increased over the years. The most prevalent pathogens were those that cause Lyme disease and babesiosis, a malaria-like disease that can be devastating for some but has little effect on others. (I found out seven years ago that I had it only because it came up in a test when I gave blood.)

If there's good news, it's that diseases such as the Powassan virus, which can cause brain inflammation and meningitis, only showed up in a single tick, and the bacteria (Bartonella henselae) that cause "cat scratch disease" didn't show up at all. The researchers also didn't find any ticks with alpha-gal, a molecule that can cause allergic reactions to red meat.

That's not surprising, because lone star ticks are most likely to cause alpha-gal syndrome. While they have been found on Long Island, they are not prevalent in the Hudson Valley and haven't been found at Cary. But the researchers did find a few ticks carrying pathogens responsible for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which usually isn't found in blacklegged ticks.

What's causing these changes? It's not clear, but LaDeau has some hypotheses. If nymphs carry more than one pathogen, it's likely they picked them up from the animal they bit, because they're probably too young to have had multiple meals. That would suggest deer and white-footed mice can also carry multiple pathogens, possibly from having been bitten repeatedly over years. Contracting one pathogen might also make hosts more vulnerable to infection from a different pathogen. "There are some lab studies that suggest that that's possible," said LaDeau.

If you find a tick has been feasting on you for at least 12 hours, get tested for multiple infections. LaDeau worries that the prevalence of Lyme disease in the Hudson Valley has made doctors less likely to test for other infections or to start patients right away on an antibiotic such as doxycycline, which is not the best strategy for other infections. For instance, treating babesiosis requires anti-malarial drugs.

It's also worth noting that Pfizer recently announced that its Lyme vaccine, which has completed Phase 3 trials, is 70 percent effective and has no repo...

Cold Spring designer to exhibit at furniture fair

Many interior designers understand lighting, but few know about electrical wiring, says Charles Burleigh, a Cold Spring resident who recently retired from the industry. Seeking to illuminate dollhouses as a child, he learned the basic engineering concepts from his father.

Taking advantage of newfound free time, Burleigh developed a method for turning out flowing porcelain bowls that offered elaborate form and just enough function. Though he dabbled in other media, he always returned to the flowery bowls, figuring that their striking appearance could be put to a practical use.

One night, an epiphany: "I figured I could turn them over or mount them on a wall as lamps." It was a simple concept that prompted many possibilities, including acceptance to the juried Launch Pad section for emerging designers at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at the Javits Center in New York City, which debuted in 1989 to offer an alternative to the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Burleigh will man a 25-square-foot booth for three days at the prestigious annual trade show, which will be open to the public on Tuesday (May 19). "In the interior design world, OMG, you have to go," he says.

Acanthus Ceiling Mount

Acanthus Wall Mount

Helianthus Table Lamp

Helianthus Wall Mount

Lisianthus Table Lamp

Ranunculus Table Lamp

Sabelica Pendants

Standing in his Cold Spring studio across from Depot Square while constructing the booth, Burleigh contrasted his career and new pathway. "It's nice to have merit-based recognition," he says. "In my other gigs, it was always who you know." The goal is to get a gallery or showroom to represent his work. "I just want to make things and not deal with the business end," he says.

Another eureka moment led him to the name, the Herbarium Collection, which is appropriate because the work appears to be organic. Green-glazed pieces resemble cabbage leaves. Others look like seashells or flowers. All are fragile.

Some of his white-ish lamps, adorned inside with gold glaze, are ghost-like. The interplay between the glaze, the porcelain and the illumination makes each handcrafted work singular.

"I started doing pinch-pots at the Garrison Art Center, little cups, and everything grew from that simple idea," Burleigh says of his textured collection.

Raw porcelain consists of 10-pound clay-like chunks. Burleigh places the malleable material into a colander coated with a paper towel, then pinches and presses away, working the material into a translucent state.

Deploying the latest LED technology, which uses the power equivalent of a nightlight but emits the brilliance of incandescence, he figured that for some pieces silvered bulbs — with tops coated in silver, gold and other colors to mute the glare — would spotlight the artistry and enhance the presentation.

For now, he's sticking with the artisanal approach. "Some people come out of design school and present chairs at ICFF that can be easily replicated," he says. "My work is more involved because I'm showing one-of-a-kind pieces that could be roughly recreated. But if someone wants to mass-produce something based on the style, I'm all ears."

ICFF will be open to the public at The Javits Center, 429 11th Ave. in New York City, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 19. Tickets are $250 ($35 students) at icff.com/fair/attend-register. To explore the Herbarium Collection, see charlesburleighporcelain.com.

Classical music star quickly sells out Howland

At age 29, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason is a classical music superstar who knew about Beacon even before her handlers booked a gig at the Howland Cultural Center on Sunday (May 17) that quickly sold out.

"I follow other piano players on the circuit, and when I saw that Emanuel Ax played there [in 2024], I was excited and couldn't wait," she says of the Howland Chamber Music Circle series.

On April 15, she performed and signed products at the flagship HMV music store in London, a ritual typically reserved for pop stars.

Fueling her solo career, the Nottingham native grew up in what her mother Kadiatu calls a "house of music," the title of her 2021 book about raising what is often called the world's most talented family. Last year, 60 Minutes aired a profile.

All seven siblings, along with mom and pop, Stuart, specialize in classical but play other styles. Isata, the eldest, says, "If I didn't take it up, the dominoes may not have fallen as they did." Her brother, Sheku, 27, is renowned for playing cello at the wedding of Prince Charles and Megan Markle in 2018, and the two will tour together later this year.

For her Chamber Music Circle concert, she crafted a theme that reflects "darkness moving into light." Most of the works will be new to her repertoire.

The proceeding will kick off with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, ear candy that Ax performed on the same piano two years ago. Next comes Gaspard de la nuit, by Ravel, which "gets pretty wild and weird," she says.

Kanneh-Mason champions the work of female composers, including Clara Schumann and the "exceptionally talented but overlooked" Fanny Mendelssohn, older sister to Felix. Also on the program are Nocturne and Halo, two works by Dobrinka Tabakova, 46, with whom the pianist shares a BBC connection.

"They're calming pieces that fit with the dark-to-light journey," she says. "The Waldstein sonata [by Beethoven, which caps her program] is sometimes referred to as 'The Dawn. ' "

With their classical chops firmly established, Sheku and Isata also branch out. He is influenced by hip-hop, Bob Marley and Brazilian grooves. She performed an impressionistic version of George Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm," a showpiece for jazz pianists after Oscar Peterson put his stamp on the tune in 1951.

"I like the arrangement [by Earl Wild], and it's an exciting piece to perform," she says. "I try to bring all aspects of the range of music I like into my playing."

Captured in a slick video, the rendition crackles as she reels off challenging passages as if they were a walk in the park. The piece opens with a skittering cascade of descending notes, then seesaws between aggressive runs and elegant, classical-inspired flourishes.

Beyond playing the music, Kanneh-Mason acts, looking for the cameras and flashing her wide eyes. In the creepy crawl toward the end that climbs up the keyboard's register, several notes represent shards of the song's melody.

Though she digs jazz, improvisation remains under wraps. "I'm developing my ear and trying new things, but I don't do it in public — yet."

Tickets for the Howland Chamber Music Circle's 2026-27 season will go on sale in July. See howlandmusic.org.

Changes inspired by Hudson Highlands Reserve

Philipstown has amended its regulations for "conservation subdivisions" that sowed some confusion among Planning Board members last year when they reviewed a proposal for a 24-unit housing development called Hudson Highlands Reserve.

The project was Philipstown's first conservation subdivision, a residential development in which houses are clustered to preserve more land as open space. Philipstown's zoning allows developers to build more units in exchange for maintaining features such as forests, scenic views and wetlands.

The previous regulations required projects to be considered as potential conservation subdivisions but gave the Planning Board discretion to allow a conventional site plan, even if it determined that the plan would adversely affect the town's rural character.

Based on recommendations from a Zoning Update Committee, the Town Board on Thursday (May 7) approved language specifying that the Planning Board "shall require" a conservation subdivision if it has fewer adverse effects on the rural landscape or natural resources than a conventional plan.

In addition, the new regulations remove steep slopes and wetlands from the calculations for how much land must be preserved and eliminate a "density formula" as one of two methods (along with a "yield plan") for calculating the number of permitted units.

(A yield plan requires a preliminary design, with minimum lot sizes ranging from 3 to 20 acres per unit, depending on the district. The density formula allowed 75 percent of slopes, wetlands and other "constrained" land to be subtracted from the buildable area used in determining the number of units.)

In March, the Planning Board approved the revisions by a 6-to-1 vote. In reviewing Hudson Highlands Reserve, the board "tore itself up on yield plan versus density and didn't understand why both were there," said Neal Zuckerman, its chair. "We really struggled on why they were getting so much credit for conserving land that could never be built upon in the first place."

The changes, which included removing convenience stores as an allowed use in a conservation subdivision, "add clarity, simplicity and directness," he said.

Climate Smart

Martha Upton plans to resign as coordinator of Philipstown's Climate Smart program. Upton, who became coordinator in 2022, will step down in September or sooner if the town names a replacement.

"I reluctantly will have to accept this," said Supervisor John Van Tassell, adding that he knew residents who are interested in the position. "She has really provided us with a lot of equipment, a lot of resources," he said. "So, my appreciation to Martha for her years of service."

Tubman Byway

The board approved a resolution expressing its support for the state to designate the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Scenic Byway, a 550-mile corridor between Manhattan and Niagara Falls. Phase One runs 173 miles between Niagara Falls and Auburn, home of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park. Philipstown is along the Phase Two route, which covers 376 miles between Manhattan and Auburn.

Public notices

The board tabled a resolution supporting the proposed Local Government Notice Modernization and Transparency Act, which would allow municipalities to post public notices solely on their websites, rather than paying to have them printed in newspapers.

Last month, Nelsonville's board approved a resolution supporting the legislation. But Philipstown's board members said they wanted to continue advertising in print newspapers. "I would add that a healthy community relies on a healthy press, and I think we should support our papers where we can," said Ned Rauch, a member of the Town Board and a former journalist.

For decades, Philipstown, Cold Spring and Nelsonville used The Putnam County News & Recorder as their "official newspaper" for notices. But after the weekly closed last month, all three municipalities switched to The Poughkeepsie Journal, whi...

Fire companies to be honored for 2025 rescue

Marathon site

At the Wednesday (May 6) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, Mayor Kathleen Foley addressed questions she said had been raised about the 12-acre Marathon site on Kemble Avenue during public sessions hosted by the owner, The Kearney Group, and an urban planning firm, Speck-Dempsey.

"They were not village events, and there is no application [before village boards] yet for the site," Foley said. "This board is not authorized to act on its own related to this parcel, and I certainly have no authority to authorize anything on my own."

The Zoning Board, Planning Board and the Historic District Review Board are the reviewing bodies, the mayor said. She said the process will follow Chapter 134 of the Village Code, which regulates planned mixed-use projects.

"There are a lot of thoughtful hoops that project will have to go to before it's ever approved," she said. "There are many process points at which there will be opportunity for public comment, and to shape the outcome."

Mountain rescue

The Cold Spring and North Highlands fire companies will be recognized at the Putnam County EMS banquet later this month for a mountain rescue they performed, along with the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corp, on May 3, 2025.

CSFC Chief Matt Steltz said the victim had been critically injured by a falling tree limb. First responders administered medical care and transported the victim off the mountain, he said.

CSFC has conducted four mountain rescues since March. The department answered 14 calls in April, including seven activated fire alarms, three mutual aids to local fire companies and two injured or lost hikers.

Police tasers

The board approved a recommendation by Matt Jackson, the Police Department's officer-in-charge, to accept a $106,382 bid from Axon Enterprise for tasers and training, amortized over 10 years. Jackson said the units will replace models with outdated technology that are no longer supported by the supplier.

CSPD responded to 137 calls in April, including 17 alarms, 16 assists to local EMS and 11 traffic stops. Officers also investigated four suspicious incidents and two calls each involving fraud and harassment.

In other news…

The Climate Smart Committee's food scrap recycling program will be expanded from weekly pickup to twice weekly. In addition, beginning June 1, any type of food scraps can be deposited in the bin at 46 Kemble Ave. on Tuesday mornings for pickup that evening or on Thursdays for Friday pickup.

The board authorized RACE Coastal Engineering to conduct a three-phase structural evaluation of the Cold Spring dock at a cost of $30,125.

The board approved in principle a request by the Cold Spring Boat Club to upgrade the club's entrance gate, but tabled a request to allow a food truck to operate on the site. The riverfront property is owned by the village and leased to the club.

The board tentatively approved a request for a film crew to shoot in the village on June 3, pending information about traffic control and other details. The areas affected would include Depot Square, a small section of Main Street and the Our Lady of Loretto parking lot.

The board accepted Ben Cheah's resignation from the Planning Board, effective June 30, and will seek applicants to fill the position.

A youth baseball clinic will be held at Mayor's Park from June 29 through July 1. The park will remain open to the public.

Room rates at former Craig House start at $513

Local and county officials gathered in Beacon on Thursday afternoon (May 7) for the ribbon-cutting of the luxury Mirbeau Inn & Spa on Route 9D, which opens today for guests with rooms ranging from $513 to $693 per night.

The Mirbeau Companies, which owns a day spa in Albany and three resorts (in Rhinebeck and Skaneateles, New York, and Plymouth, Massachusetts), purchased the 64-acre estate for $10 million in 2022. Its centerpiece is a 14,000-square-foot, neo-Gothic mansion built in 1859 for Civil War Gen. Joseph Howland and his wife, Eliza. It later became a private psychiatric hospital, Craig House, that closed in 1999 and had sat empty since.

Mirbeau began construction in February 2024. As unveiled on Thursday, the mansion is a spiffed-up pink brick jewel surrounded by incipient plantings, newly sodded lawns and a pool and water feature with a bridge and winding paths. Mirbeau tore down a 1978 hospital wing and built a chateau with the spa and 63 rooms in its place.

In his remarks, Ed Kellogg, the general manager, admitted that finishing the project went "right down to the wire." Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou confirmed this, saying he received a call from Kellogg at 11 that morning saying the city's Building Department had just issued the certificate of occupancy required for opening.

Kellogg noted that Craig House, the treatment center of choice for the rich and famous such as Zelda Fitzgerald and Jackie Gleason, had a "long history of wellness and rehabilitation. We're excited about that." He praised the city and the Planning Board as "wonderful," hailing their professionalism. "It was a challenge," he said, but "it was a great experience."

Kyriacou thanked Mirbeau founders Linda and Gary Dowers and "the entire Mirbeau team for bringing this gem of a historic asset back to life." He said that Dia art museum coming to Beacon in 2003 was a "first huge leap" for the city. "This is the second leap for us," he said.

"I want to say how important I think this will be for Beacon to take that next step of becoming a destination for tourism, for the arts and for people to come here and help enjoy our Main Street and keep it alive, keep it going," Kyriacou said. "I will say that we will be adding more catalysts in short order: The Fjord Trail and the Beacon Rail Trail are coming soon and will be important additions and very natural fits" for the spa.

Restoring a historic property comes with a plethora of rules and regulations. "This was the most challenging project we've ever undertaken," said Michael Dal Pos, the CEO of Mirbeau Hospitality Services. "But the results speak for themselves."

Kellogg noted that Mirbeau was not able to add an elevator in the original home because it would have altered the roofline and jeopardized the company's historic preservation tax credits. Instead, guests reach the second-floor rooms by climbing a wooden staircase. Mirbeau installed a dumbwaiter to move luggage.

The main suite was the Howlands' original bedroom. Its furnishings play up the antique look with a wooden vanity, plush upholstery and draperies. The bathroom in this primary suite is bigger than many New York City studio apartments and has a clawfoot tub and lavish-looking glass-enclosed shower.

On the ground floor, there is a suitably dark lounge and library with an adjoining game room dominated by an ornate 1873 Johnson & Company 58-pipe organ. There is a bar and several pretty dining rooms, with a few blank spots on the walls (and signs begging pardon for work in progress).

A large banquet room has views toward the river. There are several outside terraces furnished with tables, chairs and umbrellas that have views of the manicured grounds, but also look down on a wooded area and parking lots.

Photos by Ross Corsair

The chateau's lower floor houses the spa, which includes a gym, yoga room and solarium that are flooded with natural light. Doors lead out to a Monet Garden (the ...

Five takeaways on plans and public response

The development of the last substantial piece of real estate in Cold Spring took a significant step forward in public sessions held April 27 to 30 at the Chapel Restoration and the St. Mary's Church rectory.

The urban planning firm Speck-Dempsey presented initial concept plans for a mixed-use development on the Kemble Avenue parcel, while residents voiced concerns and shared ideas regarding the 12-acre tract. There were standing-room-only crowds at each of the two charrettes that included presentations; the other two were open houses.

The Marathon Battery factory operated on the site from 1952 to 1979, discharging cadmium and other toxins into the soil and the adjacent Foundry Cove and the Hudson River. The Environmental Protection Agency ordered that the cove be dredged in 1972 and, in 1987, began a nine-year cleanup of the property that included demolition of the factory. (For a detailed history, see highlandscurrent.org/marathon.)

Kearney Realty Group purchased the property in 2003. In 2023, Cold Spring amended the zoning from light industrial to planned mixed-use.

Residents want smaller homes

Informal votes among the residents who attended the charrette at St Mary's included a few unrealistic suggestions, such as "nothing" and "a parking lot," but housing received the most attention. Residents advocated for reasonable rents, 12 homes, tiny houses, 55-plus housing, a ban on short-term rentals and a shared, central green space ("cottage courts"). The architecture will echo Cold Spring's historic buildings in style and scale, according to Speck-Dempsey.

Sustainability also scored well, with requests for low light pollution, solar power, energy-efficient buildings, trees, green space and preservation of the forest buffer. Community-oriented ideas included an aquatic center, ballfield, skate park, pavilion, safe walking and community-oriented retail. Some people wanted to see a bodega or restaurants that serve Thai and Indian food.

The site is larger than it looks

Speck-Dempsey drafted 12 concept plans and recommended two, which it dubbed The Amble and The Angle. Each contains 100 to 150 units, which raised some concern. Office uses, live-work spaces, upstairs apartments, small apartment villas and a few medium-size houses were also part of the mix. Restaurants or cafes could be added, but would require a zoning change.

To illustrate capacity, Jeff Speck of Speck-Dempsey said two Forge Gate condominium complexes, or 136 units, could fit on the Marathon site with substantial open space. Public spaces would include a playground, the protection and enhancement of the wooded bluff at the south end, paths and viewing areas. Speck stressed the proposed neighborhood's "walkability" and noted that traffic calming devices, such as narrow lanes, are incorporated in the plans.

The site is safe, says EPA

While some residents have lingering concerns about the polluted past, Chris Dempsey of Speck-Dempsey said the EPA determined that the site was safe for development more than a decade ago. Excavation for construction "won't get close" to the 15-foot limit set by the EPA, environmental monitoring will be carried out throughout construction, and all plans require approval by the EPA and state regulators.

Dempsey said the village has indicated it has the capacity to handle water and sewer for the development, although he reserved the right to reassess once detailed plans are ready. Because the site's groundwater is contaminated, the units cannot use wells for drinking water.

Traffic flow seems tight

Speck-Dempsey say that, even within the narrow confines of Rock Street, Kemble Avenue and Wall Street, traffic will not be a problem, including safe pickup and drop-off at the adjacent Montessori school. It plans to commission a traffic study and will look at access from Lunn Terrace or by connecting Kemble with Chestnut Street, although those options seem unlikely. Changing Kemble to two-way traf...

Activists have a plan for weekend service

A year after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority discontinued a commuter ferry on the Hudson River between Beacon and Newburgh, activists are hoping to raise $200,000 to launch their own weekend service.

The Save the Ferry coalition, whose members live on both sides of the river, envisions a free boat running 10 hours on each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from mid-June through October. They hope to demonstrate that demand still exists for the route, which the MTA has replaced with shuttle buses.

The service would rely on the Nellie Bly, a 40-person vessel supplied by the New York Boat Co., which runs charter cruises from Peekskill. The coalition said it is in talks to use the Sloop Club dock in Beacon and the Riverfront Marina in Newburgh.

The MTA suspended ferry service in January 2025 due to river ice. During the hiatus, the agency said it discovered damage to the floating dock it used in Beacon. Because ridership had also been declining — from an average of nearly 250 people per day in 2008 to 62 in 2024, according to the MTA — the agency officially canceled the service in June, before it ever restarted.

If the coalition can secure funding, weekend service "would be one incremental step in the whole restoration of that regional transportation link," said Victoria Manning, a Newburgh resident.

Organizers wouldn't say what they have raised so far, but they are asking Hudson Valley legislators to push for funding for their ferry pilot in the 2026-27 state budget. They estimate the $200,000 will cover marketing, insurance, permitting, docking fees and a crew for the season. If funding doesn't materialize, the coalition says it will try again in 2027-28.

While the MTA ferry ran only during commuting hours, bringing Newburgh residents to Beacon's Metro-North station to catch trains toward Poughkeepsie or Grand Central Station, the coalition believes a weekend boat would attract casual riders as well as people who work on Saturday and Sunday. "Businesses and individuals have been clamoring for this," Manning said.

An MTA spokesperson said on Wednesday (May 6) that the agency has no plans to restart a ferry between Beacon and Newburgh. The bus shuttles are free through 2026; an express route to New York Stewart International Airport has been added. For the third year, the agency will also operate a seasonal weekend ferry between Haverstraw in Rockland County and Ossining in Westchester County beginning this month.

Members of the coalition don't understand why that can't happen farther north. Amanda Brown, a Beacon resident and professional mediator, said the MTA told her it shut down the Newburgh crossing because of low ridership. But she believes the agency didn't do enough to examine the reasons behind it.

In January, Brown began surveying Main Street business owners in Beacon. Some told her, she writes in a report she hopes to share with the Beacon and Newburgh city councils, that they are certain some customers come from Newburgh. Others said that "anything that could draw people to the area in general would be good for them," said Brown, who plans more interviews.

Based on 2024 state tourism statistics, the coalition says its conservative estimate is that 60 passengers on a weekend ferry would generate $187,000 in retail revenue in the two cities over the season. At the high end, they said, with more passengers spending more money, it could reach $750,000.

"Newburgh does not have the same level of weekend tourism as Beacon, so our small business community needs this connection," said Manning, a museum registrar who rides the train into New York City three or four times a week.

According to the state Department of Transportation, usage of the Newburgh-Beacon bus shuttle more than doubled in the past year. But the numbers don't reflect an important difference between the bus and the ferry, said Manning, who takes a 6 a.m. shuttle to Beacon. On the return trip over the Newburgh-Be...