Highlands Current Audio Stories

Nonprofits, weakened by funding cuts, brace for disaster

Things were already getting worse, even before the prospect of funds running out on Saturday (Nov. 1) for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

At the Philipstown Food Pantry, coordinator Kiko Lattu said the number of visitors during its Saturday morning hours has increased by 30 percent, including people who hadn't visited in years. "They were getting by for a while, but things have become more difficult," she said.

In Beacon, Fareground said it has started getting more food requests at the same time it is revamping its community fridge program. Dutchess Outreach in Poughkeepsie, which had been serving around 250 people a month, saw over 2,000 in February. Second Chance Foods, based in Brewster, said more people are requesting their Wednesday distributions. "There's been an increased need, and we're already at capacity for that program," said Martha Elder, the executive director.

Unless a resolution is reached soon, the cuts to SNAP - colloquially known as "food stamps" - threaten to transform a slow-moving emergency into a full-scale disaster as nonprofits and communities struggle to fill the gap.

And the gap is sizable: In Putnam County, 2,885 people rely on food stamps. In Dutchess, it's 17,152, and across the river, in Orange County, it's 45,530. "Those are not numbers we will be able to support," said Jamie Levato, the executive director of Fareground.

Renee Fillette-Miccio, the executive director of Dutchess Outreach, said about $3.4 million flows into the county each month for food benefits. "For every one meal provided by a food pantry, SNAP provides 12," she said. "There's just no way for the charitable food system to be able to keep up."

Trickle-down

After weeks of speculation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that federal food aid could cease on Nov. 1. The Trump administration said it could not legally tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds.

Fillette-Miccio of Dutchess Outreach spent Tuesday in Washington, D.C., speaking with lawmakers from both parties, each of whom told her that President Trump could easily restore funding. "They all had the same thing to say, which was that it's just a matter of a phone call," she said.

SNAP helps about 1 of every 8 Americans buy groceries, and nearly 80 percent of recipients are older adults, disabled or children, "which means that they don't really have the capacity to work to bring in money for food," said Dr. Hilary Seligman, a professor at the University of California who studies food insecurity and its health implications.

On Friday (Oct. 31), a federal judge ruled, in response to a lawsuit by 25 state attorneys generals, including from New York, that the suspension of SNAP was illegal and ordered the government to report on Monday its plan to distribute funding. Benefits were already facing delays because it takes a week or more to load SNAP cards in many states.

Some governors and mayors have stepped in, using what money they have available to fill the program that feeds about 42 million Americans. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency, announcing $65 million in emergency food assistance and a website at bit.ly/SNAPaid that lists food banks and other social services.

Dutchess County announced it would commit $150,000 per week to support local food pantries, for up to 10 weeks, pending approval by the Legislature at its Tuesday (Nov. 6) meeting. The county said the amount was determined after consulting with Fillette-Miccio, who chairs the Dutchess County Food Security Council.

In Putnam County, legislators on Friday unanimously approved a request to County Executive Kevin Byrne to allocate $150,000 to fund food pantries through the end of the year.

The potential federal pause comes at a time when many nonprofits have found their federal funding slashed or eliminated with little notice or explan...

Two Philipstown residents want to scare you

Sam Zimmerman loves Halloween. He really, really loves it. As the senior vice president of programming and acquisitions for Shudder, AMC Networks' streaming service, he has seen any frightening film you can mention - that's his job.

It's also now a central part of his life at home. In February, he and his wife and their two young sons moved to Parrott Street in Cold Spring, the heart of the village's annual trick-or-treating ritual.

Zimmerman likely didn't realize it, but another fright aficionado, Tore Knos, was already in place in Philipstown. In April, The New York Times called Knos' 2024 film, Snakeeater, one of "five horror films to stream now."

Although horror is booming at the box office, and there are seemingly unlimited viewing options online, Zimmerman says he most enjoys introducing viewers to sub-genres like giallo (Italian horror from the 1970s, such as films by Dario Argento) or folk horror, such as The Wicker Man (1973) and Midsommar (2019).

When Shudder launched, there weren't many boutique streaming services. As VP of programming, Zimmerman helps create collections so viewers "don't spend all their time browsing; they find things they want to watch and care about and explore within the genre.

"You can continuously come up with different nooks and crannies," he says. "It's fun to create pathways, to be able to say, 'Here are five or 10 films within this genre,' with some classics and some undiscovered gems. You'll get a good sense of the hallmarks and tropes." The Washington Post last year called Zimmerman "the man who picks your nightmares."

Zimmerman grew up in the Bronx and says he was probably too young when he became a horror fan, "but I couldn't help it." He read the Goosebumps series, as well as books and stories by Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. "I remember my dad showing me An American Werewolf in London and my grandmother buying me Psycho," he says.

In 2004, while he was in high school, his mother, stepfather and two sisters moved to Cold Spring. He would visit often, and the family hit Parrott Street at Halloween. At SUNY Purchase, Zimmerman majored in cinema studies and interned in New York City at Fangoria. "I stuck around the office until they hired me," he says. "I started going to film festivals and understood my interest was in programming, development, acquisition and production." In 2014, he became a consultant to the fledgling Shudder, then joined full-time.

His focus initially was on building the catalog by licensing classic and cult films. "There were all these films that, at the time, hadn't streamed," he recalls. "I knew this was our opportunity to showcase movies that had a reputation or had been celebrated but that most people hadn't been able to see." One example: Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (1981), which had limited home video distribution.

In 2016, Shudder began producing new films. Some highlights: Host, which was made quickly during the pandemic, about teens who conduct a Zoom seance (what could go wrong?), A Violent Nature ("something of an art house reinvention of what a slasher film is") and Oddity, an Irish film about a blind medium.

"In some ways, horror is one of the oldest forms of storytelling," Zimmerman says. "There have always been scary stories and cautionary tales, so there's something primal there. Even intellectual horror movies are trading on instinct and provocation. They reflect our anxieties at any given moment. But they're also fun, with that satisfaction of getting a thrill."

When Tore Knos needed moody, misty footage for Snakeeater, which is available on Amazon Prime, he didn't have to go far. Much of the film was set in a shadowy New York City. But he realized, during editing, that he needed a "pillow shot" to create atmosphere.

"I needed a shot looking up into the fog," he recalls. "One day it was super foggy, so I drove under the Bear Mountain Bridge and got a great shot."

While re...

Akropolis will perform at Howland Cultural Center

After meeting at the University of Michigan, five classically trained musicians formed an unusual ensemble and called themselves the Akropolis Reed Quintet. They will perform on Sunday (Nov. 2) at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon as part of the Howland Chamber Music Circle series.

Founded in 2009, Akropolis is one of the country's first reed quintets. As the group's star began rising, the clarinetist and saxophonist married and it became a nonprofit to apply for grants and expand educational outreach. Earlier this year, Akropolis won a Grammy for best instrumental composition, singling out the song "Strands."

Written by pianist and collaborator Pascal La Beouf, the song fuses jazz and classical. Drummer Christian Euman is all smiles in a video made during the recording session.

The title is apt because the reed instruments reel off call-and-response passages during the beginning and end, weaving the snippets together. During an interlude, the piano drifts off to dreamland before the players build back into a heavy progressive rock-style tsunami of sound that pulls the plug abruptly.

Most wind quintets include flute and French horn, along with oboe, clarinet and bassoon. The repertoire for this grouping stretches to the late 18th century. Akropolis is different because, in addition to two instruments with long jazz pedigrees (sax and clarinet), it includes an oboe, bassoon and bass clarinet, which adds heft at the low end.

Clarinet player Kari Landry credits the 40-year-old Calefax Reed Quintet from the Netherlands for creating the format and nurturing it through commissions and rearrangements of existing works.

"They're our mentors," says Landry. "We're trying to expand the wind-based color palette and classical music in any way we can."

Except for jazzy touches in George Gershwin's symphonic composition "An American in Paris" (arranged by Raaf Hekkema of Calefax), other selections being performed on Sunday will skew toward classical with world influences.

"These few specks of time," by Oswald Huynh (born 1997), presents a "flashy opening that then pulls from his Vietnamese heritage, working in a folk song with stunning compositional technique," says Landry.

The quintet will also perform "A Soulful Nexus," by Derrick Skye (born 1982), who is "coming up on some fame, uses the Persian classical scale system and adds percussive, fun elements," she says.

The group's website is awash in pink, "a visual representation of how we stand out," says Landry. "We use that colorful joy and energy to show that we're not about presenting scary, esoteric or off-putting new music."

Akropolis has commissioned more than 200 works. Its members are in their mid-30s, and Landry foresees a bright future for the configuration.

"There are now hundreds of us - it's a big network," she says. "Other people are creating more music because it's a niche within chamber music, but we hope that in 100 years this instrumentation becomes commonplace, like the string quartet."

The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main St. in Beacon. The concert begins at 4 p.m. For tickets, which are $35 ($10 for students 25 and younger), see howlandmusic.org/tickets. There is pay-what-you-wish pricing.

Topics range from affordability to bikes and firefighters

In a repeat of last year's budget deliberations, Beacon City Council members on Monday (Oct. 27) debated with Mayor Lee Kyriacou and City Administrator Chris White whether the city has done enough to advance affordable housing.

Each year, after the mayor introduces his budget proposal in October, department heads present their spending plans. Their proposals typically review accomplishments, notable projects scheduled for the following year and any changes in spending.

This week, after presentations on the highway, water and sewer and wastewater departments, the discussion turned to "council priorities." A year ago, council members sparred with Kyriacou and White over affordability before adding $75,000 to the 2025 budget for a communications plan and studies on affordable housing and non-vehicular transportation. The money had not been spent, Finance Director Susan Tucker said on Monday.

This year's discussion centered around a proposal to create a director of housing solutions. Kingston and Hudson have hired similar staff, while Beacon officials have suggested that Ben Swanson, who has been Kyriacou's assistant for four years and will become the deputy city administrator in 2026, could work on housing.

Kyriacou said on Monday that he believes Swanson, who has a law degree from New York University, has "far better qualifications" than anyone the city could hire. Instead of bringing in someone new, "I'd rather start with expertise," the mayor said. In addition, Beacon's planning consultant, Natalie Quinn, who worked for the Poughkeepsie Planning & Zoning Department from 2018 to 2022, could be a resource, he said.

That led Paloma Wake, who, along with Amber Grant, will return to the council next year, to argue that housing has not gotten enough attention. "We've been stuck in the same place" on the city's requirement of 10 percent below-market rate units in new developments of 10 or more for four years, she said.

"We've been hearing that the Housing Authority has the potential to build more [subsidized housing] for a while," Wake said. "There is a need to be even more proactive. What I really want to see out of this budget cycle is a clear commitment to resourcing this issue."

The city's 10 percent affordable (or "inclusionary zoning") policy is an outlier in the region because it demands something of developers without a giveback, such as added density or reduced application fees, Kyriacou said. The council has been reluctant to consider a giveback for a higher affordable percentage, but "I am more than willing to go there," he said.

He noted that Beacon accounts for 20 percent of the affordable housing stock in Dutchess, although the city comprises only 5 percent of the county's population. But with yearslong waiting lists at subsidized complexes in Beacon, we "still need to be doing everything we can to be ambitious enough to meet the need," Wake said.

The council agreed to put inclusionary zoning and the effect of short-term rentals on the housing market on a workshop agenda.

From there, Molly Rhodes, who is leaving the council to become a Dutchess County legislator, inquired about the cost of conducting a bike study. Earlier this month, members of the Beacon Bicycle Coalition presented the council with a petition signed by 1,000 people requesting a study on bike lanes and other infrastructure.

Beacon does not have the resources to do that immediately, said White, but an agreement with the county Transportation Council for an inventory and gap analysis of sidewalks could lead to a report on bikes.

Some council members appeared frustrated. "Every time we discuss [priorities]," the administration's response is: 'What do you not want to do? You're asking for too much,' " said Pam Wetherbee.

"We know in our own lives that if we do one thing, it precludes us from doing another," said White, who added that the city has received funding commitments to repair sidewalks, ...

Group celebrating 25 years of grantmaking

Seamus Carroll is convinced his daughter's journey from Haldane student to Apple iPhone designer began with Destination Imagination, the global problem-solving competition for K-12 students.

Haldane's program introduced her to skills such as soldering and wiring, he said, setting her on a path that led to studying electrical engineering as an undergraduate and computer science as a graduate student. In 2014, Haldane middle schoolers involved in Destination Imagination won a state championship before traveling to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to compete in the global finals.

The students' success is owed in part to the Haldane School Foundation, a group of can-do parents who, since the organization's founding in 2000, have raised and donated over $1.5 million to support Destination Imagination and other enrichment programs spearheaded by the district's teachers. With a new logo and branding, the group will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Nov. 8 during its annual fall fundraiser at the Glynwood Center in Philipstown.

Carroll and other early board members say the nonprofit's founding occurred during a time of frugal school boards and tax-weary property owners. However, with families moving into Philipstown who sought extracurricular experiences for their children, a group of residents decided to raise private donations to supplement Haldane's budgeted programming.

Their efforts enabled 57 Haldane seniors to travel to New Orleans to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild in the area following Hurricane Katrina, brought in educators from a Colorado wolf sanctuary and underwrote a weeklong program for teachers who learn about the Hudson River and apply their knowledge to classroom activities.

"There's a bunch of people who had the means to go to a private school, and probably would have, if some of these things didn't materialize," said Joe Curto, an early board member.

When the foundation began, according to Curto, the Haldane board was "black and white" about the curriculum - "If it was good enough for me, it's good enough for you" - and the budget battles were brutal. In June 2000, the month the foundation incorporated, district voters rejected, by a 916-666 vote, a proposal to spend $24.4 million on a dedicated high school building. (Voters approved the facility in 2002.)

Claudio Marzollo, already "involved in too many things," remembers declining his wife's invitation to attend one of the first organizational meetings for the foundation. "I said, 'If I go, I'm going to get roped into doing something.' " His wife returned home as the vice president, and Marzollo eventually joined the board.

The group began holding fundraisers, such as a wine tasting at The Chalet and a Snow Ball. A Harvest Ball at Incredible Caterers on Route 9D was the first big event, said Curto, with live music and an open bar. "We raised a ton of money, and then it became an institution," he said.

Becoming legitimate in the eyes of Haldane's administration and faculty took some time, said Carroll, but they eventually welcomed the foundation "as a source of funds to do good stuff that they couldn't get in the budget." Grants, which are awarded in the spring and fall, focus on experiences rather than computers and software, which are less durable than a memory.

"It was trying to get the kids to do things that they wouldn't get to do without the funding," said Carroll. "There were a lot of field trips that wouldn't have happened if the foundation didn't pay for them."

Grants usually total around $60,000 annually, said Kristen Sherman, the current president. Along with field trips to destinations like Washington, D.C., and Frost Valley, recent awards include $3,500 to cover printing costs for The Haldane Outlook, a student-run newspaper, and $4,900 for a middle school robotics club. (Editor's note: The Highlands Current received five grants from the foundation between 2018 and 2024 to support its Student Jou...

Says she has been branded 'disloyal'

The chair of the Philipstown Republican Committee has resigned from the party's countywide organization, saying it is "in crisis" and has branded her disloyal for supporting a fundraiser for sheriff candidate Larry Burke.

Cindy Trimble, in an Oct. 16 letter to Chair Andres Gil, said that the Putnam County Republican Committee is "challenged by internal disagreements and divisions that have affected endorsed candidates, incumbent candidates and dedicated committee members." She and other members of the Philipstown committee have formed a separate organization, the Philipstown Republican Club, she said.

One reason for the breakup, said Trimble, is that she has been "targeted for disloyalty" for attending an event for Burke, a Philipstown resident and Cold Spring police officer who is challenging Brian Hess, the acting sheriff and Republican candidate for the position. If he wins, Burke would be the third consecutive sheriff from Philipstown, along with the late Kevin McConville and his predecessor, Robert Langley Jr.

Gil said on Tuesday (Oct. 28) that he asked Trimble to resign and that committee leaders are expected to support the candidates endorsed by the county, "regardless of whether or not they actually chose that person." He highlighted Trimble's attendance at the Burke fundraiser and an August post on Burke's Facebook page.

Although Burke is a "lifelong Republican," according to Trimble, he is running as an independent because the county committee chose Hess over Burke and others who interviewed to be the party's candidate after McConville abandoned his re-election campaign due to illness. McConville died in September.

"My decision to attend [Burke's fundraiser] was based solely on friendship and community support, not politics," said Trimble, adding that she supported Hess's nomination by the county committee and has distributed his campaign signs.

According to Trimble, other officials and members of the county Republican Committee "have openly chosen to support non-endorsed candidates over endorsed candidates, support non-incumbent candidates over incumbent Republicans, support write-ins over endorsed candidates, support Democrats over Republicans and support Conservatives over Republicans."

In a photo on Burke's Facebook page, Trimble is shown with several Philipstown Democrats at a community meeting she organized. According to Burke's post, "Cindy had invited all concerned residents of Philipstown to come out, meet me and take part in a Q&A."

Gil called that "conduct unbecoming of a leader in our party." He said: "We should never be asking a person to vote a certain way. But as a leader of the party, you are supposed to support the endorsed and nominated candidates."

Asked about the remaining Philipstown Republican Committee members, Gil said that the county GOP has only received Trimble's resignation but is "looking into the matter, and we'll address the matter appropriately."

Burke said on Tuesday that Gil's call for Trimble to resign is "deeply disappointing" and that he was "extremely saddened" that her personal support for him became an issue. Attending a community event or fundraiser is a "fundamental right" that should not be subject to pressure or penalties, he said.

"Her resignation is a sad reflection of the state of local politics, where loyalty to individuals too often outweighs loyalty to principle," said Burke. "I hope her situation reminds everyone that integrity and

Second public hearing scheduled on parking changes

The Cold Spring Village Board, at its Wednesday (Oct. 22) meeting, tabled recommendations from the Planning Board to approve 32 parking waivers for 1 Depot Square and 37 Main St.

Since 2010, the board has granted waivers to businesses for $250 each, as payment in lieu of providing the required number of off-street spaces required by the Village Code when parking is unavailable.

At the meeting, Mayor Kathleen Foley questioned the effectiveness of the waivers. "The physical reality of the village is that the parking waivers don't help us," she said. "It's cash in the door, but it doesn't get us closer to solving the [parking] problem."

When waivers were initiated 15 years ago, (the first six were issued to Frozenberry, then at 116 Main St., where Angie's is located now), the village population didn't more than double on peak tourist weekends as it does now, she said.

At 1 Depot Square, the code requires 14 off-street spots for a planned addition of a 1,250-square-foot event space at the south end of The Depot Restaurant. Angie's Bakery and Café also plans to move and expand at 37 Main St., which would require 18 off-street spots. Both locales are busy sections of the village.

Brian Tormey, the owner of 37 Main St., said that while there is space behind the building, it isn't suitable for customer parking, for logistical and safety reasons.

Greg Pagones, who owns The Depot, said he's been using space owned by Metro-North adjacent to the restaurant for staff parking since 2007 through an informal agreement with the railroad. Pagones said Metro-North indicated several years ago it intended to formally renew the agreement, but that hasn't happened.

Foley expressed concern over the lack of a contract with Metro-North. "If we enter an agreement based on the concept that that space is available to you, and a year from now, MTA says, 'Nope, you're out,' we've made decisions about parking based upon space you don't control," she said to Pagones.

There was discussion as to whether Depot Square, often described as a private road, is actually a public street, and whether that status would affect off-street parking. Documents related to the street date to the mid-1800s.

"There is a public right-of-way that encompasses essentially all of the roadway and the parking on either side," said the Planning Board attorney, Jonathan DeJoy. "On top of that, the street has been used as a public street for decades."

The board tabled a decision on the parking waivers pending consultation with its counsel. "We want to find middle ground that allows entrepreneurial efforts in the village to flourish," balanced with quality of life for residents, Foley said.

In an Oct. 24 email, she described the situation as a quandary. "The practice of parking waivers has kicked the can for new developments down the road for a decade," she wrote. "Now the board has no option but to deal with the reality on the ground, weigh pros and cons, along with property rights, and make the best decision we can for the widest interests of the village. It is by no means a simple question."

In other business …

A second public hearing will be held on Nov. 12 at Village Hall on proposed changes to Chapter 126 of the Village Code, dealing with vehicles and traffic. The revisions proposed include limiting free parking on the east side of High Street to the section between Haldane Street and Northern Avenue and extending parking limits on both sides of Fair Street to include the section north of Mayor's Park to the village limits.

Twenty-four winter parking permits will be available for the municipal lot on Fair Street. Permits cost $40 and are valid from Nov. 15 to April 15.

250 Years Ago (October 1775)

The Committee of Safety for New York ordered repairs to the barracks and hospital at Albany in preparation for the arrival of colonial troops.

The royal governor in New York City, William Tryon, took refuge on a British warship, the HMS Duchess of Gordon, in the harbor.

Fearing a British attack, the Continental Congress ordered all sulfur and brimstone supplies taken from Manhattan and stored farther up the Hudson River.

150 Years Ago (October 1875)

Seward Archer at Breakneck Hollow was closing the woodhouse at the Baxter-Pelton place when he spotted movement in a small upper window. Thinking it was a chicken, he climbed a ladder and groped around the loft until he caught hold of a man's leg. "What are you doing here?" he yelled. Retreating down the ladder, he went to retrieve a gun. The intruder followed and ran off with Archer firing after him. The man shot back with a pistol, but only after he was at a safe distance.

A government bond belonging to George Haight that had been stolen from the foundry safe was redeemed with the U.S. Treasury by a bank in London.

A large dog belonging to William Birdsall, while inside Boyd's drugstore, mistook the plate glass in the upper part of the door for open air and jumped through it. He was startled but not injured.

William Lobdell narrowly missed serious injury when he lost his grip on a butcher knife and the point struck the bone of the nose at the corner of his left eye.

An intoxicated miner who loudly claimed at a local barber shop that his pocket had been picked found the money in his other pocket.

After several Dutchess County farmers complained about missing sheep, two Germans who owned a slaughterhouse in Poughkeepsie informed police that two young men had been selling them mutton and promised to bring them a fat cow. One suspect gave his name as William Smith, but two men from Cold Spring who visited the jail said that, in fact, his name was Spellman and he was known in the village for his thievery.

George Purdy of Cold Spring won top prizes at the annual Newburgh Bay Horticultural Society fair for his Isabella grapes, greengages and quinces.

The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad banned newsboys from throwing books, newspapers, prize packages or circulars into the laps of passengers.

A double-decked canal barge carrying $2,000 worth of coal [about $59,000 today] sank in 100 feet of water near West Point. The crew escaped on smaller boats.

Two railroad detectives arrested H. Freeman, a German peddler well-known in Cold Spring, with a huge pack stuffed with ladies' corsets. He said Isaac Levi had paid him $2 [$59] to retrieve the pack after it was thrown from a freight train near Stony Point. After being jailed on $1,000 [$29,000] bond, Freeman retracted his confession, saying he had found the corsets by happenstance. During a search of the Levi home, one of Levi's sons swung a pitcher and hit a detective in the back of the neck.

When William Smith caught a thief stuffing cabbages into a bag on the Undercliff estate, the culprit asked for leniency, then stood up, punched Smith in the face and ran.

Two preachers from Poughkeepsie spoke from the vacant lot at the corner of Main and Stone streets to what The Cold Spring Recorder called a "small and changing audience" about the need for a national ban on liquor sales.

100 Years Ago (October 1925)

James Nastasi covered a home on Pine Street occupied by grocer John Sackal with Elastic Magnesite Stucco, which its manufacturer claimed was weatherproof, fireproof and crackproof.

E.L. Post & Son offered home demonstrations of the Hoover vacuum cleaner, available on an installment plan with $6.25 [$115] down.

The Playhouse in Nelsonville was screening The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil DeMille, and Circus Days, starring Jackie Coogan.

A Columbus Day celebration at Loretto Hall included performances by soprano Rita Hamun of the Metropolitan Opera House and four rounds of sparring by boxer Joe Col...

Applicant argued project would be 'low intensity'

The Fishkill Planning Board earlier this month voted unanimously to deny an application to build a 51,500-square-foot self-storage facility just outside of Beacon, ending more than three years of review.

The project sought to construct a two-story building with 333 self-storage units on a partially wooded, 4.7-acre parcel at 1292 Route 9D, between Van Ness Road in Beacon and Interstate 84. It would have required a special-use permit because the site is in Fishkill's restricted business zone, which does not permit self-storage facilities. To receive the permit, the Planning Board had to determine that the use is "substantially similar" to others allowed in the district, such as hotels, restaurants and offices.

The board's attorney, Dominic Cordisco, explained during its Oct. 2 meeting that the application failed to meet any of the four criteria required to establish similarity: consistency with the town's comprehensive plan; consistency with the intent of the restricted business zone, which limits uses adjacent to neighborhoods; no adverse impacts to public health and safety; and no greater intensity of traffic, parking, noise and other impacts than allowed uses.

Because it failed the substantial similarity test, the application was ineligible for Planning Board review. "It is, in effect, a denial, but it is the process that is laid out in the [town] code," Cordisco said.

Cordisco said that the applicant had argued that a self-storage facility would be "low intensity" compared to uses allowed in the zone, "but that's not the test. The test is whether it's substantially similar and compatible with the district."

Many residents, including from Beacon, had opposed the project. Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou last year asked the town to investigate alternative entries, saying that southbound drivers on 9D would likely make illegal left turns or U-turns to get into the facility. Kyriacou and others predicted that traffic would increase on nearby residential roads as drivers turned around to get to the site.

To allay concerns, project officials said they would post directions online and petition GPS providers to use routes avoiding residential streets.

A consultant hired by the town said that self-storage businesses are typically located in commercial or industrial zones. There is a self-storage facility on Route 9D, about a half-mile from the proposed site, and another nearby on Route 52.

After voting, Planning Board Chair Jonathan Kanter noted that 1292 Realty LLC's request for a refund of $30,820 in application fees had been referred to Town Supervisor Ozzy Albra. Albra said on Oct. 23 that the request was denied because, according to Cordisco's review, the costs incurred by the town and its consultants were "reasonable and necessary given the procedural and substantive issues and concerns posed by this application," including, in June, the unusual step of the Planning Board authorizing the town planner to finalize an environmental impact statement on the project.

Records detail hundreds of accidents

Julia Stalder first thought the object emerging from the darkness on April 11, 2024, and hurtling toward the windshield of the Toyota Highlander she steered south on Route 9 looked like a "big black boat."

It was, in fact, a Chevrolet SUV being driven north by a Garrison man. As it rolled into Stalder's path, she turned right toward the shoulder to avoid the impact and save two lives: hers and a then-11-year-old daughter riding in the back.

With the Highlander shuddering from the sudden braking as it headed off the road, south of Skyline Drive outside the Cold Spring Mobile Home Park, "I thought, 'I am going to die in this moment; this is how it ends,'" said Stalder.

Both she and her daughter are survivors, however, of one of the nearly 500 one- and multi-vehicle crashes that occurred from 2020 to May 2025 on the serpentine, 14-mile stretch of Route 9 between South Mountain Pass and Carol Lane, where cars and trucks often exceed the 50 mph speed limit and residents confront tight windows when trying to enter from side roads that bisect at sharp angles.

Those accidents, which fell last year after rising in 2022 and 2023, range from minor fender-benders to head-on collisions and rollovers. They are chronicled in traffic reports and data obtained by The Current through a Freedom of Information Law request to the state Department of Transportation (DOT).

Some information is missing. For example, the 2025 reports do not include one for the crash near Graymoor that killed a Beacon man, Norton Segarra, on Jan. 17. But the reports and data show that, along with the deaths of Segarra and three other Highlands residents since 2020, nearly 200 people have been injured and businesses and residences lining the route have suffered property damage.

More than 25 percent of the mishaps occurred at or near seven intersections: Fishkill, Indian Brook, Old Albany Post North, Snake Hill/Travis Corners and Stone Ridge roads, and Routes 301 and 403. According to reports from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office deputies and state troopers responding to the incidents, most stem from drivers following too closely or driving at unsafe speeds, swerving to avoid deer or other animals, and/or failing to yield.

For years, elected officials and residents have cited some of those behaviors in a litany of letters petitioning DOT for remedies. While the agency has refused to lower the 50-mph speed limit, it is installing a long-sought-after light where Snake Hill and Travis Corners meet Route 9, just south of the entrance to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare campus at the former Garrison Golf Course.

It was at that intersection that Jacob Rhodus of Beacon collided with a motorist who turned left onto Snake Hill Road just as he passed through the intersection while driving south on Route 9. Less than 3 miles north, a driver who took to a shoulder in July 2023 struck Daniella Benavides as she retrieved trash cans from the end of the driveway of her house along Route 9.

She and her husband, whose children are 3 and 6 years old, are selling "because we can't live on this road anymore," said Benavides. "We feel unsafe living on the property."

'I remember seeing the sky'

Even before being struck, Benavides had concerns. In the five years that she and her husband have lived on the northbound side of Route 9, just south of the Garrison Volunteer Ambulance Corps, at least two vehicles have crashed into the stone wall at the end of their driveway. They've witnessed three accidents in the past year, she said.

On July 14, 2023, as she walked to the end of the driveway to retrieve trash cans, Benavides noticed that traffic had slowed - because of a school bus or car stopped while waiting to turn left into a driveway, she believes. About four cars south, Benavides saw a Toyota turn into the shoulder. As it headed toward her, she realized, in a "weird, slow-motion moment," there was no time to move out of the way.

"I remember seeing the sk...