Candidate also gets nod from Dutchess

The Putnam County Democratic Committee voted on Monday (April 20) to endorse Cait Conley, one of five candidates who hope to challenge Mike Lawler for his U.S. House seat in November. The district includes Philipstown.

"In a race among strong Democratic candidates, Cait Conley has the X factor that we think will give us the best chance to beat Mike Lawler in November," said Jennifer Colamonico, the committee chair. She said Conley received 63 percent of the vote on the first ballot.

Conley is a West Point graduate from Orange County and former director of counterterrorism for the National Security Council.

The other candidates who will appear on the June 23 primary ballot are John Cappello, a Rockland native and former defense attaché at the U.S. embassies in Israel and Serbia; Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Effie Phillips-Staley, a Tarrytown trustee; and Mike Sacks, a lawyer and former TV journalist from Westchester.

The Dutchess County Democratic Committee earlier endorsed Conley and Rep. Pat Ryan, the incumbent in House District 18, which includes Beacon.

In Westchester County, Democratic leaders on April 15 declined to endorse in the District 17 race, with its 26 members splitting their votes between Conley and Davidson or abstaining. The other candidates did not seek the endorsement, according to the committee.

State Senate

Putnam County Democrats declined to endorse in the race for the state Senate seat held by Republican Rob Rolison that includes the Highlands.

Colamonico said the representatives from the two towns in the district, Philipstown and Putnam Valley, felt that both Evan Menist, a member of the Poughkeepsie Common Council, and Lisa Kaul, a member of the Dutchess Legislature, were "outstanding candidates." A third candidate, Gay Lee, a social worker and former Newburgh City Council member, will also appear on the primary ballot.

The Dutchess Democrats endorsed Kaul for state Senate and Jonathan Jacobson, the Assembly incumbent whose district includes Beacon.

The Putnam Democrats earlier endorsed incumbent Dana Levenberg for the state Assembly seat that includes Philipstown. The organization also endorsed John Van Tassel for Philipstown supervisor, Brett Yarris for county executive, Dr. Michael Strauss for county coroner and Maia Gilleo, Kathy Kahng and Gwen Burke for the county Legislature.

There's a new class being offered at Ballet Arts Studio for children of all abilities. It's been a godsend for 13-year-old Emma Posey and her mother, Pamela.

"I had been looking for years — and for a class where she was with her peers, not with children much younger" Pamela said. "Emma has always loved dancing, but she was born with multiple genetic complications. Among her many challenges is a genetic mutation where she can be more easily injured."

When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Emma always writes: "Ballerina."

Pamela found Dance As You Are, held on Tuesday nights for children ages 7 to 12, by circumstance: She happened to drive by the Beacon studio and saw a sign. Katie Bissinger, the artistic director at Ballet Arts Studio, said she had long wanted to offer the class because her younger sister was born with special needs, and a fun, creative, active class was nowhere to be found during her short life.

Emma's mother says she has come a long way from the gastrostomy tube ("g-tubes") and neurological and medical interventions of her younger years. At Rombout Middle School, she is the manager of the cheer team, carrying a clipboard with a list of the routines. She also works the spotlight for the Drama Club.

Two other mothers said they also had been searching for a class like Dance As You Are. "It's something I've always wanted for her," said Alexandra Devin about her daughter, Madeline, 10. "Improvisatory movement is a great opportunity for self-expression."

Melissa Akar said of her 11-year-old daughter: "Daya has a lot of medical, doctor and therapy appointments, all with adults. Her week is very structured, so it's great to have something where she can just be a kid."

Anna Brady Marcus, who leads the class, said she uses music she knows the dancers will like but often plays challenging songs that might intrigue them, such as those by The Talking Heads or Steve Reich.

On May 30, these students will perform a piece they're creating with Marcus at the studio's annual showcase at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie.

Planning board finds no 'significant' impacts

The Fishkill Planning Board concluded on April 9 that the plan to restore the 158-year-old Dutchess Manor into a visitor's center and offices for the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail will not have a significant environmental impact.

The "negative declaration" unanimously approved by the board ends its environmental review of the project and allows HHFT Inc. to avoid a more in-depth study of the impacts. But it still needs Planning Board approval for its site plan, a special-use permit and a zoning change to 14 Coris Lane, the adjacent property it purchased with Dutchess Manor in 2020 for $3.4 million.

While acknowledging small impacts from land disturbance and runoff, as well as the "targeted" use of herbicides on invasive plants and an increase in visitors to the property, the Planning Board determined that HHFT will incorporate sufficient mitigations, including proposing a left turn lane for entering Dutchess Manor from northbound Route 9D.

In addition, the board approved a "certificate of appropriateness" that will allow HHFT to begin demolishing additions constructed in 1947, 1989 and 2007. The original structure, built in 1868 as a home for merchant James Wade and his wife, Louisa, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"With the environmental review finalized and the certificate of appropriateness issued, we look forward to beginning work so that we can realize our vision for the Fjord Trail Visitor Center as a welcoming hub for our educational programs and events and our home base," said Amy Kacala, HHFT's executive director.

Demolishing the additions will be a prelude to renovations that include restoring the slate roof and rear patio, removing paint to expose the brickwork and rebuilding the trim, HHFT said. The interior will be remade with first-floor spaces for a welcome desk and interpretive exhibits, upper-floor offices and meeting space.

Outside, a 600-square-foot bathroom with four stalls, a service closet and a pump house for the manor's fire-suppression system is planned for a sunken area southwest of the manor. There would also be 170 parking spaces in three areas: a paved lot with 48 spaces for the public and 19 for staff; a gravel parking area with 55 spaces; and a grass "overflow" spot with 48 spaces.

A shuttle is proposed to transport visitors from the Dutchess Manor to trailheads, as well as terraced lawn seating and a lawn behind the manor for events. According to HHFT, the property will not be marketed as a venue for private events.

During the review process, HHFT expanded a planted buffer on the property's southern boundary in response to concerns from neighbors about the visual impact of the overflow parking area. One of those neighbors, Erin Sine, had suggested eliminating the overflow lot and replacing it with "a substantial and dense evergreen buffer that protects the safety and quality of life of the residents who live close to this park."

Along with concerns from neighbors, opponents of the Fjord Trail development argued to the board that HHFT improperly "segmented" the project by having the Dutchess Manor project reviewed by Fishkill rather than by the state as part of its environmental review of the entire trail.

Under state law, segmenting projects to avoid a comprehensive review "may result in legal action." But state parks rejected the claim. In an October 2025 letter addressed to the Planning Board, the department said that because Dutchess Manor is located within Fishkill, "it is appropriate for the town to analyze the potential impacts arising from its specific land use actions."

State parks also concluded that Dutchess Manor, which is projected to open next year, will have "independent utility" from the trail and support the existing trail system. It said that its environmental review of the Fjord Trail, which concluded in January, considered the Dutchess Manor visitor center's impact on traffic, parking and community character.

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing.

150 Years Ago (April 1876)

The station master at Matteawan had four boys arrested for stealing eggs from the freight house.

Willett Dates, the baggage master at the Dutchess Junction station, bought the restaurant at the depot.

When the Addington family came down to breakfast in their home on South Avenue near Beacon Street on a Tuesday morning, they found their pantry had been raided. A burglar had broken through a basement window and taken loaves of bread, a dish of meat, four pounds of butter, pickles, preserves and canned goods.

W. Burnett Jr., a clerk at Dr. Schneck's drugstore in Glenham, was sleeping in the store when he was awakened at 5 a.m. on a Sunday by someone trying to unlock the cellar door. When he opened the door, the culprit fled.

The Dutchess & Columbia Railroad freight depot burned, destroying $3,000 [about $93,000 today] worth of stock owned by the paper bag factory.

The bankrupt Newburgh Lager Beer Brewery was sold at auction for $10,000 [$300,000]. It was said that many evangelical Christians owned stock. The firm had a capacity of 800 barrels per week.

According to The Cold Spring Recorder, "Matteawan is becoming a sort of mecca for tramps. On Sunday night, no less than 50 applied for and were furnished with lodgings" by the poor master.

M.E. Dietrich bought a property on Ferry Street and planned to divide the lower floor into two stores.

A clay slide at Dutchess Junction reminded James Mackin of when he was a boy and a slide happened near Low Point in which the trees slid down the bank but were not uprooted.

W.G. Van Buskirk, the master mechanic of the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad, and the first engineer to run a locomotive west of the Mississippi River, was interviewed by the Fishkill Landing correspondent of The New York Times. Van Buskirk recalled that his trains hit and killed people so often that he stopped counting at 17. One night, at a hotel in the west where he was staying, a clergyman from Arkansas overheard Van Buskirk discussing the number of people he had killed and cried, "Monster! Monster!" He was told that Van Buskirk was a train engineer, but the minister was offended anyway and moved to another hotel. The next morning, as Van Buskirk's train left town, a horse pulling a wagon carrying two men became frightened and pulled it onto the tracks. The horse and passenger were killed, and Van Buskirk realized it was the preacher, who had hired the wagon rather than take the train. At the funeral, the minister said: "Truly, Providence, thy ways are mysterious."

Alexander Turney Stewart died at age 72. Known as the "merchant prince" of New York City, he built a $50 million [$1.5 billion] fortune as a dry-goods merchant and real estate investor. At the time of his death, he was rebuilding and expanding a cassimere and carpet factory known as Glenham Mills to compete with foreign products. He expected to bring skilled workmen from abroad and was building homes for them. Stewart bought the mill for $195,000 [$6 million] after it failed in 1873 and made extensive improvements; its first shipment of carpets arrived at his flagship Manhattan store two weeks before his death.

During a storm, the Hudson overflowed at the long dock, washing away wells along the tracks and uprooting trees and fence posts. A flood also came down Fishkill Creek, threatening the wooden dams and filling cellars with 3 feet of mud.

The Matteawan correspondent for The Poughkeepsie Journal lamented that the village didn't have a ready-made clothing store or a good bakery.

Justice Ormsbee fined Mrs. McBurney $5 [$150] for assaulting James Leslie with a shovel.

Stolesbury Brothers closed their branch in Matteawan to concentrate on their wholesale and retail grocery trade at Fishkill Landing.

Zacheus Marsh, known for his tobacco, died at Glenham of apoplexy [stroke].

When the factory bells sounded on a Sunday night during services at the Pilgrim Bap...

City Council expected to reconsider zoning, policies

For at least a year, the Beacon City Council has grappled with how to address housing "affordability."

The city recently streamlined the approval process to create accessory dwelling units, an element of Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to reverse a statewide housing shortage. Beacon is part of a state grant program launched in 2024 that awards up to $125,000 to low- and middle-income residents to build or improve ADUs on their properties.

The City Council also negotiated the addition of 27 below-market-rate apartments in the complex under construction at 248 Tioronda Ave. Further, the rollback of parking requirements in some parts of the city may spur construction.

This year, council members have said they want to revisit the local law governing short-term rentals, potentially freeing up residential units, and to examine the city's "inclusionary" zoning policy, which requires new developments of 10 units or more to rent at least 10 percent at below-market rates.

With all this in mind, a team of Dutchess County planners earlier this month walked the council through various scenarios.

The planners said that renters earning between $50,000 and $75,000 annually should find a surplus of apartments in Beacon, but all other income levels will be challenged. The most significant shortages are for people making less than $20,000 annually or more than $75,000, they said.

At the same time, a survey found the city provides 17 percent of all affordable apartments in complexes with at least 20 units in Dutchess County, second only to the City of Poughkeepsie (44 percent). According to the 2024 Dutchess Rental Housing Survey — the most recent available — there are 783 "capital-A affordable" apartments in Beacon. This includes government-subsidized units, such as those managed by the Beacon Housing Authority, and apartments with below-market rents due to tax credits or the inclusionary requirement. However, the owners of six complexes, representing at least 400 apartments, did not respond to the voluntary survey.

During an April 6 workshop, the planners told the council that many renters in Dutchess County are "severely cost burdened" by housing, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Rising construction and borrowing costs have driven rents higher, while incomes have not kept pace, they said.

Not Counted

These developers did not respond to a 2024 housing survey conducted by Dutchess County.

344 Main (25 units)*

50 Leonard St. (68 units)

Landgrove (44 units)

Lofts at Beacon (178 units)*

Prospect Realty (63 units)

The Beacon (29 units)

*Received government housing subsidies

According to the county survey, the average one-bedroom, market-rate apartment in Beacon costs $2,725 per month, nearly $900 more than the county average. The below-market rate for a one-bedroom in Beacon, based on developer responses, ranges from $1,400 to $1,853. The Dutchess average is $1,008. The report does not include average prices for subsidized units.

In addition, incomes are increasing faster at the top of the scale than at the low end, said Gail Padalino, a county representative. "Eventually it just pushes out the people at the bottom, so that people with the lowest incomes have the hardest time finding housing," she said.

Padalino noted that, along with the rental survey, some data was taken from the county's 2022 Housing Needs Assessment. The county is updating that report, she said, but "I don't think much has changed as far as the shortage and who's struggling the most to find affordable housing."

As for inclusionary zoning, if the city bumps its affordable requirement for developers from 10 percent to 15 percent or 20 percent, it will probably have to offer a "giveback," such as allowing more apartments in a complex or providing property tax relief.

"In general, having an incentive is part of the deal," said Emily Dozier, another Dutchess planner, because a higher percentage of afford...

Magazzino extends run of glass masterpieces

By popular demand, Magazzino Italian Art in Philipstown is extending its exhibit, Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano, through Feb. 22.

"One woman kept begging me, 'Please don't close it,' and hugged me when I told her we're holding it over," says museum co-founder Giorgio Spanu.

Selecting favorites from the 54 unique pieces is challenging. There are advanced coloring and techniques, deceptive textures, complex swirling patterns and optical illusions aplenty.

Ohira, who died in 2022, became enamored with glass as a youngster, calling it "music without sound." He studied in Japan, then pursued further education in Venice, graduating in 1978 and landing on the nearby island of Murano, a famous glassblowing center for centuries.

After being hired by the de Majo company as artistic director in 1987, he left after five years to forge his own path. Unlike many designers at the time, Ohira credited the craftsmen who helped execute his vision, including carver Giacomo Barbini and glass artists Livio Serena and Andrea Zilio.

In 1997, Spanu and Nancy Olnick, the museum's other founder, attended Ohira's first solo exhibition at Caffe Florian in Venice. Over the years, the couple has amassed and displayed many of his works.

Around 85 percent of the exhibit is culled from their collection, which spans most of the artist's nearly four-decade career in Italy, starting with his early reinventions of historic Venetian-style vessels. The exhibit ends with three works of thick, nearly colorless glass created by melding together two separate vessels.

At the exhibit, which fuses Japanese-inspired motifs and sensibilities with meticulous Italian craftsmanship, many visitors point out details, utter a comment and shake their heads.

The patterns on some vases resemble Japanese letters, including one with clay-like vertical streaks on a black background. "Dark colors are incredibly difficult to render in glass," says Spanu.

The texture of "Pasta Vitria" looks bumpy, but closer inspection reveals a mirror-smooth surface. Black lines streaking the surface of "Natsume" are obvious, but the rest of the orb settles on green or purple, depending on one's viewpoint.

Mille luci, 2004

Mosaico, 1997

Murrine, 1997

Pasta vitrea 2, 1997

Pasta vitrea 3, 1997

Pasta Vitrea Finestre, 1997

Pasta vitrea, 1997

Pastra vitrea, 1997

Polvere 2, 1997

Polvere, 1997

Polvere, 2000

Serena e Giacomo Barbini, Mille luci, 2002

Silenzio, 1999, glass

Tessere smaltate, 2000

Finestre 2, 1997

Finestre, 1998

Fiori verdi e blu, 1998

Gocce di cristallo, 1999

Gocce di murrine, 1999

Grappolo in rosso e in nero, 2001

A canne bianche e verdi

In the artist's little windows series, tiny shards of shiny glass speckle the works, some of which look like wood or pottery. Ohira hand-carried the milk-white glass sculpture "Finestre" on an airplane, gifting it to Spanu and Olnick when they curated a show at Manhattan's Museum of Art and Design in 2000.

Another pattern resembles small strings of seashells fused together with remarkable precision. The carver Barbini transformed the top of one work into a lagoon; others include vertical surface scratches, although he typically worked with a wheel.

The exhibition displays a few of Ohira's hand-drawn designs, the raw material his team turned into glass masterpieces. Like potters, who never know what their conception is going to look like once the kiln door swings open, glassblowers bear the similar vicissitudes of trial and error.

"No one knows how he and his collaborators mastered the interplay between opacity and transparency," says Olnick. "To this day, it's completely mysterious and unbelievable."

Magazzino Italian Art, at 2700 Route 9 in Philipstown, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday to Monday. Tickets are $20 ($10 students, seniors, visitors with disabilities; $5 ages 5 to 10; military, veterans, children under 5, members and Philipstown residents free). See magazzino.art.

Also asks state to study capacity for electric buses

Voters in the Beacon City School District will be asked on May 19 to approve a $91.9 million budget that would allow Rombout Middle School to expand to a nine-period day in 2026-27.

The six members of the board (two seats are vacant and one member was absent) unanimously adopted the budget on Monday (April 13). A public hearing will be held at Beacon High School on May 5; two weeks later, district residents will vote on the budget and three trustee seats.

The budget will increase the tax levy — the total amount the district collects through property taxes — by 4.47 percent, to $52.3 million. That's the maximum increase allowed for 2026-27 under a state tax cap. Going "to cap" will keep in place big-ticket items funded in previous spending plans: reduced class sizes at the district's four elementary schools, increased mental health support for students and expanded extracurriculars and special education resources, among other initiatives.

The most significant expenditure for 2026-27 will be Rombout's shift from eight to nine periods, which comes four years after Beacon High School made the same move. School officials said it will allow the district to add a sixth-grade health class and a "Welcome to Sixth Grade" course for incoming students while giving all grades access to an expanded selection of electives.

In addition to property taxes, the budget will rely on about $33 million in total state aid, a 3.2 percent increase over 2025-26, including $1.1 million for pre-K. That number is significant because it's enough to cover full-day pre-K programs at all four elementaries, saving the district about $450,000.

More than 75 percent of expected spending in 2026-27 will go to salaries and benefits, with medical and dental insurance premiums increasing by more than 15 percent.

The district estimates that the average homeowner, which includes residents in parts of Fishkill and Wappinger, will pay between $213 and $244 more in taxes annually.

Last month, Board Member Eric Schetter asked Superintendent Matt Landahl to cut $250,000 from the budget — enough to get the tax levy increase under 4 percent. Landahl's immediate recommendation was to delay the Rombout expansion to nine periods for a year.

If Rombout goes ahead, he said during the Monday meeting, a handful of other cuts could lighten the budget by about $150,000, but it would be "a slog for me, trying to figure out ways" to get to $250,000. Another option would be to defer debt on the $50 million capital project approved by voters in 2024, but that could cause next year's levy to swell beyond 5 percent, Deputy Superintendent Ann Marie Quartironi said.

Other board members pushed back. "Most of the discretionary things are rising by very, very small percentages, most often less than inflation," said Chris Lewine. "We're managing huge cost increases in a ton of different places and finding a way to do that without making cuts and even doing this thing [the nine-period day] you've been planning for many years."

Schetter ultimately said he would support the budget with the maximum allowable levy increase. "If going to 4.47 [percent] means going to a nine-period day at Rombout, then I would be in favor of that," he said. "I think it's important not only from the students' perspective, but it brings more favorable things for the teachers in regard to professional development."

Schetter's seat is one of three that will be on the May ballot, along with the two that are vacant. Nominating petitions are due by 5 p.m. on April 29; to receive a petition, email [email protected].

Electric buses

The school board on Monday agreed to sign onto the Lower Hudson Education Coalition's request that the state Public Service Commission study whether electric utilities, including Central Hudson, will have the necessary infrastructure in place to support the electrification of school bus fleets.

A state law adopted in 2022 requires that all b...

Beacon Litfest hosts '70s dance party

While volunteering at Beacon Reads, the bookstore run by the Friends of the Howland Public Library, Hannah Brooks took particular interest in a customer whose voice she recognized.

Since 1991, Felix Hernandez has hosted "Rhythm Revue," a six-hour weekly radio show produced by WGBO (88.3 FM) in Newark on which he spins classic and obscure soul, funk and R&B. Long before high-earning celebrity DJs became a thing, Hernandez played clubs like the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan until the wee hours of the morning.

Brooks says she shocked herself "by jumping out of the chair for a selfie. I've never done that with any other celebrity."

Hernandez, who splits time between homes in Brooklyn and Ulster County, will be donating his services on Friday (April 24) for an extended '70s Dance Party at Denning's Point Distillery to benefit Beacon LitFest, which will take place from June 12 to 14. Brooks is among the organizers.

Litfest Rises in Charts

Attendance at the annual Beacon LitFest jumped from 80 in its first year in 2023 to more than 400 last year, according to Hannah Brooks. She says 75 percent of participants are locals.

This year, the festival will host panels on Friday, June 12 ("The Exquisite Art of Translation") and Saturday ("The Poet as Witness" and "Crafting Realities in Nonfiction and Fiction") to "get the creative bug going" for Sunday workshops, says Brooks.

On May 13, LitFest will host an exploration of mental health at "Stories We Don't Tell" at Savage Wonder in Beacon. See beaconlitfest.org.

Hernandez is an expert on pop music from doo-wop to disco; he says he especially cherishes songs from 1954 to 1979. "I have so many thousands of records, I lost count long ago," he says. "The only thing that surpasses them is books."

The playlist of a recent show included the overlooked Motown group, The Elgins, followed by "I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)" by Sam Cooke, which reached No. 15 on the pop charts but is more commonly associated with Nat King Cole.

Hernandez also slipped in Earth, Wind and Fire's "Serpentine Fire," a Top 20 pop hit not included on the 1978 album, The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, a monster seller. (For true fans, it does appear on Volume 2.)

During live gigs, people expect and receive familiar fare. But on the radio, Hernandez keeps things fresh by alternating familiar chestnuts with more obscure artists and repertoire. He says his format is to play a hit, then a miss — rinse and repeat. He notes that, during the period when Cooke and Ray Charles forged soul music, James Brown created funk, and its spawn, disco, emerged, thousands of independent labels released a barrage of great songs, including many one-hit wonders during the 1970s.

"There's so much obscure but incredible music out there, it's baffling why, like with classic rock, people are fixated on such a small number of artists," he says.

Dennings Point Distillery is located at 10 N. Chestnut St. in Beacon. Tickets for the dance party, which begins at 6:30 p.m., are $20 at dub.sh/beacon-boogie, or at the door. Rhythm Revue can be streamed at wbgo.org/show/rhythm-revue.

Tax levy increase stays within state cap

The Nelsonville Village Board on Wednesday (April 15) adopted a $392,497 budget for 2026-27, a 3.4 increase over the current year. The property tax levy — the total amount the village collects through property taxes — will rise by 3.14 percent, the maximum Nelsonville is allowed under the state's tax cap for 2026-27.

The spending plan includes $6,112 (compared to $2,500 this year) to supply Nelsonville's fire hydrants because of higher rates charged by Cold Spring, an additional 33 percent for the village attorney ($20,000), and 10 percent raises for the mayor and the four trustees, their first increase since 2017, according to Winward. The mayor's salary will rise to $4,950 annually, and the trustees' to $2,915.

The budget also includes a 10 percent hike for the village justice, to $3,850, and 3 percent raises for the clerk and court clerk positions, both held by Melissa Harris.

Anticipated savings include $2,000 in street lighting costs due to the installation last year of LED bulbs and $6,000 in street maintenance costs. Instead of renewing a contract with a company that handled road maintenance and snow removal, the village contracted with Philipstown for plowing and some roadwork, and with another company to provide services not offered by the town.

"Even with the unusually snowy winter we had — where we actually had to pay more to remove snow — we were still able to stay within the budgeted amount for snow and street maintenance combined," said Winward.

This fiscal year is Nelsonville's first to include revenue from a sales-tax sharing agreement between Putnam County and its nine municipalities. Nelsonville will receive the minimum share, which is $50,000. It must be spent on infrastructure but can be used to hire consultants for projects. "I can't say enough how important that is for a tiny village, to be able to look forward and plan," said Winward.

Code update

The board continues to review property-maintenance regulations as part of a comprehensive revision of the village codes that began last month with the adoption of rules for residents with household pets, bees and/or chickens.

The guidelines for property maintenance span three sections of the code: Chapter 74 (Brush, Grass and Weeds), Chapter 148 (Property Maintenance) and Article IV, which requires property owners to remove snow and ice from sidewalks.

Trustee Alan Potts said he and another trustee, Marie Zhynovitch, are working on crafting a single chapter for property maintenance and revising language to eliminate ambiguity and confusion.

Wins ban on use of name, logo it owns after lawsuit

A historic Black church in Washington, D.C., awarded rights to the name and logo of an extremist group after its property was vandalized, won a trademark case against the Hudson Valley chapter and its president, a former Beacon resident.

In a federal lawsuit filed in August 2025, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church accused the Hudson Valley Proud Boys and Will Pepe of "unlawful and ongoing infringement" of its right to control use of the group's name. Pepe is one of over 1,000 people found guilty of invading the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pardoned in January 2025 by President Donald Trump.

After he failed to submit a timely answer to Metropolitan's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla issued an order on April 8 permanently barring the chapter from using the name and logo. She also awarded $75,000 to the church, which hosted the funeral of Frederick Douglass and a speech by Eleanor Roosevelt; $183,603.50 in fees to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and $15,849.50 to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The judgment is the church's first against a chapter and similar lawsuits could follow.

"This is an important judgment for the church and for the residents of the Hudson Valley," said Dan Kramer, the Paul, Weiss attorney who represented the church. "It means that there cannot be a chapter of the Proud Boys in their community."

A D.C. Superior Court judge awarded Metropolitan AME the trademark rights in February 2025 as the Proud Boys largely ignored an earlier $2.8 million judgment against it over a December 2020 incident during a rally in support of Trump. Some of the group's members, during a roving "night march," leaped the church's fence to tear down its Black Lives Matter sign.

They then "stomped on it and cut it into pieces, and loudly and publicly celebrated its destruction" on social media, according to Metropolitan AME, which installed cameras and hired security guards after the attack.

Despite the Superior Court order, which prohibits the Proud Boys from "selling, transferring, disposing of or licensing" the name without the church's permission, the Hudson Valley chapter continued to employ the Proud Boys name on multiple websites it and other New York chapters use, and on clothing, hats and other merchandise sold online, according to court documents.

Metropolitan also said Pepe had not responded to a cease-and-desist letter sent to him at a Long Island address in June 2025, as well as requests that he provide information on the chapter's use of the name and the amount of revenues from members' dues and merchandise sales.

The church said it wants to "evolve" the Proud Boys name to become "associated with the church's mission of love and humanity, rather than white supremacy, hatred and violence." Last year, it introduced two limited-edition T-shirts replicating the Proud Boys logo and etched with slogans: "Stay Proud, Black Lives Matter" and "Stay Black, Black Lives Matter.

Metropolitan was one of two Black churches in D.C. whose Black Lives Matter signs were destroyed by Proud Boys who rallied in the city on Dec. 12, 2020, in support of Trump's challenge to the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. Weeks later, on Jan. 6, 2021, protesters broke into and ransacked the Capitol building as lawmakers met to certify Biden's win.

Police arrested Pepe six days later, accusing him, as president of the Hudson Valley chapter of the Proud Boys, of coordinating with other members by radio and moving a police barricade. A federal judge found Pepe, who was fired from his job with Metro-North in Brewster, guilty in a bench trial on Oct. 23, 2024, of a felony (obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder) and four misdemeanors. His sentencing was canceled when he was pardoned.

Metropolitan AME is targeting the Proud Boys' money. The church initially sued Proud Boys International for destructi...