Highlands Current Audio Stories

District cites legal advice, fear of losing funds

The Haldane school board voted unanimously on Tuesday (April 22) to suspend its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy in hopes of safeguarding $450,000 in federal funding threatened by the Trump administration's opposition to DEI programs.

The district's resolution suspended the policy "pending clarification of the conflict between the respective positions of the state and federal governments regarding Title VI [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] and DEI."

The five-member board also approved a resolution certifying compliance with Title VI, which prohibits racial discrimination in federally funded programs. The Trump administration had set a Thursday (April 24) deadline for local school districts to eliminate "illegal DEI practices" or potentially lose funding.

However, on Thursday, a federal judge in New Hampshire temporarily blocked the administration's guidance forbidding DEI efforts in K-12 public schools. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of violating teachers' due process and First Amendment rights. On Friday, attorneys general from 18 states, including New York, sought a federal court order stopping the Department of Education from implementing the April 3 certification demand, calling it illegal and unconstitutional.

In February, the U.S. Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or they would risk losing their federal funding. Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, issued a "Dear Colleague" letter arguing that a Supreme Court decision in 2023 banning race-based college admissions extended to DEI policies in public schools.

"DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not," Trainor wrote. "Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school."

Earlier this month, the department ordered states to gather signatures from local districts certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including rejection of what the federal government calls "illegal DEI practices."

The directive did not carry the force of law but threatened to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools were warned that continuing such practices "in violation of federal law" could lead to U.S. Justice Department litigation and termination of federal grants and contracts.

At least 15 states, including New York, said they would not comply with the federal order. "We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems 'diversity, equity & inclusion,'" wrote Daniel Morton-Bentley, a lawyer for the New York Education Department. "But there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of DEI." He added also that the federal government had "yet to define what practices it believes violate Title VI."

At Haldane, interim Superintendent Carl Albano called the federal dollars, which are used to educate students with disabilities, provide student lunches and fund other initiatives, "a significant amount of money" that "could be at risk if you keep these policies in place." He said that Haldane's legal counsel had advised suspending the DEI policy, at least temporarily.

The district adopted its DEI policy in December 2022 in "recognition of the inherent value of diversity and acknowledgement that educational excellence requires a commitment to equity in the opportunities provided to students and the resulting outcomes."

The policy noted that Haldane's mission is to prepare its students to succeed in "an ever-changing global society," a goal that requires incorporating a DEI l...

Haldane has applied for EPA grants

Across the country, more than 500 school districts are waiting on $1 billion in Environmental Protection Agency grants to help pay for more than 3,400 electric buses.

In Cold Spring, Haldane has applied for EPA grants to purchase four buses to meet Gov. Kathy Hochul's mandate that schools no longer purchase gas-powered buses after 2027 and convert to electric fleets by 2035.

If approved, interim Superintendent Carl Albano said the EPA grants would offset $170,000, or almost half, of each $400,000 bus. The district is also hoping to get $147,000 per bus from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Albano said that while he knows there have been questions about whether federal climate grant programs will continue under President Donald Trump, the district has received no indication that the program has been terminated. Haldane was told a decision would be made on its grant applications by the end of April. If it can't secure federal grants, the district will likely seek additional state funding, he said.

So far, the Beacon, Haldane and Garrison districts do not have any electric buses, although Garrison has two hybrid vans. Haldane is seeking grants to buy its four electric buses and Beacon voters have approved the purchase of two, which have been ordered.

Statewide, only about 100 of 45,000 buses are electric, although about 1,000 have been approved or ordered as of February, according to Adam Ruder, director of clean transportation for NYSERDA. At the same time, residents in a handful of districts, including Hyde Park, have voted against electric bus purchases, even with state grants cutting the cost.

The New York State Educational Conference Board, a coalition of groups that represent superintendents, PTAs, school boards, teachers, business officials and administrators, has raised concerns. In January, the board published a paper stating that Hochul's mandate "will force districts to reduce educational opportunities for students, increase taxes and spend exorbitant sums, and cause voter unrest."

Although the Garrison School doesn't own most of its buses - they are provided under contract with Orange County Transit - the district is studying the range of the electric buses that would transport students to and from Garrison's K-8 campus and to Haldane, Putnam Valley and O'Neill high schools. The vendor's seven buses are parked at Garrison during the day. If they were electric, the district would need to install chargers and the electrical capacity to run them, Joseph Jimick, the district business manager, said earlier this year.

A year ago, voters in the Beacon district approved the purchase of two electric buses at a cost of $495,000 each, including chargers. The district was awarded a $257,000 state grant and the buses are scheduled to arrive this summer and be put into service in the fall. "Our thinking is we're still on track until or if we hear otherwise," Superintendent Matt Landahl said this week. He said in February that the district, with a fleet of 57 buses and vans, would need to upgrade its garage before buying any more electric buses.

Some districts across the country that purchased buses in anticipation of receiving EPA grants now face large bills. For example, in Oklahoma, the Shawnee Public Schools, a 3,300-student district near Oklahoma City, spent nearly $1.5 million on four buses that it believed would be reimbursed from an infrastructure law passed by Congress under President Joe Biden.

The district requested the funding in November but was told that it would be delayed due to a technical glitch. It said that, since Trump took office, it has been calling the EPA and emailing regularly without a response.

The money is part of a Clean School Bus Program that was to provide $5 billion over five years. So far, the program has gone through two earlier rounds. Nearly $1 billion was issued in the first round as rebates to 400 schools for 2,500 b...

Food truck brings the farm to Philipstown

Ruby Koch-Fienberg has always loved farming and food systems - an interest that led her in 2022 to earn a master's degree in food studies from New York University.

"I wanted to work with farms, helping them connect more with food pantries," said Koch-Fienberg. "When this job appeared on my radar, it was the perfect fit."

The job is serving as ag and food systems coordinator with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) for Putnam County, which is based in Carmel. Koch-Fienberg coordinates the extension's Farm to Truck Program, which provides free produce to Putnam County residents facing food insecurity.

CCE contracts with Meals on Main Street, a nonprofit in Port Chester, to deliver food each week. Farm to Truck also drops food at pantries.

On Wednesday (April 16), the Meals on Main Street mobile pantry spent 45 minutes parked at the Chestnut Ridge retirement community and the Philipstown Friendship Center for seniors. It served 85 people at the two stops, said Irma Arango, who has worked for Meals on Main Street for 15 years.

Another 25 people had picked up food at the Brookside Senior Citizen Coop in Philipstown earlier in the day. The truck also makes weekly stops in Putnam Valley, Putnam Lake, Patterson, Carmel, Kent and Mahopac.

"I like engaging with the people," Arango said. "I see their need and I see the smiles on their faces when they see the truck." She said clients sometimes leave thank-you notes. "People are so grateful."

A Philipstown woman who picked up food at Chestnut Ridge said she relied on the weekly deliveries. "It's good for so many things, especially fresh vegetables," she said.

The mobile pantry that day had milk, onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, kale, radishes, apples, baked goods and frozen salmon. The selection will grow as the season progresses.

CCE launched Farm to Truck in May 2024 with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is operated in partnership with New York Food for New York Families, a division of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The program supports regional agriculture by purchasing produce from about 20 farms in Putnam (including Longhaul and Glynwood in Philipstown), Dutchess, Columbia, Orange and Westchester counties.

Mobile Pantry Schedule

Monday: Putnam Valley

9:45 a.m. Library

11 a.m. Senior Center

Wednesday: Philipstown

9 a.m. Brookside

10 a.m. Chestnut Ridge

11:30 a.m. Senior Center

"We've spent more than $700,000 [on locally grown products] and expect to spend $1.3 million by the end of August," said Koch-Fienberg. She said Putnam residents made more than 3,000 trips to the food truck in March, which included many repeat customers. Nearly 300,000 pounds of produce, meat, eggs and dairy products have been distributed since the program began a year ago.

Koch-Fienberg said it can be hard for people to ask for help, especially in communities considered wealthy. "Pockets of every community experience need," she said. "We absolutely have need in this county."

The most recent data compiled by the United Way for its ALICE Project (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) indicates that 37 percent of households in Putnam are above the poverty level but below the annual income needed for basic survival, including savings for emergencies.

Koch-Fienberg said that it's not clear if the federal grant that funded Farm to Truck will be renewed when it ends in August. "People have come become so reliant on the program, she said. "It's incredibly sad for it to have an uncertain future."

Artists and writers celebrate do-it-yourself ethos

Inspired by hardcore punk of the early 1980s, the do-it-yourself spirit that spawned the zine scene rages on.

Back then, the mainstream media mocked the music and the mosh pit, so fans of the bands chronicled the anti-commercial goings-on in minute detail because no one else was going to do it for them.

But the zine world eclipsed the crude, smudgy black-and-white punk rock periodical phase a long time ago. As book artists elevate printmaking to new levels of sophistication that bring color and creativity to the form, 24 practitioners will display their work at the Beacon Art Book and Zine Fair on Saturday (April 26).

A zine by Chelsea Rae Mize

Chelsea Rae Mize selling her zines at an event

"Germ Carrying Insect" by Marianne Petit

Sample spreads from "My Anatomical Journal," by Marianne Petit

Marianne Petit

"Toy Truck Memorial" by Randy Calderone

Randy Calderone

Organized by the Beacon Photo Club's leading lights, Emma McDonald and Diana Vidal, the fair will allow its members to share their work, including Beacon resident Randy Calderone, who self-published a paperback filled with dozens of photos taken around the Hudson Valley, most focused on urban decay. All seven selections shown in a just-closed group exhibit at Grit Gallery in Newburgh are included in the collection.

The photo club began in 2023, when McDonald and Vidal met at KuBe Art Center. "We immediately clicked on the same train of thought: to create more of a community and share work, resources and inspiration," says McDonald. "Art books, photo books and zines often came up in conversation at our meetings and after putting out a call for submissions, we were blown away by the amount of interest from participants and by the caliber of their work."

The event will include workshops on collage techniques and creating one-page zines. Marianne Petit, one of the more accomplished creators attending, is a professor at New York University who raised $40,000 on Kickstarter to publish a pop-up alphabet book. Her work is housed in museums, private collections, the British Library and the Library of Congress.

The zine and art book world is a substantial subculture due to a confluence of factors, including the general art-world bubble, says Petit, who lived in Beacon for a few years during the pandemic but got "priced out" and moved to Amenia.

In addition, "printmaking is a technical field that fosters communal spaces: people share presses, teach paper arts and develop a generous open-source community," she said. "It's also less expensive at the entry level and easy to transport. I can fold entire exhibits that fill up a room into one suitcase."

Members of Chelsea Rae Mize's writing group, Little Histories, will share a table and offer typewritten poetry on-demand. She will display the three-zine series, Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll, which compiles work from other artists in 30-page collections, along with the somewhat risque four-volume set, Short Shorts.

After a stint in Hollywood writing screenplays, Mize ended up in Beacon and self-publishes bestselling cozy mysteries, a distinct genre that centers on a murder but lacks violence and prurience. Her Dog Groomer series features humorous juxtapositions between punny titles and the cute pooch on the cover.

Also a cartoonist, her life transformed after meeting a "punk anarchist squatter" who lived in lower Manhattan and "wrote an incredible fantasy story about George W. Bush," she says. "I'd never encountered a DIY ethos so full of talent and that's why I self-publish my books. There's pros and cons to it, but the direct-to-consumer relationship inspired me."

The Beacon Art Book and Zine Fair will take place at the VFW Hall, 413 Main St., in Beacon from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday (April 26). Admission is free. See beaconphotoclub.com. The schedule includes a collage workshop for kids at 11 a.m., a one-page zine workshop at 2 p.m. and ongoing community art proje...

The most beautiful words in data journalism - except for free coffee - are longitudinal study.

Polling often obscures more than it illuminates. Questions can be vague or misleading. If you ask, "Do you approve of the president's handling of immigration?" the respondent will base their answer on whatever they think the president's immigration policy is. And polls are just a snapshot. With the stock market and egg prices hopping up and down like a rabbit on hot coals, someone's opinion on the economy may be out of date before the next sunrise.

But a longitudinal study - in which you ask the same questions or observe the same group for a long period of time, even decades - removes volatility. And if the questions have a range of possible answers, as opposed to "yes" or "no," you get a more nuanced picture of how people are feeling.

My favorite example of this is a poll that the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has conducted at least once a year for nearly 20 years. Instead of asking people if they believe that climate change is real and primarily caused by humans, it asks them to put themselves into one of six categories: Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful or Dismissive.

Sometimes, for fun, I ask friends to guess what percentage of Americans think climate change is a hoax. The answers range from 30 percent to 80 percent. In fact, according to Yale's surveys, it's about 10 percent; the Dismissive group fluctuates between 9 percent and 12 percent. Doubtful has also remained steady at 12 percent.

If you think climate change isn't real, or even if you're not sure, nothing in the past 20 years - the avalanche of studies, the hotter summers, the heavier storms, the droughts, the wildfires, the floods, the lack of snow, species on the verge of extinction - has made you change your mind. That is why I don't write too many columns trying to "convince" people that climate change is real.

What has changed is that the Cautious (18 percent) and Concerned (28 percent) groups have shrunk while the Alarmed group has grown (26 percent).

The problem is that nearly everyone in the Dismissive group seems to have a podcast, a gig on cable news, a paycheck from a fossil fuel company or a desk in the White House. For the sake of comparison, a 2021 poll by the University of New Hampshire found that 12 percent of Americans believe the moon landings were faked, and last I checked we weren't reorienting the economy and manufacturing sector around that (knock on wood).

The contrast gets even starker when you zoom out. A 2024 poll from Oxford University found that 89 percent of people around the world want their governments to do more to mitigate climate change. Do you know how hard it is to get 89 percent of people to agree on anything? We can't even get that many people to agree that the moon landings happened.

If you'll forgive me for writing about the Pope for two columns in a row, I was struck this week by how often people who work in climate said, in the wake of Pope Francis' death on April 21, that it was his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home that gave them the courage to get involved in climate in the first place. They had thought that caring about the climate was a fringe belief. But if the head of a faith-based, conservative, 2,000-year-old global institution was taking the science seriously, maybe it was mainstream.

As the Trump administration continues its attempts to roll back environmental regulations, there's a temptation to throw up your hands. "He won the election, so I guess this is what the country wants." But the Oxford poll found that two-thirds of Americans think this country should do more about climate.

If the country is going to make any progress on climate over the next few years - or at least stop the backsliding - the silent majority in the Highlands and around the country and world needs to make itself heard.

This column is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative ...

Depot Theatre presents dance drama

Five rehearsals in, the folks responsible for producing The Tango Diaries at the Philipstown Depot Theatre in Garrison had mastered the outline.

Attention turned to fine-tuning, including lighting, blocking (where to stand and how to move) and what inflection to use when saying a line, which could be changed on the fly by the playwrights in the room.

For months, Alice Jankell has acclimated to her new role as the venue's artistic director. (She succeeded Nancy Swann, who retired after 20 years.) Now serving as a hands-on director for her first play as an employee, she's keen on spotlighting a work that showcases why Argentina's chief cultural export exerts such a powerful hold around the world that it has "saved people's lives," according to the promotional copy. The play, which features dancing and live music (via electronic keyboard), opens May 2.

A pro's pro, Jankell spent the last four decades compiling a blizzard of prestigious acting, writing and directing credits, including musicals for Disney. Last year at the Depot, the Kent resident directed Dirt in conjunction with the Putnam Theatre Alliance, a coalition she helped kickstart during the pandemic.

Early rehearsals for The Tango Diaries unfolded with purpose and playfulness. Ideas ricocheted between the stage, Jankell's seat and the play's writers, Ron Hutchinson and Alisa Taylor, who are driving up from Brooklyn for each rehearsal and performance with their white lapdog, Lucy, in tow.

"More than any other dance, the tango touches the human condition in a deep manner, which is why there's a global obsession over it," Jankell says. "The largest festival is in Finland."

This is the play's premiere as a stage production, though 6 million people listened to a radio version on the BBC, which is quite a feat because there's no way to see people dance over the aural airwaves.

One of Jankell's directorial challenges is to weave choreography with drama to ensure fluidity on the small stage. Characters often pierce the fourth wall.

Local actors include Maia Guest, Sara Jay Halliday, Erin McGuff-Pennington, Dante Nastasi, Mike Pirillo and John Christian Plummer. Haldane senior and intern Oliver Petkus occupied the assistant director chair for one rehearsal. Musicians and four dancers (two of whom have prominent acting roles) travel from New York City.

The tango itself is constructed of several set steps that can be reassembled in any configuration. One person leads, the other follows, and "that interplay is the challenge," says Jankell. "It's a visceral transfer of power, mixed with intimacy; it takes great concentration to do it well."

Married to a psychiatrist, Jankell views the dramatic arts like a sociologist: "It's a way to explore how people navigate each other, like two dancers. Theater helps us understand human behavior."

The Philipstown Depot Theatre is located at 10 Garrison's Landing. The Tango Diaries opens at 7:30 p.m. on May 2 and continues weekends through May 18. See depottheater.org for tickets, which are $25, $30 or $45 each.

Met Chorus Artists will perform on May 4

A few photos on the Met Chorus Artists website show five singers and an accompanist performing at the Howland Cultural Center in 2018.

On Sunday (May 4), the group will return with a pianist and narrator along with two tenors, three sopranos, a mezzo-soprano and a bass-baritone to present History of Opera: Up Close.

There's a long tradition of classical chamber settings featuring vocalists, usually paired with a piano or small ensemble. The repertoire is known as lieder in Germany, melodie in France and art songs elsewhere, says Sara Heaton, a soprano who will be performing.

But selling tickets for stripped-down vocal concerts can be a challenge, says Akiko Sasaki, music director at the Howland Chamber Music Circle.

In 2017, Sasaki introduced a Classics for Kids series and eight years ago, Met Chorus Artists performed a show for the wee ones. On May 4, they will present a young person's concert in the afternoon that pulls examples from The Magic Flute to punctuate points.

The 4 p.m. adult-oriented retrospective is being performed for the first time ever. Selections range from the Baroque era, represented by Claudio Monteverdi (born 1567) and George Friedrich Handel, to contemporary opera, including works by Igor Stravinsky and Kevin Puts (born 1972). Excerpts by the genre's one-name stars - Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini - will also air.

Heaton and Sasaki's friendship spawned the 2018 visit from Met Chorus Artists, a nonprofit outreach for members of the Metropolitan Opera chorus.

"We started it a few years ago with the goal of bringing the music to other spaces outside the opera house and to work on a smaller scale than the grand opera that we do at the Met," says Heaton.

Sasaki also takes chamber music beyond the concert hall by programming pop-ups in libraries, art galleries and Beacon Music Factory (on May 3). But the Howland Cultural Center, with its renowned acoustics for unplugged instruments, is a special place to see such a performance, she says.

"A program like this fits well in a chamber setting," she says. "It's exciting because opera is usually performed in a big house with 4,000 people in the audience. Here, the singing fills up the room and you can feel their vibrato."

The narrator, Whitney Young, a composer and conductor who shatters the stereotype with sleeves, neck tattoos and attitude, inspired the format after several singers in the Met Chorus attended Young's lecture on the history of the string quartet at the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan. The lecture was augmented with a cellist, violist and two violinists who provided live examples on the spot, says Heaton, who lived in Beacon for seven years but moved in 2022 to Westchester to shorten her commute to Lincoln Center.

Bringing an expansive ensemble from New York City that provides flexibility to mix and match presents a more varied performance than a soloist singing lieder and art songs. "This is such a great format," she says. "We worked hard putting together a taste of Opera 101."

The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main St. in Beacon. Opera for Kids will be performed at 1 p.m. on May 4. Tickets are $15 for adults and free for children. All ages are welcome, but it is recommended for ages 6 and older. The Met Chorus Artists concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. on May 4. Tickets are $35, or $10 for students ages 25 and younger. See howlandmusic.org/tickets for both shows.

Project near Beacon border faces opposition

A Beacon developer proposing to build a self-storage facility on land between Interstate 84 and Van Ness Road has finalized its responses to concerns from city and Fishkill residents about aesthetics, traffic and safety.

In an environmental-impact statement submitted on April 10 to the Fishkill Planning Board, 1292 Route 9D LLC said its two story, 26,000-square-foot facility would be a low-visibility, low-traffic project and not "change or diminish" the character of the area or quality of life for people living south of the property, which sits across 9D from the Southern Dutchess Country Club.

The 30-foot-high structure would be set back 200 feet, or twice the required distance, from the highway and contain 333 self-storage units (ranging from 24 to 240 square feet), 26 parking spaces and a loading area.

The developer, based at 268 Main St. in Beacon, estimates that 37 vehicles (including two trucks) will enter the facility on weekdays and 42 (three trucks) on Saturdays. The vehicles must use a driveway just north of Van Ness Road and can only enter from northbound 9D and turn right when exiting.

That "right in/right out" requirement by the state Department of Transportation means southbound drivers visiting the facility will have to go past it and use one of Beacon's residential streets to turn around.

In comments submitted in October, Mayor Lee Kyriacou said the use of residential streets for through traffic is "inconsistent with best practice" and would harm the community character of Dutchess Terrace, Rock Hill Road and Verplanck Avenue. To avoid having to continue south to turn around, some drivers may attempt illegal left turns or dangerous U-turns, he said.

Fishkill residents living on streets north of Interstate 84, such as Dogwood Lane and Chiappardi Place, expressed concern that drivers exiting onto northbound 9D will use their streets as a turnaround to go south.

To prevent visitors from using those streets, 1292 Route 9D LLC said it would require the facility's operator to post online directions for entering and exiting, specifying routes that do not require use of the local streets. The developer also said it would petition GPS providers to dictate routes that avoid residential streets.

Because the property is in Fishkill's restricted-business zone, where self-storage facilities are not allowed, the developer needs a special permit from the Planning Board in addition to site-plan approval.

Granting a special permit requires a finding from the board, with input from the building inspector, that a project "is substantially similar" to other uses in the district and "consistent with the stated purposes of the district."

According to 1292 Route 9D LLC, its project "is consistent with the surrounding land uses and the built environment" because it will generate "minimal traffic, noise and air emissions" and be screened from the view of neighbors.

At the board's urging, 1292 Route 9D LLC assessed two alternative projects - a residence and a hotel. It concluded that a hotel would generate more traffic than the storage facility and require more tree clearing and parking spaces. A single-family home would not be "economically viable," according to the developer.

Liz Axelson, a senior planner with Clark Patterson Lee and the Planning Board's consultant, said in October that a restaurant, small hotel or bed-and-breakfast would be more appropriate. "The assertion that the proposed self-storage would complement any of the nearby uses is not well supported, in my opinion," she said.

According to Clark Patterson Lee, 11 self-storage facilities exist within 5 miles of the proposed site. The Fishkill Town Board in August 2023 approved a one-year moratorium on approvals for self-storage, citing concerns from residents about a flood of applications.

Board votes to override levy cap

The Nelsonville Village Board on Monday (April 21) approved a $377,540 spending plan for 2025-26 after voting to exceed the state's 2.77 percent cap on levy increases.

Expenses are projected to be 6.6 percent higher, and the adopted levy rises by 5.21 percent to $326,697. Taxes for the average property owner will increase by $68, said Mayor Chris Winward.

Anticipated legal spending will increase by 20 percent, to $15,000 annually; Keane & Beane has had to defend the village from multiple lawsuits while also reviewing contracts, Winward said. Electricity bills are expected to be 33 percent higher and Nelsonville allocated an increase of 13.6 percent, to $28,411, for insurance for its buildings (including the one leased by Putnam County for a sheriff station) and court actions against its elected and appointed officials.

An additional 9.42 percent was appropriated for employee benefits. The court and village clerk will receive 3 percent raises and the deputy village clerk will receive a 2.55 percent boost.

Winward's salary will remain at $4,500 annually and the trustees will continue to receive $2,650.

Court changes

The Nelsonville trustees voted to appoint Philipstown Justice Angela Thompson-Tinsley as the acting village justice in place of Stephen Tomann, who retired.

The board also renewed a $150-per-hour contract with Kevin Irwin, a Pawling attorney who prosecutes traffic tickets and other non-criminal violations for Nelsonville, and approved the use of a credit-card reader given to the village by the state's Unified Court System.

Melissa Harris, the village clerk, said she hopes the machine will increase revenues from fines. "A lot of the time, people will say, 'I only have a card; can I have a week to pay and mail it in?' And then they don't," she said.

New meeting day and time

The board voted to move its monthly workshop and regular meetings to the second and third Wednesday of each month, respectively. The meeting time will also change, beginning a half-hour earlier, at 7 p.m.

Mondays present a problem because many holidays fall on that day, and compiling information packets for trustees by Friday afternoons has proved difficult, said Winward. "This will give us a lot more time to be able to prepare for meetings," she said.

No parking

A sign prohibiting parking on Spring Street should be installed soon. Nelsonville approved a ban on Spring Street in December in response to drivers parking along the side of Blacksmith Wines, leaving only one lane.

Trustee Dave Moroney said the installation of a no-parking sign had to be postponed because of equipment problems. There are new no-parking signs on Secor Street. Winward said the village anticipates more hikers parking there to use Nelsonville Woods because Breakneck closed for two years starting April 21.

"It's only a matter of time until people figure out that they can just have the same view going up Bull Hill," she said

Cites support for NYC toll, interest in Lawler seat

A Philipstown resident who represents Putnam County on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board rejected a demand by the county executive that he resign because of his support for congestion pricing in lower Manhattan and his interest in the U.S. House seat held by Rep. Mike Lawler.

Neal Zuckerman, a Democrat who chairs the MTA board's Finance Committee, served on the Metro-North Commuter Council for six years before being appointed in 2016 to the MTA board with a recommendation from then-County Executive MaryEllen Odell, a Republican. He was reappointed, to a term that ends in 2026, by the state Senate in 2023 with a recommendation from Byrne, also a Republican.

Byrne, a former Assembly member elected as county executive in 2022, is an ally of Lawler and a critic of the MTA's 3-month-old congestion-pricing program, which launched on Jan. 5 with a $9 toll for passenger and small commercial vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street.

Zuckerman supports the toll, which is higher for buses and trucks, and raised $48 million in the first month while reducing traffic and travel times in lower Manhattan, according to the MTA.

In an April 3 letter, Byrne claimed that Zuckerman "conveyed a genuine desire to work across the aisles regardless of political differences" during a meeting in 2023 for his reappointment but had since "outright opposed the policy positions" of the county and "openly assailed several officials duly elected by the people of Putnam County." He called on Zuckerman to resign "in a manner which is dignified and appropriate."

Byrne also referenced news reports about Zuckerman's interest in seeking the 17th District congressional seat held by Lawler, a Republican in his second term. Philipstown is within the district's borders.

Those reports "make clear that you intend to present yourself as a candidate for public office and seem to be using your position in furtherance of that pursuit," said Byrne. "It is imperative that we have a representative on the board who is dedicated to the position."

Byrne copied his letter to President Donald Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Gov. Kathy Hochul, both U.S. senators from New York, Lawler, four members of the state Legislature, the MTA board chair and the chair of the county Legislature.

Individual legislators were also asked to sign a separate letter from Bill Gouldman, who represents Putnam Valley, calling for Zuckerman's resignation.

Lawler said in a statement on Wednesday that Byrne's letter "speaks for itself. If Neal Zuckerman is not representing the interests of Putnam County residents on the MTA board, he should resign."

In a letter responding to Byrne, Zuckerman said that chairing the board's Finance Committee has enabled him to champion projects that benefit Putnam riders, who use both the Harlem and Hudson lines. Those projects include repairs at the Cold Spring and Garrison stations and funding in the 2025-29 capital plan to buttress the Hudson Line against flooding, he said.

He said his support for congestion pricing "should come as no surprise" since he had voted in 2019 for a capital plan that relied on it. "At recent board meetings, I have lamented the added burden of yet another fee on residents of our region," he wrote. But the program, enacted by state law in 2019, will help fund $15 billion (25 percent) of the MTA's capital plan for 2025-2029, which will "improve the system that is essential to the livelihoods of Putnam County commuters and, indeed, for the region's economy," said Zuckerman.

He said that 69 percent of Putnam residents who visit the congestion zone get there by train but will benefit from the toll collected from drivers.

If Zuckerman decides to pursue Lawler's seat, he could face at least four other Democrats declaring their candidacies: Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Jessica Reinmann, founder of the nonprofit 914Cares in Westchester County; Cait Conley,...