Trustee Set to Reap Millions From Pilfered Tree: Arboriculture in Cold Spring, reprinted from PPCNR.com

JUN 26TH, 2014

Trustee Set to Reap Millions From Pilfered Tree

Arboriculture in Cold Spring

By Star Reporter

At the village board meeting on Tuesday it was a hot time in town when shocked trustees learned that Trustee Tree Girl’s once pathetic tree named “Larry” had real value.

Little did anyone know that the sickly sapling, owned by the village, would grow into the mighty oak that dropped the golden acorns. But as everyone knows, if juicy peaches, or golden acorns, fall on your property from someone else’s tree, they are yours to keep.

The tree, which some thought Trustee TG illegally placed on her own property, apparently needed personal attention while recovering from fungus on “his” tree parts. Trustee TG admitted that she is neither a certified arborist nor a licensed alchemist, and she stressed she was only trying to help poor “Larry” out.

Now, some angered residents and village trustees believe, Trustee TG harvests tens of thousand of dollars worth of “Larry’s” shiny nuggets each day–money that should have gone to the seniors.

While tempers were flaring, there was even an accusation that a trustee trespassed to view the tree up close. The trustee did not say where he was during the time when the trespass allegedly occurred. See what one peeping Tom provided to the PCNR here.

Where one trustee was furtive, another was bitter, calling the acorns worthless fool’s gold and demanding to know when she would be receiving a money tree.

Apparently, Trustee Tree Girl is already making plans for a brand new car with the nuts she’s squirreled away. She’s also helping the tree committee prepare a Q&A for village residents on how they can turn their trees into ATMs.

On Facebook, however, the scuttlebutt said Trustee TG was looking to upgrade her living situation. Now with “Larry” around, she needs a bit more space. She’s keen on either a home on High St. or something less run down in Garrison that comes equipped with concentration-camp-like security for “Larry’s” protection from spying and prying eyes.

Wherever she lands, sources say she’ll try to bring “Larry” with her.

Ginned-up Controversies ... and the price we pay....

A few days ago photograph of my garden was circulated in our Village, and accusatory questions raised regarding its content.

Because of this at last night's Village Board meeting I preemptively explained my role in fostering an ailing oak tree which is part of the Village's tree inventory and requires a sheltered environment and TLC.  You can find out more about that here.

After I read my statement the PCN&R and Trustees Bowman & Fadde began an accusatory line of questioning which suggested wrong-doing on my part - and insinuated theft of municipal property.

On June 25th the PCN&R displayed a photograph of my garden attributed as "Photo Provided At the Village Board meeting."

Clearly - given the circulation of the photograph well before the meeting, and before the issue had been raised by me in public - there was a concerted effort to gin-up controversy which does not exist.  

This effort appears to be lead by the PCN&R and our Freshman Trustees. It appears to be part of a continuing campaign to undermine the public trust and erode faith in our local government, our elected officials and appointed volunteers.
 

For me, I believe this campaign is retribution for standing up for my Constitutional right of Free Speech during and after our Village Election in March.  See also links below.

But for the rest of the community, I believe these efforts are aimed at discouraging and intimidating residents who would otherwise enthusiastically contribute their time and talents for the benefit of our community.  

That is a loss for all of us.

***

Constitutionally Protected Speech Under Threat in Cold Spring

New York Mag's The Cold Spring Five

Philipstown.info / The Paper's Trustee Hawkins Receives Legal Threats

Impressed & Grateful

Mondoweiss.net's Roger Ailes demands NY village official take down ‘Facebook’ post

June 24, 2014 - Village Board Workshop .... SIGN Chapter 104, Grove, BigBellies & 'A Tempest in a Treepot"

Click & Thanks to Steve Laifer for recording and posting unedited video of this workshop!

Correcting the record again ... Hawkins wants greater certainty of the final costs ....

At its June 24^th workshop, the Village Board discussed accepting the Marino Family's offer for the Grove Property.

Contrary to reporting in the PCN&R on June 25^th  it is not "because of "Hawkins' effort to obtain more funds, the matter will be discussed at another meeting.^"

The matter will be discussed next Tuesday, July 1st because I asked that the Village take time to have more certainty of the final cost of removing the Grove's oil tank and confidence in the condition of the ground under the tank before the Village Board commits to a final purchase price on the Grove.

The Village Highway Department will excavate the oil tank next Monday, June 30th.  At that time the Village will have better information about the condition of the site and the final cost of the tank removal.

***

I believe the Village would be remiss (if not negligent) if it were to agree on a sale price for this property before knowing with greater certainty that no additional monies will be required to be spent related to the oil tank's removal.  In the event the Village uncovers oil-contaminated soil during excavation, the Village will be obliged to undertake a clean up that will cost us all much more than the modest $1,460 price of the tank removal.  

I appreciate and respect the fact that despite the fact that they may have disagreed with my concerns, Trustees Campbell, Bowman and Fadde deferred voting to establish the sale price until next week when the Mayor will also be present to discuss.

Many thanks, My Colleagues.

Correcting the record again ...

At its June 24^th  workshop, the Village Board heard public comment from Kathleen Foley, a member of the Tree Advisory Committee.

Contrary to reporting in the PCN&R on June 25^th,  the Tree Advisory Committee does not and has not "[wanted] the committee to have jurisdiction over trees on private property"

For that matter, Kathleen Foley has never wanted the committee to have jurisdiction over trees on private property.

Village Board Resolution #43-2013 states clearly that the purpose of the Tree Advisory Committee is "to assist in the development of an ordinance to create a Tree Commission and a public Tree Management Plan for overseeing the proper planting, pruning, preserving and health, community management and involvement of the replacement and of existing and future trees located or to be located within the Village rights of way"

Village of rights of way are not private property.

The Tree Advisory Committee has answered this question repeatedly, including in its FAQs on the Village's website.

Anthracnosis on Quercus Rubra ...... nerdy but completely salvagable, thank goodness!

One of the consequences of stress on our trees is the leaf disease anthracnose which is caused by a fungal infection of the fungus Apiognomonia.  

One of our recently purchased shade trees slated for planting on the north side of Main Street became stressed in the heat wave we enjoyed in late May and started to display characteristics of ill-health before it was planted.  Our Forester from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation identified its symptoms as anthracnose.

Dolefully infected leaf.

According to our DEC Forester, anthracnose - like many fungi - is ubiquitous in our environment and will proliferate when a tree is in a stressed or weakened condition.  Antrhacnose effects deciduous hardwoods including but not limited to Ash (Fraxinus), oak (Quercus), sycamore (Platanus), maple (Acer), and dogwood (Cornus).  Symptoms can include: Small dead spots on leaves, dead leaf margins and tips, brown, dead areas along leaf veins, large dead blotches between leaf veins, premature defoliation, twig death, bud killing early in the season resembling frost damage, often the lower and inner leaves and branches of the canopy show most severe symptoms. Unfortunately, these symptoms were displayed by our  Red Oak making the tree unsuitable for planting in the full sun of our Main Street for both aesthetic and health reasons.   Our DEC Forester has recommended shelter of partial shade and regular watering to set our infected Red Oak to rights.   You can read a little about that here.

The Little Dude Abides..... fostering Little Larry

Little Larry abides

I hear there's a bit of a ‘Tempest in a Tree Pot’ brewing in certain quarters of the village about my recent role as a Foster Parent.

Yes, I recently became a foster parent.  

My foster child came to me sickly and in need of care, but is now getting stronger and looking quite green and leafy -- yes, my foster child is a tree.  I call him Larry.  

Larry's a young red oak tree purchased last month as part of the Village’s spring Tree planting on Main Street.   Shortly after Larry arrived, he displayed signs of stress and developed a fungal infection – known as Anthracnose -- or you might call it "athlete's foot for trees."    Read here for more about anthracnose.

As with cases of poor health, the patient needs rest, shelter and attentive care.  Mayor Falloon and I put our heads together and came up with an ad hoc solution, that I would be foster parent to this young, sickly little tree - whom I call Larry.

Like any good foster parent, I will care for my foster child until it is healthy and ready to be planted as a street tree – which is likely to be this fall.  

anthracnose

I’m very happy to be the Foster Parent of little Larry. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Mayor Falloon for his support and collaboration when it became clear the little fella was not suitable for planting along a sunny street in the Village and would need shelter and extra care until he bounces back.

I also want to thank a few people who are responsible for gifting money to the village to purchase Larry and all our other new trees this spring: first and foremost, Tom Rolston, who gave us an Angelic-sized contribution, Jen Zwarich, who also contributed, and lastly, a pat on the back for yours truly, who gave a contribution as well.

I’d also like to thank our hardworking Highway Crew for their diligence and determination in planting the trees, and all the neighbors and volunteers who are helping to keep them watered throughout the summer.

I’ll be posting on my blog tonight an informative piece about the fungal infection Anthracnose aka "athlete's foot for trees", and a little more about Larry's story, how my garden and regular watering are turning him into a healthy tree who, in a few short months, will be replanted alongside his peers on Main Street.

Volunteers Make the Difference ....... And Cold Spring has no shortage of fine volunteers!

This recent article on wnyc was shared with me by one of our neighbors.  I want to share it in turn!

You can listen here:

It's about some resident volunteers and their efforts to build a healthy and happy place to live by caring for their newly planted trees - and it reminds me of how fortunate we are in our community to have volunteers willing to roll up their sleeves and do good work for our community.  Not only do we have residents willing to support our newly planted trees - we have residents who do a whole host of other good work for our community!!

Our volunteers fight fires, they maintain our parks and playing fields, they plant flowers, they provide support to our Village Clerk, they teach young people about the river and boating, they maintain hiking trails, they help us migrate local laws when we have building projects, they help improve our business district, they are scout leaders, they are coaches, they run educational programs for children after school, they plan music concerts and free film events, they raise money to support community projects and school athletics......... the list is longer still.....and the combined years of commitment of all our volunteers must be one huge number!!

Thanks to all who make a difference in our community through volunteerism!

:)

Correcting the Record (again).... what I really said.

At its June 10^th Monthly Meeting, the Village Board discussed bids for removing the oil tank from the Grove Property.

Contrary to reporting in the PCN&R on June 11^th, I did not “[state] that [the Grove] could be worth $4,500, or more if a bidding war was started”.

I said:   "…We’re going to be spending $1,460 …. I want to make sure this is money we’re going to get back in the sale price of this….we’re doing this in anticipation of selling this property, which is great.  I just think that…. this should definitely be reflected in the sale price that we get….Are we spending other money?  The Highway Department spending time on it – and that’s money.  Are we doing anything else?”

Trustee Bowman pointed out that the Village has been paying insurance on the Grove for as long as it has owned the property. 

I replied:  “Yes we have. That’s true …and maybe  we can get that back in the …purchase price. I think that’s about $4,500….if we’ve been paying insurance between $4,500 and $5,000 over the time we’ve held the building and we want to get that back, that should be reflected in the sale price……when you purchase your house you make an offer and the people selling it make a counter-offer for the price....we‘ve been offered $5,000 and then we were ask to undertake improvements and that starts to chip away at the $5,000….”

I said: “We haven’t had this property appraised…..we should not undertake a sale without doing the kind of due diligence that you do when you sell a house….If we are spending taxpayers money to improve the property and maintain the property we have an obligation to recover as much of that money and more if we can, when we sell.”

I said: “…now that we’re undertaking these improvements …. we essentially have an asset that is a different asset than we had months ago when we didn’t know about the value of the clean site. A clean site and being able to sell a known clean site is much more valuable than the specter of the unknown…”

I said: “…As we proceed with this we need to be sensitive to the value we have right now in our possession.”

I said: “I’m not saying we reject this offer.  I’m saying we intelligently negotiate with this prospective buyer.”

I said:  “We’re agreeing now to spend as much as a much wider distribution of an ad would have cost - on improving the property. We’re spending it here where we didn’t intend to spend this money. The RFP was as-is.  Spending $1,500 on tank abandonment is not as-is and the result of that is a completely different property.”

I said:  “I want us to be thinking about this bid as investment that we are a going to recoup - an expenditure that we’re going to recoup - and that we’re smart about improving this property which we’re putting up for sale."

2014 FREE Summer Films at Dockside Park ... a welcome return of summer!

Get out your picnic blankets and mark your calendars for 

Cold Spring Film Society's 2014 SUMMER FILM SERIES

FREE FILMS @ Dockside Park!

June 28 -- E.T. 

July 12 -- His Girl Friday

July 26 -- The Sting

August 9 -- Alien

August 23 -- Vertigo

September 6 -- DOUBLE FEATURE:  An American Tale & Dirty Dancing

Visit Cold Spring Film Society's website at coldspringfilm.org for sunset times throughout the season. 

Sign up to receive film announcements all summer long.  

Become a member and help support FREE summer films in our fair Village!

Welcome Cherry .... the most recent addition to our Cold Spring Village Tree Inventory! Lookin' Good!

A warm welcome to our new Kwanzan Cherry tree at the underpass at the foot of Main Street! 

Thank you resident tree sponsors, volunteers and our EXCELLENT Highway Crew!

Resident Video of the 6-4-2014 Village Planning Board Meeting

Thank you to Zoning Board Chair, Marie Early, and Historic District Review Board Vice Chair, Kathleen Foley for attending and contributing to the Planning Board's discussions.

Thank you to Steve Laifer for posting this video.

It can be viewed here.

Cold Spring's Minority Report ....

Do you ever wonder how the PCN&R "[obtains]" emails of our locally elected officials or appointed board members from which quotes are sometimes taken - as it did last week? Or how it knows to request specific or "any" pieces of communication from our clerks.     

I do.

Have you ever thought some of our elected officials or appointed board members might be sharing communications with the PCN&R or encouraging them to request specific internal correspondence to give them an insider's scoop on their columns?     

I have.

Do you have any idea who might do that?     

I do.

Recently, I've been characterized as "rogue", pursuing a personal agenda or discharging my work as a Trustee without 'permission' from the rest of the Village Board.  This is funny to me because I'm not the person sharing these communications with the PCN&R.

This practice of sharing with the press emails not intended by their authors for that use is one of several unfortunate and recent duplicities that breach the public trust, as well as the trust of colleagues whose confidence is important to the work of functional government.  

The long-time, oft-invoked (and recently expanded) Open Meetings Law does not protect us from this practice; neither does its cousin, the Freedom of Information Law.  

Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law were enacted in New York State in their earliest forms in 1974 and 1976 to ensure equal access of every person to the work of local, county and state government.  These laws are important and valuable to each of us.  They guarantee each of us may have knowledge of and understand the legislative actions taken in our names, and that we may have access to the information that informs those actions.  Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law set meaningful standards that our neighbors in Village and Town leadership and volunteer boards honor and live in the work of public service.

However, today, in our community it seems like these laws are invoked more to promote distrust of public servants and volunteers than anything else.  In their names controversy is ginned-up where none otherwise exists. In the name of Open Meetings Law neighbors are disparaged with fabricated transgressions. In the name of the Freedom of Information Law time and focus of staff and volunteers are occupied with paperwork in service to columnists’ fodder and pedants' egos.

 
On Monday, the columnist and Reverend Tim Greco emailed the Village Clerk to say he "would like to FOIL any communication between Trustee Hawkins and the Mayor in regards to CHA tree planting on Main Street over the past 3 months. That would include the any of the Tree committees communication with CHA." (CHA is the engineering firm working on the Sidewalk & Street Lighting Project funded by the Transportation Grant.)

A recent PCN&R piece by this columnist and his editor quotes former Trustee Serradas (... who may be running for election in 2015 already!) characterizing unanimous Village Board vote and support for a project as "rogue" work of one trustee. The same column seems to question the integrity of two projects I'm working on for the Village.

I think I know why Reverend Tim Greco emailed the Village Clerk this week.

Do you?