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?

Not Coleridge, Cold Spring ..... This Linden & Cherry Bower a Point of Pride!

This morning on my way to the train I was super excited to see Charlie Norton, Chris Hyatt and Jeff Phillips doing this:

Later in the morning I was delighted to receive this photographic evidence of more Highway Department support of our Tree planting:

And by lunchtime my breath was taken away when I set eyes on this lovely bower that our Highway Department has created:

Many thanks to those residents who donated the funds to purchase these trees!  Many thanks to our Highway Crew!  Many thanks to our Village Clerk who has assisted with so many details that make these Trees a reality!   :)  Love the Main Street Bower! :)

History & Chemistry: Inspiration, Vexation & Intrigue!

Friends & Neighbors,

Cold Spring is where -among other things- History & Chemistry come together to inspire, vex & intrigue! 

We’re fortunate to have the inquisitive and archivist mind of our Water Superintendent, Greg Phillips on hand to field questions and provide interesting intel about our Village’s water system.  I caught up with Greg this morning to get a little pre-holiday weekend primer on water pipes and water quality and have created a little summary of our discussion below.

***

As we know our water delivery system is an antique.  With the exception of those portions of the water main that were relined in 2012 and 2013, our water is delivered to us through unlined iron pipes. 

Long before we started treating our drinking water the iron and manganese in those pipes rusted and created a crust on the inside of the pipe.  The crust is irregular, thick and thin in difference spots along the delivery system.  Warmer water running over that crust will bring the oxidized iron and manganese into solution, discoloring our water.

At low concentrations this iron & manganese is yellow-to-red and in some cases it can look brown.

In public water supply parlance, this type of discoloration is called “aesthetically objectionable”.  That means it’s not a health concern – but can look unpleasant.

This discoloration is not due to something entering our system through breached pipes.  Our pipes are under pressure. If there was a breach, we would note a loss of water and loss of pressure in our system.  No such changes in volume or pressure have been observed. 

But what can be done?  Short of relining the rest of our system or replacing all of the old iron pipes, we can flush the system.

The Village’s practice is to flush the system twice per year – early spring and mid-fall.  We do this to maintain water quality, shaking loose the rust that will let go, and to test our fire hydrants and our fire-flows.

We conduct these system flushes at night – to reduce inconvenience to Village residents and businesses, and to keep our Highway and Water Department staff available during the day for other needful work.

This year we have been short staffed on hour Highway Crew and have had to delay the system flush.

We will conduct the next flush starting on JUNE 1st - NEXT WEEK!

***

I hope this is helpful intel to you all – it was to me as Greg explained it.

Many thanks to our hardworking – and very busy – Water Department and Highway Department!  You all do excellent work maintaining our physical plant!  :)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Resident Video of the 5-6-2014 Village Board Workshop .... B4A, Escrows, Drainage Trash Compactors, Good Taste and MORE!!!

Thanks to the residents who turned out for our Village Board workshop last night, and to Steve Laifer for making a videotape of our workshop available here!

Resident Videos of the 4-29-2014 B4A Zoning Amendment Public Comment & Responding to Questions

Many thanks to Steve Laifer for taking the time to film and make this recording available.

Comment can be viewed here.

Response can be viewed here.