Nice day to be outside. OutHudson hosted the Pride Parade down Warren Street in Hudson Saturday, June 17. Several groups marched including Coarc, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, LGBTQA Youth Straight Allies, several musical acts and many local businesses. One of the businesses represented in the parade was Deb’s Oasis, a restaurant of tropical comfort food in Hudson. Deb’s had a large and brightly arrayed contingent. Photo by David Lee
GHENT–The state Public Service Commission last week provisionally approved the petition by Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. to merge with FairPoint Communications, Inc. After a public hearing in Greenport late last month, at which members of the community addressed concerns regarding the acquisition of FairPoint, Consolidated and FairPoint must formally agree to meet certain conditions to ensure the merger goes through.
FairPoint currently provides voice and DSL (digital subscriber line) internet service to much of eastern Columbia County.
Among the PSC’s conditions in the tentative decision issued June 14 is a requirement that local, customer-facing jobs in New York will stay at current levels for at least two years. The companies have also agreed to expand DSL service over the next three years to reach more customers, with plans to serve at least 300 more customer locations, especially in the Hudson Valley area. Read more…
HUDSON–Praise for and recognition of people who have served and shown interest in the Hudson City School District (HCSD) highlighted that District’s Board of Education meeting Monday, June 19, its final meeting of the 2016-17 school year.
Kamrul (Mohammed) Hassan, the student representative to the board, gave his final report on school events. Mr. Hassan, a senior at Hudson High School, will graduate June 23 and go to SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, where he will study civil engineering. “Thank-you for having me,” he told the board. Read more…
COPAKE—This town has joined the ranks of several others in Columbia County that have enacted veterans’ real property tax exemptions at increased levels.
At the June 8 Copake Town Board meeting, board members adopted Local Law #3, which increases veterans’ tax exemptions and establishes a Gold Star Parent exemption.
No residents spoke about the law at a public hearing prior to the meeting.
Copake, along with Canaan, Chatham, Germantown, New Lebanon and Stockport now have Alternate Veterans’ Exemptions at rates that equal those adopted by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors in March. Read more…
GERMANTOWN—In real estate, as in baseball, it’s never over till it’s over.
That said, the closing on the sale of Otto’s Market, from Otto Leuschel to Noah Bernamoff, is set for Friday, June 30.
Rae and Noah Bernamoff cook together. Photo contributed
The market and Germantown Variety, also owned by Mr. Leuschel, were first offered for sale in the spring of 2015, for $995,000 each. The variety store property sold earlier this year; the last price listed, on the Patricia A. Hinkein Realty website, was $799,000. The Hinkein site lists the market as “Pending,” at $849,000. Read more…
CHATHAM–Carol Hegeman, the town’s representative to the county’s Office for the Aging, reported to the Town Board last week about the village movement, which aims to enable seniors to stay in their own homes and communities as they age.
She told the board that only six people came to a meeting June 5 at the North Chatham library to start a discussion on developing a village movement program in the town. Ms. Hegeman called the low turnout for the initial meeting “quite discouraging.” She said more people would be needed to start a local program.
There are 55 Village Movement programs under development around the state, including one in Rhinebeck in Dutchess County. Ms. Hegeman described the movement as “a geographically defined, self-governed, grassroots, volunteer-based organization” that helps seniors stay in their homes. Read more…