Students celebrate President Van Buren’s birthday

In News, News - Columbia, The Columbia Paper

December 15, 2022

Dylan Lockmer is at the podium, then (l to r) Viviana Heron, Celia Casey Autumn Noel and Quinn McCarthy. Photo by David Lee

Pictured (l to r) are Quinn McCarthy, Dylan Lockmer, Viviana Heron, Celia Casey and Autumn Noel. Photo by David Lee

KINDERHOOK – The 8th president of the United States was Kinderhook resident Martin Van Buren, and he is celebrated each year on the anniversary of his birth December 5, with a program conducted at his gravesite in the Kinderhook Reformed Church Cemetery on Albany Avenue in the village.

The event is hosted by the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, the Friends of Lindenwald and the Village of Kinderhook. Gravity and decorum was provided by a Cordon Detail and Color Guard from the 109th Airlift Wing of the United States Air Force as well as a detail from the Palmer Engine and Hose Company of Kinderhook.

Village of Kinderhook Mayor Mike Abrams greeted the gathering and introduced the attending dignitaries including Congressman Elect Marc Molinaro (R-19th), New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-46th), Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-106th), Town of Kinderhook Supervisor Tim Ooms and Valatie Mayor Frank Bevens.

Wreaths were placed on behalf of the Town of Kinderhook and villages of Valatie and Kinderhook, The Friends of Lindenwald, The Kinderhook Garden Club that maintains the gravesite, the National Park Service of which the Van Buren Historic Site is a component. And a wreath was placed on behalf of President Joseph Biden by Brigadier General Denise Donnell.

But the real highlight of the morning was a recitation of the main events of President Van Buren’s life by 4th graders from Ichabod Crane Middle School.

Greenville Rescue Squad calls up 22% in 2021

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

January 19, 2022

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Greenville Rescue Squad calls were up 22% in 2021 compared to the previous year. File photo

GREENVILLE — Calls to the Greenville Rescue Squad in 2021 were up 22% compared to the previous year.

Greenville Rescue Squad Chief of Operations Matthew Marlow reported the year-end figure to the Greenville Town Council at its Jan. 17 meeting.

In 2021, the squad responded to 552 calls, an increase of 120 calls over 2020, when the agency took 432 calls for assistance.

The reasons for the uptick are more complex than what you might expect with the COVID-19 pandemic heading into its third year.

The increase in calls and other challenges are due to hospital capacity and staffing, rising mutual aid requests and a surge in 911 calls after an early pandemic lull.

“We are backfilling Coxsackie (mutual aid) because Coxsackie is backfilling Catskill, who is working in Cairo and everywhere else,” Marlow told the board. “The biggest contributing factor is hospitals. They have cut staff and have started to surge in their own right.”

Ambulance crews have been forced to wait at hospitals as staff tries to keep up with demand, or travel to other hospitals further away, Marlow said.

“We are finding our wait times are extending longer and longer, so we are going to other places, where we normally wouldn’t,” Marlow said. “So our mutual aid has gone up simply because there are no ambulances to answer calls.”

The trajectory of the COVID pandemic, and how it has impacted health care, is another factor the squad has had to contend with over the past year, Marlow said.

“Comparing numbers to last year is hard,” he said. “We all expected that we would see a massive surge as soon as COVID hit, but we didn’t. What we saw was a lot of the usual complaints disappeared for a few months and we weren’t taking the stomach aches and the stubbed toes — we were only taking the very, very sick.”

With people eschewing ambulance trips to the hospital in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, that changed a few months later and the number of calls began to creep upwards.

“After the first few months of COVID wore off and we really hit that fatigue point, the numbers rose so not only were we taking care of COVID numbers, but we were going back to stubbed toes, slip falls — those little things that had kept people out of the hospital for a number of months, they all came back,” Marlow said. “So now what we are seeing is all of the old call volume, plus COVID on top of that.”

Town Councilman Travis Richards asked about the impact of mutual aid calls from other ambulance companies.

“So the calls aren’t really coming from here, they are coming from other municipalities?” Richards asked.

Local calls have been up as well, Marlow responded.

“Even in our own district, we have had an increased call volume,” Marlow said. “We have seen an increase of approximately 40 to 50 calls just in this district that add on to the mutual aid on top of that.”

Crowd spills out into street for Carver hearing

In News, News - Ravena, The Ravena News Herald

December 15, 2023

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

An offshore wind turbine with blades similar to those that would be built in Coeymans if the proposed project is approved. Courtesy of Unsplash

COEYMANS — A public hearing for a proposed Carver Companies project drew so many people that the crowd spilled out into the street.

After a lengthy presentation by Carver Companies and statements from its employees, fellow businesses and other supporters, most of the town residents who turned out for the hearing voiced strong opposition and concern for the project.

The hearing by the joint town/zoning board of appeals gathered input for an area variance and site plan review for a pair of properties owned by Ten Eyck Power III and Atlantic Cement Company, now known as Holcim.

The hearing opened with a presentation by a number of company employees and consultants outlining the project and proposal to build a manufacturing site for GE.

“The GE manufacturing site’s project purpose is manufacturing wind blades for use in the offshore wind projects which have been planned in New York state,” said engineer Dave Ingalls from Ingalls and Associates. “They’re also in support of the state’s and the governor’s goals for clean energy standards, where 70% of the electricity will come from renewable energy by 2030.”

If approved, the facility is expected to bring up to 650 permanent jobs to the town, including 900 indirect jobs and 500 construction jobs as the facility is built, Ingalls said.

“Plus, there will be millions of dollars in indirect investment to the local economy,” he added.

The manufacturing facility would be built north of the Port of Coeymans and would span from Route 144 to south of Bronk Road. Access to the facility would be from Route 144.

“Overall, the project involves a construction of approximately 515,000 square feet of buildings,” Ingalls said. “These would include manufacturing buildings, warehouse buildings, office space, including 400 parking spaces.”

The wind power blades, which are 400-feet long, would be manufactured on site and then stored in a storage yard on the present Powell property, which has been residential for more than 200 years, according to the presentation. About 180 blades would be made every year, Ingalls said. They would then be shipped down the Hudson River to their intended destinations, with nine blades transported at a time.

Carver Companies President and CEO Carver Laraway said the company has been investing in the local community for decades.

“Over the past 20 years, Carver has invested over $200 million in the port, the industrial park and in the community,” Laraway said.

“At the end of the day, these are investments in our people and our town,” he added. “Today, the Port of Coeymans and Coeymans Industrial have more than 800 employees on our site working each day with nearly one-third of these jobs being unionized employees.”

The company has also purchased more than a dozen dilapidated residential buildings in the town and renovated them, he said.

Several speakers supported the project for its economic development and job creation.

But local residents voiced many concerns, including the expected increase of truck traffic on already busy rural roads — particularly Route 144 — noise, odors, reduced property values, and a change in the character of the community.

Of concern to several residents was the possibility of the expansion of industry in the town.

“When things start creeping, the burgeoning issue is trust,” resident Robert LaCosta said of the possible expansion of industrial activity. He also expressed concern about the current level of truck traffic in the town.

Lisa Travis voiced similar concerns and how approval of the project could set a precedent for future projects.

“I’m not saying that industry isn’t good. I’m just saying that we’re setting a precedent here of using this residential property for storage,” Travis said. “What happens when it starts creeping further and further because now that we did it once, we can do it again. That is my concern, that this is not going to stop and we’re just going to be dealing with this again down the road.”

Resident Zachary Assael noted the size of Route 144, also known as River Road, and questioned its ability to handle the traffic load the project would bring.

“River Road is not an expressway, it is not the Northway, it’s not the Thruway,” Assael said. “It’s a two-lane road. It is not meant to accommodate over 500 vehicles and many semi-tractor trailers.”

One speaker said most of the project supporters do not live locally.

“I would like to remind the community that those representatives of Carver’s, most of them don’t live here,” she said. “This isn’t going in their backyard, this is going in our backyard.”

“We’re worried about our homes depreciating, we’re worried about the wildlife,” she added. “I would like to appeal to the members of the planning board to take this slow, do a lot of research, and make an informed decision. We don’t need this in our community.”

Michael Stott said the project has “many areas of concern.”

“The zoning and planning board has two issues to consider here. First is, should a massive industrial complex be built? And secondly, and perhaps more pressing, should the zoning and planning board allow residential and agricultural land to be used as part of this industrial endeavor.”

“What guarantee do you have for the people that if this goes through, we’re not just going to keep creeping forward?” Stott added.

No decision was made about the project by the planning/zoning board of appeals.