These walls will say plenty

by DIANE VALDEN

COPAKE—A new year is coming and so is a new look for the interior of Town Hall.

At the December 10 Town Board meeting via Zoom, Peter N. Fritsch, a member of a newly-appointed committee, gave a PowerPoint presentation about suggested ways of using the wall space in Town Hall hallways, offices and the main meeting room to tell the story of the five hamlets in the Town of Copake.

The committee, whose members are Mr. Fritsch, a graphic designer and artist; Copake Town Historian Howard Blue and longtime former Copake Town Clerk/Tax Collector and current Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector Vana Hotaling, has been working on coming up with decorative ideas over the past several months when the Town Hall hasn’t been closed and they could get in to look around. Read more…

Take note: It’s tough making music online

by JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON—Challenges facing the music program and the budget dominated the Hudson City School District (HCSD) Board of Education meeting December 15.

The meeting began with a High School curriculum workshop which consisted of a presentation by Scott Vorwald, head of the music department.

Mr. Vorwald called a virtual ensemble “a great way of creating music together, but it has its cons” and “nightmares.” Hurdles include: Read more…

They’re the squeakers of the house

by DAVID LEE

The Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts (HVAPA), 957 Route 82, West Taghkanic, performed its annual Nutcracker ballet, masked and for video, which will be screened at the Four Brothers Drive-in Theater on Route 22 in the Dutchess County community of Amenia Monday, December 21 at 5 p.m. Performing as two of the three mice that accompany the Mouse King are Viola Pflaum and Kira Pizza. (A third mouse, not in photo, is Emma Dellea.) Tickets can be purchased at playeatdrink.com. Photo by David Lee

Hudson will pay to keep hired buses ready

by JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON—The Hudson City School District (HCSD) Board of Education at their December 1 meeting agreed to amend a transportation contract in order to ensure that school buses will resume service as soon as school resumes after a closure. Once both the district and the transportation company sign an addendum to the contract, they will send it to state for approval, HCSD Business Administrator Jesse Boehme said after the meeting.

The amendment was necessary because, as Mr. Boehme reported in an earlier meeting, one of the major bus companies the HCSD deals with told him that it might need 30 days notice to resume serving the HCSD after a shutdown. For one thing, the company would have to line up drivers.

“The transportation needs of the district may vary throughout the 2020-2021 school year, and therefore the original purpose of the Contract may be unable to be fulfilled,” says the resolution adopting the bus service contract addendum. The parties involved seek “to ensure bus transportation services are provided,” while avoiding a potential default by the bus company and potential litigation. Read more…

Officials confirm it’s ZBA’s job to judge gallery’s show

by EMILIA TEASDALE

KINDERHOOK—At the Village Board meeting last week, village Code Enforcement Office Peter Bujanow said that the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) will meet December 28 and that the Jack Shainman Gallery: The School should be on the agenda.

The gallery is on Broad Street in what formerly was the Van Buren public school. It currently has an exhibit by artist Nick Cave with words written across the building’s facade in large black letters: “Truth Be Told.” Earlier this fall Mr. Bujanow denied approval for the plan to put the vinyl material used to spell out the words on the building and now the owner of the gallery, Jack Shainman, must go to the ZBA to appeal the denial.

At their meeting in November, the Village Board members and the board’s attorney, Rob Fitzsimmons, stressed that it is up to the ZBA to review an appeal from The School and decide whether the work violates village zoning law. Read more…