Sweet Violets Film Encore
Route 28 scenic byway plan critics demand a makeover
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway CMP Draft
Above: The current draft of a plan to apply for state and federal scenic byway designation for a section of Route 28. Members of the Central Catskills Collaborative, a seven-municipality task force that drafted the plan, have agreed to revise it in the wake of criticism from town officials who fear that a scenic byway will impose new regulations on towns and local property owners.
As the process of applying for scenic byway status for a 50-mile stretch of Route 28 gets closer to the finish line, officials from a few of the seven towns and villages involved are getting cold feet.
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Roses are red, violets are blue, now you can drive on Route 42
A stretch of Route 42 in the town of Lexington, which has been shut down for nearly six months because of damage from the Irene and Lee floods, re-opened this morning -- no doubt to the great delight of Lexington's 805 residents.
Chris Dwon, Lexington's deputy town clerk, told the Watershed Post that the road re-opened around 10am this morning.
(Getting your main road re-opened in time for Valentine's Day: Officially better than a box of chocolates.)
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Spring is busting out all over
Spring already? Reader Laurie McIntosh sent us this photo of snowdrops in bloom, taken in Woodstock on Feb. 10.
Snowdrops are usually the first bloomers in the garden, beating out even the early crocuses for the title. But this is a bit early, even for the hardy Galanthus nivalis: In our climate, the snowdrop usually blooms in late February or early March.
Central New York gardener Donna, who blogs at Gardens Eye View and gardens near Oneida Lake, writes that she had snowdrops at the end of January:
I have never seen a snowdrop in bloom this early here in my now zone 5b garden. We have been moved from a zone 5a to a 5b. And with the snowdrops are crocus, hyacinth and dwarf Dutch iris getting ready to burst forth and bloom.
In New York City, whose spring is weeks ahead of ours, they're well past snowdrops and into hellebore season, writes blogging gardener Karen Orlando.
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New York State awards flood recovery grants to towns and villages
Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office announced the awarding of grants of roughly $50,000 each by the New York Department of State to 13 towns and villages in upstate New York, for rebuilding from the Irene and Lee floods.
The list of awardees includes the Delaware County town of Middletown, along with its two villages, Margaretville and Fleischmanns; the Delaware County village of Sidney; the Schoharie County town of Blenheim; and the Greene County town of Prattsville.
In the announcement, Cuomo's office said that towns can submit applications for another round of similar grants to the Department of State until March 1.
A press release from Cuomo's office:
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Sidney debates gas drilling moratorium
Above: A video of a public hearing held in Sidney on Feb. 9, regarding a proposed moratorium on gas drilling and heavy industry in the town.
The meeting went on nearly four hours, and, according to attendees, drew over 100 people from the town of Sidney as well as the surrounding region to testify either for or against the wisdom of enacting the ban. No decision on the legislation has yet been made by the town board.
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Shandaken to hold scenic byway meeting tonight
A meeting in the town of Shandaken to discuss applying for scenic byway status for a roughly 50-mile stretch of Route 28, which was postponed several weeks ago, has been rescheduled. The meeting will be held tonight at the Shandaken town hall, at 6pm.
The scenic byway project, which is being spearheaded by a group called the Central Catskills Collaborative (CCC) with help from the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, requires the approval and cooperation of five towns -- Andes, Hurley, Olive, Middletown and Shandaken -- as well as the villages of Fleischmanns and Margaretville in Middletown. If scenic byway status is conferred on Route 28, federal grant money may be made available for tourism promotion in the region.
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Six months later, a reporter returns to the flood-ravaged Catskills
In a radio broadcast aired today, Dave Lucas, WAMC's Hudson Valley bureau chief, checked in with some of the people he spoke to shortly after Irene's floods raged across upstate New York.
Lucas found that life isn't quite back to normal yet for flooded-out Goshen farmer John Glebocki, who is still in financial limbo as he waits for crop insurance and grants to come through. Or for Michael Koegel, proprietor of the Mama's Boy coffeeshop in Phoenicia, where one of the main bridges into town is still out of commission.
One person he wasn't able to find again: Tanya Walsh in Catskill, who lost both her home and family business in the flood.
Lucas found a common theme:
Everyone I was able to follow up with agrees with Governor Andrew Cuomo, who remarked during his January State of the State address - quote - "One hundred year floods happen every two years now, so something is going on."
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Washington Post skis the Catskills
In the Washington Post this week: A long love letter to Windham and Hunter from the newspaper's Lifestyle section, just in time for Valentine's Day.
Freelancer Irwin Curtin hit the slopes of the Catskills' two biggest ski centers the weekend after New Years, and wasn't disappointed:
In the ancient Catskill Mountains, a 2 1/2-hour drive from Midtown Manhattan, the peaks reach 3,000 to 4,000 feet, the forest hides many valleys and hardscrabble towns, and Hunter and Windham mountains provide experiences different enough to sate anyone’s snow-sliding jones.
Alas, Curtin didn't make it to Belleayre:
On Sunday, we considered traveling about 20 miles south of Hunter to ski at state-run Belleayre Mountain, for a unique weekend trifecta. But we opted for Hunter’s better conditions and greater vertical instead.
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