Rumble on the roads

Catskills Cycling blogger Michael Wentland is upset about a NY Dept. of Transportation proposal to put rumble strips on secondary roadways throughout the state.

The installation of these strips has already taken place along key corridors in some regions.  Bicycle races and Triathlon events are a real economic boost to many upstate communities, and the installation of rumble strips has already caused a few to cancel any future events because of the safety hazard the strips pose.

Also, here's a Colorado biking blog on why bicyclists and rumble strips don't mix well.

Tags: 
bicycling
Topics: 
Government

News flash: It's still winter

More snow is on its way. From the Catskill Chronicle:

Widespread snow will move into Northeast Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier of New York and portions of the Western Catskills late tonight and continue through the day Wednesday. Significant snow accumulations are expected across the Poconos region with lighter accumulations further north, before the snow winds down Wednesday night.

Also, it looks like Ulster County has a Twitter emergency alert service. (Pass the word! They've only got 9 followers, counting us!)

@ny_ulster: Ulster County: URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE - WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 02/11/10 01:00 AM

Tags: 
weather

How much roadkill does upstate New York have?

45,000 mammals a year in St. Lawrence County alone. That works out to about a kill every other year for every person 18 and over in the county.

The number, an estimate based on a year's worth of weekly surveys of typical roads in the area, comes from a study in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation by a prof and a student at St. Lawrence University. Conservation Magazine has more:

The average observed roadkill rate was 3.8 mammals per 100 kilometers each week. But the actual number is probably five times higher, the team says, because the weekly surveys did not account for carcasses that were removed by scavengers between observations. For example, another experiment showed that squirrel carcasses usually disappeared after about two days.

According to a university profile, study coauthor Margot Brooks '08 likes to do other things besides drive around looking for dead raccoons.

Photo by Flickr user Clearly Ambiguous. Credit:

Tags: 
conservation
roadkill
biology
Topics: 
People

Day of reckoning for New Paltz middle school

The polls opened at noon today at the New Paltz High School for a vote on whether or not to approve a $50 million bond bill to renovate the Middle School. Temperatures have been rising steadily as the vote has approached, according to the New Paltz Times:

As the vote on the proposed $49.78 million bond to renovate the New Paltz Middle School looms on Tuesday, Feb. 9, letters to the editor are becoming more vitriolic, attacks more personal and lawn signs are multiplying.

Some of those letters to the editor are being reprinted on the websites of the groups that are both stumping for and rallying against the bond bill. New Paltz Middle School Yes!, a group with both a website and 409 fans on Facebook, featured a letter from Larry Braun: 

Tags: 
education
Place: 
Ulster County
New Paltz
Topics: 
Government

Tinker Street Cinema gets new management

Changes are afoot at Woodstock's independent movie theater, according to the Woodstock Times. 

New managers Dede and Steve Leiber, who own a nonprofit movie theater in Rhinebeck called Upstate Films, began leasing the Tinker Street Cinema this month. Their first move? Doing something about the "toaster oven" electric heat: 

Dede Leiber said the heating was something Upstate would like to eventually change, although she pointed out that they were just leasing, so any major renovations such as heating might need more time to come about.

"We plan to spruce things up a little bit, maybe start turning the heat on a little earlier in the day," she said. "We think that we can give the place an overall warmer feel, a more friendly atmosphere.

 

Tags: 
Tinker Street Cinema
Upstate Films
Place: 
Ulster County
Woodstock
Topics: 
Arts
People

The Greene scene

Seeing Greene blogger Dick May has the latest. Highlights: an upcoming county judge election is looking spicy, a local bank is raking it in, and the town of Catskill is gearing up for another big fiberglass cat festival this summer.

Among the catidates for adoption this time, as named and pictured by prospective makers, will be Ronald CatDonald, LepraCat (very Irish), lemony Sourpuss, Davey CrockCat, Cat-cher (masked and mitted) and Catman & Robin.

Topics: 
People
Place: 
Greene County

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