Above: A 2001 aerial photo of a 6.45 acre property on Delaware Avenue in Sidney that may soon be seized by the Delaware County Industrial Development Agency in an eminent domain proceeding. Source: Delaware County Community Online Mapping Tool. To see a more recent photo of the site, view the location in Google Maps.
For months, high-tech manufacturer Amphenol has had its eye on a stretch of vacant land on Delaware Avenue in Sidney, where the company plans to build its new factory. Delaware County economic development officials, who desperately want Amphenol to stay in the region, have taken it upon themselves to acquire the land and offer it to Amphenol as a shovel-ready site. Read more
We've received a bunch of letters this month. Read them all in our letters section. To support the Margaretville American Legion Post's rebuilding efforts, send a check to American Legion Post 216, PO Box 41, Margaretville, NY 12455. -- Julia Reischel
Dear Editor,
As many of you know, the American Legion Post building at 903 Main Street in Margaretville was seriously damaged by flooding in August 2011. The Post members and volunteers have been working steadily to rehabilitate the building so that the Post can continue to operate and serve the community as it has for almost a century. Read more
The Schoharie Fire Department's current temporary location on Fort Road, and the future site of the rebuilt Niagara Engine Co. No. 6. Photo by Matt Brisley.
After having seven and a half feet of water flow through it in last year’s floods, Niagara Engine Co. No. 6 is officially being relocated and rebuilt.
In a press release on Tuesday, Congressman Paul Tonko applauded the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) allotment of over $900,000 – or three-quarters of the cost to replace and relocate the firehouse in the village of Schoharie. The other 25 percent of the cost will be covered by the state of New York, under an agreement announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office this spring.
The new firehouse will be built on the Fort Road property the Schoharie Fire Department is currently using as a temporary location. The site, a former tractor sales and supply store, will be purchased from its current owner. Read more
Ten gardens will be visited, including one in Hurricane Irene flood recovery, and the Halcott Center Community Garden.
The Tour includes Fleischmanns and Halcott Center and benefits Skene Memorial Library in Fleischmanns. Tickets can be purchased for a $10 donation per person at the Library on Main Street, Fleischmanns, on the day of the Tour. Tickets will be available from 9:30 am; the Tour ends at 4 pm.
Guests are given driving directions to each garden and a time slot for the visit. There will be a lead car driving to each garden in sequence, in case guests are not familiar with the area. Guests may want to pack a lunch and water.
This is a chance to see what gardeners are doing and to ask questions about plants, landscaping, orchards--anything botanical! Both flower and vegetable gardens are featured.
Ulster County executive Mike Hein is busy this week with bridge ribbon-cutting ceremonies. On Tuesday, Hein presided over another ceremony at a new permanent bridge across the Cascade Brook on Route 47 in Big Indian, which has been open since March 21. Read more
Floyd Guernsey III, owner of Guernsey's Schoharie Nursery, smiles for a TV camera at the nursery's grand re-opening ceremony on May 11. Photo by Donald Edmonds.
Like many of the towns in the path of the raging Schoharie Creek, the town of Schoharie took a heavy hit during the flooding from Irene and Lee. Even now, nearly nine months after the flood, much of the village is still out of commission.
But with spring in full bloom, Schoharie is coming back to life. Earlier this month, a beloved local icon opened its doors again for the first time since the floods shut it down last August: Guernsey's Schoharie Nursery on Bridge Street.
One of the Freshtown's iconic wooden bears looks out over a row of grocery carts, lined up and ready for throngs of Margaretville shoppers to descend in the morning. Photo by Lissa Harris.
Tomorrow, the Freshtown is set to reopen bright and early at 7am, according to a few employees gathered outside the store this evening. The deli won't be back in business until probably later this week, they said -- but after waiting this long, Margaretville can probably go without cold cuts for a few days more.
Catskills Cycling blogger Mike Wentland and daughter Isabelle pick up bicycles for this Saturday's giveaway from Overlook Mountain Bikes in Woodstock. Photo courtesy of Mike Wentland.
Local blogger and bike advocate Mike Wentland can't fix all the damage wreaked by Irene's floods last year. But what he can do, he's doing: Giving new bikes to kids who lost theirs in the floods.
For months, Wentland and the Catskill Mountain Velo Club, a new cycling group Wentland helped found, have been fundraising, holding charity rides, and soliciting help from local businesses to fund a giveaway for children's bikes. Overlook Mountain Bikes chipped in with a steep discount, and another bike group, Fats in the Cats, donated bikes to the effort. Read more
Newly appointed Fleischmanns mayor Todd Pascarella recently wrote an update on the progress of millions of dollars' worth of flood recovery projects in the village, and recent changes in village govenment.
In his letter, Pascarella reports that the village is working toward opening some temporary park space on land owned by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection while restoration work continues on the village park, which was heavily damaged in last year's Irene floods.
A flood study is underway that will guide millions of dollars in stream work in the village, all of which will be funded through various sources with help from the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Construction work on Main Street is in progress, funded by a $250,000 grant from the MARK Project. Read more
Now, it's bustling with another kind of activity: The county-owned building has been converted into a huge warehouse offering free supplies to flood victims. The warehouse, run by Community Area Resource Efforts (CARE) for New York State, stocks a vast array of donated goods, from daily needs like toothbrushes and shampoo to big-ticket items like ovens and sofas. Read more
