POINTS
OF
INTEREST:
July 14 2010
Hello all.
We have finalized the petition (finally) to include PHR under the
Putnam County Historic Road Preservation Law passed last year. We now
need to get enough signatures to include PHR for protection under the
law, and need walkers who will take responsibility for a few properties
in their own neighborhood part of PHR, or a longer section. The way the
law is structured, the criteria is road frontage, and a property with a
large frontage on PHR is “worth” more than a small home with only a few
hundred feet. We need to get signatures of the owners of 50% plus one
foot of total road frontage to include PHR under the law. PHR is 11.58
miles long in Kent and Putnam Valley, and we need a minimum of 62,000
feet of road frontage (rounded-up) for inclusion. The petitions have a
space for signatories’ property road frontage (approximate) so we can
keep track. The completed petitions can be dropped-off at the Putnam
Valley Farmers Market on Fridays at Tompkins Corners between 3PM and
6:30PM (see Vic, Eric or Dell), or if you call, someone will come by
your home and pick-up the completed petitions. We are at the same time,
with the same walkers, in a separate petition, asking (strongly) the
County Executive and Legislature to ban thru-truck traffic on PHR
(except local deliveries) over 18,000 pounds to help protect our
safety, and the road surface and base, from deterioration from those
large trucks. If you can be a part of this effort to help protect the
PHR, or if you know someone who can walk petitions, please reply to
this email or call Vic @ 845 661 8007 PDF copies of both petitions to
print-out are attached above, if you have that ability, or we will
provide printed copies (also available @ the Tompkins Corners Farmers
Market Fridays between 3 and 6:30PM). Let’s get this done! Thanks for
all you do.
Vic
April 23
Notice
The
Public
meeting
set for April 7 has been changed to April 6 at the same
place and at the same time,
County Office Building,Room 318, on May 6th at
6:30 P.M , the room
was not available at the old date....
April 15 2009
A Petition is in the making and will be shown here..as well as at
the farmers market at the grange hall at Adams Corners..
Town Meeting.
This letter was written by the
PUTNAM VALLEY RESIDENTS' COALITION
A NONPROFIT 501(c)(3) ORGANIZATION
Dear Putnam Valley Residents:
It was an interesting turn of events at the monthly town board meeting last Wednesday, the 15th, when the
topic of the future of Peekskill Hollow Road came up for discussion.
For
those of you were not able to make the
meeting, you can view it on our town website, www.putnamvalley.com / go
to
channels 18-20/ click web streaming/ scroll down to town
board
meeting of 4/15, when it gets posted sometime next week.
While others spoke on this issue, the main
focus of the meeting was Putnam Count Legislator, Vincent Tamagna's
discussion
as chair of the committee that oversees county infrastructure projects.
He
spoke on the issue of the "current" plan to straighten Peekskill
Hollow Road from Oregon Corners to Adams Corners. This plan was
developed
without public involvement after the last public meeting several years
ago when
we thought the project had been killed.
Speculation as to why the County
Highway Department continued this process and at whose direction was
also
mentioned by a former county legislator. According to Mr. Tamagna, the
current
plan will not be built as proposed and the rural character and
scale of
the road will be retained. What has to be thrashed out is if there is a
need
for turning lanes at the high school, drainage issues at certain
locations and
whether the bridge just south of the high school needs replacement or
just
repair. The elimination of a 4' wide
shoulder on each side of the road, as a major change in the rural
character, needs to be confirmed.
In order to insure that this is
exactly what is going to happen, Mr. Tamagna invited the
residents to
participate in a public forum on the proposed changes at his
committee
meeting at the County Office Building,Room 318, on May 6th at
6:30 P.M.
This process must be monitored by the public.
In some ways we are back to square one,
to oversee our elected officials on another design project. We need to
also
ensure that the project will be reduced to only the bare bones of
roadwork that
is necessary and that there will be no more additional
projects in the future to alter the road in it's appearance. The
initiative of "landmarking" the road for it's historic and scenic
nature was also mentioned.
We want to commend all of you who wrote and phoned Putnam County
Legislators,
Vincent Tamagna and Sam Oliverio and
Congressman, John Hall and copied us on your messages and meeting
attendance. Your letters were eloquent and your involvement send a
clear
message to our electorate that hidden agendas will not be tolerated and
that
full transparency is a requirement.
Thank you.
PVRC
Conference with Senator John Hall.
March 29, 2009
News from/for the friends of Peekskill Hollow Road.
On
March 5 the Friends of Peekskill Hollow Rd had set up a conference with
TJ
Rogers, District Representative
Congressman John Hall (NY-19).
Presenting Peekskill Hollow Road from Oregon
Corners to
Adams Corners where Sam Davis and Dawn Powers, from Adams corners to Rt
301
where Jan Hoekstra and John Cohen with Drew Howland representing Kent.
The issues to be discussed:
Re:
TJ.Rogers
District Representative
Congressman John Hall(NY-19)
www.JohnHallhouse.gov
Dear Sir
We have enclosed
several publications that can be found on our web site www.fopgr08.com as reference.
We would like to discus
with you the development in Oregon corners to Adams Corners as
well as
the planned renovation of Peekskill Hollow road from Adams Corners to
Rt.301.
The questions we have are the need to renovate PHR.
The reasons for the renovation.
The unsubstantiated claims for doing so by the
county,
safety issues, the financing of this project and the effect it will
have on the
real estate values of the homes of the residents living on this road.
Why the request for renovation by the county was
based on
false claims such as restructuring this
“meandering cow path” and then the disregardful process, stonewalling
FOIA’s,
misleading statements.
The need to build a four lane access road in
Oregon Corners
to no-where.
We would ask Congressman John Hall to veto any
money that
may come from the federal government for this project on the basis of
waste
full spending, originated by his forerunner Ms.S.Kelly and to help us
to get
meaningful and required public review.
We greatly appreciate the time you have set aside
to discuss
these matters…
Sincerely, The Friends Of Peekskill Hollow Road.
Jan Hoekstra
Mr.TJ.Rogers was
helpful and suggested that he would look into the questions raised and
interview the people that where or could be decision makers in the
proposals
dealing with Peekskill Hollow Road.
The Friends of Peekskill Hollow Road are looking forward seeing the outcome of his
efforts and appreciate his involvement.
The following letter was send to his office in
appreciation
for the time he set aside for this conference:
T.J.Rogers
District
Representative
Office of
congressman John Hall
19 th district of
New York
Dear Sir
The FOPHR thank you
for the time you set aside to
discuss the matter of Peekskill Hollow Road.
We hope to hear from
you what your office can do
for the Friends of Peekskill Hollow Road.
Because of the
funding provided by the federal
government for road repair etc. the article in yesterdays NY Times
(3/6/2009)
stated that Governor Patterson is now besieged with request from
counties and
road builders for that money. We hope that this money will go where
necessary
and not for boondoggle projects such as our Peekskill Hollow Road.
We will look forward
hearing from you and what you have
found through your investigation and interviews relating to this
project.
Sincerely, Friends
of Peekskill Hollow Rd.
RE:North
Couny
News
2/12/2009
Road renovation
stokes controversy.
In responce to above article the following article was submitted to the
North County News.
When elected leaders make statements on important issues,
they should be required to back them up. Thus, Rep. Oliverio's
dismissive statement that allegations of lack of transparency in
planning the Peekskill Hollow Road project are "nonsense", and
Supervisor Tendy's statement that the Friends of Peekskill Hollow Road
are "politically motivated" in the opposition to the project, should
not be allowed to simply hang in the air. These men have an obligation
to back up their dismissive comments.
As has been repeatedly pointed out to Mr. Oliverio, by his
own political party and others, the growth of this plan to include the
road up to Adams Corners was NEVER the topic of public review.
The only public hearing ever held concerned work at Oregon Corners, and
what was presented then bears no relation to the current plan. The
first time the public had access to the current plan was when the
Friends of Peekskill Hollow finally overcame the many obstacles
presented by the County to our request for it. It was the Friends
of Peekskill Hollow Road who put a copy in the PV Library, not the
County, not the Town. The Adams Corners extension came to us as a
surprise, even as Mr. Oliverio, who had earlier swore that "over his
dead body" would anything be done to the road which the residents
didn't want, was referring to it as a "done deal". Additionally,
the saga of the stonewalling--by both county and town government--when
the Friends of Peekskill Hollow attempted to get the plans is all
anyone needs to recall when the issue of transparency comes up!
So, "nonsense" the charge of is not. And Mr. Oliverio's repeating the
word won't make it so. We have the facts to back up our charge. He does
not.
As Mr. Cusano's article made very clear, the plan to widen
and straighten Peekskill Hollow Road does not have the safety issue on
its side. Emergency services personnel are the best observers of that,
and both Ms. Keating and Mr. Luongo have given the lie to Mr.
Oliverio's breast beating about safety. Anyone who wants to do
their own fact checking should FOIA the records of accidents on
Peekskill Hollow Road. The Sherriff's office is required to
produce these records which indicate the number, severity, and
circumstances of county accidents. Again, the facts do not
back up the supporters of this project.
Mr. Tendy's charge that the opponents of the project are a
"small number " of "politically motivated" people is equally
disingenuous, and he should be held accountable to explain what he
means by that. First of all, the Friends of Peekskill Hollow Road does
not represent a "small number of people". We have had over 400 people
at all of our meetings. We obtained over 700 signatures on our first
petition. Is "politically motivated" a code for anyone not
in Mr. Tendy's political party? When it comes to my front yard,
my real safety, the character of my town, I don't think about my party
affiliation. Nor, I suspect, does anyone else who lives on this
road, or cares about our way of life. Among the hundreds of people who
met to protest the original project, and who signed petitions
were people of every and no party. Politics has nothing to do with it.
Opposition to the project is based on sound reasoning and verifiable
facts. Hopefully, Mr. Tendy's cheap shot will not go
unchallenged. Let him present his evidence for political motivation as
the rationale for our opposition. It would be refreshing to engage with
our representatives in a true dialogue about this important issue,
without throwaway lines like "nonsense" and "politically
motivated" which are calculated to discourage honest inquiry, to
inflame rather than inform.
Safety issues re:Peekskill Hollow
Rd.:
The Sherrifs report:
According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, 15
accidents have taken place on the road since Jan. 31, 2009, though none
involved personal injuries or fatalities
Remarks on accidents on PHR.
Some of the town’s emergency responders have doubts about
how dangerous
the road is. Putnam Valley EMS Captain Sheryl Keating said they don’t
respond to many calls to accidents on the road.
“I can’t say we get a lot [of accidents] on Peekskill Hollow Road,” she
said. “It’s pretty scattered.”
Putnam Valley Volunteer Fire Department Chief Louie Luongo agreed.
“It’s not as treacherous as everyone makes it out to be,” Luongo said.