Video
Video - March 10th Town Meeting
We will be adding all the Town Meetings from January and February shortly. Please note that there are some sound problems in this video but the sound improves after the first five minutes.
We would like to make note that towards the end of the meeting Dennis McGuire, the Town Supervisor from several years ago, expressed his dismay over Rhinecliff's leaf pickups. Mr. McGuire went on to say that this had never happened before and it was "not fair" to the rest of the town.
We found this particularly odd as Mr.McGuire allowed this very practice while he was Town supervisor. We reviewed old copies of Town minutes during Mr. McGuire's tenure and found multiple examples of meetings he supervised that mentioned Rhinecliff leaf pickup day. Click HERE to view one example from the November 14, 2005 Town Board Minutes.
Video - Open Space and Affordable Housing Committee Forum November 14
The following is a video excerpt from the Open Space and Affordable Housing public forum of November 14th. (We will be posting the complete video shortly.)
In this clip, Andrew Sheppard (of rhinecliff.org) repeatedly asks Steve Rosenberg Co-Chair and Bob Wills Co-Chair why their map does not accurately identify Rhinecliff as part of the National Historic Landmark District. Oddly, they were unable to provide an answer as to why such an important map would designate some areas as historic yet exclude the hamlet from a designation as a historically sensitive area.
New York State has designated the entire hamlet of Rhinecliff as a Scenic Area of Statewide Significance (SASS) and includes this passage in its designation:
"The Rhinecliff subunit is included in the Estates District SASS because it is a unique scenic and historic Hudson River landing. The Rhinecliff subunit exhibits a variety of architectural styles unified by their historic character and hamlet development pattern. Contrast is found between the hamlet form, the steep bluff and the expansive Hudson River. The subunit is both visually and physically accessible via the Hudson River, the railroad trains and local streets and roads. Rhinecliff is well known for its historic railroad station and river landing. The hamlet is publicly recognized for its scenic and historic values through the designations of the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District and the Rhinecliff Road Scenic Road under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law. The hamlet is included in the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District and in the Rhinebeck Multi-Resource Historic District listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places."
View the Open Space & Affordable Housing Plan.
Video - Town Board Meeting 10/22/07
10/22/07 Rhinebeck Town Board Town Board Regular Workshop Meeting Preliminary Agenda October 22, 2007 Call to Order: 8:00 PM Roll Call: Announcements: Rebuilding Together Dutchess County, formerly know as XMAS in April, is beginning its 17th year of providing home repairs for low income homeowners in our county. Applications are available in the Town Clerk’s office and must be filed by November 30, 2007. Please call Barb Cunningham, 876-3409 for further information. The Town of Rhinebeck Highway Department will hold a “Bike Rodeo” on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at the Highway Department facility located at 119 Rhinecliff Road, Rhinebeck. Cooperating agencies include the Rhinebeck Police Department, AAA Club of New York, and the Rhinebeck Recreation Department. Old Business: 1. Authorization for the Highway Department to purchase an International 7400 heavy-duty class 8 truck complete with dump body, plow and wing, not exceed $125,000 and budget transfers within the Highway Department budget to facilitate this purchase. This purchase will upgrade three vehicles in the fleet. 2. Authorization for the Highway Department to purchase a Ford F-250 pickup truck, with plow, not to exceed $25,000 to replace the current truck that will be purchased by the town cemetery, and budget transfers to facilitate this purchase. 3. Authorization for the Cemetery to purchase the 2002 Ford F-250 from the Highway Department for $12,500. New Business: 4. Considering contract with Dutchess County for the production of the Town's Open Space Map for an amount not to exceed $600. Proposed Actions: 5. Approving regular check disbursement list. 6. Approving capital project check disbursement list. 7. Approving minutes of October 22,, 2007. Adjourn
Video - Town Board Meeting 9/24/07
Town Board Regular Workshop Meeting
Preliminary Agenda
September 24, 2007
Call to Order: 6:45PM
Roll Call:
Announcements:
The town clerk’s office will be closed Tuesday Sept 25th for off-site computer training in the new clerk’s software package.
Town Hall, the highway department and the transfer station will be closed on Monday, October 8, in celebration of Columbus Day. Consequently, the next regular town board meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 9, at the Rhinecliff fire house.
Registration for winter basketball and gymnastic programs will be held on Saturday, September 29, from 9-12 in town hall.
This year's Community Development Block Grant applications are now available in the Town Clerk's office. Completed applications must be submitted to the County by October 5, 2007.
Weather permitting, the Highway Department will complete the Mt. Rutsen Road safety resurfacing on Monday September 24.
Rebuilding Together Dutchess County, formerly know as XMAS in April, is beginning its 17th year of providing home repairs for low income homeowners in our county. Applications are available in the Town Clerk’s office and must be filed by November 30, 2007. Please call Barb Cunningham, 876-3409 for further information.
The Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan training for evaluating the consistency of federal, state and local public and private land use proposals with the provisions of our approved LWRP will take place on September 27 at 7 PM- 9 PM in town hall. The primary audience for this training is the CAC, town board and the planning and zoning boards. Two staff member from New York Department of State will conduct the training .The public is welcome.
Presentation:
The Hudsonia Bio-diversity Study of Rhinebeck
Andy Reinmann, biologist and the principal investigator will present
Old Business:
1. Latest report on discussions with the State Department of Transportation regarding construction of a park 'n ride lot on Rt. 199 near the 9G intersection.
2. Considering a plan from the Highway Superintendent and the Supervisor in response to the request of the Heart Safe Club of Rhinebeck to deploy AED equipment throughout public facilities and to train public employees and officials. The proposals include town purchase of eight new AEDs to be located at town hall, stone church fields, the transfer station, the dock, the cemetery, and three at the highway department to augment the single unit currently located at the Thompson-Mazzarella Park., and a morning training program with the entire highway department staff and as many town hall employees and officials as can be persuaded to attend the session, for a total cost of $16,000.
3. Report from Board member Linda Souers and developments at the town landing in Rhinecliff.
New Business:
4. Identifying dates for the Town Board to accept and begin considering the 2008 preliminary budget.
5. Considering a resolution of thanks to Arthur & Nancy Kelly on the occasion of their receiving the Dutchess County Historical Society’s Helen Wilkinson Reynolds Award for their efforts in preserving local history.
Proposed Actions:
6. Accepting bids for material and supplies for the 2008 highway department budget, as recommended by the Highway Superintendent.
7. Approving regular check disbursement list.
8. Approving capital project check disbursement list.
9. Approving minutes of September 10, 2007.
Adjourn into Executive Session:
Vanderburgh Cove litigation
Video - Rhinecliff Advisory Council
Rhinecliff Advisory Council 14 point review of proposed Rhinebeck Town Comprehensive Plan.
If you wish to download the complete meeting to your iPod CLICK HERE.
NEW - Video of Town Board meetings
rhinecliff.org will be re-launching with many new features and a much improved graphical interface. One feature we have been planning over the last few months is the ability to provide the community with a complete video stream of every Town Meeting. We think this is the future of every community around the country as it harnesses the best features of current web technology to keep the community informed and the government open and accessable. While we are not ready to launch the new rhinecliff.org, our automated video encoding and compressing is now working! We will endeavor to post every Town Meeting within 7-10 days of the meeting. These meetings will be archived to make them available to everyone at anytime. We want to thank PANDA for providing the broadcasts over Time Warner cable channel 23.
This is the Monday, September 17th meeting. The town board met in public session to discuss the draft zoning modifications with its consultants and volunteer leadership. No public comment took place during these sessions. This was "in order to complete the work of the town board in preparing the various documents -- zoning code in this case -- for public distribution and to launch the SEQRA and public review and comment phase of this process."
If you wish to download the complete meeting to your iPod CLICK HERE.
The Future of Rhinecliff; Historic Hamlet or Transportation Hub?
The future of Rhinecliff as we know it is in jeopardy. The buildings and landscape of our humble, historic hamlet have remained largely unchanged for more than a century, giving our community a unique, unspoiled charm that compelled many of us to choose Rhinecliff over other locations. Houses have been added onto, a few new homes have been built, businesses have come and gone, yet the overall small-town quality so many of us cherish has remained the same.
But as more and more people have recognized the singularly desirable qualities that our hamlet has to offer, property values have skyrocketed, giving prospective developers a tremendous incentive to build up our beloved enclave of mostly modest houses.
Some of us miss having a café, or would like to see some kind of general store in Rhinecliff’s existing business district. Many of us yearn for a “green belt” to protect our tiny hamlet. Others, however, want no such protection at all, and would even like to see our current one acre zoning reduced to a quarter acre to permit greater density.
What is your vision for the future of Rhinecliff? Do you believe our quality of life would be enhanced by an extensive waste water treatment plant, an enlarged business district, or a “multi-modal public transportation” hub and much greater density? Would you like to see our open space preserved, or do you think our community would be improved by more new construction, condo developments, and quarter-acre zoning? Are you worried by the prospect of more cars speeding down Kelly Street?
If you doubt the urgency of the need for citizen participation in planning Rhinecliff’s future, please view this video clip from a recent Rhinebeck Town meeting, in which one Rhinebeck resident who owns more than 500 acres bordering Rhinecliff lobbies for much greater density in Rhinecliff, calling for sewage treatment, a “multi-modal public transportation” hub, and expansion of the business district.
Some individual landowners would profit significantly from such development. But would it benefit the majority of Rhinecliff residents? Would it enhance our community’s quality of life? We all have a stake in the future of our hamlet, and with the Rhinecliff Advisory Council, you can have a say.
We strongly believe that the kind of development some people are proposing for our hamlet would destroy Rhinecliff's unique character. As one local farmer told the New York Times, “You never bulldoze 100 houses and make a farm. You bulldoze a farm and make 100 houses. When it's gone, it's gone forever.''
Think about it. This may be our last chance to preserve the Rhinecliff we know and love. Act now, before it's too late; submit your application today!
Please post your comments here or visit our comprehensive plan forum.
Election Special 2007
Welcome to rhinecliff.org's special election section for 2007.
Election day is just
rhinecliff.org is proud to announce the addition of our special election coverage for 2007. In an effort to serve the Rhinecliff and Rhinebeck community and in keeping with our non-partisan tradition, we asked both candidates running for Town Supervisor for an extensive on-camera interview to discuss the issues that matter most to the residents of our historic hamlet and town.
At this time Mr. Niedercorn, the Republican campaign chairman has informed us that Mr. Traudt is on a tight schedule and will "keep our offer in mind if some time becomes available." Steve Block, our current Town Supervisor agreed to an interview and we have embeded the interview below. We questioned Mr. Block on issues ranging from problems at PANDA, Town and Village relations, the comprehensive plan and specific concerns of Rhinecliff residents. We think you will find the answers both informative and enlightening.
We hope that Mr. Traudt will agree to do the same. This kind of open discussion can only help to better inform our community before we enter the voting booth.
In addition, we have compiled a Vote Smart guide to help you learn more about the issues and candidates. As the election draws closer, we will be adding material frequently and we encourage users and viewers of the site to share their thoughts through the use of public comments available at the end of this section.
SPECIAL ELECTION UPDATE 11/5/07:
Halloween may be over but dirty tricks continue. Campaign flyers full of outrageously false claims with the tagline “Vote Team Traudt” have infuriated Rhinebeck residents who expect a higher standard from our local politicians. One of the more egregious fabrications is that Mr. Block is intent on combining the Town and Village. Aside from the fact that this would be legally impossible to implement as Town Supervisor is not a dictatorial position, it contradicts every public statement Mr.Block has ever made, including his interview with rhinecliff.org that you can view HERE.
We have obtained copies of the offensive flyers and you can view them by clicking HERE.
UPDATE 11/4/07: Democrats respond to last minute political attack ad. CLICK HERE for details
UPDATE 11/4/07: Letter to Poughkeepsie Journal responds to Joe Ely's attacks. CLICK HERE.
UPDATE 11/3/07: The recent controversy over signs placed at the Farmers Market by Joe Ely (former station manager of PANDA TV) has many people asking what's this all about? The signs have been denounced by most Democrats but a number of Republicans stand by the accusations made by Mr. Ely. The local papers have not covered this issue and we believe the voters of Rhinecliff and Rhinebeck would like to know more about it. So, we asked Steve Block for his thoughts on this matter.
The following is Steve Block's response followed by images of Joe Ely's signs:
"Many of us involved in progressive politics over the years have decried the absence of any independent process to check facts, both in the media and in political campaigns. So, I appreciate this opportunity to respond to a quite vicious campaign being waged particularly at me as the first Democratic town supervisor in a century.
The charges written on an ugly truck-sign that has appeared for days outside town hall or on Sundays outside the farmers' market result from an effort to confuse people into thinking there may be these other issues lurking behind the scenes. So, one by one, here is the truth.
First, the claim is we "slashed rec fields money." Simply not true. Whatever funds the town has for rec fields are in the capital budget, and are carried over year after year until spent and/or replenished, based on need and our ability to raise the funds. We have spent some funds getting the archeological study done on the Thompson-Mazzarella Park project. What has held up movement on new sports facilities is this archeological work, something that should have been done at the beginning of this planning project several years ago, and a wetlands issue at our other complex on Stone Church Road. Once planning is completed for the T-M Park, the Committee will turn its sights on developing a financing plan, since this will be a very expensive capital investment and probably will require bonding and a public referendum. So, no truth to this claim.
Next, the claim is that I tripled my salary. What is true is that the town board, not me, increased my salary last year, from $14,000 per year to $24,000 per year, and provided us with health benefits. This was done in recognition that the work of Supervisor is important and time-consuming. It also elevated the compensation package to what is available routinely to the Red Hook Supervisor. There are two underlying objections to increasing compensation for supervisor. Many still believe the Supervisor's position is largely symbolic, writing checks and presiding over meetings. On taking office, I recognized quite early that the challenges of Rhinebeck today are way too serious to take that approach. So, as most have acknowledged, despite this disagreement, I am providing hands on leadership to town hall, including oversight of public and private projects. The other objection has some merit, in that it points to making this change at the last minute in the budgetary process last year. We should have had a more protracted, public discussion of the needs of the town and the leadership required to satisfy those needs.
The claim of "patronage" is one that really gets me angry, since its aimed at my wife. Jeannie is an award-winning graphic designer who donates her time both to our election campaigns and to some of my direct town hall activities. She gets no compensation for either and its an outrage that they've brought this up. Dragging her into this reflects just how desperate the other side can be.
The "Foil" charge is also false. If it weren't serious, this one would almost be something out of Saturday Night Live. The person who led PANDA into a period of incompetence, low quality, and ultimately possible criminal wrong-doing now seeks the records that he and his colleagues refused to provide municipal leaders and PANDA volunteers during the process of change earlier this year. Nevertheless, the law requires that we comply and we are in the process of getting whatever records the new PANDA leadership has, since again, many of the records were either never kept or were destroyed when the former leaders emptied the PANDA web site of all content on their way out the door. And what financial records exist are now in the hands of the District Attorney and the Grand Jury, having been supplied by PANDA"s new leadership once the crime was suspected.
Finally, the suggestion that I or we lost "25,000." is the most serious outrage. Simply put, the old leadership was in charge until July 12th last summer. At that point new leaders were elected at the insistence of the municipalities. Once in charge, the new president and Treasurer sought out the Chairman of the PANDA board, who remained in office, for access to the records, including bank records. These records were never provided and on August 2nd, the new officers visited M&T Bank, where bank records provided evidence of possible criminal wrong doing. The Sherrif's office was immediately contacted that same day on August 2nd and an arrest was made several weeks later. The matter is currently pending before the Grand Jury. Quick action by the new leaders once the records were uncovered, while the old leaders had created a circumstance where one individual could write, sign, endorse, and cash organization checks with no oversight. Clearly, the suggestion that I or we "lost $25,000" is nothing more than a lie."
Joe Ely's Signs follow:
Interview with Town Supervisor Steve Block
UPDATE: Watch additional video from PANDA's meeting of October 18th concerning Joe Ely and PANDA board member Bruce Washburn.
Below you will find rhinecliff.org's Vote Smart guide:
Click HERE to find out where you vote.
Dutchess County Board of Elections
All about Voting in New York State
Election Incident Reporting System
Who are the candidates?
Democrats:
The Rhinebeck Democrats
RHINEBECK TOWN:
Steve Block for Town Supervisor (incumbent)
Kathy Kinsella for Town Highway Superintendent (incumbent)
Monique Segarra for Town Board
Lance Ringel for Town Board
COUNTY LEGISLATURE
Joel Tyner (incumbent)
COUNTY-WIDE OFFICES
Joseph Ruggiero for County Executive
Richard Anderson for County Clerk
Republicans:
The Rhinebeck Republicans
RHINEBECK TOWN:
Tom Traudt for Town Supervisor
Tom Mannix for Town Highway Superintendent
Dan Staley for Town Board
Bruce Washburn for Town Board
COUNTY LEGISLATURE:
Ray Oberly
COUNTY-WIDE OFFICES
William R. Steinhaus for County Executive (incumbent)
Brad Kendall for County Clerk (incumbent)
What else in on the ballot?
Judicial:
Justice; New York Supreme Court; Judicial District 9 (3 Elected)
Robert M. Berliner, Democratic, Working Families
Anthony D. Zepf, Right to Life
Anthony J. DeCintio, Jr., Right to Life
Rory J. Bellantoni, Republican, Independence, Conservative, Working Families
William E. Sherwood, Republican, Independence, Conservative, Right to Life
Francis A. Nicolai, Democratic, Independent
Christine Krahulik, Republican
Elaine Slobod, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, Working Families
State Propositions:
Proposition 1 Proposal Number 1, An Amendment to the Constitution
Amendment to Article 14, section 1 of the Constitution, in relation to the use of forest preserve lands for wells for a municipal water supply in the hamlet of Raquette Lake, Hamilton County.
The proposed amendment would allow the State to convey one acre of forest preserve land to the town of Long Lake for public use as the site for drinking water wells and necessary related equipment for the municipal water supply for the hamlet of Raquette Lake. In exchange, the State would receive at least twelve acres of land that is at least equal in value to the land conveyed to Long Lake. The land the State receives would be incorporated into the forest preserve. The Raquette Lake reservoir would be abandoned as a source of drinking water supply. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?
What will this amendment do if approved?
This amendment will make constitutional an action that has, in fact, already taken place. In 2004, the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) gave extraordinary permission to the town of Long Lake to drill wells on Adirondack forest preserve lands, an action that requires a constitutional amendment.
For additional information on this Proposition click HERE.
If you have any comments or additional information you would like to provide, please send us a note by clicking HERE. We included links to candidates web pages when known. If we missed one, please send us the link to update.
Tyvek cutting ceremony at the Rhinecliff Hotel
If you missed the ceremony with James Chapman and Steve Block, here is the video shot by rhinecliff.org.
