Letters to the editor: Thursday, Feb. 13

Against building housing on Amenia farmland

Hudson River Housing is proposing to build 28 houses on farmland across from Freshtown Plaza. We should not be building housing on farmland in Amenia. Loss of farmland reduces wildlife habitat and air and water quality. Loss of farmland causes erosion, compaction, nutrient imbalance, pollution, acidification, water logging and loss of soil biodiversity. Loss of farmland challenges economic security, raises food prices, and moves us in the direction of being unable to feed the world’s populations, including our own. Since 2023 the United States has become a net importer of food, including foods that could be grown in New York State. (1) Worldwide a third of arable land has been lost in the last 40 years. (2) In the United States 11 million acres of farmland were lost between 2001 and 2016. 4.4 million acres being among the best agricultural land in the United States. (3)New York lost 9% of its farmland from 2012 to 2022, losing farmland faster than the U.S. average. (4) Between 1974 and 2017, 25% of Dutchess county farmland has been lost. (5) The land chosen by Hudson River Housing to build on is prime bottom land, farmed for over 100 years, with 11.5 acres of the prized and relatively rare Wappinger Soil Type, a soil of recent alluvial deposits usually prone to winter flooding. (6)
The best place to build affordable housing is in metropolitan areas with bustling job markets, steady growth and existing infrastructure. Amenia is not a hub of industry and is losing population. However, the Taconic Developmental Disabilities School Campus has buildings that can be rehabbed, infrastructure, and is close to the commuter rail. That is where affordable housing should be built — not on farmland.
(1) (3) USDA, (2) Thomas Reuters Foundation, (4) New York Farm Bureau (5) US Census of Agriculture (6) “Soil Survey of Dutchess County, USDA
George Bistransin
Amenia

Appreciation for Auschwitz remembrance

Thank you to the Millerton News and to Natalia Zukerman for a profoundly moving article on the importance of remembering, honoring, and bearing witness at Auschwitz. In a time when historical memory is often challenged or diminished, this piece served as a poignant and necessary reminder of our collective responsibility to preserve the truth.
Through eloquent storytelling and heartfelt reflection, Ms. Zukerman not only honored her family’s legacy, the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, she also underscored the moral duty we all share to confront history with honesty and vigilance. The emphasis on remembrance as a means of ensuring that such horrors are never repeated resonated deeply with me.
I hope that more pieces like this will continue to be published, fostering awareness, education, and, most importantly compassion. Sincere gratitude to Natalia Zukerman for her thoughtful and beautifully written piece.
Nina Peek
Amenia