Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 10-19-23

Endorsing Parisi for DA

As Dutchess County District Attorney, Anthony Parisi will:

— Prioritize public safety and prevent crime through Intelligence Led Policing

— Improve office transparency

— Keep our children safe in their schools

— Address Domestic Violence

— Appoint a Hate Crimes Prosecutor

— Establish a Conviction Integrity Unit 

— Reform policies on charging adolescents

— Demand the highest ethical standards for all prosecutors 

Anthony will be independent-minded and keep politics out of the District Attorney’s Office. He values fairness and justice and has the experience needed to be an outstanding District Attorney. 

I urge you to vote for Anthony Parisi to be our next District Attorney.

The Honorable David Steinberg (retired)

Poughkeepsie

Jeanine Sisco for Pine Plains

Pine Plains is so fortunate to have Jeanine Sisco as a candidate for Town Board! Jeanine and her husband have lived in Pine Plains for 40 years and raised their three children here. Her work experience — as a New York State employee at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) for 37 years — has provided her with skills that will be enormously useful to the town. Jeanine had several administrative positions at the OPWDD and gained experience with purchasing and renovating properties, following New York State building codes, and engaging in the bidding and construction processes. This type of experience will be invaluable for a Town Board member.

Jeanine now serves on the Board of the Stissing Center Guild and her love for our town is obvious.

Speaking of her family, Jeanine has said that “The quality of life in Pine Plains, in our small town, has molded our soul and taught us that the most important part of life is found in relationships with others and with our community and its environment.”

Her attitude toward her job as a Town Board member is the ultimate in democratic values: she has committed to listening to and learning from community members so that she can use the community’s shared values as a guidepost.

Pine Plains needs Jeanine Sisco!

Amy Rothstein

Pine Plains

Supporting Blackman in Amenia

I have lived in Amenia all my life and my family can trace its roots back to the Gridleys. I love Amenia, which is why my husband Bruce and I are supporting Leo Blackman for Supervisor in the election on November 7th. We have known Leo for 20 years. He is our neighbor across the street and, in fact, lives in the house where I grew up. Leo is a great neighbor — friendly, concerned, helpful and fun. We supported him when he ran for Town Board two years ago and have been very impressed with all he has accomplished in his time on the Board. He has the energy, vision and commitment needed to take on big projects needed to improve the town. I hope you will join us in supporting Leo Blackman for Supervisor. 

Sandra Hoadley Conlin and Bruce Conlin

Wassaic

Kevin Walsh for Town Board

We want to urge Pine Plains voters to support Kevin Walsh for one of the two open Town Board positions.  Kevin and his wife have lived in Pine Plains for the past 35 years and have raised their children here. 

A forthright clear thinker and Navy veteran, Kevin has served on the Pine Plains Conservation Advisory Council and regards Pine Plains as “a gemstone that needs a little polish to be a jewel.”  Kevin loves our town and wants it to retain its sense of inclusive community. He believes our town can try to help fill some of the vacant buildings in town by implementing a new town septic system with government funding.  This would support new businesses which otherwise lack adequate septic systems. Kevin understands that planning does not mean Pine Plains becomes a Rhinebeck.

In our opinion, Kevin Walsh is exactly the kind of Town Board member Pine Plains needs. He has a commitment to the Town where he and his wife have raised their family and is in favor of improving business opportunities in Pine Plains while simultaneously supporting our town’s special rural beauty.

Rachel and Ron Minkoff

Pine Plains

Victoria Perotti support

From June 2017 until Jan. 1, 2022, a period of 4 ½ years, I served the Town of Amenia as councilman on the Town Board. Although a practicing lawyer for over 50 years at that time, I had never held public office and my experience in municipal law was clearly limited. When I ran unsuccessfully for reelection in 2021, I knew a lot more about how to run a town than I did in 2017, but my knowledge paled in comparison to Victoria’s. My time as a Board member proves the adage that there is no substitute for experience.

Victoria is tough but fair, and she is blessed with good common sense. In all my experience, I have never met a more devoted public servant. In short, she cares very deeply about the Town of Amenia and its citizens and we are very fortunate to have her as our Supervisor.She is most deserving of our support as she seeks reelection.

Jim Morris

Amenia

Scrutiny of Amenia’s Planning Board

A public hearing for increasing the Amenia Town Tax Levy above the 2% cap is scheduled for Nov. 2, 7 p.m., at Amenia Town Hall.  You can get the 2024 Tentative Budget from the Town Clerk’s Office. Some of this year’s budget items include $40,000 for sidewalk snow removal in Hamlet of Amenia. Boston and New York require property owners and businesses to remove snow on the sidewalks.  A new gym floor in Town Hall is expected to cost $40-60,000. $4,800 has been allocated for architectural renderings—not to aid the contractor in installing the new floor, but to meet the requirements of the getting bids.   $1,000 for a title search of the Little Raised Park in Wassaic — likely to discover no record of ownership.

At least these expenses have some benefit to the Town.   Hiring litigation lawyers to defend two lawsuits against the Amenia Planning Board is inexcusable. The Town Board could have saved this expense by exercising oversight over the Planning Board. Chapter 24-10 of the Amenia Town Code allows the Town Board to remove Planning Board Members for cause. Dishonesty, fraud, failure to follow required procedure and incompetence are allowable grounds for removing someone from the Planning Board.

The Planning Board certified that there would be no adverse environmental effect from using herbicides at Troutbeck. Let readers judge for themselves whether this is a true statement or not. The Planning Board did not follow required procedure when they voted a waiver to allow a house built on crest of Westerly Ridge without notice to neighbors or holding a public hearing. And the shenanigans of changing Troutbeck’s traditional category of use from Non-conforming Use, which requires setting aside 50% of property for open space, to Adaptive Reuse, which allows expansion for an historic building, (not building 7 new structures and parking lot) is fraud.

The lawsuit against the Planning Board regarding Troutbeck has nine well-documented claims of the Planning Board’s malfeasance.  The lawsuit regarding 108 Westerly Ridge has five. If the Amenia Town Board had carried out its oversight responsibilities, they would perhaps not be seeking to increase our town levy above the 2% cap.

George Bistransin

Amenia

Endorsing Leo Blackman for Amenia

I am writing to endorse Leo Blackman as Supervisor for the Town of Amenia. Leo has had a positive impact in our town having served on the Town Board for the last two years, as former Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and as a Planning Board member.

Leo donated his professional architectural and design services for the restoration of the Gridley Chapel in Wassaic, the design of the new food pantry building at St. Thomas’ Church in Amenia Union, as well as redesigns for the Community Kitchen at the Amenia Town Hall and installing the town hall gardens.

He is passionate about achieving long-promised town goals such as a new wastewater system (for which he succeeded in obtaining a grant), working with the engineer on the design for a new highway department, increasing the developer’s fee for workforce housing and purchasing a site for 20 units, nudging Hudson River housing to do so.

Leo’s commitment and list of accomplishments for the Town of Amenia is impressive. He has lived in the Town with his husband, Ken Monteiro, for twenty years. I have known Leo for a long time. He has a great sense of humor which is important for anyone dealing with small town politics! Leo will make a great supervisor.

Tonia Shoumatoff

Wassaic