Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 3-18-21

New York’s vaccination process needs to be easier

We’ve been encouraged by our “Government” to get the COVID vaccine. It is very important to eradicating the disease. Since it is so important, why isn’t the process to sign up made somewhere easier? 

I’m happy to have finally gotten my first dose within a reasonable distance of my home. The process, however, was not easy. I learned of a place to go through a “friend of a friend.” 

Upon calling a particular pharmacy I was instructed to sign up through Facebook. Many of my peers (in the 70-plus age bracket) do not have computers, do not have a Facebook account and are stymied as to how to get an appointment otherwise. Many people with whom I have spoken in states other than New York have been able to access the vaccine much quicker and easier without going through “hoops.” By the time we heard of a location, early on the slots for appointments were already full.  

A service might be offered by a community center or some organization where a “tech savvy” individual could help seniors navigate the system to help get people signed up. 

Good luck to those of you who have not been successful in finding a place to get the vaccine. 

 Diane Walters

Millerton

Migdale project could change Millbrook forever

As a Town of Washington resident and taxpayer, I am writing with regard to the Migdale project described in your issue of March 4. The proposal includes an amendment to the town zoning code that could open up any parcel of 350 acres or more with state highway access to commercial development. The proposed amendment is not limited to the Migdale project. This is a fundamental change in how the town has approached zoning issues in the past, and town residents have been provided with no opportunity to approve or reject the new overlay concept, even though the proposed amendment would presumably drastically change the character of Millbrook.    

The proposed amendment is inconsistent with the expectations of residents who bought property under the current zoning rules as well as the existing Town Comprehensive Plan. No rationale has been provided for the breadth of the proposed amendment. 

In addition, the specific Migdale project does not reflect the Town Comprehensive Plan, which indicates that the hamlet of Mabbettsville, where the Migdale project is located, should retain its existing character. The written proposal made available to the public has no or few specifics regarding how key issues such as water, sewage and excess traffic would be addressed for a project that includes a hotel, restaurant, campsites, cabins and houses. 

We have heard during public meetings that there may be solutions to these issues, but unless a fully developed plan is made public, citizens cannot be sure that solutions to these issues exist or be sure that a project of this size will not have an adverse impact on the town.

The public simply does not yet have evidence that the proposed zoning amendment and the current vision for the Migdale project would benefit the community. To the contrary, the available information indicates that the proposed amendment and project may greatly harm the community.

Pamela C. Scott

Wassaic

Housing for Amenia

Thanks to The Millerton News for following the progress of Amenia’s Housing Board. We were formed over a year ago to find solutions to the dramatic gap between the needs of working people and the skyrocketing cost of staying in the region. We’ve developed a survey (online and paper) to better understand the specifics of the problem, and have sent postcards (residents) and flyers (businesses) out, for a maximum number of responses.  

The Millerton/North East Housing Committee (our partner with Pine Plains in the Tri-Town Coalition), will be sending out their own survey before long. 

But for all those who live or work in Amenia, and have not received an invitation, please go to www.ameniany.org; and select our link at the very top of homepage. There are also paper surveys in a box at Amenia Town Hall (outside to left).

The deadline for return is April 5th. 

We look forward to hearing back.

Leo Blackman 

Chairman, 

Amenia Housing Board 

Wassaic

Molinaro: State must protect most vulnerable during pandemic

Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro wrote the below letter to State Senator John W. Mannion (D-50), chairman of the State Senate’s Committee on Disabilities, and State Assemblymember Thomas Abinanti (D-92), chairman of the State Assembly’s Committee on People with Disabilities, on March 12.

The recent report released by Disability Rights New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest once again shows New York State’s failure to care for and protect individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report finds that in New York “People with I/DD in group homes are three times more likely to contract COVID-19 and three times more likely to die from it compared to the general population of New York.” Further, the report goes on to highlight the many policy failures that contributed to this catastrophic toll including:

• A lack of timely, effective, and practical guidance on how to minimize the risk of infection;

• Access to adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (“PPE”); and

• A failure to put in place “a standardized COVID-19 testing protocol for individuals living in group homes or the staff who work in close contact with them.”

The authors also found that “New York State withheld from the public vital information regarding COVID-19 related deaths and infection rates.”

This is all too typical of a State that routinely treats the I/DD population as second-class citizens. The many failures uncovered by this report, which are far more numerous than those mentioned here, when paired with the State’s policy of having COVID-19 positive patients with I/DD sent back to facilities with little capacity to safely isolate these individuals paint a dark picture of New York’s failure to protect this vulnerable population.

Immediate changes must be made to rectify the failures highlighted in this report and the State should launch a comprehensive investigation of its failure to protect I/DD individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. I urge you to support these changes and an immediate investigation. A society should be judged by how they treat their most vulnerable. I say with great sadness that at this moment our society, our State, would be judged harshly. 

Marcus J. Molinaro

Dutchess County Executive

Red Hook