123- The Value of a Local Economy

Until now, I have not seriously discussed the problems with RUPCO's big box style of affordable housing, but it is time to do that now.

Although RUPCO has done great work in providing various services to people in need of affordable housing, RUPCO's model of new affordable housing, which is the model for Woodstock Commons, is the retail equivalent of Costco and the other big box stores.  RUPCO gets its funds from afar, its labor from afar, and its residents from afar.  In some cases, financing can come from anywhere in the nation, residents from anywhere in the state, and materials and contractors from probably not quite as far, but certainly not from the Town of Woodstock.

When towns decide to refurbish existing housing stock, using local labor and materials, and local investors, and house locals in need of housing in the refurbished structures, everybody works together, AND everybody wins.

This is a very simplified version of the case for local self-reliance, but a simplified version is great for illustrating a point.

Here in Woodstock, there are many industries that could be more localized than they are now, therefore benefiting all of us here in Woodstock.

In the spirit of this local driving force in our economy, and in our lives in general, The Woodstock Land Conservancy and the Woodstock Farm Festival are organizing and hosting a speaker on local farming and the local food supply chain.

On Saturday, February 19, at Woodstock Elementary School, from 10 AM to about 2:30 PM, Joel Salatin, renowned Virginia meat farmer and advocate of a local food supply, will be speaking to the first couple of hundred to buy tickets.  As of a couple of days ago, there are only about 30 tickets left, believe it or not.  Salatin has a very loyal following.  He is a superb speaker.  I offer you this youtube clip, a sampling of Salatin's  wisdom and wit:



And the effort to support a local food supply does not end with the farmer.  After lunch, which is provided at the event, attendees will be treated to a panel discussion of local farmers, food processors, and others who are trying to get all of us here in the Catskills and Hudson Valley to eat more locally produced food.

But that's not all.  After listening to talk of local produce, meat and food processing all day, you might wish to sample a dinner prepared by one of Woodstock area's talented chefs.  But Saturday February 19 will not be any normal night to eat out in Woodstock.  At four local restaurants, the main ingredients of special prix fixe menus will be sourced locally, meaning basically within fifty miles of their restaurants.  Right in the middle of February!

I will spend more time later writing about the general dissonance between RUPCO's big box housing solution and the locally inspired, locally innovative, locally involved, and locally rewarding economic engine.

I wanted to offer you a way to have a taste of the whole local concept in the most tangible way possible: listen to the farmer, ask questions, and then go out to a local restaurant and taste how good it is.

For now, here are the February 19 locally sourced prix-fixe dinner participating restaurants, and their offerings:



New World Home Cooking


Local 50 Mile Prix Fixe:
“From Apples to Apples”

4 courses $35, With Wine Pairing $55 

•Amuse Bouche
Nettle Meadows Kunik, Black Walnut and Lenny B Honey Tostada

•Soup
Apple-Potato Leek Soup  
Wine: Millbrook Chardonnay

•Choice of  Entree
Pan Roasted Local Oceans Sea Bream  (Hudson)
Slow Roasted NorthWinds Farm Pork Shoulder (Tivoli)
Sauteed Shamah’s Seitan (Kingston) with Davenports Corn Succotash (Marbletown)
Wine: Lamoreaux Landing Pinot Noir

•Dessert
Hudson Valley Cheese Plate with home grown apple butter
(Coach Farm, Sprout Creek, Nettle Meadow)
Wine: Brotherhood Riesling

1411 Rt 212
Saugerties, NY 12477
845-246-0900


Garden Café on The Green (Vegan)


Four Course $30 Prix Fixe Menu including a glass of wine or beer


•Polenta Mushroom Tart (Wild Hive Farms Polenta)
•Tofu Cacciatore
•Walnut Pesto Roasted Vegetables 
Sauteed Kale
•Apple Crumb Pie with Vanilla Cashew Ice Cream or 
Gluten Free Apple Crisp with Cashew Ice Cream      

LOCAL INGREDIENTS:
•Polenta and Bread Flour for •Foccacia from Wild Hive Farms
•Apples-Sunfrost Farms Market
•Maple Syrup-Breezy Mountain Farm
•Cashew Ice Cream-Organic Nectars
•Organic Wine and local Ommegang Beer

6 Old Forge Road
Woodstock, NY
845-679-3600


The Red Onion Restaurant & Bar


Joel Salatin Prix Fixe Dinner Available 5-10pm


$37.95


•Lenny Bee’s Locally Smoked Trout Salad


•Stone Church Farm Duck Breast, Spiced Honey Sauce, Parsnip Puree, Slow-Roasted Brussels Sprouts


•Local Fuji Apple Crisp Topped with Jane’s Vanilla Ice Cream


1654 Route 212
Saugerties NY 12477
845-679-1223


Violette


This dinner menu will feature an omelet with local eggs, local potatoes, local smoked trout, and something for dessert with local apples.  Call for details and price.


85 Mill Hill Road
Woodstock, New York 12498
845-679-5300

122- Basic Review Expanded

The other day I made some comments about water and wastewater and the local laws governing their access.  Here now is the backstory:

Back in December, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation wrote a letter to the Town of Woodstock, telling the town that several applications had to be made in order to extend town water to RUPCO's Woodstock Commons project.  This was a matter of New York State Law, not Woodstock Town Law.

First, where there are two overlapping jurisdictions such as Woodstock Town and New York State, it makes sense and is in fact the case that both jurisdictions have standing, which means that the more restrictive law is the one to worry about. In the case of RUPCO, this means that although Woodstock Town law might allow anybody in town on any property to hook up to town water, New York State Law, if it is more restrictive, (and it is,) State law defines the rules.

State Law says that if a development is on a property, and the property is split into two parts, one within and one outside of the water district, there are some applications necessary on the part of the town, to serve the part of the property outside of the water district.  This is why the DEC wrote a letter to the town.  DEC told the town to make a decision whether to make the applications, and if that decision was in the affirmative, the application process could start.  It was estimated that approval of these applications might take half a year, but that is an estimate, hearsay, but a period that seems reasonable, given all of the opinions and information I have gleaned.

So, what we have here is the Town of Woodstock, in a position to either apply or not apply to extend water access to the other end of the RUPCO project property, the end NOT in the water district.  The bottom line of that story SHOULD HAVE BEEN that the town would discuss and make a decision either way, at a town board meeting, by resolution, and then there would either be opposition or not (we do not have to wonder all that much whether or not there would be opposition.)

But of course that was not the bottom line of that story, not at all.  What happened is that Woodstock's attorney, Rod Futerfas, sent a letter to the DEC, arguing "the" law.  He "cited" town law, explaining that if a property is partially in the water district, then all of the property gets water access.

There are two problems with Futerfas' argument. First, the DEC does not care about town law.  The DEC is a state agency, and it cares about New York State law, which is more restrictive than the town law Futerfas supposedly quoted, and so the law that matters in this case.

The second problem is that even if town law mattered,  Futerfas misquoted Town Law.  Yes, that's right.  Rod Futerfas misquoted Town Law of the town for which he is town attorney.  There is no law stating that a  property partially in the water district is entitled to water access anywhere on that property.  There is such a law pertaining to wastewater service, but not to water access.

Citizen Iris York brought this up at a Town Board meeting earlier this week.  Somebody said that Futerfas was aware of and had already corrected this error.  One board member spoke up, saying that he had not seen any correction.

When a lawyer misquotes the law, it is incumbent upon that lawyer not only to correct the error on the phone in a casual conversation, let's say, but also in all correspondences in which he misquoted the law.

I am not accusing any lawyer here or anywhere of intentionally misquoting any law in his or her practice of law.  To make such an unsubstantiated accusation would be foolish of me.  What I do know for sure though, and what I will accuse Woodstock town lawyer Rod Futerfas of is extremely sloppiness.  And, I do not trust him for one single second.

More later.

121- Basic Review

I'm sorry. I apologize.  This is going to be very insulting to most of you. But one or two of you, and you know who you are, really need to read this.

This is water. It is clean.  It comes into our homes through pipes.  Some of us in Woodstock buy this water from the town of Woodstock.

This is wastewater.  It is dirty.  It leaves our homes through pipes.  Some of us pay the town to take our wastewater away.

Woodstock is a town with laws.  The laws are divided into chapters.  Chapter 245 pertains to wastewater.  Chapter 250 pertains to water. In Chapter 245, which is about wastewater, not fresh water, we find this:

§ 245-33. Properties divided by District boundary.

Those properties which are now divided by the District boundary line shall be considered to be wholly served by the District.

Notice how the number starts with "245"?  That is how we know it is part of Chapter 245, and therefore part of the wastewater law, not the water law.

If you try to find this same law in Chapter 250, meaning in the Woodstock Water Law, you will not find it, because it is not there. 

Well, I guess it's kind of confusing, and so perhaps it really IS a mistake somebody might make if there had not been years and years of attention, light, discussion, investigation, and debate in this subject. And also it is a mistake that somebody who is not a lawyer, and especially not the town's lawyer, might make.

Um...