Above: Middleburgh's newest business, Valley Tax and Accounting, which opened at 296 Main Street on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Downtown Middleburgh was devastated by flooding from Irene and Lee, and recovery has been a long process. But with several new businesses on Main Street -- and a new brewery set to open its doors in 2014 -- things are looking up in Middleburgh. In a press release, Valley Tax owner Francis Pipcynski says he's proud to be part of the comeback:
"We are pleased to be here and be part of the rebuilding process after such widespread devastation. What has impressed us so much is that after what seemed like a knock out punch, the residents and business owners did and continue to do whatever is necessary to get back on their feet."
Across the Catskills, Main Streets are lit up with holiday lights and cheery shop windows. Lately, a few local downtowns are celebrating good news along with the holiday spirit. For instance, there's Phoenicia, whose Main Street library -- destroyed by fire in 2011 -- is getting a $20,000 state grant toward their rebuilding effort. State senator James Seward, who helped secure the grant, is visiting Phoenicia this afternoon to make a formal announcement.
Roxbury's downtown is feeling increasingly festive lately, as once-empty storefronts bustle with life. Over the last year or so, Roxbury has become something of a cultural hotspot; there are arty soirées at the new Orphic Gallery and Yesterday's News, espresso and Chinese dumplings at the Queens Mountain Cafe, and even a food truck. Soon to join the mix: A new liquor store, a general store in the beautiful old Enderlin building, and a new modern art studio opening up in the long-vacant Catholic church on Route 30.
There's another Catskills renaissance underway in Palenville, now home to the lovingly-restored Circle W General Store, a fire-engine-red hot dog truck, a chic little hair salon, and -- as of October -- the brand-new Lower Clove Wine & Spirits. Alas, Palenville's burgeoning downtown has been under siege from vandals lately; the Circle W's back door was smashed over the weekend, and Lower Clove posted on their Facebook page last month that someone took a shot at the store's brand-new sign just a few weeks after they opened. "Maybe this will add to our street cred," they write. (That's the spirit.)
It's the end of an era -- but maybe the beginning of a new one -- at iconic Catskills resort Kutscher's, which was sold last week to a company called Veria Lifestyles, owned by Indian media mogul Subash Chandra. Goodbye, kitschy '50s decor; hello, Ayurvedic spa retreat.
Another Catskills development in the works has been making national headlines this week: Long Island businesswoman Sherry Li's planned "China City," envisioned as a sort of massive, glitzy cultural Disneyland spanning 2,000 acres in the Sullivan County towns of Thompson and Mamakating. There's been a lot of local apprehension about the project. This week, the New York Post, Fox News and the New York Daily News are freaking out about it, too.
The long list of construction workers who have died building New York City's water system has a recent addition. A Saugerties man, 53-year-old Timothy Lang, was killed in a construction accident in the Orange County village of Maybrook on Tuesday, when a concrete retaining wall he was helping to build collapsed on him and two other workers at Halmar Construction Company. The men were building a replica of a planned interconnection between the Catskill and Delaware Aqueducts, a project in the works at the New York City DEP; Halmar is a DEP contractor.
Monticello's Mayor Gone Wild drama continues to rage, fueled by the recent public release of videotape of Mayor Gordon Jenkins's profanity-laced tirade at the local police station after his arrest on drunk driving charges. The latest: Officer John Siegler of the Monticello Police Benevolent Association has filed a complaint with the Sullivan County NAACP about the mayor's "racial attacks" on officers. During the videotape, Jenkins -- who is black -- deploys the N-bomb:
“Don’t call me mayor,” Jenkins replies. “Call me n****r, because that’s what I am when I’m right here in handcuffs. But you know something? I don’t give a f**k.”
In other local turkey news: 28 turkeys who were rescued from certain extermination at a Staten Island mental hospital are now living the good life at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties.
Plattekill ski-shop operator George Quinn has a new book out about skiing in the Catskills. Tonight at 7pm, he'll be signing copies at the Kingston Barnes & Noble.
Last night, Ulster County property owners in the floodplain got an earful about steep premium increases coming to the national flood insurance program, at a presentation by the DEC's William Nechamen about the effects of the controversial new Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and FEMA's new expanded floodplain maps. There's another session planned tonight for Delaware County floodplain property owners at SUNY Delhi; organizers expect a packed house.
Should Greene County have a countywide ambulance service, instead of each town running its own? The county legislature is looking into it.
No more free lunch at the River Reporter, where all online articles are now behind a paywall. Many Catskills local weeklies can only be read by logged-in subscribers, and both the Oneonta Daily Star and the Times Herald-Record now have paywalls that let non-subscribers read just a handful of stories a month.
Bad news for travelers, good news for ski centers: Look out for mixed precipitation on Friday, the National Weather Service at Binghamton warns. We may be in for a few rounds of stormy weather by early next week, say forecasters at the NWS's Albany office.
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