Beacon Dispatch

Editorial: Too much (development), Too Little (planning), (But it’s still not) Too Late

Spend a few minutes here on the Beacon Dispatch web site and you’ll discover that there’s a minor furor going on with regard to the City’s recent million-dollar pseudo-bond, which resulted in 500 hundred residents signing a petition to put the bond to a referendum. There’s also a continuing debate about the development/salvation of the Hiddenbrooke property and whether or not this and a number of properties within the Beacon City limits—including University Settlement—should be developed and how.

Mi-Ro’s Closes – The End of an Era

Beacon's last old blue collar bar fades away

by Jack Sine
photos by John Fasulo

In the fifties and sixties when Beacon’s dye plants, hat factories, and rubber fabricators were booming, beer ran down Main Street from Fishkill Creek to the Newburgh/Beacon ferry slip like a frothy tributary of the mighty Hudson River.

Back in that day there were 37 bars in Beacon, 28 of them on or near the East Main Street/Main Street corridor that connected the base of the mountain (and most of the factories) to the ferry slip on the Hudson where two ferries, the Dutchess and the Orange, carried thousands of workers back and forth to their jobs. In those days, before government scolds decided they could tell us what we should and should not consume, there was no such thing as social drinking. If you drank, you drank – and almost everyone drank. After a hard day’s work in the factories, a cold one sure went down easy, but not as easy as the second and the third, and so on. Up and down Main Street the beer flowed like the waters of the Hudson accompanied by the clatter of bowling machines and the clicks of shuffleboard pucks.

Master Plan Update

by Sara Pasti

Since July 2005 Beacon’s Comprehensive Master Plan Committee has met on a monthly basis to discuss issues related to the master planning process and to organize the community input phase of the planning process. During the same time period, Beacon’s planning consultants have been developing a Basic Studies document that describes Beacon as it exists today.

Officer Sues City Over Discrimination

Lawsuit challenges nepotism law

by Michael Daecher

Beacon Police Officer Richard Sassi, Jr. has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Beacon after being denied a promotion in the Beacon Police Department. Sassi is suing the City of Beacon, Mayor Clara Lou Gould, City Administrator Joe Braun, and six city councilman, alleging he was denied the promotion to detective in retaliation for disagreements his father, Beacon Police Chief Richard Sassi, has had with the City Council.

When a Bond Is Not a Bond

Possible referendum and current City council leaves the future unclear for Hiddenbrooke

by Jeffery Battersby

Just prior to the end of its last session, the Beacon City Council voted to approve a $1 million bond, to allocate funds for the purchase of the Hiddenbrooke property on De Puyster Avenue. The property is currently owned by the Preshrock Corporation and is slated for development. The fact that the City could incur such a large expense without a referendum came as a surprise to many Beacon residents who expected that, if the City were to secure a bond it would have to be put to a vote. But, according to the City Charter, the City of Beacon is not required to put bonding issues before the community as a referendum.

New Year, New Council, New Agenda

Master Plan, Tioranda Bridge, and relationship with police department top agenda for 2006

by Jeffery Battersby

November’s election brought about significant change to the Beacon City Council, putting new council members in each of the four wards and adding one new member to an At-large position. The Dispatch sat with members of the City Council after a recent meeting to discuss what the future holds for the City and to find out what the Council sees as the most significant issues facing the City this year.

Interview: Carole Rowley

by Charles R. Smith Jr. 

My family used to go camping and had an autoharp, it’s like a zither- a guitar where you don’t have to do anything- and we would take it camping and my parents loved all the folk songs from England and we’d sit around the campfire and all the neighbors would come over. I remember being 4 years old figuring out how to sing with vibrato and that was it! By the time I was nine I wanted to be Julie Andrews and that’s where it (my love of music) all started.

Highland Wanderer: Fishkill Ridge Trail to the (hopefully!) frozen falls

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Difficulty: Easy

Appx Distance/time: 1.4 Miles 45 – 75 minutes depending on conditions.

Trail Markers: W

Hike type: Out and back

Low/High Points: 450’/800’

NYNJ Trail Map #: 102

Of Note: Enjoyable streamside trail that ends at a waterfall. The falls are especially beautiful if the weather has been cold enough to freeze them.

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This month the Wanderer admits to being a little more than disappointed. While I fully expected to be donning my snowshoes and taking you on a wonderfully wintry outdoor adventure, the weather has been, shall we say, a little less than cooperative. So, as the recent trends have been more walking shorts than snowshoes, consider this a somewhat hopeful hike, and we’ll look to next month for snow.