HARLEM VALLEY — Last week The Millerton News ran Part I of its Year in Review of 2021, reflecting back on the second year of how Harlem Valley residents enduring living through the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy, home life, education, work, relationships and so much more. (See here)
This week the paper continues its look at how the northeastern Dutchess County communities we call home fared last year, and some of the top issues our town and village governments dealt with as they worked to ensure our quality of life remained high. What follows are some of the top stories from 2021.
Having raised more than $1 million for Phase One of the temporarily-renamed Millerton Community Park’s revitalization of Eddie Collins Memorial Park off Route 22, local leaders, volunteers and supporters celebrated the ground-breaking last August.
The roughly $8 million project will completely redo the park as a massive recreation space for the entire community, with a brand new ADA-compliant pool, playground, soccer field, baseball field, basketball courts, trails, pavilion and more. Most of the money to pay for the project is being raised through donations, grants and other contributions.
In Millbrook, demolition of the former Bennett College campus began in October to make way for the 32-acre Bennett Park, which will connect to the soon-to-be-done Thorne Building Community Center (TBCC), a multi-purpose community center that will provide various creative spaces for the whole community. The village finally handed over the Thorne Building to the 501(C)3 nonprofit TBCC. The project has been years in planning and the entire community has been involved in the process from the get-go.
Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia sponsored a community rodeo in October at Keane Stud Farm, also in that town. A couple of thousand attended, although some animal activists were not very happy about the event.
Look for Part III of The Year in Review in next week’s issue of The Millerton News.
Throughout the state local municipalities dealt with the new marijuana law in 2021. Last March, New York joined 19 other states across the U.S. in legalizing adult-use recreational marijuana when it passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA).
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo gave municipalities in New York until Dec. 31 to decide to opt in or opt out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and marijuana lounges.
After careful consideration, the towns of North East, Amenia and Washington decided to opt out of allowing both cannabis retail dispensaries and on-site lounges; Pine Plains decided to opt in to allowing cannabis dispensaries, but not lounges.
Countering the happy milestones reported, the Harlem Valley also experienced its share of trials and tragedies in 2021. State and local authorities addressed issues concerning anti-Asian bias, anti-masking concerns and even an anti-Biden banner hung in full view of passing motorists and school buses.
Local school districts faced COVID-19 outbreaks and concerns about state mask mandates; the Pine Plains Board of Education dealt with harsh complaints from parents about mask breaks for their children.
In Amenia, more than 42 lawsuits were refiled against the town by residents of Silo Ridge Field Club, who claimed they were unfairly assessed. The Amenia elections were dragged into the mess as candidates tied to Silo Ridge — one who was suing the town — ran for Town Board.
In early November, the Millerton Fire Company responded in minutes to a devastating house fire on South Elm Avenue that claimed two lives. The community pulled together in support of the families affected by the blaze, organizing fundraisers, food drives, clothing drives and even finding some of the displaced families housing.
While dealing with the ongoing pandemic, Harlem Valley residents sought appointments to get their COVID-19 vaccines at the pop-up clinics organized by Dutchess County agencies, local pharmacies and school districts, followed by second doses and booster shots.
Following last November’s historic national election, our 2021 local elections could be considered calm by comparison. But perhaps not everywhere.
In Amenia, a new independent party, Amenia Strong, formed. Its slate of candidates ran in the Republican Primary, with some success, as well as in the General Election, running against incumbent candidates running for Town Board and town supervisor.
Among the Amenia Strong candidates was supervisor candidate Julie Doran, the office manager of Silo Ridge. Along with her estranged husband Peter and Stoneleaf Construction LLC Principal Juan Torres (whose company is partner to Silo Ridge Ventures), Doran was among those who filed a lawsuit against the town of Amenia challenging the entire tax roll for inequitable assessments.
New York State also experienced a change in leadership in August when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation from office following multiple reports of sexual harassment — all of which he denied. In his place, New York State Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul stepped forward as New York’s first female governor. Hochul plans to run for a full term as governor on the Democratic ticket come November.
Look for Part IV of The Year in Review in next week’s issue of The Millerton News
"Flowers" by the late artist and writer Joelle Sander.
Sander’s first book, “The Family: The Evolution of Our Oldest Human Institution,” was published in 1978 while she worked as an instructor with the Institute of Children’s Literature. She described the history book, which took young readers on a journey of the evolving family unit from the Ice Age to the 1970s, as a kind of anthropological tour. “Kids are exposed to so many families in this culture,” she told The Lakeville Journal at the time. “I felt the book would give them a perspective on families in other cultures, both historical and contemporary. In 1992, The Lakeville Journal reviewed another of her published works, “Before Their Time: Four Generations of Teenage Mothers,” which Sander wrote as a faculty member at Sarah Lawrence in Westchester County, N.Y., where she served as the associate director of The Center for Continuing Education and taught modern American poetry. She was also a volunteer at a New York YMCA. At this YMCA, she met a young single mother named Leticia, whose trauma, struggles and hopes for the future inspired Sander to share Leticia’s story as told through the personal histories of the women who had come before her. Lakeville Journal writer Richard O’Connor called the book’s psychological exploration of cyclical poverty both “wonderful and disturbing.”
Her first slim volume of poetry, “Margins of Light” was available for attendees of the show to read while they examined Sanders’ paintings, a dual experience to take in the twin passions of her lengthy artistic career.
“Live It Up!” will be on view at The Cornwall Library through Saturday, May 18.
"Cow," by Joelle Sander.Cornwall Library
Rabbi Zach Fredman
He has since relocated with his family to Germantown and founded Temenos, “a home for ritual and creativity that honors the wild humanity of all people,” as the website explains (temenosnyc.com). At these feasts, Fredman and his brother, a chef, would create a menu to highlight the symbolism and mythology of certain Jewish holidays.
“People loved it,” explained Fredman. “It’s kind of a two-pronged approach, a way to engage and digest symbolism through the belly.” The Seder (which means “order” in Hebrew) at Race Brook will be such an immersive experience: a four-course meal conducted in four parts, echoing the four cups of wine consumed during the ceremony.
Alex Harvey, arts programmer at Race Brook, and his wife, Sophia Akilova, have known Rabbi Fredman through various communities and music circles for many years. After moving to the Hudson Valley from Brooklyn, Akilova was “looking everywhere for some kind of Jewish community that was dynamic. There’s plenty of progressive Jewish communities,” Harvey continued, “but she was looking for something way more particular, a community that is rediscovering active prayer, actually somatic spirituality.”
Fredman spoke of Passover as an opportunity to reconnect with tradition while investigating present day reality through the core liberatory framework of the holiday. He said, “One of the major successes in Judaism is that the tradition was conceived as living. There’s the written material that’s passed on, that’s unchanging, but it’s always accompanied by oral teachings, teacher to student, teacher to student. And so there is a sense that tradition is alive and dependent on people making it fresh, making it new.”
The tradition will be made new once again with the addition of music at Race Brook by the powerful and virtuosic Duo Andalus with vocalist Lala Tamar. Tamar and Fredman, who is an incredibly accomplished musician as well, have been collaborating through Fredman’s group Epichorus for many years. Fredman will join Duo Andalus throughout the evening and the following evening (April 24), Epichorus featuring Tamar and Yacouba Sissoko, who plays the African Kora, will perform.
Lala TamarProvided
There are four questions that are asked during a Passover Seder, traditionally by the youngest person at the table. One of those questions is: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Much of the rest of the Seder is in response to this question. When asked this particular question, Rabbi Fredman offered, “It’s been so overwhelming to watch the news cycle. It’s been a year where Judaism, Jewish identity, Jewish ethics, all of these things are completely different from what we thought they were even a year ago.” Fredman went on to speak about the fracturing that is occurring within the Jewish community and offered, “One of the functions of ritual, especially a ritual like this one, is to create space for people to have the conversations that we need to have.”
Creating a safe container for difference and for questioning is a tall order and one that Fredman meets with humility and curiosity. Of the Passover Seder he shared, “I’m hoping that in addition to the elements of food, and music, and teachings that there’s also space for people to be vulnerable and sift through some other profound experiences, painful experiences of the last six months and then, you know, investigate, turn things over and find something about themselves that helps us make sense of a disorienting moment.”
Reservations for Feast of Mystics, and The Epichorus featuring Yacouba Sissoko and Lala Tamar can be made at rblodge.com.
