Community Garden - Co-Op - Farmers Market

It is admirable that our Government offers Grants so that we may have a nice Village Riverfront Park, a New Kayak Launch and other things that will help beautify our Village. Perhaps it is time to think more about the Residents and the hard times that are upon us all. Prices on everything are going up causing us to tighten our belts by cutting back on necessities. Food should not be one of them.

As Concerned Citizens and Residents of Athens we should join together to watch out for each other during these difficult times. This is what has always made Athens a special community to live in.

Wouldn’t it be neighborly to establish a Community Garden with other Athenians who would like to grow their own vegetables but don’t have space to do it. We could call ourselves the “Greater Athens Community Garden Association”. Besides growing vegetables to feed our own families we may want to grow a little extra for Elderly Athenians who can no longer grow their own and people in need in the Village. We are also exploring the creation of a Food Co-Op to provide that which we cannot grow and a Farmers market to allow everyone access to reasonably priced fresh produce.

RIGHT NOW WE ARE IN THE PLANNING STAGE SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED JUST DROP US A NOTE AT: G.A. Community Garden Assoc. C/O C.A.R.D., P.O. Box, 126 Athens, N.Y. 12015.

“ ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF WE WORK TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY “

Beware of the Zoning Changes

by R.C.

Too often we procrastinate on the things that happen in our lives to the point that it is too late to change them. This should not be one of those times. The village is about to pass zoning laws that will affect the future of all Athens Residents. They will be changing a Medium Residential area, where there are no businesses at the present time, to Commercial Resident which will allow businesses access to our waterfront areas. What this means is Businesses such as professional or business offices, retail stores and shops, hotels, banks, restaurants, savings and loan institutions.

If you do not own property in the Waterfront areas you may think that it does not affect you but you are wrong. What will compound the problem even more is the height restrictions in this area will go from (30) thirty feet to a recommend (35) feet which was originally proposed to be 50 feet.. If a builder wanted to go beyond the 35 foot height he could apply for zoning variances through the Zoning Board of Appeals. (This has been done in the past on several occasions, once with Peck ham’s oil tanks.)

If you were to Visit this website: http://planningbetterplaces.com/athensvillagezoning.html-- you can view the Minutes of the Zoning implementation Committee concerning zoning changes, the proposed zoning changes and the revised zoning changes. Protect your rights by becoming familiar with the newly proposed zoning changes, so that you can question the Village Board at the Public Hearings to accept them. This will be your only chance to voice your opinion and make it count.

THE RE-ZONING of ATHENS

by R.C. and D. H.

The Re-zoning of the Athens Waterfront and Rt. 385 has to be considered in the framework of the impact that it will have on the people who currently own the properties which all together make up the Village of Athens and also the impact on those who rent or lease and are citizens of the Village who pay taxes indirectly as part of their rental price. The quality of Life for all citizens of Athens cannot be damaged in the pursuit of being able to charge more taxes on property opened up for Commercial Development by Re-Zoning the Private Homes of Citizens. Although there may be an influential few who hope to gain directly by the sale to developers of such re-zoned property the greater majority of Athens property owners, renters and citizens will need to consider the following article in order to make themselves heard before this zoning is voted into Law.

The proposed new Zoning Laws posted on planningbetterplaces.com are the outcome of months of meetings held by the Zoning Implementation Committee. 130 taxpayers who signed a petition for equal representation on this committee were denied this representation by the Mayor. ( Mayor Smallwood will try to say that she offered to have one person as a liaison ...but that was months after the ZIC meetings began and after the major zones had been discussed ) The Mayor preferred her close friend Denise Hartman to represent the Athens citizens. Ms. Hartman is an Assistant to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Attorney General Cuomo is on a Campaign supported by Governor Patterson to dissolve as many Villages as possible across NY State ( see the article in this Newsletter “ To Dissolve or not Dissolve”).

The Courier has a special section “Your Government at Work “ by Kalzi. dedicated to comparing the cost of different part s of the local Villages and Town expenses and discusses the Salary of Village and Town officials, costs to run different departments in the Towns & Villages and much more. It mentions ways to Consolidate and “save money “ through dissolution. Are they trying to soften the blow.?

You may ask ....How does all this tie together ? If and when the Village government is dissolved, by having re-zoned the ATHENS Waterfront, it will be one step closer to being “ shovel ready” the Town will be in a position to encourage big business to locate here even use Eminent Domain. Since most of the combined Village /Town population do not live in the Village there will not be that much resistance to what will be seen as an opportunity to increase the tax base and decrease expenses through consolidation. After Dissolution of the Village those wishing to govern the Village need only run for Town or County office something which the Village rumor mill is already predicting…..Who is sure to benefit from the creation of more commercial property for sale….?...Real Estate agents and brokers, those who loan money to developers, those who create plans for development, Attorneys, and others in the Real Estate loop. Who will suffer a decline in Quality of Life in the Village….?.. those not able to directly benefit from the sale of commercial property but who will have to endure the over development of the Waterfront and Water-view area.

DISSOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE

by D.H.

“To Dissolve or Not to Dissolve, That is the Question”

Is it any wonder that Citizens suspect there might be a “PLAN” other than the one put forth in the Comprehensive Plan. Attorney General Cuomo is on a campaign to dissolve as many Villages as possible all over NY State. Trustee Sopris indicated at a speech that he favored that idea of consolidation or dissolving the Village and the Village Board was open to this discussion. Cuomo claims that consolidation will save the taxpayer’s money. However the State’s own research suggests that a savings of 5% overall is the most that a municipality can expect to save by consolidation of all services through dissolution. A paper written at Binghamton University indicates that there may be no savings whatsoever but will put the taxpayer out of touch with those providing the services. On the web go to: http://www.4tad.org/ws/Paper_WKS1_Sinclair.pdf to read: Village Dissolution: Is Governance Eroding the Boundaries of Local Government? Thomas AP Sinclair, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University, sinclair@binghamton.edu 607-777-9200

The New Zoning will pave the way for “ Economic Development “ along the Waterfront but who will purchase these newly created Commercial Properties which used to be your neighbor’s homes and what type of businesses will go in them ? How much control will the owners of Village properties have when the Village is dissolved and your vote has lost more than half of it’ s strength to elect the officials who will make these decisions and guide Future Waterfront Development ? How will all of this affect your property value, property taxes, and Quality of Life ? When have you received all the benefits promised by politicians ?

You may think it is premature to worry about Dissolution issues but Albany is way ahead of us. Go to the Attorney General’s Website http://www.oag.state.ny.us/ then click on the heading … “Reforming Local Government” and watch the Video. Mr. Cuomo has quite a sales pitch which is totally one sided and does not present information from studies which disagree with him regarding savings to the taxpayer. Why is Mr. Cuomo so interested in Dissolution ? One thing Dissolution is guaranteed to do is reduce the power of your individual vote to elect those who make policy for your property.

SMALLWOOD / HODGES Confrontation

by D.H.

During Mayor Smallwood’s campaign she publicly stated that if Ron Coons or Dolores Hodges want to get answers to questions we should come to a Village Board meeting and ask her because she ran an “Open Government”. I signed up for and attended a Village Board meeting On March 30th as the Mayor had suggested to discuss Open Government issues and ask some questions.

At this meeting an incident took place which was reported in an article on April 9th in the Courier giving the reporter’s version of events at this meeting. To try and set the record straight about errors and omissions in this article I e-mailed back and forth with the reporter of this article who is the Courier Editor, Melanie Lekocevik. I also exchanged e-mails with the Courier Publisher and then the Courier Attorney on Easter Sunday. After all of this effort I was allowed a 300 word letter to the Editor, I was restricted from quoting what was said by the Mayor.

With these restrictions imposed by the Courier I had to rebut a more than 500 word article written by Melanie Lekocevic. She had interviewed the Mayor for this article but did not contact me. When I questioned Melanie on this she stated that I was allowed to send her an e-mail with my side of things. I pointed out to her paragraph by paragraph that she had not used any of the FACTS that I had sent her but allowed the Mayor to use this article as a public platform to demean me, keep me from having a chance to ask her any questions and take the focus off the fact that the ALDC had ignored a FOIL request back in November of ’08. Below is my original draft of the Letter which I was not allowed to publish in full.

THE LETTER

I am not the founder of Concerned Citizens of Athens which was founded by Ron Coons. I was the campaign manager of Ron Coons’ campaign when he recently ran for Mayor of Athens on the CCA party line. I am a member of CCA and was at the meeting on behalf of all concerned citizens ( 46% of those who voted for Mayor voted for Ron Coons a Concerned Citizen candidate.) I am the founder and president of Concerned Americans for Responsible Development Inc. a citizens group working to promote Open Government and Quality of Life. I have FOILed the Athens Local Development Corp. twice. Generally speaking I requested copies of books and records which show the movement of Village Grant Funds into the ALDC’s accounts and the disbursement of funds and to whom disbursed, receipts, etc.

I had registered in advance with the Village Clerk to speak about Open Government. I prepared copies of the letter regarding this issue which I had composed and was going to read aloud for the benefit of citizens attending. I gave a copy to the Village Clerk and asked that it and a copy of the certified receipt showing that the Village Clerk had received the ALDC FOIL Request be made part of the meeting minutes. I gave a copy to the Mayor and each Board Member and supporting documents to the Mayor and Bob June a new Trustee to bring him up to date. The first issue of my letter was that during the campaign Mayor Smallwood had assured the Voters that she ran an open government. Why are FOIL requests answered months after the legal limit or not at all?

I was exactly one and a half paragraphs into reading my Letter when the Mayor interrupted me seized the floor and made accusations about my character and intentions, stating among other things that I was “attention seeking “, and that Ron’s Campaign was “shenanigans” and that I had spread false or incomplete information to the citizens. She stated that she was tired of me wasting time on FOILS, she was animated and agitated and speaking in a loud tone of voice, she stated that the ALDC was not “FOILable.” I corrected her and stated that since it has a Mayor elected Board of Directors it does have to respond to the FOIL Laws. She then yelled at me “where did you get that information” and I told her “from Mr. Freeman who heads the Committee on Open Government in Albany and from a Lawyer who works in the field. “ She then, still yelling said “Lawyer” “do you have a Lawyer”, I said no and that NYU has a department which gives opinions. She kept pressing about the Lawyer and I stated definitively that “ I Do Not have a Lawyer” she then refused to speak any further to me and referred me to the Village attorney Brent Stack for any further FOIL issues. (Mr. Stack later in an e-mail, referred me to the ALDC Attorney stating that he, Mr. Stack only represented the Village not the ALDC)

On 4/1/09 two days after this meeting the FOIL Request I had sent certified directly to the ALDC on 3/25/09 was signed for by Robert H.M. Smallwood the Mayor’s husband who is on the Board of the ALDC.

During the Campaign Mayor Smallwood had said many times publicly that if Ron or I wanted answers to questions we should come to a Village meeting and ask her. I followed lawful procedure in signing up for and attending this meeting and was denied my right to speak by the Mayor who seized the floor while I was presenting my letter. This is the “Open Government” we have in Athens, a fact not lost on other citizens who had come there to hear me speak and the boards respond. At no time did I raise my voice or respond in other than a respectful manner even though my right to speak had been taken and I was put in a position to answer the Mayors questions. This is a true documented accounting of the facts.

Mayor Smallwood has accused me ( as quoted in the Courier) of harassing her staff……..
I have not harassed the Village Board but have followed lawful procedure whenever dealing with the Mayor and Board. What seems to be the case is that in the Mayor’s mind being asked to answer FOIL Requests is “harassment” and running against her for Mayor is “shenanigans.”

NOTE: Mayor Smallwood started a name calling barrage against Ron Coons and I back when she referred to Ron as a “Fear Monger” for trying to protect his property rights and is still calling us names to this day. Mayor Smallwood has not answered Questions presented to her over the past year regarding why the Village would even consider Re-Zoning to Commercial/Residential, Private Homes between 3rd and 4thSt, on Water St.. She does however seem to find it annoying when a lifelong Citizen of the Village campaigns against her because he represents Citizens who want honest answers to all their questions.

In America we do not elect people for lifetime office nor do we have a “Queen” as in England. Does Mayor Smallwood expect the owners of these homes to sit by quietly while the roof over their head is made into a target for development?

ALDC / ELCO LOAN Document (FOIL)

by D.H.

Since the Meeting at which I informed the Mayor that the ALDC did have to answer foil requests I have received some of the requested information from the ALDC’s Attorney, Alexander Betke II .

In the information I received is a copy of the LOAN Document between the ALDC and ELCO dated Sept 28th 2007. This document is a Promissory Note indicating that the Borrower: ELCO ELECTRIC LAUNCH, INC., 21 South Water Street, Athens, New York 12015 will pay $297,040. Together with interest at the rate of 3% per year to the Lender: The ATHENS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, 2 First Street, Athens N.Y. 12015

It is signed by the Borrower: Robert Lievense, CEO of Elco Electric Launch, Inc.

The repayment of this loan is to take place by monthly payments of $2867.85 from ELCO to the ALDC starting on Oct. 1st , 2007 and continuing on the 1st of every month through Sept. 1st 2017.

Included in the FOIL Request Documents are ALDC Bank Statements which show a check # 95 from the ALDC to National Bank of Coxsackie for $297,000. Dated 10-19-07 signed by Robert Smallwood and a second indistinguishable signature.( presumably this is the LOAN money paid out to ELCO.)

In these bank statements 12 payments of $2867.85 are shown as being deposited into the ALDC’s account between Oct 1st 2007 and April 2009. This would mean that ELCO is approx. 7 payments in arrears. This amount would be approx $20,074.95 that ELCO is behind in payments. A violation of paragraph.-15, sec. (a) of the Loan Document? This LOAN was for the retention and/or creation of approx 33 jobs and ELCO has not fulfilled that obligation. The Mayor has stated that ELCO has another year to fulfill their obligations for job creation. Since funds must be spent on targeted items only (according to the Community Block Grant Regulations) has the ALDC demanded proof that the funds were spent according to these provisions as stated in paragraph 15 section(h) of the Loan Document?

From Reading the LOAN Document it seems that ELCO is in default on more than one issue as of now and that any leniency which they are being shown by the ALDC is solely because the ALDC has decided to be lenient and not to begin foreclosure proceedings against ELCO.

The Collateral listed for the $297,000. Is the following: All of the Borrower’s now or hereafter owned or acquired wherever located: accounts receivable and all finished boat inventory.

Some questions are brought to mind:

• What was the $297,000. spent on and by whom was it spent ?
• If ELCO is not currently building boats then would it follow that the more time that goes by the less collateral there will be?
• Has there been a suspension of ELCO’s operations in Athens in violation of Paragraph 15, section f?
  
• Does ELCO own any finished Boats?
• Does ELCO have any Accounts receivable?
• The Mayor says ELCO is still trying to create Jobs this should indicate that the Mayor knows how they are attempting to go about this. How and where are they trying to fulfill the job creation requirements?

Since the Village taxpayers may ultimately become liable in some way for this debt ….you may want to contact the Mayor for answers.

NOTE: Mr. Robert Lievense with his wife Judith are listed on the ELCO website as the owners of ELCO ELECTRIC LAUNCH, INC., we believe him to be the same Robert J. Lievense who has until recently served as Chairman of the Board of the Trudeau Institute a Bio-Medical Research Laboratory in Saranac Lake N.Y. visit their web-site at http://trudeauinstitute.org.

NOTE: We would have made these details available to Athens Citizens sooner had the ALDC sent the information requested on their own, or if the Mayor had encouraged them to answer the original FOIL of Nov.28th 2008 instead of defending the ALDC by denying that they have to answer FOILS. This behavior is opposite of the intention of Open Government Practices and the Freedom of Information Law for agencies of the Government to thwart citizens’ efforts to obtain public information.

4TH.ST. KAYAK LAUNCH

by RON COONS

I read the informative article about the Kayak launch in the April 10th edition of the Catskill Daily Mail and was confused by the comments of the Mayor. Mayor Smallwood stated “there were several citizens dissatisfied with the new launch because they will not be able to launch their small boats, canoes, jet skis or wave runners by trailer because of the three foot wall installed in front of the launching area. When the Mayor referred to “We felt the project was perfect for small craft and kayaks”, did the word We including the dissatisfied citizens she specks of? Were their concerns even considered? What is the Mayor’s definition of small craft?

This launch has been used by fishermen, duck hunters, canoes, ice boaters, and residents of Athens long before the 1962 amendment was adopted making it the official Athens Boat Launch. The law was passed to protect its existence because the Village Officials attempted to sell it at one time. The citizens protested and reversed the decision. They then passed the Law to keep and protect it from any future attempts to do the same thing. After all it is the only accessible boat launch belonging to the Village.

This launch area was not only convenient but was in most cases close enough to launch your boat , drive the trailer home, park it and walk back to the launch. In fairness to all residents the launch should accommodate all type small craft users’ not just kayaks.

The Mayor says those type boaters can use the State launch. Has the Mayor ever tried to launch a boat at the State launch during the summer Weekends? It is nearly impossible to find a place to park because of the overflow from both the Catskill and Coxsackie boat launches.

Another concern is that the village was made aware of the Law in Feb 2007 by the Planning Board before the project was started. The proper procedure is to rescind the law and have a public hearing for approval of the changes before the project starts. The Village officials did not follow the proper procedure and are therefore in violation of the Law. In Chapter 13 of the Village Code Book it states this Law and has mention of a penalty that should be imposed on anyone in violation of the law.

Mayor Smallwood dismisses the fact that the law was broken by saying “the Village code may be revisited after the Village Board hears the ZIC proposals and the public’s comments.” Does this mean if you are thinking of changing a law it is alright to break it? I think not! Village Laws pertain to all citizens and should be respected and enforced when violated.

Express your concerns to the Village Board by signing up to speak at the “OPEN” Village Board Meeting or by writing to the Mayor and Trustees.