Dangerous sidewalks marked to be torn out

PINE PLAINS — Walk down Myrtle Avenue and one might enjoy the quiet residential street, for a few moments. But keep walking and there might soon be a problem — a misstep taken over one of many dangerously cracked, uneven sidewalks torn asunder with deep ledges that make taking a stroll anything but safe. That’s why residents along the street banded together to sign a petition requesting the sidewalk on the north side of the street be torn out, and not necessarily replaced with another.

“It’s just so hazardous in the winter,� said resident Betty Abrams, who also works at The Millerton News as office manager. “One property owner has a heave that is so high a kid went over it and broke his shoulder. Ours is a sinkhole, on the side of the road it’s caving in. It’s either you’re iced over or you have a heave.�

According to town Supervisor Gregg Pulver, a couple of years ago the town did try to get grants to do the sidewalks on Mrtyle Avenue, which is the only street in Pine Plains with sidewalks on both sides of the street. Pulver also acknowledged that Myrtle Avenue “is by far our worst sidewalk in Pine Plains.�

The supervisor said he had Highway Superintendent Bob Harpp look at the sidewalks with him last year to assess the situation. Their opinion was that because of the grading that needs to be done, the trees and other issues, they, too, thought that it should be removed. Since that time, however, other matters have arisen and the project has been pushed to the back burner.

At the Town Board’s Nov. 19 meeting, when Abrams presented the petition, Pulver agreed it was time to revisit the issue. He said sidewalks are an important part of the town’s infrastructure.

“We’ll have done our share of sidewalks — Main Street, Church Street, Smith Street, Academy, Pine and Maple and now Myrtle,� he said. “It’s not like we’re neglecting our sidewalks.�

The idea of not replacing the sidewalk, once removed, was discussed and met with general favor from board members.

“Even in a more perfect world where we would replace the sidewalks, we would first rip it up,� Councilman Rick Butler said.

“And on the Academy side it goes nowhere,� Pulver added.

“What does it entail?� asked Councilwoman Dorean Gardner. “Every driveway needs an apron.�

“Removing it, we’ll do that,� Pulver said. “Those costs are there regardless. We would go grade it and not leave it in a bad spot. We have to work on drainage, but we have to do that anyway.�

Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky said the town needs to determine ownership and maintenance issues, “just to make sure we’re not going to get into any trouble,� adding that, “I don’t think you’ll get into any trouble.�

Bill Abrams, Betty’s husband and a columnist for The Millerton News, then requested cones be put on the sidewalk’s dangerous spots during icy weather. It’s a real concern as the town will not be able to begin work on tearing out the existing sidewalk until next year, according to Pulver.

“There will be one more year of shoveling once Warren [Replansky] determines we can do it, and then we’ll take care of it,� he said.

With a sigh of relief and expression of thanks, the discussion ended and the meeting moved on to other matters.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less