Serving Rhinebeck and Neighboring Towns
Issue 16 | December 16, 2022
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Thank You
Thank you to our founding donors! We are a more robust and effective independent news source because of your support. You make it possible for us to reach our goals: not just more and better reporting, but a stronger local community. We can’t do it without you.
To date, this community has raised over $17,500 to help launch our own independent nonprofit local news--for that, we are grateful. Help us get to $25,000 by the end of the year! Please contribute and/or share our GoFundMe campaign.
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Up and Down
This past Tuesday, I attempted to address the perennial dispute about “Where is Upstate New York?” I opened it up to readers, and many of you had compelling, and often quite entertaining, cases for your geographic arguments.
Richard Draves looked at it as a geometric issue. “As I looked at the map of NY in high school, to me the division between Up & Down state was about the middle of the state (horizontally). Or to make it easier (a little, anyway) the line was about at the horizontal border of PA,” he wrote, “making Albany the approximate dividing point.” (For the record, while I find Draves’ method a bit reductive, I agree that Upstate starts in and around Albany). Some saw it as less of a binary, like Michael Lally, who wrote, “We live in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Albany is in the Capital Region. Besides the NY metropolitan area, there are the lower Hudson Valley, the Southern Tier, and central and western New York to round out the mix. If you can walk to the Bronx in less than 4 days, you're not Upstate.” Abby from Rhinebeck offered up a practical perspective from a friend: “If you can commute to NYC fairly easily it’s not upstate – it’s the Hudson Valley.” Reader Mark Lytle suggested “that upstate lies west, north and east of Albany. The railroads reinforce that geography.”
However, a perspective from one of our more remote subscribers, Phil from Queens, revealed the time-honored NYC-centric perspective on everything, “Let me clarify this issue once and for all: Upstate is anywhere north of my house in Queens. This is especially easy to remember as we live on a hill, so I have to walk ‘up’ whenever I walk north.” So the subjective has the last word on this argument (as on so many).
In this issue of the newsletter, we consider the quiet and endangered PANDA, not the bear native to China, but the local public access enterprise which fell on hard times earlier this year and is trying to rise up from the metaphoric ashes with a new version of its former self. We also catch up with developments at Wyndclyffe Castle, a historic 19th century property on the Hudson, which has fallen into disrepair over the years and which a NYC-based developer hopes to restore and reinvent.
We hope you will keep engaging with us, writing to us, talking with us, and your support keeps us independent and accessible to all.
Thank you again.
Eric Steinman
Executive Editor
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Long Neglected Gothic Riverfront Estate Receives a Lifeline…Maybe
At 25 Wyndclyffe Court, perched along the Hudson River in Rhinecliff, sits the ruins of a grand 19th century estate which, after decades of neglect and inaction, is poised for a possible renaissance from a New York City-based developer. It has taken a few years, but on Monday during the Rhinebeck Town Board meeting, Town Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia acknowledged that the town has received an application to stabilize and restore the mansion, and because the property exists in such disrepair, the Town is in the position to approve or reject the application.
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PANDA: Down But Maybe Not Out
Since the 1990s, the towns of Rhinebeck and Red Hook, NY, including the villages of Rhinebeck, Red Hook and Tivoli, have funded a Public Access TV station, operated on Channel 23 by Public Access Northern Dutchess Area, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation known by the acronym PANDA. The programming consisted of video coverage of local events, town and village meetings, board meetings and recordings of performances at the Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, to name a few. PANDA existed alongside cable television and streaming services, and found a modest audience locally, up until the spring of 2022, when the server that provided the video feed to Spectrum died, sending Channel 23 off the air and leaving a public access vacuum and a question as to whether there would be another life for PANDA.
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Local news for local good.
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Have Ideas for the HV Pilot?
If you have suggestions for the HV Pilot, as far as coverage or stories, or would be interested in being a contributor, please contact editor@hvpilot.com
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"Correct me if I'm Norm"
Norm Magnusson sits down for a free-form interview with local HV Pilot Executive Editor, Eric Steinman, to talk about local news and issues, as well as his childhood, misadventures and everything that brought him to this specific moment.
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All Politics are Local// Last Wednesday, Dec. 7th, in what felt like a bit of a surprise so early on in the election season, Lt. Governor and Rhinebeck resident Antonio Delgado put forth his endorsement of the three incumbent candidates for Village office, Lydia Slaby and Ric Lewit (both Village Trustees) and Gary Bassett (Village Mayor) via Village Mayor Gary Bassett’s Facebook page. Because it was a “story,” it has since disappeared. Delgado has not posted anything himself on the matter nor made any announcements on his own social media, or otherwise.
The post was discussed amongst the community for a few days, before it was echoed by the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee (not to be confused with the Rhinebeck Democrats Club) with a brief message on their homepage and the Committee’s endorsement. These announcements come shortly after a group of three Democrats (Eleanor Pupko, Roger Quon and Brant Neuneker) announced their candidacy for Village Trustees and Village Mayor, respectively (Neuneker is a sitting Village Trustee vying for the position of Village Mayor) to challenge the incumbency. Depending on who you are, and maybe where your loyalties lie, you may see the endorsement from the Lt. Governor as a good way to unify the party, or you may be more skeptical, and claim (off the record) that such endorsements “won’t matter in the long run.”
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The Big Sick// While Covid-19 rates inch up in Dutchess County (average daily case number is 77, up from 47 a month ago) and people are still succumbing to the virus in and around Rhinebeck, residents of both the Town and Village of Rhinebeck seem to be largely under the weather with all manner of pathogens this month. Between the aforementioned Covid, RSV, flu and the common cold, Rhinebeckians are just not feeling it going into the winter months. One Rhinebeck resident, who had his flu shot but still experienced a nearly weeklong family battle with the flu, said it was the “sickest I had been in over a decade.” It was reported, but has yet to be verified, that nearly 90 students were out sick from Chancellor Livingston Elementary this past Monday, and there are reports that individuals are loading up on Mucinex and other cold and flu remedies from CVS and Tops.
Just this week, the CDC recommended that individuals consider masking again indoors, and there is chatter about not just masking, but triple masking, presumably for the triple threat of Covid, flu and RSV. Remember, virus prevention is oftentimes a very subjective thing, and one person’s reasonable is another person’s unreasonable. Please try to stay healthy and accept the fact that we all just want to keep sickness at bay.
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New Fire Department and EMS Officers// As the HV Pilot reported earlier in the season, both Rhinebeck Fire Department and EMS were set to go through significant staffing changes. Fire Chief Kyle Eighmy and EMS Captain Chrissy Eighmy (husband and wife team) have stepped aside to make way for new leadership. This was a welcome transition, as both Eighmys agreed it was time to allow “new blood” to lead. In their places are Bryant Knapp as the new Fire Chief and Jeff Cotter as new EMS Captain. Both officers were acknowledged during the Tuesday night Village Board meeting. Congrats to them, as well as to the other officers who moved up the ranks in both Rhinebeck Fire Department and EMS.
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One Door Opens...// For years, especially when the crowds poured out of Bread Alone on East Market Street, there was a sort of dance between those entering and exiting. The dance went any which way and was largely dependent upon the kindness of strangers to hold the door and let you enter, or hold the door and let you leave. This was complicated by the fact that, if you were entering Bread Along through the glass double doors, the door on the left was always inexplicably locked. This made the flow of the ciabatta set all the more awkward, but it was just accepted, without much inquiry – perhaps like why school buses don’t have seatbelts.
Well, just like the magic of bread rising, the left door at Bread Alone has magically been unlocked, allowing for a flow in and out as no one ever thought possible. Bread Alone manager Lisa Lewis said that the change happened a while back “during the pandemic” and the left door was unlocked to provide a better flow of customers who might be apprehensive about close contact with one another. Lewis also added that Bread Alone has an upcoming renovation plan in store for 2023 which will address the two-door dilemma with significant renovations to the entire space and one single door replacing the existing two. If we live in a world where such things like this are possible, then the fix to the sticky door, which habitually swings open, at Buns certainly cannot be far behind.
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Tuesdays and Thursdays:
THE SENIOR VAN IS BACK!! Rides will be available to Tops, Starr Library, or elsewhere in the Village. Pre-registration is required and those wishing to ride must be able to get on the van without assistance, must live in Rhinebeck, and must be a senior. For more information call Joan Winne, Town Clerk, at 845-876-3409, or download the application from the Town website at https://rhinebeckny.gov/over-60-and-thriving-in-rhinebeck.
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Starting Friday, Dec. 16th
Amtrak is closing the Rhinecliff Station building for renovations. Ticket sales, restrooms, and waiting rooms will be relocated onsite. All train services will continue as before.
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Friday, Dec. 16th, 7:00PM
Rhinebeck Historical Society presents a Zoom program – ”Dutchess County in 1870 – A photographic tour of the county as it enters the Industrial Revolution,” lecture by David Turner. Zoom link
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Now through Dec. 18th
Historic Wilderstein is decorated for the season and open for tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at Noon, 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00. For advance tickets and more information, wilderstein.org. or call 845-876-4818.
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Saturday Dec. 17th, 3:00PM - 5:00PM
Book signing by artist, designer and author Maira Kalman of her new book, “Women Holding Things.” At Paper Trail, 6423 Montgomery St., Rhinebeck. Info@papertrailrhinebeck.com or 845-876-8050.
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Saturday Dec. 17th, 10:15AM - 12:15PM
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Saturday Dec. 17th, 8:00PM, and Sunday, Dec. 18th at 2:00PM
The Fisher Center Lab and acclaimed SITI theater company present the world premiere of a new version of “A Christmas Carol.” Fisher Center at Bard College.
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Sunday, Dec. 18th at 3:00PM
The Stissing Center and Oblong Books present a reading of “Wilde about Whitman,” a new play by David Simpatico about a meeting between Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman; another event in the 2022-2023 season of Local Produce Readers’ Theatre. At the Stissing Center, Pine Plains. Tickets are $5.
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Now through Jan. 19th
“Off the Market: Gift Economies and Art,” exhibition exploring gift exchanges and gifts of art from the point of view of an economist; Tuesdays through Sundays 10:00AM – 5:00PM and Thursdays 10:00AM – 9:00PM (clo. Admission is free. At the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, 845-437-5632.
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Any time through January 15: The Rhinebeck Village Comprehensive Plan Committee wants to hear from you! Fill out the online Community Survey and tell the committee what’s most important to you and what you think our future might look like. Survey at https://bit.ly/VORsurvey. En Espanol at https://bit.ly/VORsurveyES.
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Tuesday, Dec. 20th
Town Planning Board Meeting
Rhinebeck Town Hall
6:15PM
Tuesday, Dec. 20, 6:15 PM, Rhinebeck Town Planning Board public hearing on application by Rhinecliff Hotel for Site Plan and Special Use Permit for the construction of new parking spaces at 4 Grinnell Street, Rhinecliff. For details, see Planning Board page of Rhinebeck Town website. Comments may be submitted via email to Planning Board Clerk no later than Dec. 16.
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"Beppe"
Beppe is a 5-month-old border collie and is a very fun and extremely sweet pup.
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