Farm Exhibit Becomes Permanent - Housed at CCE

In 2007, the Exhibits Committee put together a fabulous photo exhibit of 25 working farms in Orange County - each complete with a short history and description of how the farm operates today. We had no idea how popular the exhibit would turn out to be and so we didn't develop it as a permanent display. This winter though, we bit the bullet and had a very talented local artist and framer, Marie Liu, convert the exhibit into an easy-to-handle permanent display. Each farm is represented by one large modern-day photo, and then one large frame which includes a written history and description, 4-6 smaller historical photos and current photos. The exhibit will be housed at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Middletown - please visit! Below you can see Lucy Joyce (CCE) and Marie Lui mounting the new display.

NYS Legislature May Pass Payroll Tax to Fund MTA without Adding East River Tolls

What many of us feared would happen may happen sooner and in a more damaging way than we thought. Crain's just reported that the Governor and the NYS Senate have formally abandoned East River tolls as a way to help fund the MTA's operations and capital plans. Unfortunately, our lawmakers and executive leadership have not abandoned a payroll tax on employers within the MTA's catchment area. While many recognized that the payroll tax was probably a done deal, however unfair to our employers, we hoped that our state leadership would not tax us in vain. Without adopting all of the Ravitch Commssion's recommendations, the MTA's serious infrastructure and operational problems cannot be addressed in any meaningful or long-term way.

Fort Montgomery - West Point Reading on 3/12

Colonel Johnson

Steve Grove

Russ Reeder (son of author Red Reeder)

Read All About It: The Lives and Works of Orange County's Authors

On Thursday, March 12th, the Citizens Foundation and the Fort Montgomery Historic Site hosted a reading of West Point authors. It was an incredibly interesting event - our readers were outstanding - thank you Col. Johnson and Steve Grove! One of the most touching parts of the evening was when Russ Reeder, son of Red Reeder (one of our featured authors) shared some of his memories of growing up at West Point with the audience. A hearty thanks to Dorothy Szefc from SUNY Orange and the Citizens Foundation's Exhibit Committee, who really took the lead on organizing this wonderful event.

Revinventing Our Places Conference

The 3/13 Reinventing Our Communities conference was a great success - thanks to our speakers, organizers, and Mount St. Mary College. Lou Marquet and Stu Turner are two of the Citizens Foundation's most committed Trustees - thanks for all of your hard work over the past year to keep Placemaking on the front burner!

Monica Quigley used her considerable expertise on demographic shifts to set the stage for the day's discussion. Gianni Longo was masterful as our Building Consensus moderator. We learned how important it is to plan with the public from planners David Field, Alan Sorensen, and John Clarke. The afternoon panel on Getting Started gave attendees a chance to learn about funding sources, comprehensive plans, pitfalls to watch for like the burn-out factor, and sheer passion for your cause. Paul Beyer provided us with assurances that the State of New York is backing up their Smart Growth speak with real action.

What topics should we focus on next? Did you attend the conference and have comments?