Highlands Current Audio Stories

Highlands Current
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The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.

  1. 18h ago

    Troubled Beacon Project Tries to Move Forward

    Condo development had been set for foreclosure sale A housing development twice halted by the city and ordered by a state judge to be sold to pay down debt is back on the Beacon Planning Board agenda. Eliza Street LLC, the owner of The Mews at Beacon, has hired a Newburgh architecture firm to see the project at 53 Eliza St. to completion, according to materials submitted for the board's Tuesday (Aug. 11) meeting. If that happens, it will be a remarkable turnaround for a project that appeared doomed. In February 2025, a lender, Insula Capital Group, filed a lawsuit in Dutchess County court demanding repayment of nearly $4.63 million from Qele "Charlie" Qelaj, whose project calls for nine loft-like condominiums two blocks from Main Street. The proposal received Planning Board approval in 2019, as well as variances to construct multi-family housing in a single-family zone and to construct nine units on a parcel where six were allowed. But by 2023, construction had stalled as Qelaj sought new financing. In its suit, Insula asked the court to force the sale of the property to pay the debt. There were additional money problems. In April 2025, the Building Department issued the first of two stop-work orders at the site when it said Qelaj could not renew a work permit because of unpaid property taxes. In the months that followed, Building Inspector Bryan Murphy said he allowed windows and doors to be installed to protect the property from the elements, but when further work commenced in April 2026, he issued a second order. Qelaj paid $175,000 in delinquent taxes earlier this year, city officials said. On the legal front, Judge Maria Rosa granted Insula's request for summary judgment in August 2025 and appointed an attorney who determined that Qelaj owed Insula $5.97 million plus costs and interest. The Mews were scheduled to be auctioned in March at the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie, but the sale did not take place. Instead, in an April 21 letter to Rosa, Insula attorneys said the sides had agreed to stay the sale. The agreement was not filed with the court, but the attorneys said the sale will be rescheduled if Qelaj defaults. Otherwise, upon compliance, Insula will drop the suit. In his letter to the Planning Board, Chris Berg of Fifth Street Architecture said he hopes to "see this project stabilized, completed and occupied by residents." But he acknowledged another setback. While authorizing a new work permit, Berg and Murphy — who was not the building inspector when the project was approved in 2019 — discovered that site drawings were never endorsed by the board after its approval. The project "should never have been issued a work permit, let alone subsequent renewals," Berg wrote. Qelaj, who is not the original applicant, is returning to the board seeking endorsement of the 2019 approval so he can proceed with construction, Berg said. He said that Qelaj will work with Murphy to "correct any deviations that have been noted from the original approval." Finally, Berg added that Fifth Street was not involved "in the initial planning or permitting of any portion of the project at 53 Eliza Street — we are simply assisting in getting this project back on track to completion."

  2. 18h ago

    Passing Through

    A few moments with Appalachian hikers Daniel Farris and his wife, Raychel Pepperman, began hiking the Appalachian Trail on Feb. 22 at Springer Mountain in Georgia, the starting point. By the time they reached Philipstown two weeks ago, they had trekked 1,400 miles and resolved a marital dispute: Farris was walking too fast. "I understand that you're frustrated, but I can't go any faster," Pepperman said she told her husband. Farris slowed down. "The trail has been helpful for our communication skills," said Pepperman, a therapist in Chattanooga. "If one of us gets upset with the other, you have time to think about it while you're hiking, instead of just reacting." The couple is among the many hikers who stop this time of year at the Appalachian Market at Route 9 and Route 403, where they often occupy the picnic tables. About 10 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail meanders through Putnam County, much of it inside Fahnestock State Park. About 3,000 people each year attempt to hike the entire 2,197.9-mile route through 14 states to Mount Katahdin in Maine, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and about a third succeed. Millions of others hike segments. When they stopped at the Appalachian Market in late July, Farris and Pepperman hoped to cover the final 800 miles by mid-September to attend a wedding in Nashville. To fellow hikers, Pepperman, 29, is known as "Chapstick" because of the lip balm she needed on the trail in February. Farris, 31, who sells outdoor gear, goes by "Mossman" because he likes to photograph moss. The market was also a refueling stop for Diver, 26, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He declined to give his legal name but said his trail name was bestowed after he was seen dumpster diving near a shelter in Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. He said he was retrieving his hiking cap, which had been thrown away, along with dozens of empty pizza boxes. Diver said he is hiking the trail because "I wanted to spend as much time outside as possible." He just completed five years in the U.S. Air Force sitting at a computer doing "logistics and stuff." He loves drinking from the springs he encounters. "It's the best water you'll ever get," he said. "It's so cold coming right out of the mountains." Also resting at the Appalachian Market was "Sidequest McMurphy," who said his "government name" is Seth Harper. He's a 23-year-old Eagle Scout who just graduated from the University of Tennessee. When he left Springer Mountain on March 9, Harper's trail name was McMurphy because, according to his former scoutmaster, he resembles the rebellious R.P. McMurphy in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Harper added Sidequest because "I tend to get sucked into lots of sidequests," such as several days in the reading room at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs, North Carolina. "Every room has a copy of Leaves of Grass and the Tau Te Ching," said Harper, who plans to attend graduate school and teach history. Harper said he is hiking for the same reason that Henry David Thoreau went to live by Walden Pond: "because I wanted to live deliberately." Hiking across Route 9 on his way to Fahnestock, he said he was listening to the audio version of Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow, which runs 36 hours. Resting at a picnic table, Amanda Edwards, 21, said the last time she did any real travel was in eighth grade, when her class visited Washington, D.C. "Since we passed Maryland, every step I take is the furthest north I've ever been," she said. After graduating in December from Georgia Southern University, Edwards said, "I wanted to do something hard, something I wasn't sure I could finish." Her trail name, "Jukebox," comes from her singing. Climbing Kuwohi Mountain in the Smokies, she sang songs from Sweeney Todd. Also known as Clingmans Dome, the 6,644-foot peak is the highest point on the trail. A few miles before reaching the Appalachian Market, Edwards crossed the lowest point, the Bear Mountain Br...

  3. 18h ago

    Democrats Target Rolison in State Senate Race

    National group to aid challenger Lisa Kaul A national Democratic Party organization seeking to restore the New York Senate's veto-proof majority has made it a priority to oust Rob Rolison, the incumbent Republican whose district includes Philipstown and Beacon. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which formed in 1992 to elect party members to state legislatures, this month named the District 39 campaign as one of six races it will support before the November election. The group is chaired by Andrea Stewart-Cousins, majority leader of the New York Senate. Lisa Kaul, who represents part of the Town of Poughkeepsie on the Dutchess County Legislature, won a three-candidate primary in June to face Rolison, a former Poughkeepsie mayor who is seeking a third, 2-year term. Democrats outnumber Republicans 41 to 22 in the Senate, but one more seat would restore a two-thirds supermajority that the party lost in the 2024 election. Combined with the supermajority in the Assembly, where Democrats hold 103 of the 150 seats, the party could override gubernatorial vetoes without Republican support. As of July 15, the Kaul campaign said it had $37,511 on hand, while the Rolison campaign reported $8,847. Funding from the DLCC will help "reach more voters across the Hudson Valley, have more conversations about the issues that matter to people and share my vision for finding solutions and delivering results in Albany," Kaul said on Tuesday (Aug. 4). Rolison defeated Julie Shiroishi, then chief of staff to Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson, with 53 percent of the vote in 2022. Two years later, his victory over Yvette Valdés Smith, a Dutchess legislator who represents parts of Beacon and Fishkill, was much closer, at 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent. The DLCC last contributed money to New York state candidates in 2020, when it spent a total of $53,100 on five Senate races, according to the state Board of Elections. The recipients included Stewart-Cousins and state Sen. Pete Harckham, whose district includes part of eastern Putnam County. Harckham is one of three Democratic incumbents named among the DLCC's six priority races in 2026. The two other candidates are, like Kaul, challenging incumbent Republicans. Heather Williams, the DLCC's president, said that supermajorities in both the Senate and Assembly "will help Democrats continue to go on offense on redistricting and keep delivering for families." The Rolison campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kaul is a native of India and Rhodes Scholar who moved to the U.S. in 2004. She spent five years as an administrator at Vassar College and served on the Arlington school board before defeating Republican Marc Pfeifer in 2023 to win a seat in the Legislature. She ran unopposed in 2025 for a second term and chairs the Environment Committee. In June, Kaul easily won the Democratic primary, garnering 62 percent of the vote to defeat Evan Menist, a member of the Poughkeepsie Common Council (30 percent) and Gay Lee, a former City of Newburgh council member (7 percent). "A strong Democratic majority means progress on affordability, healthcare, housing, reproductive freedom and climate resilience," said Kaul, adding that being a member of that majority means she could "bring state resources home to improve public transportation, build housing our families can afford, invest in infrastructure to keep our water clean and lower utility costs."

  4. 19h ago

    Putnam Approves Food Aid Public meetings Tax break Drone funding

    Legislators also pass 'transparency' law Cornell Cooperative Extension and Second Chance Foods will receive $150,000 set aside last year by the Putnam County Legislature to aid programs to alleviate food insecurity. In approving the allocation on Tuesday (Aug. 5) of $100,000 to Cornell Cooperative and $50,000 to Second Chance, the Legislature required that at least $50,000 go to the Bountiful Meals program. The two agencies partner on the initiative, which distributes prepared meals to food pantries, libraries and senior centers like the Philipstown Friendship Center in Cold Spring. The organizations can also spend the funds on freezers, packaging and transportation. "Our neighbors who are struggling with hunger cannot afford to wait," said Martha Elder, executive director of the Brewster-based Second Chance. "We stand ready to begin." The $150,000 has been sitting in a contingency account since it was approved in November at the request of Legislature Chair Dan Birmingham. Since then, federal cuts have forced the shutdown of Meals on Main, a mobile food pantry that stopped at the Chestnut Ridge Apartments, Philipstown Friendship Center and the Brookside Senior Citizen Co-op in Philipstown. In addition, work requirements contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill signed last year by President Donald Trump are expected to cut the number of people receiving aid from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. "More is coming down the pike," said Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley in the Legislature, of additional cuts. "We will see dire circumstances." At Montgomery's request, the Legislature removed from the resolution a "whereas" clause noting that the loss of the mobile food pantry in Philipstown "has created an additional gap in food access in the western portion of Putnam County." Legislator Erin Crowley said she was "hesitant" about the allocation because the clause "makes this sound inequitable." The funding should not focus on "specific parts of the county," said Crowley, but be "about making sure that we're covering everybody who is in need, whether it's age, race, religion, politics, color and creed." A law approved by the Legislature on Tuesday codifies the county's practice of livestreaming meetings while requiring that the public be notified when legislators of the same political party hold caucus meetings. Although Legislature meetings have for years been streamed on the county's YouTube channel, and their recordings archived, the Transparency Act enshrines the broadcasts in the county code. Its mandate covers monthly full-board and committee meetings, and public hearings by the county executive. The law also requires that legislators "be heard, seen and identified at all times" during meetings, except for closed-door executive sessions. In addition, it addresses closed-door political caucuses, which allow legislators from the same party to deliberate privately on proposed laws and resolutions. Public notice for "meetings of political committees, conferences and caucuses … at which deliberations of county legislative matters are to be discussed" will be required. A public record of the legislators attending the meeting, as well as a "synopsis of such items of county legislative matters discussed," is also mandated. The Legislature has eight Republicans and one Democrat (Montgomery). The surviving spouses of police officers killed in the line of duty will be eligible for a 50 percent reduction in their county property taxes under another law approved on Tuesday. Legislator Jake D'Angelo proposed the exemption, which is authorized under a state law enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December. Cities, towns, villages and school districts also can exempt spouses. D'Angelo said it "reflects Putnam County's continued commitment to honoring the service and sacrifice" of police officers and "providing meaningful, long-term support to their fa...

  5. 19h ago

    Dia Opens Three Long-Term Exhibits

    Works by Boetti, Riley and Chamberlain on display Magazzino Italian Art specializes in the country's post-World War II output, so it's no surprise that in April, it opened an extended exhibit featuring works by Alighiero Boetti, who is associated with the Arte Povera (Poverty Art) movement. Last month, by coincidence, Dia debuted its own long-term Boetti exhibition that includes three works drawn from its own collection, one of which contains 100 pieces. "We had no idea about their plans until we reached out to borrow an item," says Matilde Guidelli-Guidi, chair of Dia's curatorial department. A decade ago, she and Magazzino director Nicola Lucchi collaborated on a gallery show in New York City and the institutions, which arranged a hasty round of tours in July, plan to coordinate more events. Because Dia's curatorial reach casts a wider net than Magazzino's, its focus on Boetti illustrates his international impact. "Our approach highlights the artist, not the movement," says Guidelli-Guidi. "In light of geopolitical situations today, I started thinking about this two years ago." Arte Povera abhorred pretense, championed the use of everyday items and helped shape the conceptual art movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Boetti's fame grew after the group's loose collective spirit flamed out; he died in 1994 at age 53 of a brain tumor. Two rooms at Dia reflect the artist's playful side with child-friendly embroidered works; a political bent is represented by 16 copper engravings showing the boundaries of countries entrenched in turmoil between 1967 and 1971. This summer, Dia also opened long-term exhibits by Bridget Riley and John Chamberlain. Riley's proto-psychedelic paintings are must-see — and feel. All of the half-dozen works, rendered in black, white and something in between, mess with the senses by seeming to shape-shift and trigger visceral responses. Created in the early 1960s, they pulse like mobiles in motion, even when she uses near-parallel straight lines that somehow convey depth. "Climax" folds in on itself, then expands like an accordion. "Interrupted Circle" presents an optical illusion open to interpretation. One viewer suggested that the hiccup in the top left looked like a rising slice of cake and figured that the circle descended at the bottom like a waterfall; another observer's take conveyed the exact opposite viewpoint. The title "Straight Curve" is a coy play on how the patterns radiate as the eye dances across the canvas. Constructed from half-white, half-black triangles arrayed in various sizes and angles, the shapes sometimes look like squares with shadows. Grids melt into streaks as the work plays with the mind's eye. The Chamberlain show includes 10 large sculptures that weld or bolt together mangled automobile parts. In contrast, nine urethane foam creations from his Stuffed Dog series are placed on knee-high pedestals. One standout, "The Privet," named for a group of Asian shrubs and plants, resembles a narrow see-through hedgerow with serpentine strands resembling twisted reeds or bamboo shoots. About a foot wide, 15 feet tall and more than 50 feet long, the edifice's placement benefits from illumination provided by a massive western-facing window. Beyond the concurrent Boetti exhibits and the relationship between Lucchi and Guidelli-Guidi, the two institutions share another random, whimsical connection. Long before Dia opened its crushed automobile exhibit, an employee at Magazzino with Texas license plates has been driving around with a bumper sticker that reads, "My Other Car is a John Chamberlain." Dia Beacon, at 3 Beekman St. in Beacon, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Monday. Admission is $25 ($18 seniors, $12 students and visitors with disabilities, $5 children ages 5 to 11, free for members, Beacon and Newburgh residents, military families, veterans, SNAP participants and EBT cardholders). Admission is also free for Hudson Valley residents on the last Sunday of the month.

  6. Jul 31

    Main Street Forces A challenging environment Rising costs Other situations A landlord's perspective

    Beacon retailers and landlords cope with cost Saturday (Aug. 1) will be Chris Reisman's first day in business at 323 Main St. in Beacon. His shop, Hudson Valley Vinyl, has been at 267 Main St., two and a half blocks away, since 2017, cultivating a clientele of collectors and casual buyers eager to flip through bins of rock, soul, jazz and other records. Business has been strong, but Reisman said a rent increase forced him to find new accommodations. A handwritten message on a piece of cardboard taped to the door directs customers down the street. In his time as a tenant, Reisman said that 267 Main, a two-story structure which spans six storefronts, has had three owners. The most recent sale, according to Dutchess County records, came in 2024 when Vinit Jobanputra of Westchester County purchased the building for $2.94 million. Reisman had been paying $2,720 monthly on a lease that expired today. He said Jobanputra offered a three-year extension at $3,500 per month — a 29 percent increase — with additional 5 percent increases in Year 2 and Year 3. (When contacted for comment, a property manager said: "The family does not wish to discuss their business with the media.") Reisman said he didn't bother with a counteroffer. Instead, he signed a five-year agreement for 323 Main, where he'll have a similar retail footprint. Reisman describes the rent as "very fair," and said his landlord, a Wappingers Falls resident who has owned the three-story building since 2015, "wants us there for the indefinite future." A listing for 267 Main St. advertises a commercial space with high visibility and foot traffic that's "ideal for retail, boutique, gallery" or a similar business. The asking price, now $3,200 per month, has been reduced, the listing notes. With more than 200 shops and eateries on its milelong Main Street, it's difficult to make generalizations about commercial rents. Instead, The Current decided to highlight a handful of scenarios reflecting the challenges facing small retailers and property owners. Tenants are easy to identify; landlords less so, in part because many commercial properties are owned by limited liability corporations, and the state does not require LLCs to identify their officers. In addition, Dutchess County publishes a study every year with statistics on market-rate, below-market and federally subsidized residential rents in more than a dozen municipalities, including Beacon, but no area agencies track commercial costs. Many factors can prompt a business to move or close, and rent increases are commonly cited. In 2022, the founder of a Long Island-based luxury development firm purchased 340 Main St., which had multiple commercial tenants, for $2.3 million. The owners of Roma Nova, a pizzeria and Mexican restaurant, said they were told their rent would increase from $1,800 to $3,100 per month and they would be required to pay 10 percent of common area and maintenance costs. (Ana and Miguel Tapia sold the restaurant, which is now on Fishkill Avenue.) The owner of the Beacon Barber Shop did not reveal his lease offer, but said in 2023, "It's more than I can afford." He moved the business to Hyde Park, where he said his costs would be $1,900 less per month. Last year, Nikki Hayes, the owner of Stella's Fine Market, a specialty grocery store at 155 Main St., announced on Instagram that she did not want to close "but our rent increase became something I simply couldn't afford any longer." Beacon's popularity has drawn real estate investors to Main Street. "When you have success, you're going to entice investors who want to get in on that," said Mike Oates, president and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. But he cautioned landlords: "It's one thing to determine rents are below market rate [and can be raised]. But if you have a vacant storefront, it does you no good." The "greed factor," Oates said, has to be checked. "Sometimes landlords feel the market requires them to raise rent to a level that m...

  7. Jul 31

    Food Pantries See Increased Demand Don't Miss a Meal

    Longer lines, many new faces Fareground raised money in 2024 to buy a refrigerated box truck capable of holding 6,000 pounds of food for distribution to residents in Beacon, Fishkill, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls. A capacity that once seemed sufficient has been surmounted by a problem that continues to grow, and the Fishkill-based nonprofit has outgrown the truck, according to Jamie Levato, its executive director. "We are constantly having to bring in more and more food; storage is becoming a challenge and transport is becoming a challenge." Fareground is not alone in noting longer lines and new faces at every distribution. Dozens of representatives from food pantries across the Hudson Valley told the same story when they gathered Tuesday (July 28) at AME Zion Church in Newburgh to receive an update from the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which distributes food to organizations in Dutchess, Putnam and 21 other counties. The food bank illustrated the extent of hunger in the Hudson Valley by sharing new statistics from Map the Meal Gap, a report compiled by Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. The most recent data, from 2024, documents the number of adults and children considered "food-insecure" because they lack access to enough to eat. In Dutchess, Putnam and the four other counties (Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster), 167,990 people were considered food-insecure in 2024, including 53,390 children (a 10 percent increase over the previous year). In Dutchess, an estimated 32,140 people (11 percent of the population) were food-insecure, and in Putnam, 8,430 (8.6 percent). Despite a small decrease from 2023, Dutchess has 10,730 more food-insecure residents than 2021 and Putnam, 3,200 more. Food pantries expect their lines to grow as the costs for food, energy, housing and necessities continue to rise. Those challenges are aggravated by federal cuts that began last year in programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. In 2025, the Regional Food Bank distributed 53.3 million pounds of food to pantries, more than any year in its nearly five decades of service, except for 2020, during the pandemic. That was despite losing 7 million pounds in cuts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Tom Nardacci, CEO of the Regional Food Bank. Nardacci said that people who have never visited a food pantry or "stood outside in the cold to hand out food" are "making decisions that aren't connected to reality." Here are a few local resources if you need food assistance. Beacon's Backyard Kitchen The group serves a hot breakfast at 12 Hanna Lane on Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and to-go lunch until 10:30 a.m. Beacon Farmers' Market The market doubles the value of federal food benefits from June to November. See beaconfarmersmarket.org/food-benefits. Common Ground Farm does the same at the market through its Greens4Greens program. Fareground The nonprofit serves a community meal on Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 50 Liberty St., in Beacon. Fishkill Food Pantry Operated by First Reformed Church of Fishkill and St. Mary Mother of the Church, Fishkill, at 1153 Main St., the pantry serves residents of the Highlands, including Beacon and Cold Spring. It is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and Monday and Wednesday from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Call 845-896-4546 in the morning to make an appointment for that day. Proof of residency is required. Mutual Aid Beacon The group provides groceries on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 8:15 a.m. at Memorial Park. The first Wednesday is for seniors or households with a senior (age 60 and older), and the third (and fifth) Wednesday is open to everyone. Enter near Ron's Ice Cream. You can also walk up at 8 a.m. at the Beacon Recreation Center, 23 W. Center St. Philipstown Food Pantry The pantry at the First Presbyterian Church, 10 Aca...

  8. Jul 31

    The Mountains Are Calling — for Bikes

    Fundraising underway for trails at Fahnestock Sam Lee is head of the Putnam Westchester Mountain Biking Association, but he thinks that one county is getting the short end of the spoke. Westchester has sprawling mountain bike trail networks at the Blue Mountain Reservation, Sprain Ridge Park and Graham Hills Park, to name a few, plus bike shops and a mountain bike culture that has thrived for decades. Putnam has scattered trails for those in the know. Most casual bikers must settle for the pedestrian and horse paths at Fahnestock State Park. Lee, who lives in Putnam Valley and works in pharmaceuticals, is enthusiastic about changing that. Why else would he venture to Canopus Lake on a 100-degree morning with a weed whacker? "This is a perfect spot," he said while standing on the slopes between Route 301 and a parking lot, where 2 miles of abandoned access roads are being converted into a tight tangle of bike trails. The parking lot, a drag to hikers seeking to escape pavement, will give bikers a place to tailgate and unwind after a ride, as well as take advantage of the changing rooms for the Canopus Lake beach. Until now, Lee and a handful of volunteers have done the work. But now he's getting professionals involved. Walking the slopes, Lee points out lines of small orange flags placed by biologists from the New York Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, marking sections where the trails can't go — a remnant of an environmental review that was part of the project approval. With the blessings of the state Parks Department, the Putnam Westchester Mountain Biking Association recently launched a "Funstock" fund at bit.ly/CanopusMTB to raise $45,000 to hire a trail-building crew. And this is not just any crew: Lee plans to bring professional mountain bike racer David Kahn from North Carolina with his Pisgah Trail Co. Khan grew up in Putnam Valley in a biking family (his father owns several Westchester bike shops), so he jumped at the chance to build the trails he wished he'd had as a kid. The association has raised about $23,000, which is enough for a down payment. The hope is that the trail can be open by year's end. Lee and other volunteers have gotten the trails into shape for testing, but they are not sturdy enough to withstand erosion or heavy use. Lee rode a bit in college, but only got serious while rehabbing a knee injury that sidelined him from playing basketball. He passed the time watching videos of riders in the Scottish Highlands and the landscape reminded him of the Hudson Highlands. However, he quickly discovered "riding" in Putnam referred mostly to ATVs and dirt bikes. Lee has been working with state parks and other riders to prepare and legalize unofficial trail networks. He imagines hot summer days when parents teach their children to ride at Fahnestock, then cool off in the lake. This part of the park is underutilized. Most of the year, the parking lot is closed. It's open only in the summer for lake access and, if there's enough snow, for a few weeks of snowshoe and cross-country skiing. With bike trails, the lot could remain open year-round. Lee envisions events and races, with music and food trucks. Until then, he's coming when he can to cut back undergrowth. "I'm looking for areas to keep it rolling, so you're not constantly pedaling uphill or braking," he says. "You don't want to tire yourself out, because these trails don't have a lot of mileage. You want to focus on doing less and improving each time."

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About

The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.

Information

  • Creator
    Highlands Current
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean