City Of Beacon's Building Inspector Bruce Flower Resigns; A Look At 2 Questionable Situations He Was Involved In

City of Beacon’s Building Inspector to leave position for Town of Poughkeepsie.

The City of Beacon’s Building Inspector, Bruce Flower, is leaving Beacon for his former area of employment in the Town of Poughkeepsie, as was announced during the City Council Workshop Meeting on 1/27/2025.

There are at least two questionable incidents in Beacon that Bruce is connected to:

  • Community Re-Development: Bruce was responsible for recommending that an intentionally burned down boarding house be rebuilt to accomodate one family instead of 9 apartments, as it was slated to do before the arson during an affordable housing crisis. Neighbors of the boarding house at 925 Wolcott Avenue demanded that the boarding house be rezoned to a single-family home because they didn’t like the renters or the owner, as evidenced in their letters to Beacon’s Zoning Board. ALBB has not looked into how many of the opposing neighbors also run AirBnBs or are in favor of short-term rentals in single-family homes. Bruce’s interpretation of the law did strip the zoning from the boarding house. This interpretation potentially incentives arson or destruction of a property by 50% or more in order to nullify its current zoning status, should an owner or third party want to do that.

  • Personal Persecution: Bruce encouraged Sun River Health management to file a Misdemeanor Complaint against the chalk artist Ryan Manzi who chalked “Free Palestine” onto the back of their building on Main Street (which faces Main Street), as per the Misdemeanor Complaint that ALBB has seen.

Both of these topics are explored in this article. To gain context, this article includes a look at the history of Building Inspectors in Beacon since 2018, when Tim Dexter abruptly retired as Building Inspector in 2018.

Bruce Flower joined the City of Beacon as Building Inspector II in October 2022, leaving his job of 18 years as Deputy Building Inspector for the Town of Poughkeepsie, according to Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White at the 1/27/2025 Workshop Meeting. While the numeral II is in the title, it does not mean that there are 2 Building Inspectors, as City Administrator Chris explained when a Councilmember asked him at the 2/3/2025 City Council Meeting.

Dave Buckley was Beacon’s Building Inspector when Bruce came in. Dave started as Acting Building Inspector in January 2019 when Tim Dexter retired at the end of 2018. While Dave was to be “Acting,” his temporary position as Building Inspector lasted for 2 years. After Tim Dexter retired in November 2018, Mayor Randy Casale’s appointee, George Kolb Jr., ended up declining the job in January 2019 after accepting it in November 2018. That contributed to Dave Buckley being in his position 2 years longer as Acting Building Inspector.

One of the issues Tim Dexter was most known for in Beacon was his handling of proposed legalization of AirBnB apartments. He stuck to his interpretation of zoning requirements to require an egress window or sprinkler system be in residential units that were to be officially recognized as permitted AirBnB units in Beacon. These fire-safety installations can be an expensive fire-safety investment for homeowners who are trying to offer short term rentals for additional income. This was widely pushed back on by Beacon homeowners seeking legal recognition of their AirBnB short-term rentals.

The egress window or sprinkler system requirement was later reversed by the next Acting Building Inspector, Dave Buckley, who had been the Deputy Building Inspector at the time. As Acting Building Inspector, Dave interpreted the law differently, saying that short-term rentals could be designated as “accessory use,” which would not require homeowners to have egress windows or sprinkler systems in order to acquire their short-term rental permit.

In 2022, Mayor Lee and City Administrator Chris White tried to bring Tim Dexter back onto the City of Beacon’s payroll as a consultant for the construction of the multi-million dollar new firehouse. This was briefly discussed publicly, but never brought to an official appointment after information about Tim Dexter was submitted to the then new City Council, according to Jason Hughes, a Beacon business owner of The Yard. Therefore, Dave Buckley remained on as Acting Building Inspector until Cory Wirthmann was appointed in July 2023.

Enter Cory Wirthmann

Beacon hired Cory Wirthmann as Deputy Building Inspector, in July 2023. Cory also co-owns the olive oil shop on Main Street, Scarborough Fare, producers of delicious infused olive oils and other culinary items. Cory is also the fire chief in New Palz. Now that Bruce is leaving, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris is recommending that Cory Wirthmann be appointed to Acting Building Inspector when Bruce leaves while they search the civil service list for an applicant match.

What Does The Building Inspector Do?

The Building Inspector interprets zoning laws along with the City Attorney and at times, with the City Council. The Building Inspector interacts with the Beacon community when he or she speaks with business owners or homeowners about any zoning or safety issues that may arise.

While Cory has been in Beacon since July 2023, it seems as though Beacon’s City Council has never met Cory before. During the 1/27/2025 City Council Workshop Meeting, Councilmember Molly Rhodes asked City Administrator Chris if the Council could meet Cory. “If he does become Acting Head or Head, if we're able to meet him either as a public session or Executive Session just to kind of get to know him as we did with Bruce. Kind of like, have the ability for the Council to kind of get to know him.”

City Administrator Chris didn’t think that necessary or possible: “I think I would need to check his availability. He’s also a fire chief and has a lot of commitments,” City Administrator Chris said. As a fire chief with a lot of commitments, it is unclear how Cory will perform his duties as Acting Building Inspector for the City of Beacon, if he can’t go down to Town Hall on a Monday night at 7pm to meet City Council. However, Cory did not speak for himself. City Administrator Chris made assumptions for him to block his schedule when Councilmember Molly requested to meet Corry.

Councilmember Molly pressed on: “To be clear, I'm just thinking for, because we did get a chance to meet other Heads of departments.”

City Administrator Chris responded: “I would just say probably the permanent person we would bring into to me of course.” Councilmember Molly pointed out that the Acting status may last a long time: “I'll defer to you once you learn more about how long he might be Acting for and that might also dictate what seems appropriate both from a practical and from a legal perspective.” In the case of the Acting appointment with Dave Buckley, that appointment lasted 2 years before Bruce Flower was hired.

Some business people in Beacon have told ALBB that interacting with Cory for permits and related matters has been a positive experience.

After Bruce Flower Leaves

Councilperson Paloma Wake was interested in information provided from Bruce’s Exit Interview. “This is a request I guess for any person who's leaving us. I assume that if anything relevant comes up in Bruce's exit interview, if it's relevant to hiring the next person, that that would be incorporated by Sara.” Sara Morris is Beacon’s HR Director. The City of Beacon never had an HR Director until around the time they put up their first Diversity Statement in 2020. Gina Bisale was the first HR Director, but she left shortly thereafter and Sara replaced her.

City Administrator Chris responded "I will leave that up to Sara,"

Councilperson Paloma presented an assumption: "It sounds like Bruce is leaving just because there's a bigger opportunity in a bigger city. Still, if there is anything relevant."

City Administrator Chris pressed that Bruce was moving into more of a Building role in the Town of Poughkeepsie, not that of a Zoning influence, stating: “He was in that position for 18 years and then the person above him retired. So we basically borrowed him for 2.5 years from the Town of Poughkeepsie. He also will focus more on the Building aspect and less on Zoning and Planning. They break that down between multiple staff. So they have a person who oversees Planning and Zoning. He will do Building then they have a Code Enforcement person. He's kind of all three of those here. “


How Bruce Flower Was Involved In Nixing 9 Renovated Apartments For People With Low Income During An Affordable Housing Crisis

The old boarding house that had 16 small SRO apartments in it at 925 Wolcott Avenue, with the gorgeous wrap-around porch, that had been a home to people with low income for decades in Beacon, burned down in January 2023. It was arson. A male tenant who was living in it was scheduled for eviction that day. He decided instead to douse it in gasoline, torch it, turn himself in, and plead guilty. No one was hurt. No one was inside. Neighboring houses were endangered by the flames and heat of the blaze.

The boarding house was undergoing renovations by new owner Yeshia Berger of 925 Wolcott Ave LLC, who bought it in July 2022, to scale down the number of apartments from 16 to 9 units, and keep them as SRO rentals (Single Room Occupancy in apartments or residential hotels in which low-income or welfare tenants live in single rooms). Yeshia began to fix the front porch before a permit was issued to him, neighbors told ALBB. Porch work in Beacon is often flagged by Building Inspectors for not being properly permitted first.

However, the neighbors weren’t mad that the old boarding house was gone. They were mad that the owner hadn’t cleaned the burned site quick enough, as reported in the Highlands Current. According to the newspaper, insurance payments were delayed, as happens when fires burn down properties. The neighbors then pursued a media campaign and Change.org petition in June 2023 titled “NO Zoning Variance to allow 'market rate' 9 unit building for 925 Wolcott, Beacon NY” to make sure an apartment building of any kind was rebuilt. The odd thing about including “market rate” in their Change.org petition title is that the apartments were slated to continue to be SRO units, which are reserved for people with low income.

The media campaign included letters from neighbors submitted to Beacon’s Zoning Board of Appeals in the neighbors’ pursuit to get the boarding house re-zoned to be a single-family home after more than 50% of it was destroyed by the fire. They wanted Beacon’s Zoning Board stop the already-in-progress renovation of the property so that low income people could not live there anymore.

The Highlands Current presented it this way: “The owner of a Beacon boardinghouse that was destroyed by fire in January wants to rebuild, although the surrounding neighborhood is zoned for single-family homes.” The boarding house had been there long before some of the people opposing its use lived in that neighborhood.

In fact, ALBB’s own co-host of our podcast, “Wait, What Is That?” Brandon Lillard, had looked at it with his mother 30 years ago when they were moving to Beacon from Brooklyn, before he attended high school at the Old Beacon High School when it was actually a school, not commercial studio spaces like it is now.

The new property owner, Yeshia Berger, wanted to rebuild his building and continue with the 9 SRO apartments as planned and previously approved in December 2022, just one month before the arson.

According to reporting, Yeshia bought the boarding house for $650,000 and was estimated to be making $20,000/month from the SRO rentals.

Neighbors pushed fervently to prevent the boarding house from rising again, which had been housing people of varying backgrounds for decades. In their letters submitted to Beacon’s Zoning Board, they used the income to present a case of unjustified profits as part of their justification to nix the apartments.

Some neighbors alluded to fights or gunshots that would happen at or near the boarding house. Others said in their letters to the Zoning Board: “What we need is affordable housing, not this extreme demonstration of wealth.” Ironic, that the apartments provided in this boarding house, and the apartments that the developer Yeshia Berger was going to rebuild, were zoned as affordable housing.

925 Wolcott Avenue after arson destroyed the decades old, multi-apartment boarding house located there. This is the new Single Family home that was constructed by Faust, with encouragement from the neighborhood who petitioned for the former property owner Yeshia Berger to be stripped of his right to re-build the SRO apartments during an Affordable Housing Crisis, with the Encouragement of then Building Inspector Bruce Flower.

The anti-apartment rhetoric from the neighbors questions if they really want affordable housing after all. Especially when the boarding house property later sold for half the price for which Yeshia had purchased it.

After the re-zoning and the sale, the luxury designers and builders Faust Interiors began building a single-family home on the property, as they confirmed to ALBB.

The rezoning resulted in profits going to a different group of people perhaps more approved of by the neighbors, resulting in a comfortable home for one family instead of nine.

Building Inspector Bruce Flower denied Yeshia the right to rebuild the apartments, citing 3 reasons, as reported here by the Highlands Current.

Bruce supplied his 3 recommendations, but the Beacon Zoning board reversed 2 of them, according to the Highlands Current. “Had they reversed all of them, the 9 apartments would be able to be re-built,” the newspaper reported. Neighbors, however, through the petition, were intent on stopping the income from the apartments, with possibly no regard for new renters who needed to occupy the apartments.

James Case-Leal, the creator of the petition, stated reasons in an Update to the petition to encourage people to turn out to reject the building of the apartments when Yeshia continued his legal appeals to be able to rebuild, which included encouragement to come out to the Zoning Board Meeting to:

  • prevent “another attempt to persuade the Zoning Board to bend the law for them to make a huge profit off of our community,” and

  • “express your support of Beacon zoning and opposition to the developer’s appeal to build another SRO.” The building was already an SRO, being renovated to serve 9 units instead of 16 units for different people to move into in order to stay in Beacon.

Through his attorney, Taylor Palmer of Cuddy and Feder, Yeshia said he would appeal the decision. But he ended up withdrawing his application in January 2024 according to a Zoning Board agenda and listed his charred property for $279.000, and sold it for $315,000 according to Zillow.

In its reporting of the zoning change, the Highlands Current quoted the Zoning Board’s conclusive direction as: “In its resolution denying Berger’s request, the ZBA said it was not ‘deciding the merits of the applicant’s proposed use and/or any opposition’ but was only making decisions on the building inspector’s determinations.” The one Zoning Board dissenter on the vote wanted to hire a consultant to test the boarding house owner’s presentation of findings. Circles were going to continue until Yeshia was out.

The newspaper reported: “Berger would only have been allowed to proceed with his December plans if the ZBA had reversed all three of Flower’s determinations.”

Also inconsistent with the City of Beacon’s pattern of going to great lengths to preserve historic buildings and architectural details is the loss of the boarding house that was going to be rebuilt after the fire. Beacon lost not only 9 apartments available to people with low incomes, but it lost an architectural gem, something for which it says it prides itself on.

Pictured below is the boarding house at 925 Wolcott before it was burned down in arson in January 2023:

Articles used in 925 Wolcott research to aid in timeline:

4/7/2023
”Beacon Wants Burned Home Cleared Out"

7/21/2023
"Beacon Boardinghouse Denied But Appeal Expected"
This article included a brief history of why the boarding house may have been created in the first lace, to help the community, from Denise Doring VanBuren, president of the Beacon Historical Society, and Diane Lapis, a society trustee.

8/18/2023
"Boardinghouse Owner Asks for Variance"

The attorneys for Yeshia, stated in a letter of appeal to Beacon’s Zoning Board: “A plain reading of Zoning Code section 223.20.D does not terminate a legal existing non-oncoming use that was destroyed more than 50% and any ambiguity regarding this damaged building regulation must be read in favor of the property owner.”

 

The Zoning Code section 223.20.D reads:

If any nonconforming building shall be destroyed by any means to an extent of more than 50%, no repairs or reconstruction shall be made unless every portion of such building is made to conform to all the regulations of this chapter for the district in which it is located.

Where the destruction of such nonconforming building is less than 50%, it may be restored and the nonconforming use continued, provided that the total cost of such restoration does not exceed the replacement value of the destroyed portion of the building at the time if its destruction and future provided that such restoration is started within a period of 6 months of such destruction and is diligently prosecuted to completion. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the strengthening or restoring to a safe condition of any wall declared unsafe by the Building Inspector.

 

The Attorney's Conclusion:

“Any interpretation that Section 223-10.(D) of the Zoning Code allows a non-conforming use to be extinguished when more than 50% of a structure is destroyed would create a dangerous precedent incentivizing the future destruction of similar structures. A plain reading of the applicable section of the regulations regarding a building that is destroyed more than 50% clearly does not regulate the use.”


How Bruce Flower Was Involved In Adding An Additional Misdemeanor Complaint That Contributed To The Imprisoning Of The “Free Palestine” Chalk Artist Ryan Manzi

Back in March 2024, a series of events rolled together, landing one well known Beacon resident and artist, Ryan Manzi, in jail for 4 months after he chalked “Free Palestine” onto the long brick wall that is the back of the Sun River Health Facility on Henry Street. The back of their building faces Main Street at 341 Main Street.

White paint dripping down the wall after someone applied it over the chalk of the Free Palestine message.

White paint spread over the chalk of the Palestinian flag.

At 3:40pm on March 25, 2024, Ryan visited the wall where he had previously chalked “Free Palestine” and various other designs around March 17, 2024, including Scooby-Doo, the word BEACON in large print, and a lucky shamrock for the annual St. Paddy’s Parade in Beacon. Known for his chalk art around town in front of the Towne Cryer, the Post Office, Smoker’s Mecca and other spots, seeing him here was part of a normal day in Beacon.

Not normal, however, was when someone poured white paint over the words “Free Palestine” and the Palestinian flag Ryan chalked onto the building. That person has never been identified. No other markings had paint on them. This act of paint throwing could be viewed as a hate crime or antisemetic crime, since it desecrated a semetic Palestinian symbol, and permanently damaged a building.

Ryan inspected the paint to see what could be learned from the application, and then re-chalked the “Free Palestine” message and flag. A Little Beacon Blog videoed it, and published an article about it. Many people walked by as Ryan chalked, saying hello to Ryan, and cheering him on, as can be heard in the video republished at the bottom of this article.

The Misdemeanor Complaint From Sun River Health

According to a deposition from Sun River Health Management that ALBB has seen as published in this article, Bruce Flower contacted Sun River Health about the chalk art and graffiti. The deposition complaint which led to a Misdemeanor Complaint was filed by the Regional Director of Facilities for Sun River, Marco P. Faustino.

In the complaint, Marco acknowledged that the paint and the chalk were done by different people, but told Bruce that graffiti had been an “ongoing issue” at the building, without identifying who did that graffiti.

Editorial Note: As a local who walks past the front and back of Sun River Health on a daily basis, I have never seen graffiti on it. When other buildings in town get media coverage for when their buildings are tagged by anonymous graffiti makers, Sun River Health’s building has not been among them. Please write in to ALBB if you know of and have visible proof of something different. A picture of Sun River Health’s facade on Henry Street is published below, and shows no markings of covered graffiti.

According to a deposition given by Marco to the Beacon Police on March 28, 2024 that ALBB has seen as has been published here, Bruce recommended that Marco file a report with the Beacon Police, which he did. Notable, however, is that it is unknown at this time if Bruce had called Sun River about this other graffiti that Marco mentioned, or if it was over the “Free Palestine” marking, with separate paint splattered on top of it by a different person.

Chris White, City Administrator for the City of Beacon.

Soon after Bruce contacted Sun River, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White had an interaction with Ryan while Ryan was crossing Wolcott Avenue on April 4, 2024, walking to the train station. The interaction led to the arrest of Ryan.

City Administrator Chris alleged in his Police Report, that ALBB has seen and has been published in this article, that as Ryan was crossing the street, “Ryan stopped in the roadway and began to give me the finger. I gave him the finger in return and drove past him as he proceeded to move off toward the sidewalk and descend the staircase toward Beacon Police Station.

“As I reached the red light at the intersection, I decided to look back in my rear-view mirror and saw Ryan charging at my car. I heard a loud thump on the back car and thought Ryan had just damaged my vehicle with a bottle. I then saw a plastic bottle full of liquid in his hand. I began to cross the intersection where I turned right on South Ave and parked my vehicle near Polhill Park. I then contacted the Beacon Police Department to file a report. As I talked to the dispatcher, Ryan again approached my vehicle and began recording me from the driver’s side window. At this time, Beacon Police arrived at my location, where Ryan began to argue and resist with Police. Ryan’s actions made me feel fearful at the time of our engagement.”

Ryan told ALBB that he did not “give the finger,” and told ALBB that he thought he heard Chris shout “terrorist” to him from his car window. When ALBB asked City Administrator Chris if that was true, he responded “No.”

Ryan told ALBB that as he was descending the stairs to continue walking to the train station, Sgt. James Serrine came out of the police station to approach Ryan, telling Ryan that he was under arrest, after City Administrator Chris had made his call to the police. Ryan told ALBB: “Thirty seconds after an incident, there is no way you can justify arresting someone. You can detain someone, but stating arrest requires an investigation. That’s when I backed away up the stairs and ran towards Polhill Park. Rule #1 when it comes to Beacon Police: make sure there’s witnesses.”

Ryan continued: “I never filmed White. I was on the phone calling the police to report harassment. He revved his engine at me and that’s when he called me a terrorist. So that’s when I came up to the car.”

The Misdemeanor Complaint for the Free Palestine chalk art was filed before this incident, but was added to Ryan’s charges after he was incarcerated for the Chris White incident, keeping Ryan in jail for 4 months, Ryan told ALBB. “Apparently the chalk was filed the week before the incident with Mr. White. He didn’t leave his car, called the cops by Polhill Park (showing he wasn’t fearful for his safety if he remained in the area as I continued walking down to the train station passing the Police Station). I was then in jail on $10,000 bail that violated penal law. I didn’t get the chalk charges until I was already incarcerated.”

Ryan was released 4 months later on a plea agreement to probation, he told ALBB.

In a separate incident, City Administrator Chris did have an altercation with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a City Council Swearing-In Ceremony that the NYCLU said violated the Open Meetings Law, as City Administrator Chris blocked signage and called for the arrest of peaceful citizens.

In City Administrator Chris’ deposition of the April 4th incident, he stated: “I have never had any personal interactions with Ryan before today. I’ve learned of Ryan’s identity from a recent Beacon Blog where he was observed to be chalking a brick wall on Main Street.” The report goes on to detail more of their interaction.

Ryan Manzi is the nephew of Michael Manzi, the Superintendent of Streets for the City of Beacon. Ryan and his mother, who is Michael’s sister, told ALBB that Michael and Ryan do not speak currently, but used to be close years ago.

This story is ongoing and will be explored in other articles.

There is more to this story, which will be printed in a future article series.

Highway Department Employee Steve Bechtold Gently "Pushed" Into Retirement - Alleged Gun Incident May Have Influenced Firearms Policy

Retiring Head Mechanic, Steve Bechtold (Left) with Superintendent Michael Manzi (Right).

When Steve Bechtold was at the podium at City Council for his retirement announcement, it did not seem like a moment that had a lot of former planning around it. During the speech honoring him, Highway Superintendent of Streets, Superintendent Michael Manzi expressed that they were just discussing before the meeting who was going to do all of the ordering of shirts, since Steve was the one who had handled that during his 29 years of service in the Highway Department for the City of Beacon. Said City Administrator Chris White: “We're going to be lost." Superintendent Manzi agreed: "We will be lost. We're going to be shirtless I guess.”

The Unsanctioned Union Petition

In September 2020, at the time of his promotion to Head Mechanic, Steve was named in a harassment complaint as lead organizer of an unsanctioned union petition circulated during work hours against Reuben Simmons filed in March 2019. Reuben is a fellow employee and former Highway Superintendent, before Superintendent Manzi was appointed to the position. The complaint focused on the process in which the petition was handled, that the “signature collection was conducted on city time and caused an uncomfortable work environment,” according to the filed complaint that ALBB has seen.

Additionally, the harassment complaint was allegedly not shown to Black employees (Reuben is Black) until after the then union president, Paula Becker (who was also an employee of the City of Beacon at the time), was informed about it. It was circulated with the alleged intent to try to prevent Reuben from being on a negotiating committee of the CSEA union for the department’s new contract at the time. However, Reuben was not on the negotiating committee. Only later, Reuben told ALBB, after the union president Paula was informed about the petition by Reuben, did Steve show it to two other Black employees in the department: Ed McNair and Troy Swain, who declined to sign it.

Ed later resigned from his position in the Highway Department in March 2021, citing unresolved racial tensions and retaliations, making working in the Highway Department “pretty rough to say the least,” according to his resignation letter that ALBB has seen. At the time, there was one other Black employee in the Water and Sewer Department, Lew Swain, and an employee who is Dominican, Christian Cuello.

After Reuben learned about the alleged petition, he went to the department’s union president, Paula about it, who said she did not know about the petition. Reuben told ALBB: “My issue was that if you're going to petition, show it to everybody so that it's fair.”

The Alleged Gun In The Locker Room

Months later, Reuben said he saw Steve with a gun in the employee locker room. After a morning safety meeting at work, Reuben emailed his boss, Superintendent Manzi, about the gun. According to the email ALBB has seen, Reuben said: “I feel obliged to tell inform you about a situation I encountered. The week of September 23, 2019 I witnessed a firearms in the possession of Steve Bechtold in our locker room. From that moment I have taken precautionary measure to ensure my own safety at work in the event something were to take place at the workplace involving such threat. I refrained myself from reporting it to you sooner as you have been vocal in protecting this employee whenever issues are raised and the level of retaliation that I feel could transpire makes me uncomfortable and a threat to my safety.”

Superintendent Manzi emailed back: “I was and have not been previously aware of this situation but the matter has been addressed with the individual without issue and he was understanding of the matter. Please do not refrain from reporting if any other issues persist.”

Reuben requested to have Superintendent Manzi’s email about the gun included in Reuben’s personnel file, but then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero declined his request, Reuben told ALBB.

During The Head Mechanic Promotion

Promoted to Head Mechanic of the Highway Department on what was supposed to be September 21, 2020 but was postponed due to push-back from members of the community who highlighted that the majority of the Water Department was white at the time, Steve’s promotion then was delayed for the night so that Councilmembers could feel that they had all of the information on all of the employees positioned for promotions. Peter Delfico was up for appointment to Highway Department Auto Mechanic II and Nicholas Durso for Auto Mechanic I.

Reuben never filed a formal complaint about the gun, because, he told ALBB: “After I saw how the complaint went about harassment with the petition, I didn’t even try regarding the gun, even though it made some of us uncomfortable.”

At one point, Reuben was both Steve and Superintendent Manzi’s bosses, but through another process initiated by department employees, which included Superintendent Manzi who wrote his own anonymous letter discrediting and dismissing Reuben to Beacon Councilmembers that ALBB has seen. The result of that anonymous letter campaign was that Reuben was stripped of his Superintendent position, and Michael Manzi replaced him.

That Michael Manzi was one of the anonymous letter writers pushing for Reuben’s Superintendent position to end was discovered during the City of Beacon vs Reuben Simmons employment termination hearings initiated by City Administrator Chris White, who spent over $110,000 in legal fees at one point trying to fire Reuben, but lost the case.

ALBB reached out to Ed McNair to ask how the alleged gun and response made him feel. Ed responded: “If it had been Reuben with a gun in the locker room, the discipline would have been harsh and made public.”

Months after Steve’s 2020 promotion to Highway Department Head Mechanic, the City of Beacon’s then new HR Director, Gina Basile (she has since left), introduced a new firearms policy regulating personal guns in the workplace in December 2020, as reported by ALBB at the time.

The Honoring of Steve Bechtold

The honoring of Steve Bechtold was kicked off by Mayor Lee Kyriacou: “The first thing we're going to do is we're going to honor Steve Bechtold. And you know, we begged him to come and he let us do that. Mickey, will you bring him up and talk a little bit about him. Then I got a little thing for him."

City Administrator Chris White added: "And Mickey wrote a limerick for the occasion."

Superintendent Mickey responded: "Am I supposed to speak only good?"

Councilperson Amber Grant responded through laughter: "Be honest."

City Administrator Chris encouraged: "Roast. Roast."

Superintendent Manzi continued: "I'm standing here tonight with Steve Bechtold to announce a retirement effective 1-4-2025. Steve started his career with the City of Beacon in May 22nd of 1995 and after almost 30 years of service to the City as a Mechanic, most recently our Head Mechanic, Steve has decided to retire."

Superintendent Manzi turned to Steve and said: "About time."

Steve replied: "With little pushing from you."

Superintendent Manzi replied: "A little pushing. I want you to enjoy yourself. I've had the pleasure of working with Steve for the last 20 years. Became friends on a personal level as well, as we both enjoy the sport of snowmobiling. During Steve's career, he was instrumental in keeping the City's fleet up and going, including but not limited to our Highway, Water and Police vehicles. As well as all Park, small equipment, and anything else we needed. And, he even - we just talked about it - we're trying to figure out who's going to take the ordering of City shirts and stuff like that. He's done that since I've been here."

"We're going to be lost," City Administrator Chris White said.

Superintendent Manzi agreed: "We will be lost. We're going to be shirtless I guess. Throughout his long career here, Steve has been reliable, dependable, and most importantly, committed to the City. He'll be missed by all, and I'd like to say congratulations and wish him health and happiness in his retirement.”

Mayor Lee presented Steve with a gold lettered City of Beacon Certificate of Recognition in recognition and appreciation for 29 years of dedicated public service to the City of Beacon.

As per the New York State and New York City Employees' Retirement System (ERS and NYCRS) retirement plan for state and city employees who joined between 1983 and 2009, Tier 4 members are eligible for a pension factor of 2% per year with 20-30 years of service. For each year beyond 30, the members receive 1.5%. Steve’s retirement is just shy of 30 years.

Steve accepted his certificate, and said: "Thank you so much. Thank you very much," and began to take pictures. City Administrator White encouraged: "Look like you like each other."

Steve gave his acceptance speech: "I just need to say thank you for the years I've been here. It's got its ups and downs, but mostly, you know, mostly everything was good. You know, you can't agree with everybody all the time, but for the most part, all went well. So thank you very much."

City Administrator Chris said: "Job well done."

Councilmember Amber Grant said: "Thank you. Enjoy your retirement. I hope you have wonderful years ahead of you with lots of fun."

Steve replied: "Hopefully it lasts as long as I was working."

City Administrator Chris warned: "Watch out for Mickey on the snowmobiles."

Mickey agreed: "We'll run into each other trails."

Steve cautioned: "Hopefully not. Hopefully not."

City Administrator Chris said: "Try not to run into each other."

After Steve was done, Mayor Lee started walking away but City Administrator Chris pulled him back, making sure one more item was complete. Mayor Lee then awarded Superintendent Manzi a certificate for 20 years, even though his hire date was in 2006, as stated in CSEA documents and in one of the anonymous notes that was sent to Councilmember Jodi McCredo and read in public in 2018. Superintendent Manzi is in his 19th year.

Mayor Lee said: "Mickey did a disclosure in his discussion of 20 years, he said. And that is correct. So in recognition of 20 years of outstanding and dedicated public service to the City of Beacon, I also have a City of Beacon Certificate of Recognition for Michael Manzi."

As for recognition, other employees have also worked for 20+ years, but not all have had the recognition that Steve received, according to Reuben, who has worked for the city since 2002 (23 years), starting as a summer intern. Dave Way recently reached 20 years, and Lew Swain retired with close to 30 years and was handed a certificate on the job, not during a public presentation like this, or with a City funded party. A retirement party was thrown for Steve during company time, and a Christmas Party also this year.

While these are nice gestures that can boost moral, the retirement party on company time was the first of its kind, according to Reuben, when asked by ALBB.

Letter From The Editor: How The $20K Grant Article - With Conflict Of Interest Implications - Got Written

The genesis for Beacon’s Community Investment Grant "Beacon Recreation Committee and City Face Scrutiny For Allocating 37% of $20,000 Community Investment Grant To Committee Member's Global Organization, Denying Food Benefits To Farmer's Market And More" did not start out as a hunt for details about the recipients, or about who didn’t get funded. It started out as a positive low-hanging-fruit piece, to announce the recipients. That was it. Something happy. Everyone wants something happy from A Little Beacon Blog, right? Right. This was an easy delivery.

Being that I missed my opportunity to share the announcement that the awards opened up for applications because we were in the throws of the genocide of Israel murdering Palestinians in February - we were trying to still publish Beacon content via 14 Days of Valentine’s Day Gift Guide - while publishing awareness pieces of the genocide.

In trying to find something easy and positive to publish, the Community Investment Grant seemed a no-brainer. But during the City Council Meeting announcing the awards, strange things happened. City Administrator Chris White began the presentation by throwing the Parks and Recreation Director Mark Price under the bus when Mark was not in attendance (Mark is normally a very punctual, well-spoken person). Chris announced: “I think Mark forgot.” Then, Chris definitively told us: “About half the Committee really was not interested in this task,” referring to vetting and recommending grant applicants.

Then, after Chris announced the winners - which he named by organization only - one Councilmember, Paloma Wake, asked him to describe on of the winners - The Sports Bra Project - because, she said: “It's not totally clear to me what the program does. Probably helpful for the community to hear how they can access this if it applies to them.”

Councilperson Amber Grant quickly flew in to vouch for the organization, saying she had Googled it, and it came up in an article at the local newspaper the Highlands Current that was published 2 months before the opening of the grant applications, of which one of the committee members Heidi Kitlas is married to a reporter there (Jeff Simms, but he did not write that article). Heidi had voted on the Sports Bra Project, but its founder Sarah, did not vote at all.

Amber encouraged viewers of the City Council meeting, and writers of the titillating Meeting Minutes, to also Google the article. Mayor Lee then also vouched for the organization, saying “I know it's a Beacon-specific organization.” I didn’t think about it until later, but neither of them, nor Chris, mentioned the name of the founder of the organization.

Ok. So all seemed legit, right? City Administrator Chris impatiently hurried this part of the meeting to close so that the City Council could vote on, it, which they did. Done. Money allocated.

But…that part about the Recreation Committee not being “interested” stuck. Who was on the Recreation Committee? Who are these people who are not interested in awarding money to community groups, when they are tasked with helping the City of Beacon serve people through recreational activities? It didn’t make sense. Thankfully, I had childcare for the evening. So I was able to continue on with research. Otherwise, I would have disappeared into Kid Land and forgotten all about it.

Off to Google I went. Found the Recreation Committee member names. Great. Next: Google the article about the Sports Bra Project like Amber told us to. Check. Name of Sara Dwyer-Shick was in the article. Went to the Sports Bra Project website. There were no names there. But exciting PR about them being featured in Australia! Then I read about their deliveries to Namibia. Great concept!

My article shifted to become about City Administrator Chris White’s quote that threw Mark Price and the entire Recreation Committee under the bus. Usually this happens in the basement of Town Hall in the meeting rooms, where people in different departments just rip each other apart. I witnessed it when I was Chair of the Spirit of Beacon Day. Being accustomed to cis white man patriarchal banter, I knew that people were just surviving down there around the meeting table and in the hallways. But when it makes its way up to the courtroom during City Council Meetings, it’s like…gross.

But whatever. Is is what it is. I went to copy/paste the names of the Recreation Committee into the article, and that’s when I recognized Sarah Dwyer-Shick’s name, as being the founder of the Sports Bra Project and a Recreation Committee Member.

I did a double-take. I basically did a quadruple take. I wanted to call someone to confirm, but who is there to call. Chris White has everyone on lock-down from answering questions to ALBB. I was on my own. I deep dove, and published the article.

The next night at a sports event, I heard from people who read the article. They said that their friends asked them about the findings in the article: “Is it true?” I said to the reader: “Even I (ALBB) had to ask myself 5 times if it was true! I couldn’t believe it!” I got more questions from people, asking what the Conflict of Interest Policy was for the Beacon Recreation Committee. I didn’t know!

Next day, I heard from more people. More than one person said: “I miss Randy. I voted for Lee, but I miss Randy.” Former Mayor Randy Casale was a gruff but firm person. Many were rubbed the wrong way with him. He got voted out to Lee. But. He usually duked it out with whoever to arrive at the answer that seemed correct. I liked that about him. I voted for him each time he ran.

Back to the article research. I went looking for the office on Henry Street of the Sports Bra Project that was pictured in the article, and I still haven’t found it. Maybe it’s being sublet from someone else in the only office building on Henry Street. Maybe it’s in a cute house or apartment there.

And that’s how this story happened.

NYCLU Says Beacon's City Administrator Chris White Violated The Open Meetings Law For Blocking Ceasefire Sign and Calling For Arrest Of Citizens

Beacon’s City Administrator placing his hands on a pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide protester at Beacon’s City Council and Mayoral Swearing In Ceremony while Congressman Pat Ryan spoke.

Senior Staff Attorney for the NYCLU (New York Civil Liberties Union), Beth Haroules, sent notice to The City of Beacon’s Administrator Chris White, Mayor Lee Kyriacou and the City Council that City Administrator Chris’ behavior violated the Open Meetings Law during Beacon’s Swearing-In Ceremony for City Council and Mayor on January 6, 2024 when Chris prevented the protesters from silently holding their Pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide banner that read “Ceasefire” while Congressman Pat Ryan gave remarks.

The letter described the scene, which has been published in full below, and includes description of public video footage of both the ceremony from the front of the room where the Mayor was, and the disruption in the back of the room by the City Administrator. That video footage has been published at the bottom of this article.

We urge the City to avoid treating silent protestors who may attend City meetings and events this way.
— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

The Letter, Republished In Full

Dear Mayor Kyriacou and City Administrator White:

On behalf of the New York Civil Liberties Union, we write to express our concerns about the events surrounding a peaceful and silent protest conducted at the Beacon Mayoral and City Council swearing-in ceremony on January 6, 2024 by residents of Beacon who were attending this public event. We urge the City to avoid treating silent protestors who may attend City meetings and events this way, and to respect the First Amendment rights of protesters going forward.

The silent protesters did not shout or interrupt Representative Ryan – they simply told the people holding down the banner that they would not let it go.
— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

The Events of January 6, 2024

The Memorial Building, where the Swearing In Ceremony took place in Beacon on January 6, 2024.

The swearing-in event was held at the Veterans Memorial Building, owned by the City of Beacon and currently occupied and used by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (“VFW”). It was a governmental event that was very much open to the public. During the swearing-in event, Mayor Kyriacou introduced U.S. Representative Pat Ryan to address the gathering.

Representative Ryan has been greeted at his public speaking events by various of his constituents requesting that he support a ceasefire in Gaza. As Representative Ryan began to speak, four people (three of whom are residents of Beacon, all of whom are Representative Ryan’s constituents) who were sitting in the last row of seats stood up and unfurled a small black cloth banner that read “Ceasefire” in white letters.

Nevertheless, the City Administrator directed the police officers in attendance to arrest these peaceful protesters. The officers indicated that they would not arrest anyone unless a VFW representative asked them to do so..
— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

Christopher White, the City Administrator, and several people in attendance immediately moved to the side of and behind these four silent protesters and tried to hold down the banner. The silent protesters did not shout or interrupt Representative Ryan – they simply told the people holding down the banner that they would not let it go. The videotape of the swearing-in event, with a camera angle on Representative Ryan and the Mayor and other members of the City Council, shows that no one at the front of the hall appeared to be disturbed. No one even turned in their seats or appeared to be looking at the back of the VFW Hall. Representative Ryan continued his remarks, undisturbed and without pause. The videotape of the swearing-in event revealed no other noises in the hall other than the Representative’s remarks to the audience.

Nevertheless, the City Administrator directed the police officers in attendance to arrest these peaceful protesters. The officers indicated that they would not arrest anyone unless a VFW representative asked them to do so; they immediately apparently got that request and moved to arrest these silent protestors. Threatened with arrest, the peaceful protesters, one of whom was carrying an infant in a chest carrier, left the swearing-in event, escorted by police officers.

Preventing the Protesters from Silently Holding Their Banner Violated the Open Meetings Law

New York’s Open Meetings Law 3 (“Open Meetings Law”) provides members of the public with the right to observe and listen to a variety of meetings of public bodies. Several Open Meetings Law Advisory Opinions expressly address signage. In Open Meetings Advisory Opinion 52964, the Committee on Open Government of the State Department of the State of New York (“Committee”) provided guidance on the ability of government bodies to regulate signs at meetings open to the public. In doing so, the Committee listed as primary considerations: whether signs would be disruptive or obtrusive, whether the signs or sign holders would block a person from observing the proceedings or block an exit or create a fire code violation or would be obscene. [In the absence of these factors, the Committee indicated that signs should not be barred from an open meeting?] None of these circumstances existed at the swearing-in event. The peaceful protesters stood holding their banner in the last row of seats at the back of the hall and were silent throughout except to the extent that they told those seeking to push down the banner that they simply would not let it go. None of this exchange is even reflected in the video recording of the swearing-in event.

The Removal of the Protesters Upon Threat of Arrest Clearly Violated the First Amendment.

It is also well-settled that anyone may attend meetings of local public bodies in New York. This right of access is guaranteed by New York’s Open Meetings Law, 5 the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 8 of the New York State Constitution. The only restrictions on this right of public access relate to keeping order in the meeting. Though the Council is authorized to adopt rules for its operations,6 its authority is not unlimited. Indeed, to the extent that the City Council Meeting Rules in effect at that time applied to that gathering, they did not address signage and cannot be interpreted to have prevented the attendees from silently holding the banner at the swearing-in event.7

Events like the swearing-in event are a “limited public forum” and, as such, any limitation on speech must be reasonable in light of the purpose of the forum.8 Further, any restrictions imposed must be viewpoint-neutral.9 Accordingly, a governmental body may not use an improper reason, such as a dislike for a particular speaker’s viewpoint, as a basis to silence a person or exclude them from a public meeting, which is what apparently happened here.10

The protection of public access to open meetings serves fundamental constitutional values. The purpose of an open, public government meeting is to allow the public to understand, inform, petition and influence its government. In light of this purpose, it was patently unreasonable to prevent these Beacon residents from petitioning their elected official, Representative Ryan, to threaten to have the silent banner holders removed from the event space, and to threaten their arrest Conclusion

Permitting citizens to engage with their government is a critical role of public officials in a democracy. We request that you review the events that took place at the swearing-in event, acknowledge that the city of Beacon should have let the protesters hold their banner and not be threatened with arrest, and ensure that such events going forward are handled consistently with the First Amendment and applicable New York State law.

We are of course available to discuss these matters with you at a mutually agreeable time. Please let us know if you would like to do so.

Footnotes:

1 See City of Beacon, All Events: Swearing-In Ceremony for Mayor and Councilmembers, January 6 @ 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM, available at https://beaconny.gov/index.php/events/swearing-in-ceremony-for-mayor-and-councilmembers/.

2 See City of Beacon Swearing In 01-06-24, Beacon YouTube channel, available at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fbeaconny.gov%2F&feature=emb_title&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMjM4NTE&v=XNT-XeXQbSY.

3 NY Public Officers Law, Article 7.

4 Advisory Opinion 5296 may be found at: https://docsopengovernment.dos.ny.gov/coog/otext/o5296.doc. See also Advisory Opinion 3845, which may be found at https://doccs.dos.ny/coog/otext/o3845.htm.

5 Id.

6 The Beacon City Council does not appear to have any published rules relating to its operations at public meetings.

7 City Council Rule of Procedure 8(d)(8)(i) reads: The audience shall be respectful of all speakers and shall refrain from comments and gestures, private discussions, cell phone use, or other conduct that interferes with the orderly progression of the meeting or in any way discourages free speech.

8 See Devine v. Village of Port Jefferson, 849 F. Supp. 185, 189-90 (E.D.N.Y. 1994) (analyzing village board meeting as a limited public forum); see also City of Madison Joint School Dist. No. 8 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm’n, 429 U.S. 167, 174-76 (1976) (suggesting that any portion of a meeting of a public body that the body opens for public comment is a limited public forum); Norse v. City of Santa Cruz, 629 F.3d 966, 976 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding that First Amendment protections of a limited public forum applied not only during the public comment period of the meeting, but also throughout the entire meeting), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 112 (2011).

9 See Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 829 (1995) (stating that “[t]he State may not exclude speech where its distinction is not ‘reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum,’ nor may it discriminate against speech on the basis of its viewpoint.” (quoting Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. Fund,
Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 806 (1985)).

10 See White v. City of Norwalk, 900 F.2d 1421,1425 (9th Cir. 1990).

11 See We the People, Inc., of the U.S. v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 746 F. Supp. 213, 216-18 (D.D.C. 1990)
(signs that do not block the public’s view are permissible).

Beacon's City Administrator Blocks NAMI's Mental Health Ribbon Campaign To Preserve Lamppost Health

During last night’s City Council Meeting (3-18-2024) in what was expected to be a easy passage of two requests from NAMI Mid-Hudson to pass a Proclamation to make May Mental Health Awareness Month in Beacon, as well as NAMI’s once-annual public service ribbon and yard sign campaign to promote awareness about their services for families living with special needs from mental health considerations, as well as to reduce the stigma on mental health which can reduce the likelihood that people seek out support, the executive team at NAMI Mid-Hudson was met with resistance by Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White, stating that he wanted to preserve Beacon’s lampposts from the PSA ribbons, and intended to restrict NAMI’s temporary PSA lawn signs from being distributed, citing zoning code, without identifying which code number or how the code was being interpreted.

Executive Director George Czornyj and Program Director Jo Ann Brown were presenting. NAMI’s ribbon and sign campaign has happened in Beacon from 2014-2022. During the meeting, it was also discovered that NAMI had been denied permission in 2023 to hang their white ribbons in Beacon. NAMI’s ribbon work in other municipalities continues.

After NAMI Mid-Hudson’s presentation on why the ribbon campaign was so crucial to reaching new people, City Administrator Chris told the Council: “I would like to have a conversation at Workshop because the lawn signs are not allowed under a code. We have also had a multi-year campaign to try get our lampposts back into shape. Some of those are being painted. We did not approve this last year. I would like the opportunity to chime in at a Workshop.”

Mayor Lee Kyriacou, who has a daughter with Autism, did not disagree, replying: “Great. We can certainly do a Proclamation. That is certainly not a problem.”

Councilmember Amber Grant spoke up: "Yeah, I would like to discuss. I appreciate the lampposts and all that. Maybe there's some trees or other things we can identify that would be a way to show support without necessarily impacting the light posts and all of that. I look forward to discussing."

Councilmember Paloma Wake agreed: "I would like to second what Amber said."

The impact of ribbons on the lampposts will be discussed at a later Workshop. City Administrator Chris did not cite which zoning code the lawn signs did not comply with. Could be 183-2, or 223-15 Signs. City Administrator Chris has been known to target other signs of other entities. It is unclear if his sign targeting is balanced to all who put out signs for designated reasons, or targeted to his digression. For instance, temporary green shamrocks were secured onto lampposts by the Parade of Green, a committee member of that organization said, which was granted by the City of Beacon.

Which Zoning Code In Question Disallows the Lawn Signs?

Possible sign codes City Administrator Chris is referring to may include 223-15, and do not seem to indicate that the white ribbons and lawn signs would be in non-compliance:

F. Temporary signs.

(1) A temporary sign is a nonilluminated sign that is used in connection with a circumstance, situation or event that is designed, intended or expected to take place or to be completed within a reasonably short or definite period after the erection of such sign, such as signs displayed during campaigns, drives or events of civic, political, philanthropic, educational or religious institutions. If such sign display area is permanent but the message displayed is subject to periodic changes, that sign shall not be regarded as "temporary." Unless otherwise provided in this section, signs shall not be considered temporary if they are effectively displayed on an ongoing basis, interrupted by short intervals when they are not displayed. Temporary signs shall not require a permit under this section, unless located in the public right-of-way or on public property.

For instance, a grand opening looks to be protected in Section F 4-C:

Signs indicating that a special event such as a grand opening, fair, carnival, circus, festival or similar event is taking place on the lot where the sign is located, not exceeding 40 square feet in area in nonresidence districts and six square feet in residence districts, and limited to one sign for each street frontage of the lot. The sign shall not be posted sooner than two weeks prior to the special event and shall be removed by the individual or organization which posted, or caused to be posted, such sign within three calendar days following the special event.

Perhaps the City’s Attorney will have a different interpretation at the next Workshop Meeting.

Partnership Background on NAMI Mid-Hudson and Beacon

To be continued on how the health of the lampposts will be maintained or impacted by a PSA campaign to increase awareness about how to improve and maintain the mental health of humans.

NAMI partners with the local organization I Am Beacon, which was co-created by Reuben Simmons, a 22 year employee of the City of Beacon in the Highway Department, who is mixed race and identifies as Black. City Administrator Chris has spent close to $200,000 in Employee Discipline to terminate Reuben, for reasons not clear or proven in hearings.

According to I Am Beacon, in 2023, NAMI Mid-Hudson independently requested permission from the City of Beacon to run their ribbon campaign. NAMI has partnered on the campaign with I Am Beacon since 2014, and was on the Planning Committee for the mental health awareness concert that I Am Beacon organized, called Rock Out 4 Mental Health, of which A Little Beacon Blog also participated on the Planning Committee. “Last year,” said I Am Beacon, “we thought permission for the campaign would be pretty straightforward. We told NAMI to just go ask for permission. We were surprised when they were denied last year.”

This year, I Am Beacon decided to present with NAMI Mid-Hudson during a public City Council Meeting on 3-18-2024, so that everyone could learn about NAMI Mid-Hudson and learn about why their ribbon and lawn sign campaign is necessary. This slide-deck was produced, that contains many resources for families, and testimonials from individuals who have benefited from NAMI’s resources.

Mental Health Needs Are Large In Beacon

Beacon citizens know each other on the sidewalk. Whether they live in houses or apartments or not. Beacon citizens know which of us need a little extra help and compassion. It is not always very obvious who to call when someone is in distress.

For instance: ALBB witnessed what looked to be a father/son (or caregiver/young adult) in a combative situation coming out of the Telephone Building on S. Brett and Main Street. The man dragged the younger man out of the building in a chokehold, and then punched him in the face. A struggle ensued, where the younger man fell to the ground, was mainly calm and limp, until being stuffed into a car, where he resisted. The younger may have be Autistic. ALBB got it on video and a civilian called the police. The police arrived and were told by the man that it was a family situation, and was handled.

ALBB sent the video to the police in the hopes of filing a Police Report, not knowing if that was even the best thing to do. Information was submitted to the police, but no followup has happened. It left those of us who saw the incident feeling helpless for the young man, and for the older man who seemed to not be handling the situation in an educated manner. Hitting someone into obedience is not the answer.

During NAMI’s presentation last night, they stressed the value of calling the Dutchess County Help Line to get guidance to resources by calling 988 or 845-485-9700. The ribbons and lawn signs can help provide the visual for this awareness.

NAMI Mid-Hudson Answers Mental Health Needs In Beacon City School District.

NAMI Mid-Hudson presented to Beacon High School for their United Way Audit in November 2021, which you can read in their packet. Right after the presentation, a teacher, sent NAMI this success story:

"I am writing this letter hoping those that read it will understand the value of NAMI Mid-Hudson's ETS program along with Jo Ann Brown and her young adult presenters to the Beacon City School District Community. In my 15 years of teaching, I have not found a more valuable resource. ETS gives students real life examples. It extends what we teach in health class with relatable real life stories. They literally get resources and a Trusted Adult List in their hands. The students are listening! This presentation gave me the tools to work with students and what I have learned helped me to save a student.”

The letter went on to say how a student on a hybrid call reached out to the teacher during the call because they were feeling very troubled and needed help. The teacher said they felt comfortable asking the student questions in order to get answers that got the student help. The teacher said that the questions they asked were because of the information they got from NAMI.

To Be Continued…

To be continued on how the health of the lampposts will be maintained or impacted by a PSA campaign to increase awareness about how to improve and maintain the mental health of humans.

Beacon's City Council Announces Passage Of Law Prohibiting Evictions Without Good Cause - Mayor Votes Against - Council's Responses

On Monday, March 7, 2022, Beacon’s entire City Council voted to pass a law prohibiting residential evictions without good cause, known to some as the “Good Cause Eviction Law.” Mayor Lee Kyriacou, who is a landlord, voted against the law. The press release prepared by Beacon’s City Council has been provided in full below.

Beacon’s Eviction Without Good Cause Law accounts for many situations, including requiring landlords to provide good cause to raise the rent above 5% if contested by their existing tenant requesting proof of necessity if the tenant/landlord discussions break down and the landlord pursues going to court to let a judge decide on the legality of the rent increase.

Where Is This Law Coming From?

Beacon is joining in the national movement within the housing crisis for all people to not let long-term rentals be a cut-throat rental market business model anymore. Other municipalities in this area have crafted and signed similar legislation, including Newburgh, Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Albany. Each of those communities, including Beacon, experienced the decimation of many of their historic buildings during the federally funded program Urban Renewal, which ended up mattering when rent regulation laws were enacted. Albany currently has one lawsuit against it, brought on by three landlords and their companies, asking for the law to be rescinded, as reported in the Times Union. There is proposed legislation in New York State Legislature that would enact a similar measure statewide.

It is in part because of that destruction that these communities cannot enact forms of rent stabilization found in New York City today. A new law in New York State, the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 2019, allows for a declaration of a housing crisis in a locality, but is based on having a number of historic buildings still in tact. However, as has been especially demonstrated in the past several years, laws are created, and laws are walked back upon when levels of harm are represented by groups of people advocating for change.

Residential Real Estate As A Business Model

During this process of legislative debate, advocates for Beacon’s law stressed that housing is a human right and needs more protection. Landlords who showed up to public meetings to speak answered that money they invested in a property is their retirement plan and should not be impeded upon. However, price hikes in any business model usually proves bad for business, and results in a client-business breakdown. Some Beacon landlords showed up to speak in favor of the law.

Even in the short-term rental market, or a client-services market - if a client is used to paying one price over a long period of time - to suddenly hike that price usually ruins the business/client relationship. In the housing market, the long-term landlord may replace the tenant quickly in an unregulated market, but in the equally unregulated service or even the short-term rental industry which has online reviews tied to it, pricing is regulated by online reviews (social pressure), proper business relationships, and providing great service. Because secure housing is such a desperate need, some residential landlords don’t often face social pressure to keep rent increases stable, or provide stellar service in some cases.

Said the lead author of the law, Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair, to A Little Beacon Blog about the passage of this law: “Tenant-landlord issues are most often resolved out of court and I hope that continues. The law has clear definitions of what constitutes good cause eviction and that framework can be used for discussions before anybody has to go to court. I hope landlords and management companies that depend on abusing tenants for profit margins will see their business model won't work in Beacon.

“I hope that Beacon will next come together to address the lack of affordable housing for all income ranges. Good cause eviction means that tenants can organize and participate without fear of retaliatory evictions and jacked rents.”

Was This Vote Expected This Night?

The week prior, The City Council was not anticipating voting on the law on March 7th. Week after week, the law had been pushed forward by the Council to even get it to the stage of Public Hearing, which is where it was the Monday evening of this week. For months, the City Council heard resistance from its retained legal counsel, Keane and Beane, who also represents developers building rental units in the City of Beacon, to advise the City not to create a law, stating on public record that it would be difficult to defend if a lawsuit was brought against the City. The Council then discussed the possibility of hiring a different law firm to represent a lawsuit in that case, should that happen.

Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White stressed throughout several discussions his concern for “fiduciary” spending of taxpayer dollars on legal costs defending this law. It is not clear on his definition of fiduciary, since he has currently authorized at least $110,000 of taxpayer dollars in the pursuit of terminating employment of a longtime city employee of the Highway Department, in addition to over $50,000 in paid-leave salary for that employee to not work during a labor shortage.

This law was in its second round of Public Hearing, where anyone in Beacon could come speak their mind about it. With this law being discussed on social media and out in real life for several months, it was hard for the community to ignore the effort. Landlords came to speak in favor or against, as did tenants. Advocates for the law even held a holiday caroling/protest in December 2021 at Pohill Park, which marched to City Council to confront the then City Councilmembers during their last days on council before the new members started.

Self-Fulfilling Prophesy Of Rent Hikes Before The Law Passed

After at least one tenant came forward to public City Council Meetings to speak in favor of the law, word circulated that some landlords had begun raising rents in anticipation of the free-for-all rent hike situation getting regulated.

That Beacon tenant reported at the next Public Hearing, that after she spoke in public at a City Council Meeting, she had subsequently asked her landlord to fix something necessary in her apartment, whereby she received by text from her landlord saying that he would fix it. In the same text, he declared he was also raising her month-to-month rent by $600/month. This hike, after an agreed upon hike of $100/month over the summer, resulted in a $700/month hike within one year, she told A Little Beacon Blog. This renter is White, works in the non-profit sector, and volunteers to teach classes in a corrections facility in the evenings.

Usually, if the City Council expects to vote on a legally binding resolution the night of the closing of a Public Hearing, the Resolution is noted in the official Agenda for the City Council, and a vote is taken that evening. This can be fore anything simple like having a Public Hearing for allowing firefighters to live further away from Beacon, hearing from the community, and then voting affirmatively right after if the public doesn’t bring overwhelming objection.

But this vote wasn’t on the evening’s agenda after the Council closed the Public Hearing, yet they discussed putting it on the agenda during the opening of the meeting. A Little Beacon Blog asked Councilmember Dan if the Council expected to vote that evening. He answered: “Yes. When we started to hear that landlords were retaliating against renters, we had no choice. Seeing that the outstanding amendments would have weakened the law and allowed this retaliation to continue for another month, we pressed forward.”

When asked if he was surprised to see it not initially on the agenda, Councilmember Dan answered: “No, it wasn’t an issue.” You can listen to how they all discussed putting the vote on the agenda at the beginning of the City Council Meeting here.

When Did This “Eviction Without Good Cause” Movement Start?

In the Before Times, during the pre-pandemic days, and during the former administration under Mayor Randy Casale, rents were already on the rise in Beacon. Former Councilmember Terry Nelson suggested pursuing the Emergency Tenants Protection Act of 2019. During that administration, where Lee Kyriacou was then a Councilmember, the common response by then Mayor Casale and some councilmembers to Councilmember Terry’s urging was that rents would self regulate under market conditions.

When the new administration came in, with former Councilmember Lee Kyriacou winning the election to become Mayor, the new Mayor Lee Kyriacou gave a platform for the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 2019 to be considered, after Councilmember Terry continued to bring it up. Mayor Lee would state that he was doubtful that Beacon qualified for the tenant protection. Yet he dedicated space at a public Workshop Meeting for expert opinion to explain why Beacon did not qualify.

The Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 2019 requires a locality to know its rental vacancy rate, and of those, that the buildings are ones built between February 1, 1947 and December 31, 1973. Many of Beacon’s buildings that were of that age had been bulldozed during the federally ordered Urban Renewal period. You can get an introduction to Urban Renewal from the blog Newburgh Restoration, who describes it as a “tragedy” when mentioning how 1,300 buildings were demolished there, 9 streets “plowed under,” and “The city’s African American community was uprooted, with thousands of businesses and residents displaced.” A similar situation happened in Beacon. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 2019 requires that these buildings still exist to qualify.

During the time of Beacon’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 2019 discussion, Mayor Lee also stated that Beacon does not have a housing survey to know its vacancy rate. He did not imply that Beacon was in a hurry to conduct such a study. However, he did support spending at minimum of $50,000 on a Parks and Recreation study to be told what people want from a central Community Center. Two such centers used to exist in Beacon, and Beacon’s current tiny Parks and Rec building at 23 West Center Street is bursting at the studs with services and volunteerism.

The City Council’s pursuit of more tenant protections continued, with Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair pushing to have a Good Cause Eviction Law considered. Councilmember Dan took the lead on drafting the law with other Councilmembers and the City’s retained law firm, Keane and Beane.

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to former Councilmember Terry Nelson to get his take on the passage of this law, and if he thought his early efforts helped from years ago. He responded: “It’s not really for me to say if my efforts helped, but I would like to think they did. It’s always a good thing when renters get the protections they deserve. But any law only works when there is effective enforcement. Attention must be paid to the level of enforcement of the new law.”

What Some City Council Members Said Upon Voting

Before casting his vote of Yes, Councilmember George Mansfield, who consistently voiced concern about leaving renal rates in the hands of a judge on a case-by-case basis, said this to explain his vote in favor of the passage of the law:

“This is a complicated issue, and I appreciate everyone who has come out during the course of this discussion.

“I'd like to first say that Keane and Beane, our lawyers, have represented this community and looked out for them for as long as I've been on council - or maybe I've been here longer than Keane and Beane has, but. So I truly respect your advice and consider that greatly in my decision.

“I also think, that I can see through our discussions, that we have an opportunity to respond to Albany - that there might be an opportunity - I don't feel like we are risking an expensive lawsuit going forward - that we can respond.

“I would have preferred to wait for the Albany decision to come down. But I think we have time to respond between maybe passing this and actually going to quote and the cost of litigation associated with that.

“One of my goals when we pass a law such as this is to help as many people and to hurt as few people in the decision. And in the end, no one is fully happy, and no one got fully what they wanted out of these discussions.

“I think that there is an urgency right now, certainly listening to some - part of the urgency is created not only by the greed, but by the fear of this law being passed. I think that is what is happening to some people. Landlords are raising rents objectionably and unconscionably right now. They've been known to do that in the past as well.

“My decision tonight will be based on helping as many people and hurting as few people going forward. Thank you all for being part of this conversation.

Mayor Kyriacou had this to say before casting his lone vote of No:

“The issue that I have respect to authority is that I have been sitting on Council for a long time. The nature of how City's get their authority from the State is not supported in this area. I'm sorry, but that is what it is. You all may have a different view, and I'm very respectful of that view.

“The second of my concern is, if we are picking away to help renters, and I think we do need to help renters, pitting one part of the community against the other is the wrong way to do this, and this does exactly that. Which I find that just sad.

“I know we want to help renters. Again, the County has announced a rental support program for people in low-income. That I think is the correct approach. It's something that we all as a community pay taxes to support, and I'm supportive of that. Pitting one part of the community against the other is the wrong way to go. I'm just saddened as I listen to us just dividing ourselves.

“The ones that I am focused on helping is low-income renters. There are plenty of renters that have come to Beacon who are fully capable of paying the full rents that are out there now. That's why those rents are out there. If we afford them the same rights, they will push low income renters out, and that's the group I really, really wish to help. I don't think this law is structured correctly do to so. Those are my concerns.”

In answering the Mayor, Councilperson Justice McCray gave their answer before voting in favor of the passage of the law:

“To that point, this law is designed to keep people in their homes, so I don't see how this would push low-income renters out,” Justice said.

“Just to talk about eviction:

“Evicted individuals are 11% to 15% more likely to experience a loss of employment and medical insurance as compared to individuals who have not been evicted (Harvard University)

“Children victimized by eviction are typically forced to transfer schools; a traumatic destruction of stable educational and peer relationships that has been shown to have a lasting negative impact on childhood development. (National Education Policy Center)

“All adult populations, once evicted, experience higher-all cause mortality, increased instances of emergency room visits, higher rates of addiction and relapse, depression, and suicide. (National Library of Medicine)

“Cost-burdened households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and severely cost-burdened households spend more than 50% (Disrupted)

“I came onto Council as a community organizer working in social and racial justice. Passing Good Cause is crucial for bringing racial justice to housing. More than two-thirds of Black families in New York State rent. Among renters, Black households are the most vulnerable to eviction, the most likely to experience discrimination from landlords, and the ones most likely to be displaced when neighborhoods change.

“High rents and gentrification have had a devastating impact on Black communities in New York State. In my social justice work over the past couple of years, I’ve built connections with Black members of our community who lived here for years, and because they weren’t protected by this law, they’re gone. I don’t get to walk around the corner and share meals with them anymore. If you’ve been here for not even 10 years, you’ve seen the active displacement of Black people in Beacon. Good Cause is an important step in promoting community stability and combating displacement.

“According to a study published last week by the Pratt Center for Community Development Urban Democracy Lab, Legal Aid Society, Housing Justice for All, and the Community Service Society: “Black Households In New York Are 3x As Likely To Face Eviction As White Households”

“Councilmembers and community alike have stated that housing is a human right. It’s not just a philosophy. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 25: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, and housing…

“I support Good Cause Eviction.”

The Press Release From The City Council After The Vote

Below is the press release from the City Council, that has not yet been published to the City’s website yet. In earlier discussions as the law was debated, City Administrator Chris White asked the Keane and Beane attorney if the law, if voted on, could be delayed to be published to the City Code and delay enforcement, to which the attorney answered that it could. It has not been stated as to the date that this law will be published to the City Code.

BEACON, NY MARCH 8, 2022 - In last night’s City Council meeting, the Beacon City Council passed their hard-fought “good cause eviction” law tonight with the support of all six City Council members. By providing Beacon’s housing court with a framework for what constitutes an eviction with good cause, the City Council hopes to end the leniency of eviction proceedings against tenants, allow greater access to due process, and mitigate the displacement of residents. The law builds upon the fact that housing is a human right and that apartments and houses are not just commodities, they are homes.

“To clear up misconceptions, this law does not change that evictions require the courts. What it does is sets relevant standards for the proceedings that protect tenants,” said Wren Longno, Ward 3 Councilmember.

Specifically, grounds for eviction with good cause include:

  • Non-payment of rent

  • Substantial lease violations

  • Property damage

  • Committing a nuisance

  • Refusal of access

  • Illegal activity

  • Bad-faith refusal to sign a written lease

  • If the landlord wants to move themselves or a family member into the rented unit.

  • Additionally, rent increases above 5% will require a justification before a judge in cases where the tenant objects to the increase. The law intends to end the practice of arbitrary evictions and steep rental increases which are de facto evictions.

“Beacon is a popular place to live, and with good reason, but increased rents of 20% or more have become common which is simply impossible for most people.” said Councilmember At-Large Paloma Wake “While this law does not directly address affordable housing per se, we know that stable housing has compounding benefits for the entire city. When basic needs are met, individuals can be more active and thriving members of our community.”

Since Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair for Ward 4 first introduced the law in August 2021, neighboring communities of Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and Kingston passed their own similar versions of the law.

While no legal action has been taken against these municipalities, over several workshops, the City Council discussed the potential of a lawsuit brought by landlords. The City Council concluded that the risks posed to the city by a lawsuit were low, particularly the threat of legal expenses.

“Passing Good Cause is essential for bringing racial justice to housing,” said Ward 2 Councilmember Justice McCray. “More than two-thirds of Black families in New York State rent; and among renters, Black households are the most vulnerable to eviction, the most likely to experience discrimination from landlords, and the ones most likely to be displaced when neighborhoods change. If you’ve been here for not even 10 years, you’ve seen the active displacement of black people in Beacon. Black households in New York are three times as likely to face eviction as white households. Good Cause is an important step in promoting community stability [preserving diversity] and combatting displacement.”

Similar laws are still being considered around New York State, including New Paltz and Ithaca. A statewide bill is also actively under consideration.

“Tenants can now organize and speak up about their living conditions without fear of retaliatory evictions and jacked rents,” said Aymar-Blair. “Now that the folks who depend on affordable housing can fearlessly join the conversation, the City Council is ready to turn its attention to creating new affordable housing for low-income residents and working families.”

Molly Rhodes, Ward 1 Councilmember said, “We hope this can be a launching point where both tenants and landlords feel inspired to come together to help the city craft future housing policies and vision.”

From:

City of Beacon Councilmembers Dan Aymar-Blair, Wren Longno, Justice McCray, Molly Rhodes, and Paloma Wake

“Pitting One Part Of The Community Against The Other” - Governing Laws Already Do This

One of Mayor Lee’s stated concerns is for avoiding this legislation is to avoid “pitting one part of the community against the other,” implying tenants vs landlords. This type of “pitting” has already existed in the form of legislation in New York State, especially so in New York City and parts of Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Westchester counties where rent control is still in effect, according to the Residential Tenants Rights Guide. These members of the community are already pitted against each other when the landlord pursues going to court to evict a tenant - if it reaches that point, and the tenant doesn’t self-evict.

A Little Beacon Blog has spoken to people who work in different areas. Families who have the same job year after year - fixed income if you will - who cannot afford a large rent increase - and then need to move out of Beacon to Wappingers or Newburgh to find comparable rent. Nurses. Home care workers. Self-employed creators. Service-industry folks like bar tenders and restaurant managers can barely afford to live in Beacon, yet they work here. Some commuting from counties over. “Artist lofts” are very limiting for who qualifies to live in those units, and can be discriminatory.

It is unclear who these low-income people are that Mayor Kyriacou says he advocates for, since the people he seems to say can pay these rising rents may be from certain private sectors, or people who rent apartments as second get-away homes, or are never home because their jobs who can afford this rent send these new Beacon citizens to other locations to do their jobs. Or, are the blessed collection of employees who can work remotely from home.

Beacon's First HR Director Resigns After 1.5 Years In Position: Instrumental In Bringing Firearm, Diversity, Etc. Policies

Beacon’s first HR Director, Gina Basile, has resigned after one and a half years in the position. The position which started in July 2020 was originally shared between Fishkill and Beacon. Previously, she spent a number of years with the New York State Bridge Authority.

I have heard employee concerns about discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions,” Gina stated in her printed presentation. “We need to address these issues head-on, and policies and procedures are only the beginning. We need a long-term plan on how to address these issues.”
— Gina Basile, then Beacon's HR Director

Then City Councilmembers including Terry Nelson expressed relief at hiring an HR Director to help with employment issues. Some issues include the ongoing employment issue the City is pursuing with Reuben Simmons in the Highway Department, which began with City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, who has since resigned to work for Dutchess County. Anthony was replaced by current City Administrator Chris White.

During her first public presentation to the City Council on December 14, 2020, Gina mentioned “many discussions with our employees about how they feel about working for the City,” ALBB reported at the time. At that time, she also met with the community group Beacon4Black Lives.

After holding a Meet and Greet with all department heads individually, she scheduled a Meet and Greet with the Fire Department, which needed to be rescheduled due to COVID-19-related issues. Gina held a Meet and Greet with the Highway Department, which is where she began her focus to discover overall themes employees experience when working for the City.

According to Gina’s presentation, several themes emerged, including:

  • “Concerns surrounding diversity and equality.”

  • “Concerns regarding our Hiring Practices.”

  • “Growing Tensions in the Workplace.”

  • “Lack of clarity in intra-departmental policies and inconsistency.”

Gina confirmed: “I have heard employee concerns about discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions,” Gina stated in her printed presentation. “We need to address these issues head-on, and policies and procedures are only the beginning. We need a long-term plan on how to address these issues.”

A few of Gina’s next public steps were to introduce new policies that the City of Beacon had not had before, including a Firearms Policy, Domestic Violence Policy and Diversity and Inclusion Policy. While some City Councilmembers expressed surprise that anyone would bring a firearm to work, they assumed it occurred in the police department. However, there has been an unreported instance of an employee casually bringing a firearm to work in another department, during a time of increased employment tension.

Gina has accepted the position of Talent Acquisition Manager at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Gina had also served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Hyde Park, according to her LinkedIn.

Beacon Paid $50,452 To Willing and Able Highway Department Employee To Not Work

In 2021, the City of Beacon paid $50,452 of admin leave to Reuben Simmons, an employee with the Highway Department who is of mixed race and identifies as Black. ALBB has confirmed this amount with Reuben when we asked if he would make public his payments from the city for 2021. This is as per union rules as Reuben understands them, when an employee is presented with a discipline, the City can give up to 30 days suspension without pay, after which the employee is placed back on payroll while the process continues. Reuben has been served with 2 disciplines totaling 60 days over a course of at least 8 hearings with the City and their attorneys.

Reuben has worked for the City of Beacon in the Highway Department since 2002, where he started in the Summer Help position. He worked his way up to Laborer, then Maintenance Worker. During that time, he was appointed Union President for the City of Beacon CSEA Local 814 Unit 6662.

In 2017, Reuben was appointed Highway Superintendent, the lead position in that department, by then Mayor Randy Casale, with the support of then City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero. In 2018, Dutchess County reached out to the City of Beacon to let the City know that the job title was incorrect, and that Superintendent of Streets was the proper title, but required a different Civil Service exam to qualify for the position. Fellow employee Michael “Micki” Manzi qualified for the test, and replaced Reuben as Superintendent of Streets. All of the people mentioned here except Reuben are white. To this day, the job title is stated on the City of Beacon’s website as Highway Superintendent.

During this transition under the management of then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, Reuben was not given the opportunity to take the required Civil Service exam in order to accept or maintain his job position of Highway Superintendent. Extending this opportunity to someone in an existing role is not unheard of in the City of Beacon. Listen to Reuben tell it in his own words on the “Wait, What Is That?” podcast.

For example: at the 5/17/2021 City Council Meeting, current City Administrator Chris White announced that longtime Water Department employee Ed Balicki, who is white, would become Superintendent of Water and Sewers. “We are moving Ed to the proper title,” explained City Administrator White to the City Council at that meeting. “Ed will have to take a Civil Service Exam…We don't think there will be any issue.” Ed passed the exam, and was re-titled.

In Reuben’s case, he was stripped of his title, and demoted back down to Maintenance Worker, then promoted to Working Supervisor, and demoted to Maintenance Worker within a 2 year period. During the first week of January 2021, he was placed on his first round of unpaid leave, and the order of City Administrator Chris, accompanied by a stack of charges against him signed by City Administrator Chris, which ALBB did see documentation of. These charges amounted to lists of generalities of what intersections Reuben was accused of not doing work, returning late from lunch, and an auto accident that Reuben reported to his supervisor Michael Manzi by way of announcing it on the Highway Department radio, and again in a later discussion, according to Reuben.

Auto accidents are not uncommon in the Highway Department, or other departments within the City of Beacon where vehicles are driving by city employees. What is not disclosed by the City of Beacon is when these auto accidents happen, and if they are reported. For example, the public is not informed of when the new Highway Garage gets a dent in a garage door,, for instance, or if an employee did get into a fender bender, and if that incident got reported or not. Additionally, the public is not regularly informed when an employee resigns or is fired, but the public is informed of each new hire when that employee is presented to the City Council the night of a vote to hire them.

Recently, two employees of the administration resigned, which were announced during City Council Meetings: Beacon’s first HR Director, Gina Basile, who left after a year and seven months on the job, according to her LinkedIn, and the Mayor’s Assistant, Collin Milone.

Gina was tasked with reviewing the Highway Department’s work atmosphere, and found it to be troubled: “Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department.”

Shortly thereafter, a Diversity and Inclusions Statement was presented and passed in the City of Beacon, when then City Councilmember Air Nonken Rhodes stated: “This isn’t lip service.”

The City of Beacon has hosted at least 8 hearings against Reuben in 2021, which involve the city’s labor attorney and an arbitrator. During the 8th meeting, the City of Beacon actively closed the meeting to the media, by requesting that ALBB leave the call (ALBB was sent an invite to the hearing via Zoom by the arbitrator at Reuben’s request). The city attorney stated that the meeting was closed, and that Reuben had wanted it closed. Reuben denied that, stating that he wanted the hearings open to the public from the beginning, and then stated it again in an article on ALBB.

During this time, In 2021 alone, the City of Beacon under the direction of City Administrator Chris has made two transfers to cover unplanned costs from unrelated areas of the budget to another area of the budget called “Employee Discipline,” bringing that unbudgeted total to over $110,000.

Reuben was put on unpaid leave in January 2021 for a 30 day period, followed by a second 30 day unpaid leave period for disciplinary reasons. The City of Beacon has not made public what those disciplinary reasons are (though ALBB has seen the first stack of the vague charges), or why they have spent so much money for a willing and able Highway Department employee to not work for over a year, during a national labor shortage. During the summer of 2021, the City of Beacon could not completely fill the 6 Summer Jobs it seasonally fills to fill its department.

Main Street Not Getting Paved Despite Early Pulling Of Parklets From Restaurants

Last year in the Fall, diners at restaurants were eating in the newfangled “parklets,” which were the borders of bright orange Jersey barriers outside of restaurants. These barriers created a safe-ish space for people to eat outside of restaurants in parking spaces, thereby adding seating to a restaurant and an opportunity for restaurants to earn more money during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a virus passed primarily through the air, making outside spaces the safest. Last year, restaurants were getting crafty with what kind of heating units they were going to provide their patrons.

This year, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White pulled the parklets in late September, citing scheduled milling and paving that was to be done on Main Street. Indeed, Beacon has been investing in infrastructure such as paved roads and seeking grants for new sidewalks for a number of years. Restaurant owners were already fearful of when the parklets were going to disappear, while some members of the community were bothered by the parklets for beauty reasons, and fear of car accidents, due to Beacon’s increasing reputation for speeding down Main Street, and any street around town.

Announced at the 11/1/2021 City Council Meeting, Main Street will indeed not get paved this year after all. City Administrator Chris stated: “The planned milling and paving of Main Street has been moved to next Spring. Because of all of the rain we have had recently, the contractors who are lined up to do the the milling and paving can't give us dates until late November, and then we run into the problem of getting into cold weather, in which the new striping won't set. Rather than rush it and not have the best job done, we will do April or early May.”

While the City Administrator said that the bump out project will be completed at South Avenue and Wolcott, it seems as though new cross-walk painting will not happen for the new location of bump-outs, which are the new side-walk extensions presumably for more accessible wheelchair use and pedestrian crossing. Currently, some of the new bump-out extensions do not match up with old cross-walks.

Some side-streets, such as South Chestnut Street, have been newly paved, with new bump-outs added. Several new bright yellow cross-walk signs have been added along Main Street as well, aiding in visual signals drivers get when zooming down the road.

City of Beacon Urges Reconsideration of Partial Matteawan Road Closure By Fishkill Correctional Facility

The week that the Beacon City School District announced to families that the part of Matteawan Road that passes through the Fishkill Correctional Facility after the Beacon High School, and intersects with Business Route 52 (at which point, it is called Prospect Street), would be closed to the public on November 1, 2021, the The City of Beacon’s Administrator Chris White announced at a public City Council Workshop Meeting (at 1:19:00) that the City strongly urged the Fishkill Correctional Facility to reconsider the partial road closure, to start a dialogue to form a better plan, and to support Assemblyman Jacobson’s efforts to allow school bus routes at the very least until solutions could be found.

According to Administrator Chris, the City of Beacon was first informed on October 18, 2021 by the Superintendent of the Fishkill Correctional Facility that the part of Matteawan Road passing the facility would be closed to the public on November 1, 2021. In response, Administrator Chris prepared a resolution of the City’s urging of a reconsideration.

The proposed resolution to be signed during tonight’s public City Council Meeting can be found here. Today, November 1, 2021, which is the start of the partial road closure to the public, Beacon City School’s Superintendent Landahl sent a notice to district families that buses will continue running through Mattweawan Road near the Fishkill Correctional Facility, but reminded families that that part of the road is closed to the public. There has been no announcement to Beacon residents of the road block via robo-call, text, or website posting, other than the mention of it during last week’s City Council Meeting.

In providing context for Beacon’s position on the closure, Administrator Chris stated:

“Mattawean Road runs through the City of Beacon and the Town of Fishkill. It goes past the Fishkill Correctional Facility. The Town owns a piece of the road near Prospect Street that feeds in. Then the prison owns a large part of it, and then the City owns the rest of it.

“We had heard rumors from the School District that the Fishkill Correctional Facility was going to close that road as of November 1st. We only received a call on October 18th, which was the first official notification that the City was given, that the road was going to be closed permanently in less than 2 weeks.

“We have been in touch with Superintendent and our state representatives. I know that Assemblyman Jacobson's office is working diligently to try to exempt buses which would be severely disrupted if that closed. We thought we would support - I put this together because I thought it important to support our state delegation's effort to delay the implementation of this so we can do some planning, to exempt buses at the very least, and to begin a real dialogue between the Town of Fishkill, Beacon City School District, and the City of Beacon.

“There has been no planning or traffic modeling to look at what the impacts were. I would say this strongly recognizes their right and their necessity to secure their facility. Nobody is questing that. The way that we do it, though, is important. We think we can thread that needle so that it's not as disruptive to the traffic going into Rombout and the High School.”

Covered In The Proposed Resolution

Included in the City of Beacon’s Resolution, spearheaded by Administrator Chris, is the point that, for years, “Matteawan Road serves as a connection between the Town of Fishkill and the City of Beacon and is an important street access from Fishkill Avenue to the Beacon High School and Rombout Middle School.” In response ALBB’s article announcing this partial road closure last week, former City Councilperson Ali T. Muhammad, who grew up walking to Beacon school in that area, recalled when that part of the road was temporarily closed: “Grew up there, sounds awful. Last time it was shut down was due to 9/11. Good luck.”

The resolution points out that the closure to the public is “during the daytime.” The resolution makes sure to state the City of Beacon’s dissatisfaction with not being consulted by the Fishkill Correctional Facility prior to their decision: “City of Beacon recognizes the necessity and right of DOCCS and the Fishkill Correctional Facility to secure their grounds, including this section of road, the City is concerned that it and other major stakeholders, including the Beacon City School District, were not consulted on the closure and received insufficient notice to allow for traffic safety modifications and adjustment that might need to be implemented as a result of the change to traffic patterns in and around Matteawan Road.”

The City of Beacon cited concern for where traffic would increase due to the partial closure of Mattawean Road, stating that it “would create traffic and pedestrian safety issues at key intersections in the City of Beacon, including Verplanck Avenue and Matteawan Road, Wilkes Street and Matteawan Road, and at access roads through Memorial Park, which now may be used as a cut-through for motorists.”

The resolution pointed out the effort required to properly answer the partial road closure: “Any adjustments to the traffic control signage in the area will take the City a period of at least several months to assess needed modification and adopt revisions to the City Code for such modifications, which require a public hearing and adoption of a local law amending the City Code, and the City received less than two weeks’ notice of the impending partial road closure without any prior traffic safety planning by the Facility or coordination with the City.”

The City of Beacon is asking for a pausing of the partial road closure, and a commitment to work together on solutions moving forward “with a immediate establishment of a working committee to coordinate with Fishkill Correctional Facility on this matter, including the following key stakeholders: the City of Beacon, Town Town of Fishkill, and Beacon City School District in order to consider potential alternatives, and if necessary, properly plan for the impact that a partial closure of Matteawan Road would create.

Beacon’s resolution would then be sent to Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Sue Serino, Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson, DOCCS Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci, and Fishkill Correctional Facility Superintendent Edward Burnett.


Summary of the 9/13/2021 Beacon City Council Workshop Meeting :: Housing, Meeting Time Off, Etc.lea

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The September 13, 2021 City Council Workshop agenda and video recording of the meeting have been added to A Little Beacon Blog’s Easy Access City Government section.

In short, a brief summary of some of the items discussed on the agenda is below. Click here for links to the agenda items for any digital resources linked to the topics discussed, as well as the video recording of the meeting.

Housing Initiative Prioritization + Parking

The City Council discussed Mayor Kyriacou’s Affordable Housing Proposals, lingering on the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) component. The Mayor, who is a landlord who has owned several properties in Beacon, wants to see the right to have an Accessory Dwelling Unit be approved as of right for homeowners to build and rent out. An Accessory Dwelling Unit is like a giant garage/studio, that is a stand-alone structure built next to someone’s home, that can have water and electricity flowing to it. There are restrictions as to how far it needs to be from the house, and how large it can be.

***

Editorial Note 9/20/2021: The paragraph above originally included a line stating that Mayor Kyriacou “is married to a realtor,” which has since been deleted. Mayor Kyriacou submitted what can be taken as a correction during the City Council Meeting on 9/20/2021. While he did not email or phone in with this correction, as is standard with most publications, he included it after his public service announcements, leading with sarcasm: “I've been made aware that I am a bigamist, which I find interesting. My spouse of 30-some years is a professional and spent most of the last dozen years in higher education as a marketing and communication executive. The last 6 years at West Point, but before that at Fordham and at RPI. But apparently I have a second spouse who is a realtor. So, unbeknownst to me, I've been married twice. And I wanted to say, whoever you are out there, come say ‘Hi,’ and I'll learn a lot more. I could at least have some fun, right? Oh, and I learned that online, by the way.”

***

Currently, Beacon’s zoning laws make building Accessory Dwelling Units difficult. In general, ADUs have not been popular with the public - rather - the public who is motivated enough to attend public meetings to speak out against them. Including when homeowners want to build an ADU for in-laws or caregivers. The fear by some of the public is that the ADU will be used by developers and homeowners as rentals. Which seems to be the goal of affordable housing.

The Mayor’s proposal encourages small residential units and more cluster housing. City Administrator Chris White projected his vision of who Accessory Dwelling Units was intended for: couples and single people moving from New York City who do not need large homes, he said, and move to Beacon without cars. He referred to this concept for the ADUs as “workforce units,” and stated that he did not think homeowners would build luxury Accessory Dwelling Units, similar to the expensive apartments on Main Street. He assumed homeowners would use low or moderate grade materials to keep costs down. Which does not indicate what the homeowner may then charge for that unit.

Perhaps he has not seen the adorable tear-down renovation of the tired house with studio garage on Cross Street.

Parking Requirements Possibly Waved For Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

Parking requirements for Accessory Dwelling Units is also under consideration to be waved. Parking requirements are the number of parking spaces a property owner must make available to tenants. Often, these requirements are used to stall a building project if street parking cannot be found.

Councilmember George Mansfield suggested that people are moving to Beacon without cars. City Administrator Chris stated his belief that generally, people moving to Beacon do not have cars, and therefore do not need parking spaces. Councilperson Air Nonken Rhodes suggested that people do buy cars after moving to Beacon in order to leave the bubble of Beacon for necessities, jobs and enjoyment.

City Administrator Chris stated that with people moving from New York City without cars, there is less of a need for parking. He stated that he feels that assuming someone would want to buy a car after moving to Beacon, and to park that car in one of the property’s parking spots that the building owner is required to offer, is a “social justice” issue, concluding that poor people do not want to own cars and absorb the burden of incurred expenses from car ownership, and instead can rely on existing public transportation as a better idea.

City Administrator Chris stated: “Where is the evidence that you need that level of parking that we require in our code? I felt like, as a planner, a lot of this was made up. 'You have this size unit, you need 2 cars or 3 cars.' There is no evidence that you necessarily need that. Also, just be aware that we have new technology and common solutions that we could implement. The new technologies...George rode here on an electric bike. We see the proliferation of micro-mobility through scooters. If you watch people whipping up Beekman from the train station, you'll see a lot of people are looking at these things as much cheaper than maintaining a car with insurance and repairs. Again, a social justice issue is that we shouldn't have to require every poor person to own a car to get around. The other part is the societal thing which is moving toward that micro-management where there is on-demand transit. The County seems to be moving in that direction, and I've talked to them about piloting something like that in Beacon. Because again, you have 5 square miles. It's a walkable, compact community. Particularly with the new e-bikes. It really makes it accessible to someone who never would have been able to ride a bike."

Councilmember Air reiterated: "The issue is getting out of town."

It should be noted that there is no requirement of a person living in a building or house to own a car, even if they have access to a parking spot from the building owner.

Additionally, for couples who move into these units, who start families and stay in these small dwellings because they cannot afford to buy larger homes, may eventually have kids old enough to go to soccer or ice-hockey practice. Getting the family to soccer practice in Beacon on an e-bike would be impossible, and getting the family to ice-hockey practice in Poughkeepsie would be very difficult on public transit.

No Discussion Of Families With Children

There was no discussion of families - parents with children - who have moved out of Beacon because they grew out of their small apartment or rental in a duplex, and cannot afford to buy a house in Beacon with a yard. Nor was it discussed how many families are living in cramped quarters in their current small apartments because they do not want to move out of Beacon, or move out of the Beacon City School District.

City Administrator Chris stated: “Now you see more people moving in who are single adults, empty nesters, younger people who maybe have a different...or are single or are just 2 people. We are building houses for these huge families...and I know I look a lot of the housing as someone who is single, and it doesn't fit. It would never fit. I don't need that much house. I think a lot of people think that way."

Several families have also left Beacon because they could not find a house to buy with several bedrooms with a yard in their price range.

Also not discussed was how many people of high and low incomes do buy cars after moving to Beacon from New York City. Leaving the bubble of New York City for any community outside of that island usually involves leaving the municipality for doctor appointments, different grocery shopping experiences, dining out in new locations, visiting family, going to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, etc.

Some people who do not have cars hire taxis to get their children to school, to the public pool, to Girl Scouts. Some take the bus, however, getting children onto public transportation is work.

Recreation Needs Assessment Scoping

Parks and Recreation Director Mark Price was called to the meeting by City Administrator Chris to present Mark’s early vision of what the Recreation Study could look like. Now that the Recreation Department is done with the Kids Camp Program and the Public Pool Program, the City Administrator said that he felt that Recreation Director Mark had time to think about preparing the study.

In last year’s budget planning, where there was a groundswell of demands from the public for more money to be placed into the Recreation Department, which Recreation Director Mark voluntarily decreased. Mayor Kyriacou earmarked at least $50,000 for a Recreation Study to discover what people needed.

During this City Council Workshop, Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair pointed out that he wanted to see the building of a new and larger Recreation Community Center be part of that study, and recalled that the budget earmarked two studies for $50,000, totalling $100,000: one for programs, and one for a building. He did not want to see the building left out.

Mayor Kyriacou and City Administrator Chris responded that they wanted to see programs first in order to see what kind of building to build. For instance, City Administrator Chris suggested that a theater program could happen in the Memorial Building, which has a stage and according to him, sits empty most of the time, he said.

It should be noted that the Memorial Building was dedicated to the Veterans, where Veterans are regularly requesting maintenance to it as it is in disrepair.

Councilperson Air Nonken Rhodes stressed their desire to see a space for “hanging out,” that is not structured with programming, but just is a place for kids to come hang out, in addition to programming going on around the space.

Hiring and Promoting City of Beacon Employees

In the hiring and promoting of City Employees, the Council has requested more information before they make hires, which they do by voting at public meetings. Spearheaded by Councilperson Jodi McCredo, who wants to see more information before the Council votes to hire people, she has made a suggestion to City Administrator Chris to see resumes before being presented with a candidate at public meetings. In past workshops, City Administrator Chris has responded to that concept that he did not want to “waste their time” with sending resumes, but could consider obliging.

It should be noted that the public is not regularly informed when city employees are terminated or quit, unless the position is in the the public eye, such as the City Administrator position last year, Police Chief, etc. Terminations or resignations of employees of Police Officers, Highway Department, Water Department, etc. are not regularly shared in public meetings or in Resolution documents that are uploaded to the internet. One usually needs to find out by submitting a FOIL request.

Proposed Amendment to 2021 City Council Meeting Schedule

Mayor Kyriacou would like to have less City Council meetings, similar to what was tried during the summer of 2021 when public City Council meetings were paired with Workshops where the public is not allowed to speak. The lighter summer schedule left some Monday nights open with no meetings scheduled.

Mayor Kyriacou consistently tells his constituents that he is a “part time” mayor while he is out chatting in the community, or even during his most recent testimony against the Damskammer plant, as reported by the Beacon Free Press.

City Administrator Chris referred to the preparation for weekly meetings as a “hamster wheel” that was a lot of work. Mayor Kyriacou positioned the proposed change of reduced meetings as not necessarily a reduction of meetings, but as a way to favor seasonally crowded meeting agendas, such as October’s budget season.

Councilperson Dan disagreed with the proposal, and cited that he saw this as a reduction in meeting times. Though he figured his kids would like to see him on Monday nights, Councilperson Dan felt it right to continue with the weekly meetings. Councilperson George Mansfield noted that while he has been attending the weekly meetings for 12 years, and would appreciate an open Monday, he also wanted to continue with regular meetings for consistency for the public.

The Council was not aligned with the Mayor’s vision of a reduction in meetings, so the Mayor suggested hiring an additional support person for the City Administrator, to which the Council agreed was a good idea.

Community Facilities Grant Applications

Movement has been made on the awarding of unused grant money that can be used to improve buildings owned or leased by non-profits or by building owners whose buildings have been designated historic, or are in the Historic District. The monies need to be used for permanent structures that cannot be removed. The first entities who look the most promising are the Beacon Historical Society for an accessible ramp, and the Howland Cultural Center for facade improvements.

The River Pool of Beacon did apply for money to help with this temporary pool that it sets up in the Hudson River each year, but the City Administrator said that the grant rules state that the structure needs to be permanent, but that he was happy to see them apply and had not considered an entity like that. Applications are still open for this financial opportunity.

Executive Session Items

Personnel and Contract Negotiations

Details on what is talked about during the Executive Session portion of the meeting are never revealed. Only the City Council members, Mayor, City Administrator, Attorney, and if anyone else was in the meeting have access to this knowledge.

Beacon City Council Considers Smoking Ban In Public Parks, As Marijuana Is Legalized (Tobacco Would Be Included In Ban)

As Beacon’s City Council considers its new obligation from New York State to respect marijuana smoking in public, the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), a law passed after much delay prior to the racial reckoning of 2020 and into 2021), Beacon, along with all municipalities, is required to decide if it wants to opt out of retail sales tax revenue from Adult-Use Retail Dispensary stores (a store that sells cannabis that a person takes away from the store), or an On-Site Consumption Establishment (like a bar for alcohol that a person consumes on site and cannot take away). When signing the law, New York State declared that it became the “15th state to legalize cannabis with commitment to social equity.” So far, after the 6/14/2021 City Council Workshop meeting discussing the development, Beacon’s City Council is leaning in the direction of remaining opted-in to profiting from revenue from cannabis sales generated from within Beacon’s city limits.

Along with this retail choice, as presented in detail by Beacon’s retained law firm, Keane & Beane from attorney Drew Victoria Gamals, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White brought to the Council the consideration of prohibiting smoking or vaping tobacco and marijuana in public parks to the Council, separate from the state-mandated retail decision. During the meeting, he said doing so was in the name of public health.

However, it should be noted, that in Keane and Beane’s Adult-Use Marijuana presentation, municipalities are able to “adopt regulations to allow the smoking of cannabis in locations where smoking tobacco is prohibited.” This option was not discussed during the Workshop where this topic was first breached.

New York’s lifting of the prohibition of marijuana smoking has brought new aromas to the city, which you may have noticed while walking down the sidewalk where bar patrons gather to smoke outside. Or someone driving in their car in front of you may be openly smoking cannabis while driving (which, according to Drew Victoria Gamils with Keane & Beane is not legal, nor is sitting in your car smoking cannabis while the car is off).

Is It The Aroma That Is Bothersome?

While it is a new aroma for some, it is making others uncomfortable. Yet one thing is known: the Black community is disproportionately penalized for even carrying cannabis, let alone smoking it, as was pointed out by Councilmember Air Nonken Rhodes during the presentation of the ban on smoking in Beacon’s public parks during the meeting.

City Administrator Chris White responded to Air’s concern by stating that “enforcement would need to be closely watched.” Which would require data collection and review of each citation. Something which Beacon’s City Council is new to acquiring in the aftermath of the spotlight on criminal justice. It is also not clear if the City Council or the City Administrator is in the habit of regularly reviewing the data that the City of Beacon Police Department collects.

During this City Council Workshop, City Administrator Chris White equated publicly smoking marijuana to smoking tobacco, as he brought to the council the consideration to ban it from public parks and “soccer games.” Chris stated that on Beacon’s trails, there is a ban on smoking, but he was unclear as to why that was, and not banned in parks. He wondered if it was because people are walking in a “linear” path. In his pursuit of a policy to be able to enforce, he expanded: “If you're way up in the woods, we are not going to see. However if you are at a soccer game, and not being respectful of others, I'm sure you are going to be reminded of that,” he stated, explaining that a person complaining to their fellow parent would have new legislation supporting their complaint to a person sitting next to them.

Not that soccer games need more opportunities for conflict among overly aggressive parents, who continuously need their own refereeing by the professional hired to ref the kids and enforce rules of the game in play.

(The no-smoking rule on trails could be for fire prevention, like that time when Breakneck caught on fire in 2020.)

Soccer Games and Smoking

Having been to many soccer games and practices, as well as those for flag football, I have not encountered folks smoking tobacco or cannabis. While that is a broad statement, people usually step away when smoking, out of respect for others. As for Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, that area is so spacious and windy, most aromas don’t linger - unless it is the regular aroma of charcoal burning for burgers and hot dogs.

Meanwhile, New York State considers cannabis a potential thriving business that it can regulate and profit from, while encouraging agricultural involvement from traditionally oppressed groups. Expanding limitations on where it can be smoked is counter to that intent.

From New York’s new Office of Cannabis Management, the new law “Establishes a robust social and economic equity program to actively encourage members from communities disproportionally impacted by the policies of prohibition to participate in the new industry. … [It] encourages small business and farmers to participate in the cannabis industry with the creation of microbusiness, cooperative and delivery license types.”

Proposed Penalties For Smoking In Beacon’s Public Parks

A majority of Beacon’s City Council leaned toward accepting the sale of cannabis in Beacon, but banning smoking in public parks. The penalties, they agreed on, could be light. The financial penalty by default, City Attorney Drew said, has a maximum fine of $1,000 per day. City Attorney Drew confirmed that the penalty would be settled in Justice Court between the City and the Defendant. City Administrator Chris attempted assurance: “It’s usually much less than the maximum penalty.“

City Attorney Drew added: “If you go to trial, you could get $40,000. Working with the police and the defendant, you might end up settling for $9,000. That's a high example. You might end up settling for $500 in Justice Court.”

Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair requested that the financial penalty be light, so as to not impact anyone’s rent. He and other Councilmembers agreed that jail time would be not ideal, and they would want to specifically exclude that penalty from Beacon’s legislation.

City Attorney Drew recommended that the City Council hear from residents before moving forward with drafting legislation on how to regulate the sale of cannabis in Beacon.

Beacon Chamber of Commerce Kicks Off Regular Business Call With City Administrator Chris White For Businesses To Call In

Starting Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at 8am, the Beacon Chamber of Commerce with Chamber President, Ron Iarossi (owner of Beacon Creamery) will host a Zoom call-in with Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris White. Said the Chamber in an email to members: “This will be the first of an ongoing monthly series. The meetings will be designed to update you on what’s happening in Beacon.” According to the Chamber, the first meeting will cover such items as parklets and upcoming TV and film projects. The Chamber encourages businesses to voice their opinions during the call.

City Administrator Chris announced the call during the May 24, 2021 City Council Meeting, where he mentioned the call as an opportunity to speak directly to businesses to get their feedback on future decisions made by the Council, such as allowing different events to come to town.

The City Administrator also mentioned wanting feedback on the growing number of film productions being filmed in Beacon. “Some of the businesses,” Chris recalled, “the last time we filmed, they loved it and made some money. Others weren't so happy.“

The City Administrator alluded to the Cupcake Festival as an example of an event he knew not to have. While some businesses like an art gallery were not happy for the large crowd, restaurants and some retail businesses did very well when the Cupcake Festival came to town, produced by Pamal Broadcasting, the home of K104.7. Beacon Bath and Bubble was one of the biggest critics of the event, but the day after it left town, the owner reversed her opinion after her sales yielded “Christmas numbers,” which means she sold a lot and was happy. Here is ALBB’s economic study of the festival on businesses.

Parking was a problem, and regular tourists and residents were not able to walk down a large section of Main Street as it was closed for the festival. Said K104.7 the year they did not return to Beacon and instead moved to Stormville: “We were hoping to come back to Beacon this year, but given the growing attendance and space/parking constraints, we had to look elsewhere. We’re looking forward to keeping it in the county and growing the festival in new and exciting ways.” One Beacon boutique, La Mere, followed the cupcakes to Stormville in her La Mere Mini trailor boutique on wheels, and had a good sales day.

The City Administrator Chris said during the 5/24/2021 City Council Meeting that he hopes to “activate” the parks, declaring his desire to start “activating the parks and have something cool going on,” as if the parks are underutilized and underenjoyed by locals, which they are not. They are treasured by locals. The City Administrator Chris continued: “The money is not the reason to do it. The reason is to bring people and businesses to Beacon. People think ‘Wow, I want to bring my business here.’”

The first event of the season post-pandemic in one of Beacon’s parks was a Makers Market hosted by Hops on Hudson. The event occupied part of the Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, and required tickets to get in. While the City Administrator saying that Pete & Toshii Seeger Riverfront park was open to the public despite the large event, police were down by the entrance near the lily pads blocking the opening, under instruction when hired to provide event-duty. People wanting to enter the park needed to speak to the police officer to request permission to go beyond their blockade or state their intent. Police were directing traffic to parking areas from as far away as Beekman Street near the MTA Police barracks.

How To Join The Business Call

The business meeting will be on Zoom, and attendees can join by following this link:

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Meeting ID: 882 4189 0659
Passcode: 031504
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City Administrator Chris White Refuses To Answer Questions From ALBB After Questions Confirming Employee Job Titles

After a series of articles highlighting hiring practices in the City of Beacon’s Water and Highway Departments, in March 2021, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White declined to answer any questions from A Little Beacon Blog unless a face to face meeting was held. City Administrator White has also instructed all staff to not take questions sent via email or voice mail, including the Park and Recreation Director, Mark Price. The previous City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero continued to answer questions from ALBB, even when the questions were about employment and grew uncomfortable.

Beacon’s former Mayor Randy Casale, known for his brazen and outspoken style, told ALBB when asked if he ever declined to answer reporter’s questions: “Not during my administration unless the lawyer advised him because of litigation, but that would only be about that subject. I do not believe it wise if you want transparency!”

Later, when Mayor Kyriacou participated in a COVID-19 vaccination event, City Administrator Chris ignored questions seeking comment about the event, to encourage others to get vaccinated.

Chip Rowe, the Managing Editor of the Highlands Current, a leading newspaper in the region had this to say when asked by ALBB if having a standing no-comment policy from a local government administration was normal: “There have been politicians who said they won't talk to certain outlets, Obama did that to Fox for a while.”

When A Little Beacon Blog was researching disciplinary action taken by the City of Beacon on Highway Department employee Reuben Simmons, after he was put on paid leave the first time in January 2021, and was seeking confirmation of the unpaid leave from the Highway Department’s CSEA Union Representative, Paula Becker, I left two voicemails with Paula seeking confirmation of the unpaid leave status. At the time, I did not know that Paula was an employee with the City of Beacon in the Finance Department.

City Administrator Chris emailed me in response, saying: “I received notice from other staff that you had called regarding a personnel issue. As I mentioned previously, the City does not comment on personnel issues. I would appreciate you contacting me if you have questions in the future.”

Paula Becker is an employee of the City of Beacon, and the President of the CSEA for Beacon. That combination, in this case, has led to a conflict of interest for pursuing research for employment articles.

Reuben Simmons, the City of Beacon employee in the Highway Department on unpaid and paid leave, was also at one point the President of the CSEA for Beacon, and says he understands the pros and cons of having an employee be a Union President. While in that leadership position, he recalls how he as the president needed to advocate for employees, as well as give them answers they did not like.

To get the background on Reuben’s employment situation, listen to ALBB’s podcast with him here. The podcast also provides an employment and demotion timeline.

Below is City Administrator Chris’ email outlining his position. I declined to meet him for the conversation, as I do not think it necessary to outline or negotiate editorial standards with a governmental entity, or any subject a publication is reporting on. Other reporters may have chosen to meet, in order to warm a relationship. With three kids in Remote Learning at the time, and 3 jobs I hold down, this is not something I wanted to make time for. All I need are answers to simple questions, and those can be sent via email. It should also be noted, with regards to the “simple conversation” he referred to below, I had asked him these questions via email. The opportunity to clear anything up had already happened

 

Katie,

Thank you for your response. I am unable to respond to further questions until you and I have some discussion about journalistic standards for your articles. Since I replaced Anthony, I have tried to treat you as I would a news outlet, but I’m realizing that your blog does not operate in the same manner. I have to say that I also liked your blog’s focus on small businesses in Beacon so I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt in responding to you as time allowed.

The article that you just published on City hiring, which is referred to as a “hot mess,” certainly does not meet basic journalistic standards for unbiased reporting. If you would like the City to respond to you as we do with news media, we will need to establish some comparable reporting standards. With a simple conversation, we could have cleared up some of the inaccuracies and misleading assertions in this article, which is what the local papers would have done before publishing.

If you would like to have a conversation at some point to discuss this further, please let me know, and I will try to be available to you. However, until we can establish some sort of standards, I am not able to respond to further questions.

Best regards,

Chris

 

"Severance" Films In Beacon's East End - Storefronts Are Dressed - Here's What We Know

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If you were walking past your favorite cafe down on the East End of town near Mt. Beacon and saw that it was called something else, your heart may have skipped a beat as you thought: “Oh no! Not another business moving out!” But this time it’s not another business moving out! It’s a film production coming to town. Dressing the storefronts in costume for the Apple TV+ produced show “Severance.”

According to the Poughkeepie Journal: “Severance" is a drama featuring Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken and SUNY New Paltz graduate John Turturro. Ben Stiller is listed as an executive producer and director of several episodes. According to IMDb.com, the show is scheduled to premiere sometime this year.” As stated on IMDB, the premise is: “Lumen Industries, a company that's looking to take work-life balance to a new level.”

Beacon business owners in the area could not confirm or deny if filming was happening, but for those of us window browsing at night, onlookers were puzzled by the newly named storefronts, and were trying to piece together the mystery. Facebook was of course lighting up with speculation. Couples walking along the sidewalk stopped in front of storefronts to ask each other: “Wait, this vintage piece of furniture looks very similar to that piece of vintage furniture in that storefront over there….What is going on?” A person walking their dog really wanted to go inside of a shop, even though the shop was closed.

Storefronts who seem to be selected to be Main Street stars are Beacon Bath and Bubble, Reservoir, The Vault, 13 Floor Mod, Beacon Realty, Beacon Falls Cafe, La Mère Clothing and Goods, Raven Rose, and possibly others. No one would confirm, however, as they alluded to agreements that required disgression.

The boutique, for instance, that is normally called La Mère Clothing and Goods is now called The Midcentenarian. A Little Beacon Blog knows that owner April has not moved her business, as La Mère is an advertiser with A Little Beacon Blog, and we have a shopping date coming up!

Photo Credits: Ruby Martin, a 10 year old photojournalist, taken during a Remote Learning day.

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City of Beacon for confirmation that film permits had been granted and paid to the City, however, City Administrator Chris White reminded us (me) that we are not on speaking terms based on last week’s employment articles that had racist undertones, and would not answer any questions.

A white Haddad truck, which is usually a sign of a big movie production nearby. Photo Credit: Ruby Martin

A white Haddad truck, which is usually a sign of a big movie production nearby.
Photo Credit: Ruby Martin

Thankfully, a Citizen Reporter called in to the Mayor’s Office, and received confirmation that the production is “Severance,” a production from Apple TV+, and will be filming on Monday and Tuesday. Set dressers have visited storefronts who will be in the scene. April of Le Mere’s shop employee called her to suggest she might want to come in to see the new items in the store, after many antiques were deposited into the store. April had been tending to her three children and mother.

“My employee Facetimed me the situation, and I came in right away. You know me - the store has to be perfect, and all of these antiques were here in the front of the store.” We do know April quite well over the years, and could see that she was twitching. The evening we encountered her, she was pulling a late-nighter in order to make her shop presentable to the public in order for them to shop the weekend before the Monday shoot.

Courtney of Raven Rose says she is a huge fan of Adam Scott, and told A Little Beacon Blog she is very happy that the East End of town is getting this filming action.

The City of Beacon issued a robo-call on Friday evening, listing what street closures would be happening (see below for the street closure list). The City’s robo-call did not mention the film production or the purpose for the street closures. The coordination of rolling street closures may be due to the parking of large film production trucks from Haddad’s, a truck rental company that is used for several union productions in New York City and elsewhere, as well as camera positions for different takes of the scenes.

What We Know About The Scene Being Filmed

Earlier reporting from the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that scouts had visited Beacon Bread Company and Hudson Valley Food Hall earlier in February 2021, which are storefronts on the other end of town.

We know that the producers are keeping this production very hush hush, that it is episodic, and may have a “futuristic mind-bending” kind of twist to its storyline. However, the set dressing of Beacon’s storefront windows for this upcoming week are set back in time. This particular scene may only be one minute in the episode.

Excellent reporting from Geoffrey WIlson in the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that the production is currently going under a different name, “Tumwater," which is common in the early stages of filming in order to not attract attention. According to the article, some residents had received a letter from the Location Department: “The Location Department for ‘Severance’ listed 'Tumwater"‘ as the project's working title in its letter to Beacon residents.'“ The article went on to say: “Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, confirmed that a project titled "Tumwater" is starting filming in the City of Kingston Wednesday, and that project was filming at the Rondout Friday.”

According to the resident letter, the production will be filming in Beacon late into the night, with cameras positioned on the rooftop of the 1 East Main Street building in order to take night shots of a couple walking on Main Street down below. 1 East Main houses lofts, Lambs Hill Bridal, Urban Links Design, and Trax Coffee.

According to locals on the ground, the scene filmed on Monday and Tuesday will be a “walk-and-talk.” According to an anonymous source, the “script is awesome” and may have “a futuristic, mind-bending” element to it. Which is interesting, since the storefronts in Beacon are currently set decorated to have a much older look from the past.

Photo Credit: Charlie Martin

Street Closures:

Sometimes during a big production, there are members of the film crew called Production Assistants (PAs) who will close a street or sidewalk, and tell you to not cross the street just now. We do not know if there will be PAs closing the streets, or if Beacon Police officers will be closing the streets.

For those interested in the City’s income on this, usually when Police Officers are used to close the streets and direct traffic for film jobs, they are paid by the production company. Usaully the officers used are off-duty, so an Overtime Rate is paid. Additionally, the City is paid a day-rate for a union-produced show permit. A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City of Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White to inquire as to the game-plan and income stream, but he did not respond.

If you, Citizen Reporter, get the answer on what was paid to Beacon, let us know! We are also inquiring via our other sources re the details of the City’s contract.

According to the City of Beacon’s robo-call, parking and street closures will be impacted as follows:

The following streets will be closed and parking will not be allowed on Monday, March 15th from 3pm - 7am Tuesday morning. And from Tuesday March 16th from 3pm - 7am Wednesday morning.

Municipal Parking Lot on Churchill Street
North Street from Main Street to Locust Place
South Street from Main Street to Locust Place
Leonard Street from Amity Street to East Main Street
Verplanck Avenue from Davis Street to Main Street
Churchill Street from Main Street to Spring Valley Street where there will be local traffic only

On Monday March 15th there will be rolling closures, and parking will be allowed on the following streets:

Russell Avenue
Spring Street
Locust Place
Falconer Street
Boyce Street
Grove Street
Liberty Street

On Monday, March 15th from 3pm - 7am Main Street from Tioronda Avenue to Ackerman Street will be closed and parking will not be allowed.

On Tuesday, March 16th from 3pm- 7am Main Street from Teller Avenue to Ackerman Street will be closed and parking will not be allowed.

Have fun, everyone! High fives to the participating businesses.