Despite legal barriers, persistent talk about restart When the Indian Point nuclear power plant south of Philipstown shut down in 2021, its legal obligations were clear: It could not restart, nor could any new nuclear power be generated there, without the unanimous consent of the Village of Buchanan, the Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York State and the Hendrick Hudson School District. Despite that high bar, the insistence by county and state officials that they will never allow nuclear power to be generated at the site, and the fact that the plant is being dismantled, the possibility of Indian Point reopening continues to surface. The question came up again at the Feb. 19 meeting of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board (DOB) after a video was posted online of a plant worker saying that the decommissioning of one part of the plant was on hold due to a possible restart. The video was shot by Andrew Walker, aka Radioactive Drew. On his YouTube channel, which has nearly 100,000 subscribers, Walker shares his documentaries about the world's most radioactive places. In a three-part video that premiered last month, Walker was given a tour of Indian Point by two longtime employees. When visiting the turbines at Reactor 3, Walker asks Brent Magurno, a radiation protection supervisor, "With the whole possible restart that's on the table of this place happening, no work has been done to take these out of service, right?" "Initially, yes," said Magurno. "But then we stopped once the question was asked about restarting, and so we're not proceeding until we get the final answer on that on this side of the plant." A few minutes later, decommissioning supervisor Brian Vangor noted that, because of an ongoing legal dispute over whether Holtec can discharge radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River, some equipment the plant could theoretically use if it were to reopen remains in place. "Many more things would be taken apart if the water in some of those pools I told you about was gone," he said. "New York State did us a little bit of a favor. Rare, but they did us a favor." Holtec International, the company responsible for decommissioning, has said it has no plans to reopen Indian Point. When DOB chair Tom Congdon asked Holtec's Matt Johnson at the Feb. 19 meeting if the video meant its plans had changed, he replied that Magurno's comment was "categorically false and incorrect." "We have not started work on the turbines based on our schedule and our resources," Johnson said. "My opinion is that it was somebody who was excited and showing our plant and maybe got a little ahead of himself and used a poor choice of words, so that is not what Holtec intends to put out there." Johnson said that he did not know when the turbines were scheduled for removal, but that it would not be in the next year. "We don't have any plans to restart at this time," he said. "If for some reason that came about, obviously there would be major changes to decommissioning, because we wouldn't be able to do that with funds from the decommissioning trust fund." Dana Levenberg, a state Assembly Member who sits on the board and whose district includes Philipstown, said that "this kind of stuff obviously makes the community trust you less." "You tell us one thing at the DOB meeting, and then we hear something else in a video, and people go crazy," she said. "We don't need that. We need reassurances and assurances and proof on paper, in writing, signed documents that says what your plan is, when you're going to do this, when you're going to do that, and you need to stick to it." In September, Kelly Trice, the president of Holtec International, said that Indian Point could be restarted in four years for $8 billion to $10 billion. At a DOB meeting a few weeks later, Holtec's Patrick O'Brien said that Trice was speaking theoretically because the federal Department of Energy had asked all shuttered nuclear plants for estimates of what it would take ...

Debt, new construction, inflation figure into calculation The Beacon City School District will be able to increase its property tax levy by as much as 4.47 percent, or $2.24 million, for the 2026-27 academic year under a state-mandated tax cap. District voters last year approved an $87.7 million budget with a $50.1 million levy, a 5.09 percent increase over the year before. There are three main factors that affect the levy, which is the amount the district can raise through property taxes. The first two — "allowable" and "tax-base" growth factors — are outside of the district's control. Since New York State established a tax cap in 2012, the allowable growth factor has permitted public school districts to raise their levies each year by 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. For 2026-27, it's 2 percent. A second factor measures the district's tax base, allowing schools to add revenue for new development. Beacon's tax-base growth factor has been the highest in Dutchess County in recent years and, while, at 1.7 percent, or $841,715, "it's still higher than the other school districts" in the county, "it is a little bit lower than it has been," said Deputy Superintendent Ann Marie Quartironi, who explained the formula to the school board on Feb. 19. The third factor that allows a district to increase its levy is debt on capital projects. This is under the district's control, and in 2026-27 state law will permit Beacon to collect an additional $1.83 million to absorb debt in its spending plan. The district last year applied debt for the first time on a $50 million capital project approved by voters in 2024. "That was the first step," Quartironi said. "The second step is trying to increase the debt every year in your budget," which allows the district to collect more taxes under the state formula to pay it down. The capital project will kick off this summer with the installation of secure entryways at five of six schools (one is already secure) and upgrades of the Beacon High School theater and athletic fields. The debt will be spread over the next three fiscal years, Quartironi said. Last year, the district did not include a proposition on the May ballot for school buses, but this year it will ask voters to approve the purchase (financed over five years) of one diesel bus and four vans, including two accessible for wheelchairs.School board members must approve the budget by the end of April. Administrators plan to share estimated tax bills with the board and community before voters make the final decision on May 19. The district anticipates receiving more than $500,000 in added funding from New York State in 2026-27 through Gov. Kathy Hochul's universal pre-K initiative. Beacon has offered a pre-K program at its four elementary schools since 2023, and this year contributed $450,000 that can now "go to other things in the general fund," Quartironi said. "The financial impact is huge for us." Ten percent of the state funding must be distributed to community partners. The announcement of the increased funding prompted Quartironi to issue a request for proposals last year for agencies within district boundaries to administer the program. The district, which serves about 120 pre-K students, partners with the Rose Hill Manor Day School, which is under Planning Board review to convert its preschool to a hotel, and New Covenant Learning Center. Mirbeau Inn & Spa, scheduled to open this spring, is not expected to receive its final certificate of occupancy from the city before Sunday (March 1), so it will likely remain on the tax rolls for 2025-26. Once up and running, Mirbeau will submit payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, which will be distributed to the school district, the city, the county and the Howland Public Library.

Former tenant accused of grand larceny, fraud A Philipstown man accused of causing the popular owners of a dry cleaner and Cambodian restaurant on Route 9 to lose their property to foreclosure has been indicted in Putnam County on grand larceny and fraud charges. Derek Keith Williams, a self-described "sovereign citizen" who has been serving a six-month sentence in the county jail for driving an unregistered vehicle without a license, was arraigned Wednesday (Feb. 25) on six felony counts: four for grand larceny and two for filing a false instrument with the intent to defraud. Williams pleaded not guilty before Judge Anthony Mole and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, $200,000 insured bond and $200,000 partially insured bond. He is due back in court on April 8. Before the indictment, Williams had been accused of convincing Sokhara Kim and Chakra Oeur that he paid off the mortgage on 3154 Route 9, where the couple ran Nice & Neat Dry Cleaners and sold Cambodian food in a landscaped garden along Clove Creek. Kim and Oeur also lived in a residence at the property, rented space to a nail salon and showcased Oeur's artwork in a gallery. A meeting with Williams, whose girlfriend used to run the nail salon, upended that existence, leading to the couple's eviction on Dec. 9. In a lawsuit they filed to reclaim the property, Kim said a personal loan she used to rebuild the property after a fire in 2005 had been taken over by M&T Bank when she met Williams through the girlfriend, Mauny Bun, in 2019. Kim said that Bun, whose mother she had known for over 30 years, "reminded me a lot of my daughter … and I put a lot of trust and faith in her." She decided to accept Williams' offer to buy the property for $1.2 million and transfer it to an entity called DKW Trust, none of which happened. That decision triggered a 17-month foreclosure process that began in August 2022 after Kim stopped making payments on her $570,000 mortgage. Judge Gina Capone ordered the foreclosure in February 2024. Four months later, an M&T subsidiary, Chesapeake Holdings, paid $620,200 for the property at an auction. Williams hid the foreclosure by demanding that Kim "turn over any mail or paperwork" and "treated questions as disobedience … responding with rage, profanity and intimidation," according to court documents. Their loss of the property is a "deeply tragic — and profoundly avoidable — result" of the actions of "an unhinged and dangerous criminal who exercised coercive control over them," said Jacob Chen, their attorney. He is asking Capone to vacate the foreclosure and give Kim and Oeur a chance to regain the property. Williams has described himself as a sovereign citizen, a fringe movement whose members broadly believe they are exempt from laws and reject documents such as Social Security cards and driver's licenses, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group that tracks extremists. One standard tactic is "paper terrorism" — bombarding clerks' offices and courts with phony and often indecipherable filings that can exceed 100 pages and are filled with grandiose language, references to treaties and patents and widespread use of capital letters and the copyright and trademark symbols. Williams spent more than $5,000 on nearly 30 filings with the Putnam County Clerk's Office. Many of them were fruitless attempts to prevent M&T Bank from evicting Kim and Oeur from 3154 Route 9, where Williams had taken over the art gallery as a living space.

Roads crews, first responders log long hours after bruising storms After the late January snowstorm dumped up to 18 inches on parts of the Highlands, Highway and Water Department staff in Beacon worked 993 hours of overtime clearing snow from roads, sidewalks and parking lots. That's not 993 for the season — that's 993 hours of overtime for one storm. By the time the snow was (mostly) cleared, the city was on the hook for nearly $70,000 in overtime pay. Superintendent Michael Manzi and the 19-person highway crew worked around the clock, and the Water Department added 10 more bodies. "It's all hands on deck," Manzi said this week. "Whether it's 3 inches or 20 inches, we attack it the same way." No winter around here is normal, he said, and this one has been anything but. The second big storm of 2026 — this one designated a blizzard by meteorologists because of its high winds — brought 10 to 14 more inches from Sunday (Feb. 22) into Monday. Until recently, repeated surges of Arctic air had also prolonged one of the region's deepest freezes in decades. Although less intense than the January snowfall, cleanup for the Sunday-to-Monday storm will push Beacon over the $90,000 it budgets each year for storm-related overtime. The City Council will consider a budget amendment to move funding around. "It's not catastrophic" to absorb, said City Administrator Chris White said, "but we do all hope it will stop snowing at this point." Another issue has been where to put the snow. Beacon workers have established "glaciers" near the wastewater treatment plant on Dennings Avenue and at Memorial Park. More snow is stored at the highway garage on Camp Beacon Road. "We probably moved several hundred truckloads of snow that would still be on Main Street, parking lots or at the end of cul-de-sacs," White said. A few miles down Route 9D, clearing the roads in Philipstown "went pretty smoothly," said Adam Hotaling, the town highway superintendent. Some roads were still "a little narrow" because of snow piled along the sides, but "we're working to widen them," he said. Snow cleared by Philipstown's crews gets piled at the highway department yard on Fishkill Road or the former town landfill on Lane Gate Road. Dutchess and Putnam counties enacted travel bans during both heavy storms. Area first responders reported a handful of issues, none of them serious. "We increased staffing levels for each storm to ensure adequate coverage," said Beacon Fire Chief Tom Lucchesi. "There were no significant snow-related accidents, rescues or incidents requiring unusual or operations." Cold Spring Fire Co. Chief Matt Steltz said the volunteer agency was well prepared for the storm and he was surprised when no calls came in, storm-related or otherwise. As a precaution, CSFC outfitted its all-wheel drive utility vehicle with firefighting capabilities including a water cannon and self-contained breathing apparatus and stationed it at 2nd Lt. Aaron Leonard's home. Capt. Nicholas Falcone of the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said attendants for both ambulances were on duty at the Cedar Steet station during the storm and responded to two calls. "Roads were very slippery even for our four-wheel drive vehicle," he said, adding that the Philipstown Highway Department was on call for the duration in case PVAC or the Garrison Volunteer Ambulance Corp needed assistance. Falcone said that at midnight on Tuesday, the PVAC assisted the North Highlands Fire Department in the rescue of a hiker who had been lost for eight hours in deep snow in the woods at Lake Surprise. The hiker was taken to a hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Officer-in-Charge Matt Jackson said the Cold Spring Police Department received few calls during the storm although one resident claimed that a snow removal company had damaged their property. Jackson also reported that on Tuesday morning a resident alerted an officer to an injured woodchuck lying in a snowbank near Lunn Terrace. The officer tra...

Snow and wind expected on Sunday and overnight The National Weather Service is predicting blizzard conditions in the Highlands on Sunday (Feb. 22) and overnight into Monday. A blizzard warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for Putnam County from 1 p.m. Sunday until 6 p.m. Monday and for Dutchess from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Monday. Forecasters expect winds of up to 45 mph to be accompanied by falling and/or blowing snow, resulting in reduced visibility. The NWS defines a blizzard as a storm that contains large amounts of snow or blowing snow, with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibility of less than a quarter-mile for at least three hours. Putnam is expected to receive 14 to 22 inches of snow, with rates reaching 2 inches per hour. Dutchess is expected to receive 10 to 20 inches. Temperatures will drop to feel as low as 14 degrees. Wind gusts could reach 45 mph, it said, and the wind and the weight of snow may bring down trees and power lines. Dutchess County has issued travel restrictions for all non-essential personnel starting at 9 p.m. Sunday at 9 p.m. through 4 p.m. Monday. County and Beacon city offices will open at 11 a.m. on Monday. Putnam County also restricted all non-essential travel from 9 p.m. Sunday to 10 a.m. Monday. Metro-North will operate on an hourly service schedule on Monday, with weekend schedules in place on the branch lines. The Hudson Rail Link connecting bus will be suspended. On Saturday, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in 20 counties, including Putnam and Dutchess. Beginning Sunday, 100 members of the New York National Guard with 25 vehicles will be staged across the lower Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island to assist first responders, and the State Emergency Operations Center activated Sunday morning. The Village of Cold Spring has restricted parking from 5 p.m. Sunday until 7 a.m. Tuesday. Alternative parking is available at the American Legion lot on Cedar Street (south end only; do not use the Ambulance Corps spaces); the Haldane ballfields lot on Route 9D (no permit is required during snow emergencies); the village lots on Kemble Avenue, The Boulevard and New Street; and the Fair Street municipal lot. For updates, call 845-747-7669. [Update: On Tuesday, temporary no parking signs will be placed throughout the village to allow crews to remove snow.] The Village of Nelsonville announced parking restrictions from noon Sunday through 4 p.m. Monday. Parking will be prohibited on village streets, including on Main Street/Route 301. Designated winter parking spots are available on Adams Avenue and the west side of the Secor Street lot. In Beacon, after the accumulation of 2 inches of snow, vehicles cannot be parked on public streets between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Vehicles can be moved to any city public parking lot, but vehicles must be moved from the lots 24 hours after the snow stops falling. See our online calendar for cancelations. For updates, see our Storm Resource Page.

Eleanor Thompson, 79, the first Black member elected to the Beacon City Council, died Jan. 17. She was born April 23, 1946, the daughter of Rosalee Thompson, who in 1962 moved from Charleston, South Carolina, to New York City to provide opportunities for her daughters, Eleanor and Vera. Rosalee died in 2019. Eleanor earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Lehman College and, in 2000, a master's degree in education from Columbia University. She was a schoolteacher in New York City before moving to Beacon. After selling real estate for 18 years, she retired to Texas in 2010. Eleanor was elected as a Democrat in November 2001 to represent Ward 2, when she was 55, defeating Don Gallo, the Republican incumbent, 391-321. It was standing-room-only at her swearing-in, and the other officials sworn in that day, including Member-At-Large (and current mayor) Lee Kyriacou, all used the Thompson family bible. Eleanor was re-elected in 2003, then elected to an at-large seat in 2005 and 2007. She also ran for the state Assembly in 2006 but lost to incumbent Thomas Kirwan. In 2007, as a board member at the Howland Cultural Center, Eleanor envisioned a program that would connect communities through music. "When it comes to cultural diversity, we're all students," she said. Her advocacy led to the creation of the Gospel Cafe, according to HCC. Eleanor began painting, drawing and taking photographs at age 9. In an interview with the Poughkeepsie Journal in 2000, she recalled visiting her aunt and cousin in Newburgh and painting pictures of the Hudson River, of men and boys fishing on the banks and of the ferry. (She described herself as "a water person.") She said she had recently thrown herself into sculpture after taking a class at Columbia. "It was the best thing that happened to me," she said. She focused on female figures. "My whole thing is I want to give my sisters out there some recognition — the brown ones, the black ones, the white ones, the yellow ones — we are fantastic." With the support of longtime HCC director Florence Northcutt, Eleanor expanded the focus of art exhibits to include more women and artists of color. She contributed to shows such as Women Artists of the Hudson Valley in 2000 and A Celebration of Women of Color in the Arts in 2006. In 2019, she returned to Beacon with her grandson, Bobby, for The 25th Anniversary of African-American Artists in the Hudson Valley. In addition to her civic service, Eleanor co-founded the Young Artists' Mentoring Project; served as program director at the Martin Luther King Community Center; established a curriculum for the Partnership with Schools and Businesses; and was a dedicated member of the Beacon Light Tabernacle Seventh-day Adventist Church. Among her awards: the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs' Community Award (2004), the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Award (2005), the Shirley Chisholm Legacy Award (2005) and the inaugural Beacon Community Award presented by Beacon City Concerned Citizens. A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 1) at Beacon Light Tabernacle, 1568 Route 9D, in Wappingers Falls. Memorial donations may be made to the Howland Cultural Center (dub.sh/thompson-hcc).

Agency buying facilities across U.S. to house detainees A state Assembly member said on Friday (Feb. 20) that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had confirmed it will not be purchasing a former Pep Boys auto parts distribution warehouse in Chester to open a detention center. Brian Maher, a Republican from Walden whose district includes Chester, said in a news release that ICE had told him that "its review process had concluded and that the agency would not be moving forward with the Chester site at this time." ICE said last week it had purchased the warehouse but on Tuesday (Feb. 17) retracted the statement, saying it had been a mistake. The warehouse, a spokesperson told the Times Union on Feb. 12, "will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards. Sites will undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase." On Tuesday, a spokesperson emailed the Albany paper to say that "ICE has not purchased a facility in Chester. That statement was sent without proper approval and this mistake has since been rectified." Last week, ICE said a Chester facility and its construction would create 1,246 jobs and contribute $153.4 million, plus $37.2 million in tax revenue but did not explain how the figures were calculated. At the same time, the Orange County clerk and the county attorney told the Times Union that no new deeds have been recorded or filed. The last sale on record was in 2021, when an LLC owned by former Trump adviser Carl Icahn bought the property. State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Democrat whose district includes northern Dutchess County, said in a statement that she would support the town and village boards as they use "every legal, zoning, and environmental tool available" to block the facility. On Friday, a document released by federal immigration officials said that ICE to spend $38.3 billion to expand its detention capacity to 92,600 beds by purchasing warehouses. ICE has bought at least seven warehouses in the past few weeks in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas. Six other purchases were scuttled when buyers decided not to sell under pressure from activists. The Department of Homeland Security in January posted a notice announcing its intention to purchase the Chester warehouse for ICE operations. The agency said it would add a small guard building and an outdoor recreation area. The notice was required because the facility is in a 100-year floodplain. Legislation has been introduced in at least five states to ban state and local government contracts for ICE detention facilities. In New York, one proposal would prohibit governmental entities from entering into immigrant detention agreements (Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, and Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown, are co-sponsors), while another would prohibit the use of public funds or resources for new immigrant detention facilities without state legislative approval. ICE Detention Facilities There are 225 ICE detention facilities in the U.S., including eight in New York (below). Texas has the most facilities (28), followed by Florida (18). Allegany County Jail (Belmont) 5 females, non-criminal Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center 25 males, criminal; 86 males, non-criminal Broome County Jail (Binghamton) 3 males, criminal; 44 males, non-criminal Buffalo Service Processing Center (Batavia) 128 males, criminal; 610 males, non-criminal Clinton County Jail (Plattsburgh) 2 males, non-criminal; 2 females, non-criminal Nassau County Correctional Center (Long Island) 1 female, criminal; 11 females, non-criminal Niagara County Jail (Lockport) 12 females, non-criminal Orange County Jail (Goshen) 85 males, criminal; 81 males, non-criminal; 1 female, criminal Source: U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement In a little over a year, the number of detentio...

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. 150 Years Ago (February 1876) Officer Stevenson of Fishkill Landing received a $200 reward [about $6,000 today] for his part in capturing the horse thief Jeremiah Storm. Four empty barges belonging to the Knickerbocker Ice Co. arrived at Dutchess Junction to be loaded with ice cut at LaGrange for shipment to New York City. The Bachelor's Social Club held a Leap Year party on Feb. 29 at Swift's Opera House in Fishkill Landing. After members of the Matteawan school board were criticized by parents for being out of touch, they visited the schoolhouse to see how the students were doing. The Matteawan Seamless Clothing Manufacturing Co. closed suddenly, putting 450 men, women and children out of work. The owner, Mr. Falconer, attributed the closure to $60,000 [$1.8 million] he had spent on a dam, machinery and buildings to produce the new patented Crossley carpets. Falconer also invested in French felt suits for women, which sold poorly, and spent $30,000 [$900,000] on a Methodist meeting ground on Long Island. The firm's chief creditor was Fred Butterfield, Falconer's son-in-law, who toured the shuttered plant and said he and others would continue to back it. James Member of Fishkill Landing planned to open a hotel in Philadelphia for Dutchess County residents visiting the Centennial Exhibition. But after a visit, he abandoned the plan, saying there were already many hotels, and real estate was being sold and rented at exorbitant prices. An arsonist set fire to the stable and wagon house of David Davis, a retired merchant. He lost a carriage and 50 bushels of oats, but his horse was saved. After Mrs. Hamlin refused to pay Dewitt Rogers for installing a pump in her home, he sued for damages. She testified that Rogers had installed three pumps in succession, but none worked, so she had the final one removed. A jury ruled in favor of Rogers, but an appeals court overturned the judgment. In 1867, a wealthy millwright in Boston introduced Milo Sage, president of the Fishkill Landing Machine Co., to Norman Wiard, who said he had invented a boiler attachment that would save fuel and prevent explosions. Sage paid Wiard for the exclusive rights, and Wiard began ordering dozens of "prototypes," for which he eventually owed Sage $15,000 [$450,000]. Sage later learned that Wiard was selling the attachments to the U.S. military. 100 Years Ago (February 1926) Theodore Moith resigned after 44 years with the Beacon Police Department and 13 years as chief. In return, Mayor Ernest Macomber agreed to drop charges that Moith, who also served as a deputy sheriff, had collected questionable fees. Benjamin Roosa, age 67, felt ill while on a walk and stepped into a store on Fishkill Avenue but died before Dr. Julius Hayt could arrive. Roosa had been a railroad station agent and general manager for many years. He was also a former village president. The Beacon High School basketball team lost at Poughkeepsie, 14-11, in a game that included four ejections and a fourth-quarter dustup in which spectators ran onto the court and threw punches. Referee Mike Palen banished two players from each team. In the first quarter, Palisi, the Beacon captain, was forced to the bench for a few minutes after he was kicked in the stomach. At a roast beef dinner, members of the St. Rocco Society made plans to build a two-story clubhouse at the corner of South Chestnut and Dewindt. John Pomarico, described as "a well-known local wrestler," sued the city for $10,000 [$180,000] after he slipped on an icy sidewalk on Beekman Street and broke several ribs. The Denning's Point Brick Co. was installing machinery that its owners said would increase production from 166,000 to 300,000 bricks a day and eliminate the need for manual labor. The Frander Motor Sales Co. planned to open a Studebaker dealership in the former Stafford garage at the intersection of Main and South Chestnut. A snow melter invented b...

Beacon cites lack of resources to compel compliance Nearly six years after Beacon legalized short-term rentals, most Airbnb listings are not registered with the city. According to Inside Airbnb, a data collection project based in Newburgh, 133 units in Beacon were listed on the booking site in July 2025. But files obtained by The Current under the Freedom of Information Law show only 33 are registered with the city, as the law requires. STR laws typically allow municipalities to limit the number of housing units being rented to visitors and ensure that rentals have safety features such as smoke detectors and don't disrupt neighborhoods. The 2020 Beacon law allows homeowners and tenants to rent or sublet their homes or apartments for up to 30 days at a time, for a maximum of 100 days per year. Rental spaces must be the host's primary residence, and accessory dwelling units cannot be rented. According to Inside Airbnb, which pulls its data from information posted by the platform, the hosts of 14 Beacon listings live in New York City and six live out of state. The 133 listings are more than triple the number (40) on the site a decade ago, but nearly the same as in June 2020 (126), when the council amended the zoning code. City Administrator Chris White said this week that Beacon does not have the staff to adequately enforce its STR regulations. Since Building Inspector Bryan Murphy was hired in March, the department has prioritized health and safety issues, including overdue fire inspections and enforcing sidewalk snow removal. White said enforcement of STRs has been mostly in response to complaints about noise or parking. New York State authorized Beacon to collect a 2 percent occupancy tax on hotel stays and STR rentals as of Jan. 1, 2025. The Roundhouse, Mirbeau Inn & Spa and other hotels are expected to generate the bulk of the $200,000 in tax revenue in 2026, White said. Airbnb will begin collecting the Beacon tax on its platform starting March 1. The City Council is likely to revisit its STR regulations this year. During a discussion of agenda priorities on Tuesday (Feb. 17), Mayor Lee Kyriacou noted that enforcing limits on short-term rentals could have the quickest impact on the "acute" need for housing. "The fundamental issue is rental costs are really high because there's not enough supply," he said. "Restricting short-term rentals would force them into the long-term rental stock immediately." According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 41 percent of Beacon households are renter-occupied, and 185 units are listed as vacant, meaning they do not have long-term renters. "If some of those Airbnb units were returned to the market, it would make it easier to find housing," said Murray Cox, who founded the data project. A New York City law adopted in 2023 is stricter than Beacon's: It also requires hosts to register with the city before accepting rentals of 30 days or less. Property owners must reside (and remain) in the unit; bookings are limited to two guests; and booking platforms cannot process transactions for unregistered listings. The law had an immediate effect, with 50,000 listings falling off the services between 2019 and 2023. There are now about 5,000, Cox said. In 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation authorizing counties to establish STR registries. Dutchess County officials have discussed creating a list; there has been no discussion in Putnam, a representative said. In Cold Spring, the Village Board enacted a law in 2021 to regulate STRs but began to review the measure three years later, saying the regulations were too cumbersome to enforce. Mayor Kathleen Foley says updating the STR code is a priority for 2026. The Philipstown Town Board this week discussed revisions to regulations it drafted in October that would require annual permits and inspections and ban parties. Critics say STRs need to be limited because they remove long-term housing from the market, drive up rents and negatively aff...

Programs advocate for long-term-care residents When Janice Munson walks through the entrance of a local nursing home, she has a list of names of the aged and disabled residents who have called for help. After those visits, she'll check in with other residents, sometimes asking if they have a physical therapy plan and if they are being taken for supervised walks to maintain their mobility. The answer is often no. "They'll say, 'I know there aren't enough staff, so I don't want to ask.' " Ensuring that residents obtain services is one of Munson's primary roles as a long-term care ombudsman, a position created by the Older Americans Act of 1965. The legislation requires states to provide independent advocates for residents in nursing homes, adult care homes and assisted living and rehabilitation facilities. Munson is among the eight volunteers who, along with five paid staff members, monitor 120 facilities in Region 4, which covers Putnam, Westchester and Rockland counties. Based in Cold Spring and led by Philipstown resident Judy Farrell, the region is one of 15 in the state. Region 5, based in Fishkill, covers Dutchess and five other counties. Nursing homes are the priority; the state wants them visited weekly and other facilities at least quarterly, said Farrell, who is also a member of the Philipstown Town Board. Although physical abuse draws headlines, complaints range from a staff member giving a resident the wrong medication or failing to follow therapy plans to dirty rooms, substandard food and a lack of recreation. Along with residents, the friends of residents and facility staff can report concerns, said Farrell. During the pandemic, when quarantines prevented families from visiting long-term care facilities, Farrell arranged for "compassionate care" visits. In one case, she helped a man unable to get his dying mother discharged to home hospice care. When she arrived home, he called Farrell, crying and grateful. "You can't replace that feeling," she said. "It's greatly satisfying." Arnold Tanner knows the feeling. A volunteer in Region 4, he visits a facility near his home in Sleepy Hollow twice a week. Carrying an iPad filled with notes, he meets first with people in the long-term-care units before introducing himself to newcomers and checking in at the rehab unit. He sometimes gets "a little better feel for the place" from newcomers and rehab patients, who are less reluctant to speak up, he said. Those in long-term care may fear retribution by staff, which is also a source of complaints. Statewide, the ombudsman program received 18,346 complaints during fiscal 2024, including 1,680 to the Cold Spring office. About a third were care-related, a broad category that includes accidents, falls, general requests for assistance and concerns about medications and physical therapy. Another 15 percent were complaints about staff failing to "honor and promote a resident's right or preferences" about healthcare, privacy, visitors and other areas. Many complaints related to food and admissions, including discharges and evictions. "Sometimes people face discharge for nonpayment when they might be eligible for Medicaid," Farrell explained. Complaints occasionally lead to legal action. In 2024, the state attorney general announced a $45 million settlement with Centers for Care, which owns four facilities, including one in White Plains, for "years of tragic and devastating mistreatment and neglect." According to the attorney general, "call bells regularly went unanswered, residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours, meals were not provided in a timely manner and personal belongings, including hearing aids, dentures and clothing, were often lost or stolen." After making On the Shoulders of Giants, a film about the orthopedics department at NYU Langone that was a Tribeca Film Festival Special Jury Award finalist in 2024, Cold Spring resident Peter Sanders turned to ombudsman programs. In March 2025, he began ...