[FREE] Serving Philipstown and Beacon Help Us Grow See Page 3 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 161 MAIN ST., COLD SPRING, N.Y. | highlandscurrent.org Hate Hits the Highlands, Again Swastika, anti-Semitic slur painted on home By Michael Turton cerns for the safety of his family. But he said the incident “gives members of the home under construction in Nel- community an opportunity to stand on sonville and owned by a Jewish the right side of history.” A resident was vandalized over- The Putnam County Sheriff ’s Offi ce said night on Oct. 30 with graffi ti that includ- it is investigating the vandalism, which ed a swastika and an anti-Semitic slur. was made with black spray paint and also The contractor, who is also of Jew- included obscenities and the word “Prowl- ish heritage, alerted The Current on er.” A representative for the sheriff ’s offi ce Wednesday morning after discovering said that if it’s deemed a hate crime, crim- the damage. The property owner asked inal mischief charges could be elevated that his name and the address of the from a misdemeanor to a felony or from a property be withheld because of con- (Continued on Page 24) Candidates Address Philipstown Issues Forum at Garrison library draws on 2017 poll Farms and Food in the Hudson Valley By Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong third, three-year term, and her challenger, Philipstown Town Board Member Nancy he focus was Philipstown during a Montgomery, a Democrat, both said they forum last week at the Desmond- saw a need for more teen services. T Fish Library in Garrison featuring “Identifying a space is the big problem,” candidates for Putnam County executive Scuccimarra said. Using the senior center Part 1: Farmers Young & Old and county legislator. at hours when the seniors are not there Sponsored by the grassroots Philip- is a possibility, she said. Another poten- By Chip Rowe how important farming is.” stown Community Congress, the Friday tial site would be the American Legion We hope to contribute to that under- (Oct. 26) gathering drew about 100 people. on Cedar Street, where the seniors cur- oe Hasbrouck is 74. He has been a standing with this three-part series, The questions posed by organizers refl ect- rently meet, but “the veterans haven’t had farmer in the Hudson Valley for his which will examine what makes the ed responses to a 2017 PCC survey in which that space to themselves for a long time. J entire life, the fi fth generation of his Hudson Valley such a great place to more than 750 residents voted on a list of They’re very protective of it,” she said. family to work the land. And he’s always farm (fertile soil, ample water) but also local priorities (see Page 9). Until the location is resolved, she been concerned about the disconnect be- outline the many concerns facing our County Legislator recommended creating a bus service tween people who eat (i.e., everyone) and farmers, including the loss of farmland District 1 Legislator Barbara Scuccimar- to take teens to the Philipstown Recre- the people who produce what we eat. to development, the “aging out” of pro- “People are so far from farms they ra, a Republican seeking re-election to her (Continued on Page 9) ducers and fi eld workers with no one to think their food comes from the grocery replace them (Hasbrouck has no heir for store,” he says. his 330 acres), the toll of climate change That view is backed up by surveys, in- and the eff ects of federal policies such cluding one by the U.S. Farmers & Ranch- as crop subsidies, among other topics. ers Alliance. It commissioned two surveys, As we did with our series on the opi- actually: one of 1,002 farmers and ranch- oid abuse crisis and the eff ect of climate ers and another of 2,417 consumers. It change on the Highlands, we assigned a found that 72 percent of the latter admit- team of reporters and photographers to ted they knew little about how food ended the task. They were led by Cheetah Hay- up on their dinner table outside of the fact som, a longtime journalist and author of it came from a supermarket. At the same Pride and Produce, an exploration of the time, 86 percent of the farmers and ranch- fertile black-dirt region of Orange County. ers said they felt consumers know little Among our many sources was Bob about what happens on farms. Dandrew, founder and director of the The disconnect extends to our view of Local Economies Project, which is work- how food should be grown. While nearly ing to build a resilient food system in the 80 percent of the consumers in the survey Hudson Valley. With so many threats fac- said they wanted healthy choices at the ing farms here over the next few decades, grocery, 64 percent said they want food to he says, “everyone should be thinking be cheap. You can’t always have both. about where they will get their food.” FACES YOU CAN'T FORGET — Cold Spring held its 25th annual Halloween parade Hasbrouck believes “nothing will on Sunday (Oct. 28) and attracted a large number of ghouls, ghosts and cute kids. change until people are educated about (Continued on Page 12) For more photos, see highlandscurrent.org. Photo by Michael Turton 2 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 Th e Highlands Current highlandscurrent.org Five Questions: CHRIS HUGHES By Brian PJ Cronin hris Hughes, who has a home in We can do it using tax credits: $500 a month class. Look at the Trump tax bill. It gave Philipstown, co-founded Facebook. for everyone who makes less than $50,000 a massive cuts to corporations and the 1 C On Sunday, Nov. 11, he will speak year. The cost wouldn’t be exorbitant, but it percent, doubling down on what I consid- at a fundraiser for the Desmond-Fish Li- would have a transformative eff ect. er a debunked theory of trickle-down eco- Fair Shot: Rethink- nomics. In the past, the centrist view was What’s your favorite brary about his book, Have you found support for the idea? ing Inequality and How We Earn. People are understanding that it’s not that graduated income taxes on folks who fresh food from the are doing well was the best way to fund Why this book now? just doable but in line with fundamental Hudson Valley? Unemployment is at a record low and American values. One of the core ideas of the government and ensure everyone had By Michael Turton the stock market is at a record high, but our country is that if you’re working, you a fair shot. So when you look back at all the average American worker should not live in poverty. You should have those icons of 20th-century conservative makes more or less the same the ability to reach up to the next rung thinking and realize they were for these ideas, it’s a testament to how far to the amount of money that he of the ladder. Unfortunately, it’s not The fruit — but also right the Republican Party has moved. or she did 40 years ago. true right now. the cheese, meat At the same time, the cost You write that the idea grew You led Barack Obama’s digital and vegetables. of living is going up and out of the Earned Income organizing campaign when he ran up. Something is funda- Tax Credit. Was it surprising for president in 2008 and note in mentally out of whack to see that people such as the book its lack of hierarchy. Do Juanita Rincon in the economy and most Richard Nixon, Dick Cheney you think current campaigns are (Juanita’s Kitchen, Nelsonville) Americans understand that. and Donald Rumsfeld missing that message? There’s a lot of ways to championed it? There are some campaigns that put create structural change There’s no way it wouldn’t people power at their core. Alexandria Oc- but one we could do be! The modern Re- asio-Cortez was considered a very unlike- tomorrow would publican Party is ly candidate for Congress but she took an be to create a skeptical of any elbow-grease approach to politics, rolling guaranteed economic policy up her sleeves and getting out there every income for that would put single day. Other campaigns focus on the working more power traditional method of developing a mes- people. in the hands sage that feels well-researched and pris- of working tine. Every campaign has to fi nd a balance Chris Hughes people and between wanting to have a professional Photo by Lisa Berg the middle operation that relies on optics and consul- tations and having more of a grassroots I have a long list but organization. But the more voices you lis- especially love the ten to, and the more participation there is, heirloom tomatoes from WE’VE MOVED! the stronger the campaign will be. Four Winds Farm. We When you look at the controversies use them in everything. 143 MAIN STREET going on with Facebook, does part of you wish you were still there to Shelley Boris BEACON NY 12508 work on the problems? (Dolly’s, Garrison) • I love what I’m working on — economic justice issues, that’s my focus, that’s what 845.202.7181 I’m going to keep doing. But who could have known that a website we started utensilkitchenware.com in our [Harvard] dorm room would turn into a platform for 2 billion people that FOLLOW US: eff ectively functions as the public square? With that comes immense responsibility, @UtensilShop and Facebook is running to catch up.