Mid Hudson Times July 24 2019

T IMES MID HUDSON Vol. 31, No. 30 3 JULY 24 - 30, 2019 Broadway in your backyard Page 10 Newburgh residents cite concerns at public hearing Almost every seat in the City of Newburgh’s Activity Center at Delano- Hitch Park was filled on July 16, after the Planning Board held a public hearing to hear residents’ opinions on the possible granting of a special use permit to revitalize the Regal Bag Building on Water St. and to create a parking lot across from the Regal Bag Building at Broad St. If this permit is granted, the blacktop of this parking lot would replace the greenery that leads to Newburgh’s Historic District. This project is being helmed by philanthropist Bill Kaplan. Before the public hearing began, Justin Dates, a landscape architect for the engineering and consulting design firm Maser Consulting, presented the proposed actions that this project would take. “We have a project site made up of three tax parcels that equal about 5.2 ONE DOLLAR Band of brothers Page 32 SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR Future of historic bag factory at stake By ILYSSA DALY 3 acres in size,” said Dates. The plan called for a complete overhaul of all six floors in the Regal Bag Building. The top floor would be used as an assembly space. Floors five, four, three, and two would all be repurposed into artist studios. Dates proposed that there would be 20 studios per floor, to account for 80 studios in total. The ground level of the Regal Bag Building would be for storage purposes. Continued on page 2 Cooling off Bygone era Gully’s, once a staple of city nightlife, slowly sinks into the Hudson By ILYSSA DALY Blistering summer afternoons were soothed by savory food and chilled beer. Head banging to live music. Colorful dance parties. Uncontrollable laughter with friends and family. Unforgettable nights that, turned into, well, nights that you’d have no memory of. This all happened at Gully’s Restaurant during its heyday in the 1990’s and 2000’s. To put it simply, Gully’s was a diamond in the rough. It was opened by Ralph Rizzio with the help of Gail Guimares more than 30 years ago. It didn’t take long to become an extremely popular destination in Orange County. Before Gully’s was bought by Rizzio, it was used as a barge that would run various materials up and down the Hudson River. Then, after it was purchased, Rizzio turned the barge into a restaurant and bar, complete with space for dancing and live music that floated on the Hudson River, right on Newburgh’s waterfront. As of now, the barge sits on the Hudson River, discolored and decrepit. The barge is held to land by the miracle of some dirty rope and a crane. But, it’s clear-- the former restaurant is slowly sinking With temperatures climbing high into the 90s, the Delano Hitch pool was popular this past Friday and Saturday. CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE - WWW.MHTIMESONLINE.COM Continued on page 17