4
Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, March 6, 2019
NFD announces promotions and new hires
Rigoberto Medina always wanted to be a firefighter
growing up. He remembers as a kid watching the fire
trucks pass by his house. After trying to get into the City
of Newburgh Fire Department twice he finally got his
chance.
“When you want something you never give up,” said
Medina. “Coming up from a struggle you just have to
push through and that will make all the difference in
your life.”
Medina, along with Wytoskia Tyrell was sworn in with
a brief ceremony on Thursday. They started training at
the New York State Fire Academy this weekend and are
expected to join the crew in 11 weeks.
A series of promotions took place at the ceremony as
well. Michel Kiernan was promoted to Lieutenant, and
Lieutenant Enrico LoCicero was promoted to Captain.
Kiernan has been with the department since 2006 and
LoCicero has been with the department since 1999.
According to Acting Fire Chief Terry Ahlers the
promotions and the new Firefighters will allow the
Department to respond to calls with 4 firefighters on each
truck and bring a deduction in the over time.
“I had the privilege to attend the appointment of these
firemen,” said Councilman Bob Sklarz. “It was personal
for me because as a kid I lost everything to a fire in my
apartment building. What I was impressed with is the
very hardwork and dedication they do. I appreciate it.”
- Katelyn Cordero
Probationary Firefighters Rigoberto Medina and Wytoskia
Baity.
City of Newburgh prepares to oppose Danskammer
Continued from page 1
homes provided by Central Hudson.
“The plant right now is an old 1950s
dinosaur of a plant, it’s not very energy
efficient or emission friendly and it uses
a lot of natural gas to operate,” said Hook.
“It uses more natural gas to achieve the
same energy for the grid. We also use
Central Hudson to run the plant, so we
are not a fracked gas power plant. We
don’t do any fracking we don’t use fracked
gas, we used the same gas that Central
Hudson supplies to the entire Orange
County Region where we sit. The gas in
our facilities is no different than the gas
people use to heat their homes and cook
their food.”
The City of Newburgh is looking
to secure intervenor funding which is
provided by Danskammer Energy to
allow local municipalities and entities to
take part in the Article 10 process. The
Article 10 process is meant to determine
the environmental impacts of the plant
for a siting board to decide whether the
project may proceed and acquire permits.
Lynn
Simmons
Real Estate
Associate Broker
Cell: 845.797.5107
[email protected]
The City council originally put out a
resolution in opposition of the project due
to the negative environmental impacts.
This resolution was tabled and taken off
the agenda.
“Getting the intervenor funding and
joining the Article 10 process will be
stronger than any resolution we could
pass,” said Mayor Torrance Harvey.
“Now we are pursuing these other
avenues we are putting ourselves
in the process and doing so in a very
transparent open honest way. We are
looking to partner with Scenic Hudson
and there’s a few other environmental
agencies researching and going over 300
plus documents we received today. We
are all in and we are going to meet those
deadlines and pursue those things we are
going to reach out to those environmental
agencies to make sure our environment is
clean and safe from those toxins.”
Councilwoman Karen Mejia set
a deadline for March 14 and March
24 to apply for the intervenor funding
and make a decision on the project.
Mejia, Councilman Anthony Grice and
Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde all
Time to
list and sell
with Lynn!!!
Just a few of the homes Lynn sold in 2018
Houlihan Lawrence LaGrange
LaGrangeville, NY 12540
33
+ years as a
Real Estate Professional
SERVING DUTCHESS AND ULSTER COUNTIES
expressed their opposition to the project.
“The Danskammer Energy Plant has
been with us for many decades and the
effects of that plant we’ve been feeling
it whether we articulate it or not we are
at a crossing point here where we can
articulate with a loud strong voice about
where we stand, about figuring out the
feeling that always occurs in our city, the
promising of jobs and the reality that the
data requested shows otherwise,” said
Mejia. So that is where the conversations
are on Danskammer.”
The plant does not lie within city
borders, which means the city doesn’t
stand to receive any monetary gains from
taxes generated by the plant. The plant
also lies within the Marlboro School
District, so Newburgh Enlarged City
School District will not receive any tax
benefits from the plant either.
According to Hook, Danskammer has
been in talks with local unions to source
created jobs locally.
“When it comes to jobs we’ve been
in talks with the unions including the
laborers,” said Hook. “One thing we’ve
been looking at are ways to transport or
to put some of the offloading worksites,
which is upwards to 100 jobs, in the city
proper. So we would bring the jobs to
them, at least a portion of the work.”
Hook says if the resolution proposed
by the city council was passed it would be
a disappointment to Danskammer Energy
as they hope to have a good neighbor
policy and look to work with neighboring
municipalities to support communities
such as Newburgh.
“While it would be unfortunate and
disappointing to us we don’t feel that
we would be given the full opportunity
to explain the benefits of the project,
we would hope that regardless of any
resolution they pass that we can continue
to have good relations with them moving
forward,” said Hook. “The plant will be
there in the region indefinitely, so we want
to make sure that in years going forward
we have a good working relationship with
all of the surrounding municipalities
regardless of political resolutions.”
Monteverde sees the plant as a step
backwards in the environmental goals set
in place for the city.
“Danskammer for me, I’m opposed
to it, there’s no way I will approve this
project as an elected official,” said
Monteverde. “Renewable energy is the
way to go. We have a lot of wind here on
the Hudson River.”
Monteverde, like Grice and Mejia
does not see the positives of the project
outweighing the predicted negative
impact on the environment and City of
Newburgh air.
Danskammer
Energy
filed
a
preliminary statement on February 8, 2019.
An overseeing board will be appointed
made of several local representatives
and state representatives. Once this
board is appointed the official Article 10
submission with studies conducted by
Danskammer and information collected
by intervenors will be reviewed.
This is where the City of Newburgh
will come into play. All information they
acquire from studies conducted through
intervenor funding will be included in
the Article 10 submission. According to
Harvey, the city is also looking to become
a participant in the siting process to have
access to all information presented and
weigh in on the project.
Hook is hopeful to receive and answer
to permits mid 2020. Once the permits are
in place the construction is expected to
take about two and a half years to finish.