TIMES
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 28, No 20
3
MAY 18 - 24, 2016
3
ONE DOLLAR
First Holy
Communion
Setting
the pace
Page 23
Page 43
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
Blaming the Guard
Maloney: Air National Guard base likely source of water contaminant
Trash talk
at City Hall
City shortens garbage
abatement notice
timeframe
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Washington Lake.
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Officials are calling on the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
and the Department of Defense to
immediately conduct an investigation
into the discovery of perfluorooctane
sulfonate (PFOS) in City of Newburgh
water. And, Congressman Sean Patrick
Maloney is pointing his finger squarely
at the Stewart Air National Guard
Base as the probable source of the
contamination.
“What is clear is that a third party
has contaminated a water source for
the City of Newburgh,” Maloney said
Tuesday. “We need an investigation by
the DOD, particularly at Stewart.”
The city switched its water source
from Washington Lake to Brown’s Pond
when learning of elevated levels of
PFOS in the water supply a few weeks
ago. Levels of the chemical have since
dropped to nearly zero.
New York State Department of Health
records show PFOS was first detected
in the city water supply in 2013. It was
Continued on page 4
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Garbage will sit around for less time
in the City of Newburgh thanks to a new
rule shortening the time period before the
city can collect garbage posing a nuisance
on private properties.
“This particular legislation is amending
the initial notice timeframes from 20
days to a shorter seven days,” said city
Corporation Counsel Michelle Kelson.
The change relates to an abatement
ordinance that allows the city to take
action if a determination has been made
“that the property is in such disrepair that
it rises to the level of a public nuisance,”
Kelson explained at a meeting of the
Newburgh City Council last week.
The council voted unanimously to
approve the resolution amending the
city code to shorten the abatement notice
timeframe. The change means property
owners will have a week to perform the
abatement after receiving a notice from
the city.
The vast majority of abatement
notices have to do with garbage, said city
Councilwoman Karen Mejia.
“We’ve had several examples in the
past year of debris just sitting on the
sidewalks, in people’s the front lawns,”
said Mejia. “That it takes 20 days for the
property owner to clean it up… that’s
Continued on page 2