T IMES
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 31, No. 21
3
MAY 22 - 28, 2019
Steiner
reaches
finals
3
ONE DOLLAR
Page 23
Off
Broadway
Run
Page 32
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
Lake Street corridor reimagined Grievance
Day
Assessment letters
cause confusion
By KATELYN CORDERO
[email protected]
Participants walked the Lake Street corridor outside the activity center to see first hand the condition of the area.
By KATELYN CORDERO
[email protected]
For many pedestrians crossing the
Lake Street corridor is a nightmare.
The wide street and lack of road paint
or pedestrian lights make it nearly
impossible to cross safely.
The City of Newburgh traffic
Advisory Committee worked with a
group of Yale Alumni to look at ways to
improve the Lake Street corridor from
an urban development perspective. The
group of professionals did the workshop
as part of a Yale Day of Service in which
Yale alumni perform acts of service
within their communities.
The event brought in 10 professionals
in architecture, forestry and astronomy
to take a look at the Lake Street corridor
in terms of quick and economical
fixes the city could make immediately
and long term projects to ultilize the
available natural resources in the area
and create a more safe and welcoming
environment.
The workshop was organized by Jiuen
Yang, an architect in urban design from
Habitat Workshop and Naomi Hersson-
Ringskog from the Newburgh Traffic
Advisory Committee.
“We focused on the Lake Street
corridor, one because the area has a
lot of potential for green infrastructure
and a lot of natural gems that have not
been kept to their best potential,” said
Yang. “Just crossing the intersection
a lot of people are walking from one
place to another, there was one woman
who told us she was trying to cross the
intersection when she was pregnant and
pushing a stroller. She had to get to the
grocery store and dash to get across the
intersection.”
The short term fixes pulled together
at the workshop was right-sizing the
street. According to Yang the size of
Lake Street is much wider than any
other street, which makes drivers feel
more comfortable speeding through. She
proposed using paint to make crosswalks
and lanes stand out so drivers are more
aware of surroundings.
“Phase one is about training the
drivers in the area to drive at a slower
speed,” said Yang. “If we actually
draw the lines, right now there is no
clear line marked to give a boundary
for pedestrians to cross the road. By
marking the lanes you will teach the
driver to slow down and be more aware
of their surroundings.”
Also in Phase One is making the
area more pleasing to the eye. Hersson-
Ringskog talked about putting up a
Continued on page 2
This year’s tentative assessment
letters have sent many City of Newburgh
residents into confusion with large
changes in property assessments. City
Assessor, Joanne Majewski, blames a
large number of property assessment
increases on the success of the market, but
some residents believe their assessments
were not properly taken care of.
For long time Newburgh resident
Frank Paff his 80-year-old property rose
$43,000 in its assessed value in one year.
The value of his home never rose more
than $1,000 in value until he received his
tentative assessment this month.
“It was a complete shock, nobody came
to the door, the house is more than 80
years old, I don’t know why they are
doing this. The house is not worth 43,000
more. I wouldn’t be able to sell for the
amount they are assessing it at. I’m going
to have to go through this process and see
what I can do,” said Paff.
In a city council work session, Majewski
explained the process of creating the
assessments to the city council. In the
City of Newburgh, assessments are
done at 100 percent of market value. To
determine the market value the assessor
will look at the value of surrounding
properties sold recently of a similar time,
build, and size also known as an arm’s
Continued on page 2
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