What Effect Will Ulster Gardens Really Have on Our Town?

 Developer Jonah Mandelbaum faced a tough crowd at the public hearing of his project Ulster Gardens (aka Roundout Gardens North), this past week from neighbors that expressed very serious concerns about the impact that this project would have on the quality of life in the town. Issues of traffic were brought up, as well as the large size of the project.

Lets not forget we are talking 164 units, 50+ of those units are "affordable housing",  the staff at The Ulster Report is very concerned at the way this is being rushed through. It's being rushed through with strong support from Supervisor Quigs who got testy at the public hearing from neighbors voicing their concerns and from what we hear there may be video (stay tuned).

 When Rupco built Woodstock Commons, the town of Woodstock had Rupco complete an F.E.I.S., which stands for : Final Environmental Impact statement.

An F.E.I.S. is pretty much a tool for decision making. It's a document that will describe the positive and negative environmental effects of what is being proposed (the proposed action being Ulster Gardens) and is an essential resource for the planning board  to be able to look at to determine how the quality of life or quality of the human environment will be effected.

We feel it is really important that the town ask Mr.Mandelbaum to complete that study.  There is so many unanswered questions to a lot of  serious issues that could have potentially devastating effects on our residents and the local environment.  Besides the endangered species that could exist on that site like the Indiana bat and certain turtles; there was a draft E.I.S. done in Sept. 2006 that said the proposed site is considered highly sensitive for containing Native American era archaeological deposits. It also should be noted that Woodstock Commons (which was required to complete the study) is about half the size of what is being proposed for Roundout Gardens North.

There is no down side to having this done, it can only benefit the town and it's residents. We are not against development but why not have the best information possible so an informed decision can be made in the best interest of the town and our residents. What say you Mr. Supervisor?

Chairman Budziak out as Planning Chair; Town Insurance Agent Allen DeForrest In

Chairman Reno Budziak has resigned as Chairman of the town of Ulster Planning board. Rumor has it Budziak resigned after a dispute with Supervisor Jim Quigley regarding the Ulster Garden development, or as we like to call it Roundout Gardens North, that has been proposed in the town of Ulster.

So who is the new Chairman? None other than Allan DeForrest who was appointed to replace Budziak by Supervisor Quigley.

Fellow town of Ulster residents may hear bells go off in their head when they read that name. That's because Mr. DeForrest also carries the town's insurance. Can someone say CONFLICT OF INTEREST???

What we have now in place thanks to Supervisor Transparency, is a planning board Chairman who is essentially beholden to the Supervisor and put in a tough position. Is Mr. DeForrest required to look in what is in the best interest of the town and it's needs or the Supervisor who awarded him an insurance contract?


Lets say for argument sake and this figure could be wrong, that Mr. DeForrest gets a $30,000 commission for being the agent responsiable for the town's insurance, is he going to risk losing that money by coming out and saying anything negative about Roundout Gardens North, a development that Quigley clearly is advocating for, as was evident at the public hearing last night?  I think not, or at the very least there is the appearance of impropriety and that is an issue for Quigs who ran on being fair and transparent.

If it walks like a Supervisor that's being sneaky and quacks like a Supervisor who's being sneaky, more than likely we as residents of the town have a supervisor that is sneaky and really ballsy.

Supervisor Quigley's Taj Mahol?

 Is Quigley trying to build a new town hall similar to his old NYC digs?


When your Jim Quigley and you get 51 votes for County Executive your head starts to swell even bigger than it normally is flaccid. Yes, we are still talking about the head that sits on Supervisor Quigley's shoulders, didn't mean to make anyone feel ill.

Supervisor Quigley who wants nothing more than to be accepted as a player in Ulster County politics, giving up a multi-million dollar job so he could have his ego stroked on a daily basis as Ulster town Supervisor. However, Quigley is finding that's not enough anymore. In our opinion he hates doing the job as Supervisor, as he has told many people and we feel to Quigley it's all about Quigley.

So what to do? Build a new town hall for yourself, of course! Rumors are running wild that a new town hall is going to be built. We have already heard the excuses of mold but as Newt Gingrich would say lets cut the baloney Jim. In our humble opinion, the current modest town hall offices just do not fit with what Mr. Quigley is accustom to.

Quigley went from working in a lavish NYC building right in the heart of Manhattan, with everything at his fingertips to having to listen to Mr. Barton's crazy rants at town board meetings and having to look at Jason Casenza every morning. Will the new town hall be like his old office in the city? A huge skyscraper with a private entrance for the Supervisor, he can have his own little Taj Mahal on our dime. Maybe the Donald Trump wannabe will add some casino games at the new town hall: Jim Quigley presents blackjack, might be a way to pay for this unnecessary expense.

We do not need a new town hall so that Supervisor Quigley can feel important, a new town hall will almost certianly raise taxes more than the double digit increase we already got from Quigley.  The hypocraisy of Mr. Quigley is what really gets us, when this guy ran he came out against having a nice community center for the seniors in the town but it's ok for him to build a new town hall for himself..hmm, a little selfish if you ask me.

Why again is it Dems gave this guy a free ride?

Quigley Embraces Low Income Housing Development?

 Quigley's Vision for Ulster's Future?

Daily Freeman Story- http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/12/25/news/doc4ef64f14aefcd054166972.txt

Town Supervisor Jim Quigley seems like he is rolling out the welcome mat for a housing developer that wants to build mix housing of about 164 units. 112 of those units will be senior housing, the remainder will be "family" housing.

Is Supervisor Jim Quigley trying to bring more low income housing into Ulster?  As a town resident, I sure hope not. Ulster Gardens, the name of the proposed housing site sorta sounds a lot like Roundout Gardens, which is a not so great "family housing" development in the City of Kingston.

We as residents of Ulster must hold the Supervisor and town board accountable and also make sure the out of town developer Jonah Mandelbaum, who has no ties to our community is not given a fancy pilot or tax break, after the double digit tax increase Supervisor Quigley gave us we simply can't afford it!

A public hearing has been scheduled on January 12th at town hall AT 7pm