New Customers receive $20 off on round trip to any airport
Four Seasons Limousine has been serving the Millbrook NY area since 1989 with friendly, professional service. 800-914-RIDE(7433)
MERRITT BOOKS TO CONTINUE WITH NEW OWNER, KIRA WIZNER
AMENIA SCHEDULES APPROVAL OF SILO RIDGE
Four Seasons Limousine has been serving the Millbrook NY area since 1989 with friendly, professional service. 800-914-RIDE(7433)
MERRITT BOOKS TO CONTINUE WITH NEW OWNER, KIRA WIZNER
Millbrook readers will be happy to hear that the Merritt Bookstore is continuing to operate under its new owner, Kira Wizner.
In a recent email Wizner wrote, “I feel lucky to have found the Merritt Bookstore at a time when it was looking for a new owner.” For some time she had considered taking it on, in part because she wanted to make certain it continued as a valuable resource for the Millbrook community. When saw on the shop’s website that it was for sale, she decided to take the plunge.
Wizner is a lifelong lover of books who says, “As a kid I would read the back of the cereal box” if there was nothing better around. An omnivorous reader today she likes all genres but her favorites are probably novels. Recently she has taken a liking to mystery stories - those by Martin Walker and Louise Penny, and Alan Bradley for starters.
Three years ago Wizner and her husband, Jake, rented a house from friends herein Millbrook. The following year they bought a house of their own,where they spend weekends with their two children. Jake is a middle school teacher in New York r as well as a writer of young adult books. His most recent, “Worth Writing about: Exploring Memoir with Adolescents” was published by Stenhouse Publishing.
For the moment Wizner will continue living in New York, where her children ages 10 and 12 go to the Blue School. She plans to spend Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Millbrook and return on Friday. She will be in the shop Saturdays and Sundays throughout the holidays.
Merritt Books will have all sorts of tempting things for Christmas including an extensive selection of books as well as toys and games for children of all ages. They will also have Christmas cards as well as pretty ribbons and papers for those who like to wrap their own presents.
I was thrilled to discover an assortment of titles published by the British firm, Persephone Books, that specializes in mid-twentieth century English writers, most of them women. Each volume has an elegant grey jacket, a ‘fabric’ endpaper with matching bookmark, and a preface by writers such as Diana Athill, Penelope Fitgerald, and Edmund de Waal. These books are a treasure and not readily available in this country,
In March Wizner will close the shop for extensive remodeling. While the space is reconfigured, Merritt Books will remain open in a pop-up location somewhere in the village. Come spring there will be a grand opening.
The upstairs gallery will remain open. Currently on view is an exhibition of landscapes, still-lifes and portraits by Stanfordville artist, Lynda Youmans. On December 5 Merritt will be hosting a First Saturday event featuring Millbrook photographer and author G.A. Mudge and his recent book, “Alice in Central Park: Statues in Wonderland.”
Also on December 5 Rick Moody will read from and sign his new novel, “The Hotels of North America.”
Also on December 5 Rick Moody will read from and sign his new novel, “The Hotels of North America.”
Wizner says she is grateful for all the help and support she has gotten from the former owner of Merritt Books, Alison Meyer, who is staying on. Alison will continue to produce The Millbrook Literary Festival, which will be held on May 21, 2016. Many of the staff will also continue helping at the store.
MILLBROOK RESIDENT, EVELYN GRAINGER NAMED TO WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE’S FALL 2015
Millbrook Resident, Evelyn Grainger Named to Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Fall 2015 Dean’s List
WORCESTER, MA (02/15/2016)– Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has announced that Evelyn Grainger of Millbrook, N.Y., a member of the class of 2018 majoring in civil engineering, was named to the university’s Dean’s List for academic excellence for the fall 2015 semester.
A total of 1,238 undergraduate students achieved the criteria required for WPI’s fall 2015 Dean’s List. The criteria for the WPI Dean’s List differ from that of most other universities as WPI does not compute a grade point average (GPA). Instead, WPI defines the Dean’s List by the amount of work completed at the A level in courses and projects.
“WPI’s academic programs are rigorous and require a level of independence beyond what is required in traditional courses. WPI students go beyond the classroom to work on open-ended problems in and for communities around the world. The problems are important and the impact is real” said dean of undergraduate studies Arthur C. Heinricher. “Some of this nation’s best and brightest students come to WPI to study engineering and science and business and the humanities. Those named to the Dean’s List have excelled in all of their work, and we are exceptionally proud of these outstanding students.”
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation’s first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. WPI’s talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university’s innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 45 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. DEAN’S LIST
MILLBROOK LIBRARY GETS FUNDED
The Millbrook Free Library is far from free. It costs over $400,00 a year to keep the doors open, staffed, heated and connected to the Mid-Hudson Library System that supplies most of the books people ask for. Voters approved an increase in their property taxes to add $88,000 to the $100,000 they are now paying for the library.
The vote was 509 to 208.
The vote was 509 to 208.
The Town of Northeast asked the voters to approve a new highway garage for the Highway Department. The voters said no by a resounding 427 to 129.
AMENIA SCHEDULES APPROVAL OF SILO RIDGE
Amenia schedules approval of Silo Ridge this Thursday at 7 p.m.
The schedule of the town board meeting of Amenia for Thursday, November 19, lists approval of the Findings Statement and Easements for the Silo Ridge project. The resolutions for approval will be available for adoption at this meeting.
The schedule also lists adoption of next year’s budget and settlement of a lawsuit as well as departmental reports and a SEQRA step for an application for a composting operation.
There is a public comment period.
Town board members report being lobbied by members of the planning board who are anxious that the Silo Ridge project be approved in the form as proposed by the developer without discussion or examination of issues that many think are unresolved. Those issues were raised in the Article 78 brought by the Amenia Fish and Game Club but were not resolved when that case was discontinued by the petitioner.
THE SILO RIDGE PROJECT
Now that the stay has been lifted with the settlement of the Article 78 proceeding, all eyes will be focused on the Amenia Town Board to see if they will have the courage to take the hard look that the Planning Board failed to take and stand up for their own zoning code in their forthcoming Findings Statement. The main issue of concern to a loosely organized collection of citizens is the view of and from Delavergne Hill as seen from Route 44 as it winds down the hill into Amenia. The view of that hill from many vantage points around town is of equal importance. A newly formed organization called the Wassaic Watershed and Viewshed Protection Project is pursuing multiple goals. As set forth in their organization papers, they are concerned with the Delavergne viewshed and threats to the water quality of the Amenia Cascade Brook and the Wassaic Creek. Amenia’s Comprehensive Plan specifies the protection of the Delavergne viewshed as a planning policy of the town. It is also specifically mentioned in the town’s Zoning Law that places that viewshed in the Scenic Protection Overlay District.
Site Plan approval is conditioned on a finding that the site plan will not significantly impair scenic character and will be aesthetically compatible with its surroundings. The Dutchess Land Conservancy and Dutchess County Planning, and the Amenia CAC, among others, have gone on record saying the development described in the Master Plan for the north side of Route 44 significantly impairs the viewshed and is not consistent with the town’s zoning law. That development includes a restaurant and parking lot at the top of the hill and 18 houses laid out along two levels of new roads, many visible from Route 44, Route 22 and other points.
The Housatonic Valley Association is one of the parties that has asked for more diligence and the adoption of more safeguards to protect water quality. Since the stream is designated by the DEC as a protected trout stream, it is entitled to added protections. Chemical runoff from herbicides, pesticides and sediments could potentially impact aquatic life.
