Supervisor Baer, Councilman Sena, Building Inspector/Zoning Officer Lee Heim and Tom Carty met recently with the GPI Engineering firm to discuss the plan for sidewalk development in Hillsdale. The plan includes new sidewalks on both sides of Route 23 from the intersection of Route 22 to White Hill Lane. Two or three crosswalks are also part of the proposal. Next steps: comments are expected back from the NYS Department of Transportation later this month. Then a public informational meeting will be scheduled in August 2015 including a presentation by GPI engineers and an opportunity for discussion and questions. A few unsettled issues remain - concrete versus brick, stamped or colored concrete, curbing material, and so on (the grant does not include granite curbs).

Construction is expected to begin after Labor Day in 2016 and, according to the engineers, take no more than a month or two. 80% percent of the project is funded by a federal grant through DOT, 5% by NYS Dormitory Authority and 15% by the Town. Lee Heim has been appointed to serve as project manager and will work closely with GPI and DOT. The Town is also in the process of applying for a grant that, if awarded, could fund historic lighting - another component in the Town's plan to encourage economic development in the Hamlet.

Taconic Hills senior Joseph Giulian is launching a summer research project in the Roeliff Jansen Park. Joe will be comparing the abundance and diversity of diurnal spiders (Araneae) across habitats in the park. Through the use of different collecting methods (sweep netting, hand-collecting, pit-fall traps), Joe will collect, analyze, and identify spider activity and assess habitat health. "Spiders, for too long, have a bad reputation," says Joe. "They should be the center of appreciation, and not treated with 'kill on sight' protocol." The summer youth program will also have the benefit of observing Joe at work.

Mud sliding, a plane dropping leaflets to open a camp's end of season "Color Wars," a young pitcher striking out a visiting Lou Gehrig, a polio epidemic, the controversial arrest of a popular camp owner, kids finding "lost" caves, and folksinger Theodor Bickel entertaining campers. These are some of the stories in the Roeliff Jansen Historical Society's summer exhibit "Swimming, Singing, and S'mores: 120 Years of Camps in the Mid-Hudson Valley." The exhibit opens with a reception on Friday, July 3, at 5:30 at the museum in Copake Falls and runs all summer, on Saturdays and Sundays, 2 - 4 pm, starting July 4.