Good news for the Village Sycamore!

My friend Paula put it best : “TREE SAVED! Once up in limbs, Lee’s Tree Service confirmed the arborist’s report…needs pruning and maintenance, does NOT need chopping down. Village Building Inspector Thomas VanTine, on the scene, reported this news to Village Mayor James Miccio, who halted the death sentence. As I write this, Tree is getting a much needed makeover. Thanks to ALL of you who supported this conservation effort. Today, every one and every life involved wins. Time for me to do the Snoopy Dance!!! So happy!!!! So happy for the Village folk, so happy for Tree!!!”

SOS Save our Sycamore

To be completely honest, when I first heard about this tree “thing” – I didn’t know which tree we were talking about. Then, yesterday, as my family drove through the Village on our way out of town – I made a special point to glance over at the firehouse and my heard skipped a beat. Not that tree!  Trees are funny things. You don’t really notice them at all until they are gone. Imagine something that’s been part of the skyline since you can remember looking at the skyline. Of COURSE you overlook it.

The tree is – first of all – enormous. I mean, it’s really stunning. And not for nothing, but houses can be knocked down and rebuilt, streets can be rerouted, even devlopments can be redesigned. However trees are our LIVING landscape. They cannot be removed or rerouted, and most especially they cannot be rebuilt. This is a HEALTHY tree that has stood in that spot for over 200 years. 

As a living thing this tree will change, grow; it will need to be pruned and maintained; it will be a delight to some and an inconvenience to others. I cannot imagine where the demolition of this beautiful specifiman will lead. If we are not interested in protecting this living piece of history, then where will we stand when it comes to any of the other trees in the neighborhood?

Not only does it deserve our protection – it commands it.

Yesterday I spoke with an arborist with Red Cedar who has been observing this tree for several years. I can confirm that he did in fact verify that the tree is in good health. It’s important to realize that his opinion carries a bit more weight than the “tree specialist” that the Village Board of Trustees had consulted. For details on this please visit the Save our Sycamore link above.

Keep Fishkill Beautiful has a new mission :)

I had initially started the Keep Fishkill Beautiful blog to inform people about a development that was proposed in the Baxtertown Woods area. This development would have installed an 200 unit apartment and townhome complex project on the 60+ acre Yellen estate that lies on the west side of Jackson Street, south of Baxtertown Road.

It was a long, difficult journey but in the end I am happy to report that this proposal has been indefinitely tabled. This was a terrific moment – but along the way I had also become painfully aware of how readily our town is to dole out Fishkill’s precious open space to developers. I was constantly fielding questions from people – including :

“What’s going on at the corner of Main St. and Jackson?”

“They took down the Victorian that was near the Post Office. What’s going up in its place?”

“What is this that I hear about redistricting Fishkill Elementary School?”

In response to the need for an easy place to go to for answers, I’ve adjusted my blog to help answer some of these questions. Thank you for visiting. Please email me at fishkillnyresident@hotmail.com and feel free to submit any questions that you have regarding our Town. I will do my best to answer you as accurately as I can!