The River Reporter Online - Letters to the Editor

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The River Reporter welcomes letters on all subjects from its readers. They must be signed and include the correspondent's phone number. The correspondent's name and town will appear at the bottom of each letter; titles and affiliations will not, unless the correspondent is writing on behalf of a group.

Letters are printed as they are received, or at the discretion of the editor, and without correction to grammar or spelling. It is requested they be limited to 500 words; correspondents may be asked to cut longer letters. Deadline is 1:00 p.m. on Monday.

I am writing in reference to The River Reporter’s August 22nd issue, specifically the Today’s Business article “ Not Enough Houses, Not Enough Builders.” I applaud The River Reporter’s attempt to address and bring to the table important issues affecting our community, but was disappointed in the reporter’s failure to capture the essential issues concerning building and future growth. I take this opportunity to clarify my position on building costs and reiterate the importance of comprehensive zoning and communication between townships within the region.

First off, building costs in our area are in the vicinity of $125/square foot for a mid-range custom home, not $75/sq. ft. Builders in Sullivan County are subject to the same material and labor cost increases as the rest of the country and you can no longer build for $75/sq. foot as was possible fifteen years ago. I believe that clients need to be educated to understand the increased expenses. It is also interesting to note that in most metropolitan areas custom building costs can be as high as $250/sq.ft. People, who build custom homes here, are really getting a great deal, though I do not believe they are “stealing” as was quoted.

The second clarification I think is important to make has to do with area zoning issues. I do not have any “dark prediction of casino workers sticking modulars on the edges of large fields.” Though, I do believe that with the new potential for Sullivan County receiving a large influx of population (i.e. the future performance center and possibility of gambling) each township must reassess their zoning regulations. A more comprehensive zoning plan should be established linking each of the town’s plans together. This would have to be studied at a county level, with expert zoning consultants helping to analyze the individual town plans and how they relate with neighboring towns. Zoning wise the county needs to be thought of as a whole, rather than individual autonomous sections. A synergetic understanding of the town relationships is necessary. Certainly the uniqueness of character and needs of each town must be respected, but a larger picture is beginning to evolve and preparation for it is essential. Possibly a forum addressing only county-wide zoning would be a worthy topic on which The River Reporter could focus.

We were pleased to see former Upper Delaware Superintendent John Hutzky’s thoughtful Op Ed piece added to your coverage of this summer’s two drownings in the Delaware River. By his count, as the brave and the foolish continue to swim back and forth across the river, at least six private or public agencies with overlapping jurisdictions and conflicting mandates have made little progress toward the development of remedies to reduce the risks of river swimming to visitors. Human nature meets government gridlock and the potential for another tragedy remains constant.

We urge the National Park Service to enlarge and energize its river safety committee through the inclusion of the NYS Department of Conservation, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and qualified individuals—John Hutzky tops our list—and to lead this committee toward the development of a comprehensive mechanism which reduces the number of drownings in the Upper Delaware to an irreducible minimum—zero.

I want to thank Dave Hulse and the newspaper for keeping us up to date on issues as they come up and are discussed at the town board meetings, as was done in his recent brief article about our tax situation. I’d like to see the same coverage for the Tusten Zoning Board of Appeals and the Tusten Planning Board. Public hearings must be posted by law in the legal notices, but most of us don’t have the time and patience to scan the legals every week. It seems like the newspaper is filling a real need in the community by informing us of what is under discussion by our boards.

Sullivan County Tobacco Free Coalition supports and applauds Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Council in their effort to provide all New York City workers with a safe, healthy, smoke free work environment, all workers (including office, restaurant, bar, bingo, bowling and nightclub workers) as well as patrons of, deserve a safe, healthy, smoke free environment. No one, in any job, should have to breathe tobacco smoke pollution when it has been shown to cause cancer and respiratory disease. The health of bartenders and wait staff is just as important as the health of any other employee. Bartenders and wait staff are being forced to breathe what is equal to half a pack of cigarettes a day in secondhand smoke and that is just not fair.

Bravo to more and more community decision makers here in Sullivan County who are realizing that no one should have the legal right to make someone else physically sick. Many agencies, organizations and some restaurants here in Sullivan County have already voluntarily created smoke free environments to insure that their employees and patrons are provided a healthy environment.

We encourage the Sullivan County decision makers to follow Mayor Bloomberg’s lead and provide a healthy environment for all Sullivan County patrons and workers.

Jaye Johnson, CSW
Coordinator, Sullivan County Tobacco Free Coalition
Monticello, NY