De-Railed on the Trail
By Maxim Alter
Copy Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu
The New Paltz Village Board of Trustees has advocated for the opening of a parking lot to the Sojourner Truth Park, as well as the completion of a footbridge to the Rail Trail this year near Plains Road. Problems with the property, where the additions are currently in the process of being built, have been creating difficulties for the construction. “It’s right in the flood plain,” Mayor Terry Dungan said. “It floods all the time, so you can’t build on it, and actually, the high water levels this winter have really held up construction.” If there are problems due to the unanticipated sub-surface conditions when construction starts again, Dungan said the additional costs would be an estimated $7,500. According to Dungan, what began as a simple property purchase to add a park and boat launch in the village, has now become a frustrating 13-year process. After the park was completed in the ‘90s, the village was met with safety issues and funding difficulties. “The [New York State] Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) came down and said, ‘wait a minute this is not safe,’” Dungan said. “They told us, in order to get to the Rail Trail, people have to walk along the road into a blind curve. That’s such a liability issue. You can’t do that.” To solve this problem, the village was told to build a connecting bridge going to the Rail Trail, so people are not required to walk in the roadway. In order to afford this construction, they applied for a grant. “[The NYSDOT] said, ‘OK we’ll give you $100,000 to build a bridge,’” Dungan said. “That was 13 years ago.” Because of the pedestrian hazard, the village may not advertise the site as a usable parking area. “We have a significant village-wide shortage of parking,” said Dungan. “Com-
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NEWS
The New Paltz Oracle
News Briefs World Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is warning Israeli citizens to be on the lookout for pirate matzah and Jews are worried, a merchant said Wednesday. A week before the start of the holiday of Passover, Israeli police raided a warehouse containing a 7-ton stockpile of matzah with fake kosher certificates, according to a statement from the rabbinate. *****
PHOTO BY MAXIM ALTER
The bridge will allow pedestrians to avoid walking on the road at the blind curve. pletion of this project will help alleviate now we had to go back and rebid it and get that.” it from an American firm, which added $15According to Dungan, the construction 20,000 to the cost of the project.” process has lasted all these years because the According to Dungan, the initial agreeNYSDOT is difficult to work with, and as ment was that the NYSDOT would pay 80 time passed, things became more expensive. percent of the engineering, 80 percent of the “I know a really good engineer who just construction and up to $100,000. However, won’t touch any project that’s NYSDOT because of changes in cost, they later agreed oriented because they’re such a pain in the to pay 100 percent of the construction and up neck,” Dungan said. “They keep changing to $196,000. things. The initial engineering was done and “They are getting upset because it’s takthen they contacted the village and said it has ing us so long to do this… but we don’t have to be earthquake proof, so we had to redo it.” a signed contract with them for reimburseDungan said there have been many ment,” Dungan said. “They’re telling us that NYSDOT required changes during construc- in order to keep this project alive, we’ve tion, which have added to the costs. These got to start work… and because of the way changes have forced the village to re-engi- things are, we’re nervous.” neer the project, as well as re-do the approvThe original bids the village received al process. The result is added engineering were higher than what they could afford, costs, consultant costs and inflationary costs, which resulted in a rejection and rebid. In the which have increased over time. second round, the village gained lower bids “They told us, everything has to be and, according to Dungan, they are expectmade in America,” Dungan said. “We had ing to complete the project for less than the the winning bid from a Canadian firm, so proposed reimbursement amount.
CAS Looking at Bookstores
By Zan Strumfeld
A&E Editor | Sstrumfeld34@newpaltz.edu
Along with the current renovations to Student Union, the SUNY New Paltz bookstore is currently in the process of changing its sponsor company. As Follett Corporation is the current company in charge of the bookstore, their contract is about to expire. Although Follett has been with SUNY New Paltz for the past six years, Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) is looking to see if there are any other options that may benefit the campus. At the moment, there are three major bookstore companies that CAS is looking at; Barnes & Noble, Validis and Follett. Inquiring Minds, located in the Village of New Paltz, was also offered but the store decided not to add to the bidding. “We were looking for what they would do with the space, whether they had good fair trade and sustainable practices, the financial return they would give back to the campus and what they would do with our
current employees,” said Executive Director of CAS Steven Deutsch. In order to find out what the companies had to offer, CAS sent a 15-page proposal so they could answer various questions in written format. During spring break, representatives from the companies came to the campus to give an oral version of their written proposal. “They all have their unique strengths,” said Deutsch. Deutsch said that Validis has a unique operating style because unlike Barnes & Noble and Follett, they “assume the identity of the campus they are coming into.” Instead of using their own logo, they would take on the SUNY New Paltz logo, making it the SUNY New Paltz Bookstore, which is attractive in the decision making because it pushes the SUNY New Paltz brand. “Any of the three companies can do the job and would do a good job,” said Deutsch, “but it’s just weighing the pros and cons of the various proposals.” CAS is looking for the best possible offer. The decision process hopes to be finalized within two to three weeks.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
In a break with liberal European practice, Iceland has voted to ban striptease shows, making it an offense for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees. Iceland’s legislature, the Althingi, passed the ban Tuesday night, with just two abstentions and no votes against, although almost half the country’s 63 lawmakers were absent. ***** R&B star Akon has postponed a planned concert in Sri Lanka following angry protests over a music video he is in where scantily clad women dance in front of a Buddha statue. Akon, who expressed regret and said he was not previously aware of the statue in the video, would have been the highest profile international singer to come to this predominately Buddhist, Indian Ocean island since the end of a brutal 25-year civil war last year. Sri Lanka said Wednesday it would not issue Akon a visa for next month’s concert, and his booking firm confirmed the show had been postponed amid growing outrage at the singer here. A mob on Monday hurled stones at a private broadcaster that was helping sponsor the event and a “We Hate Akon” page on Facebook had attracted more than 12,000 members by Wednesday evening.
Compiled from the AP Newswire