Politicians stump at Rudd Pond

MILLERTON — Politicians and representatives from the state’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation  (OPRHP) gathered at the Taconic State Park at Rudd Pond last week, one of several stops at parks and historic sites in the area.

The event was a “re-familiarization� with the area’s parks and historic sites, according to New York’s District 103 Assemblyman Marc Molinaro. The park’s staff had set up a tent and provided lunch for the more than 30 people who attended, and as several commented, the weather was just about perfect. But several local residents and municipal officials also took the opportunity to discuss continuing efforts to spruce up Rudd Pond.

Molinaro, District 4 Assemblyman Steven Englebright and OPRHP Deputy Commissioner Wint Aldrich all spoke about the community outcry in response to the state’s recent proposal to close down many of its parks and historic sites, including Rudd Pond.

“The people of New York responded with the most extraordinary outcry,� Aldrich said.

Millerton Mayor John Scutieri and North East Supervisor Dave Sherman testified to the far-reaching efforts of the community once word spread that Rudd Pond was slated to close.

“I’ve never seen such a coalition of people work so hard,� Scutieri said. “I think everybody feels like they had a little bit to do with the [park staying open.]�

But Aldrich and others also warned of the years to come and said that for all the people’s persistence in ensuring that parks didn’t close this year, it could be just as hard or harder the following year to come up with money in the state budget.

Englebright pointed out the threat of consolidation. He explained that most other states’ parks departments are integrated within environmental conservation departments. If New York decided that OPRHP would consolidate with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), it would be “dangerous,â€� he said, and  it would most likely be the small parks that would suffer the most.

Friends of Rudd Pond is a group of residents that was initially formed to address the park’s potential closing and is now working on ways to improve the community’s relationship with the park.  Recently a $10,000 anonymous donation allowed the group to hire a company to dredge the pond of a significant amount of its millweed, one of the  problems that the group is working to address.

Scutieri stressed to those gathered that the group, the town and the village were all committed to a partnership with the state to enhance the public perception of Rudd Pond. But as local resident and “Friend� member Peter Greenough pointed out, the state would need to be flexible as well.

“If [the state’s rules and guidelines] are too rigid, it’s just not going to work,� Greenough said. He said that if Friends of Rudd Pond or a local municipality tried to hold an event at the park to drum up interest, for example, it didn’t make sense to enforce the entrance fee.

“If everyone has to pay the park fee to come in, it gets too expensive,� he reasoned. “We need the ability to waive those kinds of things and to provide insurance.�

Molinaro said that one of the many discussions regarding parks is greater flexibility as more local community groups become involved in operations.

“It’s a conversation that I will continue to have,� he pledged.