NARROWSBURG, NY — In the wake of a busy July 4th holiday weekend, the July 8 Tusten Town Board meeting dealt with a variety of tourism and ecology-related matters.

Narrowsburg was hopping with visitors, some of whom were also hopping—in desperate need of a public restroom. Asking where the nearest facility is, some were apparently told by business owners that “restrooms are for restaurant patrons only.” The board favored installing two portable restrooms, one for handicapped visitors, in the town hall parking lot throughout the late summer season.

Councilperson Brandi Merolla introduced a new nationwide plastic recycling initiative, headed by several large companies. Using clean, dry plastic bags—like those that wrap newspapers, supermarket produce and checkout bags—the companies manufacture secondary products while saving the earth, seas and wildlife from plastic contamination. Local collection points include Pete’s Market in Narrowsburg and Weis Markets in the Route 6 Mall in Honesdale, plus the town’s own collection point in the Tusten Town Hall lobby. These make consumer donation convenient, Merolla said. The town hall collection bin details the types of plastic bags suitable for donation. This effort dovetails with Councilperson Jill Padua’s home collection of Styrofoam containers for similar projects.

Ed Kraus of Narrowsburg made the board aware that recent removal of pine trees from the multigenerational park on the flats in Narrowsburg has created scorching playground conditions, prompting parents and children alike to flee it. He asked for short-term relief in the form of some type of shade construction; to which Stephen Stuart proposed installation of a solar canopy that would provide both shade and low-level lighting. Saying that lighting might discourage late-night teenage activities contributing to another type of plastic contamination, Wingert thought the lighting would be enough to illuminate human figures but not bright enough to disturb the sleep of nearby residents.

A bench from Veterans Memorial Park beside the Narrowsburg Bridge went over the embankment sometime during the holiday weekend. Despite the danger involved, Merolla and partner Sean Harrington retrieved the bench and it has since been chained in place.

A gallery member observed that “Route 97 from Narrowsburg to Barryville looks as bad as a PA road,” prompting another gallery member to interject that the stretch of road mentioned is slated for re-pavement in mid-July.
Wingert’s announcement that the Sullivan County Legislature has asked each town to pass a resolution supporting the upgrade of Route 17 (with an additional lane in each direction) confused both board and gallery. Pointing to Sullivan County Legislative Chair Luis Alvarez’s “State of the County” speech months ago, the gallery expressed surprise that the upgrade is not a done deal. Wingert smiled and said, “Apparently not.” After councilperson Tony Ritter questioned the need for localities to fund what is now Interstate 86, and thus a federal highway, the board passed a supportive resolution.

But Robert Dougherty, candidate for Sullivan County Legislature District 1 Representative, wants Tusten to exact a promise from the county in exchange for that resolution. Noting that weekly Friday afternoon traffic jams caused by private contractors’ work between Route 17 Exits 116 and 120 are disrupting the flow of tourists to Sullivan County, he asked Sullivan County executives to pressure their Orange County counterparts into rescheduling Friday afternoon work. “Sullivan County vacation homeowners will come regardless of traffic delays, but first-time and infrequent visitors will be put off, and may never return,” Dougherty said.

The board went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter and recessed to 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 23.