Should we build vertically or protect the view? With council member Pam Wetherbee
Release Date: 02/06/2024
Carolyn Glauda is an optimist in dark times
Beaconites!
As the only candidate running for city council representing Ward 4, Carolyn Glauda is pretty much a shoe-in for the seat, but she still wants to earn your vote. In this interview, she shares her vision for a safer, more affordable and more sustainable Beacon. Carolyn has been a member of the traffic safety committee since 2020, an experience that got her hooked on civic engagement. In this interview, she shares her point of view on Beacon’s affordability crisis, sustainability initiatives, transit and other topics. She also indulges her interviewer in a detour on the failures of...
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How's the cell phone ban going? With Beacon teachers Christina Dahl and Lesli Tomkins
Beaconites!
In this back-to-school episode, we hear from two longtime teachers in the public schools. High school history teacher Christina Dahl and JV Forrestal kindergarden teacher Lesli Tomkins talk about changes for the 2025-26 school year, the largest of which is a new "bell-to-bell" ban on cell phones at Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School. This is a huge experiment that's playing out across New York State, and Christina offers an early take on how it's going. We also review some important curriculum changes that are picking up steam this year. A big one for elementary students is the...
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Making art through life’s changes, with Margot Kingon
Beaconites!
Our new interview with Margot Kingon, an artist and the founder of Second Wave Supplies, has a wonderful sweep to it. As an artist and creative instigator, much of Margot’s work could be labeled “art as social practice.” Her many projects have included a long-running pop-up dance party (Dance/Play), a year-long series of Covid-era family portraits, and most recently, an art supply thrift store in Beacon. When she takes something new on, Margot typically isn’t only out to express herself creatively but also to invite others to engage and build something together. All...
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In pursuit of connection, with Gracelyn Woods
Beaconites!
Originally from Seattle, Gracelyn Woods grew up housing insecure, food insecure and raised by a single mom. From these tough beginnings, she cultivated a fierce attitude of hard work and self-determination that resulted in a successful career in TV and event production in New York City. But after 20 years of this work, culminating in a big job with the landmark Apollo Theater, Gracelyn found herself mired in unhappiness. “The lifestyle of TV and event production had taken its toll. It had shown up in vices, it had showed up in drinking, it had showed up in overspending,” she says in...
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Beacon needs bikes, with Meg Lazaros
Beaconites!
There are plenty of good reasons to hope for a more bikeable Beacon. To name a few: 1) Improved safety (for drivers and pedestrians as well as for cyclists) 2) Reduced traffic congestion 3) Greater equity for people who can’t afford a car or don’t want to drive around for small errands. 4) Bikes are fun :) In this interview, Meg Lazaros, one of the founders of the Beacon Bicycle Coalition, discusses the work being done to improve Beacon’s roads for bike use. Beacon Bicycle Coation was founded to advocate for bike infrastructure, including both short-term improvements...
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Gen X women are not done, with Lena Rizkallah
Beaconites!
Lena Rizkallah has carved out a niche giving financial advice to women in their 40s and 50s, often helping them navigate transitional moments in their lives. For these clients — who may be going through a divorce, starting a businesses or taking on a new creative project — Lena helps frame out a financial plan that can enable the vision. “Money equals freedom,” she says. Born to Palestinian parents who immigrated to the US and raised in a suburb of Washington D.C., Lena followed a winding path to Beacon. In this interview, we talk about: The Gaza catastrophe...
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How Sergei Krasikov turned his love of nature into a civic purpose
Beaconites!
Our interview with Sergei Krasikov is a must-listen if you’re into trails, open spaces, water sheds and being outside in any weather. Originally from Belarus, Sergei has made Beacon his home in every sense. He is a community builder and civic volunteer with a special focus on land conservation. As the chair of the Conservation Advisory Committee and founder of the Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance, he has advanced a city-wide composting program, trail clearing, a water testing program and more. Right now he’s focused on an inventory of open spaces that could eventually be adopted...
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Paulette Myers-Rich's art book collaborations
Beaconites!
Paulette Myers-Rich has partnered with dozens of artists and writers during an accomplished career in fine art printing. In this interview we talk about many of those collaborations - including a series of books featuring Irish poets produced jointly with the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas. Paulette moved to Beacon in her fifties, choosing it in part because it visually echoed her industrial river city home of St. Paul, Minnesota. Once here, she continued to produce letterpress printed works under her imprint, Traffic Street Press, and opened the No. 3 Reading...
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Raising animals builds compassion, with Kim Pennock
Beaconites!
Kim Pennock is an educator and the poultry lead at the Stony Kill educational farm and 4H club. Stony Kill has chickens, cows, sheep, rabbits and bees, with a focus on heritage breeds. Each August, its 4H youth are represented at the Dutchess County Fair, and some go on to participate in the youth livestock sale. They come away with useful skills, friendships and a commitment to raising animals ethically and humanely. In this interview, Kim discusses how 4H teaches young people about agriculture, animal husbandry, gardening, art and more. And she provides an overview of her work at Stony...
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We’re all gonna die, with Riverview Funeral Home director Pat Halvey
Beaconites!
Pat Halvey is well acquainted with death and grieving. He was 13 years old when his father first initiated him into the family funeral business, and he’s worked with the deceased and the bereft ever since. That business, Riverview Funeral Services, recently merged with Beacon’s other multi-generational death and funeral services provider, Libby. In our interview, Pat talks about many facets of death, grieving and funeral rites. He gamely answers dozens of literally morbid questions on cremation, green burials, Irish wakes, Covid, the falloff in religious services, the disturbing...
info_outlinePam Wetherbee grew up in Newburgh and moved to Beacon in 1986 for an almost unfathomable reason: affordability. In this episode, she talks about changes to Beacon in the 38 years since she moved here and her hopes for the city now. In this episode...
Affordability. Pam also shares her perspective on housing affordability, including a recent study that found the city needs more of both lower income and luxury homes, but not necessarily middle-income homes. Can this be believed?
Views. And, Pam wants to preserve views of Mount Beacon for as many residents as possible. “Looking at the mountain from Fishkill Avenue, to me it’s just a gem, and to lose that because we’ve built higher and blocked it? That needs to be considered.”
Social services. How many people in Beacon are in need, but we don't know? Pam is concerned that older and poorer resident may be experiencing isolation and health risks, and she sees a role for the city in identifying and helping those in need.
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This episode was recorded and edited by Beacon AV Lab. Photo courtesy of Michael Isabell.
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