The Peru Gazette

Peru voters can cast ballots today, November 7, 2023, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Parish Center, 3030 Main St., Peru, NY 12972. The Gazette hopes to post Peru’s results before 10 p.m.

Posted: November 7th, 2023 under General News, Peru News, Political News.
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New York ballot proposals explained for the 2023 election

Click here for the MSN story

Posted: November 6th, 2023 under General News, Political News, State Government News, Statewide News.
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2023 Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7 – See a sample ballot here

Peru Ballot for voters in Clinton County Legislature Area 5

The two propositions

Peru Ballot for voters in Clinton County Legislature Area 7

Tuesday, December 2023 is Election Day. Several important offices must be filled, especially at the county level. Peru voters cast ballots at St. Augustine’s Parish Center, 3030 Main St., Peru, NY 12972. The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Here is a sample ballot. It includes the two propositions on the backside of each ballot.

7:41 a.m. Nov. 7 – Area 7 Ballot included.

Posted: November 6th, 2023 under Community Events, County Government News, General News, Peru News, Political News, Town Board News.
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Keeseville-Peru Ecumenical Choir performs Dec. 16 & 17

Posted: November 6th, 2023 under Arts and Entertainment, Community Events, General News, Northern NY News, Peru News, Religious News.
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Clinton County Historical Association and Museum November 2023 History Presentations

Tuesday, November 14, 2:30 pm. A Virtual Tour of the Old Base Oval with Helen Nerska showing the original buildings and the histories associated with each one. The Grand Room, Meadowbrook Healthcare, 154 Prospect Ave, Plattsburgh.

Thursday, November 16, 6:30 pm. The Catholic Summer School of America – A History in pictures with Robin Labarge sharing the stories and photos in her new book on the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven. CCHA, 98 Ohio Avenue, Plattsburgh.

All presentations are free and open to the public.

Please contact Helen Nerska, at 518-561-0340 or email director@clintoncountyhistorical.org for more information.

Posted: November 6th, 2023 under Arts and Entertainment, City News, Community Events, Northern NY News, Peru/Regional History.
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INTERWOVEN Ensemble Interweaves Sonorities of East and West November 12

New York-based intercultural ensemble INTERWOVEN celebrates and integrates traditional Asian music and Western classical music through performing, commissioning, and recording contemporary works. Exploring time-honored soundscapes of Asia and Europe, the ensemble weaves together musical and artistic threads from diverse origins and traditions and intertwines unique Asian perspectives and aesthetics to create holistic, innovative works and music experiences that encourage inclusion and harmony between various American communities.

An exciting new ensemble on the scene, INTERWOVEN made its debut in October 2021 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City and since then has demonstrated bold originality and versatility in various events and venues: Chinatown Arts Week (NYC); Kansas University Asian Classical Music Initiative; Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn; the Center for Remembering and Sharing at the White Room (NYC) and Chamber Music America.

INTERWOVEN performs a concert (open to the public) on Sunday, November 12 at 3:00 pm at the Saranac Methodist Church on Route 3 in Saranac, New York. The program includes iconic folk songs and historic compositions from Asia as well as contemporary works that interlace the sounds of East and West. Works include Thomas Osborne’s Tumbling from the Ninth Height of Heaven for koto, violin, and cello; Yang Yong’s River Songs for erhu and cello; Liu Tianhua and Chen Yaoxin’s Wildlife Suite for erhu, violin, viola, and cello; Theodore Wiprud’s Mudang for Piri and String Quartet; and Daron Hagen’s Genji for koto and string quartet.

General admission at the door is $20; seniors and students $15; children under 12 free; family rate available. Current public health guidelines are followed. For further information telephone 518-293-7613, e-mail ambrown.hillholl@gmail.com or visit hillandhollowmusic.org more….

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Posted: November 5th, 2023 under Adirondack Region News, Arts and Entertainment, Community Events, Northern NY News.
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St. Augustine’s Soup Kitchen Menu for Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Meatloaf
Potatoes
Vegetable
Bread
Dessert

Served take-out only, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Parish Center, 3030 Main St., Peru, NY 12972

All Are Welcome!

Posted: November 5th, 2023 under General News.
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Peru High School football wins 3rd straight sectional title in shutout win over Beekmantown

“We are prepared every game and we come through with the win every time,” said Peru’s Zack Engstrom

Click here for the MYNBC5 story

Posted: November 5th, 2023 under Education News, Northern NY News, Peru News, Peru School News, Peru/Regional History, Sports News.
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Tammy Laver thanks a “mystery writer” for their wisdom

Click here to view Tammy’s photos

I was walking on the Heyworth Village path on October 1st when I came upon words of wisdom. I instantly felt a smile come across my face!! It warmed my heart! I continued along the path only to find more words!!! I thought, “How wonderfully kind for someone to feel inspired to create colorful chalk writings along this path!” Do they really know how much a gesture like that could mean to someone? Let’s face it, with all the craziness in the world around us, isn’t it nice to feel hope, happiness and faith in humanity? It really did fill me up! It put an extra pep in my step! It definitely brightened my day! I started thinking about my own life. What gesture could I make to make a difference in someone’s day? What could you do? What could we all do? I would very much like to thank the mystery writer of the path’s wisdom. Thank you for inspiring me and I am sure many others.

That’s just my thoughts. I love quotes and this truly spoke to me.

With Gratitude,

Tammy Laver

Posted: November 5th, 2023 under Arts and Entertainment, Community Events, General News, Northern NY News, Peru News, Things to do in & near Peru.
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Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program Seeks Proposals for Education and Organizational Capacity Initiatives

Projects located in the New York, Québec, and Vermont portions of the Lake Champlain basin will be eligible for consideration in this grant opportunity.

Grand Isle, VT – The Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) seeks proposals for projects that support local watershed groups and provide opportunities for informing and involving the public in Lake Champlain outreach initiatives. The Program anticipates awarding nearly $1,700,000 to local organizations, municipalities, and educational institutions through four grant categories:

LCBP Annual Organizational Support grants (up to $20,000 per award)
Organizational Support and Workforce Development in the New York Portion of the Lake Champlain Basin ($25,000 – $150,000 per award)
Small Education and Outreach Implementation grants (up to $15,000 per award)
Large Education and Outreach Implementation grants (up to $50,000 per award)
Stream Wise Participation grants (up to $15,000 per award)

Dr. Eric Howe, Program Director for the LCBP, said, “We are awed and inspired every year by the work local organizations do through these projects to improve the water quality and habitat in their communities. As always, we look forward to the proposals we receive in response to these RFPs.”

Local organizations play a critical role in implementing projects to achieve water quality and habitat protection goals. Recent projects funded through outreach or organizational support grants include:

The Ausable River Association led guided watershed tours that explored wildflowers, birding, lake and aquatic ecology, geology, and night skies where participants learned about long-term water quality sampling and invasive species identification and removal.
The Lake St. Catherine Association developed a “Libraries Love Lakes” program with Wells Village Library, which created a special “Lake St. Catherine” section and provided families lake-themed kits with books and activities, hands-on learning and stewardship opportunities, and boat tours.
The Poultney-Mettowee Natural Resource Conservation District updated computer hardware, financial and point of sale software, file management systems, and website resources.
Eight Stream Wise partners each conducted between four and twelve assessments of riparian buffers and stream habitat on private parcels and provided information to landowners about the benefits of healthy streams in Vermont and New York.

The LCBP anticipates awarding nearly $1,700,000 by April 2024 in these four categories. Projects located in the New York, Québec, and Vermont portions of the Lake Champlain basin will be eligible for consideration in this grant opportunity. Grant guidelines, applications, deadlines and electronic application submission links for each category can be found on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants.

The grants will support projects that advance the goals of the long-term Lake Champlain management plan Opportunities for Action. These projects are supported by funds awarded to NEIWPCC on behalf of the LCBP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Posted: November 5th, 2023 under Adirondack Region News, Environmental News, Lake Champlain News, Northern NY News, Regional NY-VT News.
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Town Board Special Meetings on Nov. 14

The Town of Peru Town Board has scheduled a Special Meeting for Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. to adopt the 2024 Final Budget and a 5:45 p.m. Special Meeting to accept the 2023 Water/Sewer Relevy.

Posted: November 4th, 2023 under Peru News, Town Board News, Water & Sewer Dept. News.
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Saranac High School girls’ soccer heads back to second state final four in three years

Spartans dominate in 3-0 shutout over No. 2 Voorheesville in New York regional finals

Click here for the MYNBC5 story

Posted: November 4th, 2023 under Education News, Northern NY News, Sports News, Upstate New York.
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Section VII Cross Country Qualifiers sends nearly 50 runners to New York state tournament

Ticonderoga, Beekmantown, Saranac, and Lake Placid feature winning teams, Avery Blanchard and Jake Kollmer the individual winners

Click here for the MYNBC5 story

Posted: November 4th, 2023 under Adirondack Region News, Education News, General News, Peru School News, Sports News.
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Candidates for Clinton County’s contested election races responded to our questions

Election Day is next Tuesday, Nov. 7. If you didn’t read these responses when they were posted, please take a few minutes to read them now.

Click here for Clinton County Legislature Candidates’ responses to Peru Gazette Questions.

Click here for the Clinton County Clerk Candidates’ responses to Peru Gazette Questions

Click here for the Clinton County Family Court Judge candidates’ responses to Peru Gazette questions.

Posted: November 3rd, 2023 under County Government News, General News, Northern NY News, Peru News, Peru/Regional History.
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Rabideau: Downtown Plattsburgh needs hotel

Opinion appearing in the November 2, 2023 Press-Republican. Published with permission.

Plattsburgh’s downtown is not ready yet,” said the hotel developer I invited to Plattsburgh some 30 years ago to walk downtown’s streets with me.

The developer concluded our walk and conversation by saying, “When your downtown has a critical mass of retail, dining, and entertainment, then you will not have to invite a hotel developer to walk the streets with you, instead, a hotel developer will come to you.”

Three decades later, after our downtown has achieved that critical mass of retail, dining, and entertainment, adjacent to a gorgeous lake, a hotel developer has come to us, ready to plunk down $35 million to build a fine hotel on a piece of property few would otherwise want.

One would think the city and the Common Council would jump for joy as a hotel anchor for our promising downtown, on land next to the wastewater plant, is a God send.

Alas, that is not the case.

I was mayor of Plattsburgh for a decade, from 1990 through 1999, a period of great tumult and change as our Air Force base closed and Route 3 continued to suck the life from our downtown. I was frantic in keeping our downtown vibrant and intact against those long odds.

Times and circumstances change, however. The same chain stores we have on Route 3 are found almost everywhere in America, as urban sprawl continues its unappealing appetite.

Yet, all the while, the Lake City’s downtown slowly built a critical mass of fine dining establishments, entertainment venues and unique retail shops…all “local” …the kind of shops tourists seek, by foot, as they can motor to a Wal-Mart anywhere, and not enjoy a lake front such as ours.

It is a powerful combination as there is so much to do. By the way, we named our community “The Lake City” during my tenure to turn our attention to our biggest asset and that name stuck for only one reason, because it is true. The Lake City only needs a hotel close to its shore to cement that title.

I went on to be a mayor of another community, Saranac Lake, and the same hotel developer came to us with a plan for another $35 million investment on the shore of Lake Flower. Of course, in this day of rabid social media, we encountered the same arguments against its building from the same types of naysayers, but we prevailed and the hotel is a beautiful success story and we are better off with its addition of top-notch lodging and venue space.

What were some of the common arguments from the naysayers? Here are a few of them with their answers edited for the Lake City:

What does the city gain?

In addition to the purchase price, the city gains downtown accommodations which will bring tourism, guests, and customers to downtown businesses.

What does the city lose?

Vacant, unused land; land that is adjacent to a sewage treatment plant and has no other foreseeable use.

What if the hotel goes bankrupt?

It will keep operating, as the mortgage lenders will keep it operating to get their loans paid or will sell it cheap to another operator to get as much of the loan paid off as possible. That is how it works in the hotel industry. The city has no liability and will continue to collect tax money.

How will the hotel stay in business in the “off months,” Columbus Day to Memorial Day, the low season?

Just like hotels in Lake George and on Route 3, hotels primarily depend on summer business so that their average vacancy rate gets into the 65% threshold and higher. However, this Downtown hotel is uniquely positioned for winter revenue-generating operations.

What are some of those winter revenue-generating operations?

Weddings, Plattsburgh State hockey packages, college visitors and conferences, card shows, yoga classes, Local craft exhibitions, wine tastings, Christmas packages with Santa, chess tournament, maple syrup festival, beer fest, local farm tours, arts show, celebrity chef-taught cooking classes, local corporate events, kids clubs, cocktail mixing master class, talent shows.

Does Downtown need a hotel to be truly successful?

Yes. Yes. And Yes. It is one of the top anchors of any successful Downtown.

I believe Plattsburgh has achieved that critical mass of retail, dining, and entertainment, and that is why a hotel developer came to us and is willing to risk his $35 million (not ours) on this proposition.

Together, the downtown businesses and the hotel can build upon the base already created and make the hotel a community center and our downtown even more vibrant.

Plattsburgh has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Common Council must grab that elusive golden ring on this go-around, a reward our downtown has rightly earned and do it now.

— Clyde Rabideau served as mayor of the City of Plattsburgh from 1990 to 2000 and as mayor of Saranac Lake from 2010 to 2022

Posted: November 2nd, 2023 under Adirondack Region News, Business News, General News, Northern NY News, Peru/Regional History.
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