And They’re Off…

Friends of  Sanford Stud Farm started the 2013 season on February 26, with their annual meeting held in the Sanford Room of the Raindancer Restaurant in Perth, NY. The Friends of Sanford Stud Farm is a not-for-profit organization in unison with the Town of Amsterdam formed to help oversee the restoration and preservation of the former Sanford Stud Farm as a heritage center because of its historical, architectural, and cultural significance.

Last night that mission took a giant step forward as Dan McEneny, representative from NYS Parks and Recreation National Register Unit, announced the Sanford Stud Farm will be formally listed on the NYS Historic Places registry next month. The Sanford Stud Farm will then be nominated for the National Historic Places registry so the history will not be forgotten.

Master of Ceremonies last night was Tom Foster standing in for Board President Scott Friers who was home with the flu. Past FSSF President L.F.”Sam” Hildebrandt gave the keynote speech which included funding and restoration initiatives. Jim & Janice Kelly, Sheri Brown and Ron & Audie DeCaprio were presented with the 2012 Raymond Pischel Volunteer of the Year Award for exemplary contribution and efforts on behalf of the Friends of Sanford Stud Farm.

We also heard from Cecilia Tkaczyk, newly elected State Senator for the 46th District, who pledged her support for the cause.

2012 in review

This year my blog went through some changes. The Grove Street Grumble became The Grove Street Photographer.  The Buddhists helped me discover that I had more to be thankful for than to grumble about. While the statistics showed people really liked my grumbling posts, there was also a number of people who did not. One reporter for the Gazette even described my writing style as acerbic. While I still have a few acerbic posts now and then, for the most part I have tried to focus on what I can do well, photography.

Sixty posts were added to the Grove Street Photographer blog in 2012. The blog had 33,000 views from 95 countries. May 29, 2012 saw the highest number of views in one day with 1,134 people viewing the post Celebrating Buddhas Birthday.

Other popular posts viewed in 2012 included two from 2011. In the number two spot  is A New York State of Death  followed by Photo Restoration in the third place. The fourth and fifth places go to my 2012 acerbic posts The Many Faces of Michael Chiara and Letter to the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.

The 2012 post with the largest number of comments was another acerbic post Mayor Proposes Two Condoms for the City of Amsterdam.

What I took from these statistics was that people would rather look at my photos than read about my political views and I’m good with that. The local papers use talented journalists who are very good at covering local politics. When it comes to photography, I have the edge.

See you next year!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

12/12/12

Today is December 21, 2012, the day the world was to end but didn’t. I thought it would be right today to post photos from another significant date this month, the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the year two thousand twelve.

The Photo Center at 404 River Street in Troy, New York 12180, is sponsoring a juried photography show From January 18 to February 17, 2013. The show will feature a slice of life from submitted photographs taken on 12/12/12. The show is open to all photographers and digital submissions are due by 6PM on Wednesday, January 2, 2013. You may submit up to four photos along with a $30 fee payable to the Photo Center.

With that in mind and my new Canon EOS-M camera, I took some photos. The camera is smaller than my iPhone 4S in length and height but packs a powerful APS-C sensor. It is very good in low light and all the following photos were taken with existing light. My day took me from Church Street to Price Chopper, Schenectady library, Morette’s King Steak House and then to a meeting of the Schenectady Photographic Society. This group is one of the oldest continuously running camera clubs in the United States. It has been in existence for over eighty years!

The first photo taken at 12 midnight from my house on Grove is followed by the Church Street photos taken at noon.

The Forgotten Memorial

Today is the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This attack resulted in the loss of 3,000 lives. We memorialize our dead with monuments and celebrations so that we never forget the travesty caused when humans wage war on other humans over political or religious differences.

The only other foreign attack on US soil also resulted in the loss over 3,000 lives and occurred on September 11, 2001, when the US was attacked by religious extremists. Airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Robert von Hasseln, Amsterdam’s Administrator of Community and Economic Development who also holds the position of City Historian, wanted to make sure that Amsterdamians never forget that day when the hijackers took over American Airline flight 11 that changed course in the air over Amsterdam, New York, eventually crashing into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Von Hasseln arranged to have a surviving column of the World Trade Center’s north tower transported to the City of Amsterdam to be memorialized in a fitting presentation at Riverlink Park.

12/14/2011 Rob von Hasseln with World Trade Center artifact
(photo by Ed Munger, Jr.)

The 11,000 pound, 18 foot column was unceremoniously dumped on the East end of Riverlink Park over a year ago.  There was supposed to be a monument built around the erect column with a public dedication ceremony in Spring of 2012. On December 15, 2011, Amsterdam’s Mayor Thane described the proposed memorial to Recorder reporter Jarrett Carroll;

The cement column will be planted upright into the ground once the ground is workable again. We will be mounting it as an obelisk on the section of land between the cafe and the blacktop, There will be a circular mediation area surrounding it with trees, explanatory signage and benches. It will be a strong symbol that will serve as both a visual and abstract representation.

The memorial was never built, the public dedication ceremony never happened. There was not even a 9/11 remembrance ceremony in 2012. The World Trade Center artifact remains where it was dumped over a year ago, hidden behind an event tent purchased by the City for private party catering by the concessionaire of Riverlink Café.

7/14/2011 World Trade Center Artifact

Today I wanted to photograph the mistreated artifact once again for this article but was met with stiff opposition from the City of Amsterdam in the form of a locked gate.

12/7/2012 No access to Riverlink Park

Once again the citizens of the City of Amsterdam were let down by our elected officials making promises that cannot be kept. Maybe they are waiting for the next election season to build and dedicate this memorial. Wouldn’t that look good on campaign flyers?

Erie Canal Crawl – Riverlink Park

As the Champlain Canal Schooner Lois McClure made its way down the Mohawk River towards the City of Amsterdam, newly appointed Director of Economic Development and City Historian Rob von Hasseln along with the Mayor’s Office and the Amsterdam Waterfront Foundation quickly planned an event like no other. Billed as the Canal Crawl, Amsterdam’s Riverlink Park was host to the educational schooner, sculptor Alice Manzi whose work The Painted Rocks of Amsterdam adorns the Riverlink Park addition and the Historic Amsterdam League with an information table, books and postcards. Music was provided by members of the 2012 World Champion Scotia Glenville Pipe Band, Misha Murdoch and Reid Perry, French-Canadian and Irish music by Bernd Neumann, Carol Mandigo and Lenny Broiles. Hamburgers, hotdogs and cold drinks were served by members of the Waterfront Foundation.

It was a great day for meeting people, making new connections and of course taking pictures!

Horse Tales and Cocktails

My second event on Tuesday, August 7, 2012, was to photograph the annual end of the season fundraiser for the Friends of Sanford Stud Farm. It was held at the Broodmare Barn just off route 30 by Walgreens in the Town of Amsterdam. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvre were served to a group of devoted horse racing fans. Jaime Studd wrote a great article about the event, published in the Wednesday edition of the Recorder.

Duanwu Festival and Open House

Duan Wu Jie, which literally means Double Fifth Festival, is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month based on Chinese calendar. Duanwu is celebrated to commemorate the life of poet Qu Yuan, who was both a scholar and a public official born into the royal Chu clan.  Qu Yuan (339BC-278BC) regarded as one of the greatest Chinese cultural icons that ever lived, he was the first author in China to have his name associated with his verse. Qu’s unique style of verse (sao), broke traditional four character verse by adopting verses or varying length. His works are known as the Chu-ci or Songs of the South.

Legend has it that Qu Yuan suffered with depression after being slandered by corrupt public officials and went into exile. Anxiety and depression coupled with the military capture of his country’s capital, caused Qu Yuan, to commit ritual suicide by holding a large rock and wading into the Miluo River in protest. According to folklore, people threw rice into the river to keep the fish and evil spirits away from Qu Yuan’s body. Qu Yuan’s spirit appeared to his friends and asked them to wrap the rice in silk packages to ward off the dragon.

These rice packages became the traditional food known as zongzi. During Duanwu, people will prepare and eat rice dumpling (zongzi) made of sticky rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. It is often stuffed with meat and vegetable fillings.

Duanwu is also often called Dragon Boat Festival since Chinese communities in many countries hold Dragon Boat races in spirit of Duanwu celebration.

The World Peace and Health Organization would like to invite the public to a Duanwu Festival on Saturday, June 23, 2012, at 10:00am. The free Festival and Open House is being held at 10 Leonard Street in Amsterdam, New York. The WPHO celebration of Duanwu will include a Chinese cultural exchange of song and dance as well as the traditional zongzi.

The building at 10 Leonard Street is a 44, 527 square foot, former home of Breton Industries. The WPHO envision it as a place for cultural exchange and worship. This building along with every other property purchased by the WPHO in the City of Amsterdam had all the copper stripped from it.  That did not alter the mission of the WPHO to continue moving forward with their goal of making Amsterdam a city of peace and health. They have been dutifully working on this property along with others to realize their mission.

This week the WPHO has concentrated their efforts on 10 Leonard Street to hold their first public festival there.  Like a well oiled machine they work together cutting  about an acre of weeds from the yard and building performance platforms on the second floor. They tell me I won’t recognize the place when finished and decorated for the festival.

Please join the members of the WPHO for this Chinese cultural event! It is free of charge and a great opportunity to meet the members of the WPHO, learn about Chinese culture or just see the factory building and discuss plans for its future use.

Sanford Stud Farm Open House

It wasn’t the kind of day they had hoped for, but the Friends of the Sanford Stud Farm still entertained a good number of people today during their open house just off route 30, next to Walgreens in the Town of Amsterdam. The rain kept some people away and according to volunteer coordinator Scott Friers, only five cars showed up from the scheduled New Wave Cruiser’s Car Club because of the weather. By the time I arrived at 2:00pm, there were only two cars left; but the show must go on and inside the barn there were an array of vendors and prizes to be raffled off.  Montgomery County Board of Elections had a booth encouraging voter registration.  I even signed on to be an election inspector.  Representatives from Historic Amsterdam League were there raising money for the organizations historic marker program. Bob Cudmore was there selling his books with the profits going to charities. There was food and a kettle corn vendor.  There was a bouncy house for the kids and horses in the barns once again. It was a nice diversion even for a rainy day, all for a worthy cause.

A Tour of the Sanford Stud Farm

The Friends of Sanford Stud Farm is a not for profit corporation formed to preserve the remaining buildings of a horse farm once owned and operated by Steven Sanford who was a carpet manufacturing innovator turned racing entrepreneur in the late 1870s. Race winning thoroughbreds were bred, raised and trained at the Sanford Stud Farm. The building that now houses Amsterdam City Hall was the former home of the Sanford family.

On Saturday, May 5, 2012, Sam Hildebrandt and Scott Friers gave a tour of the Stud Farm now owned by the Town of Amsterdam.  Historian, author and WVTL radio personality, Bob Cudmore was the guest speaker who gave a history of some of the famous big money winning horses. Only a few of the original buildings remain as most of the farm was sold to developers who built a strip mall on what was once the horse training track.

Two barns were restored by the group with the cooperation of the Town of Amsterdam. Their hope is that it will become a visitors center so the legacy of the Sanford Stud Farm will not be forgotten. My contribution to the effort are these photos.

Riverlink Park Needs Help!

As temperatures soar into the 70′s this week, Amsterdamians are taking to the streets in droves to enjoy the weather. The sound of basketballs hitting the pavement can be heard as kids abandon their electronic games and rediscover the outdoors. In tune with this movement I decided to revisit Riverlink Park, the gem of Amsterdam that occupied my Saturday nights last summer during the Riverlink Park Concert Series.

What I found was little progress since the first flood cleanup.  From the speech by Recreation Director Rob Spagnola during a City Council Meeting last month, I was under the impression that the needed repairs were completed, that all we needed were the floating docks to be ready for the season. My impression was wrong. There is a LOT of work to be done to get the park ready for the season. The City was reimbursed for the repairs but none of the lampposts destroyed by the flooding were replaced, the benches are in poor shape, some needing new wood, all needing painting. There are exposed wires where the boat hookups used to be. The shoreline of the western section of the park is still strewn with debris from the flooding. There are sharp pieces of twisted aluminum where the docks used to attach to the retaining wall.

Although a new storage shed was built for the concession building and repairs to the building were completed, it does not seem that any of the other work is being done so that we can ALL enjoy the park by the river.  I did notice a City of Amsterdam utility truck parked in front of the concession building, but did not see any employees present.

This park represents Amsterdam on the Eric Canal National Heritage Corridor.  It is time we cleaned our stoop.