Picnic Table Confab for Multi-Million Dollar Municipal Ideas
Many ways to make Port Jervis better and some ways to make it worse were discussed by a gathering of about 15 people from the area, gathered around picnic tables at Riverside Park on Thursday evening. Their purpose was to generate ideas for the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant application. Architect Jeremy Shannon, of Deerpark, who initiated the Carbon Positive Port Jervis 2026 project, led the session. Port Jervis Mayor Kelly Decker and Community Development Agency Executive Director Valerie Maginsky assisted.
Maginsky encouraged creation of a “transformative project with specific boundaries,” that would be conducive to “sustainability, resiliency, good employment opportunities and long term investment.”
She gave examples of several areas of the city and pointed out the “choke point to economic development” that lack of access across the railroad tracks had become.
Shannon asked the group to form teams of three or four and come up with two ideas that would make the city “terrible,” along with two ideas that would make the city “thrive.” Why terrible ideas?
“It allows the brain to be flexible,” said Shannon, noting that he brought this strategy from community building leadership seminars.
Bad ideas included Maginsky’s “more unmaintained parking lots”; Michael Ward’s suggestion to “ignore excessive traffic noise from cars, trucks and motorcycles”; Barbara Marszalek’s “more rundown buildings,” and Jim Blanton’s, “Block river access and views.”
“Flip the bad ideas into the best ideas,” Shannon then said.
Blanton wanted more river access: “Have a suspended walkway by the river winding through the trees for hiking and biking,” he said, aiming for views of the city and the river. He also suggested building a community center that would provide activity space for youth and seniors, an emergency center and offices, as Decker had previously proposed, only to have it voted down.
Michael Ward wanted more green space and more “inventive attractions,” aided by flexible codes. He described the possibility of frisbee golf going through the woods along the river, using baskets as goals for frisbee throws. He expressed doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers would allow paving of a ridge by the Delaware River, as Blanton had suggested. But Stan Siegel, Fourth Ward councilman, thought it might be viable.
Spiro Ragouzeos said he wants to see electric trolleys as well as pedestrian walkways.
Amador Laput suggested making Port Jervis a destination for arts, culture, alternative wellness and alternative schools, with coordination between businesses and an app that guides people through.
“I’m always tripping over broken sidewalks,” said Roz Hodgkin. “They need to be replaced.”
Shannon noted the importance of focusing on sustainability. He suggested installing electric chargers near amenities and offering a directory of those locations. Maginsky suggested having solar stations on a loop through town with comfortable places to sit along the way from downtown to Pike Plaza. An “anchor building” could be built by the farmers market municipal lot that would house a food co-op and educational programs. Public bathrooms are needed, she added. Those would cost $500,000.
Asked which ideas appealed to him, Decker said, “I found all the ideas interesting and worth looking into. Of course simple concepts need to be worked out and put in the DRI request if they fit the grant requirements. Others we could look at for other grants.”
To offer suggestions for DRI application consideration, email suggestions from now through 9/6/21 to: Info@PortJervisNY.gov, or contact Mayor Kelly Decker at: 845-858-4017, or PJCDA Executive Director Valerie Maginsky at: 845-858-4024. To assure timely receipt, written comments may be hand deposited in the mailbox at the front door of City Hall, 20 Hammond St. or mail a hard copy to: Mayor Decker, P.O. Box 1002, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Suggestions must be received by Sept. 6, 2021.