New Businesses In Beacon Are Popping Up!

As you walk down Main Street, you’ll notice new businesses are popping up all the time! Like, Healthy In Color and Butterhead Salad Company (opening in April).

We try to keep up with new businesses as we notice them! Then we add them to our Shopping Guide, Restaurant Guide, or Beauty Guide. Main Street businesses get a free basic listing in these guides.

If you’re a new business or if you notice a new business and don’t see it listed in one of our guides, let us know. It’s not intentional — we’re just a small mighty team and sometime’s it’s hard to keep up.

If you’re a business who wants to sponsor one of these guides, be included in our weekly newsletter, and be featured weekly in our Instagram, you can find all of the details here > or reach out for more information!

Dummy Light Down; Gets A Dunce Cap After Being Hit During Milling. Was Historic Landmark Protected During Milling?

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Dummy light knocked off by a City of Beacon vehicle during milling on Main Street.
Photo Credit: Anonymous Citizen Reporter

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Beacon’s Dummy Light with orange cones placed on top of and beside it while the City of Beacon works to restore it.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

This week, one of Beacon’s most iconic landmarks located at the intersection of Main Street and East Main Street - the Dummy Light - was knocked off its pedestal by a City of Beacon vehicle. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, citing RoadsideAmerica: "Only three of these old, dangerous, middle-of-an-intersection traffic lights are still standing." A reporter at 101.5 WPDH recently discovered Beacon’s Dummy Light, which does have a devoted fan base like a website.

Based on the photo above showing the light split on the ground, it does not appear that protection was placed around this endangered species of a light to aid in prevention of large trucks milling around it.

Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White said on the City’s Facebook page. “As many of you know, the City has been milling Main Street the past two days in preparation for repaving next week. Yesterday afternoon, one of our vehicles accidentally backed into the ‘dummy light’ at Main and East Main Streets. Fortunately, the base is intact and undamaged, and the light (which was not original...it was a replacement of the original with LED bulbs) will be replaced so that it matches as closely as possible the dummy light that was damaged.”

In his post, the City used a photo of the Dummy Light erected, before it was hit. As of that post and now, the light remains off the base.

Immediately after the Dummy Light was hit, more than one reader reached out to ALBB to inquire how to fundraise to get the Dummy Light restored. Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris implied that the City has started the restoration project.

From other articles, it looks like City Administrator Chris was whipping around different media threads trying to calm everyone after the light hit the ground, breaking into several pieces. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, City Administrator Chris commented in a thread: “The City is not trying to remove this light: it was damaged during the milling of Main Street. Please take a deep breathe, everyone. This was an accident, and our driver feels terribly about it.”

After 97.7 reached out to him for further comment, he responded: “The dummy light will return!”

Citizen Reporter and Photographer Jean Noack took one of the photos used by 97.7, and questioned: “The mayor could not be reached immediately for comment on the actions of the city employee that resulted in the damage.”

Damage caused to buildings and structures by City owned vehicles does happen, and the resulting actions toward those employees is unknown, in terms of what is viewed as an accident and dismissed, and what is viewed as an accident resulting in disciplinary charges assigned to the driving employee, assuming that every employees feels terribly about an accident.

Disciplinary actions are difficult to track in the City of Beacon, with the exception of one case that has been a set of charges resulting in aggressive disciplines. Hopefully the current City Administrator is weighing these charges and accidents equally. Not knowing who the driver was, ALBB’s opinion is that no dicipline results in this accident, and that simluar consideration be given to everyone in all City of Beacon departments.

A Little Beacon Blog will file a FOIL to try to get a list of other accidents by city employees, and which resulted in discipline, to see if fair treatment happened, or if disciplines were pursued aggressively toward targeted individuals.

What cannot FOIL is accidents that were not as public and were not reported at all by supervising staff.

This Week's Beacon City Council Workshop Agenda Highlights - 4/25/2022

Tonight’s Beacon City Council Workshop Meeting was pretty benign, until the City Administrator Chris White revealed that he was not inclined to grant the Howland Cultural Center their request for funding. He cited two reasons:

1. That they hadn’t spent their first $50K from an earlier and different grant, and

2. That they object to things their building neighbors do.

ALBB reached out to the Howland Cultural Center to find out more about both items. The City Administrator’s declaration came after Councilmember Justice McCray made a strong point to vocalize how they would like to discuss even the discussion of the handful of Mark Price’s recommendations of the organizations that had applied, and why the others weren’t considered. Mark Price is the City of Beacon Parks and Recreation Director.

Justice also stated that they were looking forward to the project that the Howland Cultural Center was proposing funding for: Said Justice: “It's a situation that is showcasing a history of Beacon we don't otherwise see. This program would be free. Multiple programs throughout the city. I don't know the Black history of Beacon, and this project would hep that.”

Find this week’s agenda reposted here at ALBB for easy access. Highlights from the meeting are below:

• Several changes to traffic regarding Fountain Square, East Main Street, proposed 3-way stop at the Dummy Light, and many other suggestions from the always busy Main Street Access Committee.

• A bit of intro to the initial design plans for the Tompkins Hose Firehouse.

• Discussion around which community organizations may be receiving funding from the City of Beacon. One interesting point was how the Howland Cultural Center did apply for funding, but the City Administrator was reluctant to give to them. ALBB has inquired with the Howland Cultural Center to confirm the reasons he stated.

Indeed, Crosswalk Signal Has Been Out Across From Intersection Of Recent Pedestrian Death On Main Street

A woman was struck and killed by a car at the opposite side of this intersection - Teller Avenue and Main Street. Pictured here is the opposite side of the street - Fishkill Avenue and Main Street, where readers of ALBB have reported that they have noticed the crosswalk sign being out for at least a week, perhaps longer.

UPDATE 12/12/2021 3:30pm: The red hand STOP light seems to be out. However, the white WALK person does turn on *if* you press the crosswalk button. But the button for this location is not at the corner as it is at other corners. To access this signal button, one must back up quite a few feet if they walked past it. So, if a person doesn’t know to back up and press that button, the crosswalk WALK won’t turn on. Thus, the red countdown numbers won’t turn on, if they only initiate when the white WALK signal is showing. Read the update here and see the video of how the signal is behaving.

After the woman died of her injuries while crossing Teller Avenue near the Yankee Clipper Diner in accordance with the crosswalk signal after being hit by a Jeep Wrangler turning left from Main Street onto Teller Avenue, readers wrote into A Little Beacon Blog via public Instagram comments that the crosswalk signal on the opposite side of Main Street, which would be Fishkill Avenue near the Valero gas station, has been out for some time. Their comments were made 5 days ago, and still the light is out, with no markings or indications that it is broken.

Additionally, the audio crosswalk signal sign that accompanies this signal - which speaks “Wait!” and names the road that the person is signaled to cross - indicates that the pedestrian is signaled to cross Teller Avenue. However, on that side of Main Street, the road is called Fishkill Avenue. The green street sign says Fishkill Avenue. A pedestrian unfamiliar with this nuance and common renaming of a road seemingly arbitrarily all over Beacon might be confused if they are relying on the audio call-out of a street name, if they knew they were standing at Fishkill Avenue and Main Street. ALBB has not tested the audio in the past, if this sign indeed speaks Teller or Fishkill. In writing, the white signal sign says Teller.

Who Is Responsible For Identifying A Broken Crosswalk Signal?

Often times, when items that need attention are brought up during public City Council Meetings, after months or years of neglect, councilmembers are known to say: “You must tell us, or we don’t know.”

They City of Beacon has what is called a Traffic Safety Committee. According to the city’s website: “The City of Beacon Traffic Safety Committee studies traffic conditions on streets and highways within the City. The Committee analyzes reports of accidents and recommends to the appropriate legislative bodies, departments or commissions such changes in roles, orders, regulations and existing law as the Committee may deem advisable.”

Who serves on that committee? According to the City’s website: “The Committee is comprised of five members: the Chief of Police, a Planning Board representative and three members appointed by the Mayor.”

According to Minutes posted for the monthly meetings of the Traffic Safety Committee, the following people make repeat appearances as attendees of the meeting:

Fire Chief Gary VanVoorhis
Police Lieutenant Jason Walden
Superintendent of Streets Michael “Mickey” Manzi (this is the Highway Department)
Planning Board Representative Jill Reynolds (an artist who is a glassblower)
Beacon Resident Carolyn Glauda Bennett (a resident who wanted to be on the Traffic Safety Committee after witnessing at least 2 pedestrian accidents)
Traffic Safety Committee Secretary Collin Milone (this is the executive assistant to the Mayor)

Members of the public who have been approved to discuss a request that they made may be invited to present their case to the committee. A recent attendee has also been Stowe Boyde, representative of the Main Street Access Advisory Committee.

The Highway Department drives around on the streets of Beacon often, and is at times tasked with installing street signs, paving, clearing debris from storms, installing LED lights into city-owned light poles, etc. The Highway Department is led by Michael (Mickey) Manzi, in the position title known as Superintendent of Streets.

A person could try the following contact avenues to report in a signal outage:

Superintendent of Streets: mmanzi@beaconny.gov
Beacon’s current City Administrator Chris White: cwhite@beaconny.gov
Your Ward Representative: To find out which City Council Member represents you, click here.

Once you report something to any of these contacts, do keep a paper trail of it so that you can see if your message was relayed, and what was done. For instance, if you tell your City Councilmember about a traffic issue, the City Councilmember may report it to the Traffic Safety Committee, which may then be indicated in the meeting notes posted here. At that point, it is up to the Traffic Safety Committee to discuss it, and if appropriate, make a recommendation to the City Council to then discuss it and implement it.

Additionally, different roads are owned by different government entities. New York State may own a part of a road, the City of Beacon may own a part of a road, the Town of Fishkill may own part of a road. At times, a seemingly simple request can be tossed around like a hot potato.

Or a bad “how many ___ does it take to change a light bulb?” joke.

Bottom line: the signal is out, and someone died on the opposite corner while crossing the street for a signal that worked.

Woman Dies After Being Hit By Car While Crossing Teller Avenue at Main Street

Last week, the worst fear for any driver and any pedestrian happened, when a car turning left through a crosswalk hit a person in the crosswalk. Any driver knows that they can have a blind spot in their car for that angle, or the sun can be shining in their eyes at that time of day, or a number of other factors. Pedestrians want to be able to cross the street according to signals and traffic law, but have grown to become defensive walkers as traffic becomes unpredictable in Beacon.

The Beacon Police Department issued a press release stating that a woman was hit by a car on Teller Avenue while in the cross walk at Main Street, where she later died of her injury(ies). This intersection is near the Yankee Clipper Diner, gas station, Kennedy Fried Chicken, Beacon Pantry, and the Veterans Memorial Building. The road is called Teller Avenue when headed to Wolcott/9D, and is called Fishkill Avenue when headed further out in Beacon and becomes Rte. 52 after Memorial Park. The Highlands Current was the first to report it.

As stated in the press release written by Detective Jason Johnson:

On Wednesday December 1, 2021 at approximately 03:15pm, the City of Beacon Police responded to the intersection of Main Street and Teller Avenue for an accident involving a Vehicle vs Pedestrian. The female pedestrian was treated on scene by the City of Beacon Fire Department and transported to St. Luke's Hospital by Mobile Life. She was later transferred to Westchester Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a Jeep Wrangler was stopped for a red light on Main Street facing Westbound. The pedestrian was standing on the corner of Main Street and Teller Avenue waiting to cross the street Eastbound. When the traffic light turned green, the pedestrian began crossing the street in the crosswalk and the operator of the Jeep made a left hand turn from Main Street onto Teller Avenue striking the pedestrian in the roadway.

An investigation determined that neither impairment nor speed was a factor. No further information will be released at this time.

To giver perspective, this means that the Jeep Wrangler was headed westbound toward the river when turning left, and the walker was headed eastbound toward the mountain, on the side of the street as the Yankee Clipper Diner. There are electronic crosswalk signals at that intersection, which beep and talk, telling a person when the lights change and it is their turn to start walking. The street name is announced when the light changes and the crosswalk is programmed to indicate it is safe to cross. When a pedestrian is crossing the road, a vehicle needs to stop and wait to let them cross.

Also stated when publishing their press release to Facebook, the department added a note: “The Beacon Police Department asks that you keep both families in your thoughts during this extremely difficult time.”

On Friday, ALBB has asked Detective Johnson and Lieutenant Figlia of the the Beacon Police Department for any data they have on pedestrians being hit by cars in the last few years in Beacon; if the driver of the Jeep stopped after hitting the person, which is implied in the press release, but not confirmed; and what usually happens after an accident. Should we get a response, this article will be updated.

UPDATE 4:30pm 12/6/2021: Readers have commented in Instagram with comments that may be useful here:
@lizziert: “So terrible. I hope the city will roll out Leading Pedestrian Intervals (lights programmed to give pedestrians 3-7 second head start when crossing) and other pedestrian safety solutions.”

@firstrun: “Ah, my sister was seriously injured when she was hit by a car at the same intersection.”

So awful!! Sending healing thoughts to everyone reeling from this tragedy.

@janetmelissa: “So awful!! Sending healing thoughts to everyone reeling from this tragedy. Just FYI…the pedestrian lights were out at that intersection for some time. Idk if they’ve recently been repaired…but that makes an already dangerous crosswalk even more difficult for pedestrians to safely navigate! I would also love to see lights or an all-way stop put in at the intersection btwn Teller, 9D, and Sargent. It’s a death trap and kids cross there from school!”

@vaclavs_hovel: “This is terrible. The other day I used a crosswalk as one is supposed to, and someone drove behind me anyway as I crossed and called me an asshole. Don’t know if they are old beacon, new beacon, or visitors, it is just wrong to ignore these rules.”

@brianne_mcd11: “I just witnessed someone waiting to turn left into Memorial Park and the person behind them was so impatient that they pulled onto the sidewalk to pass them.”

@jax.yoon “😢 TBH, speed bumps are the only effective solution here. Leave no choice but to slow down.”

Below are pictures of the intersection of Teller Ave/Fishkill Ave and Main Street.

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Main Street Not Getting Paved Despite Early Pulling Of Parklets From Restaurants

Last year in the Fall, diners at restaurants were eating in the newfangled “parklets,” which were the borders of bright orange Jersey barriers outside of restaurants. These barriers created a safe-ish space for people to eat outside of restaurants in parking spaces, thereby adding seating to a restaurant and an opportunity for restaurants to earn more money during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a virus passed primarily through the air, making outside spaces the safest. Last year, restaurants were getting crafty with what kind of heating units they were going to provide their patrons.

This year, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White pulled the parklets in late September, citing scheduled milling and paving that was to be done on Main Street. Indeed, Beacon has been investing in infrastructure such as paved roads and seeking grants for new sidewalks for a number of years. Restaurant owners were already fearful of when the parklets were going to disappear, while some members of the community were bothered by the parklets for beauty reasons, and fear of car accidents, due to Beacon’s increasing reputation for speeding down Main Street, and any street around town.

Announced at the 11/1/2021 City Council Meeting, Main Street will indeed not get paved this year after all. City Administrator Chris stated: “The planned milling and paving of Main Street has been moved to next Spring. Because of all of the rain we have had recently, the contractors who are lined up to do the the milling and paving can't give us dates until late November, and then we run into the problem of getting into cold weather, in which the new striping won't set. Rather than rush it and not have the best job done, we will do April or early May.”

While the City Administrator said that the bump out project will be completed at South Avenue and Wolcott, it seems as though new cross-walk painting will not happen for the new location of bump-outs, which are the new side-walk extensions presumably for more accessible wheelchair use and pedestrian crossing. Currently, some of the new bump-out extensions do not match up with old cross-walks.

Some side-streets, such as South Chestnut Street, have been newly paved, with new bump-outs added. Several new bright yellow cross-walk signs have been added along Main Street as well, aiding in visual signals drivers get when zooming down the road.

Child + Grandmother Hit On Main Street Sidewalk In Beacon In 2-Car Accident On Sunday

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Photo Credit: Jean Noack

The child who was pinned under the car, and is being treated.
Photo Credit: A Little Beacon Blog

As first reported by Hudson Valley Post, who credited Action News Service for some detail, a mother with her children was walking down Main Street with her own mother and father on Mother’s Day (Sunday), when 2 cars hit each other on Main Street in between the Beacon Public Library and Subway. Both cars completely spiraled upon colliding, with one car doing a 360 onto the sidewalk next to Subway on South Cedar Street, hitting the grandmother, and pinning the 6 year old son, Colby, under it after he had been walking and eating ice cream. His ice cream remained in his hand, but his hat flew onto the car. The boy and the grandmother have injuries and are fine; ALBB has not yet confirmed the condition of the people in the cars.
UPDATE 5/11/2021: The Beacon Police Department Detective Beuro has issued a Press Release with some more detail.

According to a witness at the scene, screaming and shouting started, and a group of people rushed over to the car to lift it off of the boy. According Colby’s mother, Erica Bronner Alti, 5 men rushed over to the car to remove it from her son, a detail she posted to the Beacon, NY Facebook Group to raise awareness about speed on Main Street.

“I’m having a really hard time getting the thought of not seeing them near me and then only seeing his hat before finding them. I can’t shake it.”

— Erica Bronner Alti

Erica’s original post reads as follows: “I am the mother of the child and my mother was hit as well. They are both doing ok. Only bumps and bruises. We are beyond lucky. He was about 6 feet behind me walking with my mom when I saw the first car crash on the other side of Main Street. 10 seconds later I realized a car was on the sidewalk behind me. I did a quick head count seeing my dad and other 2 kids, but didn’t see my mom and 6 year old. I quickly walked around the car that was on the sidewalk and saw my son’s red hat on the trunk with his ice cream thrown on it. I thought the worst of course. We then walked around to find my Mother on the ground but conscious, and my son with the car on his foot. 5 men rushed over to move the car off of him. Amazingly he is a trooper and didn’t even shed a tear. How do we make sure people slow down on the Main Street? Others were eating outside very close to where this happened. Could’ve been much worse.”

Across the street via Main Street is Glazed Over Donuts, which has ample sidewalk space in front of it where people gather to eat their donuts. Across the street via South Cedar Street is Kumon, a tutoring center for children.

Details Of The Car Crash

According to the Hudson Valley Post, a blue Mazda was driving west (toward the river). A white Honda Civic making a left turn onto North Cedar Street from Main Street hit the blue Mazda, as emailed by Action News Service to Hudson Valley Post. The blue Mazda spun around in the middle of Main Street, and hit a parked car in front of the library, according to a witness. In these pictures, the blue Mazda has collision damage on both the left and right side of the front of the vehicle.

A person at the scene remembers seeing a wheel from the blue Mazda “completely torn off the car.”

A man presumed to be the driver of the blue Mazda was seen sitting on the ground rocking his head moments after the impact, according to a witness. He was later taken by an ambulance. A witness also said that police searched through his trunk and rear of the car, removing things from the vehicle. ALBB has reached out via email to the Beacon Police Department to confirm, but has not received reply yet, and left a voicemail with Detective Sgt. Johnson, who was the destination of the transfer from the desk officer who receives phone calls.

Upon impact, the white Honda Civic also spun around, and landed on the sidewalk of South Cedar Street, facing Main Street. According to Erica, the white Honda Civic “did a 360 after being hit on the rear passenger side and ended up facing towards Main Street. It bounced off the building or it would have hit all of us.”

The driver of the white Honda Civic was heard by people at the scene to have said that it was not her fault. ALBB has not yet confirmed her condition after the impact.

The rear of the white Honda Civic. A stuffed animal and drips of ice cream can be seen.
Photo Credit: Jean Noack

Details Of The Boy And Grandmother

The cup of ice cream that the boy was eating. This is sorbet from the Beacon Farmers Market. It was left at the scene, and was still here on Monday.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

The grandmother was struck by the white Honda Civic, and the 6 year old’s foot ended up pinned under the tire of the car. According to his mother, he was not pinned to the building, as reported by the Hudson Valley Post. Erica told ALBB: “I found him with the car on top of his foot, and he was laying on the ground next to my mom. He was still holding the emptied ice cream cup. I can’t understand how the ice cream and hat ended up on the back of the car because they were on on the driver’s side.”

A person who was at the scene said they heard a child crying during the accident, saying he had never experienced anything like this. Erica confirmed that child to be her other son. Colby, who was pinned under the car, was calm and “did not shed a tear,” Erica said.

The brown drips that are on the rear driver’s side of the white Honda Civic are ice cream, Erica confirmed.

The white Honda Civic on tow truck.
Photo Credit: Jean Noack

What Is The Speed Limit Down Main Street?

After driving Main Street in both directions today (Monday, May 10, 2020), there are no speed limit signs posted anywhere on Main Street.

A Police officer answering the phone at the general number today indicated that he thought that 30 miles per hour was the speed limit.

The speed limit on Wolcott/9D and on Fishkill Avenue/Rte. 52 (by the car dealership) is 30 miles per hour, as indicated on signs posted on those streets.

There are several other signs posted on Main Street, including parking limit signs, bus signs, One Way signs, and other signs.

Is There Traffic Safety Enforcement On Main Street?

Beacon’s Traffic Safety Committee is listed here. As Beacon continues to increase in popularity as a destination town, complaints made while out and about and in social media by locals about the traffic have increased. Beacon’s Mayor Kyriacou recently appointed a new member to Beacon’s Traffic Safety Committee who is a mother in town, and joined because she witnessed an accident at Wolcott and Main Street, and wants to make a difference with actions taken to reduce risk.

A Little Beacon Blog has reached out for comment from Mayor Lee Kyriacou, Chief Sands Frost, and City Administrator Chris White, but has not received a response yet.
UPDATE 5/11/2021: The Beacon Police Department Detective Beuro has issued a Press Release with some more detail.

How Are The People Involved In The Crash Doing?

Erica told ALBB: “My son is ok, the other son, my dad and I have loads of anxiety about it all. My mom has neck pain and big bruises. She said she remembers switching places with my son Colby a few seconds before it happened, putting him on the inside of the sidewalk. She might have saved his life because she got the brunt of it. I’m having a really hard time getting the thought of not seeing them near me and then only seeing his hat before finding them. I can’t shake it.”

If you have more information or photos about this incident, please send to the Beacon police, and to A Little Beacon Blog.

Photo Credit: Jean Noack

Photo Credit: Jean Noack

Photo Credit: Jean Noack

High Winds Cause Power Outage And Traffic Lights Out In Beacon Along Wolcott At Main Street and Others

As spring pushes through 2021, March’s winds are coming in like a lion, blowing around a few snow flakes on Sunday in between a glorious sun surrounded by dark clouds holding what could be more snow at any moment. At 3:29pm, Central Hudson reported that at least 2,218 customers in Beacon were affected by an outage, and that crews were on site repairing.

Some traffic lights were out along Wolcott, including the intersection of Main Street, and the intersection at Beekman (the road to the train station), as well as the intersection at Verplank. At least 1 Highway Department employee was out on Sunday, and Stop signs had been placed at dark traffic lights.

Trucks from Central Hudson were repairing a line in the trees at Verplank at Wolcott, and cars were routed around the area, causing backups on side streets.

People who have allergies may want to have medication for itchy noses and watery eyes on hand as the wind blows new spring buds around the block.

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Left: Intersection of Wolcott (9D) and Beekman
Right: Intersection of Wolcott (9D) Main Street.

No Parking On Main Street In Beacon Friday Night For Snow Removal

Photo Credit: Kitchen & Coffee

The City Of Beacon has announced via robo-call that the Highway Department will be removing snow from Main Street throughout Friday (12/18/2020) evening. Therefore, all cars must be gone from Main Street. ”There will be no parking allowed on Main Street from Friday night at 11pm to Saturday morning at 10am. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Removing snow from the side of Main Street is helpful for many reasons, including giving cars on Main Street enough space to drive past each other, as well as to pedestrians who are walking between stores.

Coming Up! Podcast Interview With Beacon's Subway Franchise Owner, Joy Carden

So excited to have the owner of Beacon’s Subway franchise, Joy Carden, as a guest on our next episode of A Little Beacon Blog’s sister podcast, “Wait, What Is That?”

Joy has been in Beacon for a while, but as a franchise owner, she nor her business are usually featured or recognized in a support-local movement. We didn’t even know about her until we started A Little Beacon Blog’s Black Owned Business Directory that Izdihar Dabashi edited (official announcement of that to come with logo design from The Hyacinth Group !) . In Tin Shingle land, we know all about the importance of franchises and big box stores in terms of the opportunities they offer to women like Joy who want to take a calculated risk in opening a business, and makers who want their products bought wholesale and sold in big stores. It’s a big world out there, and Joy is part of it.

She’s going to talk to us about how people treat the store, how she feels as a local business (hint: invisible), her last experience on many boards during her corporate life, and other revelations. Tune in!
Co-Hosted by Katie Hellmuth Martin and Brandon Lillard

Rejoice! New Mini Free Parking Signs At City Of Beacon's Free Public Parking Lots

At last…there is a modern looking, conversational-style Free Parking sign at Beacon’s free municipal parking lots. This is something we have dreamed of for years, and is why A Little Beacon Blog created our Free Parking Guide.

Granted, there is the traditional and official green P sign that stands for “Free Parking,” but when was the last time you studied for your drivers license test to remember what that sign stands for? Granted, you don’t forget what the red STOP sign looks like, but a green P can be a little vague and un-mememorable. Let alone un-noticable.

In addition to this little parking sign, you’ll notice the fancy new Dutchess County sign, where you’ll find the DMV, Family Services, Astor Services, Office of Probation and Community Correction, and other county offices. For years, this sign was pretty trashed and tired. Last year, it got a makeover. This particular parking lot is owned by Dutchess County, so is only free on the nights and weekends.

Monday March In Beacon Against Police Brutality & Racism - Video, Photos and March Experience

Word about this march floated through Instastories, passed from friend to friend, that a march down Main Street was planned in Beacon to speak and chant and kneel against police brutality and racism. One mom heard about it from her teenager. Organized by a student who is black and wanted to not use his name in the initial organizing, citing fear of being targeted as others have in other cities. Lineup was at 2:45pm at Chase Bank, and by 2:30pm, dozens of students - black and brown and white - young and old and with canes and knee braces - were walking down Main Street towards the mountain to start at the beginning - the parking lot of Chase Bank - before marching down Main Street.

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White youths who carry tennis racquets in backpacks. Maybe there’s a round-robin after the march? After the march, as people gathered at Pohill Park, the speakers conjured Martin Luther King in their inspiration.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

One white youth carried 3 tennis racquets in his back pack, while his 2 friends each carried at least one racquet while another eagerly passed out water bottles. When offered the water bottles, several march participants declined. Water bottles have come to be symbolic as they are hurdled at police cars in other cities across the country. There was no police presence around Chase during the warm-up of the crowd as more and more people gathered. People held signs and left the drive-way open at Chase for bank customers to drive out after doing transactions at the window.

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One protestor’s sign asks: “Beacon Police: How are you speaking out?”
This photo taken while marchers were chanting: “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot”
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

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Participants kneeling for George Floyd against police brutality.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Before the march began, two students rallied the crowd. In the crowd was one of Beacon’s City Council members Terry Nelson of Ward 1, who attended with his daughter (see ALBB’s full interview with Terry here). One student who is brown circled around in the group, breathing phrases into everyone’s lungs, as he encouraged people to shout: “I Can’t Breath,” “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “Say My Name: George Floyd.” Everyone put their hands up as they shouted “Don’t Shoot.” At other times, the march leader told everyone to take a knee against police brutality, which they did. A young woman with caramel skin got up on his shoulders and thanked the people for coming, getting choked up as she looked at the variety of faces who were there to show support. “This means everything right now. Everything. To see all of you out here. Every skin color…This is real and it’s happening everywhere!” After the march, she encouraged participants to educate their white friends.

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One of the organizers, thanking the participants for showing up, and stressing the importance of why they were there.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

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Signs read: “Skin color is not reasonable suspicion,” and “No Justice No Peace Black Lives Matter”
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

The march began down Main Street, headed away from the mountain and to the Hudson River and Pohill Park, the traditional meeting spot for rallies, protests, and celebrations. Shortly after the people began marching in a sea of signs, a police presence appeared up ahead. At least 3 police cars spaced themselves out in front of march in a moving street closure, where they drive with the marchers by escorting in front. Today it was providing protection for the marchers, who by now had grown to a quarter mile long. Main Street is one mile long.

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Beacon Police created a moving street closure for the march. The street closure lasted until Wolcott Avenue, where traffic was stopped both ways to create a safe space on Wolcott for when the crowd arrived at Pohill Park.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

After The March, The Speeches

The people filed in at Pohill Park, with the overflow people people going up South Avenue and Main Street. Police blocked off Wolcott Avenue from Rombout Avenue to West Main Street (the street that takes you to the train). Police officers were gathered in the middle of that intersection, with one directing traffic and the others discussing among themselves. A few people from the march approached the group of officers to say: “Join us!” The officers discussed, and later, after two speeches by the organizers, one officer, whose face many regular attendees would recognize from City Council Meetings as he weighs in on questions about enforcement regulations, emerged from crowd.

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During the speeches, the two organizers continued to lead the attendees in chanting, while still more new people joined the group. One grandmother standing on the sidewalk nodded her head. Ali T. Muhammad spoke after the student organizers spoke. Ali is a former Beacon City Council person for Ward 4, and ran for Mayor of Newburgh last year. He pushed for the next steps and asked the rhetorical question of why everyone had gathered and participated, emphasizing that after all this, things must change. He implored people to register to vote, and to show up to vote.

A third speaker described his experience with the police. He described how dangerous it is for him to raise his hands from the steering wheel, reminding the crowd of black people who get shot during traffic stops. “Don’t reach for the keys, don’t reach for anything, except your phone. Turn it on. Turn on your camera, or go live on your Instagram.” His message was of driving in fear - constant fear of being pulled over and how that can end in death.

If you are a white person reading that sentence, and if you think it is exaggerated, simply recall your own story of being pulled over. Think about how it might have funny moments. How you sweated it out while digging through your glove compartment, trying to find your insurance card. Then ask your black or brown or South American friends about their experiences being pulled over, and you will hear very different stories. Stories of them sweating it out as they insist to an officer that they don’t have drugs in the car, as they drive home from a babysitting job and had a break light out.

Beacon’s Chief of Police Responds To ALBB’s Questions About Protest

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to Beacon’s Chief of Police, Kevin Junjulas, to hear his reaction to the march. Chief Junjulas was formerly Captain in Beacon, and was promoted to Chief after Beacon’s at the time current Chief, Doug Solomon, had left the Beacon Police force. At that time, according to then Mayor Randy Casale during a City Council meeting, Mayor Casale heard about the departure from a radio report.

Solomon left to join the Newburgh Police Department, a department he had served on prior. He was also Mayor of Monticello, until he resigned from that as well in May 2018 in order to be Newburgh’s Police Chief. On March 27th, 2020, in Newburgh, a fatal shooting of a black man happened, and riots broke out. Organizers of that are unknown. Solomon went on leave shortly after that. In May 2020, Solomon resigned.

After his resignation, Newburgh has an Officer in Charge, Lt. Kevin Lahar. On Tuesday, June 2, 2020, Newburgh held a peaceful protest against police brutality and racism. Officer in Charge Lt. Kevin Lahar took a knee with protesters, shook hands and hugged a protester.

Back to Beacon’s current Chief of Police, Kevin Junjulas, who was promoted into the position with high aclaim by then Mayor Casale, and has been involved with community events when they are organized in order to contribute dialogue. Here are Chief Junjulas’ answers to ALBB’s questions:

ALBB: Was the Beacon Police Department alerted to the march in advance?
”We were aware of the event and were monitoring social media to anticipate crowd size and to try to identify an organizer. We were able to identify the organizer and had conversation with him prior to the event in order to coordinate how best to facilitate a safe protest for all involved.”

ALBB: Some people from the march asked the officers at the intersection at the end of the march who were directing traffic form Main Street to join them. Did any Beacon Police officers join the protesters?
”Obviously patrol officers assigned to the detail are tasked with certain duties to assure the safety of the protestors and the public, it would not have been feasible or appropriate for them to join in. I assigned Lt Figlia and Lt Frost to the detail as the highest ranking detail supervisors.

ALBB: Do you have a statement about the march? About why the people feel the need to have one? And how that makes you feel as the leader of the police force? At today’s march, there were black and white students as well as black and white grandparents and parents with strollers.
”Like all reasonable people, we are outraged by the actions of the officers in the killing of George Floyd and strongly condemn their actions. We also support the first amendment and the right to peacefully protest.”

Beacon’s City Council Responds To Police Brutality and Racial Injustice

“Every time I hear about another black person getting stopped or killed by the police, it’s a trigger for me. It is taking every ounce of courage for me to get through this meeting, and get through this week.”

— Terry Nelson, Beacon City Council Member, Ward 1

Every Monday night, Beacon’s City Council holds a meeting. During the Reports section of tonight’s meeting, when the City Council members bring anything on their minds to the table, council people delivered. On this night, several council members gave comment. Mayor Kyriacou, who was on a scheduled trip on the day, said: “I can speak for the entire council and city when I say that we are shocked at the precipitating death of Mr. Floyd, and fully supportive of peaceful protest. I thank the community for speaking up in the non-violent tradition of Gandhi, King and Mandela, and the Police Chief and department for honoring and protecting our community.“

Dan Aymar-Blair estimated that 450 people attended the march. He thanked the protesters for “putting themselves out there.” Amber Grant encouraged people to register for an upcoming climate event, and then fell into an emotional grip as she acknowledged the pain of everyone now, and proceeded to have trouble speaking. Amber proposed to explore what Beacon can do at the municipal level.

Air Rhodes stood “in solidarity” and shared anger and encouraged people to reach out with what they need help with. Jodi McCredo said she stands with the protestors and would never want to tell someone how to protest, but encouraged social distancing, and to be aware of dissenters and to tell the difference between a protester and someone else,

Terry Nelson, who walked this march, calling it the one bright spot in his month, also had trouble finding his voice as he told the viewers and his fellow council members of the time when he was younger, he was walking at night in NYC with his friends when he was 17 years old, and was “stopped by a member of the NYPD and I had a gun in my face and I was told that I fit the description of a robbery suspect.” He said he is a 55 year old man now, and 38 years later, it resonates with him. “Every time I hear about another black person getting stopped or killed by the police, it’s a trigger for me. It is taking every ounce of courage for me to get through this meeting, and get through this week…We really need allies to be on our side right now. We need each other. We cannot do this alone.”

See A Little Beacon Blog’s interview with Terry here: “Interview With Terry Nelson, City Councilperson Ward 1, About His Police Experience And Emotions During Protests”

EDITORIAL NOTE: A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to Beacon’s Chief of Police, Kevin Junjulas, and Mayor Lee Kyriacou for comment for this article. Replies come in, and this article was updated.

Justice For George Floyd March Against Racist State Violence Happened In Beacon On Saturday

Photo Credit: Video screenshot, A Little Beacon Blog

The march began at Pohill Park in Beacon on Main Street at about 3pm, which is across the street from Town Hall and the Police Department, and is the location for most marches and parades. The march was organized by Southern Dutchess Resist!, and mirrored a march in New Paltz also scheduled for Saturday. The march was designed to go from the far west end of Main Street to Rite-Aid, and marchers were directed to turn around at the traffic light.

Marchers walked peacefully and enthusiastically with each other, wearing face masks and carrying signs that read (this is a sampling):

• “Justice For George”

• “Stop Killer Cops”

• “Racism Is Deadly”

• “It Stops With Cops: Good Cops Don’t Let Bad Cops Kill Defenseless Citizens”

Signs encouraged cars to honk in support, which several did. In this video, a line of cars are stopped at a red traffic light while honking, When the light changed to green, the cars proceed.

The message of the march, according to its Facebook page, is: “We are marching in solidarity with those demanding Justice for George Floyd who was executed by racist police in Minneapolis this past week. We are marching for justice in his case and for all colonized people suffering at the hands of the white supremacist occupation in the United States and across the globe. We are marching for justice, against police brutality and against racism and state violence.“

Immunocompromised people were encouraged not to attend, but to participate from home in other ways.

This march happened on a day when protests, which have been happening in Minneapolis for 6 days so far, have spread to other cities across the United States. Some protests have lead cities to impose curfews, including LA, Denver, Columbus, Cincinnati Minneapolis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and others. The National Guard has been activated or requested by Minnesota, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Denver and Kentucky (CNN).

The officer who killed George Floyd has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His bail has been set at $500,000, according to this CNN article.

The other officers who also kneeled on Mr. Floyd have not been charged. While the police report says that he resisted arrested, camera footage of the incident does not show that, according to the CNN article. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta contributed this thought: “An officer should have started CPR after one of them told the others he couldn't find a pulse.”

The final message on the organizer’s page for Saturday’s march in Beacon was: “--BE SAFE, BE WELL, BE DECENT of course.”

For those looking to get involved with an activism group, there is the Beacon Activist Collective, which “is a collaborative group formed on the strength of the community concern of citizens of Beacon, around the potential erosion of civil rights, social and environmental justice occurring after the election of” this current president.

"Genius!" The Most Shoppable Window In Beacon Right Now Is At Echo Boutique

Don’t all rush at once…space yourselves…but one of the most innovative shop windows in Beacon right now is at Echo Boutique at 470 Main Street, on the east end of town near the mountain. This boutiques with a wide curated selection of women’s clothing, kids toys, and some men’s accessories as well, was one of the first stores to voluntarily shut down - even before the Executive Order. Now, they are one of the first windows on Main Street to organize inventory in such a way that people can shop by number from the other side of the glass.

Owner Karen Donohue has a 14 year old daughter in school. When districts closed state-wide, so too did she on Main Street. Trouble is, Karen did not have a website to fall back on while her doors were closed, and remain closed during the phased reopening across the country and in Dutchess County specifically. But Karen is no newbie. She is a veteran of Main Street, having run her shop here for 19 years, always changing its inventory and display, depending on her mood and customer reactions. “I opened the shop a short while before 9/11 happened, so I wasn’t sure I’d survive. But I’m still here,” she tells A Little Beacon Blog. Karen also lives with Lyme disease, so summoning strength can at times be challenging.

“I started in a little 10x10 space as an art gallery next door to where the Korean deli, Seoul Kitchen, used to be.” That small storefront space she is referring to changed to a home brew beer shop for a minute, and is now part of No. 3 Reading Room & Photo Books Works, who bought the building and transformed it to an artist studio live/work space. “470 Main Street is my 3rd space on the east end of Main Street. I went from the little one to around the corner, which later became Waddle and Swaddle and is now Hyperbole. Then to my current spot at 470 Main Street, which is basically two storefronts in one.”

Extremely comfortable in the visual, physical space, Karen has a degree in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and went on to be a prop stylist for almost a decade. Her window displays are known in Beacon for being extremely imaginative.

When she was comfortable with reopening in her own way, she and her daughter headed back into the store to bring as much as they could to display in the windows. Parents were eager to buy the toys she carries in the store, both to support her, and also to benefit from her educational and science-based selection.

Each item in the window is labeled in a box, and a sign with ordering instructions is taped in the window. Customers are told to snap a picture or simply text 845-863-3166 with what they want, and porch delivery within Beacon will be arranged. We can tell you this, however: this is a fraction of what you’ll find inside of Echo. Karen is always going to market to bring back new designers and toy makers. If you need something else, just ask her!

As for the lovely bras you see in the window, those are from The Bra Fit Expert, Christina (Tina) Faraj, who permanently pops up inside the shop with her wide selection of high quality women’s under things and comfy PJs. The benefit of Tina was her expert fitting, but if you contact her, she can telacoach you through a fitting christina.faraj@gmail.com.

When A Little Beacon Blog first shared a video of her shop in our Instastories, the positive reaction we received was swift. Several people shared heart eye emojis and explained: “Genius!”

What Beacon’s shop owners (and shop owners across the country) have done to stay connected to their customers has been astonishing. Many don’t qualify for unemployment because of their business entities, and applying for the PPP loan could be challenging, depending on what type of business they are. Translation: some businesses receive a fraction of stimulus funds, as some business owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place with how rules around these stimulus monies work and change on an almost daily basis.

Main Street business owners are always hustling hard, and they rose to the challenge of this crisis.

Shop Echo at 470 Main Street by shopping their window (spacially distance yourself), and look in their Instagram for product postings, as well as their Facebook.

Boutiques In Beacon Quickly Build Websites To Stay In Business On Main Street

For some brick and mortar businesses, establishing an online presence pre-pandemic may not have been a priority. Walk-in business was good enough to keep them in business, so perhaps building an online website store was not needed. Plus, a shop owner is quite busy with customers who walk into the store, so spending a lot of time online to build a web shop is not easy. That all changed with the shutdown of Main Street back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the doors shut and foot traffic disappeared.

Overnight, the digital way of reaching a customer was the only way to reach a customer. Any store without a social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok was cut off from their customer base (unless they had been sending newsletters, which is even less of a percentage). Anyone who did not have an ecommerce website lost the ability to sell to the customer stuck at home - looking for something to do, or who needed that special something only available at the boutique.

Some brick and mortar shops in Beacon have not committed to the daunting task of establishing an online presence - it could be because they think it’s too hard, or feel not tech-savvy enough. When once they felt it a waste of time and money if not enough customers use it, that percentage shifted as no customers are currently walking through the door.

Boutiques Build Their Webshops

A Little Beacon Blog traveled around the web to find new or enhanced websites that popped in some of Beacon’s Main Street businesses up post-pandemic. With so many resources available now to sell online, shop owners don’t need to be coding experts to get one up and running. Required, however, is a lot of patience to build it, and good ideas for how the shop owner wants the web shopping experience to flow. Below is a sampling of brick and mortars who expanded online:

Blackbird Attic

Website Platform: WordPress with WooCommerce

Blackbird Attic, a consignment shop on Beacon’s east end of Main Street, already had a website but didn’t convert it to an online store until recently. Prior to that, they utilized their Instagram account (@blackbirdattic) to host pop-up shops and gather sales through Instagram via Direct Messaging (DMs). Owner Michelle Caves-Deal tells us “Selling on Instagram definitely works - people like to see the items live in Instastories, They've said it feels like they’re back shopping in person…”

But this does come with some extra steps for shop owner Michelle in order for the sale to happen, like sharing additional details and photos with the customer prior to purchasing. Being a consignment shop, she needs to create two invoices, merchant account and one for the WooCommerce software they use for sales.

The Underground Beacon

Website Platform: WordPress, WooCommerce, eBay

2020 has already been a challenging year for The Underground Beacon, a well known comic book store with weekly comic book release days and in-person gaming events. First, they faced the risk of closing due to the usual pressures of personal life (family loss) and revenue streams to pay the rent, only to be saved by a new partner just earlier in March.

The shop has been hosting the weekly Magic The Gathering sessions on Zoom. They also created a website to sell t-shirts promoting love to the store in addition to selling comics through their eBay store.

Comic book shops were hit pretty hard when Diamond Comic Distributors - the main distributor for most comic book publishers including Marvel and DC Comics, announced a halt to all product distribution on March 23rd. This meant comic shops, like The Underground Beacon, would not get new merchandise coming in until further notice. Thankfully, at the beginning of May, Diamond announced they will resume distribution May 20th. Marvel and DC Comics have announced are being shipped to stores beginning in late May 2020.

Flora Good Times

Website Platform: Squarespace for the main website; Square for the Delivery Shopping

As we shared in this recent article, Corrine from Flora Good Times was concerned dealing with such a tactile store “from seeing the plants and flowers to the smell of the shop itself” she says “it was such an unknown for me whether or not people would continue to shop at Flora through the computer.” She created a second website through Square just for local orders. This was convenient since they also use Square for their point-of-service sales. “It is easy to integrate into your inventory and create a delivery radius..” Speaking personally as a customer, it was super easy to place an order for delivery (twice!).

Still a new business with just 8 months under its belt, the plan for an online shop was in the cards but current circumstances really rushed that project. “I find that a lot of people are looking to spruce up their homes during this time, and adding a plant or some flowers to their quarantine definitely appears very popular!” says Corrine.

RAVEN ROSE

Flower shops for the longest time relied upon centralized flower delivery websites to host their flower bouquet options. Raven Rose on Beacon’s east end of Main Street has a large space, most of which is filled with home goods, despite their large floral business. Years ago when owner Courtney Sedor bought the former floral shop that was located there, she relied upon a florist website service for her ecommerce, which locked her in into different template and selling options. After the COVID-19 shut-down, she dove in and put her home goods online, and now is part of the “release” news when a shop owner puts something new up on the website.

LAST OUTPOST STORE

Website Platform: Shopify

Getting a website up and running quick was a concern for a few businesses. When starting a brick & mortar business, a website could be on the to-do list but building it in stages like how Last Outpost Store was doing.

While timing was of the essence, the Last Outpost store still wanted their website to capture the feel and vibe of their shop, while wanting the online experience to be as close to the interior shopping experience as possible.

Co-owner Allison Cimino was able to finish the site 2.5 weeks after their March 17th shut-down. Allison shares with A Little Beacon Blog: “The response has been really good. The local delivery has been great as well. I have been learning just how many locals really love our shop. That alone really drives me to want to see through this so we can be there for all of our customers when we return!”

BINNACLE BOOKS

Website Platform: IndieCommerce (Drupal)

Binnacle Books, the small independent bookstore located in the middle of Main Street, always had a website, but did not always have the ability to shop on that website. They started with a form you could fill out if you wanted to order any book (possibly any book in the world?), and they would process the order. Different weeks into the pandemic brought different iterations of their website. First the ordering of any book got more advanced, and then their book collection appeared online in a searchable organized fashion. Binnacle Books offers a monthly membership that locks in a discount on book prices, and devised a way to make it easy to checkout without using your credit card so that the shop keepers could credit it against your monthly membership card on file.

LUXE OPTIQUE

Website Platform: Squarespace

While Luxe Optique always had a website, they were dependent upon walk-in foot traffic. Glasses fitting on your face is a personal, physical experience. Over the years, they added the ability to buy the frames online in their Collections section of the website, and even play with the SALE button to give shoppers a discount. Luxe Optique confirms to A Little Beacon Blog that they have seen an increase to the eCommerce section during this time, and they have more to come: online contact lens ordering. “Not only can you order from us using a prescription from our doctors, but you can also use prescriptions from any other practice,” Luxe Optique tells A Little Beacon Blog. “It might seem common, but it’s not something a lot of privately owned practices do. We can’t wait for that to launch. Should be soon!”

While having an online presence allows you to expand your customer reach outside of the immediate area, it appears to be a pleasant surprise to shop owners that local residents are taking advantage and showing their support. Local customers love their shops, connecting with the owners, and want to support any way they can.

Visit A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide for a list of all of the shops on Beacon’s Main Street.