Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven has delivered his seventh State of the Town address.
VanLuven delivered a message of unity, encouraging townsfolk to "get out and interact with the community," dismissing social media content as "online road rage."
"Not so much because social media is nonsense, but because of the terrible global events whose effects are rippling into our community," said VanLuven. "The recent terror attack in Israel, for example, has resulted in war and has had a tremendous impact on our community, especially those who feel threatened due to their faith, and those who tragically have suffered personal losses. In addition, the unprovoked war in Ukraine threatens unchecked aggression and global instability. As these international events affect us locally, we as a community grieve with our neighbors and stand as their friends as an extended support network. We do this because the community of Bethlehem is a family. Our lives are interconnected, which is why we must and we will work honestly together to support greater understanding, commit to respect and foster civil discourse."
Year after year, VanLuven's address touches on property taxes and the fact that after the school district, fire department, library and Albany County take their shares, the town gets just 12 cents from every dollar.
The Democrat says those pennies do add up, paying for road paving and plowing, snow removal, yard waste collection and composting.
"In 2023 our model recycling or composting department turned all of that yard waste into 675,000 cubic feet of compost and wood mulch at our state of the art composting facility," said VanLuven. "Composting yard waste not only generates revenue for the town, but it helps promote healthy gardens and landscapes. And it reduces the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. We also expanded our food scraps composting program, converting more than 13,000 cubic feet of scraps into full circle compost which is an absolute treasure for gardens. Bethlehem is the only municipality in the Capital Region currently capable of receiving and composting food scraps and we're working hard to expand it even further in 2024."
VanLuven says his continued support for protecting open space and farmland over the last six years has resulted in 625 acres preserved.
"Half of this land was protected through the purchase of the historic Heath farm, which at 307 acres was the largest municipal farmland conservation project in Hudson Valley history. Now that we've ensured that these acres can always grow crops, not apartments or warehouses, we've brought together an amazing advisory committee to chart a future course for these properties. Future uses they're considering include agritourism, traditional agriculture and innovation centered support for new farmers and local food production, farm therapy for military veterans and much more," VanLuven said.
VanLuven applauded the town board's recent approval of a conservation easement on 66 acres of forest land In Glenmont that were acquired last year by the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy from a paper company.
"The property will become part of the nonprofit bio reserve, which owns an adjacent 68 acre property that is also protected by the town with a conservation easement," VanLuven said. "And this year, we are planning to close on the acquisition of a beautiful 68 acre property in Selkirk, thanks to two landowners who want their land to stay undeveloped forever and a $195,000 community forest grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which will cover 80% of the cost."
VanLuven also touted economic development, infrastructure improvements, updating zoning codes and continuing to advance the goals and objectives of the Bethlehem Forward Comprehensive Plan update.
Here's a link to video of the address.
