CONNECT

Beacon Citizen Network (BCN): a place for neighbors to get the word out, be heard and stay informed in all matters concerning Beacon, NY.

Beacon in the NYT: "Williamsburg on the Hudson"

Everyone blanche: the opening picture is of East Main Street, Beacon.

But the picture caption says: "Main Street in Hudson, N.Y., shows elements of both the town's economic struggle and its influx of city émigrés."

Good read nonetheless.

Comment

Comment by Ben Royce on August 25, 2011 at 1:00pm: Anna West:

yes anonymous accounts are ok here. the idea is not to stifle whistleblowers, just ridiculous attacks and trolling from anonymous accounts

i guess you could put it this way...

anonymous and insightful: ok

anonymous and inciteful: not ok

Comment by Anna West on August 24, 2011 at 10:32pm: Yes, it can show up anywhere BUT it is particularly strong here and not something to casually dismiss. Originally, it caused problems for the town and taxpayers because locals did not understand about nepotism and why it wasn't proper to hire their son, brother, etc. A law preventing that was just recently passed and caused lawsuits etc within various departments of the city of Beacon.

It is why I hope this website continues to allow anonymous posters. So that everyone can see how serious this division is and how harmful it can be to the citizens.

Comment by Sonia Roy on August 23, 2011 at 10:14pm: Well said Steve Knowles!

Comment by Steve Knowles on August 22, 2011 at 11:29pm: The "old timers vs. new people" phenomena must be human nature, because it seems to show up anywhere from a bar, to a town, to a country, even to small places outdoors. I have enjoyed surfing since I was a teen, and there is a phenomena associated with that sport called "localism", where kids who grew up near a surfing break, think they "own" it, and resent people who surf there who don't live there. These people don't own the beach, and often aren't even old enough to have paid taxes where they live, so don't even have an economic basis for claiming to "own" the break (nobody owns anything below the high water mark anyway!). It seems that there is something that makes people believe they have more rights to something just because they were there first. Realistically, it seems that those who make an effort to move somewhere to live who have more than anyone else, to claim ownership of the place; they actually made some effort to be there! (if you are born somewhere, or live there because your parents moved there, then by what basis do you have to claim a greater "ownership" than someone who put out the effort to be there?) (Just to be clear, I'm not claiming "ownership" of Beacon; I just live here, I like it, but I don't think I own it any more than anyone else living here, forever, or for a day)

Comment by Attila Szendrodi on August 22, 2011 at 9:23pm: Hey, thanks Ben. Maybe one of these days I'll actually see you at the park. Im there often.

Comment by Steve Knowles on August 22, 2011 at 7:06pm: Bud, I was speaking more from what Ben had said had already happened, and what potentially could happen on this site. I agree that things are overwhelmingly very civil on this site.

Comment by Bud Siegel on August 22, 2011 at 6:24pm: This is a very non-controversial community site. I haven't seen any personal name calling at all or personal attacks. Occassionally there are comments about groups of people or comments that others disagree with, but it is all pretty mild. No big political conflicts. I have no problem letting my kids browse here. I don't understand why anyone would use a screen name. But if those people feel that using a screen name frees them to make a point, why not let them. The whole topic seems to be a non-issue here.

Comment by Ben Royce on August 22, 2011 at 5:10pm: steve, attila:

agreed. i mean we're supposed to be neighbors here. steve and i have clashed before in the tar sands thread, which is fine, we didn't make it personal. nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with a healthy ideological disagreement and a respectful discussion. and attila i respect you: you always lay it out candidly with your name and face on what you say. that means you have integrity and accountability

however, the real name issue is a problem because some people are a little uncomfortable laying out their full names. which is fine, they should still be able to sign up and contribute here, because 95% of them aren't going to get into personal attacks

which leaves a certain 5% who sign up with fake names and attack people personally. they will ruin a site like this, so we just need to mod such people

Comment by Attila Szendrodi on August 22, 2011 at 4:51pm: Steve - I had been thinking the same thing.

I also agree with Wendy that people should be held accountable for their words. If one genuinely feels strong enough about something they should be willing to put a name and face behind it. I would respect and value the opinions of those individuals much more that way. Obviously I have no problem speaking my mind in an open forum such as this site and I encourage others to do. I dont have many answers but I have a lot of questions and this forum gives me the freedom to seek answers from other residents of Beacon.

"Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving…conflict is a sine qua non of reflection and ingenuity."

Comment by Steve Knowles on August 22, 2011 at 4:30pm: I think a community website like this should require members to use their real name (but it's not my website, and I really appreciate all the effort that went into this). If someone wants to anonomously post their comments somewhere, that's fine, but I think there is greater value here to know who is saying what. (I would think it would eliminate outright personal attacks, lies, and other inflammatory remarks)