2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

Whoops,was it my pour.

Wanderer, had another look at my pics and they aint all that bad so your comment may not of fallen on deaf ears aye m8.Want more tho, you know got the bug.I think i got this uncurable disease from this site.Can think of many things that you can be addicted to and this beats them all hands down in my eyes.Going to keep taking the pics and when ready will give Motts first shot at them.Cheers Guys

drats- something to ruin my pics of the old girl- Motts had a very good comment - again what will the people in the Commons do when demo starts ?? too close for comfort- keep us upon progress- will have to keep in touch with the 'Independent' for pics

The Millbrook Village board accepted the bid by American Fencing Co
for $11,000 to fence off Halcyon Hall.[Whatever happened to Buying Local?!]
It is to be erected in the first week of September.
Halcyon's owner is Louis Heithaus, but is represented as an entity
known as Bennet Acquisitions LLC, which has ignored court orders
of code compliance.The village retains the right to hold BA LLC in
contempt of court, but has not done so, as that action would still have
no immediate effect on the site's safety. There are obviously other reasons they have not done so, all indicative of the decades long
inertia of the village.

The village will later seek a court order for reimbursement. From
the same entity who has ignored all of their other court orders.

It's a waste of money! A move by the board to assert some measure,
Any measure, to appear as if they are in a position to show some kind of leadership, which they are clearly not.

The fence will not deter tresspassers, only encourage them

Slated to go up in 7 to days in early September, it is slated to
"stand through Bennet's scheduled demolition in October".

This fence will be nothing but symbolic of the village's
ABSOLUTE POWERLESSNESS here. Who's going to demo come October1st? I will ask again- WHO IS GOING TO DEMO HERE
COME OCT !st? You can't get the owner to comply with miniscule
procedural regulations. So is Millbrook going to proceed with demo,
and sue to recoup the cost? Sort of a cute "watch us get serious''
manuever over a ten grand fence, it's going to be a little bit harder
to ask villagers to swallow whole the SEVERAL MILLION IT IS GOING TO COST TO DO THIS, THAT IS< IF THEY ARE GOING TO COMPLY
WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.

So to tell people the fence will only be up for two months is a lie.
Unless the board has their OWN PLANS FOR DEMO.
Which to not tell their constituents about would be a lie by omission.


It is an election year in Millbrook.

Halcyon Hall looked very cinematic in the foggy summer twilight last night.
Like a Victorain haunted house.

Motts- great to have U in this debate - sounds like U R not sitting on the fence - love this forum - snips - ahhhhhh

Yes chain link is really a waste of money if no one is watching it. The more one puts up, the more places become available for a quick hop on over, or a few snips for the non-jumping types. It isolates the building from the public eye... one can even feel safer inside the fence in some situations.

It's really not that difficult to secure a place (as large as Bennett or bigger) at a relatively low cost. Not many people in charge of that situation seem to really sit down and think about it.

you bet -a fence is a dare to some of us- like putting out a Chihuahua to guard the White House ???? how hysterical -one dreaded mess to attract attenton to another one- don't see the old Girl coming down on SCHEDULED date either and how will the people in the Commons love that monstrosity in their view - I'll be stayng near the CT. border don't think any contamination would reach there ????? alI can say is
" whistle while they work" - good work reporting Ratchet Man - will be there in 48 days - Stax V8 now your turn to comment ----

the Millbrook Village Board of Trustees met two nights ago to
decide on a bid for the fencing off of the perimeter of Halcyon Hall.
The choice is between American Fencing from Cambell Hall,
and A-1 Fencing of Wappingers.

I say go with A-1 Fencing! I Have done business for them in the
past, and they are always professional. Besides, BUY LOCAL folks!
heh heh he....
The cost of the fence will be charged as a lien on the real estate
underneath the 1892 Halcyon Hall.

Too bad that the demolition can't be paid for that way!!!
Annual taxes on the Bennett property wouldn't begin to offset the
millions required for complete teardown

and what of that ordered teardown, anyway?. With Oct 1st only 45
days away, it is unclear if any permit to do so has been filed by
anyone.
If I lived anywhere near here, i would be extremely concerned
about the massive contamination of the site, and whether, and how
much compliance there will be with remedial regulations.

Actually, ramming a chain link fence around the property is likely
the only power the Board has! At this point it is a PR move.
Let weekenders and locals alike enjoy thousands of yards of
urbanesque chain-link fence put up at the village's entrance just in time for the final dog days of summer! ho ho ho....
You think Halcyon looks like hell now? Just wait ...

There will THEN be an outcry for the owner and/or developer to
spend somebody's fortune to remedy the {now} uglified site, compelling the
board to... .hire more lawyers? to do what? confiscate the
property? which the village will have to pay for demo of, to be in compliance
with their own law.? Or they will sell it to someone who will?

Who?

Who on earth would submit to such a screwing? Who wants to waste Ten Million Dollars, without any guarantee of ANYTHING in the way of
preferred development rights, waived regulations, easements, etc?
Unless of course that kind of deal is in fact being made, in a, shall we say, UnPublic way?

So it is either more lawsuits [don't think they won't keep piling on
with those, this thing is a feeding frenzy right out of National Geographic] or....look for some kind of screwed up back room
sweetheart deal to happen. More than likely it will be alot of both.

I say come Oct 1st you won't see diddly squat as far as demo goes.
But what do I know?
When i was a kid, a chain link fence just made me want to access and explore even more, you know?

PS -Motts Rules!

alea jacta est - self destruction or by others - the story of every living thing huh?

Wanderer,it would be like handing in a not so good assignment into the head teacher at school.Haha.The camera was digital and some of the pics are out of focus.So it could be quite embarrasing.You have to start somewhere i suppose.We have another hospital in a town about 20km south of the previous location which was abandoned back in 1973 which would be another i would like to take some shots of.They are only public hospitals though.Hey time will tell, but not too long as i dont want to miss out on capturing the past only to have diggers at that site taking it away for good.

by the way "congrats" Ratchet man for the G rated post- my faith in you had paid off

staxV8 --do U think Motts would be interested in the pics U mentioned in your last post - New Zealand is too far to go

Secret Garden

Well Pat and Wanderer if its your pour,I ll be at work on the next day so tell me how we do this.I have been making my own alcohol for over 15 years and it is a great hobbie.At the moment we have a abandoned hospital in a town 11 kms south of where i live and i know the boss of the demo quite well and for a couple doz for the boys,i get as much timber i like out of the buildings as i like.Before the demo started i sneaked in and got @150 pics of it.Was built 1957 but added to a heap.When it was closed 15 yrs ago they had left peoples personal files in full view of anyone who dare to look.As you can imagine there was an uproar.We live in small communities around here so pretty massive.As to with many of the sites here on Opacity they left alot of stuff in the hospital as well.Talking to my friend,they got rid of 300 tonne of steel and that aint all gone yet.They are hitting the building with bl***y diggers,separating the wood and burnables and burnin that then the bricks they are using that for land fill.What a waste. I like reusing the old and giving it new life into something else.I cant save the world but it is a comfort to know that there are people like me out there.You fellas have way older buildings and the way that they were built are surely superior to ours.I love the old ones,but when they are too dangerous to enjoy then they gotta go.Cheers Guys Enjoy.

so U say between Bennett Commons and back of Halcyon- never been there but won't post were I've been - the idea of the Halloween thing is perfect - we need a volunteer Frankenstein or Fred Munster cursing the demise of the old girl and have been told demo probably won't happen as scheduled [read former posts } keep up the info
- where to "Wander" next