2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

Your probably right, i must admit not living in
the village anymore that i am probably not
on about the relative merits of millbrook's
"leaders" ! I guess I felt pretty disappointed
in the last 2 mayors, under whose tenure things
COULD have been improved, and felt that
Andy, who I think is a decent guy on a human level at least, might have brought some of that to the job.
I've tried to evolve my position as the situation changes:; that is, that "restoring"
Halcyon is out of the question, case closed.
That the development scenario already
in motion [?] DOES provide for some
sympathetic retention of stonework, the chapel, cottages, etc.
I do think that IS preferable to just tearing it all down outright. So my advocacy for this building's rescue starting in 1989, appears now to have
evolved to a position of "siding" with developers, if one were not careful to
recognize the nuance of my argument.
If THEY are going to save some of this place, then I will side with whoever THEY are!
... with reservations about the
impact on the character of the village.
I love Millbrook, and I care deeply about the place, on alot of levels. So your right, there
are no easy solutions or answers. Other than your point which is local government, in
general, and this one in particular, ARE THE
PROBLEM! And that dealing with them is useful if only
because one must go over or around their bullshit inevitably. But you are right that they
no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt from anybody, not even an optimistic
maniac like myself!
Bottom line the building IS falling down,
the OWNER might want to get his shit together and advise the board, the public,
etc etc. But we all know, on a business level that would be a lit bag of dynamite in the
current climate of Absolute Code Compliance.

Pat I think a lot of your comments have been on point, albeit without any real answers or solutions. Restoring Bennett would be amazing and great for Millbrook, everyone knows that. But if anyone thinks Andy Ciferi has done, or is doing a good job on any issue(s), then you need to have your head examined. The Village Board is the biggest bunch of incompetent, pie-in-the-sky, yes men I've ever encountered. Pat, they can't even figure out garbage pickup, for them to contemplate Bennett development, well that's just too much to ask. Government has failed us on a local, state, and national levels. If the people banded together, we might be able to accomplish something.

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Oh yeah! Awesome! Awesome! This is awesome!

holy-helI! Wtch your step

I've gone through this gallary several times, and this picture, every time, reminds me of the movie Taps.

Millbrook Village trustees were confronted
over the inertia and lack of official
update on the status of the Bennet property.
The interested parties seem to represent
land and /or homeowners whom seem to feel that the village board/ and or Bennet's
owners have turned a blind eye to safety
and enforcement of building codes there
for the past three decades.
Yeah, no shit. A real hot news flash.Like
no one has noticed the place....

There are some who view this falling wreck of a former landmark as a hazard, and a
blight on Millbrook's image and property values. They are probably correct at this point.
Fire concerns were also cited.
The board led by Mayor Andy Ciferri, is
now ready to hold the proposed developer
accountable for the staus of their project
scenario. In other words, pissed off property owners who feel the developers as well as the current owners have been given a free ride, have decided to light a fire under their asses in a very public way.
It seems the intent is as much to provide
parity, and fairness in regards to ALL local
building codes, zoning, etc. and Bennet
is the obvious example, for people who are routinely
screwed or denied by the village board for their own property, additions, expansions, easements etc.

In other words, this has little to do with Bennet directly, it is {again] being used as a very convenient excuse to embarass Millbrook into following the law regarding
ALL properties.

Kinda, sorta.

These shortsighted people are going to
end up screwing themselves in the end.
Despite the board's seeming cluelessness
regarding Bennet's status, they ,as well as everyone else who has followed this at all
know that the DEC is still conducting its' environmental review. It takes time, people.

There is a war on, Government is busy
Wrecking Everything, it's hard for them to
multi-task folks!! Chill out. Don't worry they
are going to ruin this place soon enough.

Except these rule crazy types may end up forcing the village to DEMOLISH HALCYON HALL ITSELF. Who do you think will pay for that? Millbrook will, if these shortsighted people have their way. Then they will be the first to complain when the multi million bill
forces up their taxes considerably, all in
the name of SAFETY and CODE COMPLIANCE.

They remind me of Republicans: The whole
world can be going to hell, ruinous wars,an economy down the toilet, and all of that is just fine BECAUSE BILL CLINTON"S NOT GETTING ANY STRANGE. To put it nicely.

Basically, they should let the developer
finish the deal. HE pays for demo, site
remediation, and more importantly [to these
rule -crazy types] insurance, against
liability for injury, contamination, or whatever other scenario these paranoid panic-junkies
are so freakin worried about after 3 decades.

It is somewhat of a ploy for a whole other
agenda. But they are right in the long run.

As one who is interested in Preservation,
as opposed to Rules, my concern is that
the current development scenario
provides for some actual preservation!!
The best that can be hoped for, I assure
you.

If the village is forced to demo out of
{all of a sudden] code compliance,
then forget selective preservation
of the tower wing, stonework etc. So if
you are for preserving some aspect of this
place, a legal directive to demo would
be a disaster. As it would also be for the village's fiscal position.
Perhaps the only good would be that the
property would then not necessarily be
as heavily developed as current plans call for.

Mayor Andy Ciferri, who i personally think has been pretty good on this and other issues,
has promised to update the village on a monthly basis.
He has his work cut out for him.

Nightmares? I'd have daydreams! I'd probably be the little girl stuck on the chain fence during recess, grabbing at the metal with chubby fingers with a far-off look in my eyes. Maybe attempt to climb over said fence once in a while.

I attended Bennet in the seventies and found myself near Millbrook a few years ago so I decided to visit. To this day my shock remains unabated. Looking up to my old room I was eighteen again and could see and hear our conversations, classes, teachers, and feel all the energy that such a community generates. I lived in a large room in the front where we would hang out the window on Friday afternoons and watch the girls, transformed for the weekend, greet their dates. I still have many friends that were in school there with me and theyhave decided it would be far too sad to ever see Halcyon Hall again. We never considered it beautiful. The only thing that saved it from being forbidding ,even then, was the youth and exuberance that the buildings contained. Halcyon Hall was judged so flammable that there was immediate expulsion for any student caught smoking in any room other than one of the two designated areas that had been specially constructed for that use. For me, the decay is not only shocking for the obvious reasons, but I never would have belived that a place that was so vibrant and alive could reach such a dilapidated condition in about thirty years. It would seem I would have to be at least two hundred years old!

Tunnel to the Pharos

Enter the school of ancient artifacts
just by waiting

Cleanest girl ghosts in the east hehe

Can you imagine a bunch of pretty coeds in those windows waving at firends ------

waving gooodbye maybe

Slowly Sinking ...............

Something go creak in the night while you slept ?

School is out for summer !!
School is out For Ever !!