Visiting Snow Valley in Fishkill it is hard to believe that you are in affluent New York State. The poverty here goes beyond Appalachia rivaling the ghettos of Brazil or parts of Africa. You feel that you are no longer in America.
There are Native Americans here from a tribe out of North Dakota that settlers wiped out by killing off their Buffalo food supply and giving them blankets infected with small pox. Now we are unceremoniously throwing them out of their homes with no place else to go.
The sewage system here consists of an open pit that residents pour their refuge into. This pit may seep into the water supply and a nearby stream that runs through the collection of shanty trailer homes.
The owner is a mining company called Montfort and they have issued a 30 day eviction notice to the residents here on the eve of winter. One wonders how they can expect these residents to pack up and move from their long term homes in just 30 days as the snow begins to fall.
HUD, DEC and health authorities in Dutchess County have regulatory authority over this site yet there is no sign of their involvement according to Peter Rostenberg of the Fishkill Ridge Caretakers an environmental group seeking to help out with the situation. Local preservationist Mara Farrell and local attorney Tim Tuttle are also helping out as is educator Ved Shravah and long term county legislator Alison MacAvery who is knocking on the doors of government agencies regarding this situation. Help is also coming as far away as Boston with the involvement of financial worker Cheryl Miller who is an environmental activist.
Montfort was recently seen drilling with a bit as “thick as a human thigh” in this area and may have found something below ground that is the reason why they are evicting everyone here. It seems to be profit above humanity when you are poor and unwanted in the Town of Fishkill.