This unique character of the Village of Wappingers Falls Historic Business District is what sets us apart from the generic Route 9 corridor and the sprawling strip malls of newer communities. The Villages’ historic character is our “brand”—it’s why people want to live here and visit here.
When you look around our Main Street historic center, you will see a growing pattern of neglect and poor decision-making that is slowly turning our home into something unrecognizable. Recent attempts to replace the early-1900s water tower with a modern, industrial cellular tower completely ignored the village’s historic viewscape. On West Main, we have a collapsed sidewalk that has sat for six years with an ugly orange construction fence as if it’s a permanent fixture on Main Street. Garbage receptacles are allowed to be left in public view and on sidewalks along Main Street.
And now the newest blight, a large, unsightly surveillance system placed directly in front of Grinnell Library. Grinnell Library is a cornerstone of our Nationally Registered Historic District and the gateway to the downtown business district. The Village of Wappingers Falls is a safe, family-oriented community with a low crime rate. We should be proud of that. However, by installing industrial surveillance poles without a public process, we degrade our historic Main Street and create the appearance of a high-crime area where none exists.
The Village has specific mandates and a Historic Overlay District process—including public hearings—designed to protect the historic district buildings. These rules exist for a reason: to ensure that any permanent fixture in the historic core is reviewed for its impact on our community’s character. There is no public safety exemption to these rules! When the rules are bypassed (by the people who we expect to enforce them), we risk losing the very character that makes Wappingers Falls a destination. We need to ensure that rules are followed for every project, ensuring transparency and protection for our historic district.
If we continue with this lack of vision and allow these eyesores to accumulate, we lose the very thing that makes the village desirable. We cannot claim to value village history while allowing our streets to look like a construction zone, dumping ground, and high-crime area. We need a commitment to protecting our historic character, our property values, and our future.