THE 'SKILLS- DROP THE CAT AND COME TO THE COOL

It's an age old problem. How do you make the Catskills the "hip" destination that it used to be? The answer to some seems to be a re-branding of the old chestnut-Borschst Belt. As we all know by now the hospitality angle in the 'Skills grew out of Jewish dairy farms, turned boarding houses, turned bungalow colonies, turned grand hotels, turned piles of rubble. Air conditioning, cheap air fare, myopic and corrupt local government and chain link fencing has turned our little green mountains into the great depressed nirvana it is today.
    I've been coming to the 'Skills all my life. In 1995 I bought a place and eventually decided to reside here full time. When I first moved into  Glen Wild my only neighbor was 80 year old farmer Ray Gilkey. There was no GNJohn, no RNButch, no Slick and Beeks, no Majestic, no Dr. Gooch, no Diamond Dave, no supermodels. I loved it! Overgrown fields, tumble down fence lines, deer everywhere and boarded up houses, dotting large properties owned by the Parker family (owners of The Concord Hotel). In the most depressed years the Parkers and the Hassidics were the only ones investing in Sullivan Co. real estate. Hoping that someday casinos would come in, the Parkers lost everything to back taxes in 1999. The Hassidics just kept buying.
   Now the powers that be are trying to re-brand this place, making it a desirable destination for city folk once more. With the threat of fracking, casinos, and over development of a Hassidic community, bursting at its seams with baby strollers, it's now time to tell the rest of the world how cool we are? My old man always lectured me not to be xenophobic. "Just because you found paradise, doesn't mean the next guy doesn't deserve a piece of it also." he would say when I bitched about the changes of "progress". He was right. I welcome the challenge of welcoming new comers. But there is a way to do it without giving up just what brought us all here in the first place. Preserve our water, woods, and wild life. Limit development and hold our officials responsible. A ban on chain link fencing would be a start. Only then will the 'Skills once again be cool.