Some of those at the rally

HIGHMOUNT — Supporters of Belleayre Mountain will have some heavy-hitting political help in the coming year. In addition to over 200 supporters from the western Catskill region, including some of the 45 employees who face halved pay under the new budget, a support rally for the mountain drew political support from Congressman Maurice Hinchey, Senator John Bonacic, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, and numerous others.

The rally, called ‘Don’t Mess with Belleayre’ was held Friday just off Route 28, near the base of the state-owned Belleayre ski area.

Supporters turned up carrying signs and shouting slogans, and local fire departments brought trucks along to cheer on the rally.

There is anger, there is disappointment,” Senator Bonacic said. “There are employees here that have worked their whole lives on this mountain, this is their life.” Bonacic pledged to bring all 32 Republican state senators to a meeting with new Governor Cuomo at the beginning of the year.

“This isn’t a partisan issue, this is a people issue,” said Ulster County Executive Michael Hein. “When I look out, I see families. When I look out I see people who are going to be negatively impacted, and generations of people that are going to be negatively impacted if this is allowed to stand. So when we talk about, ‘Don’t Mess with Belleayre’ we do it for a reason. Because we are fighting for a region, we are fighting for an idea, but most importantly we are fighting for people.”

Hinchey: Economic prosperity

Hein, along with Hinchey and others, pushed for over $8 million to pave roads in the region and Hein doesn’t believe in “bridges to nowhere”. Belleayre accounts for a significant portion of Ulster County’s $400 million tourism industry, according to the county exec.

“Eliminating jobs is going to downgrade this economy,” said Hinchey. “It’s going to make the set of circumstances here, not just for Belleayre, but for so many of the other businesses around this region, so much more difficult, so much poorer, so much less people coming in to spend money and engage in business activities there. Belleayre is the most important aspect of the economic prosperity of this section of the Catskill Region. We need to maintain Belleayre.”

The elected officials pledged, regardless of party affiliation, to do everything in their power to help the mountain. Joe Kelly, founder and chairman of the Coalition to Save Belleayre, said the show of political unity and support was due to the area’s need for Belleayre. “You can see they’re all here and they’re all united and they all realize how important. This is not, we desire to have this place, we hope to. We have to have Belleayre. This area has to have Belleayre; the watershed has to have Belleayre.”

Several speakers mentioned the watershed agreement from 1997 where, in exchange for using local water for New York City, the state promised to aid with economic development for the region. Belleayre supporters have circulated petitions and gained nearly 4,000 signatures from people that are against job cuts on the mountain.