
Jobs
Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about jobs, listed from newest to oldest. Questions about local economies surface in The Hill Country Observer as we follow movements in co-ops, small businesses, nonprofits and sustainable ways to make a living in our rural communities and support kinds of work that fulfill workers and local needs.
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Issue: February-March 2015
Former hospital, future resort?
By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. A developer has proposed turning the former Mary McClellan Hospital complex in Cambridge, N.Y., into a world-class resort. The hospital, seen here in 2010, was once the largest employer in southern Washington County but has been vacant since 2003. Sean McEntee file photo When a developer came forward read more
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Issue: December 2014-January 2015
Keeping a city’s past intact
In Pittsfield, campaign to save church leads to wider preservation effort By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass. The former St. Mary the Morning Star Church in Pittsfield has helped to spawn a new preservation drive in the city after a developer proposed this fall to raze it to make way for read more
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Issue: December 2014-January 2015
Parking garage plan raises ire in Saratoga
By THOMAS DIMOPOULOSContributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. The Saratoga Springs City Center, seen above from Maple Avenue, is proposing to build a 511-space parking garage to replace a surface parking lot across the street. An architect’s rendering, left, shows the garage and a new pedestrian bridge over Maple Avenue that would link it to read more
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Issue: November 2014
On exhibit: A real-life rural town
New Lebanon tests a new approach to spurring tourism By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer NEW LEBANON, N.Y. Ruth Abram is the founder of “Behold! New Lebanon,” a new program that encourages visitors and local people to discover the variety of real-world skills and enterprises among the town’s population. The program coordinates instructional demonstrations at local read more
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Issue: November 2014
Seeking the inner harmony
‘Vibroacoustic’ technique taps healing power of musical vibrations By STACEY MORRISContributing writer GLENS FALLS, N.Y. The asphalt streets of downtown Glens Falls are only a few hundred feet from Dennis Dominick’s office on Thomson Street office, but in figurative terms, the concrete jungle and all of its stressors are a million miles away. Inside, Dominick read more
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Issue: September 2014
Diamond in the rough? Village lays ground for rebirth
News Sept. 2014 In downtown Hoosick Falls, projects could set stage for rebirth By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. David Borge, the mayor of this village in northeastern Rensselaer County, acknowledged that its downtown looks “sad,” as he put it. Two- and three-story buildings from the 19th century, many vacant and decaying, are mixed read more
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Issue: July 2014
A woman and a mountain
Event planner develops low-impact retreat center at edge of Adirondacks By STACEY MORRISContributing writer LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. In this small town in the foothills of the Adirondacks, there’s one looming feature that’s both a landmark and a destination: Potash Mountain.The 1,750-foot-high mountain, popular for its easy climb, is owned by the state and protected as read more
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Issue: July 2014
In Saratoga Springs, a construction boom keeps going
By THOMAS DIMOPOULOSContributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Long before the Saratoga battles of the Revolutionary War, before the grand hotels of the Victorian era or the opening of the horse-racing track that would draw thousands of visitors to the region every summer, the 28 square miles that would become the city of Saratoga Springs read more
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Issue: July 2014
Long wait for PCB cleanup
EPA offers draft proposal for Housatonic, drawing new criticism By DAVID SCRIBNERContributing writer LENOX, Mass. Woods Pond in Lenox, Mass., is among the stretches of the Housatonic River most heavily contaminated with PCBs. Dredging to remove the pollution wouldn’t be completed until 2029 under a cleanup plan released last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection read more
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Issue: May 2014
Industrial legacy adds to region’s clean-energy potential
Industrial legacy adds to region’s clean-energy potential By ALEX ELVINContributing writer A. Perry Heller photos NORTH BENNINGTON, Vt. Bill Scully says he had an epiphany while driving home on Christmas Day in 2008, past the historic mills and dams of southern Vermont. “Why,” he recalls wondering, “when there is an energy crisis, am I read more








