[w1jim]

RE: Locals & RNY 2 impressions

Bernie,
Thank you for your field research. While I've lived in Boston for the past 30 years, I grew up in Monticello, where we owned a home until last year. I even knew Mr. Sedlacks dad. And, I perfected my drinking skills at the "Bend an Elbow", where Mister Willys now stands.
For a little perspective people might want to look at another controversial event that took place in the area in August 1969; Woodstock (people still remember that, though they've mellowed).
I think that next year we need to do a better job of notifying the locals. We had signs posted on the roads this year saying that the roads would be closed, but they were somewhat small. I think that we need BIG signs, like the highway dept uses. And, I think that the locals will ultimately embrace these events.
BTW, did you notice how wide broadway in Monticello is? That's because in the "old days" they used to race horses through town, so there is a precident there for closing the roads for racing! (Even my folks were pre-embryonic back then.)
On our way out on Sunday morning, while stopping at the Bagel Bakery in Monticello (an institution unto itself) we talked with some locals who wanted to know what the handsome RNY stickers on our cars were all about. When informed they were sorry that they didn't know about it in time to check it out.
Jim Blumenfeld
Commander SS 1-3-5-14-16
Monti High class of '73

 

[Rally Nut]

RE: Locals & RNY 2 impressions

>Bernie,
>Thank you for your field research. While I've lived in Boston
>for the past 30 years, I grew up in Monticello, where we owned
>a home until last year. I even knew Mr. Sedlacks dad. And, I
>perfected my drinking skills at the "Bend an Elbow", where
>Mister Willys now stands.
>For a little perspective people might want to look at another
>controversial event that took place in the area in August
>1969; Woodstock (people still remember that, though they've
>mellowed).
>I think that next year we need to do a better job of notifying
>the locals. We had signs posted on the roads this year saying
>that the roads would be closed, but they were somewhat small.
>I think that we need BIG signs, like the highway dept uses.
>And, I think that the locals will ultimately embrace these
>events.
>BTW, did you notice how wide broadway in Monticello is?
>That's because in the "old days" they used to race horses
>through town, so there is a precident there for closing the
>roads for racing! (Even my folks were pre-embryonic back
>then.)
>On our way out on Sunday morning, while stopping at the Bagel
>Bakery in Monticello (an institution unto itself) we talked
>with some locals who wanted to know what the handsome RNY
>stickers on our cars were all about. When informed they were
>sorry that they didn't know about it in time to check it out.
>Jim Blumenfeld
>Commander SS 1-3-5-14-16
>Monti High class of '73
>

Get out there and talk to the residents months ahead and let them know what's going A little bit of PR makes all the difference and 2week before the event starts send the a little bit in the MAIL that the roads wil be closed on said date and time

 

[rightseat]

RE: Locals & RNY 2 impressions

>>>
>Get out there and talk to the residents months ahead and let
>them know what's going A little bit of PR makes all the
>difference and 2week before the event starts send the a little
>bit in the MAIL that the roads wil be closed on said date and
>time

...which is exactly what organizers DID this yer. They mailed to homeowners on rally route. Then Ed Jackson, local head of the event, visitied as many ppl as he could.

It's not like the locals never knew anything. Obdiously, there were some who did not get the message, either becasue they didn't get the mail, didn't talk with Ed, or simply didnt WANT to hear.

Again, the job can likely be done better another time, and as the event settles in to certain stages year after year, communication will be more complete. But the RNY organizers went to considerable lengths to contact locals along the 2006 route.

Dave G

"...Embrace loose gravel, beware big trees..."

 

[Rally Nut]

RE: Locals & RNY 2 impressions

>>>>
>>Get out there and talk to the residents months ahead and let
>>them know what's going A little bit of PR makes all the
>>difference and 2week before the event starts send the a
>little
>>bit in the MAIL that the roads wil be closed on said date
>and
>>time
>
>...which is exactly what organizers DID this yer. They mailed
>to homeowners on rally route. Then Ed Jackson, local head of
>the event, visitied as many ppl as he could.
>
>It's not like the locals never knew anything. Obdiously, there
>were some who did not get the message, either becasue they
>didn't get the mail, didn't talk with Ed, or simply didnt WANT
>to hear.
>
>Again, the job can likely be done better another time, and as
>the event settles in to certain stages year after year,
>communication will be more complete. But the RNY organizers
>went to considerable lengths to contact locals along the 2006
>route.
>
>Dave G
>
>"...Embrace loose gravel, beware big trees..."

I was RNY last year and the problem I see was the roads are closed for too long and every thing was way behind time. I see there was only 49 cars this year, To run that many cars shoul only take about an hour and a half max. The marshel's that I talked last year had no clue what was going on, No radio contact there was some guy there a spectator with a scanner he was telling them what was happening.

 

[Don Kennedy]

I promise I'll only post once in this thread. NONE OF THIS has anything to do with the safety factor of a stage with many many full time occupied houses along the route that can not be guaranteed to not pull out onto the stage anytime they feel like it. Regardless of how much you educate them and inform them. PICK ROADS that are conducive to holding a rally on in the first place.

 

[Lancia037Rally]

RNY 2 impressions

>>Get out there and talk to the residents months ahead and let
>>them know what's going A little bit of PR makes all the
>>difference and 2week before the event starts send the a
>little bit in the MAIL that the roads wil be closed on said date
>and time.

This area of the Catskills seemed to have many summer houses/getaway cottages for people living in New York City. If so, these part-time residents may not be checking their mail in local area. Being so early in spring, you can expect some of those people returning to find the rally happening. Earlier and frequent notices may be better.

One partial solution to having both slower speeds and less local interferance is to run this as a winter rally and hope for snow. The optimal solution is to find less populated roads.

 

[Walter Clark]

RE: Locals & RNY 2 impressions

>
>I was RNY last year and the problem I see was the roads are
>closed for too long and every thing was way behind time. I see
>there was only 49 cars this year, To run that many cars shoul
>only take about an hour and a half max. The marshel's that I
>talked last year had no clue what was going on, No radio
>contact there was some guy there a spectator with a scanner he
>was telling them what was happening.
>

None of what you said relates to this year, including the number of cars you stated.

 

[ihbobry]

NONE OF THIS
>has anything to do with the safety factor of a stage

That's correct. That is not the issue I was trying to address.

Bernie

 

[PeterSteinberg]

RE: RNY 2 impressions

Dave's comment about the part-time residents reflects my experiences at the previous Rally New York that I worked at.

The only issues that I had were with people that had just arrived at their residence that day and had no idea that the rally was going past their house.

> This area of the Catskills seemed to have many summer
>houses/getaway cottages for people living in New York City. If
>so, these part-time residents may not be checking their mail
>in local area. Being so early in spring, you can expect some
>of those people returning to find the rally happening. Earlier
>and frequent notices may be better.

 

[w1jim]

>>The only issues that I had were with people that had just arrived at their residence that day and had no idea that the rally was going past their house.<<

That was 2 years ago when we ran on private land at the "Hartwood Club".
I would have thought that those people would have gotten notifications from the club in their absence. Non-the-less, we no longer use those roads (pity, that was my favorite road as a kid).


>>This area of the Catskills seemed to have many summer houses/getaway cottages for people living in New York City.<<
Yes, there are some very nice homes on the Benton Hollow stage, but when I read that I just had to laugh about having a vacation home on a certain part of Lenape Lake Road replete with it's own integral, umh, transfer station :9

Bottom line we can all agree that we need to inundate the locals with notification such that there is no doubt in their mind what is happening and when, what the restrictions are and why.
JimB

 

[Eric Burmeister]

I think you will be much more successful if you try to get them involved with a video rather than just giving them "information."

Just my pair o' pennies.

 

[PeterSteinberg]

Not as regards to my comment. These were on public roads, and it was probably closer to Andes.

>That was 2 years ago when we ran on private land at the
>"Hartwood Club".
>I would have thought that those people would have gotten
>notifications from the club in their absence. Non-the-less,
>we no longer use those roads (pity, that was my favorite road
>as a kid).

 

[LowMan]

Why did the RNY leave Andes? I know they kept the colchester once after the hiatus, but why leave? I spectated that event and all the locals I encountered knew of it or even dug it. On the one tarmac stage south of the resevoir at the start some fisherman were held up and when I talked to them they weren't really upset. The people in the town seemed very friendly as well. Why aren't these stages still run?

 

[NCWrencher]

A guy with a gun stopped at least one stage the last time the event was in Andes (Otis's first US event).

I've heard rumors that the town of Andes was NOT rally friendly.... hearsay and conjecture 100%.

 

[Pete Kuncis]

>A guy with a gun stopped at least one stage the last time the
>event was in Andes (Otis's first US event).

That was one of the last stages on Saturday back in '02. Otis had a bad time at that event:
http://www.onalimbracing.com/gallery2/g2data/albums/2002newyork/03_G.jpg

Pete

 

[REDrum]

The disgruntled
>are few and the effort to really educate them is very valid,
>as a vast majority in the area like and welcome rally. >Bernie

In a world (forum) where bad news travels faster than good, your post is refreshing. Thanks for sharing Bernie

 

[ihbobry]

I live somewhat local to the event (45 miles away) My business does business in Monticello/Liberty/Sullivan County everyday. I asked for feedback from 2 people who are straight up no bs guys who are very involved in the areas we ran this past weekend. They talk too 100's of people everyday and pay attention to the event a little because they know I codrive.

I asked 2 questions: What do locals think over all of our rally, and did you hear of any problems?

The first was the owner of Sedlacks Body Shop between the airport where service was and Mr. Willys. He also lives near by. Bill is rather blunt and said I could quote him. "This area has historically had nothing going for it. It has little middle class. But the people in the middle who work can appriciate the 100's of people who come into town and in an organized fashion as amatuers and somewhat professional looking cars go about and recreate automotively. They bring people, money, and excitement to an area that needs it. What's wrong with that?" He added the talk in the local diner Monday was all good and about the picture of the car pulled out of the pond that was in the paper on Sunday. ( he wanted to know if they where looking down to change a cd when it happened )

The other runs a large towing company in Liberty. He stated to me that the police had nothing bad to say, and anyone he talked to in town enjoyed the event and he heard some people where upset they got stuck in their driveway. But other than that no complaints. He feels rally is very welcome in town.

So while there are many valid points about man power and such the issue of locals hating rally is nonsense. The disgruntled are few and the effort to really educate them is very valid, as a vast majority in the area like and welcome rally. It was also suggested to me that it should be checked to see if the people who did not know of the event where weekend residents and may have missed any communication about the event.

Lastly, yes only the opinion of 2 people, but it is 2 people who know a heck of a lot of people. If something wasin the air they would have said so.

Bernie

 

[jimmy]

Bruce & I ate lunch on Thursday, after recce, at the Seanachie Pub in Liberty. The bartender said that we were the first rally related folks to stop in. Thank you for the support Karen (I think this is where the whiskey for the winners came from) !

Friday, we ate Italian at Albella. Even though they were an advertiser in the spectator guide (and were about a block away from Friday's start) they didn't seem to know about the rally, and there were no spectator guides there.

So, local awareness could be better.

How about giving each of us competitors additional spectator guides to pass out?

press on,

 

[Walter Clark]

>How about giving each of us competitors additional spectator
>guides to pass out?

There were a boatload of them at the Thursday evening registration and "beating". I grabbed a dozen or so and handed them to anyone who came up to the start of BEnton Hollow or that I met while setting up the stage and that seemed interested or concerned. That included the lady working at a Subway and a guy at Burger King in Liberty. Good idea for competitors to do the same. It might have been helpful for Ivan, Olga or Ed to have mentioned something like that.

 

[Ivan Orisek]

>Bruce & I ate lunch on Thursday, after recce, at the
>Seanachie Pub in Liberty. The bartender said that we were the
>first rally related folks to stop in. Thank you for the
>support Karen (I think this is where the whiskey for the
>winners came from) !
>
>Friday, we ate Italian at Albella. Even though they were an
>advertiser in the spectator guide (and were about a block away
>from Friday's start) they didn't seem to know about the rally,
>and there were no spectator guides there.
>
>So, local awareness could be better.
>
>How about giving each of us competitors additional spectator
>guides to pass out?
>
>press on,

Jimmy,

That is a very strange thing to say. I wonder to whom you talked and
whether they understood what you were talking about:

1. They paid for the advetisement in the Rally New York USA News -
the Official Spectator Guide.
2. We paid them for lunch for the participants in the bus rally
tour - the Rally Pass. This is something I have done personally
with the owner whom I have known for several years.

This is not a problem of local awareness but low awareness of
the sport of rallying in the general population, which, in turn,
is the legacy of decades of running the sport with minimum
promotion. This can be overcome only by repeating of what we have
done so far:

- Weekly articles in local newspapers during the four weeks preceding the rally.
- Rally Radio Thunder 102 broadcasted on seven radio stations
daily advertisements and rally news during two weeks preceding
the rally and live reports on Friday and Saturday.
- 300 color 19 by 22 posters were distributed throughout the county.
- 15 banners 10 foot long were placed at gas stations thoughout the
county.
- 20 foot long banners were placed over Main Streets in Liberty,
Narrowsburg and Monticello. (Yes, there was one in Monticello until
high winds took it down together with the telephone pole a few days
before the event.)
- 2,000 copies of Rally New York USA News - the Official Spectator
Guide were distributed to local retail news outlets with additional
1,000 copies available at the rally.

I think we have done pretty well in this regard.

Ivan Orisek