New lease on life—in a new neighborhood—for Take-It-or-Leave-It Shop
April 11, 2014
by Bill Kuebler
Take It Or Leave It fans rejoice. The Take It Or Leave It Shop will reopen bigger and better than ever. I had a very nice talk with Supervisor Greenstein yesterday afternoon. The passionate letters to this site and the wonderful speakers at the town board meeting Tuesday showed how vital and popular our little community is. Thank you all.
This is how I understand the situation—and keep in mind things will certainly evolve.
The current shed at the recycling center is now open Saturdays for 8 to 12 and will be a leave-it-only site for town residents. There will be no taking. But in May the new and improved TIOLI will open at the train station parking lot. The new shop will be housed in what I have been told is the pretty building that was once used as office and storage for the Skateboard Park. This will be moved to the first parking lot on the left as you drive into the station along Woodburn Avenue from South Greeley, behind the Shell station. The Farmers Market will have one third of the building (instead of its current small trailer) and TIOLI will have the other two thirds. I have been told this is more space then we had. [See photos of the shed below.] The hours and dates for running the two endeavors would be the same or very similar (the Farmers Market runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.).
I am optimistic about this idea. While the current location has served us well, there were as many positives as negatives about the space. The best thing was “one-stop shopping” you could recycle everything in one spot. Now people will have to go to two locations—and I, for one, am going to miss the book bins. The major downside: the lack of parking. Not enough spaces in or outside the center. Now we have the train station lot. The parking issue was one reason we felt we could never fully promote the shop because it would only exacerbate the parking problems and the good-but-sad fact is that our popularity sometimes made it hard to recycle after 10:00 a.m.
There are still issues to be worked out this month. These include how to dispose of items that are not taken. I think a dumpster exclusively dedicated to the TIOLI would allow us to once and for all see how much it actually costs to run the shop. The town could then determine whether it is worth continuing to operate it. Spoiler Alert: I think it is. And I am worried about the problem of people just dropping off stuff at all hours when we are closed.
Two of the most exciting things Rob mentioned to me in our phone call were the fact that we would develop a whole new clientele by being located downtown. Hunt’s Lane was a bit isolated. And, forgive me—poor Luddite that I am—he suggested we upload photos of our quality goods to Facebook and entice even more new people in.
In my 13 years of volunteering at the shed I think this is the most exciting event since we reopened in in 2000. We’ll need volunteers and I am working on a way to have volunteers sign-up easily through a web page. If anyone one wants to reach me I am .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Skate Park shed above, Chappaqua Farmers Market trailer below
Great news! Many thanks to Bill Keubler and the other volunteers who work with him for maintaining something very special in our town. Also thank you to the DPW team for working to come up with this solution. I know from speaking with BIll Powers, the assistant foreman in the Recycling Center that DPW team is committed to the success of this chapter in TIOLI. And, of course, big thanks too to the residents who took the time to write letters to the Town Board members and attend the meeting on Tuesday, and the Town Board for listening to the people it was elected to represent!!
We love that we can do our spring cleaning and give our old “stuff” a new lease on life. When do they start taking drop-offs again this year?
Glad you like the TIOLI. Until the new shop opens you can leave drop-offs at the old shed but nothing can be taken at this time.
I love this solution! We are using resources already in existence and improving on a great program that had some fixable problems. Thank you Rob Greenstein for listening and bringing a fresh set of eyes to the problem. I love out of the box thinking! Bravo!
So someone would take an item and possibly sell it, that is a good thing. It is put to use by some remote person who gets an item he or she needs for a few dollars. And the person who took it did us a service, he got rid of it for us!
Bill, Thank you for all your hard work to save TIOLI. What is happening to the goods that are dropped off now until the shop is opened at the train station? Thanks.
Editor’s Note: The old shed at the Recycle Center is still taking IN, just not letting any items OUT until they relocate to the train station, I believe.
I was horrified by the fact that the town board was going to close the TIOLI to out of towners—in other words, the hispanic families from nieghboring towns that depend upon the TIOLI to furnish their homes. It was telling that when someone asked at the Town Board Meeting how they knew that the people coming to the TIOLI did not live in New Castle, all that we received in response were downward glances and mumbles. A town that has just had a HUD discrimination suit filed against it because of its protestation of affordable housing does not need to perpetuate its reputation as racists. Let’s continue to be kind and let the families take our cast offs, where ever they are from. And while we are at it, let’s stop protesting the affordable housing at Hunts Lane based on imaginary safety concerns. Let’s try to rebuild New Castle’s reputation as an accepting community!
Thanks Christine for your help with the question I raised. Perhaps I was not clear. But what I was wondering was where are the goods that are being dropped off now going until there is pick up again at the new location? I don’t think the shed can hold everything until then. Thank you.
I will see you in May, but why not leave the skate board shed where it is and have TIOLI there on Saturday mornings? The farmers market really does use a lot of the trailer, and the parking will be even worse if you try to squeeze the TIOLI into the place where the trailer is. I think whoever came up with this idea doesn’t go to the farmers market!
There are seldom any cars at the far end of the parking lot on Saturdays, and a sign at the farmers market sending people there would work fine.
More research should have been done before they jumped to this change. As a farmer’s market and TIOLI shop frequent flyer, I sure see a lot of potential problems and possible additional personnel costs to the Town.
