What Do We Want Middletown To Look Like?

Written By David Rainbird

On Thursday, September 5, Middletown’s volunteer DRI committee held a public meeting at the Union Grove Distillery in Arkville to talk about the community’s vision for revitalizing our downtowns. More than 70 people turned out for a lively discussion about what we want our downtowns to look like, and what kinds of projects would be most transformative for our community.

Middletown’s application is being written by a group of volunteers who live in the downtown areas of Arkville, Fleischmanns, and Margaretville, under the guidance of Peg Ellsworth and her staff at the MARK Project.

As executive director of MARK, Peg successfully steered Roxbury to a winning DRI application in 2023, although it took a few years of trying before Roxbury won the regional award. Peg told attendees at the meeting that competition for the grants is stiff, and it might take multiple tries for Middletown to succeed too. With a deadline of October 18 for turning in the application, the committee is on a tight timeline. 

Both the $10 million DRI and its sister program, the $4.5 million state NY Forward award, are highly competitive. The 62 counties that make up New York State are divided into 10 economic development regions, and the way the programs are currently structured, each region awards a single DRI grant and two NY Forward grants for each region. 

Middletown, along with the rest of Delaware County, is in the Southern Tier region, which also includes the larger cities of Binghamton and Ithaca. As a member of the Southern Tier regional council that decides the awards, Peg knows the process well. She will have to recuse herself from any discussion of Middletown’s application by the council. 

If Middletown wins the award, there will be another opportunity to propose new projects for funding, or refine projects that were already included in the application.

What Middletown Wants 

Community members who attended the meeting came up with a wealth of great ideas for proposed DRI projects. After the meeting, the committee compiled a stack of colorful Post-It notes into a spreadsheet of ideas for our downtowns.


A few of the transformative ideas discussed:

  • New walking and biking trails that connect the downtown areas to each other, to our river waterfronts, and to other trail systems in the area.

  • Restored and enhanced sidewalks for downtown areas.

  • Breathing new life into Middletown’s two grand old theaters, the Galli-Curci in Margaretville and the Maxbilt in Fleischmanns, for new performing arts space or other projects.

  • A boost to public transportation in the area. Some members discussed building wi-fi hotspots and shelter at local bus stops and trailheads.

  • An ice rink and other improvements to the nonprofit Catskill Recreation Center in Arkville.

  • Creating new permanent housing – a huge priority for many attendees, and an increasingly tough problem in the region and beyond. Some attendees at the meeting discussed the idea of creating a land trust for affordable housing, as Kingston and other communities have done in recent years.

Not every great idea can be funded through DRI – and that’s because it’s a one-time award, designed to invest mainly in capital projects that physically transform downtown areas. DRI does not fund planning, operations and maintenance costs, real estate acquisition, or equipment that is moved from one place to another. So, for instance, DRI funding can’t be used to buy an electric bus to run public transportation, or pay drivers — but it can be put toward permanent assets like a bus stop or charging infrastructure. DRI funds can’t be used to buy a building for housing, but if the owner of a building wants to renovate it to build housing, DRI funds can be used to make that possible. 

Another important thing to know about DRI is that if a project has a private sponsor, any funding the state awards has to be matched by at least 25 percent. Public and nonprofit projects do not have this requirement. 

How You Can Help

Fleischmanns mayor Sam Gil, Middletown supervisor Glen Faulkner, and Margaretville mayor John Hubbell take a break from the DRI public meeting to smile for the camera. 

If you live or work in one of Middletown’s downtown areas, there are a few things you can do to help boost our chances of success at this grant. 


Write a letter of support

The more voices from the community speak up to make the case for New York State investing in our town, the better we can make our case for funding. We have written a guide for writing letters of support, which you can find at this link:

Guide to Letters of Support

We need letters to be sent to the MARK Project by October 6.


Educate yourself about the process

New York State’s website for the DRI and NY Forward programs has a wealth of information about how the grants work, what kinds of projects it funds, and what other past winners are doing with the funding. 

Tell us your ideas

If you have a good idea for a project that could be transformative for our downtowns, especially if you own or are involved with the property it sits on, please use the contact form on the Middletown DRI website to tell us about it! Filling out that form also allows us to stay in touch with you via email to let you know about new developments or more opportunities for public input. 

Our Vision 

MARK Project director Peg Ellsworth (right) talks with local transit advocate Gary Kusen (middle), while community members work in small groups on vision and priorities.

The DRI committee has adopted a draft vision statement, distilled like fine Union Grove rye whiskey from the results of a vision exercise Peg led at our public meeting. Here it is: 

To enhance and revitalize Fleischmanns, Arkville and Margaretville by restoring the downtown centers of these interconnected communities,

In a way that strengthens physical connections, celebrates historic assets, prioritizes environmental resilience, promotes access to natural resources, builds stronger neighborly relationships, creates a sense of place for multigenerational residents and visitors, embraces diversity and inclusion, and makes new opportunities for housing, health, employment and entrepreneurship,

So that our connected downtown districts thrive and benefit equitably, visitors are inspired to return, and our growth will yield a prosperous future for all.

Town of Middletown DRI Volunteer Committee Members

Benjamin Fenton

Lissa Harris

Christina Kim

Brendan McClean

Matthew Steen

Cambria Tallman

Robin Williams

David Rainbird
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Open Call to the Community for Letters of Support