March 19, 2025 Billy Bobb (B) by Maria(M)
B: Can you use the name Billy Bobb with three B’s? From when I did roofing and people want to pay with a check, the name was “Billy Bobb and the Rock & Roll Roofers”. And my wife worked at the Hurley Mountain Inn, leave the check there, come back the next day, get the cash, leave $20 on the bar and never had a problem cashing a check ever.
M: Okay you got it. What do you love about Rosendale?
B: I love the difference between the people and the topography, the mixed blend and from now we get a very good mixture. There’s a lot of different parts and it’s important to have different parts otherwise we’d all just be vanilla ice cream. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
M: Why are these things important to you?
B: Because there always should be a place where people can speak their mind whether they’re for you or against you but it’s good to hear people out and come to the best solution that comes from having many participants.
M: Do you have any concerns for Rosendale or are there are things you think you feel like need to be safeguarded?
B: Open space, I wish that Rosendale would follow the model of other towns like Marbletown with having their real estate transfer tax, to accumulate funds to purchase properties before they become lost to everyone. I grew up in Rosendale when it was working farms. It seemed they’ve pretty much disappeared. The cement plant was a heavy industry that I lived basically on top of, and we survived None of us came out damaged from it. But you know, Rosendale is like everything else, it’s always changing. It’s ever evolving. But I would like to see as much open space preserved and saved for people to use because if not we just become, in another 50 years, like a suburb of Brooklyn. Who the hell knows, but I’d like to see open space.
M: And again why? Because I grew up in Brooklyn and lived there until I was ten years old. It’s a great place to live but I’m glad my parents decided to move here. My father was one of 11 children and most of his relatives, his siblings moved from Brooklyn to Long Island. My mother was one of four and they moved to New Jersey. My father was called north, where none of the s-o-bs had been, and wound up in Rosendale.
M: How about sharing some of your ideas for Rosendale? Favorite ideas, and you know they can be practical to outlandish.
B: My ideas come from me being a festival junkie. I’m inherently involved in the street festival and pickle festival and Penny Coleman and I have been trying to work on getting Rosendale to be Zero Waste, and it seems to be possible, but not an easy path. We’ve been consulting with Greenway, and we’re trying to figure out how to do that. But the biggest thing coming from it is having bodies to do that. I encourage people in Rosendale, as within any community: there’s a severe shortage of volunteers to be the little league, fire department, town government, whatever, to become involved because you know if you’re gonna b*tch about it and you’re not involved, you don’t really have a say. Become involved and help change it!
M: Any other ideas?
B: I think Willow Kiln is a great little gem, and I feel that Rosendale is like a diamond, and has many facets. Some people complain when they put a ton of money into the pool. I’ve only been to that pool twice in my life and both times at night, over the fence. A lot of people call about the library budget, you know, complaining about this and that, but you know, the thing is, all these different facets help make Rosendale its own unique diamond. Willow Kiln is one of those. It’s off the street. It’s a hidden treasure and I’m sorry that someone vandalized the counter that counts attendance. That gives you an idea of how the impact is. I go by how many cars are here, and you see cars come in, people sitting over there now having a picnic, but cars come, they go up on the trail, they come back. Hopefully they go down and transition to Main Street. Plenty of good things down there to do, but you know I’ve seen Rosendale in its heyday when all the stores were there – before they did the water sewer lines. They went from two side street parking to one which, is a problem you know. One of the severe problems with Rosendale is having adequate parking for people to do stuff.
M: So they used to have parking on both sides of the street and that probably slowed the traffic also.
B: Oh somewhat, but I think that it might have been done to come to compliance with the American Disability Act of wider sidewalks for people to get through there but basically if you go out there..
M: So the sidewalks were widened|? Because they’re still so narrow.
B: Yeah if you go out and you take a look on each side there’s a nice curve.
There’s a brick and that probably takes up enough space to where you could have done both sides of street parking to get the stores on Main Street a chance to make a living. It seems to me they’re always a new store or a new restaurant you know. Restaurants have it easier than merchandise stores but I’d like to see it maintained. I like to see it thrive, business on Main Street. Granted that I’ve seen different things like Chamber of Commerce or different associations come in and they seem to put the emphasis on Main Street, which is a good thing, but you have to consider the whole of Rosendale. The businesses on 32, the businesses in Cottekill, the businesses in Tilson. You got to consider the whole dynamic of it. But Rosendale is the heart, what Main Street is the heart of Rosendale. You got to try to keep the heart pumping and having an adequate place for people to park is one of them. So I think that’s an issue.
M:Any other thoughts, are there are there other businesses you’d like to see or activities?
B: One idea about willow kiln. They’re historic, a lot of people ask questions about them. However, the emerging growth of trees and saplings are kind of blocking their view. It’d be nice if someone, either the town or volunteers, could coordinate an effort to go in and clear it out so that the kilns are actually visible. Because it’s this whole park was created by volunteers
M: Really was it?
B: Yes! I was here when Scotty Bay, who owned B&S Handy Shop who did lawnmowers and chainsaws, arranged with a friend to have a truck with a chipper, and somebody else had a dump truck to take stuff away, and probably Kenny Hassett, Brian Cafferty, a bunch of people, showed up and just spent the day clearing out and making the kilns more readily apparent. And it wouldn’t be that hard to go in there now.
M: Well, every year it’ll just get harder.
B: I think that I may be biased but I think that the town does have a great youth center for kids and I believe in getting children involved early and getting them involved to be lifelong volunteers for things. My family has always volunteered for one thing or another. In today’s economy, where both parents are working sometimes more than one job, it doesn’t leave a lot of time to volunteer, but getting involved in the community is the best way to have a good community. I encourage you to get involved.
M: Agreed! You do such an amazing job getting volunteers for the street fest.
B: Beer and pizza usually.
M: Is that your secret?
B: I do have several people who have moved away from the alcohol part so I have beer, water, iced teas, gatorades. I do have a good selection and usually I fund them out of my own pocket because I’m able to, and in early age I realized I would never be rich, famous, and handsome – and it seemed to have worked out that way. But I have suitcases and suitcases full of memories and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
M: Agreed. That’s the best part.
B: You can’t take it with you so let’s spend it now in primary economy.
M: Anything else you want to share?
B: I do appreciate Heart & Soul for bringing things to the forefront and trying to get as many views as they can because, as I said, the more views you have the better the end product is gonna be. So I applaud you for that. Oh thank you. Yes. Great. Okay.
