Katonah Area Fall Foliage Update

Katonah area is still seeing low levels of color change and are at midpoint.

New York Fall Foliage Forecast

Week of October 10-16 2007

In the Katonah Area green leaves still predominate with hints of red and orange beginning to emerge.

Katonah Avg Home Sale Price Highest In New York State

According to the 2007 Coldwell Banker ® Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI) released September 26, 2007, in the New York markets surveyed, Katonah ranked as the most expensive with Rye ranking as a close second.

According to the HPCI, the average home sale price of a home in Katonah is $904,750.


Here is the link.

Presently, Realtor.com list 119 available properties in the Katonah zip code (10536) ranging in price from $477,777 to $9,985,000.

An instant appraisal (two) of your home can be determine at Yahoo Real Estate.

Since it is an "instance appraisal" your real home value will vary - more likely downward.

Local realtors can be very helpful in establishing your real home value in today's real estate market.

MARTHA STEWART SONG BY MARC BLACK (ascap)

Here is the Martha Stewart video song by Marc Black (Katonah resident) that is getting a lot of views (28,000 plus) on YouTube (posted about a week ago). Runs a little over 6 minutes.



Here is a link to Marc Black's website.

KVIS Campaign - Nobody Owns Katonah

Katonah Village Improvement Society has underway a campaign to prevent the name of Katonah from becoming a registered trademark of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

If you would like to help their efforts to block the trademark applications by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia you can send a contribution made payable to KVIS:

Nobody Owns Katonah
Katonah Village Improvement Society
PO Box 263
Katonah, NY 10536

Here is the link for more info on the KVIS campaign.

1914 Children's Book With Katonah Poem Up For Sale on Ebay

The book is Grandma's Country Life Stories for the Children, by Mrs. Emmet Smith, put out by the Methodist Book Concern, New York, 1914. The first poem is titled Katonah, and it is a poem to that town.

Named from tribe, and Indian chieftain, In the Valley of the Croton, With its lakes and sparkling water, and its hills and towering summits, and its roadways, so inviting, With their flowering shrubs and grass plots, Such is beautiful Katonah.

Here is the ebay link auction ends June 7th.

About the Indian Chieftain:

Chief Katonah

Chief Katonah was a Native American tribal chief from whom the land of the town of Bedford, New York was purchased. The hamlet of Katonah, New York, located within Bedford, is named for him.

Chief Katonah lived in the area in the late seventeenth century. Records show that in 1680 he sold local land to settlers. Legend has it that he died of grief after his wife, Cantitoe, and their son were killed by lightning. Chief Katonah is said to be buried with his wife and son in Katonah Woods, off Rt. 22. The Chief, as the story is told, is said to be buried beneath a giant boulder, and his wife and son are buried beneath two smaller immediatley ajacent boulders. It is said that on a warm summers night, when the moon is full, you can hear the Chief and his family weeping for the land that the white man has abused and disgraced.

Source: Answers.com

Local Writer Starts a Newsletter to Lampoon Katonah Trademark Issue

Bill Tisherman a local writer has started a satirical newsletter, The Marthometer, a comic put down on Martha Stewarts attempt to trademark the Katonah name.

Here is the
link.

CBS News Video: Katonah Says No Thank You Martha!

The Monday CBS News evening broadcast did a piece on the Katonah Trademark issue.

Here is the video link. You may need RealPlayer to view this video.

If you do not have RealPlayer you can download it here - it is free!

Martha Stewart Plan Trademark Katonah Collection May Not Be Legally Possible

Martha Stewart is planning to trademark a line of furniture – “Katonah Collection”.

Some resident’s of Katonah thinks this is not a good idea.


Reasons giving:

“We don’t think it’s a good idea for her to assert trademark rights over a name that’s been in use as a place name since 1852,”

“Doesn’t mind that Stewart uses the name for furniture but doesn’t understand the need to trademark it.”

“I don’t think that someone should actually own the word ‘Katonah.’ ”

Martha Stewart’s spokesperson response:

“Martha Stewart, number one, loves Katonah; number two, seeks to honor the town and the hamlet by using the word Katonah.”


Martha Stewart has associated the name Katonah also in the home building business.

KB Home and Martha Stewart Living launched a project to build 650 houses, which will come in many different variations. The homes, which KB says are "inspired" by three of Ms. Stewart's own houses in New York and Maine, have names such as “Katonah” and "Lily Pond."

Here is a link to the Katonah Model Homes

http://www.kbhome.com/martha/katonah.aspx


I was curious as to what the US Patent Office web site indicated on this point:

Under U.S. trademark law, geographic terms or signs are not registrable as trademarks if they are geographically descriptive or geographically misdescriptive of where the goods/services originate. The theory is that other producers in that area would need to be able to use a geographic term to describe where their goods/services are from and that one person should not be able to prevent others from using that term. If a term is misdescriptive for the goods/services, consumers would be mislead and/or deceived by the use of the term on goods/services that do not come from the place identified.

It would seem to me as a layperson that since the “Katonah Collection” of furniture is not made in Katonah it cannot be trademarked.

The residents of Katonah taking issue that you cannot owned the word Katonah look to be 100% correct under the US Patent laws.

Christmas Eve 2006

Here are some photos taken around the area on Christmas Eve.

101 Classic Christmas Videos Online

For this holiday season, someone has taken the trouble and time to list (in categories) 101 Classic Christmas Videos that you and your family can look at online. Here is the link enjoy!

Season's Greetings

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Bedford Road And Katonah Avenue

Katonah, New York

A Walk Along Maple Avenue In The Fall

 

I come across many walkers, runners and folks out walking their dogs along
this great area to walk in Katonah - Reservoir Road and Maple Avenue. This shot is the incline on Maple Avenue that goes toward Route 22. It is about 5 miles to make the round trip walk/run from Route 22 at Reservoir Road to Route 22 at the end of Maple Avenue. An excellent calorie burner- hilly, slight inclines, straight sections. It is an especially delightful walk in the middle of the Fall season. 

Circular Spider Web

Sometimes you get lucky and the beauty of nature pops up in your own backyard.
I was eating breakfast on my deck last week and notice this beautiful circular
pattern being spun by a spider.

I grabbed my digital camera and captured this wonder in the making.

Any Local Filmmakers Out There?

Today, I came across this site TurnHere that is asking filmmakers to send them a 90-second video about a place – a neighborhood, a landmark, a bar, a street or trail . If they like your video they will put it up on the site.


You will also be on their talent roster when they commission new projects this fall.
The downside is the deadline is August 15, a week from today. Best submission will win $1,000.


Know of any local or aspiring filmmaker that might be interested in doing a video about the Katonah area?

Here is one video done about Poughkeepsie, NY. that is posted at Turnhere.

1910 Postcard Katonah Avenue Up For Sale on eBay

If you are or know someone who is a collector of local history,up for auction on eBay is this 1910 postcard of Katonah Avenue.

Auction ends July 1st.

Katonah Artist Needs Models For Series Of Religious Canvases

This weeks Record Review (June 23, 2006) has an interesting piece on Katonah's premiere portrait artist Mark Hass.

Mr. Hass needs to find models with a specific kind of look for a series of large religious canvases the he has been commissioned to paint for an Ohio businessman.

Mr. Hass has an on going search for models as:

A) Adult Jesus
B) 12-14 year old Jesus
C) Angel Gabriel. "I'm not sure what I am looking for with Gabriel. Someone androgynous looking, I think" Mr. Hess stated.

Potential models can email their photographs to Mr. Hess for consideration.

Find the Trend of Gasoline Prices at Katonah Gas Stations

Here is a link, provided by Westchester County of the trend of Gasoline Pricing here in Katonah.
Enter Katonah Zip Code 10536 and you will get the trend of Gasoline Prices here in Katonah by month.

Spring 2006 Trout Stocking Targets For Katonah Area

Brown Trout

The New York State DEC recently listed the Spring 2006 Trout Stocking Targets for DEC Region 3 of which the Katonah Area (Town of Bedford) is a part of.

The targeted Trout Stocking Targets for the rivers in the Katonah Area are over 8,000
Rainbow and Brown Trouts.

The rivers include:

• Cross River Reservoir
  
• Cross River Outlet
  
• Mianus River
  
• Stone Hill River
  

Here is the link to the detail to the Trout Stocking targets.

Other links of interest to local fishermen:

Although it seems not to have been active since last November, Bedford Sportsman.com message board is where you can post your local fishing reports, stories and other fishing talk.

Here is aLink to the Croton Watershed
Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Enjoy & Happy 2006 Fishing Season!

Use GoodSearchcom to Raise Money For Katonah Charities & Schools

GoodSearch is an Internet search engine with a simple concept and unique social mission. GoodSearch enables you to help fund any of hundreds of thousands of charities or schools through the simple act of searching the Internet.


It's simple. You use GoodSearch.com like any other search engine but each time you do, money is generated for your favorite cause.

How?

Each time someone searches, GoodSearch gives half of the advertising revenue that it earns from the search to the person's charity or school of choice.

Only some of the people who search actually click on an advertisement and thus generate income for the site, so the company averages only about 2 cents in revenue for each search conducted.

By that math, a charity with 1,000 supporters using the site twice a day would generate about $7,300 in total donations annually.

GoodSearch users need not worry about the site collecting potentially sensitive information about their charitable endeavors, because the company does not require users to register or otherwise identify themselves. Rather, the site's visitors specify a beneficiary before they search, and the site designates an anonymous donation for that search.


Think of local non-profit organizations e.g Katonah Village Library, Katonah Community Center ,Katonah Fire Department, Katonah-Bedford Hills Ambulance Corp, local churches and schools that might benefit from GoodSearch.com when supporters of these organizations use GoodSearch.

I have no vested interest in GoodSearch.com just think it is a good idea for
raising money for local non-profit organizations.

To learn more  about GoodSearch.com go here