Over 700 turn out for Congressman’s Town Hall

Mar 21

Written By HVNY

The only VA in the Hudson Valley closed 20 inpatient beds. The effects of Canadian tariffs on Central Hudson’s already-astronomical bills. A local healthcare organization’s convoluted system of -care. Funding for public libraries in jeopardy. The potential privatization of the post office.

Those were just some of the concerns touched on during the almost two-hour in-person town hall hosted by U.S. Congressman Pat Ryan at the Family Partnership Center in the City of Poughkeepsie on Wednesday night.

“As your representative, I am fiercely protective of my people,” said the Democratic congressman and former West Point grad, who is in his second term as representative of New York’s 18th District in Congress.

The March 19 event began with remarks from speakers from various aspects of the community including City of Poughkeepsie mayor Yvonne Flowers, Linda Bartee a 40-year-resident of the city, Keith Thompson, a Gulf War veteran, Cornwall Supervisor Joshua Wojehowski, who spoke about the the “very vital” federal funding his town was relying on for a sewage treatment plant, and Rick Osofsky of Ronnybrook Farm, “one of the very few farms that are left.”

During his address to the audience, Osofsky, a third generation owner of the Pine Plains-based dairy farm, said that in 1980, there were over 650,000 working family farms. In 2025, there were just 20,000. “We’ve lost 630,000 farms.”

And those remaining farms are struggling to survive: In 2024, Ronnybrook Farm received a grant to support a solar array project to defray the farm’s $10,000-per-month Central Hudson bills. Osofsky said local banks were eager to loan the farm the funds when they saw the project was covered by a federal grant. The project is basically complete, he said, until, “we get a notice from Washington that the funds are frozen,” he said to audible gasps from the crowd. “We have no idea, so we asked Pat, and anyone else in Washington that we could contact, to find out for us what the status of that grant is … the biggest problem we have is that no one has an answer, we call the USDA, and they said they don’t know.

“If we didn’t get that grant to pay back half a million dollars, it would really threaten the systems of our farm,” Osofsky said. “Everyone’s got their fingers crossed. And we do too.”

“Think of adopting a cause or issue or cut or harm that’s personal to you and doing everything you can in your physical life and digital life to spread what’s happening and raise awareness ... It does matter.”

— Rep. Pat Ryan

Pictured, from left: Rick Osofsky of Ronnybrook Farm in Pine Plains talks about the freeze on a federal grant that would to help the third generation dairy farm offset its $10K-a-month electric bill; The crowd at the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie; Rep. Pat Ryan fields questions from members of the audience. Photos by niki@hvny.info

Protesters interrupt opening town hall questions

Following a panel of community speakers, as the town hall opened to questions from the audience, protesters against the war in Gaza interrupted the moderator and began shouting from the middle of the auditorium. Rep. Ryan stood at the front of the stage as the protesters were warned, and then eventually escorted out of the venue by security.

“That … is also democracy in action,” Ryan said as the protesters left shouting. “I imagine that’s a topic on a lot of people’s minds, it’s on my mind too.” Ryan said he and his colleagues have been pushing for a ceasefire “and finally got there, and then saw a major backslide in the last 24 to 48 hours, and that is unacceptable.”

“Having seen very directly myself how horrific war is,” Ryan, who served two combat tours in Iraq with the Army, earning two Bronze Stars, added. “That is something that is very personal and I will continue to push forward on.”

Questions from the audience continued with one resident asking the congressman if Central Hudson customers would be impacted by Canadian tariffs. “Tariffs are taxes that will push the very people already struggling,” Ryan responded. “That is on us, his billionaire buddies won’t feel it.” Ryan added that he is trying to see what can be done to protect consumers legislatively.

Other questions from the evening also included issues with inefficient government websites, and the status of the Social Security office in Poughkeepsie, which Ryan says he received, in writing, a notice that the office will re-open in six months. Ryan says he is still skeptical. “DOGE can get all up in your Social Security data, but Linda can’t access her own benefits that she worked her whole life to earn.”

Richard, a resident of Poughkeepsie, asked the congressman pointedly about the leadership of the Democratic party: “Where is the coordinated effort? There is a great big hole in this donut.”

“Over 700 people are here tonight,” Ryan responded, adding that he believes there is a national leadership vacuum. “Trust me, I’m not a patient person; We can agonize or we can organize.”

“I believe this administration is testing the bounds,” Ryan said, prompting a few members of the audience to yell back ‘they’ve already passed it!’. “They’re counting on us on getting tired, thinking we can’t stop it thinking he has all the power the Constitution says he doesn’t … and we have to continue to remind them of that.”

“I share your frustration,” he added. “The only way this goes away is if we allow it.”

At the conclusion of the night, after several local groups relayed upcoming rallies and protests in the area, Ryan urged those in attendance to “think of adopting a cause or issue or cut or harm that’s personal to you and doing everything you can in your physical life and digital life to spread what’s happening and raise awareness” Ryan added. “It does matter.”

“Town meetings trace back to the Greeks originally, but what’s the first thing that the British empire tried to shut down as the Revolution was starting to gain steam? The Intolerable Acts targeted town meetings, because that is the weapon that we all have to raise our voices, to tell these human stories, to hopefully inspire, but also at a minimum, shame those others who might not agree to do the right thing.”