At the Red Hook Town Board meeting on Sept. 9, Eli Duker, a professor at Bard College, asked the town to sponsor ground‑level air quality sensors and to join a regional community monitoring network so residents can get local, real‑time air data.

Duker said the Hudson Valley Community Air Network combines rooftop monitors with street‑level library sensors and a public app (JustAir) that can send proactive alerts to residents. "We all just breathe each other's air," he told the board, urging local sensor coverage so people can make health‑based decisions on smoke days and other pollution events.

The presentation described how Kingston and Red Hook libraries were early adopters of community sensors, and showed multi‑year data from rooftop monitors that capture seasonal patterns, wildfire smoke impacts and the COVID era drop in pollution. Duker recommended that Red Hook add the library sensor to the JustAir platform, sponsor at least one additional ground sensor for town hall, and consider publicly visible displays that indicate current air quality to passersby.

Duker also encouraged local steps to reduce emissions, including cutting back on wood burning. He said the network is expanding (Ulster County has a contract to add sensors) and argued that town sponsorship would give residents predictive alerts and faster, more accurate local readings than distant stations used by weather apps.

Supervisor Robert McKeon and board members asked about placement and technical limits (power and Wi‑Fi); Duker noted those constraints but said they are manageable and that the library and town hall are good starter locations. He offered technical help for installation and said JustAir and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition host regular meetings for training and coordination.

The board did not take a final vote to sponsor sensors at the Sept. 9 meeting, but Duker left specific next steps for the town to consider: place at least one additional ground‑level sensor on the JustAir platform and add town hall and library sensors to provide local alerts.