Prices Mean Adirondack Railroads' Time Has Come

The Adirondack Journal reported this week that Warren County supervisors "derailed" (pun apparently intended) a local tourist railroad development project by voting to pay a consultant for the design of two of the railroads train stations at Hadley and Thurman. Looking around the net, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on, but it seems as though the county may be dragging its feet on the plan to improve the long neglected Delaware and Hudson RR tracks between Corinth in Saratoga County and North Creek, near the Gore Mountain Ski Area.

NY State Transportation Commissioner Astrid Glynn definitely is, when he announced $20 million in rail funding last week to go toward 15 projects statewide, extending the Adirondack Scenic Railroad from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake was not on the list. In December 2006, former George Pataki had promised $5 million to make the 26 miles of track between the two villages passable.

Also last week, the North Creek News Enterprise (also owned by Adirondack Journal publisher Denton Publications) ran a story - "Depot Museum Faces Uncertain Future" - pointing out that the North Creek Depot Museum (rebuilt in 1993) is, in the words of museum President Helen Miner, in "a crisis situation." Apparently, the Depot Museum is not a part of the Upper Hudson River Railroad and does not receive a share of its ticket sales. The Depot survives on the proceeds of a contract with the Railroad to provide station services. They brought 13,000 people through the station last year, but may now close at the end of this season.

That's probably good news for Glens Falls Fifth Ward Supervisor William Kenny. Kenny was the only Warren County supervisor to vote against funding the new rail stations in Hadley and Thurman. Kenny has been a virulent opponent of the tourist line - a man who still lives in the 1960s when our political leaders allowed the nations railroads to be abandoned in favor of superhighways and bypasses like I-87 (the Northway) and Route 28 which bypasses North Creek.

The damage to local Adirondack economies has been dramatic and tragic - just look at any of the small towns, places like Warrensburg, Chestertown, Pottersville, Schroon Lake, and North Hudson, that have been driven to the economic brink when all the Route 9 traffic was routed out of town.

Scenic railroads like the Upper Hudson Railroad and the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, need the support of our political leaders, yes - but they also need to be conceived of in a new economic light. Once a trolley ran from Glens Falls to Warrensbug and connected local residents with cheap public transportation. By 1906, the Hudson Valley Railway which began operations between Glens Falls and Fort Edward, had 130 miles of track, 100 cars, 500 employees, and ran once an hour in winter and every half-hour to a quarter-hour in the summer.

Now is the time to revive the old rail beds like the Lake George-Warrensburg rail bed, which is still largely in tact, though the rails have been torn up for scrap. We need to stop turning them into bike and snowmobile trails and return them to their proper use. We need to move beyond the scenic railroad to a real light rail system that can serve us all, locals and tourists alike, and provide local employment.

When gas reaches 6, 8, and then 10 dollars a gallon, the tourists we depend on will have significant reason to take public transportation to reach their summer vacations. As gas prices rise, locals should be asking themselves why we can't hope the train to shop in Queensbury, Tupper Lake, Lake Placid, North Creek, Saratoga, or any of the other spots on the lines. Once, not that long ago, we could.

If politicians like William Kenny have their way, we never will.

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RCPA Names Michael Washburn New Executive Director

Forwarded for your information, a press release from the Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks. They have just named a new Executive Director to replace Peter Bauer.

Michael Washburn to head leading regional advocacy group

North Creek --The board of directors of Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks announced today that it has named Dr. Michael P. Washburn of Clifton Park, NY to be executive director beginning January 2008. Washburn is known nationally as a leading figure in the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainable forestry certification movement. He most recently has been engaged in private consulting to help progressive forest companies implement sustainability programs. He previously served as Vice president of Brand Management at the Forest Stewardship Council US in Washington, DC, and is a former research scientist at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He brings 15 years of experience in conservation, including roles with the US Forest Service, and Penn State University..

John Collins, RCPA board chair, stated “The Board is delighted to have as its leader someone of Michael’s stature and he is an Adirondacker to boot, with roots in the Town of Benson in Hamilton County. His family has been in the Adirondacks for over 100 years. I think he’s glad to be coming home.”

Washburn plans to increase the membership of the RCPA and extend its impact. “The threats to the Adirondack Park’s ecosystems and rural heritage are increasing. Climate change, water shortages, and the growing desire among many to live in quiet places will all present even greater challenges in the future.” Washburn said. “We need to be vigilant in our defense of the Forest Preserve, protect the working landscapes, and bring a balanced approach to development. The Adirondacks are a global treasure, and it’s up to those of us who live here to be good stewards” he added.

“We think Michael’s experience as part of a national organization and his training as a professional forester will be real assets” John Collins said. Washburn received a BS and MS from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. His master’s research focused on management of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. He earned a Ph.D. in forest resources at Penn State where he studied private forest owners and how they organize to engage policy issues affecting forestry. “RCPA has developed programs to improve forest management on private forests in the Adirondack Park, as well as programs that address impacts of development on the Park’s rural communities. Protection of water quality, careful use of wilderness and other Forest Preserve lands, protection of wildlife and greenhouse gas reductions will remain core areas of interest for RCPA.

About the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks

The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the stewardship and protection of the natural environment and human communities of the Adirondack Park for current and future generations. The RCPA pursues this mission through advocacy, education, legal action, sustainable forestry certification, research, water quality monitoring and grassroots organizing. The RCPA has 3,800 household members and maintains an office in North Creek.

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RCPA Has New Chair: John Collins of Blue Mountain Lake

A Press Release recieved from the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA):

RCPA Votes John Collins as the New Chair of the Board of Directors

Robert Harrison of Brant Lake selected as Vice-Chair

North Creek – The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA) Board of Directors voted John Collins of Blue Mountain Lake as the new Board Chair. John Collins was a founding Board member and has served on the Board since 1997. Robert Harrison of Brant Lake was voted in as the new Vice-Chair. Harrison has served on the RCPA Board since 2005.

“The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks is a very important voice. The RCPA serves as the eyes and ears and especially the voice for those of us who live in the Park and recognize its value. We will continue to work to protect the natural resources and promote a sustainable economy throughout this remarkable place. The Board and staff of the RCPA are committed to preserving the Forest Preserve, the great open spaces and the rural communities that are the Adirondacks,” said John Collins, the new RCPA Chair. Collins has served on the Town of Indian Lake Planning Board, the Indian Lake Central School District Board of Education, as a Commissioner and Chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency, on the Board and as Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum, on also currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Crary Foundation and the Northern Forest Center.

Robert Harrison was voted in as the RCPA’s Vice-Chair. Harrison is a member of the Brant Lake Volunteer Fire Department, is a school bus driver for the North Warren School District, and is a member of the Town of Horicon Master Plan Steering Committee. “I’m very concerned about the Adirondack Club & Resort project proposed for the Big Tupper Ski Area. The RCPA has applied for party status and will continue to participate and monitor this project in the months and years ahead. As an FSC certified landowner in the RCPA’s sustainable forestry certification program, I will work diligently to grow this program and recruit new landowners and help get more businesses certified to use certified wood and sell certified projects. This program seeks to build the local economy and protect private forestlands,” said Bob Harrison.

In addition Joe Mahay of Paradox was voted as the Secretary/Treasurer.

“We’re all delighted with the new leadership that John Collins and Bob Harrison bring to the RCPA,” said Peter Bauer, RCPA Executive Director. “We face many challenges across the Adirondacks from over-development, poor state management of the Forest Preserve, declining water quality, a serious shortage of affordable housing, invasive species and land protection among other issues. Our challenges are huge so somebody who knows the Park well, who has a successful business here, and who cares deeply about both the future of the Park’s wild areas and residents is critical at this point in time to lead the RCPA to confront these challenges.”

The 14-member RCPA Board of Directors are all year-round residents of the Adirondack Park. The Board meets seven times a year and holds an annual members meeting each September. The Board approves all RCPA programs and positions (all RCPA positions since 2003 are posted on the RCPA website www.rcpa.org). The RCPA manages the largest water quality monitoring program in the Adirondacks, the Park’s only sustainable forestry FSC certification project for landowners and businesses, monitors development on a town-by-town basis annually, and has issued reports on development trends in the Adirondack Park, ATV abuse of Forest Preserve lands, need for improvements in state regulation of septic systems in New York, and the future of Fire Towers on the public Forest Preserve and private lands in the Adirondacks. The RCPA manages the Adirondack Park Land Protection Campaign and the Adirondack Park Clean Waters Project and works collaboratively on various community development projects. The RCPA formed in 1990. The previous RCPA Chairs were Joe Mahay of Paradox, Philip Hamel of Saranac, and Peter Hornbeck of Olmstedville.

The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks

The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the stewardship and protection of the natural environment and human communities of the Adirondack Park for current and future generations. The RCPA pursues this mission through advocacy, education, legal action, sustainable forestry certification, research, water quality monitoring and grassroots organizing. The RCPA has 3,500 household members and maintains an office in North Creek.

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RCPA Executive Director Peter Bauer Leaving

Peter Bauer, Executive Director of the Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks today. Before his tenure with since 1994, will leave his position by the end of September according to a news release the Adirondack Almanack receivedRCPA Bauer worked for the Commission on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century, and at Adirondack Life. In his position with the RCPA, he worked on a variety of issues affecting the stewardship and environmental protection of the public and private lands of the Adirondack Park and was the target of much right-wing criticism. He is married to Cathleen Collins and has two children, Jake and Emma. He will be moving to a position as Executive Director for the Fund For Lake George.

NEWS RELEASE

Bauer leaves with a string of accomplishments defending the Adirondack Park during his tenure

North Creek, NY -- The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA) today announced that Peter Bauer, Executive Director since 1994, is leaving this position at the end of September. Bauer has held this position since 1994. “It is with great sorrow, but also great gratitude for his fine work, that the RCPA has accepted Peter’s resignation. Peter Bauer was a strong leader and people looked up to him and relied upon him across the Adirondacks. The entire Board always had complete confidence in his leadership and we will miss him dearly,” said Peter Hornbeck, Chair of the RCPA Board of Directors. “We wish Peter well in his future endeavors and support him in a difficult decision for him and his family,”

Peter Bauer’s leadership helped establish the RCPA as a powerful and influential organization across the Adirondack Park and in Albany. Highlights from Bauer tenure include:

Grew membership from several hundred to over 3,500 households;

Increased RCPA budget 10-fold;

Built the largest water quality monitoring program in the Adirondack Park in partnership with Paul Smith’s College;

RCPA was the first organization in New York accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council to provide sustainable forestry certification to private landowners;

Published important research on the rates and patterns of development, impacts of ATV use on the Forest Preserve, future of Fire Towers in the Adirondack Park, and on New York’s dismal regulations for septic systems;

Waged successful advocacy efforts for land acquisition in the Adirondack Park to expand the Forest Preserve and through state purchase of conservation easements;

Led effort to ban ATVs from state Forest Preserve;

Successful advocacy for state local planning assistance funding to local governments in the Adirondack Park;

Successful collaborations with other organizations to compile the Northern Forest Wealth Index and study the tourism economy on the Adirondacks;

Defeat of private land developments that RCPA saw as threats to the environment and rural communities of the Adirondack Park;

Helped pass state legislation on jet ski control, acid rain, invasive species, timber theft, Constitutional Amendments, and to provide increased funding in the state Environmental Protection Agency;

Made numerous presentations in the many forums, conferences, and governing and regulatory bodies across the Adirondacks and New York; and,

Led efforts to reform and improve state management of the Forest Preserve.

“The RCPA has had many accomplishments during my time. These have all helped the environment and rural communities of the Adirondack Park,” said Peter Bauer. “There are many challenges ahead and I’m confident that the RCPA will continue to have a leading role in confronting these issues and bringing the voices of Park residents who demand stronger environmental protections to the front of the public debate.”

The RCPA Board of Directors has begun its search for a new Executive Director. “The RCPA Board is working hard to manage this transition. We have a solid foundation and are bound together by our fierce devotion to the Adirondack Park and our commitment to see it protected,” said Peter Hornbeck.

“While I’m leaving this position with the RCPA, my work in the Adirondack Park will continue. I hope to work closely with the RCPA in the future to help with the many challenges facing the Adirondack Park in the years ahead,” said Bauer. In October, Peter Bauer will take over as the Executive Director with the Fund for Lake George.

The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks

The Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the stewardship and protection of the natural environment and human communities of the Adirondack Park for current and future generations. The RCPA pursues this mission through advocacy, education, legal action, sustainable forestry certification, research, water quality monitoring and grassroots organizing. The RCPA has 3,800 household members and maintains an office in North Creek.

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Adirondack Summer Music Festivals

The Adirondack region is home to a variety of summer music festivals. Tomorrow, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley will be playing at the Wild Center's second annual WildFest - which also marks the opening of the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks' "Wings over the Adirondacks bird-themed experience." Here are the details:

The free, day-long WildFest ‘07 celebration is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. and conclude at 4:00 p.m. so visitors can get home in time for evening fireworks. The live music begins at 10:30 a.m. and the ceremony to open Wings over the Adirondacks at 11:00 a.m. There will be an entire tent on the campus dedicated to bird presentations. Visitors will be treated to a preview of the Wild Center’s planned Bird Skywalk and Skytowers, and tours of what is now the ‘greenest’ building in the Adirondacks. When the Skywalk is complete in 2008, it will showcase nearly 100 bird exhibits, and will take visitors up to the top of the tree canopy.

WildFest’s musical headliners include legendary musician Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys and the great live performer Martin Sexton. Other bands will feature music from the places Adirondack birds migrate to, including the Caribbean.

There will be a children’s tent featuring the Zucchini Brothers, a musical group lauded as “the Beatles of kid music,” and a Bird Tent where birding organizations will help visitors see the world of birds. The day will include free flight bird shows with live birds.

This year's moe.down (the 8th annual) promises to be a quite a festival:

Nearly 20 acts, including Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, The Roots, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, Amos Lee and Meat Puppets have signed on for this year's moe.down.

The August 31 to September 2 festival will be held at the Snow Ridge Ski area in Turin, N.Y., at the edge of the Adirondack Mountains. Festival founders moe. will perform a total of six sets throughout the weekend.

Other acts on the roster for the three-day shindig include Uncle Earl, Strangefolk, State Radio, Al and the Transamericans, Rolla, Ryan Montbleau, Lotus, Ra Ra Riot, Ha Ha the Moose, The Brakes, VietNam and Acoustic Forum.

A limited number of tickets are available at $95 until they run out or until August 12, after which tickets will be $110. Full details on the festival and tickets can be found at www.moe.org/moedown.

This is the eighth year for the event, which promises three days of music, camping and all around fun. Ski lifts will be open during the festival, and fans are encouraged to bring their mountain bikes.

Regular reader Ted Lehmann over at Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms has written to let us know that he'll be attending, photographing, and reviewing the first annual Mountain Meltdown in Saranac Lake (which ended yesterday), the Fox Family Bluegrass Festival (August 9, 10, 11, & 12, 2007 in Old Forge) and the Upper Hudson Bluegrass Festival in North Creek (August 24-26).

If there are other festivals we should know about, drop us a note.

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The Adirondacks: Winter Sports Under Threat

If it wasn't painfully obvious before, weather for this early January week that stretched into the sunny 60's at some Adirondack locations should serve as a reminder that global warming is going to have serious impacts on the Adirondack region. Unfortunately, few here in the mountains seem to understand the gravity of the situation for our local economies.

Our friends working at Gore Mountain Ski Resort have been hardly working at all and consequently spending a lot less on dinners out, winter gear, and even beer and other important winter supplies. The few trails open on Gore are so crowded (with even the small crowd that's there) that the die-hards refuse to make runs for fear of being run-over. Whiteface in Lake Placid has been forced to cancel its annual World Cup Freestyle competition (now being held at Deer Valley, Utah) and has virtually no beginner trails open.

Meanwhile, two of the largest developments in Adirondack history are expected to be rammed through the Adirondack Park Agency by pro-development George Pataki appointees. The most bizarre part of these projects is that they, believe it or not, have relied on development of two area ski resorts to appease locals and persuade some that the good they'll provide for the local economy by way of skiing will outweigh the damage to the park.

Fred LeBrun noted in his column today:

[Tupper Lake project] developer Michael Foxman's mega-vision to create the high-end Adirondack Club and Resort, which would include 700 expensive units on 6,400 acres, much of it in back country, has been highly controversial since it was proposed three years ago. Part of the plan, a sop to the locals, is reopening Big Tupper Ski Center as an economic engine.

In North Creek (Warren County), local politicos and real estate agents are pushing (with the help of newly appointed APA member, Warren County Board of Supervisors Chair, and Johnsburg Town Supervisor Bill Thomas) a project called - get this - Ski Bowl Village at Gore Mountain that would include exclusive trailside housing, an equestrian facility, retail shops and restaurants, a major hotel, two smaller inns, a spa, a private ski lodge, and a 9-hole golf course, on 430 acres, some of which on what was a town-owned park and before that the historic North Creek Ski Bowl where downhill skiing an early start in New York State.

Folks - skiing in the Adirondacks is all but dead. If there hasn't been a proper ski season for Adirondack resorts in at least four years, and the experts agree that the coming year will be the warmest on record (again), it's time to see the forest for the trees - no project tied to the ski season has a hope of being successful on that basis in the long run.

A recent regional global warming meeting reported that:

In the Northeast, the climate may be changing even more rapidly, particularly in winter. Compared to 1970, there are now 15 to 30 fewer days of snow on the ground in the Northeast, one study found. Some regional models also show an increase in average temperatures of 1.4 degrees over 102 years, but a spike of 2 to 4 degrees over the past 30 years.

"Climate has always been changing, so we can't talk about climate change as something new," said Art DeGaetano, director of the Northeast Climate Data Center at Cornell University. "Clearly, the temperatures we're seeing today ... are much warmer than we've seen for the last 1,000 years. Clearly, there's warming almost everywhere.

"Climate change is upon us," he said. "Climate is going to warm, so we do have to act and we do have to prepare."

If there are any segments of the Adirondack economy that you can count on to take a nose dive in the next 20 years it's winter sports. It doesn't take a genius to understand "15 to 30 fewer days of snow on the ground" means that investing hundreds of millions in Adirondack skiing and snowmobiling industries is not a good idea. Despite the ignorant claim by Mike Halpert, head of forecast operations at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center that there is "No cause for alarm. Enjoy it while you have it," you might also forget large investments in ice fishing shanties and winter carnival concessions in case you needed to be told.

So why - oh please tell us why - are state and local governments spending so much money on these debacles?

Let's start with ballsy developers:

The [Tupper Lake] developer is calling for the Franklin County Industrial Development Agency to come up with $50 million to $60 million for infrastructure costs. In essence, that would require the county taxpayers to guarantee the bonds for his private venture. That is a stupefying request. Even more mind-boggling is that there are those in the town and county who are ready to go along with the developer.

And add a dose of misguided Republican cronyism:

Gov. George Pataki, down to his final weeks in office, announced plans Friday for a $7 million expansion of the state-run Gore Mountain Ski Center that will enable the Johnsburg attraction to boast having the eighth-largest vertical drop in the eastern United States.

The state will spend an additional $3 million to complete the railroad line connection between [Republican] Saratoga Springs and [Republican] North Creek.

Skiers from Saratoga Springs, as well as the Albany and New York City areas, will be able to take the train to North Creek and leave their personal vehicles at home, Pataki said.

"You're not going to have the traffic; you're not going to have the pollution, and you're not going to have the congestion. But you are going to have the economic growth," he said during a press conference at the North Creek train station.

Bill "Snow Is All We Have" Thomas:

When completed, skiers from New York City and elsewhere could take a train up to North Creek, delivered within a half-mile of the ski bowl area, Thomas said. “It’s very important to tourism in Johnsburg,” Thomas said of the resort plans. “I see it as a big catalyst for Main Street businesses.”

Betty "I'm Not Running For Congress" Little:

“Gore Mountain is a tremendous asset for the state and for our region. All of us here today share the desire and realize the importance of making an already great skiing experience at Gore Mountain even better. That requires sizable investments by New York State."

Ahhh... Betty... New York State doesn't make "sizable investments," the people of New York State do.

Since 1995, the state has poured $70 million into the Olympic Regional Development Authority. If we assume about 100,000 year-round residents, that's $700 per person! And that doesn't count state and local tax discounts, increased costs of services for local communities serving ski resorts, the higher costs of goods and services priced for the tourist market, county funds (like the Tupper Lake 50 or 60 million), and who knows what else. According to NCPR, "This year, Lake Placid's sports and tourism venues received more than $40 million in state subsidies. That's roughly $15 thousand for every man, woman and child living inside the village limits."

Developers, local politicians, ill-informing media - go outside! See, that there is no snow, and not likely to be regular snow at anything near historic levels in our lifetimes. Stop pushing fantasies that hide your real motive - unlimited development of the last great wilderness area east of the Rockies.

And while we're at it - we received an e-mail from Bill McKibben today announcing a "a day of demonstrations for April 14" - a great idea (info at Stepitup2007.org).

It’s going to be an unusual day. People will be rallying in many of America’s most iconic places: on the levees in New Orleans, on top of the melting ice sheets on Mt. Hood and in Glacier National Park, even underwater on the endangered coral reefs off Key West and Hawaii. But we need hundreds of rallies outside churches, and in city parks, and in rural fields. It’s not a huge task — assemble as many folks as possible, hoist a banner, take a picture. We’ll link pictures of the protests together electronically via the web—before the day is out, we’ll have a cascade of images to show both local and national media that Americans don’t consider this a secondary issue. That instead they want serious action now.

If you are planning to organize an event, please let us know - we'll list events as they're organized - wouldn't events at local closed ski resorts be something?

UPDATE: Pam Mandrel, over at BlogHer, has linked to this post and included some other posts about global warming's impact on the American ski industry. Thanks Pam for a great follow-up.

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Timing of Pataki's APA Appoints Questioned

We just received this press release from the Adirondack Council and thought it was worth sharing, in light of our last post. Also, Adirondack Base camp has an interesting post on the APA and what needs to be done.

Timing of Pataki APA Appointments to Park Agency Could Boost Chances of 800-lot Tupper Lake Subdivision

Governor Pataki has appointed (and the Senate confirmed at 2:15 p.m. today) two Adirondack Town Supervisors to serve on the 11-member Adirondack Park Agency Board of Commissioners. The board has regulatory authority over all major development projects in the six-million-acre Adirondack Park.

The Adirondack Council is disappointed by these two appointments at this time, for two related reasons. First, both gentlemen are being asked to serve two masters. Both are the chief financial officers for their towns, as well as being representatives of their towns on their respective County Board of Supervisors. How, then, can they be impartial judges of development projects that might bring needed revenue into their communities, but would also harm the environment?

Worse, the two are from Warren and Hamilton counties, which together comprise more than one-third of the entire Adirondack Park, making a conflict of interest more likely. The Park Agency has no formal rules or guidelines to clarify what commissioners should do when faced with such conflicts. In some cases, commissioners have recused themselves, while in others they have not.

More curious is the timing of the appointments, one day before the Adirondack Park Agency is set to rule on whether it will accept as complete the application of failed savings & loan executive Michael Foxman for a sprawling 800-lot subdivision on the slopes around Big Tupper Ski Center. We are very much opposed to the project. However, the co-applicant for the project is the Town of Tupper Lake, causing us some worry that the appointments were made to grease the skids for the Tupper mega-development.

The appointees are Frank Mezzano, Supervisor of the Town of Lake Pleasant, Hamilton County, and Bill Thomas, Supervisor of the Town of Johnsburg (North Creek is the biggest community) in Warren County.

There are two more interesting twists here. One: We and many other environmental advocates think Bill Thomas will, over time, be a good commissioner. He's a smart guy and a dedicated public servant. We had suggested his name to the next administration, but cautioned that they wait until his tenure as Town Supervisor had ended in January 2007 (to avoid pressure and conflicts as commissioner). His appointment fills the seat vacated by Deanne Rehm of Bolton, who resigned at the end of her term this summer. Thomas's term will run until 2010.

Two: Frank Mezzano resigned from the APA Board of Commissioners in the summer of this year, stating he would not serve out his term. He said some bitter things about the APA and the way commissioners made decisions. Yet, here he is again. He has been appointed to fill the vacancy left by his own resignation. This appointment is good only until June.

Thus, our suspicion that the Pataki Administration is scrambling to pack the APA board of commissioners prior to the Thursday/Friday vote to determine the fate of the Tupper mega-development. If the APA says the application is complete and sets a date for the first public hearing, the entire project could be ready for a final decision on the permit before June.

Keep in mind that Governor-elect Spitzer will have the authority to appoint his own chairman of the APA board, but cannot remove a sitting commissioner without just cause (proof of malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance). He will have to await new vacancies to appoint his own commissioners.

John F. Sheehan
Communications Director
The Adirondack Council

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North Creek: Center of the Adirondack Universe?

Lame duck Representative John Sweeney has gone over the edge, into debt, and apparently, on vacation from the rest of the duties Adirondack voters once hired him to carry out. Rumors are also circulating at the Times Union's Capitol Confidential blog that his house is for sale and he's moving to DC - meanwhile, he has apparently never called Gillibrand to concede the race or to assist in the transition.

In North Creek, the bar owned by Sweeney spokesperson Maureen Donovan (Casey's North), is up for sale. Donovan is now a two-time loser. She was let go from the Warren County Economic Development Corporation last January but landed on her feet as Sweeney spokesperson. We wonder if they're both headed to the K Street lobbyists, for their next bite of our pie.

All of this saddens the North Creek New Enterprise. The NCNE was once a great little paper that was published in North Creek - was that is, until it was taken over by Denton Publications entitled "Local leaders hope for the best with this summer and became a mouthpiece for the Sweeney crowd. There was a funny article after the election on November 18thGillibrand." Here's a great quote:

Bill Thomas, Chair of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said the election showed that people felt they wanted a new direction.

"I was very, very satisfied with everything John Sweeney did for us," he said. "He was a great Representative for me, the Town of Johnsburg and Warren County, and I hope this new person will do the same."

You "hope this new person will do the same"? Bill - her name is the Right Honorable Representative from New York, Kirsten Gillibrand. I mean, come on, you can't even say her name? And how proud are you of Sweeney now that you know he intends to blow off the rest of the job we hired him for because he's a sore loser?

And speaking of North Creek and Bill Thomas. The Press Republican (now also under new owners) is reporting that Thomas (who has also served as Johnsburg Town Supervisor for-ever) will be appointed to the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) in a flurry of last minute Republican appointments by George Pataki. Thomas has been a major proponent of the Gore Mountain - North Creek Ski Bowl connection - he says he'll recuse himself.

The Ski Bowl Village at Gore Mountain is planning upscale trailside housing, an equestrian facility, retail shops and restaurants, a major hotel, two smaller inns, a spa, a private lodge, and a 9-hole golf course, all on 430 acres adjacent to the town's Historic Ski Bowl Park, the original site of skiing in North Creek (and one of the first in the nation). The proposal has drawn tremendous opposition from locals who resent the Johnsburg Town board's (led by Bill Thomas) turning over part of Ski Bowl Park to sweeten the developer's deal (they're from Connecticut).

The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) - the state authority that operates Gore Mountain - has recently come under fire from some local business people (including Bill Donovan, Maureen Donovan's husband) who objected to a 20-year contract that gave ORDA the rights to the Ski Bowl Park Base Lodge’s concessions, and use of a new lodge in winter - the Donovans apparently think that money from the sale of soda pop at the Ski Bowl should have went to them.

Which brings us to the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA), which has filed suit opposing the way the whole Gore-Ski Bowl-Private Development plan is being carried out (much to the dismay, no doubt, of local real estate guy and Johnsburg Planning Board member, Mark Bergman). Peter Bauer, Executive Director of the organization since 1994, to us some time ago that the plan to connect Little Gore and Big Gore was considered separately from the rest of the Ski Bowl development plans rather than as one interconnecting large-scale development as the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requires.

And that brings us back to the newly Republican North Creek News Enterprise. This week they are reporting (in screaming HUGE HEADLINES) that "local officials wary of RCPA recommendations" - turns out that Peter Bauer has been named to Eliot Spitzer's transition team and that apparently upsets the powers that be at the paper and their friend - you guessed it - Bill Thomas.

Of course we don't take much stock in what the NCNE has to say anymore - back on November they were telling us that Hudson Headwaters Health Network guru John Rugge was "looking a little nervously at the future" - but he's just been named to Spitzer's transition team as well.

Keep up the (ahem) good work News Enterprise.

Oh yeah... the reward for the NCNE's support for Bill Thomas and his crew? The paper gets to be named the official paper for legal notices, something Thomas and the Johnsburg board had refused to do when Denton first took over.

UPDATE 12/17/06: One local resident reports that MARK Bergman (thanks for the first name correction) is not the only real estate agent on the Johnsburg Planning Board. Our tipster also reports that Bill Donovan is on the Planning Board and is using the Front Street (Gore Mountain Village) project as a selling point for Casey's North. Tipster also reports that the Donovan's home in Wevertown is also up for sale "for $350,000... about twice what they paid for it a couple of years ago." And...

I have known Bill Thomas for 20 years and I have a great deal of hope (okay, some hope...) that he will be relatively fair as an APA Commissioner. Especially as he is not running for re-election next year. He does much better when personal political considerations are not on the table... And, I can assure you that Bill Thomas is not at all displeased with Sweeneys departure. He immediately reached out to Gillibrand and I think they will have a good working relationship.

Regarding the NCNE [the North Creek News Enterprise]... they ran no less than 6 pro-Sweeney stories in the months before the election. When Kirsten came to town in September, they ran the story 3 weeks later in the form of a picture caption buried in the middle of the "paper".

I also have a source deep within the republican party who tells me that Sweeney is in despair because he has no real prospects for his future. K Street likely doesn't want him. He's damaged goods with no where to go. Boo freakin' hoo!

Thanks tipster... and thanks for reading the Almanack.

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20th CD - The End of Congressman John Sweeney?

According to a New York State Police document unofficially obtained by the Times Union [pdf] Corporate Republican Congressman John Sweeney's wife told police last year that he was "knocking her around the house." According to the TU:

Sweeney's wife, Gaia, [twenty years his junior] placed the emergency call to a police dispatcher in Saratoga County at 12:55 a.m. on Dec. 2, according to the document.

"Female caller stating her husband is knocking her around the house," a dispatcher wrote. "Then she stated 'Here it comes, are you ready?' and disconnected the call. Upon call-back, the husband stated no problem ... asked the wife if she wanted to talk. Wife (caller) then got on the phone and stated that she's fine and that she's drunk. Caller sounded intoxicated. She advised that she was endangered for a moment, but everything is fine."

He's claimed the report is, if you can believe this, fake! What's more, he's threatened any media that reports on it:

"If any media outlet plans to run a story based on this unauthentic, false and concocted document the outlet should be prepared to deal directly with our counsel."

There is really no surprise here. Just two weeks before the alleged wife beating incident Sweeney's son seriously beat another young man in a fight:

Less than two weeks earlier, his son, John J. Sweeney, then 19, pleaded guilty to felony assault charges for his role in a fight that left another young man with skull fractures and blurred vision. The younger Sweeney initially faced the prospect of spending up to 15 years in prison, but a plea deal gave him youthful offender status and a sentence that included four months of weekends in jail and community service.

No surprise there either. Remember that bar fight from almost a year ago?

New York Daily News reported Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, took a blow from a Red Sox fan who’d had enough of Sweeney’s pro-Yankees banter one evening earlier this month at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington, D.C. Sweeney spokeswoman Melissa Carlson flatly denied the report, saying the alleged incident was nothing more than a “heated discussion about Yankees vs. Red Sox.”

No suprise there either - remember the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections Republican riot? Guess who couldn't keep his anger in check there either; guess who "gave the signal"?

The suddenly prominent Mr. Sweeney is credited for giving the signal for last week's productive Republican fracas inside the Miami Dade county offices, after which the canvassing board abruptly canceled a hand recount of votes that would have helped Al Gore.

How about his refusal to answer questions about the ORDA sweetheart deals he was passing to his lobbyist buddies?

How about his lies regarding why he won't debate?

How about his lies about his opponents place of residence?

How about his attempt to distance himself from his record of supporting the Bush Administration.

Or his voting in support of the positions of the Christian Coalition 69% of the time.

Or his voting for prayer in public schools on numerous occasions. The National Education Association gives him only an 18% approval rating.

Or his voting for making it a federal crime to transport minors across state lines for an abortion. His record is 90% anti-abortion.

Or his voting to ban adoptions by gays or other individuals who are not related by blood or marriage (HR 2587). Sweeney has just a 21% rating by the ACLU.

Or his support for free trade, tax cuts, and social security privatization.

According to his wikipedia entry:

Sweeney also opposes environmental protections and was given a "D" grade by EANY for opposing GE dredging of PCB aka Polychlorinated biphenyl from the Hudson River.

In 2001, Sweeney voted against a bill that would require increasing average fuel efficiency standards and offer incentives for alternative fuel vehicles. (Bill HR 4).

Sweeney received an "F" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle class issues.

According to EMILY's List, Sweeney has taken more campaign contributions from special interests than any other of New York's 29 Representatives.

Sweeney is also the seventh largest recipient of contributions from lobbyists out of all 435 House representatives.

Then there is the January 2001 trip Sweeney made to the North Marianas with Tony C. Rudy, an associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Sweeney has said that the North Marianas Islands government paid for the trip, but the government denied that. And just what is the Jack Abramoff - Lake George - John Sweeney connection?

Then there is also this:

On April 11, 2003, Sweeney began paying a company called Creative Consulting for fund-raising. The company had been founded a day earlier by Gaia (goes by the name Gayle) Ford. Between April 2003 and December 2003, Sweeney's campaign paid $42,570 to the firm.

Sweeney's wife, who had no previous fund-raising experience, gets 10 percent of whatever she raises. Between January 2005 and April 2006, Ford was paid $30,879. And that's not all the fundraising scandals.

And there was this classic:

On April 22, 2006, Sweeney reportedly appeared at a registered party at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity of Union College. Witnesses reported that, after leaving a bar, he appeared to be intoxicated. Photographs and videos captured some of the events. Sweeney denied being drunk and denied drinking at the party.

All of this seems to pale by comparison, if that's possible, to his alleged drunk driving incident:

On the night of January 23, 2001, around 10:00 p.m., Sweeney lost control of his 2001 Jeep Laredo and hit a utility pole on a rural upstate road, shutting down power to the homes of several residents and to the nearby Willard Mountain ski resort, stranding skiers aloft on the chairlifts. Sweeney was not charged or ticketed, and the state trooper on the scene refused the offer by a volunteer-fire-department chief to send a crew to the site to direct traffic (instead, a local resident did this, for an hour and a half, with downed and live electrical wires about). In early February, a local newspaper reported that Sweeney had been in a bar before the crash. Witnesses came forward to insist that Sweeney had only one or two glasses of wine. The newspaper noted that Sweeney was not given a sobriety test by the state trooper on the scene.

Now for the resignations:

State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett
Awarded for allowing Sweeney to get away without a sobriety test in 2001 and for covering up the domestic abuse incident.

Saratoga County Republican Chairman John "Jasper" Nolan
Awarded for lying to the citizens of his county by stating that the domestic abuse document was forged and saying "In my mind, that certainly came from the Gillibrand camp. And I think it's low and disgusting."

Warren County Republican Chairman Michael Grasso
Ditto, though he said "It's obviously garbage"

The Editors of Glens Falls Post Star
Awarded for failing to protect the citizens of their community by endorsing Sweeney.

“Kirsten Gillibrand is a strong candidate and has waged a solid campaign. But she’s just not experienced enough to have her first elected position be congresswoman. If you want a candidate who has the political clout and experience to help the region, then put aside any misgivings you might have about his conduct and vote for John Sweeney on Nov. 7.”

Yeah... sure - exactly what job did he have before being elected in a heavily germandered district held by the retired Gerald Solomon? That's three years as Executive Director & Chief Counsel of the New York Republican Party and then two years appointment by George Pataki as New York State Commissioner of Labor.

What he does have experience in, as someone at the TU Capitol Confidental blog pointed out:

No oversight of Bush
No oversight of the war in Iraq
No oversight of the war in Afghanistan
No oversight on whether or not we are torturing detainees
No oversight of the Dept of Homeland Security
No oversight of the Katrina reconstruction
A Congressman who turns a blind eye to sweatshops

A Congressman who thinks that NYS taxpayers should pay for junkets for his campaign contributors

A Congressman who, through his wife, collects a percentage of all the money that is donated to his campaign fund.

But hey, at least he’s experienced. He may be a disgrace to his office, but he’s an experienced disgrace.

We couldn't agree more - the people of New York's 20th Congressional District, perhaps one of the most important of the Adirondack election districts deserve better that one of the 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress. Even veterans don't like him any more - but that's ok with Sweeney, he likes millioniares more than veterans anyway.

Oh.. and one last resignation - Sweeney Spokeswoman and North Creek resident Maureen Donovan, the former Warren County Development Corp [read scam development corp] leader who seemingly opposes both the rights of women and the electorate. The first volley in the Sweeney Gillibrand campaign was fired by Weeney in May 2006:

"You can't take a resumé and a pretty face from New York City and say to people this is good for you simply because we can spend a lot of money and raise a lot of money," Sweeney told the Troy Record.

"Someone should tell John Sweeney that it's 2006, not 1906," Former State Democratic Chiar Judith Hope said, adding that "the remarks jumped out at me because I think it's so inappropriate for the congressman to use. ... As a woman in politics, I call on Mr. Sweeney to represent the district and address the issues and provide accountability and some answers."

What was Donovan's response?

Sweeney campaign spokeswoman Maureen Donovan fired back that Hope "needs to lighten up a little bit."

That's no suprise either. Anyone who's met Donovan's husband - who is the notorious owner of Casey's North bar on Route 28 - can probably already guess what the Donovans think of local Adirondackers, male or female.

We only hope local Adirondackers will remember what Sweeney thinks of them.

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Third Annual Upper Hudson River Bluegrass Festival in North Creek

The Third Annual Upper Hudson River Bluegrass Festival is being held at the North Creek Ski Bowl this weekend (Fri-Sun). The festival features Smokey Greene, Al & Kathy Bain, Gary Blodgett, Gold Wing Express, Acoustic Blue & others. For information call Sara at 518-251-5842 or Penny at 518-251-2612. See you there!

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Earth Day 2006 and the Adirondacks

In honor of Earth Day 2006, some interesting and important Adirondack related sites.

It's still not too late to take part in this year's Hudson River Sweep a clean-up of the Great North River sponsored by the Scenic Hudson. They even have a cool page to locate your local clean-up event. Unfortunately, the closest clean-ups in our area are down in Saratoga County.

Last year the NYS Department of Conservation released a report on swimming in the Hudson River below the Troy Dam. The Lower Hudson appears pretty safe although the area above the Troy Dam was ignored, probably because of the bad news for those below Warrensburg and Fort Edward where GE is still trying to avoid cleaning up their mess.

Above there, we know some great spots for swimming where sand bars create amazing beaches on the river bank and pools of clean and cool water to swim in. They get little attention or visitors because few tourists know that they exist. We're not about to spread the word here and ruin the secret.

Still, the idea that Hudson River is swimmable in the south can only be good for communities on the Upper Hudson - Warrensburg, Riverside / Rapairus, North Creek, North River, etc. Maybe when people have more opportunities to enjoy their local environments (peaking of the lower Hudson here) than they'll come to appreciate why protecting the river, and its source here in the Adirondacks, is so important.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are still attacking the environment, and the Utica Observer Dispatch is taking a look at the local impact of global warming:

There hasn't been a September frost in the Hamilton area in the past four years, [Colgate University biology professor Ron] Hoham said, and that's highly unusual. It means plants live longer. Flowers that should be long dead in October may still have blooms. Leaves don't come off the trees as early, either.

Hoham says it's too early to know the long term impacts of the warming, but farmers might expect more droughts (we're on our way this year!) and more widespread disease in plants and animals, including humans.

Finally, two sites for the environmentally concerned:

baloghblog - who keeps us up with local and national environmental issues.
groovy green - a cooperative blog on green issues from a little south of the Adirondacks.

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Thin Ice: Some Strange and Tragic Stories

New snow yesterday and the disappearance of another ice fisherman, this time on Middle Saranac Lake, was a reminder that Adirondack winters, sometimes brutal, can also be deceiving.

According to Paul Schneider’s The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness, snowfalls at higher elevations can average over 100 inches a year and the western edge of the park receives well over 200 inches on average.

In 1879, surveyor Verplanck Colvin noted that the summit of Marcy was snow covered “as late as the beginning of July, and the first of September rarely passes without premonitory, though temporary, covering of the crest with snow.”

According to published reports, in April 1885 the snow was still three and four feet deep in the Adirondacks and eight feet in front of one North Creek store. The ice on Lake Champlain was still three feet thick and drifts at Rouse’s Point where five feet high.

But the thick ice in some years that extends well into April can be dangerously deceiving in other years when thin ice comes early, as we’ve previously reported on Adirondack Almanack. Albert Rand along with his wife and three children went through the ice of Lake George in February 1860 and in January 1884, J. M. Riford and his family disappeared while crossing Lake Champlain.

In late March 1868, Captain Raine (lighthouse keeper at Crown Point), his son, and two daughters were traveling by sleigh across Champlain to Chimney Point when the ice gave way and they were plunged into the freezing water. Raine’s son managed to scramble onto firm ice and exhausted pulled his father to safety, his sisters had been thrown under the sleigh as it went down and we drowned. The sisters were 18 and 30, the eldest married with two small children. “The sad disaster has thrown gloom over this quiet little village,” the New York Times reported on page one, “and much sympathy is felt in every household for the bereaved family, who are highly esteemed.”

In early December 1886 another lighthouse keeper’s son wasn’t so lucky. Oliver Allen, the son of the keeper at Dresden in Washington County on Lake Champlain was on ice skates pushing two friends, Edith and Ralph Flannery, across the lake at Maple Bend in a small sleigh. The ice gave way and all three were drowned.

More recently, a number of ice fisherman, their shanties and gear have gone into the water – with tragic results. In late February 1937 Charles O’Neil from Moriah and his nine and ten year old sons Allen and Harold, were fishing with a friend Robert Lawrence from Westport. They had been fishing near Baron Rock, about eight miles south of Westport were strong currents are known to occur. They were returning home when the ice gave way and all four went into the water. Charles and one of his sons drowned almost immediately, but the other son managed to hang on to the broken ice. He couldn’t climb out so for twenty minutes the young boy hung on alone while Robert Lawrence went for help. By the time the rescuers arrived, he had died.

Of course falling through the ice is not the only danger in ice fishing. In February 1972, five people from Swanton, Vermont, Francis King and his nine year old son Joseph, George Curtis and his fifteen year old daughter Penny, and nineteen year old Stephen Siso became lost in a snowstorm while ice fishing on Champlain. They managed to find their way to a small island and found an old camp where they huddled together all night before being found the next day.

We wonder what kind of global warming indicator these tragedies on ice would be.

While we're at it: Lake George Ice-In / Ice Out Records for 1907-2006 [pdf]

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Suggested Reading

The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness

Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book

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In New York The State of The State is The State of The Adirondacks

We normally keep our post here at the Adirondack Almanack to regional concerns. But it's time for Governor Pataki's State of the State Address - and while the Pataki Administration has been piling it high and deep, a more sober assessment, relevant for those of us inside the Blue Line, comes from the People's State of the State. A rally is planned in Albany for tomorrow to urge New York lawmakers to do something about poverty in New York including its "skyrocketing heating bills, lack of access to affordable quality health care, and high housing costs."

Some highlights from their press release:

Food lines at food pantries and soup kitchens remain at historically high levels and expect the situation to worsen following federal budget cuts and changes in the federal TANF program.

If we look back in time 25 years, a few of our local churches were beginning closet pantries. Today we have 43 food pantries and 22 soup kitchens in Albany and southern Rensselaer County alone, serving more than 2 million meals each year. Programs do not have the resources to do what they are being asked to do,” noted Lynda Schuyler, Director of the Food Pantries of the Capital District.

Anti-hunger advocates are seeking an increase in state funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program from $22.8 million to $30 million. State funding is down $2 million from four years ago. Groups are also concerned about Congress’ elimination of all funding for the Community Food Nutrition Program, the main federal funding for anti-hunger organizations.

Unfortunately, there is probably no one monitoring the poverty situation in the Adirondacks (one of the poorest regions in the state) and no visible advocates for working poor families. There's more here.

Another disturbing trend for our area is the effective elimination of the DEC ability to monitor our environment and deal with corporate polluters and exploiters. From Inside Albany this week we learned that nearly 800 staff positions have disappeared from the agency since the mid-1990s:

[Environmental Committee Chair Thomas DiNapoli, a Nassau county Democrat] invited DEC commissioner Denise Sheehan to answer questions about how the agency was coping with its severely reduced staff. However, she faxed her testimony, saying she was unable to appear. Sheehan gave no reason and didn’t send an assistant commissioner to read her testimony.

DiNapoli asked Assembly staffer Rick Morse to read Sheehan’s statement. It ran down a list of nearly a dozen examples of Governor Pataki’s “leadership” on the environment. They included the governor’s greenhouse gas initiative to cap carbon dioxide emissions. Also on the list were Pataki’s open space acquisitions. He counts 932,00 acres of land toward his goal of preserving a million acres. The statement did not mention the department’s decline in staff.

Not only were the numbers down, [Environmental Advocates] Tim Sweeney said. Governor Pataki’s general hiring freeze combined with early retirement incentives had stripped the agency of valuable knowledge. Valuable expertise and institutional memory had been lost in the retirements. The trend is likely to get worse. A comptroller’s report estimated that 38% of the department’s staff will be retirement-eligible by 2007. About a thousand more could go by then.

Worse indeed. More large scale developments like those at North Creek and Tupper, enormous development pressures on Warren and Essex counties, proposed wind farms in the park, roads being turned over to ATVs, snowmobile trails expanding every year, more visitors every year, all while year round residents deal with a serious lack of affordable housing, generations of local poverty, closing public schools, low-wage tourism jobs - the one state agency that should be taking a lead role on life in the Adirondack Park is asleep at the wheel.

2006 - here we come.

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At Gore and Tupper: Two New Adirondack Ski Resorts?

In North Creek the Gore Mountain - Little Gore Ski Bowl connection is moving forward and there are big plans afoot for the ski area in Tupper Lake as well.

Also in Sunday's Adirondack news: The APA is cracking down on a rich guy in the Town of Webb who apparently doesn't think he has to fol