CAPITAL REGION Users pan park closure plan Thacher Park, Johnson Hall to be shut BY TATIANA ZARNOWSKI Gazette Reporter
Anni P. Murray might never have moved to Albany if it weren’t for John Boyd Thacher State Park. When the Boston area native and her fiance were looking for a place to live two years ago, they knew they needed to have a park nearby. Albany fit the bill with picturesque Thacher Park. Murray hiked there the first weekend they moved in, and pretty much every weekend since then. “We spend hours there, really. We just hike the trails until we can’t go anymore.” Now Thacher is one of 55 state parks and historic sites targeted for closure during the 2010-11 fiscal year, and 30-year-old Murray, an office worker who spends her weekdays indoors, is hoping to save the park from that fate. She started a Facebook page and Twitter account after a leaked proposed closure list was published in the Times Union on Sunday. .............>>>>.................>>>>............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00100&AppName=1
Re Feb. 23 article, “Lawmakers vow to fight for local parks”: Where are New York state’s priorities? It [wants to] close parks, yet has money to buy more land [Feb. 7 Gazette]. There is no denying that money is tight in the state. When times are tough for you and me, we cut back and try to get by with what we have. New York state, however, does not apply this to its budget. If New York has $10 in the budget, it spends $15, which has put us into this debt situation. If it takes $6 million a year to keep state parks operating, why is the state buying land and considering buying more? The state bought land bordering Candacise and Hemlock Lakes earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. It is also considering buying 65,000 more acres in the Adirondacks from The Nature Conservancy, for $114 million. This is more than enough to keep the parks operating for many years. If New York can’t take care of what it has now, why buy more? [Gov. Paterson recently called for a moratorium on land purchases by the state, primarily in the Adirondack Park.] The wilderness land it is buying is only accessible to the very healthy, yet the parks serve more people than the wilderness land will serve. Then the question is taxes: Who will pay the taxes on the parks and land purchases? You and I, yet we will now be unable to use them! Why is the state closing parks when park usage increased dramatically last year with record attendance? The park closures would save relatively little and devastate many communities during this difficult economic time. The citizens will find themselves hard-pressed to find affordable recreation close to home. This is an unbelievable situation. I am frustrated with the priorities that our government seems to have.
Ya think the government would take a lesson from it's residents/taxpayers. We the people have enough common sense to tighten our belts and cut spending in our own homes. And yet they continue to spend, spend, spend.
Well screw them. We will continue to cut 'our' spending. And as long as we continue to do that, the economy will NOT rebound. So they should heed the warning and start to cut taxes and cut spending.....or this economic downturn, will just continue!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Growing government bigger and expanding all the welfare, grants, and allowing government to control so many programs has created an enormous amount of money for them to fund every year. The money coming into the government coffers is declining but the expenses stay the same or get larger so something has got to give.
As stated in his March 17 letter, [Rep.] Paul Tonko wants to help save some New York state parks from closing. This is the same long-tenured New York state assemblyman (recently elevated to the U.S. House of Representatives) who helped put this state in the dire financial condition we now enjoy. I do hope that the parks remain open so he has somewhere to spend his idle time after the November elections.
Senator tells NEWS10 that Thacher Park will not close
Posted: March 23, 2010 06:43 PM
By JOHN MCLOUGHLIN
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Sen. Neil Breslin guarantees that Thacher Park will not be closing as Governor Paterson called for in his "red-ink" budget.
Breslin said Senate Democrats restored enough money, more than eleven million dollars, to probably keep open all 55 of the parks and historic sites the governor tried to shut down to save money.
Breslin says it costs the state a "net" expenditure of less than a quarter of a million dollars to run Thacher.
"If we can't find a way to keep parks open when people are so economically devastated, then we're gonna make sure it stays open," said Breslin.
The senator said descendants of Albany Mayor John Boyd Thacher, whose widow donated the land back in 1914, sent lawmakers a letter last week reminding them the land was given for a state park, not a closed state park.
Breslin, a lawyer, says the Thacher family conceivably could have a case against the state should the park shut down.
Am I the only one who will not be devastated if the park closes? I go there at least once a year. But bottom line, spending needs to be cut - and it doesn't matter where!
Am I the only one who will not be devastated if the park closes? I go there at least once a year. But bottom line, spending needs to be cut - and it doesn't matter where!
Nope....you aren't the only one.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Yeah, and heard this evening $ is restored for parks, BUT cut for education.
Go figure Have parks but no education. Guess parks are more important than health funding too. And probably more important than inspecting bridges
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Where did all the money go that was supposed to fund education from the lottery. I'm willing to bet the state dumped a lot of the money into the general fund to expand their feel good programs. The tolls from roads and bridges were supposed to be used for repair but instead the dumb state dumped the expenses for the canal to the Thruway Authority and the roads and bridges went to he**.
Where did all the money go that was supposed to fund education from the lottery. I'm willing to bet the state dumped a lot of the money into the general fund to expand their feel good programs. The tolls from roads and bridges were supposed to be used for repair but instead the dumb state dumped the expenses for the canal to the Thruway Authority and the roads and bridges went to he**.
I couldn't agree more........where is the lotto money----it was a big fat lie from the start.....just like STAR.....the fact is they cow-tow to the unions.....there IS NEVER A REDUCTION IN THE COST.....NO ONE SAVES ON THE BUDGET...NO ONE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY NO ONE HAS THE BALLS......it's an alaskan pipeline.........
GET OFF MY BACK
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Thursday, May 27, 2010, 1:10pm EDT | Modified: Thursday, May 27, 2010, 5:29pm Paterson says deal reached on state parks THE BUSINESS REVIEW (ALBANY) - BY Adam Sichko
New York Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders have reached a deal to reopen all state parks in time for the Memorial Day weekend. Paterson announced the deal Thursday morning, after negotiations finished at 4 a.m. Legislators are expected to act on the bill before the end of business on Friday. Earlier this month, the state closed 55 state parks and historic sites—a quarter of all state sites—from a lack of funds. The state faces a $9.2 billion deficit. The state budget is now two months overdue, and Paterson had said the state could not afford to include parks funding in the series of bare-bones emergency spending plans the state is operating on, in order to avoid a government shutdown. Eight Capital Region parks and sites, including popular Thacher Park, are currently locked up. Paterson said the deal calls for using $11 million from the state’s environmental protection fund to keep all the parks open—a move many Democrats objected to earlier in the week............>>>>..............>>>>..........Read more: Paterson says deal reached on state parks - The Business Review (Albany)
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