No, this is not a lesson in theology, but the Commissioner of the DEC, Pete Grannis, a resident of the upper east side of New York City, may just as well become the disciple, he wants to make everything but New York City off limits to public use, Northern New York will be a post card when Grannis gets done.New York State is less than friendly lately with regard to outdoor recreation, early this year the Division of Budget swept money collected from snowmobile registration fees designated for the trail fund to balance the budget. The DEC continued their anti-recreational actions by closure of the ATV trails, now as reported they want to restrict use of their land by snowmobiles, and restrict motors from various lakes and ponds along with a new permitting process for any use of their land.
This is nothing more than bureaucracy at its worse by an out of control state agency, not allowing Boy Scouts to participate in a supervised hike on state land without a permit is unreasonable and inflexible.
Now, Grannis is introducing "Quiet Waters Working Group for the Adirondack Park" in conjunction with the APA to evaluate lakes, ponds and rivers in the Park for potential designation as quiet water which means no motors to be used on those waters.
Land use restriction is acceptable to a certain extent, but big brother appears to closing all land activity as fast as it is raising taxes to fund these unfriendly, bureaucratic agencies that impose such action like the DEC has recently.
A lot of concerns were raised locally when Spitzer tapped Grannis to head DEC, the concerns are making the people that raised them, prophets.
Enough Already!
13 comments:
Right on, IV! People need to wake up to the fact that these "preservationists" and "conservationists" want to preserve and conserve us right out of our way of life.
Of course, we have to take care of our natural world. But let people enjoy the outdoors in our own way.
That's not even to mention the economic damage that ol' Pete Grannis is going to do to our community.
Remember, this is the guy who thought he was qualified to be DEC Commissioner because he was once a line attorney for the agency right out of law school.
About every week you read in the paper where NYS has purchased more land in the Adirondacks. Where is the money coming from if the State is so far in debt? This takes the property off the tax roles so who has to make it up but the already overtaxed property owners. THen DEC has to buy another expensive boat to patrol the waters and more officers to man it and more gas to run it and on and on. As you say, it is way out of control. Everywhere you turn in the North Country and especially along the river, we are overrun with law inforcement.
I think you might be overstating some parts of the issue. Only certain uses are being regulated, not all.
In my opinion, this increases the propensity for NYS residents to use the wilderness. More places that are better for paddling!
Grannis doesn't live on the Upper West Side, genius. If you can't even get your opener factually correct, why should readers believe anything else you write?
Upper East or Upper West, what is the difference...a few blocks. Big Deal, NYC is NYC.
Corrected
Like the true conservative, facts are never a big deal.
I hope Scott does a better job distinguishing Watertown Neighborhoods than he does NYC Neighborhoods. The East Side and West Side of Manhattan are as different as night and day. They are separated by Central Park and are more than a few blocks apart. To think NYC is just NYC is a big mistake, politically thinking.
Typical liberal BS- so the people who live on the UWS have a different view of the Adirondacks than someone on the UES?
The point is...well, you know what the point is-
"Typical liberal BS- so the people who live on the UWS have a different view of the Adirondacks than someone on the UES? "
How little you know! The people living on the Upper West Side, are more apt to jump in their cars, head up north and fish, hike and hunt. The people on the Upper West Side are more apt to jump into their jets and head for Monoco.
So the answer to your question is, YES!
rwiley, do the people on the uper west side ride in their car or fly a plane? Liberal BS is Liberal BS. The fact is that someone from the Adirondacks should not run NYC and therefore someone from NYC should not run the Adirondacks. NYC and the North Country ARE night and day. Good job on this one IV.
You obviously have never been on the Thruway, RT. 17 or RT 87 on a Sunday night as thousands of cars fight their way back to NYC on their return from the Northern Vacation areas. The millions of people living to the south of us come up and blow tons of big bucks in the North. And, since they probably put more tourist dollars into the region than natives do, they probably want to express an interest in the area.
The difference between East and West Side Manhattan isn't about which side of the tracks you grew up on. It's about downstate philosophy vs. Upstate values.
The top ZIP code in the nation for political contributions to Democrat Presidential candidate John Kerry -- 10021 -- is on the Upper East Side.
The nation's most expensive real estate is there, as well. A penthouse apartment recently sold for $75 million.
Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue are some of the most exclusive addresses in this neighborhood.
The Upper West Side is largely German-Jewish and old money also predominates.
So IV can be forgiven for mixing up his geography. But the point remains: what does a denizen of Upper Manhattan liberalism and wealth know or understand about the life, livelihood and economy of our communities?
The answer become more apparent every day!
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