Thursday April 25, 2024 
Time for Seggos to Get the Boot
Yes, people, in the wake of this bush-league, amateur-hour whitewash in Poestenkill in a vain attempt to protect the politically-powerful permitted operators of the public nuisance in Poestenkill known as the Poestenkill transfer station from charges of nuisance, negligence and trespass, as well as protecting the DEC from charges of neglect of duty as the permitting agency, blowing up in his face after the DEC Office of General Counsel was forced on 25 March 2022 to have to admit that trying to find any records of an alleged investigation of the source of the PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater would be a “search for the needle in the haystack” because no such records exist, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos, put into office on October 2, 2015 by now-disgraced former governor Andy Cuomo, has become a mere caricature, depicted in political cartoons by area children as this little smiling figure with a big smile peeking out of the vest pocket of Waste Management, as well as being nothing more now than a clown in a circus of his own making, needs to get the boot, as he is no longer trustworthy and thus is unfit to be a public officer of the state of NY, and if Kathy Hochul does not want to give him the boot, then come November, having made herself a part of the problem to, she needs to go, as well.
In addition to getting rid of Basil Seggos, governor Hochul also needs to convene the legislature pursuant to §3 of Article IV of the NYS Constitution to have them amend ECL § 3-0103 by replacing the words “at the pleasure of the governor,” with “during good conduct,” and amend ECL § 3-0301(1) and (2) by replacing the words “shall have power to” with the word “shall.”
Unless and until that is done, the New York State Environmental Conservation Law is nothing more than a sick joke on the people of NY, and the DEC will continue being what it is now, a clear and present danger to the environment and children.
If governor Hochul won’t do this, then she too needs to get gone!
Paul Plante, Poestenkill
North Greenbush GOP Town Board Members fail to Thank Democrats in Congress for ARPA Funding
At its March meeting, the North Greenbush town board GOP majority voted to accept slightly over a million dollars in federal funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) legislation to benefit the town. Designed to help communities recover from the COVID pandemic, ARPA funds will provide critical support to our town.
Thanks to ARPA, the town park and beach will undergo much needed upgrades. The Route 43 water project which has experienced cost overruns due to supply chain issues will be completed without extra financial burdens on town taxpayers. And the North Greenbush ambulance, whose members worked long hours during the pandemic, will get some much needed funding. It is important to note that not one Republican congressperson or senator, including the entire New York delegation, voted for this transformative legislation. Both Congressman Tonko, North Greenbush’s current congressperson and Congressman Delgado, hopefully North Greenbush’s future congressperson, strongly supported this legislation as did Senators Schumer and Gillibrand.
Despite their willingness to accept these funds that will greatly benefit the town, the North Greenbush GOP majority failed to acknowledge and thank their Democratic representatives in Congress for voting to secure this money. In fact, in their 2021 campaign, these town board members, along with the rest of the Rensselaer County GOP, accused these Democratic congressional representatives and indeed all Democrats of being out of touch socialists! So, if you see Congressperson Tonko or Delgado at a local event such as the Memorial Day parade remember to thank them for the ARPA funding that will help North Greenbush so much!
Mary Frances Sabo, Troy
Where are LED streetlights in North Greenbush?
North Greenbush is falling behind neighboring communities in terms of tax payer saving measures.
– Albany has purchased 11,000 LED streetlights and saved the city $3.7 million since 2019 [Sustainable Albany].
– Troy has purchased 4,400 LED streetlights, saving over 60% in energy and saving $378,000 since 2021 [City of Troy].
– Cohoes (population 16,000) has replaced ⅓ of streetlights with plans to replace remaining ⅔ in 2022. Cohoes expects to save about $450,000 annually from the conversion [Times Union].
During the November 2021 town meeting, North Greenbush mentioned LED streetlights in the 2022 budget. We are ⅓ the way through 2022 and I have seen little efforts by the town related to this effort.
NYSERDA, NYPA, and the local utilities offer programs related to LED streetlight conversion. I work in this field and would be willing to assist with the retrofits. Conversion to LED streetlights is not as simple as trading out a light bulb; color, distribution, amount of light, and other factors have to be considered.
I hope that North Greenbush can get this process started so that it can be completed in 2022. There are ample savings and benefits to the community – especially if done right.
Michael Myer, North Greenbush