Letters To The Editor 10.20.22

Turn over November ballot for bond proposal

The November 2022 ballot will include candidates for multiple offices, but also a vote on the “Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022.” The bond act is known as Proposal 1 and is on the backside of your ballot. 

This new bond allocates funding accordingly:

– 35% for air / water pollution reduction, storm surge, flooding;

– 25% for flood-risk reduction, coastal and shoreline restoration, relocating and repairing flood-prone infrastructure and roadways, and ecological restoration projects;

– 15% addresses land conversation and recreation; and

– 15% deals with water (waste, sewage, storm, runoff) infrastructure [Ballotpedia].

This bond addresses many current and forthcoming problems. Water-related events from Pakistan to Florida demonstrate why we to better address flooding and storm surges. Much of the water infrastructure in Troy is over 100 years old [News 10]. Periodic failures from aged water infrastructure are common. The bond provides funding for zero-emission school buses. There are many more examples and issues addressed by the bond, but insufficient space here to discuss them all.

I encourage my fellow citizens to vote for this bond. Per the Times Union, “the last similar bond act, championed by Republican Gov. George E. Pataki, won approval with a 55 percent endorsement” [Times Union 9/13/2022].

Michael Myer, North Greenbush

Poestenkill: Quite and Safe By Whose Standard? 

Excerpt from the Town of Poestenkill web site: “Quiet, safe, and far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern urban society, Poestenkill is a quaint community located in Rensselaer County, New York. 

As a “gateway” to the Rensselaer Plateau, we offer residents and visitors a unique opportunity to experience a wealth of outdoor recreation activities”. Indeed! 

Activities like raucous front porch displays of drug and alcohol induced altered state behavior along with yelling, shouting and other vile vocalizations, visible outdoor urinating, drum and amplified electric guitar noise heard and recorded ¼ mile away, produced by the tenants living at a Barberville apartment house, all for the listening and viewing enjoyment of residents in the area.

 Or the Barberville Falls, where the placid sound of the water is drowned out if not by drum and guitar noise, then from the constant roar of motorcycles with no mufflers and modified very loud exhaust systems of local car and pickup truck owners speeding up and down Blue Factory Road at full throttle. The feckless Town Supervisor and Board essentially say there’s little or nothing the Town can do about any of this, and have no interest in revising the Town noise ordinance –or enforcing one, (since nothing can be done about airplane and helecopter noise either). 

So Poestenkill residents be adived. Walk along the Town roads at your own extreme risk, and have no expectatio of unreasonable noise intrusion into your home by a neighbor. “Quite and safe”? “Free from urban hustle and bustle”? Pure fiction! 

Joyce & Gary Blauvelt

Poestenkill