Roundabouts: Moving us Ahead or Just Around in Circles?

Recently, State DOT officials met with local leaders at SUNY Cobleskill to discuss future plans for Route 7 stemming from the bridge replacement at the western gateway to the Village. All kinds of bold new ideas were proposed for the Route 7 corridor from the Hess Station to the bridge. However, nothing is quite as exciting as the proposed roundabout on Route 7 at the intersection near the Hess Station. Honestly, I can’t remember being this excited about DOT repairs since…well ever!

A roundabout is similar in nature to a traffic circle, but not quite the same thing. The main difference being that roundabouts force incoming traffic to yield to traffic already in the roundabout. Traffic circles typically give incoming motorists the right of way.

Though the roundabout has the potential to improve the overall efficiency of intersections, they are not without their disadvantages. Cobleskill should do a lot more research on roundabouts before building one on Route 7.

As a traffic-calming device, roundabouts are all the rage, particularly in fast-growing suburban areas where residents want to slow down traffic. In this regard, a roundabout on Route 7 would force eastbound drivers to slow down as they enter the SUNY Cobleskill area.

There are numerous other benefits as well. Roundabouts have been found to be safer for motorists, as repeated research has found a lower number of accidents at roundabout intersections than at traditional intersections. They also eliminate the need for traffic signals which can range up to $50,000 a year to operate. They also reduce unnecessary vehicle idling which decreases pollution. They also allow motorists more options. If someone misses a destination, they don’t need to turn around backing in and out of traffic; they can simply drive all the way around the roundabout.

However, a major drawback is that roundabouts have been found to be unsafe for pedestrians, particularly bicyclists. They also present problems for the visually impaired as well. These concerns should not prevent roundabouts from being used, but they should be used to weigh the concerns of the community before a roundabout is built.

If prior local issues are any indication, the community-wide debate over the roundabout should be exciting, to say the least.

Aside from the proposed roundabout, local officials and DOT representatives discussed other traffic-calming devices for Route 7 near the SUNY campus, including center medians and landscaping measures.

A major theme discussed by SUNY officials, Dr. Anne Myers in particular, was the idea of developing the area specifically as a Village gateway. Some specific ideas, such as how to design the next bridge for example, were put out there. But there’s a lot more to discuss.

For example, what can be done to make the area more student-friendly? The loss of the P&C supermarket several years ago marked the loss of a major asset for SUNY students.

What are the possibilities of using college-owned land along Route 7 for a small pedestrian-oriented commercial district catering (not exclusively) but largely to college students? There could be a small grocery store, a coffee shop or a restaurant for example. It would provide a place SUNY students could walk to for convenience purchases that would also better link the Village with the college.

These and other concerns need to be brought to bear on the discussion in a forum that includes Village residents and college students in addition to a handful of college officials and local business leaders.

When it Comes to “Discreet Adult Services”, locally grown is Better

With so much recent talk of economic development and Empire Zones, you’d think Schoharie County’s officials would be going after every local dollar being unnecessarily spent elsewhere.

But after a local man was beaten and robbed by a Schenectady man for a debt he owed to a Scotia-based escort service, it is clear that Schoharie County is missing out on a significant economic development opportunity: discrete adult services.

When I saw the story in the Times-Journal last week, I started wondering: how many Schoharie County residents are traveling to Schenectady or Albany to patronize prostitutes and escort services? The answer, I believe: too many!

What Schoharie County economic developers need to do is take out an advertisement in the adult section of Metroland telling Capital District escort services and “massage” parlors all about the benefits of doing business in Schoharie County.

They should do a survey to determine how many Schoharie County residents are currently making the 45-minute haul to the Electric City for a little discrete companionship. My guess is that the County is losing out on a lot of lucrative economic activity.

I’m not suggesting that the County seek to bring prostitutes to the area, in case that’s what you’re thinking. I’m talking about “escort services” and “massage parlors” and these are legitimate businesses, that on occasion offer unadvertised services to customers who aren’t in any way associated with law enforcement.

Think of all the gas that would be saved by not having to drive all the way out to Schenectady, and then not having pimps have to drive all the way out here to beat and rob people who don’t pay!

This could be a win-win situation. I hope Jody Zakrevsky is reading this!

No Sand for You!

Schoharie Town residents accustomed to backing up to the local municipal salt shed and appropriating a bucket or two of road salt/sand to use on their driveway or walkway, are in for a nasty surprise for the rest of this Winter.

The Town Board of Schoharie, acting on a request by the Town Highway Superintendent has adopted a policy restricting the ability of Town residents to take Town road salt for their own use.

What is the rationale behind this new restrictive policy? The Highway department cites an increase in salt costs due to the busy Winter season. However, no rationale can justify what is at heart a simply boneheaded policy. While Town officials have the right to restrict use of their Highway Department’s resources, they are wrong and reckless to do so. First of all, it is the Town taxpayers who own the salt, and it is extremely inappropriate for the Town Board to deny them access to it.

Secondly, it presents a major safety risk to people and property. How many will slip and fall because the Town denied them a cup of road salt? How many cars will slide down driveways potentially endangering people and other property?

Now that we know the Town Board and the Highway Department in Schoharie is committed to cutting costs at the expense of safety, is it fair to assume that road plows will reduce the amount of salt they use on the roads?

Schoharie Town officials need to be made aware of what a stupid and reckless policy this is. I hope they take a step back and look at the bigger picture. If they don’t, they should get sand-blasted in the next election.

An Ill Wind Blows through Richmondville

Apparently unsatisfied with bludgeoning the discussion of wind power into non-existence, Bob Neid and Don Airey, co-founders of Schoharie Valley Watch, have been on the look-out for ways to keep the controversy and friction levels high in Richmondville. Rather than slink back into relative obscurity, the ringleaders of this increasingly laughable circus, have sought to stretch out their fifteen minutes of limelight, inasmuch as weekly coverage in Cobleskill’s Times-Journal affords such limelight of course.

The actions of Bob Neid, Don Airey and other members of Schoharie Valley Watch have exemplified all of the worst aspects of small town political conflict, running the gamet from NIMBYism to divisive name-calling to proposing outlandish conspiracy theories. The result is a bitterly divided community, with a downgraded capacity to work together to find worthwhile solutions.

At meeting after meeting, windmill opponents thuggishly bullied anyone with opposing points of view, until those wanting to contribute constructively to the process were simply overwhelmed and turned off.

Rather than work with the Town Board and Planning Board to insure an equitable implementation of a viable green energy solution, Robert Neid, an individual with a respectable environmental record, chose to take the low road, sabotaging Democratic Supervisor Betsy Bernocco in his own quixotic write-in race for Supervisor. Neid’s major accomplishment? The Town of Richmondville lost a hardworking and experienced advocate in exchange for a Republican who never even claimed to take a different position than Bernocco on the wind turbine issue.

The latest controversy concerning the firing of a part-time Richmondville clerk for supposedly political motives, is a continuation of this tradition.

Neid, Airey and SVW would have you believe that Kathleen Johnson, a part-time Richmondville Clerk was the victim of some heinous attempt to silence critics of the Town’s allegedly pro-windmill policy. This would be laughable if it were not such a travesty, and if the Times-Journal didn’t pick up on it and blow wind in the story’s sails.

I’m not going to say whether this person was fired for a good reason or not. However, if we’re going to start believing in outlandish conspiracy theories, we might as well put it out there that Kathleen Johnson may have deliberately sabotaged her own employment in order to smear the Town of Richmondville.

More likely however, is the possibility that this is one more delusion of grandeur on the part of Neid and Airey, fancying themselves the targets of some corrupt conspiratorial plot.

The most laughable element of this, is the idea that there is some “cabal” or group of insiders in Richmondville capable of performing such feats of political intimidation. Consider: there have been few more vocal critics of the wind policy change than Richmondville Village mayor Kevin Neary, a Democrat.

Why doesn’t SVW ask Neary if the firing of Kathleen Johnson has caused him to fear retribution from the evil conspirators?

Is there really a conspiracy in Richmondville? No, just a bunch of loudmouths with WAY too much time on their hands. I won’t deny them their fun and games, let them have it. I just felt like it was time for a reality check.