WATER,FIRE, EMS, NYRA, OH MY!

The “Sutherland Report” was a study conducted by the DEC which was chosen by the City Council and was compiled between 1986 and1987 regarding the condition of Loughberry Lake and its water shed which has been the principal water source for Saratoga Springs since 1870.  If you haven’t noticed, Saratoga Springs has changed quite a bit since then both in population, building growth and pollution.  As James Sutherland, who was the research scientist for the DEC and was the person who issued the report, hence “the Sutherland Report” stated, “an important study finding was that only 4% of the Loughberry Lake watershed lies within the City of Saratoga Springs; the remaining portion of the watershed is in Greenfield (33%) and Wilton (63%).  This means that the city of Saratoga Springs has no control over the land-use activities in the watershed that cause steady degradation of the lake’s water quality.  This fact alone should be cause for alarm and action.”  As Sutherland also stated “Loughberry Lake was classified as “moderately contaminated” with heavy metals.  Nuisance aquatic vegetation was a major concern to the extent that weed harvesting was initiated and continues even today.  The presence of Route 50, a major traffic thoroughfare along the lake’s southern shoreline, is always cause for concern (also accidents like the City spilling fuel in the lake not too long ago) is always cause for concern since shutdown of the city’s primary water supply is only one traffic accident away from being a reality, which would paralyze city water users.

   

 In retrospect, the 10 year lead time suggested in the report before replacement of Loughberry Lake became imperative was unrealistic.  However, the purpose of that number was to encourage the City Council to start planning the replacement of the lake as its primary source of drinking water within a reasonable time period.

    

As Mr. Sutherland also stated “Recently, I have noticed occasional articles in the Saratogian about the Loughberry Lake water supply and the Bog Meadow Brook system and realize that not too much has changed since the “Sutherland Report” was released 26 years ago.”  (One thing has changed though; our current Commissioner has made back room deals to sell our precious drinking water to developments outside the City of Saratoga Springs).

We are very fortunate to have a gentleman like Mr. Sutherland along with his experience as a neighbor and he should be a welcome source of information to the City.  I only wish past Council’s would have taken his report seriously and acted on it.

I have followed the need of those who wanted to swap the land on Broadway for a parcel on Union Avenue to construct an Eastside Firehouse and EMS facility for residents on the East side of the Northway.  The deal passed unanimously at the last Council meeting.  East side voices were heard for months at past Council meetings, “residents expressed urgent concern for the project, asking the City to act in their best interest.”  Laurie Wellman, who lives near Saratoga Lake, expressed concern for the desperate need for emergency services in her neighborhood.  How about this one, “How much is just one life worth?” or How long do we have to wait?  This is a good one, ‘We are residents of the City, we pay taxes to the City and we hope that our lives and property are valued by the City’.

I’m linking the 2 stories for you, especially the Lake people to think about.  Those who yelled and pleaded with the City and those homeowner group reps on or near the lake demanding the firehouse and EMS facility, which I believe are needed, are the same people who cry and yell whenever Saratoga Lake is mentioned as a water source for the City and all of its residents.  The anti lake people are led by General Wilma Koss’s militia and they could care less about the state of our drinking water.  Loughberry Lake was found to be moderately productive and contaminated 27 years ago, yet it is still in use today with no back up plan in sight and I ask the East side residents “How much is one life worth?”, How long do we have to wait for a back up plan?  We are residents of the City; we pay City taxes and hope that our lives and property are valued by the City.  We are expressing urgent concern for a water project and the lake is the best one and we are asking the City Council to act in our best interest.  Let’s hope those out near the lake will be a little more rational when the Lake comes up again in conversation as a water supply, which will happen sooner than later.

Last week, the NYRA Board of Directors voted to give NYRA CEO Chris Kay a 3% pay increase on top of his $300,000.00 salary and a $250,000.00 bonus after 1 year at the helm and the triggers that he had to meet to get the bonus looked bogus in the first place.  After hiring Kay last July, the board found out that Kay had only seen 2 live races in his life and then had to hire a V.P of racing at an unknown salary but believed to be in the neighborhood of close to $175,000.00.  The question that racing fans that keep an eye on what NYRA does are wondering why the rash of hires of V.P.’s at costly salaries?  The racing does seem to have gotten better under the V.P. of racing but the business side under Kay seems to be getting worse.  As the Saratogian reporter Paul Post reported, Kay has now added the over 6,300 season pass holders into the daily attendance number whether they are there or not.  Let’s put some pressure on our 2 local Board reps (Charles Wait and John Hendrickson) to make sure NY racing will be placed in good hands next year for whoever takes over the NYRA contract.