TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: August 6, 2002

I have taken a closer look at the transcript of last August's public hearing in Northville on the Batchellerville Bridge replacement project. As you know, the vice president of the Great Sacandaga Lake Association, who was one of the speakers, said nothing about the need for an economic impact study, a subject that the GSLA has suddenly started bellyaching about. What I have now discovered is that two other members of the GSLA's board of directors also signed up to speak. But when their names were called, they did not step up to the microphone. So the GSLA had plenty of opportunity to raise this issue last year and did not take advantage of it. The explanation is obvious. The need for such a study was not significant then, and it is not significant now.

Don't forget that GSLA members were not consulted before the directors issued a call for an economic impact study. In fact, the latest GSLA newsletter says nothing at all about the bridge. Nor is there a mention of the study on the group's website. And for obvious reasons, the directors have not informed members that the vice president was allowed to use his title while lobbying the state for a higher bridge.

Here are the names of the GSLA's officials as listed on the group's website. I have added the names of the two new female directors:

Officers/Directors
Willard Roth, President
Peter Byron, Vice President
Henry Hughes, Secretary
Fred Lindsay, Treasurer
James Wheeler, Executive Director

Directors
Lee Brenn
Bradley Brownell
William Christman
Justine Davidson
Fred Dunham
Donald Hester
Thomas King
Mark Marra
Constance Robinson
Walter Ryan

I'd like to call your attention to the following letter from BBAC member Marilyn Sargent. It was printed in the Schenectady DAILY GAZETTE (August 5) and Gloversville LEADER-HERALD (August 4). The subject: the Great Sacandaga Lake Association.

I am a former member of the Great Sacandaga Lake Association, having discontinued support of this group when I realized it did not speak for those living on the reservoir. The Batchellerville Bridge is falling apart, but the GSLA wants an economic impact study of the proposed bridge replacement. I find this to be totally irresponsible. The state Department of Transportation must be encouraged to start the replacement project now, before the bridge has to be closed for lack of structural safety.

Despite its grandiose name, the GSLA does not represent the lake-area community. Its 630 members account for less than 14 percent of the 4,550 access permit holders around the lake. Its 13-member board of directors includes only two women. We make up more than 50 percent of the area's population and should have half the seats. On that board, property owners are under-represented, while commercial interests and lake users who are not property owners have more than their fair share of seats.

The group's call for an economic impact study was made without consulting its membership. While claiming to be neutral on how high the replacement bridge should be, the group allowed its vice-president to co-sign a letter urging the state to adopt the higher, 55-foot vertical clearance. Clearly, the board seeks to undermine the state's decision to build a replacement bridge with a compromise 42-foot vertical clearance. That environmentally acceptable design would allow all except 37 of the lake's thousands of boats to pass underneath.

Locally, the GSLA is infamous for its incompetence. Last year, its newsletter reminded members to attend the state's public hearing in August on the bridge replacement project. Members received the reminder a month after the meeting took place. Its spring newsletter reminded members to renew their access permits. Again, it arrived a month after the deadline had elapsed.

As more people become aware of the GSLA's tilt toward a higher, environment-destroying bridge, I suspect that its membership will be even smaller by this time next year.

Marilyn Sargent
Batchellerville

Should you wish to write a letter to the editor, and I encourage you to do so, here are the e-mail addresses you'll need (please note that each newspaper has a maximum word limit):

Schenectady DAILY GAZETTE (300 words max)
opinion@dailygazette.com

Gloversville LEADER-HERALD (400 words max)
editor@leaderherald.com

Amsterdam RECORDER (400 words max)
news@recordernews.com

Albany TIMES UNION (250 words max)
tuletters@timesunion.com