Christopher M. Walker, Legal Intern for the The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic wrote comments for the proposed project. Here is an excerpt from his comments sent to the Guilderland Planning Board. You can view the complete comments and the appendicies online at: http://www.savethepinebush.org/Cases/Crossgates_Expansion/index.html The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic submits the following comments on behalf of our client, Save the Pine Bush, in response to the proposed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) on the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment…
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ALBANY, NY: It is with great sadness that Save the Pine Bush learned of the passing of John Wolcott of Albany, NY, Thursday afternoon, August 17. John was a founding member of Save the Pine Bush in 1978. He was a plaintiff on every lawsuit filed by Save the Pine Bush. Born September 22, 1932, John passed away a few weeks shy of his 91st birthday. John was an expert map-maker and researcher. He discovered evidence of a forgotten foot path through the Pine…
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A founding member of Save the Pine Bush in 1978, Wolcott was a month shy of his 91st birthday when he passed away Thursday ALBANY — John Wolcott, a passionate long-time defender of preserving the Pine Bush ecosystem, self-proclaimed Albany historian, and thorn in the side of developers and government officials for decades, died this past week. Wolcott, a founding member of Save the Pine Bush in 1978, was a month shy of his 91st birthday when he passed away…
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2020s 🦋 2010s 🦋 2000s 🦋 1990s Search Newsletter Archives: 2009 🦋 2008 🦋 2007 🦋 2006 🦋 2005 🦋 2004 🦋 2003 🦋 2002 🦋 2001 🦋 2000 2009 October/November 2009 – Download printable PDF version Bringing Back Sustainable Karner Blue Populations, October/November, 2009 September Biogas Talk, October/November, 2009 Buckmoth Monitoring, October/November, 2009 Neither a Borrower or a Lender Be, October/November, 2009 Pesticide Reductions Won at Albany Common Council – We can fight City Hall and Win!, October/November, 2009…
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by Grace Nichols Earth Day Season began with a Teach-In by the Black Caucus of PEF (Public Employees Federation) at the Albany Public Library (on April 16th) about the environmental injustice done to the Sheridan Hollow community in Albany, NY. Sheridan Hollow is named for its location down a ravine that’s across the street from the State Capitol, centered along Sheridan Avenue. It also has a history of being Albany’s energy producer, having begun producing energy by burning coal at…
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It is with great sadness that we observe the passing of our dear friend, Louise Burch. Louise was a stalwart volunteer for Save the Pine Bush for decades. She folded newsletters and drove Rezsin and the newsletters to the post office. But, most important of all, she selflessly washed the dishes at the dinners, so that others could enjoy the food and the listen to the speakers. She did those behind the scenes important necessary tasks that needed to be…
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The Two Month Debate – Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip The Two Month Debate Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip By Daniel Van Riper Part 1: The Challenger State Assemblyman and Albany mayoral candidate Jack McEneny found himself being interviewed by the editors of the local media outlet for the Hearst Corporation, the Times Union. After the usual questions they asked him, "How do you get along with the business community?" " Well," said McEneny, "I have a number…
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Proposed Hotel in the Pine Bush Hotel Update: Oral Arguements in the NY Court of Appeals Tuesday, September 15 at 2:00 The Court of Appeals is next door to Albany City Hall. This is an extremely significant case, and could, if we win change who has standing in SEQRA cases. Click here to read Amicus briefs Read attorney Steve Downs’ commentary about the hotel case here. Action Alert! Hear the Oral Arguments in the NYS Appellate Division Friday,…
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The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve – What became of it? The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve What became of it? by John Wolcott In 1914, Albany almost benefitted immensely from the City Beautiful movement. This was part of the Progressive movement, then afoot around the country with its strong public spirit, open, honest better government and conservation bent. This, temporarily, influenced even traditionally conservative Albany. Albany in 1912, commissioned an architect, Arnold W. Brunner, and a landscape architect, Charles Downing Lay,…
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To think that the 6,000-acre Capital Region ecological treasure known as the Pine Bush was once almost 10 times that size, before developers started making their way into what still qualifies as one of the premier examples of an inland pine barrens ecosystem anywhere in the world. Today the Pine Bush and all its wonder are just a bit smaller, at least in the eyes of the builder of a proposed hotel on Washington Avenue Extension. It’s almost as if…
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by Lynne Jackson OK, Crossgates has been in the news a lot recently. Actually, they made it into the international news. Save the Pine Bush has received emails from out raged people as far away as Sydney Australia, and California. People are mad. To recap: On Monday evening, March 3, Stephen Downs and his son Roger, were stopped by a security guard at Crossgates Maul. They were wearing T-shirts which they had just purchased at the mall. Stephen’s T-shirt said…
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by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: The September Save the Pine Bush dinner at the First Presbyterian Church was the setting for a presentation on alien and invasive by Steve Rice, PhD. of Union college. Dr. Rice began by talking about the early efforts to bring fire back into the Pine Bush ecosystem. The thought was that if we could get the Pine Bush to burn, we would eliminate the invasive species. After the massive fire of 1999 (a controlled burn…
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by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: The July SPB veggie lasagna dinner at the First Presbyterian Church was a forum for a bevy of politicians. Everyone came out to support Pine Bush preservation, a welcome change from previous elections. Candidates from Albany, most facing primaries in September attended as well as Ken Runion, candidate for Guilderland Town Supervisor who faces his challengers in the general election. First to speak was Marggie Skinner, Democrat, running for Common Council in the 9th ward…
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Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush by John Wolcott One can reach the Pine Bush from Albany by bus. However, it is, at one point, difficult and unsafe. At another point, it is awkward, and, as yet, uncertain. A couple of weeks ago, I tested part of the bus system in person. I took the Number 12 Crossgates bus to Wall-Mart on the Washington Avenue Extension. This is the nearest stop to…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: “If we lose reverence for any part of life, we lose reverence for all of life,” said Save the Pine Bush member Lou Ismay at the April 17th SPB dinner at which Lou spoke about his launching the Protect Your Environment (PYE) Club at SUNY Albany fifty years ago. He said many future members of Save the Pine Bush met each other through PYE. Before Lou spoke, Lynne Jackson read proclamations honoring Lou and his…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: David Ellis of Rensselaer Residents Against Toxic Dumping and Lou Sebesta of Stop Trucks Assaulting Rensselaer (STAR) spoke at the May 15th SPB dinner about “Done with Dunn Landfill: Negative Impacts of Dunn C/D Dump Operations” in Rensselaer, and their efforts to close it. Later in the evening, George Keleshian of Zeroenergy Buildings, Inc., finished the presentation he did not have enough time to complete at the April SPB dinner. Before they spoke, Lynne Jackson…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Retired University at Albany economics professor and McKownville Improvement Association president Don Reeb was the speaker at the November 18 SPB dinner. Don spoke about SUNY Poly — formerly College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Don is 82 years old. He said the neighborhood contain 900 houses and the neighborhood association has a $300 annual budget. He said only forty percent of registered voters in county legislature districts 3 and 4 voted in November. He makes…
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by Sheree At RPI, there are at least two food “waste” projects. One is a prototype small methane digester. The other is a dumpster composter, which digests its load in 7 days. Unfortunately, hardly anyone seems to want the compost, which they have been giving away free. It would be ideal if a farmer picked up the material and composted it on site. As of 2009, Sodexho at RPI was going to try to compost campus food “waste” but I…
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ALBANY, NY: Just when you thought it was safe to go to the mall, Pyramid Crossgates proposes yet another project to destroy Pine Bush and potential Karner Blue habitat. Albany City Hall was the setting for Pyramid to describe to the Albany Common Council Zoning Committee how its proposal to build a residence inn hotel on 3.72 acres adjacent to the one of the largest sites of Karner Blues will have no environmental impact. In 1998, Pyramid Crossgates illegally bulldozed…
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by DINA CAPPIELLO, Staff writer A building that Pine Bush protectors once protested for being constructed in the rare pine barren became part of the preserve on Friday, when the state announced it traded a piece of the Harriman State Office Campus for the State Employees Federal Credit Union on New Karner Road. The deal adds 11.5 acres in the town of Colonie and the city of Albany to the 2,725-acre preserve, while allowing a growing company to expand its…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Don Rittner was the guest speaker at the June 20 SPB dinner. Don was introduced by John Wolcott who said Don took Albany by storm in 1973 with his archaeological research of the Isaac Truax Tavern on the King’s Highway that George Washington stopped in six times. He said Don also has the distinction of being fired by Albany Mayors Erastus Corning and Tom Whalen. Don titled his presentation, “The Way We Were.” Using a PowerPoint,…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY— “The future is bright,” said John Ciovacco, President of Aztech Geothermal, at the November 15 SPB dinner. He spoke about “Geothermal Heat Pump Systems as One solution to Climate Change.” Aztech was founded in 2007, the first installations were in 2009, and 350 installations have now been completed. Mr. Ciovacco used a PowerPoint and was accompanied by two of his workers. He said geothermal power has many names including geothermal heat pumps and “utility geothermal…
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Letter to the editor, Times Union, July 21, 2015 Photos by John Wolcott of Holy Innocents Fate of Albany’s historic Holy Innocents church unclear An opportunity to save the former Church of the Holy Innocents Seriously Endangered Church of The Holy Innocents Section of former Church of Holy Innocents collapses Read excerpts from a book about Holy Innocents Floor Plan of the Church of the Holy Innocents Read the story of Holy Innocents Church in Albany, New York, and why…
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by John Wolcott The Albany Pine Bush Management Commission was sued last summer by a group of individuals accusing the Commission of “conspiring to reduce the value of their land.” The Times Union characterized the plaintiffs in the law suit against the Commission as “several farmers”. Actually, there are several individual plaintiffs but out of these seven we only know three of them to be farmers for a certainty.Their lawyer is Paul Wein whom we all remember from two Pine…
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Save the Pine Bush uses the courts to force government agencies to follow environmental preservation laws. The City of Albany has been notorious for ignoring the State Environmental Quality Review Act. We have been very successful in our lawsuits to block improper approvals of construction projects in the Pine Bush. Save the Pine Bush’s Victories and Challenges Victories ·The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) purchased “Karner Meadows” (also known as Blueberry Hill) a 190 acre site near…
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Dear All, The proposed apartment complex on Rapp Road in Guilderland is back. Pyramid sold the 19 acre parcel to a local developer. This new developer has proposed some modifications to the project. The new name for the project is Apex at Crossgates. The area where the proposed apartment complex is to be built is recommended for partial protection by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission. The public hearing: Wednesday, July 13 at 7:00 PMGuilderland Town Hall5209 Western TpkGuilderland, NY…
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Public Hearing TOMORROW – October 3 at 6:00 PM – Solar Farm in the Pine Bush 45 years of fighting for the Pine Bush John Wolcott, historian, preservationist, activist, and fierce advocate for the Pine Bush, dies at 90 ALBANY, NY: It is with great sadness that Save the Pine Bush learned of the passing of John Wolcott of Albany, NY, Thursday afternoon, August 17. John was a founding member of Save the Pine Bush in 1978. He was a plaintiff on every…
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Search Newsletter Archives: What is Full Protection, Partial Protection and who is the Pine Bush? – By Lynne Jackson – June / July 2022 Newsletter A Tribute To Lew Oliver, our wonderful lawyer The Pine Bush’s Most Famous Resident – The Karner Blue Butterfly Save the Pine Bush Victories and Fights The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally, Dec 99/Jan 00Save the Pine Bush is 25!, Mar/Apr 03 Legislation regarding standing in court We Need the Environmental Access to Justice Act,…
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