Pyramid is Back! Hoblock Makes A Deal
Pyramid is Back! Hoblock Makes A Deal
by Daniel W. Van Riper, July/Aug. 92
Pyramid Corporation, hiding behind an entity called Albany Commons
Associates, wants to buy prime Pine Bush from Albany County and build
strip malls. The acreage threatened with destruction, located along
Washington Ave. Extension, is supposedly part of the 2000 acre Pine
Bush Preserve that the State has ordered the city of Albany to set
aside.
In a sleazy backroom deal between Republican county executive Michael
Hoblock and Pyramid advance man Robert Ungerer, 45 acres of county
owned Pine Bush will be sold to Pyramid for approx. $850,000. About
40 acres will then be given to the City of Albany as a reward for
bending the City’s zoning laws so that Pyramid can build their strip
malls.
Documents filed in various courts by the City of Albany have
repeatedly included this land as already set aside for preserve.
Awarding the permit for expanding the City Dump was partly dependent
upon this acreage being protected. It turns out the City has no
control over the use of this land, and may be a case of perjury on
their part.
Pyramid, builder and operator of Crossgates Mall, is under indictment
for bribery in the town of Poughkeepsie. The erection of Crossgates
destroyed 180 acres of Pine Bush, and was accomplished by numerous
threats of local citizens, and by strategic “campaign contributions”
to state and local officials. Their most recent accomplishment was
the creation of the Carousel Mall in Syracuse on top of a toxic waste
dump. Workers who asked for protective clothing before working in the
hazardous material were simply fired and replaced by others with less
sense.
According to articles in the Daily Gazette and the Hearst-owned Times
Union, County officials are welcoming the deal as a partial solution
to the County’s fiscal crisis. Pyramid approached the county with
their proposed arrangement after reading newspaper articles about how
officials were hoping that someone would buy the land.
Commentary
by Daniel W. Van Riper, July/Aug. 92
On the shores of beautiful Lake Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes
region, the rewards of corporate irresponsibility and criminal
behavior can be found. Much of the lakefront property is owned by
Pyramid Corporation and doled out as rewards to their executives,
minions and allies. The nearest Pyramid mall is quite a distance
away, in Syracuse.
For this sort of payoff, the folks at Pyramid will do literally
anything to get their way. Back in the late 70’s, when SPB was just
being organized, Concerned Citizens Against Crossgates fought
valiantly to stop the unneeded mall. The chief organizers of the
group received numerous telephone threats, including a threat to bomb
the building where the hearings were being held. Construction workers
were actually being paid to testify in favor of the mall, $25 to show
up, $40 to speak and $50 to stay until the end. These fellows
probably expected preferential treatment when Pyramid was hiring.
Yet Pyramid has a dismal, if not downright disgraceful record of
labor relations, and is known for not paying local contractors and
suppliers on time, or at all. Local contractors still remember how
Pyramid hired a bulldozer to knock down the scaffolds around the
outside of Crossgates, and buried them in what is now the parking
lot. It seems that the folks at Pyramid wanted to meet a deadline,
and couldn’t wait for the owners to dismantle the scaffolds. No
compensation was ever paid.
Given Pyramid’s track record of bribery, bad faith and dirty tricks,
there is no reason to suppose that they will actually hand over the
40 acres of preserve to the City of Albany, even if the sale is
contingent upon transfer of the land. Since when has Pyramid ever
respected state and local ordinances? If a permit to build is denied,
they will probably just keep the land and do as they please with
it.
What can a solidly non-violent group like SPB do against such a
monster? We can challenge the approval. We can raise public
awareness, and tell county and city officials that we will remember
how they all sucked up to Pyramid come November. Perhaps we can ask
the state to withdraw the permit for the Albany Dump.
Maybe we can take a day trip to beautiful downtown Skaneateles, find
a crowded public spot and talk loudly about what a bunch of
scum-eaters the folks at Pyramid are. Maybe ruin a few holidays that
way.
