by Lynne Jackson On February 6, 2013, Save the Pine Bush will be 35. I wanted to reprint the story of our formation (the extended version can be found on the website, http://www.savethepinebush.org) Save the Pine Bush came into being on February 6, 1978. It snowed that day. It snowed so much that the offices of the New York State government closed down and stayed closed the next day. This is the only time that I remember in the…
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…
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…
Words Over Lasagna – Recent Dinner Speakers Words Over Lasagna Recent Dinner Speakers April/May 1995 By Daniel Van Riper We’ve had some excellent presentations at our monthly lasagna dinners at First Presbyterian Church in Albany over the past five months. All were well attended. Here’s a roundup: November 94 – Dr. George Robinson of the SUNY Albany biology department talked about plant and animal surveys in NY State. "I am interested," he told the crowd, "in preserving biodiversity and keeping…
History Mauled Again – City Did Dirty Deal Selling Historic Site History Mauled Again City Did Dirty Deal Selling Historic Site Feb./Mar. 95 by Lynne Jackson I have been reading this book, The Fifth Discipline in which the author, Peter M. Senge, says that it is often the structure of the situation that makes people behave in certain ways. In a given situation, according to his theory, widely different people will do the same thing. This is obviously what happened…
Save the Pine Bush Action Alert! Action Alerts! Call Your Albany City Common Council Member To oppose re-zoning of 365 Washington Avenue Extension (If you do not live in Albany, then choose someone to call). Call before March 20, 2000 Call Your Albany County Legislator To call for the County to request that part of the budget surplus be spent on acquiring land in the Pine Bush for preservation. Call any time. The more calls the better! Guilderland Comprehensive Management…
RENSSELAER, NY: Rensselaer residents took a big step toward closing the Dunn (Waste Connections) construction and demolition (C&D) debris landfill in November when they elected Mike Stammel as mayor of their city. Mr. Stammel, also chairman of the Rensselaer County Legislature, has taken an anti-dump stance and works with locals eager to immediately close the dump. As of mid-November, more than 900 comments have been posted on ItStinks.org about dump odors, many from residents who say the dump is literally…
Action Alert! Touhey Gets A Boost Politicians Defy Voters Action Alert! Touhey Gets A Boost Politicians Defy Voters By Daniel Van Riper The Zoning Committee of the Albany Common Council handed stubborn developer Charlie Touhey a key approval of his proposed destruction of Pine Bush at 300 Washington Avenue Extension. By a vote of 3 to 1 the committee approved Touhey’s environmental impact statement (EIS), in effect saying that destroying the Pine Bush will have no impact on the Pine…
Home From Nowhere – Book Review Home From Nowhere Book Review by Lynne Jackson As a child growing up in the suburbs in the sixties, I really wanted sidewalks. I could not understand why there were no sidewalks. I envied the children who walked to school, and were even allowed to walk home at lunch. As I got older, I wished that I could take the bus, but as the bus stop was two miles from my house, along a…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: John Poorman, Executive Director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission spoke at the July SPB vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner. Mr. Poorman began by describing what the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDTC) is. The CDTC is the designated “Metropolitan Planning Organization” (MPO) for four counties, Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady. Under federal law, the CDTC’s responsibilities are to provide a forum to discuss transportation needs and develop transportation plans in the context of social, economic and…
GUILDERLAND, NY: If you haven’t already heard or seen it, March 26 was an horrible day for the trees on the site for the proposed Costco; Respect and adherence to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) by the Town of Guilderland; and any expectation for a fair process from the Guilderland Planning Board’s review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed developments by the Pyramid (Crossgates) Companies. On Thursday morning, March 26, 2020 at 10:17AM,…
by Tom Ellis, October 2020 Newsletter ALBANY: Save the Pine Bush President Rezsin Adams, who died August 13 at age 93, was lovingly honored and remembered at a September 16 virtual Save the Pine Bush meeting facilitated by Lynne Jackson. Carol Waterman said Rezsin had a wonder-ful sense of humor, could be hilarious, and once allowed herself to be all dolled up as part of a La-dies Against Women guerrilla group skit; Rezsin posed and preened like a fashion model….
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…
by Lynne Jackson Save the Pine Bush came into being on February 6, 1978. It snowed that day. It snowed so much that the offices of the New York State government closed down and stayed closed the next day. This is the only time in the 20 years that I have lived in Albany that the State closed its offices due to the weather. I was able to ski to work in downtown Albany. On that day, the Albany City…
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…
by Lynne Jackson, Mar./Apr. 92 The Karner Blue has been proposed to be listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If the butterfly is listed as an endangered species with a designated critical habitat, any developments proposed within the habitat would need to have a federal permit in order to be built. Obtaining a federal permit is a much more rigorous and difficult process to go through than the zoning changes or Planning Board approvals-and…
What is the Pine Bush? The Pine Bush is the only sizable inland pine barrens sand dunes in the United States, and is recognized world-wide as a unique pine barrens ecosystem. It contains over 300 species of vertebrate animals, over 1,500 species of plants, and over 10,000 species of insects and other invertebrate animals. Many of them are rare and restricted to the Pine Bush habitat. Its most famous occupant, the Karner Blue Butterfly, is on New York State’s endangered…
by Hugh Johnson Mark Dunlea, the Green Party Candidate running for the New York State Comptroller, spoke at October Save the Pine Bush dinner. He commenced by stating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s assertion that we have only 12 years to do something about Climate Change (really Accelerated Global Warming, AGW). A “miracle” solution is needed to cut back Greenhouse Emission by 97% which the IPCC feels is needed to begin to reverse AGW. This would include reducing the use of Natural gas and Fracking,…
What is the Pine Bush? The Pine Bush is the only sizable inland pine barrens sand dunes in the United States, and is recognized world&endash;wide as a unique pine barrens ecosystem. It contains over 300 species of vertebrate animals, over 1,500 species of plants, and over 10,000 species of insects and other invertebrate animals. Many of them are rare and restricted to the Pine Bush habitat. Its most famous occupant, the Karner Blue Butterfly, is on the Federal and State’s…
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…
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…
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 lawsuit filed by Save the Pine Bush. Born September 22, 1932, John passed away a few…
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,…