Quoted Text

GLENVILLE
Official: No building on Indian Kill open spaces
Neighbors were concerned about surveying crews
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.

    County officials say they have no plans to take the Indian Kill open space for a new county nursing home.
    “The Indian Kill is forever wild,” said county spokesman Joe Mc-Queen. “We would absolutely not be doing anything on the Indian Kill. It’s already designated as a nature preserve.”
    Neighbors last month began expressing concern when surveying crews showed up on the fi elds next to the preserve, which lies adjacent to the current Glendale Home on Hetcheltown Road.
    The county owns the land. County officials have yet to say what are the plans for the nursing home, only that they hope to break ground in September on the project — originally estimated to cost around $51 million.
    More than 200 residents have signed a petition opposing taking open space for the new facility. The residents, who call themselves Save the Indian Kill Field, have also started a blog about the issue at preserveikfi eld.wordpress.com.
    Resident Kathleen Collar said residents even spoke at a Schenectady County Legislature meeting this week but did not get many answers.
    She told the Glenville Town Board at a work session Wednesday that people who signed the petition were “aghast” about the thought of losing that open space.
    “We think it’s going to be too late,” she said.
RECREATION AREA
    The area adjacent to the Indian Kill has been used by neighbors as a recreational area. Residents walk their dogs there. Neighbors mow trails throughout the open fi elds adjacent to the preserve and clean out any litter and debris from the fields. It is also used for sledding during the wintertime.
    The fields are home to turkey, deer, birds and other wildlife.
    Another neighbor, Lisa Burton, said there are a lot of vibrant colors in the trails.
    “It’s really just beautiful every day and different every day,” she said.
    McQueen said the architects and engineers have been surveying to determine the boundaries of the county’s property and still working on their recommendations for where to locate the new nursing home.
    If one were to be looking straight at the Glendale Home from Hetcheltown Road, McQueen said the property the county is targeting for the new facility would be to the left between the home and the Indian Kill.
    McQueen said the architect has also received instructions to maintain the hill so it could be used for sledding.
    The county is trying to organize a community meeting in the next few weeks to be held at Glendale where the architect and engineers would give a presentation and make recommendations. It is diffi cult to coordinate dates, particularly in the summertime, McQueen said.
    Also in response to rumors that the costs have escalated for the project, McQueen said the county will not know until the new design is created.
‘DONE IN THE DARK’
    County Legislator Robert Farley, R-Glenville, said the process should be open and residents have a right to know what the plans are.
    “Everything that’s done in our community is done in the dark. They do it all in their Democratic caucus. They don’t anything publicly. We turn around and have things put on our desk the night of our meeting.”
    Farley added that he believes the plan for the facility should have been developed before the bond was floated. Also maybe Hetcheltown Road is not the right location. “The vast majority of the people who are in the nursing home are from the city of Schenectady,” he said.
    Jim Buhrmaster, R-Glenville, also said there has not been a lot of information forthcoming.
    “Our county leadership is giving us the amount of information they want us to have when they want us to have it,” he said.
    He said it should not be political.
    “There are only two people on the Legislature that are from Glenville and they happen to be the only two Republicans. Everything I’ve seen recently the leadership does not care what we say or do. They are going to do what they feel is best for the county,” he said.
    Buhrmaster also suggested maybe the county should look at other locations such as the Kmart property or maybe the Schaffer senior center in Schenectady.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01600&AppName=1

A county spokesman is trying to dumb-down the DEMS secrecy and total lack of respect for the people of the county. Yes, all those taxpayers who paid their grossly over-inflated bills so that the
county can build something..somewhere..should be ashamed of this slight of hand.

You know, I heard there are a LOT of red herrings at Indian Kill. Sound like this article follows suit.

Do what's right for the taxpayer......privatize it!  Forfeit the union votes the dems are pandering to and do what's right for the taxpayers!! Get the beast off of the taxpayers back. Glendale has one of the worst ratings in the state! What are we actually gaining here? VOTES! Perhaps?

Bob Farley claims to be left in the dark ... yet every County Legislator gets the same packet of information before their committee meetings and regular session meetings.    Maybe if the guy opened the packet and read it ... he would be informed.

you can lead a horse to water .. but you can't make it drink

you can put a pile of reports and committee information under Bob Farley's nose .. but he can't find it ..

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Bob Farley claims to be left in the dark ... yet every County Legislator gets the same packet of information before their committee meetings and regular session meetings.    Maybe if the guy opened the packet and read it ... he would be informed.

you can lead a horse to water .. but you can't make it drink

you can put a pile of reports and committee information under Bob Farley's nose .. but he can't find it ..

I guess you don't attend many county leg meetings, huh? The information in those 'packets' were created by the dems and handed out AT THE MEETING! I have seen that with my own eyes. The budget process is a joke! The dems have all to do to let the reps counter with their ideas. In fact whenever a rep attempts to share their view, the dems and even ML from the gazette start with their disrespectful chatter. It is a disgrace. There is clearly NO equal representation.

Sorry VOICES, you are incorrect. I and others have seen this with our own eyes and ears. It is a circus!

Finally it looks like the last REPS in the room are finding a voice. Nobody wants this white elephant. The County Home should be privatized or work out a triad with neighboring Counties. Montgomery County has already closed its County Home and worked out a private arrangement.

     This is going to kill SS in Glenville and the DEMS know it. The timing could not be more delicious. This is not about care-its about greedy unions and gutless politicians who refuse to kill a proposal WE CAN'T AFFORD. Meanwhile Saratoga County has announced a $24 MILLION surplus. And Saratoga County taxes are 70% less. What's our County deficit before building this? And the County Manager refuses to talk to neighbors about this project.

Quoted Text

County should build new nursing home at street level, not on hill

    Re Aug. 15 article, “Official: No building on Indian Kill open spaces”: I am a senior citizen and a Schenectady County resident living in Glenville. I believe any development of green space on the hill will have a negative impact on the neighborhood and nursing home community.
    The present Glendale Home occupies only a part of the land directly along Hetcheltown Road. I cannot imagine anyone planning a nursing home would not consider the fact that the area is over the fl ight path. A nursing home along Hetcheltown Road and a facility on top of the hill will no doubt experience quite a different impact. We know: The planes fl y sporadically and always not much higher than the trees.
    Families of the infirm who realize the facility is on top of the hill, in the fl ight path, will not want their fragile loved ones up on the hill.
    A more desirable place would be down at the level of the present home. There appears to be a lot of unused space surrounding the facility, especially on the southeast side.
    We are a neighborhood of families, both young and old, who enjoy the natural beauty of the green spaces of Indian Kill Preserve and the hill area behind the Glendale Home. In addition, for many years children have come from all over Schenectady County and surrounding areas to use the hill for sledding during the winter months. Our way of life will change drastically if the area is developed.
    What about the wildlife that has been driven from habitats in so many areas? Is it going to be once again driven from its habitat? At what point does it become extinct?
    Our residential neighborhood will become a neighborhood with a nursing home literally in our backyard. There will be lights from the facility, noise from alarms, noise from heating and cooling units, noise from ambulances, noise from trucks, traffi c, dust in our backyards.
    And the constant view of an institutional building is of grave concern. Home values will go down. No fence can isolate any development that will only bring negative impact to the taxpayers of Schenectady County. The hill now is a buffer zone for all lights and noises as noted above.
    Please reconsider; do not disturb the green space so all of us can benefit.

    ELEANOR TUNNY
    Glenville

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00703&AppName=1

Quoted Text

Where not to build new
county nursing home
    Re the Aug. 15 article, “Official: No building on Indian Kill open spaces”: There seems to be a discrepancy between Schenectady County’s interpretation and the community’s interpretation of what the Indian Kill open space is.
    Community residents are not concerned that the county might build the new nursing home in the Indian Kill Nature Preserve, as it is already designated “forever wild.” The parcels that Glenville residents are concerned about are the open space fields north and west of the current nursing home. This land has been utilized by Glenville residents, as well as residents from surrounding communities, for over 50 years. It also serves as a buffer for wildlife between the Indian Kill Nature Preserve and the suburban homes to the northwest.
    As more people use the preserve for hiking and fishing, the habitat for the deer, fox, fisher, turkey, hawks, birds, butterfl ies etc., has diminished. The fields adjacent to the preserve have become a large part of their current habitat.
    To date, residents have heard there will be two buildings; one below the sledding hill and one above it. If a building is placed below the sledding hill, the hill will essentially be gone because the kids would be sledding down a hill into a building. If a building is placed above the sledding hill, it would be in the middle of the open space fields that residents are discussing. However, if the property the county is targeting for the new nursing home is, in fact, to the south of the current building, as county spokesman Joe McQueen has stated, then Glenville residents would find this acceptable.
    Residents have yet to hear this from legislators. They are telling us they simply don’t know. We encourage them to state, once and for all, that the open space fi elds and sledding hill will remain untouched.

    TIM AND KARLA BANACH
    Glenville

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00900&AppName=1

So sick of reading about this, tell these damn people to go somewhere else, its a nursing home not a playground.

Quoted from bumblethru

I guess you don't attend many county leg meetings, huh? The information in those 'packets' were created by the dems and handed out AT THE MEETING! I have seen that with my own eyes. The budget process is a joke! The dems have all to do to let the reps counter with their ideas. In fact whenever a rep attempts to share their view, the dems and even ML from the gazette start with their disrespectful chatter. It is a disgrace. There is clearly NO equal representation.

Sorry VOICES, you are incorrect. I and others have seen this with our own eyes and ears. It is a circus!

The packets are distributed at the Committee Meetings session .. which is a whole week BEFORE the actual regular session.  
I have seen Mr. Farley claim to have not been informed .. when the packet of information is about 3 feet away from him on his desk.

If Glenville doesn't want the nursing home ...  I know of 5 acres of land just off Hamburg St .. for sale .. would be happy to have the Nursing Home there.

The workforce that tends to this kind of work usually take cabs/buses......very difficult and expensive at that rate of pay for that kind of work........poor paying jobs........

Quoted from senders

The workforce that tends to this kind of work usually take cabs/buses......very difficult and expensive at that rate of pay for that kind of work........poor paying jobs........

They are union employees for God's sake!!! They probably have better benefits than the private sector nursing homes.
Again......sell the beast and privatize it. Oh, I forgot, the county government can't. If they sell it and privatize it, it won't be union anymore which equals NO VOTES!!!

my point is that the podium puck needs to be taken away....I dont want to hear...."what are we to do with the old folk, isn't better if we have a county
nursing home because those stupid/greedy business owners cant do it cheaply".....the fact is that it IS a societal ill......and the more the politicians
and governments intervene the more apathetic the people get......

Quoted Text

Indian Kill issue a red herring re county nursing home plan

    In an Aug. 15 Gazette article, [“Offi cial: No building on Indian Kill open spaces”] a Schenectady County official stated a new Glendale Nursing Home would not be built on the Indian Kill Nature Preserve.
    The problem with this statement (and the article’s headline) is there never was a proposal to build or develop any of the Indian Kill lands. The issue is whether the county intends to build a new Glendale Home or some other facility/housing in the field or sleigh-riding hill behind and to the northwest of the current facility. Either the reporter or the county official (or both) have misstated the question and answer.
    In the article, the county offi cial did discuss the area they were targeting for building, however it was retracted by a correction in the Aug. 17 Gazette that could have been easily missed!
    County officials have been slow in providing any specific details on the $50 million project. This is both frustrating and not consistent with elected representative that support an open and informative government.
    The field and sled0-riding hill are a unique, rural area that is adjacent, but not in the Indian Kill preserve. It would make sense to annex this area to the Indian Kill so everyone can enjoy it in the future, but no one, to my knowledge, ever suggested building in the Indian Kill.

    JOHN VAN PATTEN
    Glenville

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00703&AppName=1