Is there really common ground in the Adirondacks?
Earlier this week I participated in the Common Ground Alliance forum. It was attended by many elected officials (none from Johnsburg), lots of non-profit leaders and a handful of us from the business community. I left with very mixed feelings about the potential effectiveness of this group. Many good ideas, without a really clear path for action. Brian Mann of NCPR sums it up well in his blog posting below.
Is there really common ground in the Adirondacks?
July 15th, 2010 by Brian Mann
There's a reason why historian and part-time Long Lake resident
Phil Terrie called his history of the Adirondacks "Contested Terrain."
For a couple of centuries now, people have seen the Adirondacks
through very different lenses: as a storehouse of rich natural
resources, as a free land far from the hassles of civilization and
government, and as a glorious nature preserve.
That divide persists, despite good faith efforts by groups like the
Adirondack Common Ground Alliance to seek out areas of unity and
collaboration.
At this week's Alliance meeting in Long Lake, there was general
agreement that the Park faces some dire threats.
The recession is hurting retail businesses, causing government job
lay-offs, and hindering New York state's ability to manage public lands
effectively.
But different factions see the underlying dangers behind these trends
very differently.
In his comments, Tupper Lake businessman Jim LaValley — whose
non-profit ARISE group helped reopen Big Tupper Ski Area last winter —
laid a big chunk of the blame on government over-regulation and
bureaucracy.
He referenced last year's widely-discussed APRAP report, which
suggested that communities in the Park face a dire future. Summing up
the mood of local business owners, LaValley said, "They're scared."
But others, including ANCA's Kate Fish, pointed to evidence that the
Park itself — with its open space and regulated development — is an
asset that can help attract visitors, second home-owners, and
businesses.
After listening to all the conversation and debate, I came away from
the Common Ground meeting with three basic questions swirling around in
my head.
First, it seems long overdue to come up with a shared vision for what
the Park of the future should look like — not a vision generated in
Albany, but one created by in-Park groups like the Alliance.
Ideally, what should our year-round population be? We're currently at
around 130,000. Should the goal be to hold steady, to grow a little —
what?
Meanwhile, should we expect all the tiny far-flung hamlets to
continue to survive and thrive, or should we begin moving toward a
hub-system where grocery stores, school districts, and government
services are concentrated in core towns?
Also key to this vision, obviously, is how much public land should be
part of the mix. Do we have enough now? Too much?
And what role will Albany play in the future — and how much of the
Park's operations will need to be taken over by non-profits, businesses
and local governments?
These are big, thorny questions, but perhaps it's time to begin
addressing them head-on and creating a sketch of what future success
might look like.
Second, and a bit more concretely, I think it's time to reassess what
the second-home boom means (and should mean in the future) to the
Adirondack economy.
Over the last couple of decades we've seen a remarkable
capitalization of our towns and hamlets, with outside investment pouring
in at the rate of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
In pure business terms, that's a remarkable success. Because of the
beauty of our Park and its communities, outsiders have decided to invest
billions of dollars here.
But in many areas of the Adirondacks, we have failed to translate
that investment into more steady jobs and a more robust retail economy.
In Long Lake, where the Alliance meeting was held, new mansions go up
every year, but school enrollment is dwindling fast and the grocery
store no longer stays open year-round.
That disconnect is something we need to understand and — if possible —
begin to remedy.
Finally, the Common Ground gathering in Long Lake was long on
non-profit groups and government leaders and short on businesses.
We have some strong community banks in the Park and some thriving
entrepreneurs. We need a heck of a lot more if we hope to survive into
the future.
I wonder why we can't bring more of those voices and thinkers to the
table at sessions like this one?