LeBrun: State budget cuts will close John Brown Farm and Crown Point Parks

(Governor’s name corrected – sheesh, old habits die hard…)

Fred LeBrun at the Albany Times-Union is reporting this morning that two of the most cherished historic sites in the North Country – John Brown’s Farm in North Elba and the Crown Point historic site in the Champlain Valley – will be shuttered if Governor David Paterson’s budget cuts are approved by the legislature.

What is utterly dismaying is that these discussions are going on behind very closed doors with no public input. At what point do the decision makers plan to drop all this on us? When it’s too late for the enormous park user-base to protest? Calls to the governor’s office on Friday on the subject were not returned.

LeBrun reports that he acquired two lists, which include varying levels of cuts depending on the size of the deficit and a final budget agreement.

Both lists apparently include John Brown’s farm and Crown Point on the cut-list.

Thanks to a reader in Mineville for the tip about LeBrun’s column.