There’s a reason why historian and part-time Long Lake resident Phil Terrie called his history of the Adirondacks “Contested Terrain.”<\/p>\n
For a couple of centuries now, people have seen the Adirondacks through very different lenses:\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
That divide persists, despite good faith efforts by groups like the Adirondack Common Ground Alliance to seek out areas of unity and collaboration.<\/p>\n
At this week’s Alliance meeting in Long Lake, there was general agreement that the Park faces some dire threats.<\/p>\n
The recession is hurting retail businesses, causing government job lay-offs, and hindering New York state’s ability to manage public lands effectively.<\/p>\n
But different factions see the underlying dangers behind these trends very differently.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He referenced last year’s widely-discussed APRAP report, which suggested that communities in the Park face a dire future.\u00a0 Summing up the mood of local business owners, LaValley said, “They’re scared.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ideally, what should our year-round population be? We’re currently at around 130,000.\u00a0 Should the goal be to hold steady, to grow a little — what?<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
Also key to this vision, obviously, is how much public land should be part of the mix.\u00a0 Do we have enough now?\u00a0 Too much?<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In pure business terms, that’s a remarkable success.\u00a0 Because of the beauty of our Park and its communities, outsiders have decided to invest billions of dollars here.<\/p>\n
But in many areas of the Adirondacks, we have failed to translate that investment into more steady jobs and a more robust retail economy.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That disconnect is something we need to understand and — if possible — begin to remedy.<\/p>\n
Finally, the Common Ground gathering in Long Lake was long on non-profit groups and government leaders and short on businesses.<\/p>\n
We have some strong community banks in the Park and some thriving entrepreneurs.\u00a0 We need a heck of a lot more if we hope to survive into the future.<\/p>\n
I wonder why we can’t bring more of those voices and thinkers to the table at sessions like this one?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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