{"id":9092,"date":"2013-06-26T12:34:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T16:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=9092"},"modified":"2013-10-22T08:02:38","modified_gmt":"2013-10-22T12:02:38","slug":"for-three-adirondack-railroads-debate-over-taxpayer-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2013\/06\/26\/for-three-adirondack-railroads-debate-over-taxpayer-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"For three Adirondack railroads, debate over taxpayer costs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Time<\/a>

Time for the debate to leave the station?
Photo: Matt Johnson, CC some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

A couple of years ago the AMC movie channel launched an on-going series called “Hell on Wheels” that dramatizes — in gritty fashion — construction of America’s trans-continental railroad in the 1860s.<\/p>\n

A similarly gritty melodrama is unfolding now in the Adirondacks over the future of railroading in the mountains.<\/p>\n

The big news earlier this month was the state’s decision to revisit management of the big rail corridor that stretches through some of the Adirondacks’ wildest country.<\/p>\n

The decision was bitter news for train buffs who see a future for railroading that might someday include Pullman cars arriving from New York City and the restoration of regular passenger and freight service to Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.<\/p>\n

But as New York prepares for public hearings, the skeptics are increasingly, well, skeptical.\u00a0 The Adirondack Daily Enterprise ran a lead editorial this week<\/a> asking pointed questions about millions of taxpayer dollars going to keep the little-used tracks in place.<\/p>\n

We understand it’s hard and expensive to re-establish a railroad, and maybe the public hasn’t gone far enough through the tunnel to see the light at the end. But if there is enough demand for a train to justify to the expense, wouldn’t it have shown itself more by now?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similar questions are being asked in the North Creek area, where the “Saratoga-North Creek Railway is months behind on payments the railroad is supposed to be making to the county,” according to the Glens Falls Post Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At one point, the delinquent payments totaled more than $85,000, though the railroad has cut the amount owed to roughly $28,000.\u00a0 This from the Post-Star:<\/p>\n

The railway pays the county a portion of the revenue it takes in, and has been continually late with its payments, the Treasurer\u2019s Office said in a budget report released this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had problems collecting our monthly payment on time since 7\/1\/12,\u201d Deputy Treasurer Robert Lynch wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, there is renewed debate over the future of a railroad spur that runs to Newton Falls in the northern Adirondacks.\u00a0 A couple of years ago, New York state agreed to spend $10 million refurbishing the line.<\/p>\n

It was the largest single project approved as part of the state’s new Regional Economic Development program and backers touted it as a way to help revitalize the local paper mill and protect jobs in the region.<\/p>\n

But now the mill in Newton Falls is being dismantled<\/a>, with the component parts auctioned off.<\/p>\n

Even though there’s no industrial operation in place to use the train route, some locals say the state dollars should still be spent.\u00a0 This from WWNY-TV<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Despite the paper mill’s demise, officials say a plan to use nearly $10 million to rehabilitate a 46-mile railroad line running through St. Lawrence, Lewis and Jefferson Counties has not been scrapped and remains on track.<\/p>\n

“You have to have that railroad if we’re going to encourage any type of business into that site,” said Chris Westbrook, Clifton-Fine Economic Development Group.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what do you think?\u00a0 Is the railroad spur to Newton Falls “a road to nowhere”?\u00a0 Or a smart infrastructure investment that could bring industry back to the northern Adirondacks?<\/p>\n

What about millions of dollars in taxpayer support for these other Park railroads?\u00a0 A smart downpayment?\u00a0 A boondoggle?\u00a0 Your comments welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago the AMC movie channel launched an on-going series called “Hell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[13435],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9092"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9095,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9092\/revisions\/9095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}