The Lake George Park Commission has posted the video from their February 24, 2009 public meeting where public comments were solicited on their proposed stream regulations.
The first video is from February 24, 2009, the first 11:00 AM session. It is 1 hour and 34 minutes.
If you don’t have the time to watch, here are the most salient parts from the first video. The public comments start at 22:30 into this video. Out of the 18 speakers featured in part one, 13 speakers were opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 5 spoke in favor of them.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
At 29:23 into the first video, there is an excellent speaker from the Lake George Property Owners Group who speaks about being at all the preliminary meetings where the rules were originally discussed before being drafted (and which went on for two years) and that the proposed rules now being considered bear no resemblance to what was ever discussed at those preliminary meetings.
At 1:30:00 into the first video, the speaker tells how he believes one of the most radical environmental groups active in the basin, the Fund for Lake George, is influencing these rules behind the scenes, through two appointees to the LGPC who were members of the Fund before they were appointed. This apparent conflict of interest is something everyone needs to know about.
If you watch these two speakers you will begin to see how the process is not a fair process but how the environmental organizations are “stacking the deck” in favor of these very extreme regulations.
The second video is from February 24, 2009, the second 11:00 AM session. It is 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Once again, we’ve tried to summarize the most important parts from this video also. Out of the 26 speakers featured in part two, 20 speakers opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 5 spoke in favor of them and 1 was neutral.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
The DEC representative leaves before this video even starts. So you can thank DEC Commissioner Grannis, for at least being up front, and not caring what people think.
At 1:00 into the second video, Kathy Simms, the Bolton Town Supervisor, speaks about all the comments she has received opposing the stream rules.
At 5:37 into the second video, Joe Rota, the former Dresden Town Supervisor who now lives in Putnam, tells why he is against the proposed rules.
At 42:00 and again at 1:38:45, we hear two speakers tell horror stories about road salt. Road salt isn’t even covered by these proposed rules.
At 1:10:15, John LaPointe, Town Supervisor of Putnam, states that the people he represents are “vehemently opposed” to the rules as drafted.
At 1:19:02, Mark Schachner, representing the Town of Lake George, states that the rule making procedure is “woefully, legally deficient.”
At approximately 1:57:00 a local logger talks about his love for the environment but also why he is opposing these rules.
The third video is from February 24, 2009, the evening session. It is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The DEC representative never returns to the evening session.
The public comments start at 20:50 into this video. Michael White repeats his PowerPoint presentation from the first session. Out of the 18 speakers featured in part three, 17 speakers opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 1 spoke in favor of them.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
Huletts resident, Pat Peterson speaks at 45:36.
Peter Bauer, Executive Director for the Fund for Lake George, says in 1:25:20 – 1:25:33 that it’s “high time to deal with” golf courses. Listen for yourself.
Sadly, this is commentary and analysis you won’t see on other media outlets. But you can see it here on the Huletts Current. Don’t take our word, watch for yourself.
If you watch the whole thing, you’ll learn that 2 commissioners didn’t attend, the DEC representative left after the morning session and 2 commissioners had ties to the Fund for Lake George. While we won’t call this hearing a farce yet, after all three sessions: 50 people spoke out in opposition or had concerns regarding the draft rules, 11 were in favor and 1 was neutral. Let’s see how these public comments are incorporated. You saw it here, even if you weren’t there.