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is time to care for the forgotten child, the holdings of the Palisades
Interstate Park Commission.
Maintenance money for the more than 100-year-old
bi-state park system has dwindled for years via neglect by both Albany
and Trenton.
Its beautiful holdings, largely century-or more-old
gift land gifts from the Harrimans, Rockefellers, Perkins and others,
and including recent government-aided acquisitions like Sterling Forest,
are threatened by severely reduced maintenance funding.
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Every time there is a budget
crisis in Albany or Trenton, the PIPC falls victim. Even New York City's
fiscal woes have hurt the parks. It was back in the 1970s, with Gotham
on the brink of bankruptcy, that the PIPC lost control of the Palisades
Interstate Parkway maintenance in an Albany funding cut that brought the
city more money.
The result is that the parkway is sorely neglected,
with infrequent lawn mowing and the original 1950s roadway and its poor
drainage remaining on half the run in Rockland. |
| In
the parks, some asphalt roads have not been repaved in decades;
architecturally unique stone buildings, constructed by out-of-work
craftsmen under government programs in the 1930s, are falling apart.
The entire infrastructure requires repair.
And then this year there was the now- infamous picnic
table snafu, first reported by The Journal News. Arsenic-laced wood was
used for the tables to save a few bucks. |
While there are impressive
projects such as the privately-funded carousel at Bear Mountain or the
Inn renovations, the nuts and bolts of the PIPC system in both states -
the ordinary parks, trails, camps, pools and lakes used by the average
person - are in terrible shape.
This while parking fees have risen exorbitantly, and
when the PIPC is trying to save even more land from encroaching
development. Where will the maintenance money come from for that? |
| Don't
blame the PIPC; its officials, including PIPC Executive Director Carol
Ash, have lobbied both states for years, but to no avail. The parks are
like city libraries: When the economic going gets rough, they are the
first to be cut, even though both offer particular sanctuary for the
average person in tough times.
Ash discussed "The Future Without Lots of
Money" during her annual state-of-the-park address for about 40
members of the Rockland County Conservation Association at their summer
quarterly meeting at the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site.
The title could not have been more appropriate. |
What Ash called
"inappropriate development" throughout the Hudson Valley
continues to spur collaborative efforts by the commission and
environmental groups to preserve open space and protect water
resources and habitat.
Among the most critical areas are 2,500 acres slated
for development adjacent to Minnewaska State Park and 600 acres
earmarked for residential development, and an 18-hole golf course in
the middle of Sterling Forest State Park. |
| The
park's recent acquisitions, purchased through Scenic Hudson, include
the Trading Post Restaurant, overlooking the Fort Montgomery Battle
Site just north of the Bear Mountain Bridge. After renovations, plans
are to reopen the building next spring as a restaurant and tourism
information facility. A Fort Montgomery visitor center is also in the
planning stages.
In addition, the Open Space Institute has acquired
more than 5,000 acres of the Skennemunk Mountain range west of Storm
King Mountain, which will become a new state park. |
But how will the PIPC care
for all this new land when it has great trouble maintaining what it
already has?
Ash urged the conservationists to write their
legislators in support of the Highlands Stewardship Act, scheduled for
Senate hearings in September. The proposed legislation, which has
bipartisan support, would authorize $25 million annually over a
10-year period to help New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Connecticut protect critical lands and waters in the 2 million-acre
Highlands region, and provide $7 million a year over 10 years for
technical assistance to communities and private landowners. |
| All
this is important for the Rockland area. The more open space that is
saved, the less vehicular emissions and traffic, and the better the
quality of life.
But recognize, too, that these new lands and the
vast PIPC system require maintenance money. Both states should act to
(1) restore funding to adequate levels and (2) jointly institute a
capital-projects program for major overdue maintenance work that can
be bonded in both states. |
More than mere upkeep is
required in many parks, since decades of neglect have brought quite
serious infrastructure problems.
These parks are a gift to us all, and government
must protect the legacy for the future. |
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