The prison system needs to be right-sized the right way

 New York state recently announced more upstate prison closures, this time in Washington and Sullivan counties. Under authority tucked into the secretive state budget, the closures can happen on only a few months notice with zero planning. This is a great example of the right decision being done the wrong way. 

To be clear, the right-sizing of the prison system i slong overdue. Prison population in the state is declining, especially since the abolition of draconian drug laws. Crime rates in NYS have been consistently declining for 30 years and 1/3 of what they were in 1990 in all categories.

But the way the closures are being undertaken is irresponsible and inhumane.

The closures cause many job losses and much economic carnage in small communities. The fact that the closures are happening with zero concern for replacing the jobs and economic impact just adds to the resentment and loathing of state government that permeates across upstate New York. And not just by MAGA Republicans.  The unexpectedly close re-election of Governor Hochul illustrates this. 

Mount McGregor in Saratoga County was closed a decade ago this week. It remains fallow and untouched, except by weeds. It is adjacent to a state historic site; the prison grounds serve as overflow parking for the historic site. The prison land continues to not provide jobs or property taxes to the town of Wilton. It continues to waste land that is not being developed either by the state or by a private party that could provide property taxes and jobs or even much needed housing. And worst of all, the state has shown zero interest in changing this reality. 

Closed prisons in Moriah and Gabriels in Essex and Franklin Counties represent the same straight jacket on those towns. 

The recently announced closure of prisons in Washington and Sullivan counties will no doubt have the same catastrophic effect on already economic depressed areas.

The prison system needs to be right-sized but it can and must be done in a responsible, humane way.

The legislature should require the state to publish a detailed plan for site development, including a specific timeline with the announcement of any prison closure. Critically, that legislation should also mandate both transparency and oversight to ensure the plan is actually enacted, a typically failing of state plans. As well as some kind of compensation to the towns if the plan is not enacted or delayed.

The prison-industrial complex was never sustainable. It was always a substitute for real economic development. But now that the state is dismantling it, it has the moral obligation come up with alternatives for affected towns, most of whom were economically trouble even with the stable, middle-class prison jobs. 

At the very least, it should stop being a barrier - both metaphorically and physically - to those alternatives.

The prison-industrial complex was a bargain between the state and rural New York. The state said "We'll give you decent jobs if you give us free land." If the state is going to remove the jobs, it should at least give back the land.

This would go some way to rebuilding the trust in so much of rural New York that feels betrayed and abandoned. 

The billion dollar bet on ORDA was pure Cuomo

 A recent piece (click here) in Adirondack Life by one of the region's most prominent journalists examined in great deal the gargantuan sums of money being pumped into the Olympic Regional Development Authority's facilities, mostly in the Lake Placid area. The astronomical sums of money is not being matched by that amount of oversight and accountability.

The piece by Brian Mann and his son Nicholas estimate that the state has pumped around one BILLION dollars into the facilities in recent years.

The culmination of the investments was supposed to be the FISU World University Games held earlier this year. For a variety of reasons - from bad luck to mismanagement - the Games netted a mere $700,000 in ticketing revenues. Now, the billion dollar investment was for more than just the Games but surely those whose money was being spent had a right to expect more from the showpiece event for their huge investment.

More money is being pumped into ORDA than the much (and rightly) maligned Buffalo Bills' stadium being built in the Gov. Hochul's home Erie County. Meanwhile, Adirondacks communities struggle with basics, like housing, sewer and broadband.

The Adirondack Life investigation reveals a text book case on how bad governance proliferates in New York state. Seemingly unlimited funds. No expectation of a detailed plan for sound budgeting. No accountability. Lavish promises. Fawning sycophants not looking too closely at the details. Little follow up with the lavish promises don't materialize.

Proponents of the ORDA money pit cite the alleged economic development benefits of the facilities, which justify the billion dollar taxpayer subsidy. They cite "economic impact" of the ORDA facilities, which are always astronomically amazing whenever any economic development official anywhere in the country tries to justify any massive taxpayer subsidy.

In a radio interview, ORDA boss Joe Maartens contrasted Lake Placid's upkeep of the facilities with dilapidated facilities in Sarajevo, host of the 1984 games. Sarajevo was the cite of a civil war a decade later. And even without massive taxpayer subsidized winter sport facilities, Bosnia had the 3rd highest growth rate in the world of its tourism sector in 2019.

This is really emblematic of how then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo ran things. Throw lots of money at a big, razzle dazzle project. No coordination. Big promises. Lots of photo ops. And by the time anyone notices the big promises were proven empty, he'd moved on to the next big razzle dazzle project.

Does anyone remember the massive hype around the construction of the new Frontier Town state campground? It was supposed to be the shiny new hub for hikers going to the southern High Peaks. The massive hype from the Cuomo administration claimed it was going to revitalized the tiny town of North Hudson with a beehive of activity. Four years later, it's just another state campground and North Hudson is little different than before.

ORDA officials claim that it is not reasonable to expect public facilities to make a profit. I'm not sure why it's unreasonable to expect public facilities to break even, or at least come remotely close. Private ski centers all over the northeast either make a profit or break even. But this sort of arrogance about spending other people's money is what makes people skeptical of the government?

Their attitude is: "It will help you. We know better than you. Give us unlimited funds, no questions asked."

Public agencies all over New York state are imbued with this sort of unaccountable haughtiness. And that's why the state is drowning in debt.

Review of A Wild Idea

 I saw this review on Goodreads of the well-regarded A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks by Brad Edmondson. The review is republished here with permission of the author.

***

A really indispensable book for understanding Adirondacks history. A detailed look into the creation of the Adirondack Park Agency and the genesis of the modern day Park as we know it in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's fascinating to read of a time when the environmental lobby actually had influence; seems like another world. My only beef is that for most of the book, the undertone was an overly simplistic morality tale of bad guys (know it all enviros and their plutocratic sponsors) vs good guys (good salt-of-the-earth locals and virtuous, if misunderstood, developers). The only variation seemed to be the apparent grudging respect the author had for the hard-working staff of the Temporary Study Commission and early APA. And yet, the Conclusion chapter was much more balanced. It seemed to concede that the conservationists actually were right about at least some of their concerns. That aside, it truly did seem largely like a battle between millionaires (developers) and billionaires (AfPA), with locals powerless in helping shape their own future. The best aspect of the book is the way it weaves in the voices of those locals

The 'labor shortage' in the Adirondacks: real or imagined?

The Lake George Mirror newspaper had an interesting interview with Lisa Ochsendorf, director of the Warren County Employment and Training Administration. She pointed out that higher unemployment benefits had little impact on the available labor pool in the county.

"We saw only about 300 people rejoin the workforce in August and September," when jobless benefits ran out, she said. 

She pointed out that the workforce is roughly the same size as in September 2019, prior to the pandemic, and that the size of the full-time workforce has been "remarkably stable for the past two decades." 

"We keep hearing that people don't want to work but that's not really the case," she pointed out. "COVID is an issue. Child care is an issue."

She added a point that is common sense among workers but seemingly controversial among the pundit class: in order to attract and retain workers, employers must create "positive work cultures."