For a fuller description of the case and the legal and safety issues raised by the Miners, see my weblog:
http://tinyurl.com/tankstays

Bill and Cyndi filed within the statute of limitations, but were nonetheless told they were too late. The special use permit was granted in the "retail store" category, when it is instead a bulk propane storage facility (with no personnel, no buildings, no sales on the premises). It is an industrial facility that the Town itself classified as a high-hazard use, and allowed it to be placed in a restricted commercial zone located near many homes, a church, and small farms, with no buffer or safeguards against unlawful entry.

Most important, the Court did not rule that the permit was lawful and appropriate, only that the Miners waited too long to challenge the permit. They waited because they thought they had reached an agreement with Long Energy that there would be a large berm that would be a visual and sound buffer and protect the tank from vehicle impact.

Thanks for the heads-up.
The tent is indeed up. See photos here
http://tinyurl.com/ZoppeProctors

robbbump, The question is not whether an individual student can make it across the six lanes of Washington Ave. unscathed, it is how great a safety and traffic hazard will thousands of crossings a week -- midblock, not at the corner -- cause for both the jaywalkers and those in vehicles. There are no comparable situations at or near the other intersections. Here, hundreds of persons will be trying to get to and from the same midblock location several times a day, and they will not simply be trying to avoid a delay at the intersection until they get a Walk Signal, but to avoid walking 8 to 10 times farther to get across the road to Columbus Drive and Elston Hall. Of course, the worse the weather the greater the temptation will be to jaywalk, just when road conditions and visibility for drivers are at their worst.

When the hazard is so significant and inevitable, and the solution is so obvious and inexpensive, we shouldn't allow young "adults" (who are often oblivious to dangers they cause for others and to their own risk) the option of unlawfully putting the lives and safety of others or themselves at risk. Unlike the dangers caused by texting or unlawful phoning while driving, we have here a danger that can readily be prevented, with deterrence rather than ineffective enforcement of the law.

The City's Planning Commission is specifically required to ensure the adequacy of pedestrian and traffic safety and circulation BEFORE approving a project. Here, they spent a long time discussing the very obvious and inevitable problem of College Suites residents not using the State St. crosswalks and signals, and decided to wait and see whether or not the students complied, before perhaps asking the developer to report back to them on the situation. The failure of the Planning Commission and others with development responsibility to do their job should not prevent law enforcement officials and other responsible leaders from doing their best to protect the safety of us all.

My thanks to the Gazette editorial staff for raising this issue and, hopefully, increasing the likelihood that preventive action will be taken in a timely fashion.

See photos of Lawrence's removal at
http://tinyurl.com/LawrenceMoved

No amount of median and other "improvements" will solve the problem of SCCC students constantly crossing Washington Ave. to get to and from the college to the dorm. That stretch of Washington Ave. is not a downtown street, it is a highly congested and busy exit and entry ramp for I-890, and the reality of SCCC jaywalkers should worry all of us who have to travel between State St. and I-890, and all of us who care about the safety of the students. Whether doing so obliviously or defiantly, students will be jaywalking across the exit ramp night and day in good weather and bad, weaving between large and small vehicles backed up at the State St. traffic light or dodging the vehicles traveling at high speed on the ramp.

It is difficult to image how "widening the median to improve safety and accessibility" will do much more than encourage more jaywalking. A tall fence separating the northbound and southbound lanes of the exit ramp, from the crosswalk at State St./Rt. 5 to I-890 might be the only way to discourage the reckless pedestrians.

Cherry blossoms, magnolias, forsythia and more were blooming yesterday, March 22, on Washington Ave. in the Stockade.

See: http://tinyurl.com/earlybloom

Last year, they came out during the last week of April.

Yep, Carl, I think you knew what kind of response your Kateri column would provoke. And, I'm glad you wrote it and once again voiced my feelings about the "mysteries", "miracles", mythic dogma, and thin-skins that accompany many religions.

Like thoughtful advocates of religion, I would also like to believe that there is "more" to life and the universe than what we can see in the physical world. But, we should be humble enough to know that The More cannot be described with human words, and that trying to describe or define it with fantastical tales that defy the logic and good sense we believe were given to us by The More, undermines belief rather than strengthens it. Keeping writing, Carl.

This time, I have to disagree with you, hodgkinsT. The editorial is correct that more and more people "brazenly" walk in the middle of the road -- often pushing baby strollers. It has nothing to do with weather conditions or sidewalk problems. They seem to be asserting ownership of the road, or perhaps a libertarian insistence that rules do not matter. These middle-of-the-street-walkers are a great danger to vehicles on the road, and of course to themselves. Challenging them often results in threats aimed at the driver. There is no excuse for such behavior.

We are not demonizing pedestrians. We're demonizing walkers who flaunt the law and safety rules without justification and put others and themselves in danger, while making it much more difficult to traverse quickly and efficiently the streets of our city.

photos and commentary on the Hodgkins' Appreciation Party online here
http://tinyurl.com/AppreciateIOOF

Over a hundred photos of the race passing through the Stockade here
http://tinyURL.com/Stockade-athon2011

Thanks again to the Gazette for its coverage and for the almost 400 readers who clicked through my link yesterday to see the photos at "suns along the Mohawk."