North Country News

The city of Plattsburgh won $10 million in the first round of New York Downtown Revitalization Initiative grants.  A major part of the redevelopment will occur at the Durkee Street parking lot in the city center.  An advisory committee has been working on recommendations to deal with the loss, shuffling and management changes of the nearly 300 spaces expected to be impacted. The Plattsburgh Common Council accepted their recommendations at its Thursday meeting.

In early July, the New York Appellate Court issued a split decision on a lawsuit filed by Protect the Adirondacks in 2013 challenging the state’s plan to cut trees in the Forest Preserve in order to establish nearly 27 miles of snowmobile trails. Now, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park Agency have announced that the state is appealing the ruling.

New York is appealing a court decision that has halted trail work in the Adirondacks.

A new effort has been launched to educate hikers about overcrowding and how it impacts the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Mountain Club, the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Colorado-based Center for Outdoor Ethics are partnering to educate hikers about “Leave No Trace” principles to help address overcrowding in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.  WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley was at the launch of the initiative.

On September 11, 1814 a critical battle of the War of 1812 was fought. The land and naval Battle of Plattsburgh led to the Treaty of Ghent that ended one of the few wars fought on United States soil.  Wednesday afternoon, Plattsburgh officials outlined plans for this year’s annual commemoration.

The Olympic Regional Development Authority Board of Directors has approved initial steps to upgrade both the Olympic Center and the adjacent speed skating oval in Lake Placid.

There are many rural areas across the region where residents must travel significant distances to shop at supermarkets.  Keeseville, New York is about 25 miles south of Plattsburgh and its only supermarket closed several years ago.  In 2017, a project to bring fresh locally produced food to underserved areas opened the first “Farmacy” – spelled with an “F” — in the state inside the Keeseville Pharmacy.  This week the program will expand to a second village in rural Essex County.

About four years ago, movie theatres across the country had to convert from analog to digital projection.  It was costly and small community movie theatres were faced with the possibility of closing their doors.  In the Adirondacks, a “Go Digital or Go Dark” campaign raised funds to help local movie houses, and many like the Strand Theatre in Schroon Lake have continued as centers of community entertainment and engagement.  The Strand is now known for its summer classics series that this year features Buster Keaton silent films and “Casablanca.”  Theatre co-owner Larry McNamara tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley he partnered with the Adirondack Film Society to be able to offer something in addition, and different, to modern Hollywood blockbusters.

In April, Plattsburgh Mayor Colin Read issued a plan to address energy and the environment that included the creation of a sustainability committee. The new group met for the first time this week and outlined intentions to obtain a grant to review and inventory the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

He is a veteran who was never in a war zone. Yet as a crew chief he witnessed traumatic deaths as comrades were injured and killed on flight lines.  Scott Aubin dealt with his stress by drinking and admits now that he internalized his emotions. He eventually was discharged from the Air Force and spent time in jail.  Following a suicide attempt, Aubin was treated for Post Traumatic Stress and turned his life around.  He began working for the New York state Department of Criminal Justice Services to tell his story about undiagnosed PTSD and suicide.  Aubin tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that it is still difficult to talk about his past.

The grand opening of a new addiction recovery center was celebrated in Plattsburgh Wednesday.

Over 200 people will gather in Lake Placid Wednesday to discuss the Adirondacks.  This is the 13th year the Common Ground Alliance will bring stakeholders from across the park together to take collective action on park issues.

A new coalition has formed to unify the groups that are opposed or concerned about the current downtown redevelopment plans in Plattsburgh.

In 2013, Protect the Adirondacks filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of New York state’s plan to cut trees in the Forest Preserve and build nearly 27 miles of snowmobile trails. The New York Appellate Court issued a split decision recently, ruling that while building the trails did not violate the state constitution, the planned destruction of timber did.

The Town of Plattsburgh has a number of initiatives in progress and is actively pursuing new businesses.  A new Kohl’s will soon open at one shopping mall, and down the road sporting goods supplier Runnings is renovating a former K-Mart store.  Town officials are also looking at long-term Smart Growth plans to create a walkable sustainable community that links residential areas with the commercial growth centers.  Town Supervisor Michael Cashman, a Democrat, tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley there’s a high level of interest from a number of new businesses that have been scouting the uptown corridor.

Town of Plattsburgh officials have unveiled a new marker to promote tourism and foster a Lake Champlain legend.

Scientists studying Lake Champlain have confirmed that a new invasive species has entered the lake — and the population has surged since its first detection.

The death of a man found near a hiking trail in the Adirondacks has been ruled accidental.

The Lake Champlain Basin Program is confirming the 51st invasive species has entered Lake Champlain.

At noon on Tuesday, people came out in cities across the country and rallied near congressional representatives’ offices for a unified Close The Camps protest.  In Burlington, Vermont people thronged to Church Street to march to the offices of Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders.  Across Lake Champlain, people gathered at the Plattsburgh Government Center lawn.  WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley was there.

New York state Assemblyman D. Billy Jones represents one of the northernmost districts in the state, the 115th. On the eastern border is Lake Champlain. As you travel west and south it includes parts of the Adirondacks and the rolling agricultural lands north to the Canadian border.  During a stop in Plattsburgh shortly after the legislature adjourned earlier this month, the Democrat said some good things were accomplished during the session for the North Country region. Jones also tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley there were a lot of things he disagreed with.

The North Country Regional Economic Development Council met in Lake Placid today for one of its first fully open public meetings.  Following workgroup reports, the co-chairs offered a presentation on creating a Common Competitive Identity for the council’s seven-county region.

The Speaker of the state Assembly was in northern New York today to tour the Bombardier rail car manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh. Now that the legislative session is over, it was his first stop on a summer tour of the state.

Bombardier says it is opening a new rail car manufacturing plant in California and will shift some manufacturing underway in Plattsburgh, New York to the new facility.

In December, we interviewed a Siena College French professor who is investigating and preserving the heritage of French-Canadian workers in upstate New York. The “I Remember” project is cataloguing the migration of nearly one million miners, textile and other workers who moved south from Quebec.  Janet Shideler had earlier gathered stories and artifacts about immigrant workers in Cohoes and elsewhere in the Capital Region.  This month, she is in northern New York. She tells WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley she is fascinated by the breadth of stories they will digitize for the project.

Less than a month after presenting revised Durkee Street redevelopment plans, the developer was back before the Plattsburgh Common Council with a new set of plans Thursday night.

The prison tailor who helped two killers escape from an upstate New York prison has been denied parole for a third time. The parole board decision released Thursday says Joyce Mitchell will remain behind bars for at least two more years.

The city of Plattsburgh is looking to annex 224 acres of land that it owns in the adjacent town.  The effort took a step forward recently when the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation granted the city’s request to be the lead agency for the property’s environmental review.