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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
McKownville: News And Comment By LINDSAY CHILDS The headline in the Enterprise two weeks ago announced the final highway plans for the Exit 24 reconstruction, which has been in the planning stage for several years. The choice of that highway plan represents a victory for public input. You may recall that DOT last year proposed two essentially different highway configurations for the Exit 24 reconstruction. One plan involved extending the North- way south of Western Avenue to connect with the Thruway near Woodlake apartments. A new toll plaza would be constructed adja- cent to Executive Park, only a short distance from the neighbor- hood of Providence and Mercer Streets. The other configuration involved expanding the present toll plaza at Exit 24, but otherwise proposed no new construction south of Washing- ton Avenue Extension. Last spring, DOT held a public hearing at the Ramada Inn to solicit public input on the two highway plans. At that meeting, Supervisor Kevin Moss and six well-prepared residents of eastern Guilderland argued strongly for the plan which involved no construction south of Washington Avenue. Subsequently, the State DOT decided!© support that alternative. But they had to deal with a federal 1 DOT which preferred to extend the Northway south of Western Ave. The real siginificance of the headline of two weeks ago is that the plan supported unanimously by the ^public and subsequently sup- ported by the State DOT, was selected over the alternative supported by the Federal officials. We may never know the dyna- mics of how that plan was chosen. But it is reasonable to believe that the forceful support for the chosen alternative by Supervisor Moss and by the local residents was an important factor in the final choice, and may have made the decisive difference. We should remember this out- come, and not permit ourselves to feel that our opinion doesn't count. It can, and it may be crucial. \I could be happy just spending my days, On the river that flows both wa-a-ra-ays.\ The Hudson River was discover- ed by Giovanni da Verranzano in 1524, Henry Hudson in 1609, and Exxon in 1982. Recently we had two occasions to enjoy the river, thanks to the children. An unanticipated benefit of being the father of elementary school children is that you get to go with them, unself- consciously, to see things which are really just as much fun for adults as for the younger set. On Oct. 8, we went to Troy's Riverfront Park to take in some of the Hudson River Celebration, sponsored in part by the RPI School of Architecture. The main feature of the celebration, and the event which drew us to Troy, was the boat race competition. The race course went from the River- front Park almost beneath the Green Island Bridge, across the river to the Green Island side, and ithen back across to the Troy City. Hall. But the rules were that all tooats entered in .trie competition had to be homemade and cost less than $25.00 in materials. The idea of making a homemade boat for under $25 struck me as an Olympics of the Mind problem, one virtually guaranteed to lead to a variety of clever solutions, not all of which would work. And having the competition under the auspices of the School of Architecture made it all the more promising, It reminded us of the annual St. Patrick's Day kite fly in Ithaca, sponsored each year by the Architecture School at Cornell University. On those occasions the architecture students would unveil a highly creative collection of kites, of homemade design and construction, and then, to the good-humored derision of the mathematicians, psychologists, biologists, and assorted other liberal arts students on hand, demonstrate that almost all of the kites needed a galeforce wind to get off the ground. The RPI event lived up to its promise. The boat race had 13 entries, divided into four heats. We were able to watch the first two. The first heat was tthe military heat — the Marines, the Navy and the Air Force. The Marine Corps' entry was unimaginative, a rectangular box made of furring strip framing, heavy cardboard painted in camouflage, and sheets of clear polyethylene. -Flimsy as it seemed, it held six full-sized Marine paddlers, also dressed in camou- flage. The Navy's entry was construct- edalmost exactly like the Marines, except ihat instead of toeing a rectangular ibox, its shape was .that of a square-ibottomed canoe, ibr.oad The Altamont Enterprise — Thursday, October 27, J983 Dinnerware & Stemware O 1 t ^aie! 30% Off AM Dinnerware Including such famous names as Lenox, Noritake, Fitz & Flpyd, Mikasa, Fabrik, Arabia, Hutschenreuther and more! • 20% Off All Crystal Stemware Including Orrefors, Waterford, Lenox, Gprham and much more! Sale ends November 19th, 1983. A world of fine shops. ..within one Stuvyesant Plazi, Albiny 438-8409 Open Sundays 12-3, ' Our free soup bowl offer is not in effect during this sile.Sale ends 11/19/83. enough in beam to hold four paddlers. The Air Force competed in a raft made out of six empty beer kegs, laundry rope, and a 2 x 4 and plywood deck. The crew of four was very proud of the fact that they had personally emptied the kegs, and that their craft was, in large part, returnable. But the design of the craft reflected the Air Force's role of shooting at ships, not riding in them. The craft would have been a good stationary target, as it turned out. The three military boats were lowered from the top of the levee by a crane from the Trojan Sign and Light Company, and the various crews, lifejacketed, board- ed their craft. The Navy and Marine crews did so very gently because of the flimsiness of the cardboard construction. Then the races started, watched toy several hundred spectators lining ithe riverside,\ 50 or more spectators watching from 'the Green Island Bridge, and a Coast Guard iboat, #211516, with a crew of three, who remained, engines idling, on (hand 'throughout ithe several ihours of racing to toe available tto rescue any capsized crew. The heat quickly ibecame a itwo boat *raoe. The Air Force toeer keg raf tihadfso much .drag ithat it never did make it ito the .other side of ithe river, and reached City Hall more by ;the river current .than toy any amount of .furious paddling. But ithe iboxy Marine Iboat and: ithe canoe-like Navy tooat toad a contest. The six Marines appeared to open up an early lead over ithe four Navy paddlers, tout .the 'Navy ov.ertodk the Marines near ithe other side of ithe river,, and •gradually pulled away to win comfortably. The next heat consisted of four boats. The Pi Kappa Alpha Drone was similar in design to .the Marine boat, tout made out of sheets of plywood and lots of toathtub caulk, without ithe poly. It seatedfour,, tout only .two .of .the four crew could paddle. The others toailed. The most symmetrica! .craft in the heat consisted of 1>2 large aluminum .trash cans, lashed .together toy their handles into a 2 x 4 frame to form asquare., four .cans to a side. Its crew of four placed their feet into one can and sat on the edge of the next .can, undoubtedly the most uncomfor- table seats of any M the entries. The crew had some .difficulty deciding which direction was the bow. The wettest entry in .the heat consisted of four large truck tire inner tubes lashed together into a diamond, with a minimal amount of lumber tied on to form a bit of a deck. The crew sat on the deck with their legs dangling in the water. Fortunately, the weater was sun- ny, if not summery. The other entry in the second heat, and the most elegant entry of the day, was built toy the RPI Sailing Club. It was a catamaran, with its two pontoons made out of reclaimed styrofoam logs, perhaps 15 feet long. The deck was made of 2 x 4's and lumber and was perhaps seven feet across, large enough ito hold two deck chairs, an ice chest, and the mast, which was some 20 feet toigh and held up a large sail made of old sheets. The tooat was called \Australia II,\ andit wastoy farithe largest entry, as well as ithe only sailboat. When launched, the ©rone Ibox toad a charmed life, with ithe .river coming within a 'fraction of an inch of overflowing into ithe Ibox .on several occasions until' ithe crew found a more stable arrangement. But ithe itwo paddlers and itwo toailers lhad a .craft which at least toad a sense.of direction, and ©rone moved comfortably ahead .of ithe .diamond shaped inner itube .craft. The itrash ibarrels took a while to decide which way wasiforwand, tout .eventually made progress, Aus- tralia II looked elegant, and its sails lilled with a substantial' southerly toreeze. But while the sails.did move ithe Iboat, its forward .progress was quite slow., and it finished 1 last. • W>e couldn't stay for .the .other itwotoeats. But we did,admire some .'of ithe .entries toeing .constructed in ifjhe parking lot. The most painstakingly .con- structed .craft was a floating platform made out of itubes formed iby 300 coffee cans ,of \various Ibrands,, ttaped (together, IKery .colorful. 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