Construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows – Forgotten New York

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BRIDGE IN THE BACK YARD: Construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows – Forgotten New York

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was built in five years between 1959 and 1964. Prior to that, there was no way to reach Staten Island from any other part of NYC except by boat. Ironically, you could reach Staten Island from the mainland via 3 bridges, the Goethals, Bayonne and the Outerbridge. Staten retained very much a small town feel despite these two bridges, though, since a bridge connection from NYC and one from Union County, New Jersey are two separate stories. Staten Island would reap immediate benefits from the new bridge, but Brooklyn would incur immediate losses.

Happy 56th birthday to the Verrazanno Bridge. 

Guilderland’s Environmental Approval for Costco and Rapp Road Site Plan Approval for Apartments in the Pine Bush Ruled Null and VoidοΏ½by Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch | Guilderland Coalition for ResponsibleοΏ½Growth

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Press Release: Guilderland’s Environmental Approval for Costco and Rapp Road Site Plan Approval for Apartments in the Pine Bush Ruled Null and VoidοΏ½by Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch | Guilderland Coalition for ResponsibleοΏ½Growth

Save the Pine Bush and the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth are pleased to announce a court victory against the Town of Guilderland Planning Board. Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch stated in his decision that the Town of Guilderland Planning Board’s SEQRA process for the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment Projects “violated SEQRA procedure and the ‘hard look’ test, rendering the . . . approvals arbitrary and capricious, null and void.”

The 77-page decision meticulously reviewed the entire State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) that the Town of Guilderland Planning Board applied to this project proposed by Rapp Road Development, LLC (aka Pyramid). Throughout the decision, the judge noted the many places where the actions of the Board were “arbitrary and capricious” and did not take the SEQRA required “hard look” at the proposed project. 

The criticism began almost immediately, with the decision stating “On scrutiny, the record herein is replete with conclusory self-serving and equally troubling representations made by the project sponsor [Pyramid], without the support of empirical data, which, unfortunately, the Planning Board relied on. That is not the stuff that the SEQRA hard look test is made of.” [emphasis added]

The decision noted in great detail how the project would harm the Rapp Road Historic District and the Westmere Terrace neighborhood. Several times, the decision observed that the project sponsor merely stating that their proposed project was allowed by the zoning, that did not constitute a “hard look.”

The lawsuit was brought by four residents of the Westmere neighborhood and Red-Kap sales.

Gasoline Vehicles

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Where the Energy Goes: Gasoline Vehicles

Only about 12%–30% of the energy from the fuel you put in a conventional vehicle is used to move it down the road, depending on the drive cycle. The rest of the energy is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies or used to power accessories. Therefore, the potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced technologies is enormous.

Medical vs Agriculture

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New York State’s Medicaid program supports $74.9 billion in healthcare services (federal, state, local) for low income families compared to the $5.7 billion in agricultural production of the state.

Medicaid is an industry 13 times larger than agriculture in economic value to the New York economy.