Integrating the Glens Falls Transit System into CDTA Makes a Lot of Sense 🚌

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New York State has a lot of transit agencies. Each of the major urban regions in Upstate NY has a separate transit authority. Many of the smaller “rural” cities have their agencies. It makes it confusing for riders, leads to wasteful overhead and leaves the systems disconnected from one and another.

While it’s unlikely New York State will ever have a single transit system, like New Jersey Transit, it does make a lot of sense for agencies like CDTA to expand out and absorb as many of the smaller systems nearby. It allows sharing of employees and equipment. It puts all the bus schedules in one place, sets a common fare that allows only one fare card to be used. Massachusetts, for example allows you to use the Boston MTA fare card on any public transit system in the state. So if your from Boston and visiting Pittsfield and want to hop a bus to get around town, you can pull out your MTA Card.

I like the idea of being able to hop on a bus in Glens Falls or even Lake George during the busy summer season, as an alternative to driving with my CDTA Swiper card, having consistent fares and schedules like the rest of the CDTA system that now spans from Amsterdam – Albany – Schenectady – Troy – Schenectady. Adding Glens Falls to system would also likely strengthen the link between Glens Falls and Saratoga, further allowing bus-dependent residents and even casual commuters a better way to get around.

NYSERDA – State Designated Disadvantaged Communities (within cities)

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A series of maps showing the 2019 Census Tracts that have been designed as “Disadvantaged Communities” for purposes of potentially billions in state climate change spending. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) requires State agencies, authorities, and entities to direct funding in a manner designed to achieve a goal for disadvantaged communities to receive 40% of overall benefits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency program.

NYSERDA – State Designated Disadvantaged Communities (within cities) by Andy Arthur on Scribd

Why does New York have a Judicial Nomination Commission?

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Why does New York have a Judicial Nomination Commission?

Reading between the lines of contemporary articles in the New York Times, it appears the 1973 election for chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals was one between the status quo and a status-seeker.

Charles Breitel was the status quo. A sitting associate judge on the state’s highest court, Breitel was a man described by the Times as “short, tidy, self-contained.” On election night, he wore a “black suit, gray vest, gray tie." He was a man who “spent 23 of his 64 years as a judge.”

The status seeker was Jacob Fuchsberg, a self-made attorney whose bread and butter was negligence cases and who “won a measure of fame” in an adoption case that made news headlines. He also represented newspaper reporters who sought access to a closed trial.

On election night, Fuchsberg is described by the Times as wearing “a dark blue suit and a clashing purple tie.” Fuchsberg was perceived as an upstart who spent upwards of $500,000 on advertising to win an election for chief judge – something that wasn’t done at the time.