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Saturday,ÊO ctoberÊ10,Ê2015
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www.SunCommunityNews.com
In EVENTS | pg. 4
Oktoberfest preview Lake George event this Sunday
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In OPINION | pg. 6
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Small govt. big problems
In WARRENSBURG | pg. 2-3
Garage sale success
Unfunded mandates hurt municipalities
Thousands seek bargains here
$500 million revitalization plan cites Glens Falls as top priority By Thom Randall
thom@suncommunitynews.com
ALBANY — Downtown Glens Falls was chosen as one of two prime areas for a largescale revitalization effort in the Capital Region’s Economic Development Council’s application for Gov. Cuomo’s new program of three $500 million grant awards. In this grant application unveiled Oct. 5, the downtowns of Albany and Glens Falls were chosen as top priority for investment in an effort to revitalize the region’s six metropolitan areas. The plan calls for redevelopment efforts to begin with Glens Falls and Al-
bany as pilot projects, with subsequent efforts to be undertaken in Saratoga Springs, Troy, Schenectady and Hudson. The Capital Region’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative plan was released this week, after an eight-month effort that gathered ideas from about 3,500 people in public meetings, 1,700 others through social media interactions and employed the advice of 100-plus experts. The grant application, which took more than 750 hours to prepare, cost $2 million to develop. The overall plan seeks to improve the quality of life in the Capital Region, raise students’ employability, and help enterprises innovate and create new products that create new jobs
with high wages and fuel the region’s economy. The plan also calls for spending millions on spurring tourism as well as marketing crafts and helping area residents develop enterprises that produce specialty agriculture products. Six other upstate New York regional development councils are competing for one of three of the $500 million economic stimulus grants which are intended to jump-start the upstate economy. The proposed effort to revitalize downtown Glens Falls and Albany’s core — which the
plan cites as the two cities where property vacancy and urban blight are the highest in the region — leverages $800 million in “partner commitments” and $75 million to $140 million to support “Catalyst Projects.” This latter appropriation would be for smart-growth development efforts that complement and support revitalization projects already underway. The plan notes that among those areas of Glens Falls targeted for such investment would be “under-utilized, vacant, and deteriorating properties” in low-income neighborhood areas >> Story Continued | pg. 18
Ceremony held to honor victims of Ethan Allen By Thom Randall
thom@suncommunitynews.com
LAKE GEORGE — With wind whipping up waves on Lake George behind them, dozens of people gathered on the shores of Lake George Oct. 2 at a memorial service observing the 10th anniversary of the capsizing of the Ethan Allen tour boat — and paying tribute to the 20 victims of what was the most extensive inland boating disaster of its kind in New York State history. Local officials were joined by representatives of emergency response agencies engaged in rescue and recovery efforts, as well as some family members of victims of the tragic incident on Lake
George. Also attending were Mounir and Joanne Rahal who were out on the lake in their boat that day for a pleasure cruise and responded to the scene, helping pull a number of the 48 elderly Ethan Allen passengers out of the frigid water to safety. “This accident will forever >> Story Continued | pg. 12