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STATE BUDGET WORDS PAINT BLEAK PICTURE FOR OLANA
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
02-20-10 – 8:55 p.m. - Under a new plan announced on Friday by Governor David Paterson and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Olana State Historic Site would close two days a week. The Greenport historic site was on a list of nearly eighty parks and historic sites slated for closure or reduction in services as a result of the state's fiscal crisis.
Olana was the only Columbia County site targeted for closure or service reduction, though eleven sites and parks in the Taconic Region, of which Columbia County is a part, were impacted by the plan that was designed to reduce the state’s $8.2 billion deficit. The proposal is included in an amendment to the executive budget proposal.
The sites in the Taconic Region slated for closure under the plan include Donald J. Trump State Park, the Philipse Manor Hall Historic Site, the Rudd Pond Area of the Taconic State Park in Millerton, Wonder Lake State Park, and the Arden Point Area of the Hudson Highlands State Park. Reductions in service would be implemented at the FDR State Park in Westchester, James Baird State Park, Mills Norrie State Park, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, and the Taconic Outdoor Education Center in Putnam County.
“In an environment when we have to cut funding to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and social services, no area of State spending, including parks and historic sites, could be exempt from reductions. We cannot mortgage our state's financial future through further gimmicks or avoidance behavior. Spending cuts, however difficult, are needed in order to put New York on the road to fiscal recovery. Going forward through the budget process, I look forward to a productive dialogue with the Legislature on parks and historic sites, as well as other issues," said Carol Ash, Commissioner for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, in a prepared statement. |
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In all, forty-one parks and fourteen historic sites would be closed, and twenty-three parks and one historic site would see service reductions across the state. The plan also includes $4 million in park and historic site fee increases that will be identified at a later date. It is not known at this time, said officials, if further budget reductions would be instituted at the parks and historic sites that would not specifically impact public services, such as last year’s elimination of 1.5 employees at Olana.
Nelson Sterner of The Olana Partnership told ccSCOOP last week that any further reductions in state funding to Olana would have a negative impact on the home of Hudson River artist Frederic Church. Last week's reductions included the elimination of a house maintenance position, which has forced curators at Olana to start doing maintenance work. In addition, a park maintenance position was reduced from full-time to part-time, leaving only 1.5 positions to maintain the 250 acre historic site. “That’s a lot to expect from such minimal staffing,” Sterner said.
Reached Friday, Sterner said he was not aware of the plan to close Olana two days a week and expressed shock and surprise. He referred questions to another Partnership representative who was not immediately available.
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