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Letters to the Editor |
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As the Belleayre Resort saga continues to occupy entrenched rivals at the Issues Conference, I was pleased to learn of the opinion put forward by John Alschuler concerning the project's insufficient economic viability. I agree with Dr. Alschuler, whose consulting firm HR&A had been previously commissioned by the Catskill Watershed Corporation for advise on the administration of the Catskill Fund for the Future. Accounting for the projected revenues, expenses and taxes itemized by Crossroads in their Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the resort as proposed appears to have an extremely high investment risk. By applying basic assumptions concerning the local real estate market capitalization rate and the most likely time horizon for project reversion, a correctly developed financial model would reveal that there is an extremely narrow relevant range for successful attainment of satisfactory investor returns. If any single factor fails to perform as projected, there is a strong possibility of inadequate return on equity. This holds true for most any combination of debt and equity mix, if indeed Crossroads has sufficient access to capital markets for the project debt component to be stripped into subordinate tranches. Even more discouraging is that if variances occur in multiple factors, such as revenues falling short of projections combined with expense overruns during development, then there is a strong possibility of exposure to negative equity. And all of this is before considering any potential obstruction to development. Because the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that NYC have sub-phase evaluation capabilities, it is almost certain that the Department of Environmental Protection will be constantly on the project site creating substantial construction delays. The cost associated with these delays should be enough to incur significant variances in any financial model. All of this should raise serious concern for any rational investor. Although Dean Gitter may have an exceptional education pedigree, let's not forget that Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron, also has a Harvard MBA. Promises of regional economic improvement not withstanding, the question remains: Has the investment risk been truly analyzed, or are the project's financial backers being sold a turkey? Clifford Faintych, MBA Denning, NY Good for you Mescal Hornbeck for remembering
and writing about some of the damage Reagan perpetrated on this
nation in his eight years. Some one wrote, it's as if Gore Vidal
coined the phrase "United States of Amnesia" for the
moment of Reagan's death. It is hoped the facts will survive the
hagiography we are now being inundated with. Reagan installed
a revolving door which key advisors went through to lucrative
jobs as lobbyists - and subsequent indictments for influence-peddling.
Despite his Admin-istration's "law and order" language,
by the 1990's nearly 200 Reagan-era officials had faced investigation
and prosecution. Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's conclusion
that Reagan had "created the conditions which made possible
the crimes committed by others" in the Iran/contra scandal
holds true for the more widespread lack of ethical standards.
He presided over a Savings and Loan scandal that cost taxpayers
a bill approaching a trillion dollars. No one in the Reagan White
House appeared to care about a new pandemic that mainly killed
homosexuals. Reagan's inaction and bigotry against gays and drug-users
led to the deaths of tens of thousands that might have been avoided.
A chilling meanness was at the core of Reagan's political agenda
(always effectively concealed by his affability). His main purpose
was to de-legitimize the federal government. RACE WAS ONE CUTTING
EDGE, POVERTY WAS ANOTHER. Remember the "welfare queen"
who rode around in her Cadillac collecting food stamps? She was
never found. Remember ketchup as a vegetable? He tried to gut
the Civil Rights Commission and his Administration waged a series
of attacks on affirmative action while trying to grant tax-exempt
status to private schools that engaged in racial discrimination.
After Democrats and Republicans passed sanctions against the apartheid
government of South Africa, Reagan vetoed the measure. Reagan
tried to normalize relations with Agusto Pinochet, the brutal
dictator of Chile. Pursuing a secret war against the Sandinista
government in Nica- ragua, the Reagan Administration violated
international law and circumvented Congress to support contra
rebels engaged in human rights abuses and, according to the CIA's
own Inspector General, worked with suspected drug traffickers.
Reagan covertly sent arms to the mullahs of Iran and courted Saddam
Hussein even after his use of chemical weapons. It's About Time that the Onteora tax payers sent a message to the School Board. The second vote on the budget was rejected by a vote of 1,529 against, 1,072 for the budget. That forced the school to go on an austerity budget. It also sent an undeniable message to the school board that they start taking a look at the way the administration runs the school and that they play a more active part at the beginning of the budget process. Chairman of the Board, Marino D'Orazio attributed the defeat to the voter backlash from the town of Olive over the so-called "large parcel" legislation and the closing of the West Hurley School, but it also sent the message that the cost per student is way out of line with other Ulster County schools and the tax payers want something done about that. Although the school is now on an austerity budget don't be surprised if many items that the school threatened to do away with get restored. When the school was forced to go on an austerity budget back in the 2001/2002 school year the administration found $200,000.00 and many items were restored. William Warnecke Glenford, NY Dear Editor, It's the forest tent caterpillar (not eastern tent) that's making amess of the woods. Conditions were just right for a large outbreak this year. CFA will be putting an article in its news letter later this month. The trees will be defoliated quickly, then may sprout out again. Only repeated defoliation for at least 3 years would kill the trees, but this year's growth will be effected. It is particularly bad between Big Indian & Catskill Corners. Eastern Tent likes the hawthorn, cherry & other fruit trees along the edges of forests & roads. That's the one with the large white tents. It is striped down its back and later enstars have two rows of all blue dots. (Gypsy moth caterpillars have 6 red dots at the head of the two rows & blue dots along the rest.) The forest tent caterpillar has smaller, darker tents close on the branches and has a yellow to white key shaped, single row of dots down its back. It prefers oak, birch, ash & sugar maple, but does not like red maple. Jim Waters Catskill Forest Association Arkville, NY
Dear Editor, It looks like Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have been staying cool this summer at the movies. Sure the summer's first blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow, amazed and astounded moviegoers with its stupendously implausible premise that escalating greenhouse gas emissions would result in the snow-burial of the Statue of Liberty, but let's hope that is not what has reinvigorated the lawmakers' quest to pass their Climate Stewardship Act that failed last year by a vote of 43-55. The McCain-Lieberman bill, which is expected to be voted on later this month, requires a draconian cut in the amount of energy we use. Specifically, the bill calls for energy-intensive operations (think companies and people that make things) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels beginning in 2010. Regulating energy use in this way, according to a new economic analysis sponsored by the American Council for Capital Formation and conducted by Charles River Associates*, would result in job losses-more than 600,000 jobs would be lost, lower GDP, reduced tax revenues, higher production costs, and lower household purchasing power while doing nothing to protect Lady Liberty from climate change. Yet, Senators McCain and Lieberman continue to hold to the belief that these bitter economic costs are to be borne in good spirits because of the positive environmental benefits that will result. Let's be clear, the Climate Stewardship Act will do nothing to prevent or lessen the doomsday scenarios environmentalists have been trumpeting for years, and which movie producers have come to of late. Any threat of climate change associated with greenhouse gas emissions is linked to global emissions, not emissions in any one country or one industry. And given that economic and emissions growth in developing countries like China and India are projected to account for 84 percent of the increase in global emissions between 1990 and 2010, any climate policy that does not address developing country emissions is doomed to failure. Not only do supporters of the McCain-Lieberman bill fail to grasp the global nature of this issue, they compound their ignorance by trumpeting the so-called success of the European Union's climate change efforts. Europe really isn't doing that well in meeting its emission reduction goals that it agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 treaty that calls for countries to make dramatic cuts in energy use in order to combat climate change, despite the fact that they have publicly promised that they would. Judging by the experience of Europe thus far, it seems highly unlikely that mandatory targets and timetables for greenhouse gas emission reductions for developed countries are economically achievable: 13 of the 15 original EU member states are not on target to achieve their Kyoto Protocol targets. Further, they have little hope of achieving the additional cuts (50 to 70% below 1990 levels by 2050) being proposed for the post-2012 period. In fact, the Bush Administration's voluntary approach to addressing climate change shows more promise than the mandatory targets and timetables approach called for in the Kyoto Protocol. Despite this, McCain and Lieberman are determined for the United States to adopt legislation that would amount to nothing more than a domestic version of this failed international treaty. According to data from the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the US, using a voluntary approach, has cut its energy intensity (or the amount of energy required to produce a dollar of GDP) by a significantly larger percentage than has the EU. The EU, which ratified the Kyoto Protocol and thus faces mandatory emission reductions, has reduced energy intensity by only 7.5% compared to the 15.8% percent reduction achieved by the US over the 1992-2001 period. Similarly, the ratio of CO2 emissions per dollar of output has decreased faster in the US than in the EU over the past decade, 15.3% for the US compared to 13.8% in Europe. Films like the The Day After Tomorrow require viewers to suspend reality, but service in the United States Congress requires rational skepticism. Hopefully members of congress will exercise some when the lights come up and they realize real life isn't much like the movies. Dr. Margo Thorning American Council for Capital Formation Dear Editor, Bravo, Wendy Wolfenson! You are blessed with perspective and insight as witnessed by your splendid letter (Olive Press, June 17) pointing out that which we already know regarding the behavior of the Onteora School Board but would be hard put to express it all so simply and comprehensively. You are so "right on" in your assesment of the budget failure and the board. Your observations add up to arrogance and a "to Hell with all of you", attitude. From the top (Board President) cometh the characteristics above listed for the members to impliment. And indeed they have [for quite some years]. Might we entertain the notion that as each election for board members occur we play the "replacement" game if for no other reason than to reverse the "tail wagging the dog" syndrome. We have begun the process with David Patterson but it sounds as if he might be a bit too pliable in the hands of the current members. Better add a few Mb's to your memory bank, Dave and do what you said you would do, "not be a 'yes' man". I must research "recall" for school boards. Yup! We don't feel like enduring the cancer of the "ORPS", an illegal entity which like MTA, PANY/NJ, HHC, PSC, LIPA and other Commissions and Authorities answer to no one. The politicians who invent these "phantom" agencies are insulated from complaints and criticism by their constituants and eventually have no responsibility what-so-ever. And of course the two "cry babies" from Shandaken and Woodstock are enjoying the spectacle of a one hundred year agreement [with NYC] being dismantled in the hopes that their constituants will save a few shekels of silver and thus resurrect their political fortunes. I am in total agreement, Ms. Wolfenson with your thesis that the board with their twist minds see "No" to a budget as punishing the children and that voting "No" to a budget that targets our town unfairly is a "thoughtful and caring alternantive". What part of "No" do they not understand? And this board is reckless enough to suggest that we, the voters are the devils who would deprive our children. How dare they? The board needs to impliment innovation, originality and integrity. It's not unlike obtaining courage, a heart and a brain. Isn't that a wonderful analogy? Now, who is the "Wizard" in the background cranking out the illusionary and deceptive misinformation? Hm-m-m? I would remind all that our Town Supervisor who does twenty-five hour days along with his political brethren, assistants and supporters has been on top of the ORPS charade from the "git go". No wonder he has been at the helm for some 22 plus years. And I hereby nominate Wendy Wolfenson for the position of member of the Onteora School Board next time around. Go into the booth with the idea that you are going to "can" some old "hanger on" and relegate him/her to the "ash heap of mismanaged, special interest, good old boy education". We will eventually get it right. President D'Orazio; I say, "tear down this wall"! Glenn T. Anderson Olivebridge, NY Dear Editor,
While the Woodstock Town Board uncharacteristically attempts a
balanced, well governed plan for the development of cell towers
in Woodstock, Olive officials fight all development. With
old world science and large sums of money our town officials have
fought all cell tower development in this town. Four years ago
Masterpage, a locally owned company, tried to submit a plan to
build a cell tower on South Mountain. Our Olive Town Board
responded with a 32 page Cell Tower Law. Over the last 4
years town Supervisor Berndt Liefield with board members Bruce
LaMonda and Helen Chase have resorted to half truths and voodoo
science to stop cell tower development. Confronted and exhausted
by these tactics, Masterpage has taken this case out of the towns'
hands and asked for a Federal Judges' opinion. This case
now sits on some judges desk, where it has been for about
1 year. If these same officials had been asked to lead us
into the 20th Century we would be walking to our town meeting
which would be lit with candles or lanterns.
Cyrus
McCormack Dear Editor, Congratulations and thanks to Sharon Stonekey and the few others who have dared to sound a note of realism amidst America's hymn of adulation to the memory of Ronald Reagan. While Nancy Reagan deserves the nation's sympathy for the loss of her beloved husband, Ronald Reagan was neither a great president nor a good one; he was an actor who won political power by projecting a likable personality. Moreover, we should remember that Reagan lived well into old age, with his body dying at age 93 after his brain had been dead for several years already. R.B. Wilk Woodstock, NY Dear Editor, Hooray for Westchester !!! The dam be damned ! They had the guts to stand up to NYCity and opened a road their citizens needed for their safety and welfare. Why don't our representatives do the same ? Mr. Parete, Mr. Leifeldt, TEAR DOWN THESE BARRICADES! Michael Thompson West Shokan, NY Dear Editor, |