Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/1/07
Gov. Spitzer Finds a Chairman for Adirondack Agency A Long, Long Way from the Adirondacks Professor selected to regulate private land use 250 miles from his hometown
Breaking a more than 30-year tradition that served the people of the Adirondacks and New York State well, Gov. Eliot Spitzer is expected to nominate a person who lives far outside the Adirondack Park to serve as the next chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency.
Richard Booth, a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, is expected to be nominated by Gov. Spitzer to chair the agency that controls the use and development of three million acres of private property and oversees planning for three million acres of state-owned land in the Adirondack Park. The APA is based in Ray Brook, near Lake Placid, nearly 250 miles from Ithaca, where Booth, a Democrat, serves on the Tompkins County Legislature and teaches urban and regional studies at Cornell. He was last associated with the APA, as an attorney, three decades ago.
"Since the establishment of the Adirondack Park Agency more than 30 years ago, four different New York governors of different political parties have found it prudent and responsible to uphold the sensible tradition of selecting a chairman for the Agency who lived in the Adirondacks," said Fred Monroe, executive director of the watchdog agency created by the state Legislature to monitor the APA, the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board.
"Govs. Rockefeller, Wilson, Cuomo and Pataki, to their credit, each found experienced and qualified chairmen who were permanent residents of one of the 12 counties in the Adirondacks," he said.
"The longstanding practice of selecting a permanent chairman from the Adirondacks has both political and practical benefits. A chairman who lives in the Adirondacks is more likely to have a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of Adirondack issues and their history and greater credibility with local government leaders, property owners and residents. As the governor's eyes and ears in the Adirondacks, local chairs can provide the Governor with a candid, no-baloney picture of conditions and issues on the ground. Most importantly, a chair who lives in the Adirondacks has direct accountability: He or she must live day in and day out with the good and bad consequences of each of the decisions the APA makes."
Adirondackers already are consigned to permanent minority status in representation on the Park Agency. By law, only five of the 11 voting members of the Agency can be permanent residents of the Adirondacks. The majority of the seats are held by state agency representatives (three seats) and outside-the-park residents (three seats.) The governor controls the entire agency by making all of the commissioner appointments and appointing the executive director and staff.
"The Adirondack Park Agency has a challenging mandate to balance environmental protection and economic growth in an area larger than the State of Massachusetts. It answers to many stakeholders inside and outside the park. Its political credibility is based on a careful balancing of power, of which the tradition of a local chairman is a fundamentally important component. To select someone who does not live or work in the Adirondacks is unwise, unnecessary (there are many qualified Adirondackers) and insensitive. Imagine the derisive laughs Gov. Spitzer would draw if he named a Long Laker to head the Battery Park City Authority. This is not a good first step in Gov. Spitzer's relationship with the communities of the Adirondacks."
Monroe said that it was especially unfortunate that, despite his staff's assurances that they would work closely with Adirondack officials, no one from Gov. Spitzer's office consulted with the Adirondack local government leaders about the proposed appointment.
The Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board was created by the state Legislature in 1973 to monitor, advise and assist the APA and to report to the Governor and Legislature. Its members are appointed by the governing bodies of the twelve counties of the Adirondacks. The members do not receive compensation for their service on the Review Board.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Fred Monroe, Executive Director Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board (518) 796-2415	Click here for PDF