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Don’t privatize this public asset

To the editor:

“They’re a great asset to locals and tourists already in the region, but accomplish very little to bring in new visitors to grow the economy.” That was the judgment on rail-to-trail conversions by Alex Catchpoole and Mary-Joy Lu in a recent Enterprise commentary.

These are the same folks who launched a “rail bike” business last summer on the tracks between Saranac Lake and Lake Clear. Their hope is to continue operating on this publicly owned transportation corridor far into the future, thus preventing its free, all-season use by bicyclists, walkers, joggers, skiers, snowmobilers, etc.

To their credit, Catchpoole and Lu recognized that this rail corridor could be a “great asset to locals” as a recreational trail. A safe, scenic biking, jogging and walking trail connecting the Tri-Lakes is the one outdoor amenity conspicuously lacking in the northern Adirondacks. Such a trail would enhance the quality of life for a great many area residents of all ages and physical abilities.

To their discredit, Catchpoole and Lu claim that a recreation trail on the corridor would “accomplish very little … to grow the economy.” This claim is simply not true. My wife and I have ridden our bikes on “rail trails” all over the country. We have seen firsthand what a tourist attraction they are and how they benefit local economies.

The goal of the rail bike entrepreneurs is to appropriate a public asset (our railroad corridor) for their own profit. In so doing they would deny free and full use of the corridor to the general public, just as the tourist train operators have been doing for the past 20 years. Catchpoole and Lu would privatize and monopolize what could be, as they themselves acknowledge, “a great asset to locals.”

This enterprising duo have also expressed annoyance with the “bureaucrats in Albany” for proposing a compromise that would (1) join the Tri-Lakes together with a multi-purpose, year-round recreation trail and (2) extend the tourist train from Utica all the way to Tupper Lake. They seem miffed that our state government would have the temerity to block their rail bike business by removing the rails between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid. Yet this compromise was announced by the state well before these entrepreneurs started their new business here last summer.

Catchpoole and Lu knew full well about the state’s plans for the corridor – plans they hoped to scuttle with their private use of public asset.

After five years of public debate, with many local governments, 400 regional businesses and 12,000 citizens calling for a rail-to-trail conversion, the ball is now in the Adirondack Park Agency’s court. The agency is expected to give a final OK to the state’s compromise at its February meeting.

Dick Beamish

Board member

Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates

Saranac Lake

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