Anti-Press Express

One end of the downtown parking lot in Plattsburgh has been dug up and isolated by chain link fencing. An ugly, abandoned sand pit. This was supposed to be the site of a great building project. But the endeavor has hit a snag.

Due to environmental issues, the site had to be cleaned up at a cost of $43,000 to city taxpayers; the rest of the clean up -- which came to about $1 Million total -- was paid by state taxpayers. Since most city taxpayers are also state taxpayers, they have paid twice to create an environmentally-safe hole in the ground. And people wonder why their taxes keep going up.

There’s nothing wrong with progress – when it’s real progress, instead of spinning your wheels in the mud, getting stuck.

And the city taxpayer might be stuck again, thanks to the truism, “Build it and they will come.”

It was assumed that it would be easy to lure tenants to a brand new retail and office building in downtown Peeburgh. Plans went ahead for construction before tenants were signed up.

An investment company from Vermont initiated the project but when it couldn’t find tenants, it walked last summer. Another investor from Albany is now involved; it says some tenants are interested, but so far this second company hasn’t convinced anyone to John Hancock on the dotted line.

So the site sits there like a gaping financial wound. As for the pollution issue, apparently everything would have been OK if the parking lot hadn’t been dug up. There was no pressing need for environmental remediation; the city could’ve let that sleeping dog lie there.

But the mayor says he will try to sell the spot to someone, somehow. He stresses the positive, saying the site is shovel-ready, that the city could find another developer. Or it could just pave the lot over again. New pavement for only $1 Million.

Meanwhile, the hole keeps filling up with water from the snow and rain. I think about all those scary ads on the TeeVee during the warm weather last year. Dump out any potential containers, old cans, even tires, that might accumulate water. Don’t let standing water become a breeding ground for death from the sky.

Spring is on its way. Maybe the parking lot construction site will see increased activity –- as a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus.

What has happened to common courtesy?

The other day I walked into the men’s room at the public library. Maybe I should be inured to the few characters that hang around the library, that nothing should surprise me. But I was caught off guard by a longhair washing his skull-mop in a sink.

How rude can you be? I mean, there’s his sluffed hair lying all over the sink. Now how could I wash my socks with that unsanitary mess?