About Gwendolyn Craig

Gwen is an award-winning journalist covering environmental policy for the Explorer since January 2020. She also takes photos and videos for the Explorer's magazine and website. She is a current member of the Legislative Correspondents Association of New York. Gwen has worked at various news outlets since 2015. Prior to moving to upstate New York, she worked for a D.C. Metro-area public relations firm, producing digital content for clients including the World Health Organization, the Low Income Investment Fund and Rights and Resources Initiative. She has a master's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She has bachelor's degrees in English and journalism, with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology, from the University of Connecticut. Gwen is also a part-time figure skating coach. Contact her at (518) 524-2902 or gwen@adirondackexplorer.org. Sign up for Gwen’s newsletter here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Paul says

      I was really surprised to see that they would consider building basically on the river bank. This parking area is certainly where wetland probably used to be way back when. Even in the village you are supposed to have a 50 foot setback. Must not be familiar with climate change and rising waters and flood issues near a river like that…

      • Boreas says

        Agree. The existing structures will likely be acceptable, but my issue would probably be the parking lot. Going to be tough keeping sand/salt/oil & other vehicle runoff out of the river. Or vehicles, for that matter!

  1. Max says

    I wonder how many times their application will be deemed incomplete and sent back for thousands of dollars worth of engineering fees. I wonder too about the environmental impact study being that was done being so close the river. They’re an overgrown HOA. 29 million of tax payers money. Time to get rid of them.

  2. Shane says

    Follow the Money! $29 million State money for the APA’s headquarters. But they will renovate an existing town owned building and build a new 19000 square foot building that will belong to Saranac Lake. This will be followed by a long term lease payment to the town. Sounds like a sweetheart deal made by an organization that couldn’t be bothered to keep up with the maintenance on its existing headquarters.

  3. Shane says

    Follow the Money! $29 million State money for the APA’s headquarters. But they will renovate an existing town owned building and build a new 19000 square foot building that will belong to Saranac Lake. This will be followed by a long term lease payment to the town. Sounds like a sweetheart deal made by an organization that couldn’t be bothered to keep up with the maintenance on its existing headquarters.

  4. Stephen Erman says

    The APA’s new headquarters building should be built in Ray Brook. The two alternatives: 1) Replacement of the “log cabin” in Ray Brook, making use of the existing circa 2004 garage & conference room/records center, vs. 2) Renovation of the Power & Light building Downtown, Construction of new 19,000 sq. ft. office building & garage, Improvements to the Riverwalk, Assumption by the State of New York of liability for the Village’s hydro power plant & the Lake Flower dam, AND improvements to the “log cabin” in Ray Brook as a visitors center for the otherwise abandoned Memorial Forest. This is all being proposed as the NYS Budget Office announces a $9 billion shortfall in the current State budget which is projected to grow to $13 billion in the next fiscal year. With minimal economic benefit to the Village and at a very high cost to the State, it is very surprising that the Governor’s Office is supporting this non-sensical proposal by the Agency. Wasn’t it Everett Dirksen who said “a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.”?

  5. louis curth says

    Steve Erman and Jim Connelly(see Adk. Almanack) make compelling cases for the APA to remain as part of the state campus at Ray Brook. To be sure, no one wants to discourage a well thought out plan to benefit downtown Saranac Lake. But this APA relocation idea seems to have worrisome downsides involving cost, environmental factors, and some serious public access tradeoffs.

    Among the lessons I learned during my years at DEC at Ray Brook, was the value of regular communication between related personnel and agencies, and also to maintain public support and trust – a long standing Adirondack problem. “There’s too much grass growing between the DEC and the APA”, Ranger Captain Don Perryman used to say. Maybe Don’s common sense wisdom is still a metaphor that a lot of us might do well to consider…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *