Mr. Foxman:
I have been reading the news articles about your company of venture capitals (I mean, investors) that are purchasing a large tract of logging land in Tupper Lake to reinvent into a recreational hideaway for the rich. You are a resourceful group with a good idea, but you are taking the idea to the wrong area of NY.
In case you have not noticed, the history of the Adirondacks and state politics will both combine into failure for your plans. There is just too much opposition. Do you know your plans are akin to what Walt Disney did to Orlando? Except Orlando was not the vacation homeland for generations of Rockefellers and other wealthy New Yorkers. Disneyworld would have never been started in the Adirondacks and you won't get there either.
Alternatively, I am welcoming you to the Broome County, NY area. We have many of the same qualities of the Adirondack mountains but we can go one step further -- we are a 3 hour drive from NYC and New Jersey and we are connected by the US interstate system (I-88, I-81, and soon to be name, I-86). That spells "WEEKEND RETREAT".
The actual city of Binghamton may not be attactive to your investors because of its urban character. It is improving but it is not what your clientele of people are looking for. The people you want to attract are more interested in skilled hunting, boating, restaurants, night clubs, hiking, snow shoeing, skiiing, bicycling, wine tasting..... Broome County and surrounding areas have large tracts of lands (former farms rather than logging tracts) that can be purchased. True, you probably can't buy 6,000 acres in one piece -- but really, maybe you don't need the size of Rhode Island to get started with your project? Here in Broome County, there are plenty of rural areas with farms to buy. And some of the land is beautiful.
We do not have the large lakes that the Adirondacks have. That could be a problem if people are looking for water experience. Tupper Lake is not very large, however so the water is not the biggest attraction. I noticed that your plans include building a pool and a rec center. You must realize that people from the metro area like swimming pools rather than swimming in lakes that are tinted brown or are not clear to the bottom. If you are going to build pools and a fitness center, you can do that here in Broome County, too. One of the most desirable places in the country is Boulder, Colorado -- a city with little water and no lakes or rivers to swim in. Its fitness centers are primo and are augmented by a wonderful trail system for hikers and bicycles.
I would say that Broome County can be the next Boulder of the East Coast. It has the highway system to get here. It has restaurants. It has a University. It has music (Binghamton Symphony, the Night Eagle, the Tri Cities Opera, lots of bars with good music). We have woods and fields, and farmland. It is beautiful here and there are miles of country roads to drive on. There are deer and some bear. We have eagles and perigrine falcons.
And most importantly, we have alot of people here that would want you to come. We could use a ski area if you wanted to build one -- but I doubt people would make you promise to keep it open for 50 years. We would hope it would be profitable to do so.
In Broome County, we do not get alot of attention from the NYS DEC and we do not have an APA. None of our land is in the plan called the Open Space Plan for New York State. The government of NY has largely ignored us and has not included our area in their preservation plans. Despite that, we have some beautiful land, much of it private.
Someone in Tupper Lake said that poverty is not beautiful. I agree with that sentiment. Our towns can use beautificaton and more than just cosmetics. Broome County is officially part of the Appalachian (Appalachian Counties of New York: Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins) I do not really understand why Tupper Lake wants to claim to be the poorest area of the state. For years, the people of the Adirondacks have wanted to claim this title. Possibly, an official designation of poverty means more funding or locating state facilities such as prisons.
Broome County has had many economic setbacks for the last 25 years. We did not lose a ski area as Tupper Lake did as we never had one here. (There was a small ski area that served the Town of Binghamton that has been closed for 25 years). Our economic setbacks were due to changes when manufacturing plants closed, shrunk or relocated. Many people left and others stayed on. For those that stayed on, the next generation left for better jobs.
Broome County has lost population. Besides manufacturing, the changes have come to the farms in the last 25 years. There are very few farms that are self supporting in Broome County. There is lots of farmland and woods. There is a movement back to farming again and some people are moving here and trying to make a go of dairy farming and organic farming. It is tough to do this and most need another non-farming income to keep their efforts going.
The land is cheap here as compared to the rest of the East Coast. Houses are inexpensive. We are one of the affordable housing areas in the US.
As in the rest of NY, property taxes are outrageous. They are probably not too different that what you are getting in Tupper Lake.
I am sorry about that last statement. Your development will not be paying any property taxes in Tupper Lake because of the deal you are making with Franklin County and the Town of Tupper Lake. That might be an important difference in the Adirondacks, as I am not sure Broome County would just let you come here without paying any taxes at all. I am not sure of that - but nothing is impossible. Just recently, the City of Binghamton acquired the Regency Hotel as the company (Sarbro) did not pay back their federal loans. It turned out the City of Binghamton had backed that loan. If the company defaulted, then the City of Binghamton has to pay back. Now, the city owns the Regency Hotel. (Maybe you would like to purchase that hotel? It is for sale. It has a nice pool, too)
I hope you will come to visit this area. Even if you would not pursue all the opportunities here, I would be happy to show you around. And if you don't come, I will continue to enjoy the swimming pools, rural roads, local wineries, farms and produce, local arts and crafts and just the general upstate feeling that we have here.
And that is the difference between us and Tupper Lake. If things did not work out for a development here, I would not be blaming you, the environmentalists, the towns people or anyone. I would just wait and enjoy what I can from this great area. I would not hate my neighbors or blame some government agency.
So, if things don't work out for you in Tupper Lake, you might want to take a look at the Appalachian Counties in NY.
And one last thing I should mention. I love Tupper Lake and visit there as much as possible in the summer. But if I lived there year round, I would say the same thing to you. I would invite you to come visit and show you around. I would not be begging you to come and develop the land. If you wanted to do that, I would consider very carefully your offer. I would not be pleading and I would not be getting you to sign agreements to keep ski areas open. (Of course, those agreements will be void once your company does not exist). I am not sure how smart it would be for any county or town to promise tax exemptions for your development when they are responsible for roads and infrastucture after construction is complete. We might not have an APA here, but people do not want to be taken for a ride. I hope we can play the game smarter, but I am not certain of that.
I wishing to hear from you *if* you are still interested.
And if you get permission to develop the 6000+ acres of Tupper Lake, please keep in mind that not all the the visitors to the town are rich or even want to be.
And although I think it unlikely, I hope you keep your roads ungated. (Gates seem to be an adirondack tradition brought by the whitneys, litchfields, rockefellers...) Please break with this Adirondack tradition.
If you want gates, stay in the metro area, PLEASE! We don't need them in Central NY either.
6 comments:
Bingoblab:
Very interesting perspective. One thing I would caution you on is "Be careful what you ask for - you might just get it!".
I see you have been blogging since June of 2006 - Hmmm that means you have missed about a year and a half of news about this project.
If you want to see the real story on the project including all the lies and unanswered questions please visit our website to learn more.
Mr. Foxman has made it perfectly clear that he does not care about improving life in Tupper Lake - he only intends to buy then divide and sell the land to turn a quick buck. The ski slope is only a carrot he is dangling in front of the town’s people to get their buy in. He never had any intention of opening a ski slope. I'm told that when he was first shown the property his comment was "What the #### do I want with a ski slope?". He was only interested after he found out that he could divide and sell the land for development.
He also does not care about the environment or any damage he does to it. If you want to live next to 2 sewage treatment plants and have a lake that you can no longer fish, swim, ski in that I say Foxman is your man! By the way, he also intends to use the treated sewage water for golf course irrigation and snow making. Would you want to roll in that snow?
In the sincere hope that he takes you up on your offer here is his contact info:
4272 Conestoga Road
Elverson PA 19520
Tel: 610 913 7750
Fax: 610 913 7749
Email: mdfcelplus@dejazzd.com
If you do want to learn more of the truth and not what you have seen in the recent press, please visit our website at www.freewebs.com/tupperlakelandowners (type it in all lower case)
Good luck on your Fox hunt!
Some have said that the wild character and grand open space experience of the Adirondacks will not be lost in one fell swoop, but by a thousand small cuts. Not anymore, for quaint little Tupper Lake, at least.
The megaresort plans Mike Foxman and his venture capatilist chums of longstanding have for the self-professed "poor sister" of the Tri-lakes of Northern New York will (if the Adirondack Park Agency allows it) simultaneously gentrify the Tupper Lake area, rendering the locals true second-class citizens to the Great Campers of the 21st centry and open the door to this type of dumb growth to the rest of the Adirondacks. In one stroke, the last thirty-five years of sound land use planning will be turned upside-down. And all for the professed salvation of a little town that has done nothing but experienced the same downtown blight every other small town business district in the United States has suffered these last twenty years of big box blight.
The Commissioners of the APA must realize the purpose of their existence is not so much anymore to try to balance development with the preservation of the open space character of New York's (indeed, the East's) last wild place. When dealing with the land upon which this project is situated, Resource Management Land Use Area, their duty is to follow their own law and to discourage this land speculator and those who will inevitably come after him, from further fragmenting our wild Northern Forest.
Should the Agency Commissioners shun this duty, the law they were appointed to uphold will mean nothing. Not only will our Park's character be irrevocably altered for the worse (and perhaps a local government again go bankrupt as it did only six years ago) but our
children and their children will inherit a lesser legacy and the debt left in their improvident decision.
I wonder if anyone is watching out there? Or even cares.
BTW, I am completely against the Tupper Lake project being proposed by Mr. Foxman, and I agree with the points mentioned by the two responders.
My point is that Mr. Foxman has picked an area of NY York state to develop in face of all this opposition at the state level. The only support he has is from the local people of Tupper Lake who want to control the direction of their town and village.
Other areas of the state do not have the same issues and might work with Mr. Foxman. He is a businessman and means to make money and I am not sure how much worse he is than other real estate developers of large projects. He does not want to work in other areas of New York.
People in Tupper Lake are largely naive about the project. The jobs coming to Tupper Lake from this development are not jobs they dream of If you work at the prisons or the Sunmount Center you get a decent wage and benefits includeing retirement, sick time, health care. If you work at a ski lift or as a maintenance worker, it is very unlikely you will get any of this. The children of Tupper Lake will continue to move to other areas to find better job opportunities. (Just like they do in Broome County).
The benefitters will be the real estate industry. Have you seen what is for sale in the Adirondacks? There is very little land on the waterfront that is for sale. Have you seen how many real estate agents there are in the region? Many people are depending on the sale of real estate to make a living.
Mr. Foxman will improve the incomes of the realtors.
He will also improve the lives of the construction industry people who want a big project to build.
Once the land is fully developed, the wilderness will be lost and only the low paying jobs will be left.
The carrot he is offering is the reopening of the ski area.
Have you seen all the state money that has been poured into special projects in NY? It totalled atbout 1.7 billion last year alone.
It is time to get together and work for state support for the reopening of the ski area.
Tupper Lakers don't want to work with the state. They need to swallow their pride and stop looking to Mr. Foxman to do something they should have been doing. They should not have given up on this years ago.
I think the environmental groups that are fighting Mr Foxman need to step up and help with the ski area or at least provide advice on how to do so. The Adirondack Council has done some of this. Unfortunately, their advice has been ignored by the townspeople intent on working with Mr. Foxman.
The environmental groups are even less respected in Tupper Lake than the APA and ORDA.
Much work will be needed to start to heal the divisions between the groups. This will be part of the "Foxman legacy".
Wow. That was a really good post, comments included. Made me nostalgic for the days when I used to be an Agricultural Economic Development Specialist down your way. Of course, the answer to the potential problems the commenters bring up is to have a better (preferably LOCAL) developer. But, vacation paradise is surely a possibility, as, apparently, the "Country Living" folks can tell as well as you or I. Now, here is a thought: what if those happy vacationers and/or second home buyers were to arrive via a PASSENGER RAIL LINE? Maybe the development could meet "Green Building" standards, too. Well, one thing at a time; I'm going to come visit and talk to some folks about the passenger rail line idea. There are some real opportunities out there on that one, and the tracks are, after all, already there for the freight. Might as well let some people use 'em. Far as I can see, the bus station could use a little competition.
In 1850 the Pomeroy Lumber Company began a logging operation in the area. A clearing left by clear-cutting the forest by Raquette Pond became the site of the Village of Tupper Lake. sportsbook In the 1890s, a large number of buildings were erected, but in 1899 a fire burned 169 of them to the ground. As the lumber business swelled, the village became a rail center.
http://www.enterbet.com
Tupper Lake is a lake in New York in the USA. The lake is in the Adirondack Park and crosses the county lines of St. Lawrence County and Franklin County. Tupper Lake was discovered in the early 1700s by land surveyor Ansel Tupper, whom later drowned there while fishing. It is aligned in a northeast to southwest direction along its length. sportsbook, The lake is fed and drained by the Raquette River.
The Village of Tupper Lake is at the northeast end of the lake in the Town of Tupper Lake. The village is adjacent to Raquette Pond, an arm of the lake at its northwest end. Another arm of the lake, Simon Pond, is south of the village. Some of the islands in the lake include County Line Island and Bluff Island. http://www.enterbet.com
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