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The New Erie Canal
By
Thomas J. Ryan
As the New York State Canal System opens this
season for its 176th year of continuous inland navigation, we
can look back on the considerable efforts of many parties to make the
canal the new recreationway envisioned more than nine years ago. Aid in
the form of grants and loans from Federal and state government for
needed development has helped turn a vision into an ever-improving
reality.
A Bit of History
In 1992, in belated recognition that
commercial use had ended and the canal could become a jewel in New
York's $20 billion a year tourism industry, the State Legislature
declared as essential that "the beauty and environmental integrity
of the canals be preserved for future generations."
It transferred the system from the state transportation
department to the New York State Thruway Authority, prescribing a
stronger future for the canals through increased funding and a plan for
preservation and development.
The
needs of tens of thousands of pleasure boaters, tourists and other
recreation seekers were finally and officially placed high on the
governmental agenda.
Prior to that recent legislation, a series
of important but little-noticed actions had helped position the 524-mile
long waterway for its new role in a new century. A $15-million annual
capital rehabilitation program, partially funded from the 1983
Rebuilding New York bond act, coupled with $5 million secured by Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the Federal Water Resources Act of 1988,
saved the system from impending closure and ruin.
Since then most of the canal's 57 locks, and many dams and other
structures, have been rebuilt. The Barge Canal Planning and Development
Board, charged by the State Legislature with producing a plan to revive
the moribund system, issued a report in 1989 calling for major
improvements in the way the canals were administered and promoted, and
to make them less dependent on government subsidy.
Adopting one of those recommendations, 57%
of voters in the 1991 General Election approved a revision to the state
Constitution allowing long-term leasing of lands adjacent to the canals
and the re-imposition of tolls on the waterway, which had been absent
for a century.
Sadly, the passing six years ago of
Captain Peter Wiles, Sr. of Skaneateles, who founded modern-day tourism
on the canal in 1968 and nurtured it aboard the 65-passenger "Emita
II" between Albany, Whitehall, and Buffalo, cost the state its
foremost waterway champion (his family continues the tradition with
several additional boats). But
during the past nine years, the Thruway's New York State Canal
Corporation has gone well beyond the fleeting 1980's effort of the State
DOT to develop the canal system as recreation and tourism resource.
Hours of operation were lengthened. Canal workers were energized
by increased attention to their concerns and needs. Professional
consultants were engaged who drafted an elaborate development scheme
with optimistic implementation strategies.
And, since 1992, millions of dollars in annual operating
assistance has flowed to the canal via an enlightened provision of the
Federal transportation funding bill (the so-called ISTEA and TEA-21
Legislation). Beginning in 1997, Secretary Andrew Cuomo
of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, invested
millions of Federal dollars in a "Canal Corridor Initiative"
that funded many significant community projects
from the Hudson River to Lakes Champlain, Ontario
and Erie.
The progress was not, however, without
problems or controversy. The transitionfrom the Cuomo era to the Pataki
administration caused delay and substantial revision to the development
plans, and a major scaling back of their scope.
Users complained that the newly implemented tolls were too high,
and threatened a boycott. Lower
tolls were adopted. Citizen members of the Canal Recreationway
Commission could have been made effective partners in the new
enterprise. In addition to the state's huge commitment to
the New Erie Canal, wonderful new Visitor Centers at the Canal
Gateways built by Governor George Pataki will transform the entrances to
the state canal system in a way never before possible. Waterford is the
home of the first completed welcoming facility.
Beyond the Thruway's praiseworthy efforts
to date, a great deal of work remains to be done to achieve the vision
of the 1992 legislation. Local
governments must be major partners in developing a well-thought-out,
system-wide, land-use plan that preserves the often-pristine quality of
the canal environment, providing for attractive development without
significant environmental cost. And operation of the canal needs to be
made more user-friendly, as in Canada and Europe, where uniformed
attendants exhibit hospitality training that emphasizes attention to
customer needs.
Shoreline access and amenities need to be
improved for boaters and land-side visitors-- the hikers, bikers,
joggers and automobile tourists-- so that use of the canal is enjoyable
for all as well as profitable for the Thruway's private-sector partners.
Community festivals need increased promotion and support from officials
everywhere along the canal, and the wonderful canal bike trail must, at
long last, be completed.
Boat owners know that probably three-quarters of
all pleasure craft rarely, if ever, leave their docks during the short
boating season. Recognition
of this vast, untapped market of families next door, rather than across
the country or ocean, can be the basis of a substantial increase in
canal use.
With enlightened leadership and appropriate
development, the canal system may yet become the great resource
envisioned nine years ago. Time,
and the level of commitment to the state's vision, will tell.
Thomas
J. Ryan, SCOW President, Chaired the New York State Barge Canal Planning
and Development Board from 1987 to 1992.
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