Month: January 2023

BY PETE BARDUNIAS

In the 12 years I’ve been involved in community leadership here in Saratoga County, one oft-overlooked consideration is the issue of mobility. The future generation may be at risk of being, in a practical sense, less mobile than their predecessors, and that will have significant impact on economics.

Have you ever driven along a major thoroughfare and come across someone on a bicycle, riding with you in the traffic? Watching that person pedal along, mere inches in some cases from the cars passing at 40-50 miles per hour, can be pretty scary. 

Darlene McGraw from Halfmoon, a local advocate for mobility issues for those unable to use conventional transportation, was struck on her special tricycle last year as she traveled on Route 146 in Clifton Park. In an age where we hear so much about using alternative means of transportation to get to work or play, it still seems rather dangerous to actually do it. Bicycle trails, especially in Clifton Park, are excellent, but sometimes one must go onto the main roadway. The roads themselves are busy places these days, not particularly safe for bicycles or even for cars. Impatient drivers often pass on the double yellow lines, a practice that gets even more dangerous on rural roads when a farm tractor is being passed.  Many serious accidents have happened due to this behavior and other bad habits.

In talking to people about the problems, the consensus seems to be that roads need upgrades, better alternative means of transportation need to be developed, or both.  During the past couple of years, some had hoped that the rise of remote work would alleviate such issues, but the reality seems to be that the flexible schedules involved today only shuffle things around a bit, moving traffic to different roadways or other times of the day, while also increasing the demand for services which aren’t quite there yet.  

By Gina Mintzer

Last year was quite a year to live, work and play in the Lake George region as we emerged from the pandemic, yet still reeling from various side effects.  

Looking ahead for 2023 we are planning for much of the pre-pandemic typical cyclical business highs and lows that the tourism industry realizes due to seasonal travel patterns and annual events, yet still on guard for staffing and supply chain challenges and managing what we can for the best outcomes for our businesses, employees, and the community at large.  

As we know, the tourism sector is crucial to our Lake George regional economy. The health of this industry affects all who live in the area, whether directly working in hospitality or not. Tourism dollars spent in the area help to offset the local tax burden by thousands of dollars each year. A robust tourism sector also means more attractions, dining, shopping and more to offer to residents as well.

 The collaborative efforts that began among many cross-sections of our business community have continued to make our region stronger, nimble and safer. As customer service will continue to be a strong focus of business, we will see more focus on in-house training as each guest, for lodging, dining and retail are more important than ever to keep our business sustainable.