Kids in danger at Nisky intersection
I’m a junior at Niskayuna High, and each day on my commute to and from school, I pass a little-known, but potentially deadly intersection.
Where Crescent Road meets Balltown Road near the high school, kids try to dash across Balltown to avoid the inconvenient wait at Nott and Balltown.
There is no crosswalk, and cars are going 35 mph or faster trying to make the traffic lights up ahead, not to mention the entrance to Shop Rite Plaza across the street. I’ve watched a few kids almost get flattened by cars and trucks at Crescent and Balltown.
If we let this continue, someone will be hurt or killed. The state should put in a crosswalk — or even have a crossing guard — at Crescent across Balltown in order to let cars know to expect people crossing.
The crosswalk wouldn’t have to slow down or disrupt traffic any more than the kids dashing across already do. As student representative of the Niskayuna Complete Streets Committee, I’ve spoken to the school board and several community members about this. But public support will be helpful if we want to get anything done.
As we approach another round of school board elections, ask the candidates how they plan to make Nisky schools safer for walkers and bikers, and in the meantime, please look carefully when driving past Crescent Road.
Elise Corbin
Niskayuna
GOP must move on from Donald Trump
I am trying to reach the many in the GOP who consider themselves in the middle.
The far right is lost. But for those in the middle, there is still hope. Democracy is being threatened by Trump and his followers, and we need to wake up to how the previous four-year administration has led us to where we are now.
Putin was emboldened by Trump. It started before he was elected, with Russia sowing discord within our election. It ran through the Helsinki press conference, where Trump took Putin’s side over our own intelligence community.
It continued with Trump disparaging and weakening NATO. This served to cause discord with our important strategic world partners. It continued when Trump tried to withhold aid from Ukraine for political dirt.
It continues today with the big lie about election fraud and manifested itself into the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Putin watched and cultivated all of it with the willing partnership of the Trump administration. Putin wanted to invade Ukraine for a long time and waited for the perfect time when he thought we were at our weakest. He miscalculated NATO’s and the Ukrainian people’s resolve.
But this is far from over. This is not the GOP of Reagan, Bush I or Bush II. The entire Trump charade needs to end and the GOP middle needs to take back their party from the far right and move on from him, his lies and his anti-democracy tactics.
Tony Cascarano
Saratoga Springs
Ostrelich has earned Senate seat
I am writing in support for Michelle Ostrelich for New York’s 46th state Senate district.
Michelle has been my representative in the 3rd Legislative District in Schenectady County, where I have seen first-hand her knowledge of the issues, responsiveness toward and advocacy for her constituents.
During a recent event, I asked Michelle about a road in my Niskayuna neighborhood that I would like to see made safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
She voiced her support, and several days later, I received a phone call from her in which she gave me concrete information about what would be required to make the road safer.
Michelle understands the importance of creating a greener and more sustainable community. She will make sure that we plan for climate resilience through green investment, energy efficiency and a plan to address flooding through flood mitigation strategies. These are just a few of the reasons why I am supporting her candidacy.
Vicki Michela
Niskayuna
Stefanik leads on immigration policy
What we are seeing at our southern border is nothing short of a foreign invasion.
The only thing that is worse than having our nation being invaded is having feckless politicians who do nothing to stop it.
I am proud to be represented by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who addressed this paramount issue when she visited the border recently. Rather than following the media narrative and pushing the facts under the rug, she is taking a stand against Democrats and their failed border policies.
As she pointed out, every state is a border state because border security is national security. If we don’t have a border, we don’t have a country. Elise’s leadership on this crisis is commendable and is exactly what we need to look for in politicians in order to resolve this crisis. We need to hold every Democrat accountable for the failure to secure our borders and defend this nation. It’s time that we fight back against these disastrous policies.
Don Ward
Greenwich
Return the power back to the people
We’ve learned a lot from the “leader” of the Democrats this week. We learned Delaware has never had a senator. We learned we are sending Stingers to the Russians. We learned the Hungarians are doing well against Putin’s invasion, and we learned that Biden “wasn’t ready to give power back to the people on the issue of abortion.”
See, in the Democrat version of democracy the power resides in the party. It’s bad enough that most Democrats have no clue what’s going on in the world. Their leader certainly doesn’t. But it’s worse that they believe democracy means they rule.
The people and their “legitimate” voting cannot be trusted. We the people can no longer have the power. They have begun the dissolution of the Supreme Court. Our legislative body was long ago turned over to power-hungry, unaccountable agencies who dictate law, and the presidency turned into a dictatorship. Biden will “decide” who will pay student loans. Biden will “decide” if we have fuel for our cars. Biden will “decide” if babies can be killed.
None of these decisions can be left to the people. This is democracy redefined. This is the democracy Democrats want to save, not the one the people think they have.
Dave Dankanich
Galway
Appreciate service of school boards
I was privileged to serve on a local board of education for 12 years.
At one point, a group of “concerned taxpayers” arose to cut budgets. Some even got elected, but wound up frustrated when they saw how little authority the board has over most of the expenses. Most of what a district does is governed by New York state laws and state Education Department curriculum (put together by professional educators) and policies, and a bit by federal laws and regulations.
Now similar groups have arisen seeking to end health protections such as vaccinations and masks, or to dictate what will be taught. Don’t waste your vote on single-issue candidates who will lose interest when stymied.
Board members, teachers, aides and bus drivers have been strained to the max over the last two years doing the best they could under the circumstances.
Get off their backs, apologize, and thank them for being heroes.
Board members serve without pay, take a lot of training, miss family time, and aren’t obligated to listen to parents ranting about issues out of board control. Parent time would be better spent helping your child study.
Please seek out the best candidates and remember to vote!
Bill Shaw
Ballston Spa
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