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Target
Practice
To
the Editor:
As
residents and taxpayers of Glenville, a number of very concerned
citizens have petitioned the town board requesting that they
come together and share information about the “Fire/Homeland
Security Consortium” or “Safety Training Center” planned along
Vley Road and Route 5 [“Home on the Firing Range,” Newsfront,
Aug. 18].
For over a year, and particularly during the last few months,
there have been a growing number of the Glenville community
that have tried to seek answers to questions and concerns
regarding the proposed projects including a five-story fire-burn
building and classrooms, firing range(s), vehicle training
courses, mock plane fuselage, rail crossing, a four-block
mock cityscape and hydraulic targets. Plans have also included
federal agencies such as the FBI and Homeland Security.
Many of us have attended and spoken at town board meetings,
worked with the local media and questioned various people
directly affiliated with the projects on all levels. At no
time has any clear and truly meaningful information about
these projects and our concerns been provided. In addition,
it seems that each different party we speak to or read quotes
from has had different, and in many instances contradicting,
answers about these proposals. There exists a wide range of
opinions about the scope, use, management, local impact (positive
and negative), and the time frames of the many projects.
We understand that all of our questions and indeed the entire
plans of the projects are ongoing, and are not able to be
fully addressed. However, a presentation would go a long way
in showing the town’s openness to communicate and share reliable
information and ideas about the projects to date.
Such a presentation between the community and project leaders
would begin an open dialog where ideas could be shared in
such a way that they contribute to the overall effectiveness
and success of any proposed projects.
These are neither small nor ordinary plans, and will impact
our community and the area greatly.
Barbara
Jefts
Scotia
Hair
Meddle
To
the Editor:
I
don’t hold myself out to be any kind of fancy music critic,
nor am I a huge Mötley Crüe fan, but I attended the Mötley
Crüe concert at SPAC, and I wholly and entirely disagree with
your reviewer’s comments [“Tits and Assets,” Live, Sept. 15].
First and foremost, I’m 27, don’t have any hearing problem
I’m aware of, yet one of my grievances with SPAC is that most
of the concerts are not loud enough. I expect concerts to
be loud to drone out the drunken commentary, and to set the
mood, and concertgoers should suck it up and put cotton in
their ears if they don’t like it. I actually commented to
my companion concert attendee that this was the first concert
I’d ever been to at SPAC that I thought was loud enough. It
was great!
Furthermore, I thought the onstage entertainment was fun.
I was wondering why more present-day bands don’t put more
effort into decorating their stage and entertaining their
audience. At one point I believe Vince Neil said they were
going to play a new song and offered up a talented, albeit
half-naked, lady hanging all sorts of ways from drapery as
something to look at. The suggestion was that the audience
might not know that song so instead of sitting down (since
all of the audience I could see from my close-as-I-could-get
station on the lawn was standing the entire time), the audience
should continue to enjoy the show with the added visual stimulation
to keep up the excited mood! What’s wrong with that?
Also, what objection is there to the band members riding out
on motorcycles? They were really cool motorcycles that you
don’t see everyday, so why not?
Moreover, I’ve been to some of the other concerts put on recently
by ’80s “hair bands,” and musically I’ve got to say this was
the best at least of all of those performances. I was a bit
young in Mötley Crüe’s heyday, and thus didn’t get to see
them then, but I listened to their music and the concert I
was at sounded just like it. What more would you want if you’re
a fan?
Lastly, a little profanity and nudity never hurt anyone.
Lauren
Ryba
Albany
John Brodeur responds:
I never said I didn’t like the show.
Correction
In
David King’s story “No More Power to You” (Newsfront, Sept.
15), Joe Igoe was mistakenly identified as having had a heated
debate with James Tierney. In fact, the debate was between
Tierney and Jim Scalzo. We apologize for the error.
Metroland
welcomes typed, double-spaced letters (computer printouts
OK), addressed to the editor. Or you may e-mail them to: metroland@metroland.net.
Metroland reserves the right to edit letters for length; 300
words is the preferred maximum. You must include your name,
address and day and evening telephone numbers. We will not
publish letters that cannot be verified, nor those that are
illegible, irresponsible or factually inaccurate.
Send
to:
Letters, Metroland, 4 Central Ave.,
4th Floor, Albany, NY 12210
or e-mail us at metroland@metroland.net.
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