NL site could be home for bus station
Chris Churchill in his Sunday column (“Albany bus station illustrates caste system,” Aug. 29) made an excellent point on the dilapidated state of Albany’s intercity bus station in downtown Albany,. He asked why it had not seen the equivalent of the public investment made in the region’s rail stations and the international airport.
I would like to set forth one solution: building a new intermodal bus and rail station on the former site of the former NL Industries munitions factory, a large triangular site where the Amtrak line crosses Central Avenue on the city's border with Colonie. After an extensive cleanup, it is now available for reuse.
The 18-acre site and adjacent railroad right-of-way could easily accommodate the necessary station building, bus bays, taxi loop, parkand-ride lot, and a high-level island platform for Amtrak trains. There is good transit with the CDTA’s Route 5 BusPlus and exits to both Interstate 90 and Interstate 87 are a short distance away.
There are other intermodal rail-bus stations in New York state, including the Saratoga Springs Rail Station and the sizable William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse. The Rensselaer Station even has the Vermont Shires Connector rail-bus service to Manchester and Bennington and is also a Megabus stop.
The further integration of intercity rail, intercity bus and local transit would be a great benefit to all travelers. Civic leaders in Albany and the broader Capital Region should consider the NL Industries site for a new Albany-Colonie Intermodal Transportation Center. welcome. As a professor of law who has long experience with criminal justice, I wholeheartedly agree. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s exercise of mercy was entirely appropriate, and the New York State Board of Parole should approve Gilbert’s release without delay.
Unfortunately, there are some who do indeed seem to believe, as described in the editorial, that our prisons are “merely instruments of revenge.” Ed Day, the Rockland County executive, was quoted in The New York Times as characterizing this humane commutation as an “assault on the people of Rockland and New York state.”
Gilbert, 76, has already served 40 years, longer than many sentences for murder, although he was unarmed and killed no one. A man of immense integrity, he has repeatedly expressed deep remorse for his actions and for the irreparable wounds to the victims’ families. He has done much while in prison to atone, establishing a pioneering AIDS prison education program and mentoring younger inmates. In his case, justice has been more than fully served. Cynthia Grant Bowman
Ithaca Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of
Law, Cornell Law School