To the Editor:

Two weeks ago, The Altamont Enterprise was kind enough to publish a letter from me concerning the presence and condition of the Rustic Barn out on Western Turnpike [“Let’s spruce up the western entrance to town,” The Altamont Enterprise, May 17, 2021].

In that letter, I invited the candidates for the Guilderland Town Board to inspect the site and discuss possible remedies. I am glad to say that I, along with neighbor Ryan Caruso, were able to meet with Christine Napierski and Kevin McDonald, Guilderland town council candidates, at the site to inspect this mess. They seemed very interested in trying to solve this problem.

I did not hear back from Paul Pastore and Amanda Beedle. I would like to again invite them to visit the site for a guided tour to learn more about this problem.

One thing that was mentioned by Christine and Kevin was the concern townspeople have for how things look along Western Turnpike. There are some upgrades that need to be made, beginning with the Bohl property at the corner of Western and Foundry.

There are laws on the books that require the owners to clean up this property. Why aren’t they being enforced?

I did address the town board at the end of the May 18 meeting regarding this problem. Sadly, my presentation seemed to fall on deaf ears. You can get what was said along with the rest of the meeting online.

One of the items on the agenda was the approval of $35,000 to demolish the Crounse House in Altamont. I pointed out that, if you can do that for the Crounse eyesore, you can do demolition on the Rustic Barn eyesore. 

We need to have a much more energetic attitude regarding this matter than has been displayed by the Guilderland Town Board.

John B. Haluska

Sherry D. Haluska

Guilderland