I'm a retired illustrator, having spent thirty years as an artist in the Commercial Art field--including fourteen years as a staff illustrator for the Bob Wright Creative Group in Rochester. My wife and I live on Bronson Hill, pay town of South Dansville taxes and Wayland/Cohocton School taxes. We've been here for forty eight years. We became aware of the imminent invasion of our environment by the turbine developers in May of this year. I've been following the debate closely since then and have had, if you will, manic-depressive variances in temperament as a result.
One day my spirits are lifted knowing there is an element of the population such as you who are waging the good fight and standing up against the large conglomerate of developers/
investors/government operatives and all their big money. I'm in awe of the research you've done and the time you've sacrificed to get at and present the facts. On the other hand, I'm saddened by, frustrated and disgusted with town officials, not only in Cohocton, but all across our state, who are salivating at the dangled carrots offered by schemers and money-grabbers to the point of sacrificing the priceless heritage of their own turfs under the guise of pretensions of providence.
I find it difficult to believe that three or four men/women in small towns such as Cohocton have the power to force such an intrusive project down the throats of so many who have so much to lose. I'm worried too, about the scope of this scheme by numerous developers operating under different names selling their wares to all the neighboring towns. They're (the developers) like a bunch of frenzied sharks attacking bloodied bait. If this nightmare becomes reality, there won't be a clear horizon to be seen, there won't be any more "roads less traveled" and the historic ambience of this bejeweled rural area will be lost forever. Welcome to Turbineville. I guess, to their glee, the Wayne Hunts of New York will have lots of "green" spaces in which to stage their "parades" and "neat" towers to picnic under. They'll have no trouble accessing these areas what with the numerous new and widened roadways cutting across what used to be scenic fields. (By the way, who will be responsible for the expense and the manpower to maintain these roads, especially during the winter?)
If only I were a Cohocton resident and had the opportunity to vote there. Since I vote in So. Dansville I'll have to wait and see how the inevitable turbine proposals there play out. I cringe at the thought of even a single behemoth erected on this side of the Schwartzenbach Valley, as my Dad used to call the Route 21 corridor. He called this area "God's Country" and would use a blue choice of words to voice his thankfulness that these "virgin hills" at least, had not been screwed-over by man and industry. It's with an artist's eye, reinforced with the vision of my father, that I view the hills and the horizons. I can't imagine them any other way than the way they now stand. It'll be tragic that my grandkids may not see them in the future the way their great grandfather and grandfather saw them: in their natural state free from industry and its intrusion on our fields of view; free of metal and steel obliterating the horizon; free from the visual litter of obnoxious blinking strobe lights competing with the clarity of the stars in the beautiful night sky. What they'll lose in terms of nature's gifts will far exceed the gains to power a few more electric light bulbs or hot tubs of people far away from here. Those "born-again greeners" so enamored with wind power and the monies from the developers would do more to save energy by taking the second car off the road and driving less and it would have no impact upon their neighbors.
Here on Bronson Hill, we're proud of the work you're doing and we sincerely hope that when the time comes, there will be others like you in Dansville and Wayland and Fremont, et al, who have the courage and the will power and the resourcefulness to stand up for all who are in jeopardy of one day finding themselves living beneath the shadows of giant turbines. As for myself, I've relied on what I do best and have joined the fray in my own small way. I will continue to do so as my limited budget allows.
Thank You,
Mark Cudney
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