A plan to build a new ice rink at Mohawk Harbor has taken another step forward, by speaking to the Schenectady City Planning Commision on the merits of their plan. This plan has no merits for Union students, and few merits overall for the broader community of Schenectady.
Since this project has not been advertised too much, it’s worth going over briefly what it is. The plan is to construct an arena with an ice rink that Union College can lease for use for ice hockey in the future as a replacement for the existing Messa rink. The stated potential benefits are twofold: first, to expand the capacity of people who can watch the matches and second, to increase the number of available parking spaces so that the increased number of people can potentially come from further away. The existing plan does not adequately solve either of these issues while introducing new dangers to students. We also know, with a great deal of specificity, where the arena is likely to be built. The entire plot of land of Mohawk Harbor is owned by the same holding company, but on October 17, they requested a sublet of a particular part of the property. The only undeveloped part of this portion of the property is directly Northeast of the Rivers Casino’s eastern parking lot.
We should first attempt to understand these potential dangers. What are they and is there any way to mitigate them that we may not know about yet? The main danger is geographical, not only to the health of the students but to the health of the business of the arena itself. The proposed spot for the arena is bordered by Erie Boulevard, which separates the arena and the Union College campus. Anybody going to the new arena will have to walk, bike, or drive across this major arterial street. This is a problem for individuals trying to get to Mohawk Harbor. Now imagine a group of thousands of people rushing across a street that has only two pedestrian crosswalks. Only two. And most motorists will have to cross this road anyway to get to their cars since there isn’t space at Mohawk Harbor to park them all, but more on this below.
It’s difficult to put into words how bad of a traffic solution this is. People leaving stadiums leave in crowds, big crowds. And the developers of this project seriously want these big crowds to march across Erie Boulevard. Somewhere in the world, a traffic engineer woke up from this nightmare.
It’s also not possible to remedy this problem with a pedestrian bridge, since the railroad tracks are too close to the Boulevard to allow for the right amount of space. It’s not difficult for me to imagine a time when an impatient student tries to cross all five lanes of the street during a red light and doesn’t quite make it.
The real benefit of having Messa Rink on the campus is that a large number – half is a good approximation – of the attendants of any game could simply melt away into the campus. There is no need to disturb any traffic, cross any streets, or switch over into the city’s police jurisdiction for any of that time. A move to Mohawk Harbor would change all of these factors. This of course has psychological effects: if you can’t go to a game safely, why go at all. In short, it’s bad for pedestrian accessibility.
So then the solution to the issue of a lack of pedestrian accessibility is car accessibility. But building an arena here fails in this regard too. Bring more motorists to the Union ice hockey games by increasing the number of parking spots in the area of the arena. The existing parking in Mohawk Harbor (approximately 450 spots right now) has always been recognized by the Union administration as insufficient for this task. The solution was supposedly to use the Golub Corporation’s parking lot on Union Street (approximately 800 spots.) The construction of the rink would also result in the construction of 222 more parking spots according to the Daily Gazette. There are two problems with this. First, the Golub lot is still across Erie Boulevard from Mohawk Harbor meaning more than half of motorists would join other pedestrians crossing this potentially hazardous street.
Second, there is no guarantee that Union will be allowed use of those spots. Mona Golub, in response to a question on the subject said there had been no “substantive discussion” on the topic in response to an inquiry from the Daily Gazette. There seems to me an almost amateurish quality to this; just as this project needs all of the positive coverage it can receive it is revealed that there may have never been a consensus on this parking aspect of this plan, which has been, as said before, one of the main promises that Union has hoped to deliver.
The last solution, especially for students, is buses. But, this is hardly a good solution. If the college employs this solution, then there is already the admission that students are unable to access this part of campus regularly by themselves. It’s ironically inefficient: imagine the expense of maintaining this small fleet of minibuses to shuttle a thousand students (half the capacity of Messa Rink) to and from right across the street. The only reason buses would be a better option is if the safety of students while pedestrians is not taken into account. Otherwise, it would take about the same amount of time to walk anywhere on campus given what traffic conditions are liable to be. And it should be noted that for both car and bus transportation, Union also has to contend with its goals of reducing carbon emissions, which this form of transport flies in the face of.
There is a second promise that this arena offers, but it too is unlikely to happen. The capacity of a new arena is unlikely to be any bigger than the current Messa Rink. The current rink has a capacity of 2,225 seats. But the plan for the new arena would have a similar capacity of 2,200 seats in the arena’s ice hockey configuration. The main promise or a larger arena doesn’t even look to be possible given the current plans for the area. If there was one objective that a new arena should have achieved, it should have been this. But no.
THe proposal for a new arena fulfills none of the objectives set out by the Union administration over the past year and introduces new risks to students. It is not a benefit to Schenectady in general. Furthermore, it doesn’t take much thought to figure out why this might be a bad idea. But it still may go ahead and be built.
What should the Union community do about this? First, they should demand to be part of any consultation that the Schenectady city government attempts in the community. Students are likely to be the prime beneficiaries of this development should it go forward. That is to say that Union would not be backing this plan if students were not expected to use this new arena. This is not a new dorm or the renovation of a building, its a whole new construction that affects the way students move through the campus and through Schenectady. If students now don’t see the benefit in a new arena, then there is no reason to assume future students will see things any differently.
Second, students should walk to Mohawk Harbor just to try it out. Do they feel safe walking there? Is that a route they would want to take in the cold or rain or at night? Would they want to go to events planned by ACE in that space? Would they want to wait for a bus on the sidewalk? They should be honest with themselves. Maybe it is an acceptable journey for them and if so, that’s good.
If you reading this don’t think that you would feel safe going to a hockey game under those conditions, speak out. More than just the college is listening. The relationship between town and gown extends past initiatives begun by the College administration. The real beneficiaries of this arena are not Union students or Union’s hockey team. It is a feather in the cap of the Galesi Group, who own and operate the Mohawk Harbor. The confluence of interests between the Galesi Group, Union College, and whomever else is not reason enough to build this arena. At the end of the day, real people are going to sit in real seats. Students will be a substantial proportion of that population. It is therefore better for the student body to decide this now before ground is broken, than later, when millions of dollars and the reputation of Union College have been gambled on what is fundamentally a bad idea.
I ask the editorial staff of Concordiensis to please spread this message. Students have the dual responsibility of membership in the Union College and Schenectady communities. If the College wants to improve their hockey facilities then they should do it, but doing it this way is foolish. Other options are possible and should be the subject of further discussion. This proposal should not be.
