A trucker support group planning to tie-up holiday traffic in Skaneateles isn't just going after the wrong target, it could be creating a dangerous situation.
Truckers and Citizens United is trying to arrange a caravan of as many as 400 trucks to drive through Skaneateles the day after Thanksgiving to protest new regional trucking restrictions likely to be put in place by the state Department of Transportation.
The plan is to have truckers exit the state Thruway at Exit 41 and head through Auburn and into Skaneateles on Route 20.
But the protest falls on one of the busiest shopping days of the year and coincides with the kickoff of the village's Charles Dickens Christmas celebration, so a line of trucks snaking through Skaneateles could have disastrous consequences for businesses there. Worse yet, with the number of pedestrians that crisscross Genesee Street on that day, it has the potential to turn tragic.
Truckers and Citizens United says the protest is aimed at Gov. David Paterson's flawed policy, so targeting businesspeople and guests of Skaneateles just doesn't make any sense. Neither does the choice of road on which to stage the protest. While some north/south shortcuts like state routes 41 and 41A may soon be off limits to trucks that are just passing through, Route 20 will remain open to trucks under the proposed new rules, as it has always been in the past.
Sure, Skaneateles officials have been among those trying to get state and federal officials to do something about the number of trucks, particularly garbage haulers on their way from downstate to the Seneca Meadows landfill. But there's no reason to intentionally disrupt the village's Christmas celebration over a policy being formulated in Albany.
We support the right of truckers to have their voices heard, but this particular approach is an incredibly misguided way to try to make a point.
The plan is to have truckers exit the state Thruway at Exit 41 and head through Auburn and into Skaneateles on Route 20.
But the protest falls on one of the busiest shopping days of the year and coincides with the kickoff of the village's Charles Dickens Christmas celebration, so a line of trucks snaking through Skaneateles could have disastrous consequences for businesses there. Worse yet, with the number of pedestrians that crisscross Genesee Street on that day, it has the potential to turn tragic.
Truckers and Citizens United says the protest is aimed at Gov. David Paterson's flawed policy, so targeting businesspeople and guests of Skaneateles just doesn't make any sense. Neither does the choice of road on which to stage the protest. While some north/south shortcuts like state routes 41 and 41A may soon be off limits to trucks that are just passing through, Route 20 will remain open to trucks under the proposed new rules, as it has always been in the past.
Sure, Skaneateles officials have been among those trying to get state and federal officials to do something about the number of trucks, particularly garbage haulers on their way from downstate to the Seneca Meadows landfill. But there's no reason to intentionally disrupt the village's Christmas celebration over a policy being formulated in Albany.
We support the right of truckers to have their voices heard, but this particular approach is an incredibly misguided way to try to make a point.
