Welcome federal help for Olana
With welcome help from a $250,000 federal grant, Olana will be able to continue its restoration efforts.
Once home to famed 19th century landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church, this architectural masterpiece in Columbia County is now one of this region's most popular tourist destinations.
The funding will be well utilized to restore six chimneys on the Persian-style mansion, and Church's artist-studio tower.
Support came from New York's two Democratic senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, plus U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park. They wrote letters backing the funding for Olana from the federal Save America's Treasures program.
At least these officials recognize Olana's importance, and have done something to help protect it.
That's more than state officials did, in authorizing a gigantic power plant nearby in Athens, Greene County. Despite vehement community opposition, it was permitted with unseemly haste under New York's too-lax Article X.
And state lawmakers haven't fixed the problem. They still haven't renewed Article X, which expired nearly a year ago. In March, the Assembly passed an excellent revision of the law that would go far to prevent more such ill-considered plant sitings. But the state Senate has still done nothing.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is still reviewing plans by St. Lawrence Cement to build a massive new plant near Greenport, a few miles north of the Dutchess County line. The facility would be way out of scale with the rural area, and it would emit too many pollutants. Its 366-foot preheater tower and a 406-foot stack would be the tallest structure between New York City and Albany -- and only three miles from Olana.
This magnificent mansion will be improved, with help from a federal grant. But part of the estate's charm -- the same magnificent views of the Hudson Valley that Church sometimes put on canvas -- need to be better protected.
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