| PEF voices
concern over campus plans More state workers moving to downtown Albany By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY It’s official. After two years of battling the state to release the results of a consultants’ report on the fate of the Harriman State Office Campus in Albany, the governor announced on April 3 that he was taking the consultants’ advice and turning the campus into a technology park. The decision means all but 1,000 of the 10,000 state employees now working on the campus will move to other office space in the Capital District. Civil Service will be first to go Under the plan, the state Department of Civil Service will be the first agency to move. Over the next two years, the department’s more than 600 employees will move to the Alfred E. Smith Building on Washington Avenue — an area already cramped for parking space. PEF leaders reacted to the news with concern. “We are concerned about the impact this plan will have on our members and the public’s ability to access state services,” said PEF President Roger Benson. Plan ups ante in parking bout “With the potential for thousands of additional employees moving into downtown Albany, the plan creates a new dynamic in our efforts to address parking issues,” Benson continued. “Everyone knows there’s a shortage of parking in downtown Albany, and adding more employees to this area without provisions for additional parking would only worsen an already bad situation.” And the union president said the decision to move more state employees to downtown Albany also intensifies the union’s objections to proposed permit-parking legislation. “Until the parking needs of public employees working in downtown are addressed fairly, we will remain opposed to a permit system that affects our members, ” Benson added. “Now is not the time to further restrict parking by rationing the limited space that’s available. Now is the time to meet with state employees’ unions to develop plans to create adequate, affordable parking.” Benson also urged state officials to meet with union leaders before final relocation plans for the rest of the campus employees are made to ensure the union’s members’ needs are met regarding appropriate workspace in new offices. Under the plan, 9,000 of the 10,000 state employees from the campus would be moved over the next 10 years. PEF FOIL request still unmet The governor’s announcement of his plans to redevelop the campus came four months after PEF filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Albany, over the state’s refusal to grant the union’s Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL) request for the $290,000 report, which was paid for in December 2000. PEF associate counsel Dionne Wheatley said the union will pursue the litigation. “Although PEF filed its lawsuit in December 2001, the state did not file its answer to the lawsuit until late February 2002,” Wheatley said, “At that time, the state claimed six separate documents were responsive to PEF’s FOIL request, but still refused to release the documents.” And Wheatley said the: “final” report released in April actually consists of just three of the six documents. “Despite the release of this report, it is PEF’s position that the state has not fully complied with our request for full disclosure.” Wheatley said. “Additionally, the state had no basis for withholding the documents in the first place. Therefore, we will continue the litigation — asking the court to order the release of the other information, and for the state to pay attorney’s fees for their failure to comply with FOIL.” |
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