suns along the Mohawk

Last Saturday (November 4), I headed over for my first close-up view of the Marina at Mohawk Harbor, as well as Harborside Drive.

 follow-up: I spent some time around the Marina/Amphitheater at the end of May 2018; check the photos here. I was surprised at how few boats were docked and how few folks were hanging around. By the way, kayaks are now available to rent at the marina’s entry booth.

A November 1, 2017, Times Union article, “Schenectady christens new Mohawk Harbor marina” (Nov. 1, 2017) reported that:

State and local officials on Wednesday christened the new marina at Mohawk Harbor, the $480 million mixed-use development on the Mohawk River.

The only man-made harbor on the 200-year-old Erie Canal,  the marina features 50 boat slips, an amphitheater and kayak launch. .

 . . “Every year, 46,000 boaters pass by this site on the Mohawk, and they truly just passed us by,” said Schenectady County Legislature Chairman Anthony Jasenski. “Now, they have a reason to stop. It is truly a great day for Schenectady County.”

• I have not learned how the boating public will gain access to the marina’s boat slips, as City Council removed from the Harbor District zoning code — at the request of the Galesi Group — the requirement that “A minimum of 10% of linear [residential] dock footage must be made available for public, day use.”
• Click here for the Mohawk Harbor Facebook post from November 1, 2017, which has a couple dozen images from the “christening” ceremony, including the proclamation naming that day Mohawk Harbor Day in Schenectady.
• Click on any photo in this posting for a larger version.

 . .  My Harbor stroll started near the parking lot of the casino’s The Landing Hotel, from whence I headed toward River House and the Marina:

. . 

. . above: view northeast toward Freeman’s Bridge from Marina amphitheater, which the Times Union reports seats 400 . . 

follow-up (May 11, 2018): According to an article in today’s Gazette, Rivers Casino will be holding Harbor Jam concerts at the Mohawk Habor Amphitheater this summer. “The concerts are free and start at 6 p.m. every Saturday from June 23 to Aug. 11, rain or shine. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for seating.” Update (Aug. 13, 2018): See our post “Orleans closes Mohawk Harbor Concert Series” (Aug. 12, 2018).

Amphitheater seen Memorial Day 2018

 . . view north across Marina toward Freeman’s Bridge (May 30, 2018) . . 

 . . view from Freeman’s Bridge to Marina/Amphitheater (May 30, 2018)

. . more Nov. 4, 2017 images:

  . amphitheater . 

  . . [L] Marina’s Mohawk River inlet alongside RPI nuclear facility . . 

. . above: view southwest from River end of Marina . .

. . RPI facility; camouflaged as a lighthouse someday? . .

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 . . background shows STS Steel on the left, Casino Parking Ramp on the right .  . 

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After checking out the Marina, I walked around to the other side of River House to visit Harborside Drive. The following collage shows a few resulting pictures:

. . share this posting with a shorter URL: http://tinyurl.com/MohHarMarina

• Pre-emptive Explanation/Apologia: Some readers might see some irony that the proprietor of this website, a leader of the Stop the Schenectady Casino group, is featuring sights at Mohawk Harbor. So, I wanted to remind them, that “Mohawk Harbor was already well on its way to being a spectacular development along the Mohawk long before Rush Street Gaming ever heard the phrase ‘Old Alco site’.” (see our Statement in Opposition to the Schenectady Casino, Point One. This link to the screen-shot image at the right from the Galesi website no longer works.). Mohawk Harbor had virtually no opposition, except for some concern over the effect of digging out an “embayment” on flooding downstream.
  • 

    original version – no casino

    “The Gazette called the original multi-use development plans for the sight ‘grand’, and Galesi Group CEO David Buicko modestly said it would serve as ‘the poster child for upstate New York development’.”  And, long before the word casino was being whispered about town, Buicko claimed the site would be developed into “the next major tourist attraction in upstate New York.” By the time the Casino Application was filed by Galesi Group and Rush Street Gaming, $100 million had already been invested by Galesi at Mohawk Harbor, and brownfield remediation was well on its way, with Dave Buicko promising Mohawk Harbor would be developed with or without a casino.

  • Waiting for the casino decision to be made by the Location Board and related development, including changes demanded by the developer in the zoning code, actually slowed down the creation of the original Mohawk Harbor plan by perhaps up to two years. Moreover, it polluted politics and journalism in our City, and put it at risk.