“We have a large number of families that don’t drive whose children attend Guilderland Elementary School,” said Principal Allan Lockwood. “Up to now, they have not been able to easily come to school for events like parent conferences or special activities that we have outside of the school hours.” With the new sidewalk, he said, those parents can “be much more equal partners with the school community and that means more than I can ever express.”

“This AmeriCorps, like the Peace Corps, like VISTA [Volunteers In Service To America], is a national movement to try to help improve our country,” said Community Caregivers’ Executive Director Lee Lounsbury. “I don’t want to get political but, if people are looking for a way to make a difference, this is the way to do it.”

GUILDERLAND — Laura Barry is like a modern-day Johnny Appleseed.

Except, instead of planting apple trees, which originated in Asia, she is planting native trees.

“I planted about 15 trees this year, little saplings and things all over the place secretly,” she says, improving open land.

Tom Capuano, Vice President Guilderland Historical Society

The Albany County IDA is set to receive an administrative fee equal to 1 percent of the project’s in-county $228.6 million cost, about $2.86 million. For the local IDA fee, the county determined the percentage of the project, in both miles and dollars, running through each municipality and multiplied that number by 0.25 percent.

During a recent town meeting, while updating board members on various infrastructure projects in town, Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber said the Carman Road sidewalk project was unlikely to be completed this year. But those circumstances recently changed. 

Hellen Wager, Altamont