To the Editor:

This concerns SUNY Polytechnic Institute and the proposal to build a dorm and provide several hundred parking spaces on or near Loughlin Street. The 11 homes to be demolished and the land to be developed were purchased by a real estate firm tied to Columbia Development.

Like all private development, it should be required to apply for demolition and other permits and be reviewed by planning and other commissions.

Because this firm paid well above market rate for the homes, it seems unlikely the state will OK purchase of the completed project by SUNY Poly. The state does not permit above-market prices to be paid whether it’s buying computer paper or anything else.

If there is no contract, there is no SUNY Poly purchase. The entire project will remain privately owned, on the tax rolls and, therefore, subject to the municipal review and permitting process like any other privately owned project.

The state inspector general, comptroller’s office and attorney general review contracts between state government agencies and private corporations. They should carefully review this contract when it is submitted.

I am not trying to stop SUNY Poly. Alain Kaloyeros has built something that is wonderful, just as Henry Ford did many years ago.

Yet Ford thought labor unions were a scourge. His employees wanted to be consulted about their working conditions.

Likewise, McKownville homeowners want to be consulted about demolition of homes in their neighborhood, stormwater runoff down Fuller Road, and other developments by SUNY Poly.

Don Reeb

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Donald Reeb is president of the McKownville Improvement Association.

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