To the Editor:

After writing my letter last week about the Guilderland Zoning Board of Appeals approving a drive-thru for Pyramid on the property near Crossgates [“Are tax dollars more important than the lives of citizens?”], it opened up how Western Avenue has changed between the Northway and Route 155.

We now have a storage facility being built just west of Dunkin’ Donuts, now a drive-thru approved next to that, but the abandoned gas station is not part of that property. The old computer building is still vacant (almost a slaughterhouse) [“Halal market looks to open on Western Avenue,” TheAltamont Enterprise, Jan. 15, 2024].

A hotel where Ted’s Fish Fry was. The Scene taking over the closed up Friendly’s building. Now the Cancer Center and Costco being built.

Hoffman tearing down the houses next to the plaza which Subway and other businesses are in (but still a vacant parcel of land). Laviano building that small business center with apartments; the bowling alley was to be a series of small stores and now showing that’s going to be a Dollar General. The old Rite Aid now a Goodwill store and the old Cone Zone being approved as a pot store.

This all leads to an increase in traffic along this same stretch. Ever try to make a left-hand turn onto Western Avenue? Very difficult at times! The center turn lane at times has been a passing zone during rush hour (I’ve almost been hit while waiting to make a left turn to get home several times).

As I said last week, that extreme right lane off the Northway heading east has been an issue also. 

I can appreciate the business and the tax dollars it brings in, but at what cost to some of the residents ? I moved here 16 years ago and it was nice and quaint, which appealed to me. Now the dynamics have changed and not necessarily for the good.

Please let’s take a pause and think about our neighborhoods and the increase in the noise and traffic.

Craig Bousquet

Guilderland