ALBANY, N.Y. (WCAX) – A constitutional amendment in New York dealing with three vacant state prisons was left on the cutting room floor last week.
North Country Democratic Assemblyman Billy Jones tells us lawmakers were working on an amendment that would remove former prisons—Camp Gabriels, McGregor, and Moriah Shock—from the forest preserve.
Six acres would’ve been put back into each acre taken out.
However, that effort failed, which North Country Republican State Senator Dan Stec says was partly due to last-minute chaos regarding the MTA, the public transportation system in New York City.
jones he’s confident lawmakers will come back to pass the amendment.
“There has been a promise to go back and deal with the MTA issues with congestion pricing, so there is still hope we can get something through but at the end of the day I think we ran out of time to get a language agreement between the three parties worked out but certainly will continue to work on it,” said Assemblyman Jones.
Stec says when lawmakers return, they should pass the new prison amendment or instead, “do the right thing and pass the Camp Gabriels amendment for the first time. that way, we can move one step closer to finding a new use for the facility that helps it become an economic driver, rather than blight.”