County Executive PJ Wendel may indeed be right — a weed boom in the south basin of Chautauqua Lake may not be the best solution for the weeds and related stench in Burtis Bay.
Wendel said the boom is expensive, is ineffective according to an independent anaylsis by a county-backed third party, and comes with concerns about how and when it would cleaned, where it would be placed and how it would be anchored. But Wendel admits something has to be done with Burtis Bay.
“If you look at Chautauqua Lake, Burtis Bay is the last bay before it leaves the outlet,” Wendel told The Post-Journal recently. “Burtis Bay is the last catch basin. We do need to have a more concerted effort with weed cleanup and weed management and fragmentation management.”
What, then, is the solution? And why is a solution taking so long? It’s not as if Burtis Bay just recently became a problem. In our opinion Scott Schrecengost, Celoron mayor, is right when he says the weed buildup in the bay is a problem year after year, and calls for unity and consensus aren’t fixing the problem.
Residents and businesses in the bay are right to be fed up — particularly with the worn-out old saw about the lake being state’s responsibility. Even if the state is legally the owner, how does one go about getting money out of a recalcitrant landlord? You take them to court — and has anyone filed a lawsuit asking New York to pay up for Chautauqua Lake maintenance? The argument over the state’s “ownership” of Chautauqua Lake only serves to muck up the already mucky waters when it comes to paying for lake maintenance.
Burtis Bay is a problem that needs to be solved by the veritable alphabet soup of agencies that are working to benefit Chautauqua Lake. And a real solution really needs to be ready by spring. Taxpayers — particularly ones who pay some of the highest tax bills in the county — are tired of waiting.
They deserve results.
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