Heidi E. Kretser's

Community Development Survey For The Tip Top Town
                                            From the tupperlake.net bulletin page

Adirondack Communities and Conservation Program
Wildlife Conservation Society

Before you begin a short note from the webmaster:

     Heidi Kretser was born in Vermontville and attended the Saranac Lake Public School. She now attends Yale University.
     For her masters degree in Environmental Sciences and Community Development, she applied and received 9,000 dollars in grant and scholarship monies to do the Tip Top Town's Community Development Study.
    She has always felt it was unfortunate that so many young people had to leave their beloved Adirondacks to secure a bright future and comfortable living outside the park.
    One day, she woke up to realize that she was one of those persons. This study is an effort on her part to help remedy this problem and help the people of Tupper Lake define a course of growth and revitalization for the new millennium.
   
Below are her words:  

   "Tupper Lake is the "crossroads" of the Adirondack Park. Over the years, the community has maintained its own unique characteristics, yet the shared geography enhances attributes comparable to those of other Adirondack towns. As most Adirondack communities, Tupper Lake struggles for economic prosperity within the legal and environmental confines of the Adirondack Park. The Adirondack Communities and Conservation Program*s (ACCP) research on community development in Tupper Lake aims to clarify an understanding of residents viewpoints and to identify relationships between the community and the surrounding environment. This information will be used as a tool for generating and prioritizing ideas for future community development projects in Tupper Lake. In particular, this information may be useful in levying funds for the proposed Natural History Museum in Tupper Lake.

    The research was divided into three sections: a written survey, interviews of community members, and interviews of Adirondack organizations. A survey was randomly sent to 700 residents using the municipal electric company mailing list. It addressed issues of community and business development, recreation, and social capital. Currently, about 200 surveys have been returned and analyzed to determine trends in the opinions of community members. Enclosed below are the preliminary results. Twenty-five key leaders directly affiliated with the community were interviewed. These interviews generated several themes pertaining to the development of Tupper Lake. One recurring theme was that Tupper Lake has little power to make decisions within the Adirondack Park due to the influence of *outside* organizations, or organizations which are indirectly associated with the community. This finding prompted an additional 25 interviews with members of local and national environmental organizations, property rights groups, and state agencies who are indirectly affiliated with community development in Tupper Lake.

    Preliminary analysis of the interviews reveals several themes emerging among key community members. These include beautification of the town, the improvement of the waterfront and recreational facilities, the importance of volunteer and community organizations, the reasons supporting and not supporting the building of an industrial park, the consolidation of the Town and Village government, the attitude of the community residents towards the ability to make change happen, the concern for strong leadership role models, and the differences between the seasonal and year-round residents. Surprisingly, interviews with members of indirectly affiliated organizations consistently raised similar issues. This suggests the potential for collaborative work among the various leaders from Tupper Lake and elsewhere to address some key issues of concern for the future of the community.
   
    The recent proposal of the Natural History Museum in Tupper Lake may be the key for collaborative work between residents of the Tupper Lake Community, who desire sound economic development, and the *outside* community, who have the resources to turn this proposal into reality. The proposal has received support from some organizations already and the results of the following survey indicate resident support for addressing issues which the Museum will positively impact.


    The following information summarizes key questions from the survey. Question B4 asks *which businesses/development are appropriate in Tupper Lake?* The responses indicate tourism/recreation and wood products as very appropriate. Then in B5, when asked to choose the most appropriate business/development, respondents overwhelmingly chose tourism/recreation. The Museum will entice tourists to stop in Tupper Lake and increase tourism in the area. Question A16 addresses the goals of the community. The top responses were attract new businesses, beautify the town, revitalize uptown and the junction shops, and provide jobs for youth. All four of these issues will be positively impacted by the development of the Natural History Museum. The responses to question A18 regarding community revenue spending indicate an interest in educational resources, nature trails, marketing for tourism, and community development. Again, the Natural History Museum will provide a venue to address these issues in the near future. Moreover, the Natural History Museum effort coupled with the Roads Project in 2002, the Waterfront Redevelopment Project, the potential rebuilding of the Adirondack Railroad, and the participation of volunteer organizations will provide an opportunity for Tupper Lake to coordinate planning and develop a consistent style throughout the Village.

    A compilation of the research, including analysis of the interviews, discussion of other aspects covered in the survey, and a comparison between this survey and a survey conducted in 1980 will be completed early next year. Other ACCP work includes a Tourism Development Study in several Adirondack Communities, the development of an Atlas of Adirondack Park Socio-Economic Indicators, support for the implementation of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software in Tupper Lake High School, on-going community research in Johnsburg and Clifton-Fine, and facilitating collaboration among Adirondack communities to move forward on addressing community and conservation issues in the Adirondack Park."

    If you have questions or comments regarding the preliminary results from the research or ACCP*s work in the Adirondacks please contact Heidi Kretser at (203)-624-1890, heidi.kretser@yale.edu 258 Saint Ronan Street, New Haven, CT 06511, Cali Brooks at (518)-327-6989, cali@netheaven.com, c/o Office of Development, Paul Smith*s College, PO box 265, Paul Smith*s NY 12970 or Bill Weber at (718-220-5158), wcsnap@aol.com, Wildlife Conservation Society, 185th Street & Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY 10460.

                        Continue on to Survey