local demolition of SAGE building

I saw this in today's copy of my local newspaper on-line. The location of the building is in New Windsor, NY. Stewart International Airport -as some of you know- sits on the border of the Town of Newburgh and New Windsor. It used to be and still is to a degree, a major Marine, Army and Air Force base. More currently, it is a commercial international airport and a base for the Air Force, local Army and Air Force Reserves and touts a pair of the biggest runways in the USA. It is the 3rd location on the list for emergency landings for the Space Shuttles if something should go wrong. Unfortunately, as this piece suggests, the military has already removed the actual SAGE equipment from the building. I used to go on walks past this building as a kid as there is a path near it that my family would take through a wooded area (scenic stuff) and up until recently, was open to the public, sort of like a park. I figured I'd send this to cctech because it has a lot of historical relevance. -John Boffemmyer IV STORY AS FOLLOWS: July 16, 2005 Cold War building faces colder reality By Jeremiah Horrigan Times Herald-Record jhorrigan at th-record.com New Windsor ? You'll find it on the edge of Stewart International Airport, a windowless, four-story concrete cube that looks like it could withstand a nuclear blast. And that's exactly what it was built to do. If things had gone as many Americans feared during the Cold War, if the Russian bombers had finally come over the horizon, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment building was the key to the country's military defense system. The building that once thrummed with the tensions of a time when nuclear Armageddon was a constant threat was abandonned by the military decades ago. The unnerving skeleton of its legacy remain, including the war room, where etched-glass maps of the Eastern U.S. display likely Russian targets. Above the maps looms a doomsday tote board, meant to track the "progress" of World War III. Even before the '50s faded and ICBMs became the weapon of choice among the world's super-powers, the SAGE building had become as antiquated as an Edsel. It's now slated for the wrecking ball under the airport's new 20-year master plan for development. And that plan is under siege by a group of people who for years have been laboring to transform the SAGE building into what they call a Cold War Peace Museum. Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet has spearheaded the effort, lobbying, fundraising and proselytizing on the building's behalf for the past five years. To her, the building isn't a dead relic but a living reminder of an era she believes we forget at our peril. "All the stuff we deal with daily ? terrorism, the possibility of nuclear terror or the situation in Korea ? it all began with the Cold War." Zimet's not much of a history buff herself, and, after years of exploring possibilities, she's doubtful the building is suitable for becoming a first-class museum. But that, she argues, doesn't mean the building should be demolished. Taking it down (at an estimated cost of nearly a million dollars) would be no different than destroying Washington's headquarters in Newburgh, she says. Tanya Vanasse toured the building's interior recently. She wasn't impressed. Vanasse is the airport's director of marketing. She sees no reason to keep the building around. The airport's master plan calls for the building to come down sometime between 2008 and 2012, to make way for a rail yard that would be part of a new train station, according to Zimet. "I can see no viability of making this into a public space. It's far too dangerous, it's got far too many accessibility problems," she said last week. "I could see removing the (etched glass) pieces and building a display around them." Vanasse said the plan is open ended, that no hard-and-fast timetable exists. Nevertheless, Zimet's group is urging people to sign petitions that would preserve the building. In the meantime, the SAGE building, silent and foreboding as a tomb, continues to do what it has always done: It waits. Anti-blast from the past was built to last If it goes, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment building won't go easily. Its thick, lead-reinforced concrete walls were intended to withstand the ravages of a nuclear holocaust. Only a direct hit could have taken it out. The building was designed in the mid-1950s as part of a network of identical information-gathering centers built throughout the country that was supposed to protect the country's nuclear bomber fleet. Its designers intentionally made it so nondescript that only a handful of military personnel even knew of its existence or purpose. Its computer system was beyond compare, requiring thousands of square feet and at least as many delicate transistors to track potential intruders. Watching the skies at a SAGE building console, said one retired Air Force veteran, was like something out of "Buck Rogers." But, like so many other state-of-the-art defense systems, this one was obsolete almost before it became operational. It was designed to combat nuclear bombers. By the end of the decade, intercontinental ballistic missiles had become the bomb delivery system of choice. The structure was officially decommissioned in 1969. Since then, it has served as a free-trade zone. Its ground floor is now occupied by a chocolate- packaging factory. Jeremiah Horrigan E-mail this story Print this story Subscribe to the Record Today's top news headlines ? DPW blackmail unfolds ? Tragedy strikes family ? Locals doubt camp's zoning ? Cold War building faces colder reality ? 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