History often repeats itself, as the old saying goes. Ignoring past historical events only encourages its repetition, especially those with disasterous consequences. There is a proposal floating about to build low and middle income housing along the western and northern base of Mt. Ida, otherwise known as Prospect Park. It reminds me of another old saying, "Don't fool with Mother Nature."

Providing low income housing is a noble effort, considering that the Ahern Apartments are currently being razed and the Taylor Apartments will likely follow. There is a need to provide new housing for the less fortunate. However, clustering a new housing development along the base of Mt. Ida may not be a great idea, especially if the sayings above hold true.

In the early summer of 1836, a large part of the western slope of Mt. Ida separated from itself and slide to the base. No one was hurt in that first recorded landslide. However, the following year, on Sunday evening of January 1, 1837, another large part of the Mount near Washington Street slid at least 500 feet from the base destroying three homes, killing seven people and swept away two stables killing 16 horses.

History repeated itself a few years later. On November 14, 1840, on a Saturday evening, and the following Monday, two more land slides made their way down crushing one house but fortunately didn't hurt anyone.

Two years after that, on a Friday afternoon, another slide near Washington killed 15 people and demolished ten structures marking the most disasterous slide Troy has ever experienced.

Finally, on the evening of March 17, 1859, Washington Street was hit again wiping out the unfinished building of St Peter's college.

As a reminder of those geological principles described above, the last major slip of Mt. Ida can be seen as you drive along Interstate 787.

There have been no major slips of Mt. Ida since 1859. Throughout the 19th century many homes were built along Ferry Street up the hill and along the northern base of the Mount with no problems. Unfortunately, they were destroyed not by landslide but by urban renewal and the ill fated original I 787 plan, during the 1970's, but that is a different story. This is the location of the new proposed housing complex.

I bring this up because landslides have been in the news over the last few years in the Capital District. You may remember the landslide off Broadway in downtown Schenectady a few years ago. It killed one person while he was pumping gas at the station situated directly below the hill.

And if you have been following the news over the past week, one of the meanders of the Normanskill near Delmar and Albany has been washing away a bank, and along with it a few old time businesses that had the misfortune and uncommon sense to build on top of it.

This does not mean a new slide is eminent from Mt. Ida, and I'm not suggesting that we rope off the area. However, considering the history of Mt. Ida, and the tremendous amount of rain this Spring, areas prone to slippage need to be watched carefully.

More importantly, if an area like Mt. Ida has a history of slides, why would anyone in their right mind want to build housing next to it, or on it, in the first place? Why risk it? I already demonstrated that history DOES repeat itself. I can imagine the leaders in the villages of Herculeium and Pompeii reassuring the villagers that Mt. Vesuvius hadn't exploded in 500 years. Why worry?

I personally noticed a few years ago evidence of a small slip at the base of Canal Street and Spring Avenue when I was looking for a 19th century nail works in the vicinity. I'm not a geologist but it is obvious that there are some unstable soils around here.

And so It seems to me foolish to build new housing along Mt. Ida, as proposed a few weeks ago. Leave it as park land. Would it not be a better idea to refill 8th Street? You may remember the beautiful and historic homes that lined both sides of 8th before DOT tore them down for the ill conceived original design of I-787.

Building low and moderate income row houses along the 8th street landscape seems more humane and natural than cramming hundreds of families that may have some problems financially or socially into a ball, otherwise known as a "housing complex." We already learned that piling people on top of each other doesn't work. Pointing fingers at them by placing them in a complex does nothing for self esteem either.

There is ample room to accommodate all of the proposed new housing from the area between the parking lot of the new Junior Museum to the plot owned by the Community Gardens near Hoosick, along both the eastern and western side of 8th Street.

Furthermore, there are hundreds of vacant buildings throughout the city of Troy that could be rehabilitated (instead of demolished) for a fraction of the cost of new construction. We could provide housing and rehab a historic Troy home, realizing two benefits for the price of one. Seems like a logical thing to do.

And if I hear another NIMBY tell me they don't want "problem" people living next to them, let me remind them that having 'problems' has nothing to do with where you sit on the social ladder. All of us could use a helping hand once in a while.