U.S. Representative Brian Higgins of
The article quoted Conversancy
chairwoman-elect Anne Harding Joyce as saying "We have an opportunity to
correct a historical wrong, and those opportunities don't come along very
often."
Read the full article at
http://www.buffalonews.com/cigpbin/
As a major environmental cleanup
commenced at the former Matt Petroleum site in Utica recently, local officials
heralded the work as another breakthrough in reclaiming sites that have long
been stalled in bureaucratic or funding never lands. According to a story in
The Matt site was the location of several
major oil spills over the years, according to the paper, some of which reached
the river. Major contaminants in the land at the site will be removed to a
landfill, and minor ones will be buried and capped, according to officials.
This site now joins two other significant
environmental remediation areas in
The story credits recent movement on
long-stalled Brownfield sites to improved relations between the city and state,
with Mayor David Roefaro pushing for action and state DEC Commissioner Pete
Grannis focusing stronger agency efforts on urban areas.
Read the entire Observer Dispatch article
at:
Changes to plans for a large truck plaza
in
The nearly $20 million environmental
review for the new bridge that has taken a decade is nearing its end, according
to the Peace Bridge Authority and the State Department of Transportation. The
newspaper quotes Marie A. Corrado, director of major projects for state DOT as
saying, "Part of what we're doing is creating a green ribbon around the plaza
in order to protect the park and the neighborhood from the plaza."
Others maintain their opposition to the
project, including Kathleen Mecca, president of the Niagara Gateway Columbus
Park Association, who said "This is the wrong project in the wrong place. It doesn't
belong here. Anything of this magnitude cannot fit into an urban setting."
Read the entire Buffalo News piece
at:
A proposal for an agricultural protection zone in the Town of Batavia has drawn fire from some residents and some recommended changes from the town's planning board. The new zone was developed during work on the town's comprehensive plan, and has been under consideration for more than a year, according to a story in The Daily News of Batavia.
Under the plan an estimated 5,000 acres on the north side of the New York State Thruway would be placed in a category designed to protect it from commercial and residential development, according to the paper.
While some property owners objected to the plan at a recent public hearing, the town's planning director said the town board should address issues including a lack of permanent protections for the large tract of mostly wet and unproductive land under discussion.
The full article may be viewed here.
"Smart shrinkage," or land banking, is a big part of the solution to the problems of many old, fading industrial cities, according to Bruce Fisher in a cover story in Buffalo's Artworks weekly. The piece examines the fate of several Great Lakes cities after their once thriving industries left, and contrasts the amount of tax money being spent on revival efforts with the result: continuing declines in population. The thesis is we can't build or buy our way to prosperity, but we may be able to manage a revival through enlightened planning and leadership.
The article raises the issue of purposefully abandoning some sections of inner cities, mothballing them in favor of concentration on neighborhoods that are currently viable, until the population and tax base rebound.
The common thread among the shrinking cities of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan is that "the problems are all the same -- sprawl without growth, population loss, mass abandonment of housing, growing dependency, de-industrialization, and of course the racial isolation within old city boundaries," according to Professor Fisher.
Read the entire Artworks article here.
Following a six-month study of its feasibility, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York are poised to merge, according to a page one article this week in the Post Standard.
The two agencies, which the paper notes have sometimes been at loggerheads, historically have represented different constituencies: the Chamber with 64 employees on the side of small business, and the MDA with 25 focused on the needs of large employers, including big manufacturing concerns. While each would continue to exist as legal entities under the merger proposal, a new organization would be formed to employ both their staffs and operate as one, according to the paper.
"We want a seamless program, so companies have one organization to turn to for assistance," said Rob Simpson, the current President and CEO of the MDA, who would lead the new group.
The Chamber Board is set to vote on the proposal January 25th, and the MDA Board vote is scheduled for February 4th.
The full story is on the Post Standard Web site at: Syracuse.com
Following early success that included approval of a needed zoning change, the strip mall proposed for a tract of city-owned quarry land more than a mile from Little Fall's Downtown commercial center has been slowed, according to a story in the Mohawk Valley Express, headquartered in Amsterdam. The project has been the subject of spirited debate in the community and before the City Council since it first came to public notice early last fall.
At their January session, the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency took no action on a "payment in lieu of taxes" proposal (know in development circles as a PILOT) that would allow the project to go forward with incremental governmental financing for additional municipal infrastructure required to serve the mall. An IDA official was quoted as saying the proposal lacked enough information to advance beyond the discussion stage.
The strip mall proposal has drawn lively debate in the Mohawk Valley city of 5,000 people, and Empire State Future was asked to intervene in the matter by a local organization called "Main Street First" that embraces Smart Growth principles and opposes the new mall. Executive Director Peter B. Fleischer addressed the group in October about the application of Smart Growth to a situation such as theirs.
The full Mohawk Valley Express story can be found on the Web site www.mohawkvalley.com
Local officials and some residents are split over the use of Federal stimulus funds for demolition as a way to flight neighborhood blight, even as Albany is proceeding to use $275,000 for that purpose, according to the Albany Times Union in a page one Sunday piece.
The report quotes University at Albany Professor Ray Bromley as saying "the majority of vacant and abandoned buildings in the most distressed neighborhoods probably need to be demolished," while critics of the idea suggest the city is taking the easy way out.
Susan Holland, Executive Director of Historic Albany Foundation, says the funds would be better spent by applying them to moderately distresses properties with owners who are committed to saving them, according to the paper.
Read the entire Times Union article at: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=871451
Investors from California plan to restore every boarded-up house on an entire neglected city block in Utica, according to a page-one story in the Observer Dispatch. The same developers have already rehabilitated homes on Rutger and John Streets, and are now focused on Park Avenue, where they have already begun work.
The developers are quoted as saying there are some beautiful homes on Park Avenue, and "we have a shot at buying enough of them to turn the whole street around."
Continuation of the developer's efforts will depend on the amount of financial assistance they receive from city agencies, according to the report, which quotes Mayor David Roefaro as supporting the plans.
Read the full Observer Dispatch story at: http://www.uticaod.com/news/x235899936/A-rebirth-on-Park-Avenue
City officials are reported to be "thrilled" at the recent movement of a long-stalled, massive development of national retail stores, condominiums, student housing, offices and a parking garage that would transform the southeast corner of Downtown Troy. The proposal recently went before a meeting of the local Industrial Development Agency and is expected to proceed if a financial assistance package is requested and approved, according to a story in the Albany Times Union.
The report indicates the proposal would include a master plan for the area, which currently consists of mostly vacant lots cleared long ago through urban renewal efforts. The project area includes Congress, Ferry and Eighth Streets, a section described by developers as currently a "raceway" for local traffic.
Read the full Times Union story at:
http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=8925964
