Regional Highlights

The chairman of the New York Power Authority says Lake Erie and Lake Ontario could be the starting places where thousands of renewable megawatts will be produced from offshore windmills over the next two decades, according to a broadcast news story on Buffalo's WKBW-TV.  Richard Kessel sees Western New York as the place where the United States can begin to follow the lead of Europe, where he says power generators several miles offshore are common.

Requests for Proposals to build the windmills are being solicited by NYPA until June 1, 2010 and a decision is expected by this December, according to the Chairman and CEO, who made his announcement in December.

Chairman Kessel said the project would mean construction and manufacturing jobs, and local officials echoed his call for increased renewable energy projects for Western New York.

The complete report can be viewed at: http:www.wkbw.com/internal?st=print&id=78268592&path=/news/local

Despite the loss of 1.5 million New York state residents to other states from 2000 to 2008, the Capital District gained population among people moving around the state and nation, according to a report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. California was reportedly the only other state to lose more than a million of its people to out-migration.

The report concluded that New York lost more than any other state due to people moving out, although a continuing flow of new arrivals more than offset the losses, resulting in an overall population increase of about 2.7 percent from 2000 to 2008. The state currently has an estimated population of nearly 19.5 million people, according to US census bureau estimates.

New York's loss of residents is a continuation of a long-term trend that earlier saw 1.7 million people move to other states during the 1990s, according to the Empire Center report.

Read the full report at:
http://www.empirecenter.org/pb/2009/10/empirestateexodus102709.cfm

An ordinance being considered by the Albany Common Council would give the city's planning board a role in approving demolition permits, according to an editorial supporting the proposed law in the Albany Times Union.

Only neighborhoods with official historic designations are protected from indiscriminate building demolitions today, which the editorial notes often results in long-vacant lots that become enduring symbols of urban decay.

Under the new proposal, non-emergency demolition permits would require applicants to seek the approval from the building department and the planning board, in an effort to require owners to say what they intend for the vacant parcels in the future.

Read the full Times Union editorial at:
http://archives.timesunion.com/mwebl/wmsql.wm.request?onwimage&imageid=8920654

Rejection the flat but steady funding from Nassau County in recent years, the county legislature has adopted a budget with a $1.4 million cut for Long Island Bus, equaling a 13 percent decrease in its annual budget that will mean service cuts or fare increases are likely on the way, according to transit advocates.

The cut approved was much less than the 27 percent originally proposed, according to an article in Long Island's Newsday, and representatives from groups including the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Vision Long Island, and the Long Island Federation of Labor had lobbied hard against the reductions, according to the paper.

Long Island Bus was the first transit system on the East Coast to run entirely on compressed natural gas rather than diesel, according to the League of Conservation Voters Web site. The system experienced record-breaking ridership at 32.6 million people last year. Funding battles between Nassau County and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the county-owned line, have been ongoing for several years.

County Executive Thomas Suozzi has been quoted as saying he believes Nassau has no business running a bus company, and he has urged the MTA to take over full ownership and control of the agency, according to Newsday.

Read the entire Newsday story at:
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/bus-advocates-push-to-restore-funds-to-heartbeat-of-nassau-1.1532468?print=true

Some 200 participants were on hand this week as Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton hosted played host to the "Revitalizing NY Summit" that took place at Proctor's Theatre on October 7th. Jointly sponsored by Empire State Future and the New York State Department of State, the event featured Smart Growth America President Geoff Anderson and noted author Norman Mintz, who highlighted the list of conference speakers.

Rebuilding New York's economy through sustainable development was the theme of the major, one-day public conference. New York's Secretary of State Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez attended a pre-conference dinner at the the Stockade Inn, and Mayor Stratton joined Peter B. Fleischer, Executive Director of Empire State Future, and Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors, in opening remarks to the attendees on Wednesday.

Mr. Mintz, Director of Design for the 34th Street Partnership in New York City and co-author of Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown, was the event's luncheon speaker. Several other expert panelists addressed a wide range of Smart Growth and economic development topics, including the link between land use and economic revitalization, and the statewide need for sustainable growth throughout New York.

A coalition of organizations got the chance to lobby Governor Paterson on some major issues facing Long Island for more than an hour recently in Farmingdale, and Empire State Future coalition member Vision Long Island was one of the hosts that pressed the Governor to help solve the region's transportation, energy, economic development and infrastructure woes.

Vision Long Island Executive Director Eric Alexander said the Governor told the group he had not seen a presentation as professional, collaborative, and productive in a long time. The issues included amending the state's transportation policy to provide increased focus on traffic calming and pedestrian safety, as well as the creation of a regional bus system and pushing for the Lighthouse project, according to a report in Long Island Business News.

The meeting was organized by Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Vision Long Island, the Long Island Federation of Labor, Nassau County Chambers of Commerce and Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce.

Read the full story at: http://libn.com/blog/2009/10/08/paterson-gets-an-earful-on-long-island/

The staff at TSTC works hard every day to make sure we have better transit options, safer streets for walking and cycling, and that our transportation investments help protect the environment. Please join them on October 29th for TSTC's annual benefit, or make a contribution to the organization's work.

This year they are honoring US Senator Robert Menendez and Streetsblog/Streetsfilms. Senator Menendez has been crucial in securing federal money for the Access to the Region's Core passenger rail tunnel, which, when completed in 2017, will double rail service across the Hudson River. Streetsblog is an online daily news source that has transformed the livable streets movement in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and nationwide. Its counterpart, Streetfilms, produces short films to encourage people friendly design.

TSTC's Annual Benefit is an opportunity to support a good cause and to celebrate gains toward a more sustainable transportation network with advocates, civic leaders, and elected and agency officials. It's also a fun event!

To learn more, and purchase tickets online, please link here.

To learn more about the Campaign's work, please link here.

The much-heralded Long Island Lighthouse project is in the news again, as the development's owners accused the Town of Hempstead of not moving fast enough to schedule a zoning meeting that will determine the future of the proposal, according to a story in Newsday. The town supervisor, Kate Murray, thereafter proposed a September 22 date for the session to the Town Board.

Project principals Charles Wang and Scott Rechler have proposed a Smart Growth mixed-use community on 150 acres of county-owned land, centered on their plans for an extensively refurbished Nassau Coliseum. Mr. Wang is also the owner of the New York Islanders hockey team, and has said he needs a decision on what can be built by next month, when the team's season gets underway, or he'll consider moving it away, according to the paper.

The Newsday article quotes Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi as saying, "It's great that the town has gotten the SEQRA (environmental review) process moving, but they still have to get the zoning process off the ground. If we want to get all of it done by the start of the hockey season, the town has to schedule a zoning hearing now."

State and local transportation planners say a future community vision is the key to the "I-81 Challenge," and the first of a series of preliminary, invitation-only focus group sessions is scheduled for September 14, according to columnist Dick Case in a recent edition of the Syracuse Post Standard.

It will be the start of a long process, with State Department of Transportation officials indicating the project won't be ready to go to bid until 2017, but the results of the approaching early discussions may well determine what Syracuse will look like for many decades to come. Shifting current interstate traffic to another road or alignment and making the current route a boulevard, as has been proposed, has ramifications well beyond Downtown Syracuse, requiring a regional examination of alternatives, according to officials.

James D'Agostino, director of the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council, is quoted as saying the first meetings are designed to "find out what the people want to know" about the project. Focus participants are said to consist of city and county officials including town supervisors, village mayors and planning board chairs; downtown Syracuse business representatives and residents; local developers and real estate executives; major local employers; and neighborhood and environmental group officials. Public meetings are planned for January and February.

Read the full story in Dick Case's column at:
http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2009/08/remaking_i81_through_syracuse.html

Additional information about Downtown Syracuse planning is at:
http://blog.syracuse.com/cny-speaks/2009/08/a_citizens_agenda_for_downtown.html

A major renovation and rebuilding project at the historic 1890 Tarrytown Metro-North Railroad station, which serves 2,800 commuters each workday, was announced recently by Governor David A. Paterson. The project will be funded using $39 million in Federal stimulus funding and will improve the second-busiest station on the line, surpassed only the Croton-Harmon stop.

According to a report in The Journal News of Rockland County, the previously delayed project includes replacing the station's elevated platforms, adding heated shelters, and installing a new public address system. Staircases to the overpasses will be replaced, and the two overpasses will be heated and raised (to meet new state freight heiht requirements). New benches and ticket machines are also included in the work.

The project is scheduled to begin late this year and be completed in 2012, according to the paper.

Read The Journal News story at: http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009908180340