Despite renewed interest in government consolidation at the state level and elsewhere, Altmar would be only the 38 village to be dissolved in New York since 1920, according to the New York State Conference of Mayors. The last one dissolved in Central New York was in 1979.

       Several residents quoted in the Post Standard complained there were no village services, including water or sewer or street maintenance, in return for the taxes they paid. One said that village residents tried to dissolve it 25 years ago, but the petition was allowed to lapse at the time. Altmar was first incorporated in 1876, and a fire in 1885 destroyed most of the village existing at that time, according to village historian Florence Gardner, who was quoted in the article.

On a recent summer, 230 Greater Rochesterians journeyed to the historic George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre to watch and discuss a documentary about the importance of transportation choice to America's revitalization.

This screening of Beyond the Motor City, organized by Empire State Future and ESF Coalition member Rochester Regional Community Design Center (www.rrcdc.org), was followed by a panel and audience discussion featuring eight local and state transportation experts and advocates.

Beyond the Motor City is part of the PBS initiative Blueprint America, a groundbreaking (pardon the pun) investigation and illumination of the frightening plight of America's aging, overburdened, and neglected infrastructure. Beyond the Motor City delves deeply into the most distressing and certainly the most ironic case of poor urban/regional planning, misallocation of resources, and infrastructure-driven inequity--Detroit, Michigan. The city that gave us the "freedom" of the automobile now suffers terribly from the economic, ecological, and social wreckage--and lost freedoms--that automobile-driven culture and community development has created.

With planning, environment, and business groups who are interested in advancing the many principles of Smart Growth, the new coalition is working to turn them into reality in cities, towns and villages all across the Empire State.

The coalition builds on the generally accepted Smart Growth ideas that cities need nurturing, suburban sprawl has been straining local services while consuming our landscape, and it's no longer possible to build our way out of traffic congestion.

Empire State Future compliments and expands on efforts to bring progress and sanity to the way we plan our future. And a big element of our work involves communications: we work to provide the Smart Growth constituency and the general public with a lively Web site that is current, informative, and easily used.

We strive to help establish a better public understanding of the links between land development patterns and the high cost of government services -- as well as the contribution of sprawl to ongoing environmental degradation.

People visiting our site for the first time might ask, "What do you mean by Smart Growth, and why is it important?"

To us at Empire State Future, it's the effort to build a healthy economy that offers real choices in transportation, housing, and education while respecting farmlands, open space, and our many natural and historic resources. By building more homes and businesses in already-existing communities, we can save valuable open space and conserve money spent on our roads and costly utility infrastructure. All of which makes Smart Growth important for our future, and for our children's future.

Linking land use decisions with existing development is good because it can take advantage of a multitude of public investments that are already in place, avoiding the need to duplicate them. Sprawl is bad because it tends to reward land speculation in the marketplace without regard to areas where development may be better suited -- and oftentimes much preferred.

Why shouldn't it be simpler for us to work toward a more attractive and economical civic future? A future where

• new development is constructed in places that maximize existing public investment in schools, roads, water and sewer service, transit facilities and information infrastructure.
• workers have good jobs that are within walking distance or an easy commute by bike, bus, rail or automobile
• farm land is protected from encroachment so it can continue to be used to raise livestock and crops, providing a continuing and strong agricultural sector, and rivers, lakes, streams and ponds are pollution-free and provide recreational opportunities for residents and tourists alike
• people can choose to live in older, thriving communities that are beautiful and unique, and that validate the reality that this is still the Empire State!

Empire State Future is striving to reach these values through public education, citizen action, and petitioning our government. Working together, especially during this period of significant economic challenges, our coalition has high hopes for New York's future!

       Five alternative mass transit plans that would connect Stewart International Airport in Newburgh with New York City and the Tri-State Area will be unveiled at a meeting this week, according to the Journal News and LoHud.com. The Orange County session will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn at Newburgh on Tuesday, July 20 from 4 to 8 pm.

      Metro-North Railroad and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have been seeking ways to make the airport more transit accessible to the City, and have previously discussed using express busses and extending Metro-North's Port Jervis Line to the airport, according to the report.

      The article quotes Metro-North spokesperson Marjorie Anders as saying "We are going to present the short list of alternatives, and we think people will be excited about them because some are short-term, some are mid-term, and some are long-term concepts."

      The fight by community leaders across the country to reclaim urban spaces from the automobile and ribbons of concrete is said to be aiding the campaign to dismantle the Sheridan, according to the article. The last removal of a major road in the City was elevated portions of the West Side Highway, which runs along the waterfront near Manhattan's Hudson River shoreline. It had fallen into disrepair, a truck fell through it at one point, and sections of it were taken down from 1976 to 1989 to place the road at grade level.

      A report dealing with the fate of the Sheridan is due from the State Department of Transportation this week, according to the Times, and while no firm decision is expected, one of three alternatives is to "demap" the roadway, which would eventually lead to its dismantling. The road carries 50,000 vehicles a day, according to state officials.

The bi-partisan bill passed the New York State Assembly 138-2 and the New York State Senate 56-2. It was sponsored by Sam Hoyt of Buffalo in the Assembly and by Westchester's Suzi Oppenheimer, Brooklyn's Velmanette Montgomery and Long Island's Carl Marcellino in the Senate.

Empire State Future views the bill's passage as a giant step toward New York's sustainable economic revitalization. New York may soon be a Smart Growth State! The bill now goes to the Governor who is expected to sign.

      The Hudson Valley should be an integrated transportation corridor focused on transit-oriented development and more livable communities, according to a report issued recently by the state's Quadricentennial Commission. The task force is one of six formed by the Commission that are still working to provide a lasting legacy for the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain celebration.

       Task force co-chair Anthony Shorris believes "It would be great to make the Hudson Valley a national model for the integration of regional transportation," according to a report in Mid Hudson News.com, which carried a story on the report.

       Transportation connections in the valley need to be integrated to encourage tourists and residents to explore the area using mass transit, including train service that's incorporated into the design of a new Tappan Zee Bridge, according to the report, which urged a regional perspective in all planning efforts.

      A bill requiring state agencies to fund infrastructure investments in a manner that is consistent with Smart Growth criteria has gained final legislative approval in Albany, and will be sent to Governor David A. Paterson for action. Passage of the "Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act" was hailed by proponents as a major step away from uncoordinated, sprawl-inducing capital spending decisions by state government.

       "It's a significant advance for Smart Growth principles, fiscal rectitude, and better land use practices in New York," said Peter B. Fleischer, Executive Director of ESF.

       The amendment to the state's Environmental Conservation was sponsored by Senator Suzi Oppenheimer of Westchester and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt of Buffalo. It establishes a Smart Growth Advisory Council in state agencies, authorities, and public corporations that are charged with evaluating proposed or existing projects according to established Smart Growth criteria. Support for the measure was overwhelming in both houses of the legislature.

While some may believe that political cooperation may be hard to come by in New York State, two Upstate counties have been able to establish innovative financial approaches, setting aside political differences, to unite under the common interest of an improved and sustainable economic future.

Schenectady County and Onondaga County have each developed and employed distinct fiscal strategies that provide financial support through sales tax revenue for smart, regional decision-making. These two counties' strategies should serve as examples for other Upstate communities, as they have the potential to stop destructive "sprawl without growth" by focusing on the existing infrastructure and building stock to create vibrant living environments.

This event is free to the public thanks to the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and Samloff Family Fund. Sponsoring organizations are Empire State Future, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, Rochester Rail Transit Committee, and Reconnect Rochester.

Click here to learn more about this important documentary

      One impetus for the summit was the $151 million in Federal stimulus funds coming to the state for rail improvements, part of a national pool of $8 billion dedicated to high-speed rail corridors around the country. New York was well behind California and Florida and other states in the competition for funds, but officials here have said they hope to better in future funding rounds. 

      Economic development in a high-speed corridor was a topic of discussion at the summit, as was the feasibility of using the existing routes shared between passenger and freight, or establishing a separate dedicated track in a "secure corridor." CSX, the private freight carrier which owns the tracks, has made it clear it doesn't believe mixing passenger trains and freight on the same tracks is safe, according to the paper. The railroad's position on high-speed passenger rail was said to be improving, however, according to Karen Rae of the Federal Railroad Administration, who was quoted in the piece.

      Two years after the rare merger of a significant local police force into a county sheriff's department, Cicero may soon follow Clay down that road, according to a report in the Post Standard of Syracuse.

       The 11-member Cicero Police Study Committee has held one public session on the idea, and plans two more in the near future. They plan to put forward a proposal this summer, the Town Board could act at its August 25 session, and the question could appear on the general election ballot in November, according to the paper.

       Taxpayers in Clay saw a reported 20 percent drop in town taxes after the local force there was incorporated into the county sheriff's department, and supporters in Cicero hope to see that happen in their town as well. The local police force for the 30,000 residents of Cicero will cost taxpayers $1.2 million this year for the 14 full-time and eight part-time officers employed. So far, Clay is the only town in Onondaga to propose and enact local police consolidation with the county.

       The cable designs were considerably higher than the arched span proposal, and had drawn criticism because they were said to likely impact migratory birds in the corridor. Environmentalists also favored the design preferred by the public because the location of its piers minimized the effects on fish habitat, according to the paper.

      Design selection is one of the few remaining issues in the decades-long effort to build a new bridge. Officials hope a final environmental impact statement can be submitted in July, according to the newspaper's report. Bridge officials are also said to be considering the cost and construction issues of replacing a proposed elevated ramp for vehicles exiting the bridge plaza with a tunnel under the Niagara River. Design of a new truck plaza for the bridge has also been a major source of controversy, due to encroachment into the Columbus Park neighborhood and the required demolition of a significant number of homes.