“The town recognized that with the growth of New Hartford over the years, the facilities we had were inadequate,” Yagey said. “We needed more room.”But the Town's population is not growing!
As the town’s regional popularity as a retail center has grown, so have the number of people who show up in traffic and criminal court, said William Virkler, who’s been a town justice for nine years.And who allowed -- even cheered -- the Town's "regional" popularity as a retail center? It was NOT the residents who are now expected to come up with money. They were looking for the quiet suburban life, but that was taken from them. Bad choices by greedy/ambitious Town fathers and their developer friends have brought about urban sprawl, the cost of which is now coming due.
Since the Town created a problem for itself by deciding to be the "regional" shopping mecca, how about taking a "regional" approach to the solution:
Enter into a sharing agreement with the City of Utica to use its court house.
City court generally operates during days, Town Court in the evenings. Such an arrangement could benefit both Town and City taxpayers... and maybe pave the way for more consolidation in the future.
6 comments:
BLASPHEMY I SAY! The nobility of the aristocratic Town of New Hartford holding court within the city limits of Utica? To share anything with the commoners and serfs of Utica just to save millions of taxpayer money is UNTHINKABLE!
Not bloody likely!
Now . . . This blog is getting out of hand. Thanks for the laugh.
Sometimes you embrace the "regional approach", except when it comes to water.
I DO embrace the regional approach when it comes to water . . . but NOT the manner in which it was done.
I feel the same for sewers as well.
Both cases resulted in the public losing control.
With water, control has been lost to an unelected authority whose members have no other responsibilities.
With sewers, control has been lost to a county legislature where most of the members making decisions are disinterested because their constituents are unaffected.
And both cases resulted in an unneeded increase in government and duplication of functions.
How would you create the ultimate regional authority? Would you have elected officals on the water board? Where only people with a huge war chest could get elected. We have that in every other form of regional goverment now.
Waterboy -- An "ultimate regional authority" would be another (and unnecessary) level of government.
The normal way of creating a regional entity is through annexation or merger using existing government structures. NO NEW GOVERNMENT IS CREATED but existing government is used more efficiently. That is how Utica originally grew. When people on both sides of a municipal boundary line perceive a benefit to joining together it will happen . . and it should not happen until then.
Great idea but with the us against them attitude and the lack of honest politicians (oxymoron) I don’t think I will see it in my life time.... keep up the good work.
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