Sean from "Slums Along the Mohawk" had an interesting post this week: The Forces Behind Consolidation. Some people are considering elimination of the Village of Cobleskill and merging it into the surrounding down.
To those of us who have followed village affairs closely over the past three years and have watched numerous developers unsuccessfully request village water service for projects located outside the village, it is obvious that this is the real impetus behind the push for consolidation. Village officials may attempt to throw sand in your eyes by telling you consolidation will save money and increase efficiency. But this is not true and THEY KNOW IT! The truth is, this attempt to consolidate the village into the town is essentially a smash-and-grab operation to plunder the village’s water and sewer services in order to fuel growth benefitting only a handful of developers.We've see the "smash-and-grab" happen in Greater Utica . . . only here we called it "regionalization" and created a part county sewer district and a water authority as vehicles for developers to plunder city water and sewer services. The result was the same: sprawl . . . a population spread too thin and an infrastructure that is far too large for the population required to support it.
We learn from Sean's story that consolidation pushed by developers and their friends in government and the media can be just as bad as "regionalization" . . . it all depends on who's interests are the ones being served.
3 comments:
I have a sneaking suspicion that the proposed Federal Economic Stimulus Program may just play a major role in accelerating this surreptitiously misplaced consolidation also known as urban sprawl.
Todays OD talks again about 911 consolidation. Another study?? How much more do they need to know? Just afraid to step on ones toes. Lots of more talking and no actions one way or the other. Status quo.
ALso the 29 Legislators would be a very good start. Just never hear anything about this. Kind of like just don't talk about that subject.
The O.D. speaks with forked tongue. What have they done to investigate
the $700,000 taxpayer bill incurred by Town of New Hartford residents?
There is a duplication of payments made by the New Hartford Town residents, (i.e. 911 for New Hartford & 911 for County).
The County 911 is much more efficient and can certainly handle the additional call volume from New Hartford which really is not that much.
Did anyone know that the Town of New Hartford CANNOT accept 911 Mobile Phone (cellular) calls? They must be handled off by Oneida County to the Town of New Hartford.
Is this efficiency in Town Government? I dare say NO!
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