Boundary Boondoggles . . .

It seems that some people in New Hartford are never satisfied. An expanded court facility was rejected by the voters, so now there is movement afoot to demolish an historical structure to create more parking for the current court facility. Is this to "get even?"

Town Fathers constantly want Bigger and Better . . . more, More, MORE . . . . BUT THE POPULATION IS STAGNANT, so why does Town Government need MORE? Town Officialdom has an Edifice Complex... whether for its own buildings or those of developers that will justify growing more government. Personal ambitions drive the Town . . . and the Town -- to which most people moved to get away from the city -- has become like a city with all the problems of a city. The needs of the RESIDENTS have been lost in all the maneuvering. So the people will be forced to pay more in Taxes and lost Quality of Life so a certain few can play their game.

Let's think about Court Facilities . . .

Town Court operates at night . . . meanwhile

City Court operates during the day . . .

One is 6 miles from the other . . . and the Utica City Court now has a new parking lot with plenty of spaces. One would think that with one court at night and the other during the day it would make sense for the two to share the same facilities . . .

But there is that pesky municipal Boundary separating New Hartford from Utica. So I guess that is what we are really paying for . . . . the line on a map -- and the egos hiding behind it.

Merging City and Town . . .

Finally, someone is getting the message! From Capital 9 News, an Amsterdam alderman -- and mayoral candidate -- is proposing a merger of the City of Amsterdam with the Town of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Alderman (R) Anthony "Babe" Pallotta said, "We work together, we play together, we shop together and we should be all one entity."

Are the city and towns of Amsterdam really ready to become one?

Pallotta says yes and now's the time for the two to merge.

"The town is expanding and growing and the city is withering on the vine. I say by combining both entities together we can grow together," he said.

"We work together, we play together, we shop together . . . " One can say the same thing about Utica and New Hartford/Whitestown/etc. In both places, neither city nor suburbs can make significant decisions without affecting each other. In both places boundaries and attitudes divide and disconnect a population of shared interests from effectively controlling its destiny. The result in both places has been urban sprawl -- no real growth -- with regional populations dropping.

It will be interesting to see if in Amsterdam the concept moves beyond mere election season talk. The town supervisor seems reticent, perhaps feeling threatened. But Mr. DiMezza might make a good mayor some day!

The City and Town of Amsterdam have a lot going for them in this regard compared with Utica and environs. There are fewer jurisdictions to deal with. Water and sewer are still part of city government rather than separate agencies. City and Town share the same name. They share the Greater Amsterdam School District. Merger of the City and Town seems like a "natural."

Merger can reconnect a people with the interests they share in common. Instead of city and suburb wasting energy competing with each other, the energy can be used to propel both forward.

= = = =
Update 10/16:
Amsterdam water and sewer figure prominently in relationships between city and suburb, and are now playing into the "merger" talk: See "Amsterdam's water issues back on tap."

Lawsuits in the Making?

Capital News 9 reports "Canal closing early leaves businesses high and dry." It seems that canal marinas are taking a hit because boaters are in a rush trying to get out of the canal before it closes.

“This time of year most of your boats are headed back south because they got to get out of the system,” said Bernie Brandow, St.Johnsville Marina Owner.

This year they have to get out even earlier. An end of season rush could mean big business for Brandow and other marinas along the Mohawk. Except for one thing, boaters aren't stopping.

“They're trying to make up time so they're not stopping at night for dockage or fuel. That's basically the hold up here,” said Brandow. . . .

The problem is every time that lock opens one point five millions gallons of water flushes down stream and needs to be replaced with water upstream at the Hinckley reservoir. That's where water is at its lowest level since 1915 when the reservoir was created.

Hmm . . . If the Mohawk Valley Water Authority was complying with its old agreement with the state, it would be contributing from its Gray Reservoir the equivalent of its entire draw from Hinckley for drinking water -- about 21 million gallons per day (MGD) based on the Water Authority's 2002 engineering report. Divide by 1.5 MGD for each lock closing and you get an extra 14 lock closings per day that would be possible if MVWA obeyed its agreement -- TIMES the 18 locks between Herkimer and the Hudson. THAT'S 252 fewer lock closings a day that can be attributed by math to MVWA's non-compliance. Sound's like a lot of inconvenience to boaters, disruption to shippers, and lost business for marinas to me!

Shhh .... Someone might get the idea that MVWA should pay! There go the rates!

(See, kids, math can be fun.)

How about some more math? The flow out of the dam is now 120 CFS and the authority is not contributing the 30 CFS it is supposed to do. Would a flow of 150CFS be enough to keep the creek open for fishing? That is more lost business for some people.

Somehow the pictures of boats lining up, empty marinas, and no fishing signs are more compelling visuals than the one Mr. Becher uses with the fish tank and shot glass to show how "insignificant" the MVWA's actions are.

Water for the Future . . .

Hinckley 9/29/07
By now people are starting to realize that even with abundant water resources around us, we will come up short if they are improperly managed. While plenty of blame for our current crisis may be heaped on the Canal Corporation, we must remember that the Mohawk Valley Water Authority is ultimately responsible for ensuring abundant water supplies to Greater Utica.

MVWA has abdicated its responsibility.

MVWA abdicated its responsibility when it destroyed Gray Dam in 2002 without having a back up plan. When water flows in the West Canada Creek are low -- such as now -- the MVWA is obliged, by several agreements with the state and private landowners, to replace, gallon for gallon, all the water it removes from Hinckley with water from its own reserve reservoir further upstream on the Black Creek at Gray. If the MVWA had properly maintained and operated its Gray Reservoir, there would be no water crisis, because Greater Utica's needs would have been met by releases from its own reservoir at Gray.

MVWA abdicated its responsibility when it agreed to supply water to Western Oneida County -- to areas that have easier access to supplies from Rome and from the Onondaga County Water Authority. While not part of our immediate crisis, think of how many MORE people would be on restrictions, and think of how much worse it would be if MVWA goes through with its plans. When Greater Utica's population was increasing 40 years ago, a water shortage was forecast without any water redistribution to the western part of the county. If Greater Utica ever resumes population growth (for example, from an additional 9,000 dwelling units forecast for New Hartford at 'build out' in its Comprehensive Plan Update) there will not be enough water.

We need long term planning from our water supplier, not short-term scrambling to solve a financial crunch -- or to meet the desires of some developer.

MVWA has shown itself not up to the task it has been given.

Has Herkimer County Lost Its Senses?

Herkimer County is joining two of its towns to fight AGAINST DOWNSCALING the Jordanville wind project.

The Public Service Commission directed the downscaling to prevent certain views from being spoiled -- in other words, to prevent the project from being a nuisance to others. But the towns and the county want the "economic benefits" from the full size project.

That is what it is really all about, folks: Money.

I volunteer Herkimer County to take the NYRI powerline.

Some Good School News . . .

Per Today's OD, Westmoreland Road School has won a national No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Blue Ribbon School Award.

The school was chosen for the federal honor because students met yearly academic improvement goals for five years, officials said. It is one of 16 schools in the state, and one of nearly 300 in the country to receive the designation . . .

NCLB is constantly maligned -- but the idea of setting goals and then working to meet them seems a common sense approach to success. It's nice to see one school making NCLB work... but even better that it is one nearby.

NYRI: Lights Out for Central/Upstate NY

The Feds have announced our fate: we're in the middle of an electric transmission corridor to serve the coastal megalopolis.

And if you think New York State might hold sway, think again by checking out Arizona's fate.

The commission found Arizona customers would pay more to build the line, but not receive adequate financial benefit. The commission also cited environmental concerns. (Business Journal of Phoenix)

Sound familiar?

Clearly the Federal Government is OK with trashing smaller regional economies for the benefit of large metropolitan areas -- so arguments of that nature will fall on deaf ears. It seems to me we should be concentrating on whether the Feds have the right to do this.

Whatever happened to the concept of states' rights?

An Idea from Buffalo . . .

Tax-Free Zones in Upstate Downtowns?

That's the idea being floated by Assemblyman Hoyt from Buffalo.

“The strength of a region is intimately connected to the strength of its central business districts, and right now, ours is in trouble,” Hoyt said, during a midday news conference held against the backdrop of vacant storefronts along Main Street in downtown Buffalo.

The same is true for Greater Utica.

Under Hoyt’s plan, which he calls “a work in progress,” retailers operating in the downtown cores of upstate cities would be able to sell their wares without collecting local and state sales taxes. In Buffalo, that would mean an 8.75 percent “discount” for shoppers, which Hoyt predicts would result in improved sales for existing merchants, a new crop of downtown shops, and general improvement in downtown economies.

Let's face it. We taxpayers have encouraged suburban malls and big box outlets by building our highway networks . . . as well as other extensions of infrastructure (water, sewer) that would never have existed but for the central city. Witness The Orchard, Consumer Square, and other developments in New Hartford that have arisen in anticipation of the new "840." For the Uticans with cars, the developments are easier to reach than the old downtown -- and Uticans leave their money in New Hartford.

But the old downtowns remain behind -- less convenient, vastly underutilized, and a drag on the Utica taxpayers. They cannot practicably be retrofitted to be as convenient as a development designed from the ground up around the automobile. The sales tax break Hoyt proposes just could even the playing field -- think of it as paying the shopper to put up with the inconvenience of an old street network.

It could work. Buffalo Pundit, who called attention to this article, calls this a 'reverse Empire Zone.' Instead of businesses getting the break to locate somewhere, the consumer does. Doesn't that sound nice? Read more about it in today's Buffalo News.

OC Subsidizing Sprawl in NH . . .

It's bad enough when New Hartford permits its (formerly) quiet suburban residential/agricultural character to be transformed into what is indistinguishable from central Long Island (without the nearby beaches). It's worse when Oneida County subsidizes it. . . but that's the story today in the OD: Office park coming to N. Hartford.

The Hartford, which has 689 employees, is part of The Hartford Financial Services Group, which is based in Hartford, Conn. . . .

The Oneida County Industrial Development Agency’s board of directors Thursday granted preliminary approval of a tax relief package for the project.

The development agency approved a 10-year payment in lieu of taxes program, or PILOT, that will allow one-third of the property taxes to be paid for the first five years and two-thirds to be paid for the remaining five years.

The agency also granted a sales tax exemption, on construction materials and equipment, that is valued at an estimated $700,000.

The tax relief package is tied to the company maintaining 689 jobs for the 10-year period.

“The finance, insurance, real estate cluster is one that we want to see growth opportunities for,” said Papale, who said The Hartford is one of the area’s biggest companies in terms of pay and employees. The average salary at the company is in the mid-$40,000s, she said.

So let's see. We're giving tax breaks to:

1. Maintain jobs that are already here (i.e. no growth)
   
2. Create a new area that will need to be policed
3. Create a new area that will need water and sewer services (likely overloading the Sauquoit Creek pump station even more)
4. Create a new area that will need storm water control
5. Create a new area that will require another traffic light on 840 (if the developers get their way) and likely will require more road construction/expansion.
6. Cause vacancies in other buildings in NH
7. Further degrade the quality of life in NH -- at least for the people in that vicinity who probably don't matter to the Town Fathers because they are not wealthy or they live in adjoining Whitestown.
   

Doesn't sound like such a good deal to me. Unless you are the developer . . . or are the Hartford and get new digs subsidized by the taxpayer.

If the OCIDA wants to give tax breaks, it should be giving them to encourage companies to locate on former "brownfields" (if I can use that term broadly to mean any formerly developed area that has either been abandoned or is now underutilized) where the infrastructure and services are already in place.

But OCIDA is not responsible for providing all the public services and support that this development will need. It is only interested in providing "growth" opportunities for certain "clusters" of businesses.

OCIDA's actions are myopic - a product of the ridiculous way local government has been subdivided into uncoordinated separate agencies and municipalities.

Perhaps if the functions of OCIDA related to the Greater Utica area were transferred to a Municipality of Greater Utica, we would see decisions made that would create opportunities for everyone, including the residents who are paying the bills.

A public hearing on the tax relief program will be at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at the New Hartford Community Center on Kellogg Road. The development agency is scheduled to vote on final approval Wednesday, Nov. 7.

Of course they schedule the hearing for during the day when people have to be at work . . . gotta work to pay for all this development y'a know.

Playing Chicken with the Water Supply . . .

This is not an unprecedented drought . . . if drought is even an appropriate word . . . but the water level in Hinckley Reservoir is at an all time low. Canal Corp. has now decided to switch from Hinckley and draw more on other reservoirs. Per the OD:

Near-miss at Hinckley: The move relieved drainage pressure on depleted Hinckley Reservoir, where outflow has been cut more than 60 percent. On Thursday, the reservoir dropped to within 3 feet of the point at which drinking water for Mohawk Valley Water Authority customers might have been disrupted, the state said.

Within 3 feet? After dropping 11 feet this past month? That's too close for comfort!

Canal Corp. certainly has a bone to pick with the Mohawk Valley Water Authority's failure to replenish the flow with water from its own (now demolished) reservoir . . . but playing with the safety of 130,000 people is a bit over-the-top don't you think? Not to mention that water levels in the West Canada Creek are now reported as going below 160 CFS -- the minimum needed for maintaining aquatic life. Ever do an environmental impact statement on that move, Canal Corp.? How about our environmental laws? How about the riparian rights of people living along West Canada Creek? Did the state condemn the entire flow of the West Canada (minus the reserve for the Water Authority) so it could dry the creek up? That is doubtful.

If the Canal Corp. is trying to prove a point in its dispute with MVWA, it is losing a lot of potential allies.

Troubled Bridges Over Waters . . . and Other Things...

The Sentinel reports that Oneida County has 180 structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges.

In Rome, there were 15 bridges that were given one of the two possible negative grades. Nearly all of the bridges in the city with poor grades are open to traffic.

Curious about Utica . . . or New Hartford?

Go to N.Y.S.D.O.T's Oneida County list and count 'em yourself.

Utica Author Plagiarized by Paris Hilton?

That's the accusation . . . the story is in the LA Times . . .

Goodbye Summer . . .

End of the Summer - Sylvan Beach

Just What Upstate Needs to be Competitive . . .

. . . a "tax increase," tailored to Upstate, in the form of an increase in the Thruway Tolls. Call it a fee increase if you want, but I call it a tax on transportation between our major Upstate cities. . . .

And the State needs conferences to figure out ways to make us competitive?

Rome Helping Utica . . .

The story about Rome police helping Utica police is a welcome bit of news, especially for the besieged people of Cornhill.

What isn't quite understood is why no help from New Hartford, Whitestown, or the various Villages nearby. Those areas will have a lot to lose if Utica goes under.

Perhaps it takes a City to understand the problems of another City, and know what to do.

Taking Incompetence to New Heights . . .

From the Sentinel we find out that the proposed lease of the Old Oneida County Airport to the State for 15 years will be voted on, on Wednesday. All the prime land will be going to the State, leaving little for industrial development.

"Some lawmakers and business officials had hoped benchmarks would be inserted into the lease so the county could take the land and buildings back for reuse if the state center did not develop as expected. There are no such milestones in the proposed agreement."

Why are there no Milestones?

If the State was sincere in its efforts, it would consent to milestones -- and consent to the County canceling the lease if milestones are not met within a specified period.

It appears that the County has not insisted on milestones. WHY NOT? Could it be to ensure that the old airport is no competition for Griffiss?

Let's see what the Greater Utica legislators do with this one since they have the most to lose on this deal. Will they speak out against it and vote against it . . . or will they do what they usually do and play Nice Nice to protect their political behinds?

Like the Sewer subterfuge, our County Legislature -- and the Utica legislators especially -- take incompetence to new heights.

Politically Correct Pinwheel Pinhead Pacifists . . .

I really got riled when I saw this story in last night's OD: Students plant pinwheels for peace.

Students at Frankfort-Schuyler High School and Middle School participated in a world-wide gesture of peace Friday morning by planting pinwheels in the school's courtyard during the Pinwheels for Peace project.

Pinwheels for Peace is an international art and literacy project where students make pinwheels, write creative and artistic messages of peace on them and then place them on display as an art installation at the school.

This is just more of the politically correct indoctrination going on in our schools that is burning up valuable time when children should be learning the "3 Rs," wasting our tax dollars, and ultimately undermining our society by producing generations unable to think.

Let's give our children the knowledge that they will need to figure out the world for themselves when it's their turn to run things, instead of brainwashing them into a particular way of thinking.

OD on Open Meetings in NH

In tonight's Utica OD re the Storm Water Advisory Group : "New Hartford panel should open meetings"

Sweet!

"The contract is going to be passed next week."

"The contract is going to be passed next week," said Board of Legislators Chairman Gerald J. Fiorini regarding the contract between Oneida County and Mohawk Valley EDGE. Mr. Fiorini held things up just to make sure that the contract met with his satisfaction concerning the promotion of the Griffiss industrial park in Rome. But how about the Old Oneida County Airport property? Or how about the Marcy "Nanocenter" site? Or how about the Bossert and Bendix sites in Utica? Will they be getting the same treatment? Who knows?

"The contract is going to be passed next week" . . . I guess it doesn't really matter about the other sites because Rome is what Mr. Fiorini cares about and he already knows that the contract will pass. Nice for Mr. Fiorini that he can take the votes of the entire Legislature for granted.

Too bad for the people . . . they have paid for a rubber stamp.

Duh . . .

The State wants to know if its economy is working . . .

Does this mean that all our highly paid officials do not know? They have to talk to Mohawk Valley business people to figure out if there is a problem?

Yak, yak, yak.

The latest conference is like Mrs. Spitzer's visit last May ... more talk, talk, talk.

Everyone knows our economy is in the trash . . . and Upstate is being depopulated. (Read the Wharton report cited in Gear's post on what's in store for us and your hair will stand on end!)

We need action . . . not more conferences.