Transportation Collaboration in New Hartford
The New Hartford School District has come up with an idea that merits a close look: a shared transportation facility. Per the O-D,
The school district, town, village and local BOCES unit may collaborate to build a shared transportation facility.
The effort reflects an opportunity to consolidate services and facilities, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Gilligan said Monday.
“Rather than everyone building their own, we should share one,” Gilligan said as the Board of Education passed a resolution that could help further the project.
Other potential partners: Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES and the town and village of New Hartford.
But this idea really needs to be taken further because there is a customer already looking for a transportation facility: CENTRO.
CENTRO wants to consolidate its bus maintenance facility for both its Utica and Rome-based fleets. The City of Utica has voiced some reluctance to having it in downtown Utica — not thinking that it would fit with the City’s plans for downtown. The Mayor proposed that it be located between Utica and Rome. That seems to make sense. . . and that seems to make New Hartford’s proposal for a facility on Middle Settlement Road a perfect fit for CENTRO as well.
Location aside, there are other obvious benefits:
(1) CENTRO’S expertise. The local bus system seems to have gotten a boost by the boys (and girls) from Syracuse. Something sorely lacking in almost all school districts, no matter how handsomely compensated the superintendent, is a business sense for running operations. Although CENTRO is subsidized, it competes for passengers against taxis and private automobiles. It has to make those fares it collects go as far as possible to survive. Integrating school transportation with a professionally run public transit system would seem to lead to both cost savings and increased customer satisfaction.
(2) Educational Opportunity. A facility co-located with BOCES would seem to tailor-make an opportunity for training mechanics much like MVCC’s aircraft maintenance training facility already does at Griffiss. Students would not only learn about nuts and bolts, but they would have a chance to learn about the transportation business as well.
Location, Expertise, and Education . . . Adding CENTRO to the mix would seem a natural fit.
NHSD: Saving Money or Beating the Clock?
Last week the O-D had an article giving the time-table for the New Hartford School District’s capital expansion plan. Bidding will be done in March, supposedly to save money.
Phase 1 includes construction of the athletic field and the auditorium.
Phase 2 will consist of the math, science and technology wing.
The athletic field is going to involve installation of artificial turf. However, the safety of such turf has recently been called into question. Apparently ground up tires are an essential ingredient in the installation, and there is a fear that toxic chemicals from the tires could pose a health risk. It has become somewhat of an issue in Fayetteville-Manlius, which has postponed a referendum for such a field. Legislation has been introduced by Assemblyman Englebright of Long Island to impose a moratorium on such installations, pending a study of the public health aspects of same.
Could New Hartford be trying to beat the clock and get itself grandfathered in?
If it was unaware of the legislation, maybe it should consider F-M’s concern and postpone the installation until the health effects of the artificial turf are better understood.
Wouldn’t you rather play on grass than cadmium?
Free the Thruway 500 . . .
Another day, another story about the impending Thruway toll hike. This time truckers say they will be avoiding the Thruway and using secondary roads if the hike goes through. Just what we need on our secondary roads … more traffic. And, of course, those big rigs will mean more wear and tear on the roads that local municipalities may have to raise taxes to fix.
But those trucks will only be those that HAVE to be on NY roads because they serve a NY clientèle. Trucks that have origins and destinations out of NY will try to avoid the state all together. But worse, BUSINESSES for whom Upstate NY might be a convenient location will avoid coming here to keep the costs of their products low. Others that may be here now may leave.
Without this 500 mile highway, a huge swath of Upstate NY becomes a backwater. If it is priced so that it is not used, it’s like not having it at all.
The over arching issue is why do we need the Thruway authority?
Most interstates in the country are toll free, being supported out of general taxes or gasoline taxes. I-81, I-86, I-88, I-495 (LI Expressway), I-84, I-390, I-87 (the portion North of Albany) in NYS are all toll free. There is also the Taconic Pkwy (NYC to Albany areas) and a myriad of Parkways on Long Island which are open to cars only, but are toll free. I-84 deserves special mention because Thruway tolls are used to maintain it!
Essentially, we in the Mohawk Valley are taxed every day to support these free super highways elsewhere in the state — but are taxed again in the form of tolls when we use our local interstate (I-90) here.
Why?
The Mohawk Valley is one of the poorest areas in the state, therefore, New York is literally taxing the poor to support the rich.
It’s time to end the unfair treatment, end the bureaucracy, and end the patronage gravy train that is the New York State Thruway Authority. The original bonds that were the reason for the tolls have long been paid off. The federal government even contributed a large sum on top of this. There is no good reason why the Thruway should be treated differently from any other Interstate in New York.
It’s time to FREE THE THRUWAY 500.
Since Utica-Rome and Buffalo are the only two metropolitan areas entirely dependent on the Thruway for their connection to the outside world, the legislation to dismantle the Thruway Authority should come from majority-party legislators from these areas. Buffalo, however, just got the Niagara Thruway freed of tolls. Mr. Griffo, Mrs. DeStito, it’s now your turn. If you have the guts to place your constituents above your personal political ambitions, you would pick up the gauntlet. And if you do, the machinations to keep the status quo will be interesting to see.
New New Hartford Nonsense … Part 2
Cathy continues her story of the NH Official plates on privately owned vehicles. It is amazing that the trucks could have sat in the same parking lot at the same time as two manned NH police cars . . . but nothing got done until months later when the State Police got involved. Give me a break.
NEW HARTFORD IS SIN SUBURB!
New New Hartford Nonsense . . .
You gotta give a lot of credit to Cathy at New Hartford Online for persistence in tracking down the whereabouts of New Hartford’s official license plates . . . and then explaining to us the significance.
It seems that the Town has been selling “surplus” vehicles, with at least one sale made following questionable procedures. But the license plates from the vehicles have not all been turned in . . . Eagle-eye Cathy spotted one on a former-Town vehicle parked at the mall. When Cathy FOILed the receipts for the plates for vehicles sold, she got 29 — all indicating that plates had been surrendered in March ’07– for vehicles supposedly sold as far back as 2003!
If the plates were not turned in until March ’07, it raises the question whether or not the town has been insuring the vehicles attached for years while in private ownership.
Read all the details in “Case of the Missing FS-6T Receipts . . . contd.” An amazing story!
Cheerleading Sprawl
Just when you think the O-D finally “gets it” with the headline “Growth must compliment existing uses,” the details tell you it has not.
“Route 840 was built with the idea that it would help invigorate economic growth.”
Where did that idea come from?
“Development in these areas must be encouraged.”
WHY?
” . . . we also have the obligation to protect the prospective developer.”
Since when? . . . and from what?
The editors seem to be working from a set of preconceived notions about the “benefits” of “development.”
If New Hartford can be used as an example, residents and taxpayers will pay the price in forms such as (1) bond issues to remediate storm water problems, (2) extending services, (3) traffic congestion, (4) more town government, (5) loss of crop land, and (6) the loss of the semi-rural character that brought them to the town to begin with.
“More” is not always good.
Consent Order (In)Justice
A reader pointed out some interesting passages in the October 10th and October 24th 2007 New Hartford Town Board minutes concerning Oneida County’s Consent Order with the Department of Environmental Conservation.
October 10:
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Part-County Sewer District and Consent Order – The Highway Superintendent has been talking with Oneida County’s consultants about all the initiatives that need to be submitted and agreed upon between the County and DEC by year’s end
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Consent Order – Rayhill Memorial Trail – Oneida County was required to pay a $150,000 fine related to the Part-County Sewer District and the County was successful in DEC agreeing that 20% of that fine could be allocated toward a local environmental beautification project; instead of paying $30,000 to DEC, the money will be made available to the Sauquoit Creek Basin Inter-municipal Commission who will administer the installation of a dedicated parking facility for trail use at the Middlesettlement Road BOCES property. Most likely, inter-municipal agreements will need to be executed among DEC, BOCES, the Town of New Hartford, the Sauquoit Creek Basin Inter-municipal Commission and possibly the Town of Whitestown. This project has been submitted to DEC and preliminary indications are that the project will be approved by DEC.
October 24:
Trailhead Funding – Philip Rayhill Memorial Trail
Councilman Reynolds and the Highway Superintendent confirmed that the Town of New Hartford has received funding approval for the trail head at the Philip Rayhill Memorial Trail. (NOTE: Refer to October 10, 2007 Town Board minutes.)
So let me get this straight: (1) Oneida County violates the law by allowing sanitary sewers to be hooked into its combined sewer overflow on the Mohawk River; (2) New Hartford approved the plans for the developments that made these hookups; (3) New Hartford greatly expanded its tax base and reaped tremendous financial benefits from the hookups and violations; (4) Oneida County manages to offset its fine by rewarding its accomplice, New Hartford, with parking for its Rayhill Trail. So New Hartford contributes to an environmental violation, gains financially, and is now rewarded with a parking lot! What an abomination!
New Hartford must have friends in high places at the DEC!
I have a better idea on how the money could be spent:
Build a picnic area adjacent to the County’s outfall in Yorkville.
The people in Yorkville have been dumped upon . . . and will continue to be dumped on until at least 2014. When the weather is good people will have a pleasant place to go.
And when we get rain, we will be reminded by the floating feces of how government has failed us.
Sprawling in New Hartford
Urbanization marches on in New Hartford — even though the region’s population has suffered a drop of “Biblical” proportions — all with Oneida County’s cheer leading, if not complicity. According to the WKTV website (quoting Mr. Picente), the new development will include:
- Approximately 120 acres that can accommodate up to 1,000,000 square feet of development.
- Access from Route 5, Woods Highway and a new intersection with the new Judd Road Extension (Rt. 840).
- A brand new three level 130,000 square feet building for The Hartford on approximately 14 acres. Approximately 600-800 jobs will stay in New Hartford at this office – occupancy is slated for November 2008.
- Further development including a 15,000 square foot medical office complex. Negotiations are under way for a hotel (national flag) of approximately 100 rooms – both expected to break ground in Spring 200
Question: Where is all the sewage from this development going to go? If it’s going to go to the Sauquoit Creek Pump Station, isn’t the Town required to remove 5 gallons of storm water for every gallon of sewage that will be produced? Where/how has the Town done this? or will the 100 room hotel use “subsurface waste disposal” a/k/a cesspools?
A new intersection on 55MPH Rt. 840? Just what we need: another light. When did the state DOT decide to permit this abomination? and how did it decide this?
Some people in New Hartford won’t be happy until every large parcel of vacant land is developed and paved over.
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot. . . . . . . . . Joni Mitchell
Another take on this story is on New Hartford Online Blog.
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:
- Maintain jobs that are already here (i.e. no growth)
- Create a new area that will need to be policed
- Create a new area that will need water and sewer services (likely overloading the Sauquoit Creek pump station even more)
- Create a new area that will need storm water control
- 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.
- Cause vacancies in other buildings in NH
- 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.
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.
Fault Lines (2) 