Lockport NY

"Although questions about funding and construction access to the Erie Canal
locks have yet to be settled, program manager Peter J. Welsby last week offered
a new timetable showing a June 2011 opening for the Flight of Five project.
Welsby, of the Wendel Duchscherer engineering firm, said arrangements have
been made with the state Canal Corp. for enough access to carry out a pilot
project next May, restoring masonry and railings near the bottom of the five
19th century lock..."

Of all the projects going on, this is one of the most exciting to me personally. It's a blessing and a great responsibility to have one of the great engineering feats of the 19th century still in tact right in the middle of our downtown. Over the years I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of vehicles with out of state license plates parked around the locks on any given day.

I'd guess there are many out there who pry question the value of spending a large sum of money on a project like this. Most would submit that the money would be better spent elsewhere, etc. But here we have one of the most notable structures on one of the most notable human works in the early history of the United States. this should create the ability to secure funding on all levels. (the economy will return someday ;)

Other areas on the canal are in process of rebuilding their portion of our history:

Camillus is in process of restoring the Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct to working status
http://www.eriecanalcamillus.com/aqueduct.htm
City of Buffalo commercial Slip unearthed and functioning as docking:
http://buffalowaterfront.com/Erie_Canal_Harbor_Officially_Opens.php

Lockport has the advantage of still having their notable structure still on the functioning canal system and dead center of DT businesses/other activities for actual spin off through interaction. Park once and walk to numerous other places. Add to it a new :hidden parking structure with surface park and overlook, possible "Upper Marina", great start/end point for the wine loop etc and we will have a critical mass to build up visitors and residents. We should be proud of what we have from those before us and do our best to preserve and use it to our best benefit.

For more year round interest: I wonder if we could do something similar to Ottawa who turns their DT locks into the "world's longest ice skating rink"?
http://www.ottawa-information-guide.com/rideau-canal.html
Ottawa is on my list of "have to visit" weekend road trips.

While poking around I came across this site, which is wonderfully laid out for Lockport Tourism.
http://lockportontheeriecanal.com/welcome-erie-canal-lockport.html. A really really nice layout. Send it to everyone you know and post it everywhere ;)

The article also stated:

For $7,500, Full Circle Studios is producing a five-to seven- minute video to be
shown next month to the foundation and perhaps to other funding sources later
on.

Will check to see if this video gets posted somewhere and if not I will see if I can get my hands on it to post.

How do you feel about this project?

LUSJ reporting on the possible appeal from Smart Growth against the Walmart reuse of the old Lockport Mall site:
LUSJ Article
Here are the Town's pages on the project:
Town Wal-mart Information Page

Once upon a time there were a few good threads on this subject on the LUSJ forums. Unfortunately, those get removed after a certain amount of time. I'll relay out my thoughts on the project here and ask you to do the same, be it for or against the project. Please keep your comments respectful.

1) The Walmart building will still be smaller than the section of the mall that is being demolished.
Here is the link to the proposed site plan for the mall site:
Proposed Site Plan

2) I feel that the reuse of a property that brings new development back inward restrengthening the current town business district "smart growth". Walmart's usual plan of building on cheap land on the outskirts ends up pulling new development out to it, causing vacancies in older plazas. I was surprised when they took this development route.

3) "Made in China" arguments apply to all major retailers. Go into Target, Kohls, Kmart, etc and try to find "Made in the USA" items. Even in Tops, walk down the utensil isle and look to see where they are all made. Quite a few items in Walmart give options to pricier "Made in the USA" items and cheaper "Imported goods". I'm pretty certain that items like Bounty paper towels all come from the same place.

4) Traffic concerns seem to stem more from traffic management over actual traffic numbers. The signals 100ft apart at Shimmer and the HD plaza appear to back up traffic more than relieving it. As for accidents, it is a very basic intersection. The intersection of Rt 78 and 93 has its fair share of accidents too. Not much you can do with people who choose to ignore signals.

5)The existing Walmart site can be easily broken up to house some smaller businesses. HD plaza still has opening for businesses. The existing site can not house the Super Center though.

6)There will be basically no change in views for those living around the property:
Proposed View or Rear from Surrounding Properties
Being such a large building, it is best suited to be at the rear of the lot, with out parcels up to the street at the front of the lot. Only so much can be done with a 200,000 sqft building.


What is the true fight here? What are your thoughts?

UPDATE: 11/25/08 - fixed links

UPDATE 11/26/08 - New Renderings 09/2008 from Town Website

Wal-mart Transit Road Elevation

Bonton Update Perspective

UPDATE: 12/04/08 - LUSJ +BuffNews articles stating decision on appeal expected by April.

LUSJ Article

BuffNews Article

Aerial View of property in 1966

HisSon brought up waxing nostalgic and noted that he located ww.lockport-ny.com in a comment under the Welcome thread. I though I would create a post around it.

Nostalgia comes from Greek nostos "homeward journey, return home" and algos "pain". Nostalgia describes a longing for the past, often in idealized form and maybe that is the real point. We are actually longing for an ideal and finding is most palpable in instances from our past. It would pry explain why someone who is not native and was not born until nearly 30 years after the above picture was taken can feel such a longing sensation when looking at it. Or conversely get excited at any development, no matter how small that may put a small piece of it back in place. That someone is me.

Being that it is an ideal, one can at the same time feel pain for what no longer exists in the aerial shot above while feeling an inner drive to recreate it at the same time. Forward thinking developments such as Ulrich City Centre show that we can rebuild from the mess of "Urban Renewal" to once again build a walkable street scape while still taking into consideration parking. Others such as Family Video and Walgreen's with their corner deadening parking lots show that we either don't fully get it or aren't willing to demand it. There are CVSs in East Aurora and a Family Video on Hertel in Buffalo proving that it can be done. Niagara Produce and the effort to get the ice rink up and running are adding even more to DT and all within walking distance to each other.

What is the "ideal" that you miss? What in the Aerial photograph above represents that? Why do you feel that obtaining it is possible/impossible?

Post submitted by LockportMom

It appears that we are again going to have issues with salting the roads in the City of Lockport again. I understand many of the side streets are always the last to be done, but I was very disappointed in the road conditions surrounding the Lockport High School this morning. There is ice underneath that fine layer of snow, and it very noticeable at the stop signs with skid marks to the sides of the roads. Granted, we all need to be a little more careful wtih winter weather upon us, but it very disheartening when I take a left off of Lincoln to head back into the town due to all the traffic congestion around the school, and the minute I cross over to the Town Of Lockport, the streets are clear and salted.

This concerns me even more so because of all the student drivers heading over to the school. Then I headed over to North Park and road conditions were just as bad. Schools and roads surrounding them should be of top priority as the city has an abundance of walkers, and not an abundance of sidewalks. The city should be more proactive to conditions rather than reactive. Our road conditions here in the City are usually some of the worst.

I did not see a single truck out taking care of the roads, yet yesterday morning I saw four taking care of picking up leaves on the streets. What is the protocol of the city when it comes to salting the roads? Is this going to be a repeat of last year that when you head into the city from the Town of Lockport, or from the Town of Newfane that road conditions deteriorate tremendously?

-lockportmom

from the LUSJ:

http://www.lockportjournal.com/local/local_story_322231505.html

Meetings will be held at 7 p.m.
Wednesday and again Dec. 10, both at the high school auditorium, 250 Lincoln
Ave. Both meetings will include a presentation of the project details and a
question-and-answer session afterward. Residents will vote on the project from
noon until 9 p.m. Dec. 16 at their regular polling places for School Board and
budget elections.

• Proposition 1 includes some larger items, such
as a state-of-the-art performing arts center, art gallery and a fitness center
for gym classes. Smaller items such as new windows and new bleachers and padding
in the gymnasium are also part of the proposition. An elevator would also be
added, and bathrooms would be made handicap-accessible. The technology wing
would also be updated, the library would be renovated to make room for a
computer lab and bathrooms would be added nearby. Other improvements include
relocating the Locust Street bus loop, a parent drop-off site on Lincoln Avenue,
and improvements to ventilators and mechanical systems.The proposition also
includes a six-classroom addition, which covers the classrooms lost by adding
the fitness center, and a new entrance to alleviate some of the congestion in
the hallway. The proposition makes up about $23.5 million of the total
project

• Proposition 2 is the varsity stadium, which includes a
parking expansion, resurfacing of tennis courts and a varsity softball field.
The stadium includes bleachers that seat 2,500, locker room, concession stand
and an artificial turf field, which can be used by a number of school sports
teams. It makes up about $6 million of the
project.

Anyone attending either of the meetings? Thoughts on the project? It of coarse comes with the "no increase to local school tax rates". ;) Has anyone here traveled to neighboring school districts and if so how does Lockport High School compare in facilities? I grew up on the east side of Buffalo and attended a small catholic school (90+ students total!) and then went to Canisius High School so I have no real experience with the schools around here. At my time at Canisius the athletic facilities were rather antiquated but they have since all been upgraded. New pool/gym going up this year. I was content with the facilities but was in awe of some of the ones we traveled to for competitions.I have yet to become a parent, so what do the parents feel about their children's school facilities? Should they be leading edge? Is the cheapest brick and mortar facility more desirable? Where's the happy medium?
Sort of on topic: It's nice that the city and town of Lockport share the same school district as it puts a halt to the flight to the school district right next door. It is nice to see that the city and town residents share at least funding and planning for one of our big service/tax districts.Niagara County school district map:http://www2.census.gov/geo/sd2007_rev/st36_newyork/maps/063_Niagara/SDA0736063_000.pdf

From the Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/niagaracounty/story/492266.html

Seems that the first bid for a state grant was "kicked to the curb" though the article is not fully clear on why. Maybe when the LUSJ reports on it there will be more info. They are moving ahead on trying to secure a different one.

Did anyone here contribute in the 90's to the old owner? I remember coming across things questioning where the money went.

This is a very cool structure. Even if it did not find a new life as a functioning building again, it could make a nice park similar to the St. Joseph's facade that was preserved and turned into a park in rochester: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/466661628_5d21af53c0.jpg?v=0 and could even function a train stop in that more simple form.

UPDATE:
Link to the Davidson's website about the project:
http://www.nytrainstationrenovation.com/Union_Station/Welcome.html
Thank you Lockport Mom