Some food for thought:
...But one quote in particular stands out: “‘Downtown can’t begin to compete with suburban office parks without convenient and affordable parking,’ said Schmand, whose nonprofit agency represents the interests of downtown stakeholders and residents.”From: Chuck Banas: Putting Parking In Its Proper Place. I'll grant you the we are not NYC, or even Buffalo. I use the quote to highlight the importance of parking placement, sharing, etc to maintain a DT environment that is worth visiting and living around. Site plans such as Family Video, Walgreens, etc only further hinder the use of our assets (urban, walkable infrastructure). Isolated, single-use, set-back, drive-in-drive-out pods will only hold back long term valuable growth in DT Lockport.
To the uninitiated, this may sound reasonable, except for one thing. Downtown can never compete with suburban office parks on the basis of convenient and affordable parking. To compete successfully on that basis would mean the destruction of all of downtown’s remaining (and emerging) value.
By definition, downtown can never out-compete the suburbs on suburban, automobile-based terms. By necessity, parking takes up a tremendous amount of land, creating lots of dead, open space, which the suburbs have plenty of. In fact, that’s the suburbs’ main asset: lots of open space. A city’s main amenity is not open land, but density, walkability, a diverse mix of uses, and the quality of the streets and other public spaces. These are the areas in which the suburbs cannot out-compete downtown. These are things cities...need to focus on to be successful.
LUSJ reported on city funding some repairs at the Outwater skatepark. I'd like to comment on the location of the park. At first thought locating it in an existing park is a good idea. The problem is it comes up short in regards to spin off growth and local store spending (if the park is located far from them).
If the park was located in a lot DT, we'd have a number of people patronizing the skate park who would have the opportunity to walk/skate over to a store/restaurant to spend some money. We'd also have another piece of a livelier, more interesting DT. Many of my summer days as a youth were spent skateboarding in the pocket park at the corner of Cazenovia and Seneca streets in the City of Buffalo. We'd be there from 10am until dinner time. Each day we'd pry spend $10-15 each day for drinks, snacks, lunch etc. at the stores along Seneca St.
Conversely, I had a second stint in my early 20s going to Bikes Blades and Boards skate park in Wheatfield when I went through my roller blade phase (nothing quite like a kid half your age taunting you to drop in the 16' half pipe for the first time). My point to highlight here was that there was nothing much was around it. We'd park, skate and leave with no money spent nearby.
Children should be an integral part of the activity DT. They have money to spend and we should be creating within them a vested interest in the city to ensure they continue to care about it and someday hopefully choose to invest in it
It seems there are others out there share the ideas of some of my recent posts on Canal St.. As reported by the LUSJ:
...The block of four city-owned buildings, overlooking parallel old and modern sets of locks near the Pine Street bridge, seems like the logical center of a heritage tourism district, they say; but the fact the touring season only lasts six months a year means the block should not be reserved exclusively for tourism-related uses.Now only if the city would present what its ultimate vision is we could probably move forward in a more orderly fashion. And I will ask the question: what is considered "tourist related"?
Mixed-use development — first-floor retail appealing to visitors and locals, and guaranteed year-round users of upper floors, say offices and/or residential lofts — would be the best strategy for Greater Lockport Development Corp. to pursue as it is soliciting building tenants and/or buyers, business owner Mike Murphy and Canal Task Force volunteer Jane Whitmore both suggested...
LUSJ reported today that a "mini food court" will be set up on Locust street featuring local food vendors.
...Ulrich confirmed his development company is organizing a “mini food court” on concert nights featuring all-local restaurant operators. Seven Lockport restaurants are signed up to participate in what Ulrich said he hopes is an opportunity for local businesses to showcase themselves to a large, unfamiliar audience. The concerts draw attendees from around Western New York, southern Ontario and, depending on the main act, other states...
Greetings Lockportians and guests to Lockport~
An interesting article in The Wall Street Journal about the money and voices behind some of the Walmart resistance across the US.
Robert Brownson long believed that his proposed development here, with its 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, was being held hostage by nearby homeowners.
He had seen them protesting at city hall, and they had filed a lawsuit to stop the project.
What he didn't know was that the locals were getting a lot of help. A grocery chain with nine stores in the area had hired Saint Consulting Group to secretly run the antidevelopment campaign. Saint is a specialist at fighting proposed Wal-Marts, and it uses tactics it describes as "black arts."...A good read for those around here who always felt that Tops was funding the resistance to the reuse of the old mall site as a Super Center.
"You can tell by the size of their McDonald's sign how affluent a neighborhood is."
This line was a semi-joke by the person from the Dept of State. He was one of two who were conducting the zoning/planning board training earlier this week at NCCC (board members are required 4-hours of training annually).
It is another one of those comments that hit you upside the head with how "obvious" they are. The sad part here is that the task at hand, no huge obnoxious signs, does not depend on how affluent a municipality is. It only depends on how defined the local zoning/planning/sign/etc codes are.
Maybe it is just as simple as the more affluent communities having the courage to enact the limiting codes with the knowledge that "businesses will still come". I submit that businesses would 1) still come and 2) be willing to spend some more money/and or do things differently if they were assured that everyone was playing by the same rules. This would give added security in the additional investment while also making the area look more desirable.
As I have mentioned before, large backlit highway pole signs especially do not belong in a 30 mph urban area with pedestrians. They serve no legitimate purpose ( I am not trying to find them from a half mile away at 55 mph) and cheapen the look of the area.
If we want to improve our area we just need to legislate what we want and have the courage to do it.
The Common Council decided Wednesday to seek proposals from garbage collection and recycling companies using a format that would give residents their choice of three sizes of city-sanctioned garbage cans.This is the plan that I prefer. The uniform totes look much better as the curb, the built in lids keep the trash in place and each residence pays relative to how much they dispose of. All I'd ask for is a dark green or black color to look nice at the curb and alongside the house. The extra recycling tote will be a PIA at first but I can vouch that a good portion of our trash now is cardboard, etc.
President Richelle J. Pasceri said the bidding envisions a system of “utility-based billing,” whereby the cost of garbage collection would be taken out of the regular property tax and billed separately to each property owner — including those who are tax-exempt.
However, the bill would vary based on the size of garbage tote each resident chooses: 35, 65 or 95 gallons, Pasceri said. The figures will depend on the prices quoted by the contractors servicing what is called the “variable cart” plan.
Alderman Jack L. Smith Jr., D- 2nd Ward, said he wants to privatize collection because the city won the right to do so in the new contract approved late last year with the city’s blue-collar union, which includes garbage workers.
“That’s what the whole contract agreement was for,” he said.
The state Canal Corp. has created a trail system of 100 launch sites for boats and paddle craft across New York, officials are announcing today.
Dubbed the "Canalway Water Trail," the effort is aimed at improving existing sites by making them more user-friendly, Canal Corp. Director Carmella R. Mantello said at a press conference this morning in Mayor's Park.
One of the goals of the project is to have a launch site every 10 to 15 miles, Mantello said. Some sites along the trail are for motorized crafts, while others are for non-motorized. Some existing sites where camping is available are also included.
There are two sites in Erie County and seven in Niagara County that are part of the first 100 sites in the system. The site in Erie County are the Tonawanda Wall in the City of Tonawanda and the Amherst Boat Launch in the Town of Amherst.
The Niagara County sites include Nelson C. Goehle Marine Park and the Upper Terminal Launch in the City of Lockport; the Botanical Gardens, Mayor's Park and city launch in North Tonawanda; the Gasport Launch in the Town of Royalton; and West Canal Park and Marina in the Town of Pendleton.Interactive map is here.
The Buffalo News and The LUSJ have both reported on the attempts of small-business to land on Canal St.
Does a “small” business person have a prayer of landing a piece of Canal Street?This is the highest profile section of street along the Canal in Lockport. The biggest issue here is the city's lack of a plan for the street. If there was a plan in place it wouldn't matter if there were separate entities or one trying to develop the block. Though with the money needed to finish each building and create in-fill to make it successful, I'd say a large developer and their money is needed.
A few who’ve tried believe they do not, especially once a bigger entity like inLighten or, now, Ulrich Development Corp., enters the picture.
But the city’s development arm says they are not playing favorites and will consider all offers currently on the table....
Came across one of those quotes the other day that solidify a thought in one's mind that always there but never quite able to be stated eloquently:
think the knee-jerk reaction towards "green space" is because people have no faith anymore in architects or developers to create buildings worth caring about.Seemingly all we can wrap our heads around today are parks and attractions. While important they will never float a sinking city ship the way a critical mass of employed citizenry will.
James Howard Kunstler frequently gives an example of this in Saratoga Springs. The city was redeveloping a vacant property that was originally a beautiful hotel that had been demolished for a supermarket or strip mall. The best idea the locals could come up with was "a park", even though there is already an historic Olmsted-designed park right across the street! People just weren't able to even consider that an urban-scaled building could be constructed that would complement the street. Their gut reaction was that any development would necessarily be a detriment to the city, based on decades of experience of that being true.
JSmith -buffalo rising
...Howard Zemsky is an investor and preservation-minded developer—no, that is not a contradiction in terms—whose family owned Russer Foods. He and partners Joe Petrella, Bill Jones and Doug Swift started it all eight years ago by buying the vacant Graphic Controls building. Despite “no way” warnings from timid skeptics, they pulled off a$30 million transformation, filled its 10 floors with tenants and—with a nod to history— reclaimed the Larkin Building name. It stands as architectural eye candy for thousands of daily commuters on I-190...
...There are different ways to rebuild a neighborhood. This may be the quickest. Zemsky and partners have, he said, spent “several million dollars” buying and rehabbing buildings. Investment attracts investment. First Niagara kicked in $1.5 million for a streetscape face-lift. Architects bought the four-story Kamman Building. Neighborhood homeowners are getting fix-up dollars. There is talk of a new owner—and new life—for the drab, eight-story monolith next to the Larkin.
Another year and another summer of concerts to come. Here is where we will track the line up of the 2010 Molson Concert Series in Lockport NY. This is the third year of the concerts and it has been recently announced (LUSJ - Buffalo News) that the concerts will be extended for three more years with 9 shows per summer.
Performers in the 2010 series lineup have not been announced by the promoter yet. Tucker said he’s been told the names of a few headline acts, booked or close to booked, but he’s sworn to silence until all nine shows are confirmed.I'm not sure of Mayor Tucker's exact tastes but hopefully his words ring true. Last summer's Our Lady Peace and Queensryche shows were highlights for me. Last year's 2009 thread is here.
“I can tell you this: If the lineup shapes up like (Paradowski) wants it to, it could be our best season ever,” he said.
Concert Venue Aerial - Click on for Larger Size - Lg
...David L. Ulrich is to meet behind closed doors today with the board of the city’s development agency to discuss the empty buildings along the north bank of the Erie Canal, which were renovated at a cost of more than $3 million, mostly in state and federal grants.What would you hope to see?
Proposals ranging from a wine store to the headquarters of a digital screen manufacturer have fallen through.
Now Ulrich, landlord of Ulrich City Centre on Main Street, will go before the Greater Lockport Development Corp. to make a pitch for a new project...
Recieved an update of the Nuisance Law draft.
Notible updates:
The Nuisance Abatement Board is no longer made up of council members:
“Nuisance Abatement Board” – The Board shall consist of five (5) members (one from each ward) to be appointed by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of Council. Initial appointments to the Board shall be made as follows: Two members shall be appointed for a term of one year; two members shall be appointed for a term of two years; and one member shall be appointed for a term of three years. Subsequent appointments or reappointments shall be made for terms of three years. A vacancy shall be filled for an expired term in the manner in which the original appointment was made. A simple majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum.There is now the path of a Nuisance Abatement Agreement
At any time and at the Board’s discretion, the City may enter into a written Nuisance Abatement Agreement with the property owner wherein the property owner agrees to take specific actions, as approved by the City, to abate, terminate or eliminate the public nuisance activity on the property in exchange for the City of Lockport reserving its rights and agreeing not to initiate any of its enforcement remedies pursuant to Section 255-45 of this article against the property during the term of the Agreement, provided that the property owner complies with the terms and conditions of the Nuisance Abatement Agreement and the conditions or violations causing the public nuisance activity on the property are abated, terminated or eliminated.Also addressed are the removal of points based on time since the infraction:
The points assessed to the property shall remain on the property if:
(a) The property owner fails to request a reconsideration of the points by the Nuisance Abatement Board pursuant to Section 255-46B (3)
(b) Following the property owner’s request for reconsideration under Section
255-46B (3), the Nuisance Abatement Board determines that the points assessed to the property were merited; or
(c) The points remain on the property for approximately one year after the points become officially assessed against a property. After one year, the Nuisance Abatement Board shall remove the points assessed to the property.
...Also in Niagara County, an electronics company from Hong Kong paid $495,000 to buy a vacant manufacturing and warehouse facility at 85 Grand St. in Lockport from Jamestown Container Corp. The electronics firm, acting through 85 Grand Street LLC, bought the parcel from Jamestown Container Lockport Inc.Wonder what they would want with it and if there should be any hope of jobs attached anytime soon?
The 145,000 square-foot, three-story industrial building had been used by Jamestown and predecessor Great Lakes Container Corp. and Great Lakes Packaging Corp., and had been built up over time. It includes active rail siding, nine truck docks at the two ends of the building, and updated office space.
However, it has been vacant for about six months, after Jamestown Container moved the operations to other plants, said cqCammille L. Kantowski, the commercial real estate broker at Hunt Commercial Real Estate who handled the deal. A representative of the electronics firm could not be reached to comment...
