Lockport NY

A couple years after closing Dewitt and reducing Pound to just Pre-K, the Lockport School District has decided to close Hunt. The LUSJ reported:

...Board members said they did not make the decision lightly.

”I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can say something that will make this any easier,” said President John Linderman. “It’s not an easy decision for this board to come to.”

”It’s with a heavy heart I voted,” said Trustee James Gugliuzza, a Hunt alum.

Superintendent Michelle T. Bradley said the district will move forward, deciding whether to sell or lease the building. The roughly 250 kids who attend Hunt will be transferred by the fall of 2013, not including the ones who will move up to fifth grade at Emmet Belknap Intermediate...

A big plus for the City of Lockport was its neighborhood elementary schools. It was rare to find a municipality that still offered the benefits of these  neighborhood bonds and the ability to walk a short distance to school instead of living on a bus.

...A parent of two at Washington Hunt, including a son who will enter his fifth school in seven years, Michael Foster said losing a school like Hunt could have adverse effects on the community. Parental involvement in their children’s education could be reduced and stability of the community threatened

Foster told board members about his decision to move to Livingston Place within the Washington Hunt community. He told board members to be sure about their decision to close the school....

It would have been nice to see city leaders more involved or taking a stand in the last two rounds of closures. Losing these 3 neighborhood anchors for 2-3% savings in the school budget (what did salaries and benefits rise the past 3 years?) seems a short sighted decision in regards to the well being of the city and school district.

Work on a classroom addition at Kelley is expected to begin in the fall. The addition was a part of an $18.9 million capital project approved by voters last year. Some residents said had they known it would lead to the closure of Hunt, they probably would have voted differently.

Keep churning the spoon fed calves out of the bigger and bigger factories. 

The Buffalo News and LUSJ  reported:

For the second time in seven months, a tentative sale of Ulrich City Centre has been announced.

This time, the buyer is supposed to be Siesta Development, a newly formed Buffalo company whose principal is Darrel R. Lloyd, an appraiser at KLW Group in Amherst.

The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency on Wednesday approved the transfer of the property tax break on the commercial complex from Ulrich Development Corp. to Siesta.
Owner David L. Ulrich said the sale hasn’t closed yet.

In November, the IDA board approved the transfer of the tax break to Timothy R. Gelder, vice president and chief financial officer of Barden & Robeson Corp., Middleport. However, that deal fell through.

“The buyer wasn’t able to obtain financing,” Ulrich said Wednesday.

He declined to discuss the sale price, calling it “very modest.” However, Siesta’s application says the company intends to obtain a $2.8 million mortgage while investing $600,000 in equity — a total of $3.4 million...

Some people have mentioned that they have some concerns with the person who tax assessed the property at $2.2 million buying the property for $2.8. Is the concern that he received priority in the sale for giving a lower assessment to the previous owner Ulrich?

We are all free to sell our properties for more than they are assessed at. Tax assessments are educated guesses and the real value in most cases is revealed in a sale.(obviously not the case if my mother sold me her house for $1).

The city did not lose out on any money since the assessments just relatively divvy up the approved budget for the year. You and I just may have paid a couple $$$ more.

I've written about assessments in the past. Their punitive nature is a big hold up to reinvestment in the city. We should be rewarded for improving our properties, not for letting them die a slow death infecting the houses around them.

Seeing as tho it was mentioned in the Concert Thread that all it seems is that the concerts are the "Best news in Lockport"    I figured I would share this as a change of pace ..

 As of this morning "The Bricks"  on Washburn Street are being torn down .. FINALLY .. its only been .. HOW LONG  since the fire and the condemnation of the building? 
(Pic attached of the tear down.)


 Not 100% sure if they are taking BOTH buildings down ,  or if a rebuild is planned. However the buildings DO have the fencing and a "Asbestos warning" sign around the entire (99%)  of the perimiter.

In the pic you cant see it BUT they do have a fire hose running across the street from the hydrant going to where they are working.. there are also workers dressed in white Tyvek suits  and with respirators on ..

Just another piece of "blight"  that is being removed from Lockport.

I have had some contact about where The Tracker is this year. I am quite preoccupied but here is the 4th installment. We will fill in the line up of the 2012 Molson Canal Concert Series in Lockport NY. This is the 5th year of the series in Lockport and there are to be 9 shows again this summer as the city works it way to a new 3 year contract.

New this year is Artpark charging for their Tuesday Series since it had grown to crowded. Will Lockport see more concert goers because of this?

Past years' threads are here:
2011 Series
2010 Series
2009 Series

Artists will be added as they are leaked/found up to the official series announcement date. The date is usually early June but was announced mid-May last year after the whole line-up was eventually discovered. If anyone finds any information feel free to drop them in the comments below. I have been a little busy to dig deep. Recent updates will be shown in red.

All shows are held outdoors at the Ulrich City Center downtown on Main St rain or shine and are free. Visiting Lockport and looking for other things to do? Look here: "Lockport on the Erie Canal"

2012 Molson Concert Series Lineup:
(Official 5/14/12)
6/29 - Gov't Mule              
7/06 - Eddie Money
7/13 - Rik Emmett
7/20 - Big Wreck   
7/27 - Theory of a Deadman
8/03 - 54 40
8/10 - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
8/17 - Kenny Wayne Sheppard
8/24 - Tea Party

Official series website: http://www.canalconcerts.com/ Any inquiries about being an opening act etc. should be directed there as I am only a Lockport resident with no real ties to the concert promoters.

The Buffalo News has a nice interactive of Erie and Niagara County school districts' cost per student for the upcoming year.

On Sunday, we'll be running a special section, "Your Schools, Your Vote," providing the most extensive coverage in Western New York related to the suburban school budget votes and school board elections on Tuesday.
We'll give you detailed information about the proposed budget for every district in Erie and Niagara counties; information about candidates in contested board races; and graphics that will enable you to compare taxes, enrollment changes and spending changes in your district to others in the region.

Comments have froze here due to an unofficial Blogger bug. Please continue the conversation in the new thread:

The LUSJ reported that the Flight of Five Project to restore the north set of canal locks to period operation, has been granted the ability to restore them in phases instead of all at once.

The city is close to securing the state’s permission to restore two in the Flight of Five series of canal locks.

Pending final signoffs by the state Canal Corp. and Department of Transportation, the city will use the remainder of an old federal “earmark” to put Locks 68 and 69 back in working order, David Kinyon, chairman of the volunteer-staffed Lockport Locks Heritage District Committee, said this week.

It’ll happen because the city finally has gained access to $1.7 million, the balance of a federal transportation award obtained for Flight restoration in 2005, by then-U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds.

Though the money was committed, it sat unspent for years because the city was prohibited from using it until it had pledges in hand to fund a total restoration project...

 A huge score for the project and one that makes a lot of sense. One the wonders of 19th century engineering sits in the middle of our city and we should be good stewards. It is about time we catch up with other projects through out the state restoring long abandoned aqueducts, etc. A lot of those projects are in outlaying areas. Having ours in the middle of DT provides another piece of the puzzle for making a unique interesting vibrant place to live, work and visit.

Who will store the mule?