Lockport NY

The process is beginning but is expected to be late this year. The Buffalo News reported:

It happens almost every year in Albany, but a late budget is rare in Lockport.

However, that’s the case this year. Mayor Michael W. Tucker says the city won’t even attempt to comply with the City Charter, which says the annual budget must be adopted at the first Common Council meeting in October. This year, that would be Oct. 6...

The reasons being:

• How many employees are going to take the early retirement incentive that the Council approved Monday? The period for eligible workers to decide to retire lasts until Oct. 30. The city will have to pay the state for extra pension credits for each retiree, but most of the retirees won’t be replaced.

• What will be the cost of a privatized system of garbage collection, including a full curbside recycling plan? Requests for proposals are expected to be issued in mid-September; the results of the bidding won’t be known until mid-October, if not later. The final garbage plan may include a user fee.

“We have a lot of variables. We want to have a real budget,” Tucker said. “This is an unprecedented time. The incentive is unprecedented, privatizing garbage is unprecedented, recycling is unprecedented.”

It is nice to see the system set up so voters can quickly let there feelings be heard after (every other) budget.

He was referring to the purpose behind the Charter’s requirement of the budget’s adoption in the first week of October: to make sure the voters know what the coming year’s budget and tax rate are before they go to the polls in November.

There have been times when unhappy voters have taken immediate revenge on the City Hall incumbents. However, city officeholders are elected in odd-numbered years, so this year no city officials are on the ballot.

The LUSJ reported that the common council softened the zoning laws as applied to existing non-conforming front yard parking.

LOCKPORT — The Common Council amended local zoning law this week to allow replacement of “nonconforming” front yard driveways — without a variance. Currently, when a property owner has an old stone, blacktop or concrete driveway area in a front yard, it’s considered a legal nonconforming driveway. That’s because front yard parking is banned in the zoning code.


When the owner wants to fix up that non-conforming driveway, he’s directed to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance, which the zoning board frequently won’t grant. Over the past few years the board has been deluged with parking variance requests and has taken the stance it must uphold the ban on front yard parking, even where it’s been going on for years...


...A one-paragraph, two-sentence addition to “parking restrictions” in the zoning law now allows property owners to replace existing, nonconforming driveways with the same or better surfaces, as long as they’re not increasing the size of the driveway. Instead of paying $135 to apply for a variance hearing, the property owner can simply get a resurfacing permit for $25."

They also state a recent Zoning Board of Appeals case:

...Property owner Doug Roberts of Waterman Street got a variance to resurface a nonconforming side-yard driveway on a split vote of ZBA members in July. He’d actually already had the work done and was directed to the ZBA after-the-fact for the variance; at the hearing, members debated the propriety of sanctioning “illegal” work, with at least one member saying Roberts should be required to remove the newly resurfaced area....

It was a tough case as 1) the broken concrete/asphalt driveway was replaced with a nice new stamped concrete one and 2) that it was on the side of the house, which the city codes still consider "front facade" when applied to a corner property. The topic of creating a situation where people will just let these parking pads deteriorate in order to keep them was discused at length.

The law change makes sense. Two items to be careful for are what people try to pass off as "existing" parking pads and the quality of the replacement work.

In related news, the counsil agenda for this week was not posted at eLockport after I made reference to them before the last meeting. Go figure.

The Buffalo News reported:

In seeking bids for privatized garbage collection, the city will allow negotiations with bidders after seeing their numbers but before a contract is put up for a vote.

Dawn M. Timm, Niagara County solid waste coordinator and a member of the city’s garbage committee, said last week the unusual process will be used to try to hold costs down for the proposed new garbage carts or totes the city intends to issue to each household.

“It’s the same route the City of Buffalo went,” Timm said. “We’re looking for the best way to finance the carts.”

Mayor Michael W. Tucker said the cost of a new garbage system is one of the questions that must be answered before the Common Council can vote on a 2011 city budget...

The last conversation on the topic was here.

The Buffalo News reported:

The Common Council on Monday voted unanimously to offer an early retirement incentive to veteran employees. City Clerk and Budget Director Richard P. Mullaney said 19 employees were targeted for departure, most of whom will not be replaced. The cost of the incentive won’t be known until the city knows which of the eligible workers will leave. Each employee carries a different price tag, depending on years of service and the tier of the state retirement system that is involved. However, Mayor Michael W. Tucker is hoping that by 2012, the city will realize savings of $600,000 a year....

The cost difference may be a wash over the next couple years but will then reap the cost saving benefits if no one else is hired.

The end is here for the 2010 concert series. Still lingering around here hoping for more? Take some time and answer a couple poll questions:

The Best Molson Canal Concert of 2010?
	Rusted Root
	Our Lady Peace
	Gretchen Wilson
	Three Dog Night
	Blues Traveler
	Rik Emmett
	Kansas
	Tears for Fears
	Big Sugar
pollcode.com free polls

How Many Shows Did you Attend?
	1-2
	3-4
	5-6
	7-9
pollcode.com free polls

Update 08-31-10 - results so far:


 Fisrt time I tried this free poll service. Let me know of any problems in the comments section. The buttons should read "Vote" and "View" As of right now select the first one and it takes you to their site to vote. I'll work on something better for furture posts.

View LCC - Canal St - Gooding St area in a larger map

UPDATE: Intersection over 100 years ago: (Thanks Jeff)
What once existed in places never ceases to amaze me.

I suppose most people have heard about crowdsourcing in one form or another.

...Crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to a large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call...

To me the key word there is community. People can debate the pros and cons of crowdsourcing but it would seem to have a perfect fit for a community to participate and give input to its government. What do you want your city to look like? How would you like it to function? Have better ideas?

I am proposing Lockport Civic Crowdsourcing. I'll tag relevant posts as such and we can can see where it goes. I'll create a list of topics here and link to them as they are posted on. Feel free to offer any suggestions in the comments below. It can be site plans, design guidelines, marketing, branding, ordinances, etc. You can be good at sketching, photoshop, writing, etc.

Since it is in the news, I'll tackle a piece of Ulrich's Canal St plan as it, and the Gooding-Pine St intersection have been on my mind for a while.

Covered Topics:
Canal - Gooding St Area

Possible Topics:
Chestnut St (Ice Rink - YMCA)
Altro (Willow) Park
State St
F&M - WNYCA block
Making Lockport = Niagara Wine Trail
Lockport Dog Park