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Hamburg Street hard on motorists and pedestrians

Re Sept. 28 article, "Hamburg St. hazard for pedestrians": Mr. [Tom] Vincent’s concern for pedestrians on Hamburg Street is so true.
As a resident living in Coldbrook for the last 40 years, I find we not only need more crosswalks but also possibly a light at Argo Boulevard, and especially at Arlene Street. I find myself waiting a while to enter on Hamburg Street; some people are courteous enough to allow you to enter, and then there are some who think they are at the Indy 500.
Let’s get with it and make Rotterdam a nice, safe place to live again.

L.J. CLARK
Rotterdam

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00708&AppName=1

A stop sign or traffic light at every corner isn't the answer.

Sad part is there is less traffic on the street than 20 years ago. The anchor store is gone. One of the problems on the street is speed.

Joe ~ facade grants are great, but how much did the new Christmas decorations cost?  How about we spend that money to get the people to visit Hamburg Street before we start decorating it?

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

OK, on the one hand Tommasone is criticized for being a spendthrift. On the other hand he is trouble for not having the crosswalks built yet. People don't want taxes but they want products and services. The State on the other hand are made up entirely now of the glorious people's party at all levels of control and haven't paid the town the money from the grant that the town will use to build them. Must be Steve's fault again, that makes sense...i am waiting for the spin.

No spin on my part-----I want sewers/sidewalks/lights AND A DAMN COMP PLAN with teeth.....

I dont need REMS with BLS.....there are enough privates around plus police paramedics/fire paramedics and I certainly
dont need another 'quasi entrepreneur' showing up at a later date(just in time for elections 5 or 6 years down the road)
to claim they will "save the town $$" and take over a quasi entrepreneurial business all nicely set up by whom?

THE TAXPAYERS.......CHA-CHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ROTTERDAM
Renaud takes reins of business group
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    One of the owners of the property many consider a key component to revitalization efforts on Hamburg Street has taken charge of its merchants association.
    Skip Renaud, who owns the former Grand Union property with Dave Simmons, has agreed to be the chairman of the Hamburg Street Merchants Association, after Sam Vavala and Frank DePalma announced they would step down from the position last month. The duo that helped found the merchants’ association nearly three years ago and grew it to include more than three dozen businesses decided it was time for new leadership to reinvigorate the group.
    “It was time to turn over the reins,” said Vavala following the merchants association meeting Monday evening.
    Renaud, who runs Keystone Masonry & Remodeling on Hamburg Street, was nominated and readily confirmed by about two-dozen business owners attending the meeting. In accepting the position, Renaud said he intends to continue the vision that the group’s founders began and hopes to move them to the next level.
    “Let’s keep the organization Sam and Frank started and the momentum going forward,” he said.
    During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamburg Street served as Rotterdam’s main commercial corridor. But during the 1980s, commercial development shifted from east to west, bringing growth to a previously rural end of Rotterdam. .....................>>>>.....................>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01501&AppName=1

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During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamburg Street served as Rotterdam’s main commercial corridor. But during the 1980s, commercial development shifted from east to west, bringing growth to a previously rural end of Rotterdam.

About the same time Democrat J. Constantino was elected to office and developed some quid pro quo relationships with some select land owners and developers on the west end of Rotterdam.  Ahhh yes, the days of the crooked Town Hall.  Thank you PDQ!

Now that Skippys buddy is in town hall, maybe they can actually do something for that barren wasteland

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ROTTERDAM
Hamburg St. revitalization eyed
Agency slates funds for road improvements
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Millions of dollars in federal funding could one day transform Hamburg Street into a pedestrianfriendly downtown region for Rotterdam, a town that has historically lacked such an area.
    The Capital District Transportation Committee included $5.7 million for improvements to the state road in its 2010-2015 schedule released last month. The funding will be devoted to sculpting the street into a tree-lined retail corridor with on-street parking, nearly two miles of sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
    “It’s on the program,” said David Jukins, the committee’s deputy director. “Anything on the program is a priority for the Capital District Transportation Committee.”
    Among other things, the funding projects reconstructing a halfmile stretch of Hamburg Street extending from Stoodley Place to 4th Street. The road reconstruction will also include adding curbing, a 14-foot shared bike lane and space for on-street parking. The funding will extend an existing section of sidewalk built as part of the State Department of Transportation’s roundabout project in 2009 down Hamburg Street to Caldicott Road. In all, the project will add about 8,900 feet of sidewalk to the commercial corridor.
    Landscaping, street light improvements and crosswalks will also be part of the project. The crossings are among several traffic calming devices aimed at making the street more attractive for pedestrian uses.
    Town Planner Peter Comenzo said the goal is to make Hamburg Street attractive to retail development. By slowing traffic and creating a more retail-friendly atmosphere, the hope is that the Hamburg Street will become a shopping destination for the thousands of resident in Rotterdam’s Carman and Coldbrook neighborhoods. ...................>>>................>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00700&AppName=1

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The crossings are among several traffic calming devices aimed at making the street more attractive for pedestrian uses.

Are these 'traffic calming devices' really necessary? I mean honestly, I have never gone down Hamburg street when it was all that busy. I personally don't see traffic as that big of a concern there. But perhaps they are hoping it will be in the future, huh?

Sewers is going to be the real big issue!!!

Call McGarry quickly--is this because the Hamburg St. businesses were "chirping" at him?  I am curious to know what shopping opportunities are destined for that area.  There is nothing there to recommend it.  Empty places fosr years now.  A strip mall with a busy deli and a liquor store.  Nobody even goes to the senior center anymore.
Curious to know what businesses are involved.  Calming devices--if the street becomes anymore calm people will be taking their afternoon naps on the curb.

Liquor story BUSY???  Heck, the owners online here more than me most days.  That's funny.

I'll tell you something I wish we'd have.  We had the ice cream place by the senior center, it's closed now, but the woman was old so maybe even she died, no idea.  But we stop now and then at Curry Freeze and there almost seems to be a neighborhood commaraderie over there.  Although Curry Freeze is busy regardless a,d Curry Rd is busy.  I guess the better example, I don't know if it's still open, there was Uncle Ralphs on some street off Upper Union St, oh, it may have been cross from that restaurant, I think it has the word "Squire" in the name.  Anyway, that was really like a community place, a nice neighborly place to go to.  It always seemed that more people that were there were people from "the neighborhood" as they walked there and many seemed to know each other.  Am I living in a dream world?  OK, maybe people don't sit on front porches anymore and visit neighbors in the evening (duh, what's a front porch in the suburban area?)  

I kmow that ice cream place on Hamburg was "dead" for a long time it seemed, rarely did she have customers.  But it was convenient.  We loved making a spur of the moment decision to go over there.  Don't get me wrong, Stewarts is good, and they have some really good new flavors, but sometimes I just a soft ice cream, and dip top and I want someone to make it for me instead of "make your own."

I'm sad that the place, oh, can't remember the name, where Sunoco is next to Carmen fire house, they used to have fresh made, still HOT Italian bread on Sunday mornings, it was the place to stop.  

I guess one thing I wonder what others think, in terms of Hamburg St, is do you see becoming almost as busy as Altamont Ave?   Or do you see it as a place for many businesses that attract people mainly from outside of the neighborhood (kind of like Curry Rd---e.g., a business like City Glass for example---it's a business that caters to probably many people in Schenectady, as opposed to being a neighborhood business, although neighbors would use it), or do you hope that Hamburg is more for people who live along the area?

That old Grand Union, what would be good there?  Professional offices, e.g., medical/dental or legal/accounting---that would be daytime businesses?  Or a good restaurant to attract customers from all over?   A chain business?   Something more to attract the nearby residents?

Oh, a question of curiosity.  Sidewalks, while needed, will they be cutting into the front lawns on Hamburg, particularly the western side I think I want to say?

And if they did sewers, which would be great for business on Hamburg St proper, would they hook up all the neighborhoods off Hamburg?  Would it be mandatory?  How much would it add to our taxes?  Because $140 to empty out a septic every 3 years is fine, but I would foresee prohibitively expensive tax on us if we all had to be hooked up to sewers

IMHO.....leave Hamburg St alone!!! Sure I'd like to see some beautiful treed, flower, sidewalk street scape. Who who wouldn't. Believe me......if you build it THEY WILL COME............from the city!!!!

It would just become a sh!thole. Altamont Ave is 1/2 way there now and it is spreading west. Unless you want to see people pissing on the sidewalks and puking at the bus stops....don't do to hamburg street what the city did to the 2 blocks of state street. Cause that is what you see on State street.....pissing and puking!!!