No shortage of bad letters. They tried the canal redo at Canal Square, another in a long list of planning failures. Now that the Stratton Circle To Nowhere is dead, a Rexford writer says it doesn't need power. So?

     Shadow has it right. This Mayor is bound and determined to foul up Erie Blvd like he did State Street. The loss of business and traffic on State St was permanent. When 100% of the businesses on a street say something start listening. New concept! They don't understand business, they don't understand planning, they understand tax hikes.

Quoted from benny salami

Now that the Stratton Circle To Nowhere is dead, a Rexford writer says it doesn't need power. So?
.

That was exactly my feeling! "It doesn't need power"....SO WHAT?

The point is that it doesn't belong there...PERIOD! IMHO

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SCHENECTADY
Lower Erie sites sold
NYC buyers see growth potential
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    A major downstate investment group has made its first foray into the Schenectady County real estate market, snapping up four properties on lower Erie Boulevard for a reported $2.6 million.
    The group is incorporated as 104-112 Erie LLC, with an address in Parkville Station, Brooklyn. Charles Carrow of Carrow Real Estate Services in Albany is representing the group and will manage the properties.
    Carrow would not reveal the identities of the group’s principals, citing client confidentiality. But Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority, said 104-112 Erie LLC consists of several investors from New York City.
    “That’s how they want to be known,” Gillen said. “They are a major player in real estate and they are coming into Schenectady and making a large investment.” He said he had spoken with them.
    The group owns One Commerce Plaza on Washington Avenue in Albany, Gillen said.
    Carrow said that building is among approximately 1 million square feet of commercial space it controls in the region.
    The group purchased buildings at 104, 106, 108 and 112 Erie Boulevard from Warren Camp, encompassing about 100,000 square feet. Carrow said the deal was closed recently, but it has yet to be recorded with the Schenectady County Clerk’s Office.
    Carrow would not say what the group paid for each building. A property transaction listing in The Business Review listed the sale prices as $1.2 million, $715,000, $477,000 and $291,000.
    City of Schenectady Assessor Patrick Mastro said 104 Erie Blvd. was assessed at $485,000 in 2008, 106 Erie at $288,400, 108 Erie at $478,000 and 112 Erie at $329,000.
    Property tax records with the county clerk show Camp paid $150,000 for 104 Erie Blvd. in 1999, $150,000 for 106 Erie and $50,000 for 112 Erie. There is no record of a sale price for 108 Erie. Carrow said the group paid a fair price.
    The group intends to clean up the facades and make improvements to the buildings and their parking lots. “We are investing in the future of Schenectady,” he said. “They will become Class B office space.” Work should begin in the spring.
    Carrow said the new owners want to keep the current tenants including Schenectady County and the Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties.
    “We will try to keep current tenants and keep them happy,” he said. “We want to work with the county and with the Erie Boulevard redevelopment.”
    The city is proposing to use $14 million in state and federal funds to reconstruct the road. Clough Harbour engineering firm is redesigning plans after Erie Boulevard business owners objected to a proposed median down the entire last block of Erie Boulevard — between State Street and Interstate 890 — with a roundabout in the middle.
    Business owners said the design would have made it impossible for southbound drivers to reach several businesses without maneuvering through the I-890 interchange.
    The reconstruction will transform Erie Boulevard, a key entry point to the city, making it more attractive to visitors and businesses, city officials said.
    Carrow said the New York City investors had this in mind, as well as a view toward the future expansion of GE, when they purchased the properties. The four properties are near the GE facility at the end of Erie Boulevard.
    “We see an opportunity with GE if it grows. We want to make sure we have quality space for ancillary companies that want to come in.”
    Mastro said the prices the downstate investors paid for the properties could suggest speculation but most likely they reflect market value of properties in the area. He has yet to determine if the properties were purchased at market value, as he has not received sale records from the county.
    “It could be speculation. A lot of investors are purchasing properties, but I like to think most investors consider their investments are worthwhile,” Mastro said. “If you are looking for a place as an investment, then you take that chance. But there are good values in the city, due to an increase of activity.”
    Gillen said property values are going up in the city because of recent economic growth. Metroplex has helped revitalize downtown through more than $100 million in private and public investments. “The next wave of development is ..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101

Investors from NYC?? They see 'potential'? I hope so!

The next wave of investors going to lower State St? Like major national chain stores are coming to State Street? Another whooper-from the owner of Schenectady County. So far only the horrible DSIC taken the plunge. With other people's money. Plenty of boarded up former businesses waiting and waiting to be snapped up.

    The major renter on Erie Blvd. is not GE but you the Schenectady Sheeple. Plenty of County offices in this "prime" business area. Maybe if it's so "prime" government and non-profits can make way for job creating private sector businesses.

Why do we all think 'The Circle' was proposed(I mean promised)...................................

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SCHENECTADY
New Erie Blvd. plan to be unveiled
Merchants hope for elimination of roundabout
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    A new redesign of lower Erie Boulevard will be revealed again this month, and business owners say they have their fingers crossed that the unpopular roundabout will be conspicuously absent in the revamped plan.
    A presentation date has not yet been announced but will be set “very shortly,” according to Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen.
    “Hopefully people will like the new design,” said Gillen, who wouldn’t say what he thinks of the design. But he hopes that it will end the year of controversy involving the roundabout portion of the plan.
    Business owners formed their own group, complete with paid attorney and engineer, to fight the roundabout and created such a public furor that city officials decided to go back to the drawing board.
    The original plan called for a roundabout near Interstate 890 and would force the demolition of two businesses, a gun shop and an adult bookstore. The roundabout would also keep southbound drivers from accessing several stores, including Wendy’s. Business owners say the roundabout could decimate their profits, and late last year Mayor Brian U. Stratton finally indicated that he would consider a standard intersection rather than a roundabout in the new design.
    The redesign was to be completed by June and is now ahead of schedule.
    But by the time the design is shown, city leaders may have a more exciting project to announce.
    The city has applied for additional funding to continue the Erie Boulevard streetscaping from I-890 to Nott Street. Currently, the design ends at Union Street, with most of the money being spent on the block before I-890. In that area, the road is as wide as an airport runway and has so little landscaping that city officials say a plane might actually be able to safely land there.
    The rest of the road isn’t as bad, but officials say it could use sprucing up as well. And with stimulus money paying for many of the upcoming transportation projects, the Capital District Transportation Committee has money to spare for new designs.
    The only catch is that the city must consider a roundabout at any of the signaled intersections on the Union-Nott stretch of Erie Boulevard.
    City officials downplayed the possibility of another roundabout, citing both the controversy of the first proposed roundabout and the lack of space on the busy road.
    CDTC staff Director John Poorman also emphasized that the city would not be required to put in a roundabout. The city must simply consider whether a roundabout would be valuable at any signaled intersection.
    “It doesn’t mean you have to do a roundabout, but you’ve got to look at the roundabout seriously,” he said. “The reason for that is the safety benefits of roundabouts are immense. A modern roundabout reduces the frequency of fatal and injury accidents by up to 80 percent.”
    But if the city must demolish an occupied building to make room, that alone could be justifi - cation to drop the plan, he said.
    “An older urban environment is a more difficult environment,” Poorman said.
    Concerns about historic preservation and keeping an older roadway style to maintain that historic atmosphere could also be a reason for rejecting a roundabout, he said.
    The three signaled intersections that would be in the project all are entrances to the historic Stockade neighborhood.
    Poorman added that roundabouts aren’t perfect. The series of roundabouts in Malta is now being adjusted in response to an unexpectedly high accident rate.
    “They keep having problems there,” he said. “They are tweaking it.”
    As for Erie Boulevard, Gillen said anti-roundabout residents shouldn’t get out their pitchforks yet. A roundabout is unlikely — and the city hasn’t even gotten the money to look at a plan for the Union-Nott stretch, he said.
    “We’re of course pursuing as much stimulus money and transportation money as we can get. There’s an effort to get additional funding to finish Erie,” he said. “If we are .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01101

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SCHENECTADY
City to unveil new plan for boulevard
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    Local officials are confident that the new Erie Boulevard design, to be unveiled today, will be greeted with far more enthusiasm than last year’s proposed roundabout.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton went out of his way to spread word about the meeting, calling business owners himself and asking council members to repeatedly announce it. He wouldn’t say whether the new design includes a roundabout, but implied strongly that residents will like the new proposal.
    “We’ve been open-minded,” he said. “It will be a design that refl ects our ability to listen and work with our business community.”
    The business community on the last block of Erie Boulevard unanimously opposed the roundabout that was to be built in the middle of their street.
    Business owners went so far as to hire an attorney and an engineer and present alternate designs.
    City officials tried to tout the benefits of a roundabout for months, to increasing furor.
    Residents who lived far from the roundabout began joining the business owners in their protests.
    Finally, in December, the city went back to the drawing board. Today, at 7 p.m. at College Park Hall on Nott Street, the new design will be revealed.
    The original plan called for a roundabout near Interstate 890 and would force the demolition of two businesses: a gun shop and an adult bookstore.
    The roundabout would also keep southbound drivers from accessing several stores, including Wendy’s. Business owners said the roundabout could decimate their profits, and late last year Stratton indicated that he.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01004

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SCHENECTADY
Erie Blvd. design draws praise Business owners prevail; roundabout out of plan
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The wicked roundabout is dead.
    Business owners were delighted Tuesday to say goodbye to a controversial proposal that had delayed the Erie Boulevard streetscape project for more than a year. They greeted with applause the new design for the $14 million streetscape, which features conventional intersections, bike lanes, plenty of on-street parking, an access road for trucks and even a way to turn left onto State Street during off-peak hours.
    Workers are expected to break ground next year. The final design is almost identical to what Erie Boulevard business owners proposed repeatedly last year.
    But their celebration was shortlived. The new design still calls for the demolition of two long-time businesses on the last block of Erie Boulevard: the adult bookstore and the gun store.
    Business owners rallied around their colleague, Rocco Palmer, who owns the bookstore and leases the adjacent building to Special Arms & Munitions.
    “There’s no reason any business should be sacrificed in the interests of a road design,” said Sarah Michener, owner of Annabel’s on South Ferry Street. “We’re all about preserving business.”
    Clough Harbour landscape architect Scott Lewendon said the Another World bookstore had to be demolished to correct a sharp angled turn on South Ferry Street. “It’s at a 45-degree angle. That really affects the operation of the intersection. A truck would not be able to make the turn,” Lewendon said. But he said the gun store might not need to be demolished. “It requires further study,” he said. His design calls for both buildings to be razed to make room for a small park.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton said the aesthetics of the intersection would be vastly improved with the park. He noted that the gun store is relocating to Route 30 in Amsterdam, and thus wouldn’t be hurt by the demolition.
    The owners are moving to a bigger building that has just been outfitted with all the specialized security needed for a gun store. Palmer may be banned from moving his bookstore into that building under zoning that restricts the locations of adult businesses.
    Palmer said he’d fight the demolition, although he signed a settlement years ago in which he agreed that if the city ever needed his land, he would move quietly to a properly zoned building he owns on Lower Broadway. When Stratton ran for election in 2003, he told Palmer that he intended to redevelop the street and would need Palmer to move.
    Palmer has since alleged that the entire project is aimed at removing his store from Erie Boulevard.
    “They had to take my buildings. Nobody else’s — mine,” he said.
    However, even he admitted that the new design looks good.
    “I like the design, but they had to take my two buildings,” he said.
    Other Erie Boulevard business owners said the tree-filled design would turn the stark and industriallooking street into a beautiful city entrance.
    “The design looks great,” said Sabrina Heilmann, sales manager for AFLAC on Erie Boulevard. “There’s still some questions, but what’s really important is the mayor, the City Council, listened. It’s a great design.”
    Union College spokeswoman Diane Blake said the design is so good that she won’t feel embarrassed at the thought of parents driving down Erie Boulevard to get to the college.
    “The number one reason students don’t come to Union is because it’s in Schenectady,” she said. “That’s changing … [and with this design] we won’t spend all our time telling them to take alternate routes down Route 7 and through Niskayuna.”
    David Buicko, chief operating officer of Galesi Group, agreed. His company has invested............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101

Business owners prevail, bloggers prevail, common sense prevails, Stratton's Circle to Nowhere is History!

    This idiotic proposal to put a circle on Erie Blvd has been trashed. In it's place is "green space". With dozens of empty storefronts-it must be located here? The gun store is closing and opening a new shop in Troy. The owners have had enough of Stratton's moronic "leadership". Many others are planning to flee Stratton's insane taxes.

    4th major victory for the County taxpayers in one year! And yes, more fish to fry and another victory lap.

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EDITORIALS
Doubts still on Erie motive

    The controversial roundabout in Schenectady’s first Erie Boulevard makeover plan, which some critics suspected was just a ploy by Mayor Brian Stratton to force two less-than-desirable businesses to leave the commercial district, has been abandoned. But those suspicions were hardly allayed by Tuesday’s release of a revised plan which still calls for the removal of the businesses — an “adult” bookstore that’s been on the strip for decades and a gun shop. What gives?
    The Clough Harbour architect who spoke at Tuesday’s public hearing insisted that the buildings have to go, roundabout or no, because the street they abut — South Ferry — is too sharply angled to accommodate truck traffic. But since when has that ever been a problem? State Street and the west side of the city — including the Stockade — are accessible from several other routes, and South Ferry is a small street with little commerce on it; it’s unlikely that any tractor-trailer trucks are going to ever need to make stops along it.
    As for the businesses being targeted: The gun shop will soon vacate for Amsterdam, which leaves the porn shop. It’s certainly not the most desirable operation for what is hoped will be a respectable business district, not to mention gateway to the city. But it is inarguably discreet. Even its name, Another World, gives nothing away as to its seamy nature and there is nothing else on the building’s exterior to suggest what’s inside. The fact is, some longtime Schenectadians didn’t even know it was a porn shop until the roundabout controversy started.
    But owner Rocco Palmer says the shop generates $30,000 a year in sales tax, and he pays close to $11,000 a year in property taxes on the buildings. So why drive him off, to a place he owns on Lower Broadway, which would incur the wrath of residents in that neighborhood and force a welding shop that employs several people to relocate??
    The latest plan envisions replacing Palmer’s buildings with landscaping — a miniature park. Yes, it will look nice — nicer than what’s there now — but obviously it won’t do anything to help the city’s tax base. And the plan calls for a similar chunk of green space just across the street.
    There are other elements to the revised plan that make it more attractive than the first — better accessibility to businesses on both sides of the street, better provisions for bicycles, more on-street parking. But it’s hard to escape the notion that these are mostly there as an afterthought to the primary objective — getting rid of Palmer’s bookstore.
    Erie Boulevard definitely needs an overhaul, and this plan would be a big improvement over what’s there now. But there’s no need to spend a fortune to get rid of a business that’s doing little harm, even if the money is mostly the federal government’s.     

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01101

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Banker pans revised Erie Blvd. plan
The Business Review (Albany) - by Barbara Pinckney


First National Bank of Scotia is claiming the revised plan to remake a stretch of Erie Boulevard in Schenectady will “cripple” business at one of its branches and kill plans to expand the building.

But Schenectady officials said the $14 million project will bring more customers to the bank and other businesses in the area.

The redevelopment project will make over the stretch of Erie between Interstate 890 and State Street. The idea is to make the four-lane road wider and safer for both traffic and pedestrians, while improving it with green space and a bike path.

The original design called for a roundabout at the intersection of Ferry Street and Erie Boulevard. But First National, which has a branch at 120 Erie, and other businesses complained that this would cut off access to their buildings. They lobbied for a new design with traditional intersections, and were successful. Mayor Brian Stratton said about 200 people attended a public hearing last week, and “95 to 98 percent” of them liked the revised plan.

“This is a tremendous win,” the mayor said. “It was a vision of mine, when I first became mayor in 2003, to redevelop Erie Boulevard into a vibrant entryway corridor in to the city.”

John Buhrmaster, president of First National, said the bank was not told that the new plan also included a service road behind 120 Erie, along the Conrail tracks that run parallel to the boulevard. He said the service road will cut off about two-thirds of the building’s parking lot, which is used not only by the bank but by other building tenants, including Transfinder, a school transportation software company.

The plan to expand Erie itself also will eliminate five on-street parking spots in front of the bank branch.

“This is a big issue for us,” Buhrmaster said. “We have been involved with the city for years. They chose to cripple our branch by issuing a proposal that will take our parking. We understand progress is necessary, but we don’t think they needed to take so much property for what they are trying to accomplish.”

Ray Gillen, chairman of The Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, said the service road is intended to improve access to Erie Boulevard businesses, and could “greatly enhance” the value of the properties involved. He added that the road has not yet been designed, and therefore it is not known how many parking spaces it may eliminate.

“So for the Buhrmasters to say it would take all their parking is not accurate,” Gillen said.

Buhrmaster said the service road plan could harm not only the building’s current use, but its potential use. Building owner Sanrit Realty, a company owned by James Buhrmaster, his uncle and president of Buhrmaster Energy Group, had drawn up plans to add five stories to the two story structure. The idea, which never made it before the city’s planning board, was first floated three years ago, when Schenectady County was looking for additional space. The county chose another spot, and the plans were put on hold...............http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2009/04/27/daily8.html?surround=lfn

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The fact is, some longtime Schenectadians didn’t even know it was a porn shop until the roundabout controversy started.

BULLS@#$!!!!!!!

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SCHENECTADY
Erie Boulevard plans receive more criticism
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The business owners on Erie Boulevard are organizing yet again to fight the redesign proposed for their street.
    Although they cheered the removal of the roundabout that would have blocked access to some businesses, they say the new plan would have equally devastating results. They’re meeting Tuesday to organize their opposition.
    The city’s plan calls for an access road to be built behind those businesses, running parallel to Erie Boulevard. The idea was proposed by property owner Carl Liss, and some other business owners seemed to favor it at first.
    But now that they know how it would be implemented, they’re crying foul.
    Half of the parking lot behind the First National Bank of Scotia would be removed, co-owner James Buhrmaster said. The road would also impinge upon the Wolberg Electrical Supply Co. parking lot, and possibly require the removal of Schenectady Hydraulics.
    “There’s 10 feet from here to the base of the railroad tracks, and the railroad’s not going to let them start cutting into the base of their tracks. So what do you think is going to happen?” said Stan Ducharme of Schenectady Hydraulics. “They’re saying they’re not going to take [a portion of the building] but I don’t believe much of what they say.”
    Buhrmaster is equally dismayed by the plans for his parking lot. ............>>>>..........>>>>........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01001

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SCHENECTADY
Officials seek nod for Erie, State St. plan
Mayor suggests altering latest boulevard plan, linking projects
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    As the Erie Boulevard redevelopment plan hits further obstacles, local officials are trying to drum up support by linking it to lower State Street.
    A beautiful and walkable Erie is critical for the development of lower State, according to Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen and Mayor Brian U. Stratton.
    “This is absolutely a critical project,” Stratton said. “You can’t just skip over Erie Boulevard and just do lower State. You can’t just leave it.”
    He’s hoping to make slight alterations to the latest plan — which now calls for eminent domain to take some property from a row of business owners — rather than going back to the drawing board for a third time. But business owners and at least one council member are beginning to question whether the project is worth all the time and energy that has been spent arguing about it.
    “I don’t want to say, ‘Forget it,’ because it’s money people worked hard for,” said Councilwoman Barbara Blanchard. “We have this $14 million [grant]. That’s ours, and it’s only for Erie Boulevard. It’s hard to refuse the money, but …”
    She ticked off the problems: a side road that would use large swaths of privately owned parking lots and require the demolition of Wolberg’s new garage; a lack of cut-throughs in the proposed median, blocking customers from their destinations; tiny curb cuts for the gas station, making it difficult for tanker trucks to deliver fuel; and the loss of taxes when the adult bookstore and the gun shop are demolished.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe we have to give up on Erie as being anything other than a ramp, a big ramp to [Interstate] 890. Maybe we should focus on lower State and just be happy with pedestrians on State.”
    The plan does offer one critical improvement to State Street, particularly for pedestrians. The Erie Boulevard crosswalks at State, Liberty and Union streets will be highlighted, with bumpouts and better stoplight timing, Gillen said.
    The rest of the plan may not directly influence development on lower State Street, but the crosswalks will, he said.
    “We have real vibrancy now on the Proctors block [of State Street] and as we show lower State, people want to be part of that. People are very concerned about the connectivity to the Proctors block,” he said. “When we’re showing [vacant properties], people want to know, how do they walk down and get to the attractions on the Proctors block.” .......>>>>.......................>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01100