Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM JUNCTION
Town launches revitalization study
Officials say grant money likely available to fund plan
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Nearly a century ago, Rotterdam Junction was a bustling hamlet that served as a gateway to Schenectady County.
    Sprawling rail yards brought hundreds of workers to the cluster of shops and hotels on Main Street, while barge traffic along the old Erie Canal moved supplies through the Capital Region.
    But by the mid-20th century, the decline of the railroads and the obsolescence of the old canal plunged Rotterdam Junction into relative obscurity as a small outpost on the western outskirts of town.
    Now, with the help of a $167,000 state grant, town officials are hoping to reinvent the small hamlet, perhaps using its historic attributes and scenic charm. The study launched this month will evaluate about 570 acres on either side of Main Street in order to develop a revitalization plan that could eventually be realized through additional grants.
    These grants might fund projects to develop passive parks, such as one allowing access to the Mohawk River. Or they could fund projects that would help improve the appearance of Main Street.
    “There’s actually funding available for implementing the vision,” said Peter Comenzo, Rotterdam’s senior planner.
    The study area has a number of amenities, including the townowned Bonded Concrete site and a long stretch of vacant land rolling along the edge of the Mohawk River. Also included are existing portions of the old Erie Canal and a section of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Hike Trail.
    But the area also has a number of challenges that will restrict future development. One of those is the location of the town wellheads on land behind the Knotty Pine House Restaurant on Main Street; most of the area is also located over the sensitive recharge zone of the Great Flats Aquifer.
    “That makes it challenging to say the least,” Comenzo said.
    Rotterdam applied for the brownfield opportunities area grant in 2006 and received the award in 2008. The funding comes through the state Department of State and is given to communities aiming to redevelop dormant or blighted land into productive areas that enhance environmental qualities.
    Comenzo said the study area is primarily vacant land. But there are some places that could be considered brownfields, such as the Sunshine Auto junk yard between the old canal basin and Interstate 90 or the 78-acre Bonded Concrete site, which once served as a gravel mine.
    The study area includes the land running from the SI Group plant west to Lock 9 on the Mohawk. When completed, the plan will fi t in with a similar land-use plan produced for the area surrounding Exit 26.
    This week, the town sent surveys to residents and business owners living in the study area to determine some of the interests of the community. The surveys are also posted online at the town’s website, rotterdamny.org. .............>>>>........................>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00902&AppName=1

YAY!.....more 'facade' pillow fluffing....no real foundation for sewers or the like........YAY!!!! YAY!!!! The erosion of Rotterdam is speeding up......it's like living in Louisiana when folks waited for 'them' to come
back and save them......shooting on Watt St is the first outer band of the hurricane that will erode Rotterdam quicker.....could be time to leave...there's only so much roof repair, driveway maintenance  and
flower planting one can do to save the town......

Quoted from senders

YAY!.....more 'facade' pillow fluffing....no real foundation for sewers or the like........YAY!!!! YAY!!!! The erosion of Rotterdam is speeding up......it's like living in Louisiana when folks waited for 'them' to come back and save them......shooting on Watt St is the first outer band of the hurricane that will erode Rotterdam quicker.....could be time to leave...there's only so much roof repair, driveway maintenance  and
flower planting one can do to save the town......

You are quick to b**ch about something that you don't even know anything about.   Come to the meeting
in Rotterdam Jct on Thursday ...  LISTEN and LEARN ABOUT THE STUDY  .. before you start shooting off your
mouth with some lame a** complaints.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

You are quick to b**ch about something that you don't even know anything about.   Come to the meeting
in Rotterdam Jct on Thursday ...  LISTEN and LEARN ABOUT THE STUDY  .. before you start shooting off your
mouth with some lame a** complaints.

oh....I'm not bitchin' just warning about the big talk.....I'm happy that something is being looked at in the Junction....meanwhile
the erosion at the town line has begun.....go ahead keep pushin' your podium pucks.....the grant $$/study already has strings
attached.....like the roundabout that was ALREADY in progress long before the "let's see what we can do" meeting......

please stop covering for the mess from above in this state....your head too shall be covered in septic sh!t.......

very few positive voices... always complaing and I bet they never come to the meetings.....Come make a difference !!!

I hear that the TH is always packed!

Hopefully, the fire house in the Junction will be filled with people who want to learn about the
process and then share their ideas .. so we can develop a vision/plan for that areas future.

The Town Hall is packed when their is a heated debate or a someone/some group is  receiving
a recognition.

It is the tone of the debate that can be troublesome -- we need more people willing to offer
CONSTRUCTIVE ideas and POSITIVE solutions -- rather than gloating in "gotcha politics".

Maybe the County "Miracle Worker" SS Savage can attend? Nah, she only cares about things within her one block Potemkin village around Proctor's.

Quoted from benny salami

Maybe the County "Miracle Worker" SS Savage can attend? Nah, she only cares about things within her one block Potemkin village around Proctor's.

You can always call her and invite her.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Hopefully, the fire house in the Junction will be filled with people who want to learn about the
process and then share their ideas .. so we can develop a vision/plan for that areas future.

The Town Hall is packed when their is a heated debate or a someone/some group is  receiving
a recognition.

It is the tone of the debate that can be troublesome -- we need more people willing to offer
CONSTRUCTIVE ideas and POSITIVE solutions -- rather than gloating in "gotcha politics".

yeah,,,,watertower and sewers.......duh.....who needs planters and facades.......

Wow, no wonder this town is the mess it is....all negative and blame. Common sense says we need the appropriate infrastructure to develop...That obviously should be part of the plan. High taxes keep people out...need to (  re ) address the assessment issue.......equalization !!

Quoted from biaggio

Wow, no wonder this town is the mess it is....all negative and blame. Common sense says we need the appropriate infrastructure to develop...That obviously should be part of the plan. High taxes keep people out...need to (  re ) address the assessment issue.......equalization !!

We would NOThave the equalization problem .. if the Tommasone Administration had done its job
properly  -- they refused the state funds that would have allowed the newly updated property tax
rolls to be kept up to date.   Their excuse -- they opposed the Reval from the beginning -- that is
also why the Tommasone Administration did not do the follow-up necessary to properly complete
the ReVal ... then they tried to pin the blame on GAR.    Thanks to the Tommasone Administration
the $700,000 spent on the ReVal was almost a complete waste ----- and yet some who post here
want to bring that kind of   RepubliCAN'T government back to Rotterdam.

We should go back to the time in Rotterdam when the Dems had complete control and we didn't have any reval and property values were so far out of wack that the town was forced to do a reval in order to satisfy the state.

Quoted from Shadow

We should go back to the time in Rotterdam when the Dems had complete control and we didn't have any reval and property values were so far out of wack that the town was forced to do a reval in order to satisfy the state.

Be careful for what you wish for senders.  The GOP has a hard time maintaining because of assinine appointments, vindictiveness, Joe Signore and the worst Supervisor in the history of Rotterdam Politics.....Steve Tommasone.

Quoted from Shadow

We should go back to the time in Rotterdam when the Dems had complete control and we didn't have any reval and property values were so far out of wack that the town was forced to do a reval in order to satisfy the state.

The Reval was approved in 2005 -- under John Paolino's watch -- and the Democratic slate (of which I was a part) took the "flack" for that because the GOP (Tommasone, Mertz, and Signore) were opposed to the Reval  (opposed just to court votes -- not caring that the town was long in need of the reval being done).

I know that my support for the Reval cost me votes -- but I would rather be right on an issue
than say only what will get me elected.   Had the Democratic slate won in 2005 - the Reval
would have been implemented properly  .. we wouldn't have let GAR's materials sit in the town
hall store room for several years -- like Tommasone did -- and then complain that GAR didn't
do a good job.   As Supervisor -- Mr. Tommasone had the responsibility of reviewing the data
that GAR generated and  per the contract had 1 YEAR to send back to GAR any "problems" that
surfaced --- and there were problems -- but since Supervisor Tommasone NEVER bothered to
review the GAR material as he was supposed to do -- the final Reval report was approved
WITH the problems never being addressed.