Earlier this month, the city sent out a voluminous final design report to the state detailing its much anticipated plans to retool Erie Boulevard, accord to city engineer, Paul Cassillo.
"That was a major accomplishment," he said last week as he provided an update about the $14 million project which city leaders have been touting since 2007 and now seems to be making slow but steady progress.
The design report must now be reviewed and approved by the state, a process that could take several months, before the project can go out to bid, Cassillo added.
"It'll be a major plus in our favor once we get (state approval)," the city's engineer said.
At the same time, Schenectady is continuing to work with utility companies and other entities, including National Grid and Time Warner to identify what major electrical lines and cables may need to be moved.
"In order to redesign Erie Boulevard, we have to know what's there first, underground," Cassillo said. He said he water and sewer lines will be less problematic since they are city-owned.
From there, the city will turn its attention to the acquiring the properties needed for the project.
First unveiled in November 2007, the plan envisions a tree-lined street filled with new, technology-based businesses.
While the roundabout is gone, the plan still calls for a tree-lined median all the way down Erie from I-890 to State Street. Motorists would have to enter a turnaround loop at I-890 or at Erie Street in order to reach the boulevard's opposite side.
The new plan still includes the demolition of an adult bookstore and gun shop at the corner of South Ferry Street, even though tearing down those buildings was initially tied to the roundabout. In their place are what designers called public spaces of landscaping and grass. An access road would also be built behind the businesses.
Originally, the city wanted to start construction in 2009 and have it completed in 2011. But a protest by some business owners has delayed the project. The city has said the federal and state funds will cover about 95 percent of the project.
With Stratton's $13 MILLION deficit the City can't afford even 1% of these costs. These people are fiscal idiots. Get some private sector business people in City Hall.
It must be pushed ahead? Forget about what all the Erie businesses said. Another tax and job destroyer. Nobody wants this. We can't afford it and never could. Plant some trees and move on.
NYS is cutting trees down along their roads to prevent cars from colliding with the trees and causing severe injuries to the drivers and Schdy is going to plant trees where both lanes will have a shot at them and sue the city when they get injured.
Um, excuse me but has anyone in Schenectady thought that this money might just help rehab Upper Crane Street? Maybe a few million could go into bringing more business to Bellevue? What about McClellen? This City is so focused on Erie and Proctors that the town is being sucked into a black hole the size of one city block. Pathetic.
Um, excuse me but has anyone in Schenectady thought that this money might just help rehab Upper Crane Street? Maybe a few million could go into bringing more business to Bellevue? What about McClellen? This City is so focused on Erie and Proctors that the town is being sucked into a black hole the size of one city block. Pathetic.
Um, excuse me but has anyone in Schenectady thought that this money might just help rehab Upper Crane Street? Maybe a few million could go into bringing more business to Bellevue? What about McClellen? This City is so focused on Erie and Proctors that the town is being sucked into a black hole the size of one city block. Pathetic.
They are now focusing again on Erie blvd. What about the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are spending on these so called 'green houses'? Ya know the ones that costs well over $100K to build, is assessed at $160K and is being sold for $80K? Once the people buy them for $80K, they can't afford the taxes!
These homes are being built on Hamilton Hill and in the Bellevue area. People in these areas are reporting that these homes aren't even sold yet and windows are being broken and being broken into.
And they are concerning themselves with ERIE BLVD??? WTH?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Nothing is more sacred than the deal. This is not about "high dreck corridor", nor trees on Erie, nor a bike path for the area. It's about greasing a buddy. That's why you run for office. The poor kids who need a pool can go pound salt. The City Council better burst this balloon at the next meeting, The oppressed City sheeple do not need another $1 million bill for repaving a perfectly good street.
BTW, where is SS on this? Is she for this idiotic Stratton Erie plan? Where is her support for the City pools? She too busy tasting County water that all comes from the same source.
Um, excuse me but has anyone in Schenectady thought that this money might just help rehab Upper Crane Street? Maybe a few million could go into bringing more business to Bellevue? What about McClellen? This City is so focused on Erie and Proctors that the town is being sucked into a black hole the size of one city block. Pathetic.
round two
first time it was paddle boats on the inner city waterway and peggy's
where will be 30 years from now?
Talking to each other is better than talking about each other
SCHENECTADY Cost of Erie Boulevard project going up Need for redesigns boosts budget; long-awaited work to start in 2011 BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The cost of the long-delayed reconstruction of Erie Boulevard is starting to rise. Clough Harbour is getting another $330,000 for its work designing the project, which may begin in the spring. Schenectady will have to pay up to $66,000 of the additional cost. If the city gets a state grant, it will have to pay only $16,500, City Engineer Paul Cassillo said. The city could have been on the hook for the entire $330,000. But Cassillo transferred most of the money from the budget for acquisition of land, since the city no longer needs to buy as much land as expected. He said the budget increase was inevitable when plans dragged on for years, with many more design options created to satisfy serious concerns from a dozen different business owners. “There was an additional 12 alternates. There was a ton of meetings,” Cassillo said. “There were three years of public involvement. The list goes on and on.” The final design also went farther along Erie Boulevard to Union Street; the original plan stopped at Liberty Street. “There’s additional signals, additional traffi c analysis, more archaeological work needed,” Cassillo said. But the main cost was the time and effort in creating a design that would not hurt the businesses lining the street. Three years ago, Rocco Palmer organized nearly every business on the last block of Erie Boulevard to oppose the project. Palmer, who owns the adult business Another World, was facing demolition. ....................>>>>...................>>>>....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1
Does the federal government know that this $13 millions dollars of taxpayer money will bring absolutely nothing of value to an area? There is no problem now with this road, yet the City decided to use this money to fix Erie Boulevard WHERE ABSOLUTELY NO ONE LIVES! Who does this help...NO ONE.
Just another wasted $13 million of federal tax money and another $700,000 of the City taxpayers money...to redo only a portion of Erie Boulevard. Pathetic and a complete waste of money in a City where there are many other neighborhoods which rightfully deserve this money.
Logged
With Stratton's $13 MILLION deficit the City can't afford even 1% of these costs. These people are fiscal idiots. Get some private sector business people in City Hall. 
