Quoted Text

FEMA plan buys homes
Flood-ravaged residences would be removed from areas prone to damages
By RICK KARLIN Capitol bureau
Published 12:15 a.m., Saturday, September 24, 2011

ALBANY -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency may want to buy your home. At least if it has been destroyed by flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene and if it has been damaged before.

State and federal officials are likely to announce the start of FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Program for Irene. The government would buy and tear down homes in chronically flood-prone areas. Participants must agree not to rebuild.

While there's no timetable for the plan, state officials want to get started soon as flood-ravaged areas continue to rebuild and as officials scrutinize damaged homes or buildings that have been flooded before.

"We expect that pretty shortly the state will announce it," said William Peat Jr., a spokesman for the State Emergency Management Organization.

To participate, local governments such as villages or counties must opt in. They would then sponsor individual homeowners who apply to have FEMA purchase and pay for their homes to be torn down...............>>>>.................>>>>.........Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/FEMA-plan-buys-homes-2186558.php#ixzz1YsD4h7j5

Quoted Text

Friday, 01 September 2006 00:00






On a whirlwind tour of New York’s 524-mile canal system, Carmella Mantello walked, talked, biked, hiked, jet skied, boated, and took a trip on a tug. But most importantly, she listened.

Two weeks after being appointed director of the New York State Canal Corp. in May 2005, Mantello set out on the cross-state, Canal Connections tour. The goal was to garner input from communities and discover how the agency could help transform the canal system and its numerous towns, villages, and hamlets into an Erie Canal Greenway and international tourist destination. And there was no time to lose— Governor George E. Pataki wanted a full report of recommendations by December.

“We knew in our heads how we wanted to go about it, but the report wouldn’t carry any weight without the community input,” said Mantello. Through 10 regional meetings and chats with thousands of elected officials, residents, and Canal Corporation employees, Mantello gathered valuable information and was able to present Governor Pataki with a comprehensive report of recommendations before Christmas. A month later, the governor proposed a new $10 million allocation to the Canal Corporation for its planned projects, jumpstarting the transition of the canal system from a historic shipping waterway to a bustling 21st century economic corridor.

Past to present
When Governor DeWitt Clinton convinced the state legislature to authorize $7 million for the construction of a 363-mile long canal from Buffalo to Albany in 1817, the New York press responded with such famous headlines as “Clinton’s Ditch” and “Clinton’s Folly.”

But in less than a decade, canal tolls more than recouped the entire cost of construction, and Clinton’s Folly became heralded as the key that unlocked enormous social and economic improvements in America. Within 15 years of the canal’s opening, New York was the busiest port in the country, moving more tonnage than Boston, Baltimore, and New Orleans combined.

By the later part of the 20th century, the advent of railroads, highways, and seaways caused a rapid decline of traffic on the system, and the little-used canals gradually fell into disrepair. In 1992, the state legislature established the Canal Corporation to spur economic development by attracting more water and land users to the system.

Although substantial funding for improvement projects greatly enhanced the infrastructure of the canals and added new service ports and harbors, a trail network, and canalside parks to the system, the widespread economic development and tourism the state sought was slow to materialize. And in 2004, it was discovered that officials of the Canal Corporation had attempted to sell private development rights to large stretches of the canal to a single developer for far less than the land was worth on the open market.

Enter Carmella Mantello, fresh off five years as executive director of the successful Hudson River Valley Greenway project. “The Canal Corporation had gone through a rough period,” she said. “It was a scandalized agency. The morale of the employees was at an all time low. So the Canal Corporation was in dire need of not just leadership, but a team oriented approach with a new energy and a new attitude.”

First step
During her first day on the job, Mantello held a meeting and let the staff at headquarters know it would not be business as usual at the Canal Corporation. The organization was dedicated to maintaining and operating the canal’s many locks, but public relations and community development had been relegated to the back burner.

“There was an attitude here that this agency was comprised of engineers and didn’t have the experience to get involved with community development,” she said. “We recognize those two go hand in hand—building the infrastructure, maintaining the locks, go hand in hand with the tourism, the marketing, and community development. Communicating that message to our people was a big first step.”

In conjunction with the Canal Connections public outreach tour, Mantello and her team worked hard to garner input from the Canal Corporation’s 500-plus employees. In November, the agency held its first all-employee meeting in five years. At the meeting, Mantello received employee input, outlined the agency’s new path, and made sure everyone was on the same page. “The folks out in the field are our ambassadors out there on a daily basis talking to folks from across the world,” she said. “We want those people to have the same message as headquarters.”

Following the Canal Connections tour, Mantello and her team put the finishing touches on the report for Governor Pataki. Along with recommendations for further infrastructure improvements, the report detailed the need to coordinate the community development efforts of the towns and villages along the canal system and create a regional marketing strategy. “Many communities were doing good things to make the canal the front door to their tourism efforts, but it was happening in pockets,” she said. “More coordinated efforts were required.”

Early wins
After the state legislature approved Governor Pataki’s request for a $10 million investment in the Erie Canal Greenway in January, the Canal Corporation kicked its efforts into high gear. And less than a year later, the tangible results are popping up across the system.

New media and marketing efforts have brought a renewed public interest in the Canal System and a new emphasis on community partnerships. The Canal Corporation waived tolls for recreational boaters for the 2006 season, extended its springtime hours of operation, and opened early for the first time in 33 years. In Waterford, new businesses are opening along the town’s once boarded up Main Street. In Baldwinsville, a rehabilitated mill building along the canal has been converted into an upscale inn, and in August, the Canal Corporation sponsored the first-ever Canal Splash—a weekend celebration of the history, beauty, and recreational appeal of the Canal System that attracted thousands of visitors to more than 85 local events and activities in various canal communities.

According to Mantello, the early wins indicate just how much of an impact the new direction and attitude of the Canal Corporation has had on the system

“If we can improve the quality of life along the canal, if we can show it’s a place to work, recreate, and a place to invest, that’s the future of the canal,” she said.

“That’s what we do day in and day out. We give our communities the technical and financial assistance to really show the world what we have here along the canal system—a national and international tourist destination.”