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PARTNERS FOR A LIVABLE WESTERN NEW YORK

NEWSLETTER – April 27, 2007

If you do not wish to receive these notices in the future please indicate this in an e-mail message to ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com

Highlighted names are those of people on the Partners for a Livable Western New York e-mail contact list.

• One of the things that entices people is mixed-use. You can go to Starbucks, the dry cleaners, Publix, without having to get into your car.
  
  – Mark Jones, real estate agent for the three square block mixed-use development that has broken ground in the downtown River District of Fort Myers, FL.

• We can’t keep building parking ramps. . . . We need to start paying attention to what faces us down the road. – an editorial in the Rochester (Minnesota) Post-Bulletin in response to a proposal for an eight-level parking ramp to service the Mayo Clinic’s downtown Rochester campus.

• Canada’s suburbs were built for young families with cars – forget the sidewalks. Yet they’re going to fill up with grandmothers and grandfathers who may not be able to walk, much less drive, a transformation that has implications for policy-makers and municipal planners. . . . These suburbs weren’t designed with seniors in mind at all. There’s going to have to be a lot of retrofitting. – M. Hodge, former director of the school of urban planning at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario

• The [Minneapolis-St. Paul] area’s map of subsidized job shifts looks like an evacuation plan . . . [it is] reverse Robin Hood. – Washington D.C.-based Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy as quoted in the Washington Post on suburban municipalities luring business from the cities with lucrative incentives that are costly to the taxpayers.

• We’re supposed to be figuring out how to fund K-12 education and how to get more people in health care, not promoting a mall.” – Minnesota State legislator Ann Lenczewski on a proposal to provide a $234 million subsidy to help the Mall of America double in size, as quoted in the Washington Post

NIAGARA FALLS SERIES CONTINUES

The nine-week Wednesday evening series on smart growth and revitalizing the City of Niagara Falls, NY continues with the next three programs being: May 2 - Heidi Zimmer-Meyer of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation on retail development , May 9 - Rochester architect Roger Brown on the public realm and May 16 - Paul Tronolone of USA-Niagara on transportation and mobility. These are good programs and your attendance is encouraged. The programs run from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. in Main Library on Main Street (intersection of Portage Avenue) in Niagara Falls. The opening presentation by George Grasser suggested smart growth initiatives that the City (and any municipality) can take to improve its use of land and its built environment. The second week had a presentation by Michael Clark on vacant and abandoned properties and this week’s presentation was by Tim Wanamaker on housing in the city. Each of the six remaining programs is listed below. For more information contact Zach Casale at (716) 285-1318.

PINE AVENUE WALK ON SATURDAY MAY 12

We will be walking the Pine Avenue area of Niagara Falls on Saturday morning May 12. Everyone is welcome. PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR. This will be our 16^th neighborhood walk. Details on assembly place (8:30 a.m.) will be announced in the next newsletter.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES and ISSUES INVOLVING PARTNERS FOR A LIVABLE WESTERN NEW YORK and WESTERN AND CENTRAL NEW YORK MUNICIPALITIES AND PLACES

1. Only the following State legislators responded to the Partners for a Livable Western New York/VOICE Buffalo inquiry asking their position on specific land use, government reform and equity issues of concern: Dennis Gabryczak, Mark Schroeder and Sam Hoyt. The following legislators did not respond: State Senators Mary Lou Rath, Dale Volker, William Stachowski, Antoine Thompson and George Maziarz; Assembly members Robin Schimminger, Crystal Peoples, Michael Cole, Jack Quinn, James Hayes and Francine DelMonte.
2. Kudos to: (i) Erie County Legislator Maria Whyte, her staff member Whitney Crispell, and the several groups involved, including VOICE-Buffalo and the League of Women Voters, who joined together to bring about the unanimous adoption by the Erie County Legislature of the Erie Niagara Framework for Regional Growth;

        (ii) Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier Executive Director Dennis Galucki for the outstanding awards program the Society will be holding on Friday, May 4th – see below. Your attendance             at this program is encouraged.

1. George Grasser will make a presentation at a day-long “Economic Developmen and Civic Engagement” conference in Geneseo sponsored by the Association for the Preservation of Geneseo this Saturday, April 28^th (see below). The other three presenters will be Thomas Hylton, Pulitizer Prize winning author of “Save Our Land, Save Our Town”, Evan Lowenstein of Rochester’s Green Village Consulting, and William Brookover of the National Historic Landmark and Civic Engagement organization.

     3. Congratulations to new Partners for a Livable Western New York board member: Ronald Bochenek – a planner with Ecology and Environment.

5. Bass Pro controversy is heating up with many concerns raised because the proposal is at variance with the previously agreed upon land use plan that went through the SEQR process. Objections include: the process, whether public process has been circumvented; the engagement of Benderson Development as a principal player; the lack of experience of Benderson Development in urban retail development; the amount and location of parking; the relation of parking to the remainder of the downtown area; the ability of Benderson to take the parking area now used by residents of Marine Drive Apartments; the location of a building of the size of Bass Pro so close to the water; whether the building can be retrofitted for other use when Bass Pro is no longer occupying the building; whether the new plan will have to go through the SEQR process further delaying any construction activity on the waterfront; and the amount of public money in the project; why we don’t have an experienced urban retail planning firm involved, i.e. the concern that we may be trying to do this without the proper expertise, e.g. whether we have looked at the urban waterfront retail of Duluth, MN and Portland, ME and talked to the people in those cities to learn what they believe they have done right and would have done differently.

6. New Urban News had a story on the Village of Hamburg’s new roundabouts, citing the award Partners for a Livable Western New York gave the Village and the New York State Department of Transportation for the project.

7. Dan Gundersen, the new Upstate Chairman of the Empire State Development Corp. was “incredibly” impressed by the Jamestown area’s development collaborations, as reported in The Buffalo News.

8. The Niagara Falls Gazette reports that the Niagara Falls Redevelopment entity has acquired 402 properties in the Niagara Falls downtown area and has an additional 38 properties under contract.

9. The remaining sessions in the FREE Wednesday evening Niagara Falls Smart Growth series “Revitalizing and Romancing the City – From Smart Growth to Sustainable Development”:

10. May 2 – Making Downtown and Neighborhood Retail Work – Heidi Zimmer-Meyer of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation (invited)
11. May 9 – The Public Realm – Roger Brown, Rochester architect
12. May 16 – Mobility Around the City – Paul Tronolone, planner USA Niagara
13. May 23 – Infill Development – Karl Frizlen, Buffalo architect and developer and Joseph Eicheldinger of the Community Preservation Corporation
14. May 30 – Quality of Life for City Residents – Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. Professor and Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo
15. June 6 – Where Do We Go From Here? Keynote presenter to be announced.

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COMING EVENTS YOU MIGHT WANT TO ATTEND– PUT THEM ON YOUR CALENDAR! –

April 28 (Saturday) – 10:00 to 4:00, Saint Mary’s Parish Center, Geneseo, conference on Economic Development and Civic Engagement sponsored the The Association for the Preservation of Geneseo. $10 fee includes lunch. Presenters include Pulitzer prize- winning author Thomas Hylton, Evan Lowenstein and George Grasser

May 2 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – “Retail”– see above

May 4 (Friday) – Annual awards luncheon of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, 12 noon, The Church (Asbury Hall), Fee. Call 852-3300 for reservations. Award winners include: The Granite Works project, architect Clinton Brown and attorney Harry Meyer.

May 8 (Tuesday) – New Angola Theater, Angola, NY 6:45 p.m. “Dollars and Sense of Preserving Community Character” – a video presentation narrated by Edward McMahon, nationally known authority on sustainable development, land conservation and urban design. FREE. Hosted by Wendel Duchscherer on behalf of the New York Planning Federation.

May 9 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – “The Public Realm” - see above

May 10-11 (Thursday-Friday) Hilton Garden Inn, Niagara-on-the-Lake, “Summit 2007: Four Pillars of a Complete Niagara” directed at creating an integrated community sustainability. $200 Fee. Call 1-800-263-7215. Niagara Falls city planner Tom DeSantis is one of the speakers.

May 11 (Friday) Pittsford, NY – Local Government Workshop sponsored by the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council. For more information call 585-454-0190. Note: These well-organized programs, offering concurrent sessions to cover a multiplicity of topics for all interests, are excellent sources of information for public officials involved in land use issues.

May 15 (Tuesday) – Rochester. “Transportation for Livable Communities” presentation by Walter Kulash, well-known transportation engineer. Memorial Art Gallery, 7 p.m. Mr. Kulash is one of the leading authorities in the United States on transportation planning. This presentation is part of the “Reshaping Rochester” series. $15 fee at the door, $10 in advance. For more information call (58%) 271-0520.

May 16 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – see above

May 17-20 (Thursday to Sunday) Philadelphia – 15^th national conference, Congress for the New Urbanism. Several people from the Buffalo area are expected to attend. As the air fare to Philadelphia is high, people interested in carpooling should contact George Grasser at 883-5070 or by e-mail at ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com. For more information on the conference: 312-551-7300, www.cnuxv.org

May 19 (Saturday) – “Green and Growing” summit, Buffalo State College, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., $20 (includes breakfast and lunch), call 852-2857; keynote speaker: Storm Cunningham – noted author on ways to revitalize metropolitan areas.

May 23 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – see above

May 30 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – see above

June 6 (Wednesday) – Niagara Falls Smart Growth Series – see above

June 20 (Wednesday) – Rochester – “Living Downtown” presentation by Laurie Volk a well-known new urbanist marketing and feasibility consultant from New Jersey. Hochstein Performance Hall, 7 p.m. This presentation is part of the “Reshaping Rochester” series. $15 feet at the door, $10 in advance. For more information call (585) 271-0520. The study defined a This presentation is part of the “Reshaping Rochester” series. $15 feet at the door, $10 in advance. For more information call (58%) 271-0520.

June 21-22 (Thursday and Friday) – Cleveland – 2007 Community Development Policy Summit sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Cleveland Marriott Downtown. For more information: www.cleveland fed.org/2007policy summit.

PUBLICATIONS AND RECENT NEWS FROM OUTSIDE WESTERN NEW YORK (please forward articles of interest to use for inclusion in this newsletter)

1. The Denver Post reports a new marketing study, by GfK Roper Consulting, that fewer than one-fifth of Americans want homes in gated communities and Americans are relocating out of gated communities.

2. CNNMoney.com reports that dense settlements, not “sprawling McMansions” are the future of American housing and that the demand for homes in more compact developments “is only going to get greater” as baby boomers age.

3. A study of 40 major cities by William Lucy and David Phillips of the University of Virginia Department of Urban and Environmental Planning has found that the per capita income of non-Hispanic whites is substantially higher in cities than in suburbs, reversing the standard belief that most middle and upper income whites had left cities before 2000 and that white middle and upper income newcomers usually choose suburbs over cities.

4. The State of Maine is considering adoption of an “Informed Growth Act” law that would require the developer of a proposed big-box store (75,000 sq. feet or more) to fund an economic analysis by a town-chosen consultant that would study “the positive and negative effects of the proposed store on existing businesses, jobs, wages, vacancy rates, the vitality of the municipality’s downtown area, the cost of municipal services, and the volume of sales revenue retained and reinvested in the community.” The study would focus on the municipality where the store is proposed to be located and the wider market area and require residents of the areas to be given special notice of a required public hearing.

5. Barron’s reports that for the first time in more than six decades, more golf courses closed (146) than opened (119) in the United States in 2006.

6. Syracuse.com reports that the towns of Cicero and Clay, in an effort to control development in the northernmost part of Onondaga County, have issued a moratorium on new commercial development (Cicero), and are considering prohibiting new commercial development in some areas (Clay) and allowing more dense mixed-use development in other areas (Clay). Some of the initiatives are directed at rejuvenating the waterfront community of Brewerton with restaurants and shops.

7. The New York Times reports that a number of cities have gone to performance-based parking meter pricing, adjusting the prices by location and time of day, depending on demand, to produce an 85% occupancy for curb parking, eliminating the time people spend cruising for a parking place while wasting gas and spewing out carbon dioxide.

8. The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports the results of two Pennsylvania statewide surveys in which – 64% of voters thing communities should pool resources to deliver services and cut waste; 67% believe older urban areas should get financial aid for their amenities from the surrounding suburbs; 84% believe municipalities should form regional police departments; and 95% believe local governments should work together on transportation plans and open space protection.

RESOURCES FOR ASSISTANCE INCLUDING MATERIALS THAT CAN BE ORDERED OR DOWNLOADED

1. Excerpts from a guide on Complete Streets from the Thunderhead Alliance is available at www.thunderheadalliance.org.

2. Fact sheet “Complete Streets for Active Communities” is available at www.activelivingresources.org/assets.complete_streets.pdg

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