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Redesign input sought
$14 million plan to remake Erie Boulevard to be discussed at meeting  
  
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, November 28, 2007

SCHENECTADY -- The public will get to weigh in Thursday night on the city's $14 million plan to remake the gateway around downtown Erie Boulevard.
  
The work slated for Erie Boulevard, from Interstate 890 to Liberty Street, is expected to provide access to parking, create more green space, encourage private investment and redevelopment, and reflect Schenectady's rich history. Construction could start in 2009.

The federal government will cover 80 percent of the cost; the state, 15 percent, and the city, 5 percent.

The improvements "will transform Erie Boulevard from a sea of asphalt to a pedestrian-friendly technology, business-friendly technology corridor," Mayor Brian U. Stratton said in a statement.

Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage said the project is critical to the success of redevelopment efforts and integral to the county's revival.

Thursday's gathering is planned for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the atrium at Proctors Theatre, 432 State St. Consultants will join political leaders from the city and county to field questions about the design concept.

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SCHENECTADY
Erie Boulevard plan ready for public
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

   Erie Boulevard will be transformed from a “sea of asphalt” to a slower, greener street in the final design proposal to be unveiled today, Mayor Brian U. Stratton said.
   Clough Harbour and Associates will present its design at the Proctors Atrium from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Residents will be able to make comments about the design at a public meeting scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
   Stratton described the street design as a “pedestrian-friendly, business-friendly technology corridor.” It will stretch from the Interstate 890 interchange to Liberty Street and will focus on making it easier to cross the busy road by bike or on foot.
   “In its current state, the excessive width of Erie Boulevard encourages high traffic speeds and makes it extremely difficult for pedestrians to cross,” Stratton said. “The preferred design concept transforms that additional width into green space and applies traffic calming measures.”
   He said businesses would be more likely to relocate to a prettier, greener boulevard. He wants technology companies to cluster there, creating a technology corridor.
   The Edison Exploratorium, a museum devoted to Schenectady’s great engineers, has already announced plans to move to Erie Boulevard. But officials want major businesses there as well.
   Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage said “The Erie Boulevard project is critical to the success of our redevelopment efforts. It is key to the revival of Schenectady County.”
   Design and engineering work are slated to be done next year, with construction in 2009.
   The city would pay for only 5 percent of the $14 million project. The Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation have pledged $13.5 million, through the Capital District Transportation Commission.  

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The city would pay for only 5 percent of the $14 million project. The Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation have pledged $13.5 million, through the Capital District Transportation Commission.  

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The city would pay for only 5 percent of the $14 million project. The Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation have pledged $13.5 million, through the Capital District Transportation Commission.  

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Roundabout, landscaping part of Erie Blvd. plans unveiled in Schenectady tonight  
  
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007

SCHENECTADY - Erie Boulevard travelers would have to traverse a roundabout at South Ferry Street and weave through a new curved, treed landscape if the city moves forward with preliminary plans for the boulevard's $14 million makeover.
  
The public got its first glimpse at the plan at a community meeting Thursday night at Proctors' GE Theatre.

About 100 people watched a slide show on the big screen produced by the city's design consultants, Clough Harbour and Associates, which provided various drawings of what Erie Boulevard could look like between I-890 and Union Street.

Under the preliminary plan, the wide boulevard's six-lane width between I-890 and State Street would shrink to four lanes by placing large grassy and treed medians in between. A roundabout at Erie Boulevard's connection with South Ferry Street would allow motorists to turn around and go the opposite direction.

The street was once the Erie Canal, but was later paved and served as a quick route to and from General Electric, which can still be seen prominently at the boulevard's end at I-890. But with declining employment at GE and the elimination of parking in the road's middle, the boulevard's wide expanse has proved no longer necessary.

The project's goal is to slow down traffic and make the area more attractive and pedestrian-friendly. Crosswalks between the medians are also part of the preliminary design.

If funds allow, thinner medians would be placed on Erie Boulevard between Liberty and Union streets.

Ann Parillo, host of Schenectady Today on Channel 16, looked at the drawings before the meeting. She wondered if excavation will reveal interesting artifacts from the 19th century history of the canal. Clough Harbour consultants said later that they will be doing a study of the area's archeological significance before the project starts.

Richard DiCristofaro, who owns Wedgeway Barber Shop off Erie Boulevard, wondered if people would be irritated if traffic slows too much.

"Of course it looks gorgeous, an artist rendering looks good on paper," DiCristofaro said. "Whether it's practical or not remains to be seen."

The federal government will pay 80 percent of the project, the state 15 percent and the city 5 percent. Another public meeting will be held to show more final designs next spring.

The reconstruction work would likely stretch from 2009 to 2011.

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EDITORIALS
Good start on Erie Blvd. redesign

   In redesigning Erie Boulevard, Clough Harbour and Associates had a dream assignment: lots of money to play with, $14 million, and a road that could only be improved upon. The plan, unveiled Thursday night, could use a few improvements itself — which Clough Harbor is open to, and in fact are anticipated with the public participation process that the project sponsors are wisely following here. But as a starting point, it looks quite good.
   The two main goals were to make this great, barren expanse of asphalt, which looks like a landing strip and is used like a raceway, prettier and safer. The designers accomplished this by adding as much green as possible: a wide, raised grass median with plenty of trees the length of the street, as well as trees lining the sidewalks on either side.
   To slow traffic they have introduced gentle curves, like the one on State Street in front of Proctors, as well as a roundabout.
   It’s ironic that roundabouts are called “traffic calming” devices, because they sure do upset people. Unnecessarily in most cases, and particularly here. This one is more like a jog for those going straight, which most people will be doing. But it will also provide a safe way for drivers to turn around and get to the other side. And it will serve as a focal point, as well as a gateway to lower State Street, which the city and Metroplex want to redevelop, and the Stockade.
   The design is pedestrian-friendly. In addition to the sidewalks, there are five crosswalks between State Street and I-890, each one at a point where the road is narrowest and the median widest. What it is not, so far, is bike-friendly. That failing should be corrected. The right lane on both sides is wide enough to make a lane (preferably a slightly raised one, which is safer) for bicycles. And there needs to be a connection to the trail at the community college and Washington Avenue in the Stockade.
   A walking path up the median is something else that should be considered, as well as benches and more places for people to gather.
   Another problem is that access to retail businesses on the southeast side, where most of them are located, is difficult for cars headed south. One would have to go all the way around the I-890 circle, although it will also be possible to park on the west side and use one of two crosswalks. But it may be necessary to add a break in the median where cars can get across down there.
   These are relatively minor, remediable problems, though. The important thing is that the city now has a very attractive plan for a very important corridor.  

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Don’t forget State St. west of Erie Boulevard
VITO J. SCAFAMIERO
Schenectady
The writer is proprietor of Mr. James Beauty Salon.

   On Nov. 24 at 6:15 in the morning, I took a drive downtown State Street near Proctors. It looked beautiful with the Christmas decorations and all. However, when I crossed Erie Boulevard, all I saw was nothing — no lights — nothing. With the Robinson Building down, it looked like World War III.
   We have nice shops below Erie Boulevard on State Street, However, you’d never know. Even the parade goes down Erie Boulevard, not on State Street.

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The design is pedestrian-friendly. In addition to the sidewalks, there are five crosswalks between State Street and I-890, each one at a point where the road is narrowest and the median widest. What it is not, so far, is bike-friendly. That failing should be corrected. The right lane on both sides is wide enough to make a lane (preferably a slightly raised one, which is safer) for bicycles. And there needs to be a connection to the trail at the community college and Washington Avenue in the Stockade.  A walking path up the median is something else that should be considered, as well as benches and more places for people to gather.

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SCHENECTADY
City’s move to seize 2 sites to begin
Roundabout will replace buildings
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    The city hopes to begin next summer the legal process to take two buildings on Erie Boulevard — housing a gun shop and an adult business — and replace them with a roundabout as part of a $14 million streetscape project, officials said.
    Both the state and the federal government must approve a design document that specifies the project’s scope before legal and engineering work can begin, said City Engineer Bernard Sisson.
    “We hope to get state and federal approvals by the middle of next summer and then we can start eminent domain and final design,” he said.
    Clough Harbour and Associates is working on the design and wants to start the project in 2009, Sisson said.
    Under the $14 million draft design, the city will narrow Erie Boulevard, line it with trees, add medians and off-street parking on the Interstate 890 section and place a smaller median just beyond State Street.
    Another World and Special Arms & Munitions, adjacent to each other on the west side of Erie Boulevard, would be demolished and replaced by the roundabout.
    Gun shop owner Mark LaViolette said the city is “targeting the [adult] book store and we are collateral damage.” He said he fi rst learned the city wanted his building through a Nov. 30 article in The Daily Gazette.
    “A courteous letter or phone call would have been more appropriate than learning of it on the front page of The Daily Gazette,” LaViolette wrote in a certified letter to Mayor Brian U. Stratton.
    The letter went to Clough Harbour as part of the public comment portion of the project review, said Sharon Jordan, chief of staff for Stratton.
    Since the news article appeared, the gun shop has seen a dramatic decline in business, LaViolette said. “We’ve been here four years; it’s not seasonal,” he said. “Several customers are under the impression that we are being put out of business.”
    LaViolette and co-owner Mark Kali are also concerned that relocation will further hurt their business. They chose the Erie Boulevard site for its proximity to the Zone 5 Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy, several blocks down. The academy trains officers from throughout the region, and the officers form a large segment of the store’s customer base, he said.
    “A tremendous amount of money was put into the building to secure our inventory. Us being forced out of this location will have a financially negative impact on our future business,” LaViolette said.
    The gun shop is the only store in the Capital Region that sells machine guns, automatic rifles, assault weapons, tasers and other lethal hardware. Police departments are the only agencies in New York state allowed to purchase and possess automatic weapons.
    LaViolette estimated he has invested more than $100,000 alone just in security systems for the building, including a four-ton safe in which the automatic weapons are stored.
    The city reached a legal settlement with Another World’s owner, Rocco J. Palmer, in 2004 over his property should the city need it for a streetscape project. He agreed to “be reasonable” about the price and agree to relocation, city officials said.
    The city promised to help him find a new location in a zone where adult businesses are permitted, but agreed to let him open an adult bookstore on lower Broadway if no other location could be found. Palmer wanted to open a store at 1351 or 1354 Broadway.
    LaViolette said he has yet to hear from the city about a price for his building. Sisson said once the design is approved, the city will hire an independent real estate appraisal to examine the properties.
    The city must offer the owners a fair market price for their buildings. The money for both buildings is included in the $14 million project estimate, which is funded mostly through state and federal grants.

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The city promised to help him find a new location in a zone where adult businesses are permitted, but agreed to let him open an adult bookstore on lower Broadway if no other location could be found. Palmer wanted to open a store at 1351 or 1354 Broadway.

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The city promised to help him find a new location in a zone where adult businesses are permitted, but agreed to let him open an adult bookstore on lower Broadway if no other location could be found. Palmer wanted to open a store at 1351 or 1354 Broadway.

Is this in the area where that new Dunkin Donuts was built?????

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why cant Another World go on Jay Street or closer to villa italia......it is after all---art---(in the eye of the beholder, I guess, someone once said)

maybe they could be involve in Art Night???? Let's class them up a little...give them a purpose higher than scum....oh, wait, better idea......right next door to planned parent hood would be much more appropriate......let them fight it out......although it should be lucrative for them both..... :X(I could go on here)

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Erie Boulevard is fine just the way it is

    Re Dec. 18 Gazette article, “City’s move to seize 2 sites to begin”: I cannot believe that Schenectady is serious about spending millions of dollars to rehab Erie Boulevard.
    Is this going to be another State Street fiasco? First, we make the street narrower, then a few years later determine that we need some parking along the street (as we had before) and spend another million to again widen the street. Why do we need a roundabout halfway down the boulevard before we even approach the State Street intersection? If the purpose of the rehab is to benefit the proposed new YMCA/Golub building [at the former Big N site] then why not say so and rehab that area?
    Leave Erie Boulevard from I-890 to State Street alone, spend fewer millions, and [then] spruce up that area with some landscaping, road work and maybe a median?
    I have never noticed any traffic problems along lower Erie Boulevard. The wide lanes now allow traffic to move along quickly and at the same time allow parking for the businesses located there.
    If the purpose of the rehab is to beautify the entrance to Schenectady from I-890, then clean up that area, do some landscaping, etc. and don’t make Erie Boulevard a much-narrower road and add a confusing, ill-advised roundabout.
    FRANK J. LONGO
    Rotterdam

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Extra traffic lanes needed on Erie Blvd.

    I worked at GE in downtown Schenectady when the I-890 arterial was being built; it could have been better.
    But the thing that always puzzled me is why there are only two lanes coming out of GE and Edison Avenue when there is enough room for three and even four as you get on Erie Boulevard. The extra third and fourth lanes would have allowed for the large volume of cars going to Scotia/Glenville over the Western Gateway Bridge and reduced backup of cars heading up Erie Boulevard.
    Yes, there is westbound traffic that slows down the Scotia-bound traffi c but the extra lanes would reduce traffi c coming out of GE. The four lanes would use some of the parking space on the south side of Erie Boulevard, but there is very little needed at this point.
    I have never seen it done, but a single traffic light for westbound traffi c on Erie Boulevard that senses backup of Scotia-bound traffic, could be useful to those coming out of GE, as well as those heading to Erie Boulevard from the eastbound lane of I-890.
    All of this would be very cheap in comparison to a traffic circle.
    I always regret not speaking up about the arterial design when [it was] reviewed many years ago.
    GEORGE SCHMIDT III
    Niskayuna

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Ulterior motive in Erie Blvd. roundabout plan?

    I couldn’t agree more with Mr. [Frank J.] Longo’s Dec. 24 letter, “Erie Boulevard is fine just the way it is.” Why is the city of Schenectady and the state of New York putting money into putting a roundabout on Erie Boulevard?
    One might ask, “a roundabout to where?” I have traveled Erie Boulevard twice daily for more than 30 years and have never come across a backup of traffic at the site of the proposed roundabout. Is this really an attempt to eliminate the two businesses [Another World and Special Arms and Munitions] — which would need to be seized? It is absolute foolishness to spend money on something that doesn’t need money spent. Put that money to a better use. Renovate some of the empty buildings on Erie Boulevard, but don’t spend money on a roundabout to nowhere.
    JUDITH PECK
    Rotterdam

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It makes folks drive other routes and will slow down the downtown traffic,,,there by making a nicer/easier walk for the students at SCCC music program when they have to walk downtown for their classes...... ;D

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But it's not even along the main route.  If they moved it to the State Street / Erie Boulevard corner, then I would agree.

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this time I will interpret...I think senders meant that tongue in check! I think! :)

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Narrowing Erie Blvd. will kill business in downtown Sch’dy

    Being in downtown Schenectady since 1941, we have witnessed downtown in its heyday, its decline and its many attempts at rebirth. These last few years have seen a rapid growth, and we are thrilled with the many new restaurants and businesses that have come downtown.
    Unfortunately, the proposed redesign of Erie Boulevard would be a step backward. Erie Boulevard needs to be cleaned up, but this project is a waste of taxpayer dollars. We do not need a roundabout that serves only to put more businesses out by limiting the flow of traffi c.
    Although we may not all agree with the goods they sell, Another World brings business into the city, collects sales tax and pays its property taxes. Honestly, until our local planners made a big deal about this store, I never knew what it sold. In attempt to wage war against this business, our planners will be again spending our tax dollars to narrow the streets in downtown and make Erie Boulevard as non-functional a drive as State Street has become. (Try making a left onto Erie Boulevard from State Street after 5 p.m.) If a median is erected on Erie Boulevard, we might as well put a gas station on the corner because the traffi c bottleneck will drain gas tanks. The fun will truly begin when Price Chopper opens its new offices on Nott Street.
    Let’s look back to when downtown was happening. State Street was a six-lane road, with parking on each side! Today, when every household has up to three cars in their driveway, we are making it even more difficult for folks and their families to drive downtown by limiting traffic to one lane. I field calls every day from our customers requesting a route to our store that skips State Street all together. I can’t even being to imagine what it will be like when Erie Boulevard becomes two lanes.
    City planners need to start thinking about function, and not merely aesthetics. Wider sidewalks are great, but if traffi c cannot flow downtown, you will continue to find those sidewalks empty. Years ago, we had narrower sidewalks, filled with the bustle of a thriving downtown — why? Because you could actually drive downtown and park your car. What a concept,
    If you make it so difficult to get to a business, folks will continue to do what they have for years; going to the mall, where parking is abundant and you can get there via expressway.
    NORMAN AND LINDA TOLOKONSKY
    Schenectady
The writers are proprietors of Rudnick’s.

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Erie Boulevard plan will be bad for business downtown

    The goals for improving Erie Boulevard, as stated by the Capital District Transportation Planning Committee, are a more drivable, business- and pedestrianfriendly gateway into downtown, and to stimulate future business growth in our community.
    Yes, it’s pedestrian-friendly. The plan expands the already wide and little used sidewalks. The artist’s concept looks like a new park in the center of town [Nov. 30 Gazette]. It appears there is such emphasis on pedestrians and ambience that the other goals of being business-friendly, and to stimulate future business growth, are totally lost!
    No, it’s not more drivable! How do you curve and drastically reduce the size of this busy traffic artery and make it more drivable? Why do we need a traffic circle when the side branches serve only a small side street and a private parking lot? How do employees and customers get to the envisioned future business growth with a much smaller road?
    Most important, where do the business customers park? There isn’t enough parking now, and the plan appears to reduce parking. The pedestrians, employees and customers for these growing businesses are not going to drop out of the sky. They need to park, and the plan is totally dysfunctional without providing more parking.
    Some suggestions: Remove some of the least desirable buildings to make parking lots; expand on-street parking rather than sidewalks and green space; build an access road along the railroad tracks all the way from GE to the old Wallace Armer to connect existing parking, and make parking of the unused green space behind several of the buildings.
    My family and I have been active in downtown business for 70 years, including service on the Chamber of Commerce transportation committee. The plan, in its present form, will not encourage business development. Reduced parking will cause businesses to fail. Reduced traffi c flow may even crimp the growth on State Street. There is a huge gap between the plan design and the stated goals.
    CARL F. LISS
    Schenectady The writer is president of Carl Liss Appliances Inc .

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A few ways to deal with Sch’dy’s Erie Boulevard

    Re the April 7 letter “Erie Boulevard plan will be bad for business downtown,” by Carl F. Liss: I have been a Schenectady resident since 1925, and I remember the boulevard as it was back then and how it has changed. No more GE traffic from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. as [workers] headed home.
    Anyway, this will be a short set of ideas that I have picked up in my travels. Try some of these things: I fi nd that parking is a huge problem. Disney World, Turning Stone Casino and England all have park-and-ride; the ride is provided by small, 20-plus passenger buses that pick up at loading stations every 20 minutes. Debit swipe cards are used in England, with senior and student rates.
    These lots are available now: the empty food market on Hamburg Street, the empty Trustco lot on Curry Road, or any empty store or shopping center. The small buses are also used in the large parking lots and in Atlantic City; they pick up passengers in many hotels and travel lodges.
    I’ve noticed while playing at the racino, the handy way they keep track of your play, and credit it with value points. Wow! What a concept. Remember Carl’s Gold Bond stamps? If you came home after shopping and didn’t have some stamps, mom would scalp you! That little book was kept for Christmas gifts, etc. So here’s where Schenectady might (with computers) issue swipe cards to get points. Every merchant could participate (almost like that Carl’s stamp).
    Traffic circles: If you can drive and have driving skills, these circles will save fuel and time. I hate waiting at empty intersections.
    EDWARD SAKACS
    Rotterdam

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These lots are available now: the empty food market on Hamburg Street, the empty Trustco lot on Curry Road, or any empty store or shopping center.

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Traffic circles: If you can drive and have driving skills, these circles will save fuel and time. I hate waiting at empty intersections.

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The point here is that a "circle" or "roundabout" is designed to control traffic at a 4 or 5 way intersection - NOT a 2 way intersection.

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SCHENECTADY
Roundabout talks OK’d Land acquisition to be needed
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Although the proposed roundabout on Erie Boulevard has not yet been approved, the Schenectady City Council agreed Monday to negotiate for the purchase of two businesses that must be demolished to make room for that road design.
    The decision left the owners of Another World Bookstore and Special Arms & Munitions fuming. Both say the roundabout was designed solely to get rid of the city’s adult bookstore, and both think Monday’s decision proves that the project will move forward despite overwhelming opposition from residents who have commented on the public plans.
    “It’s deliberately to put me out of business,” said Another World owner Rocco Palmer. “It’s the only two buildings I have and it’s the only two they’re taking down.”
    He leases his second building to Special Arms & Munitions.
    Both Palmer and the gun store owners are preparing for relocation, even though the project has not been approved by the Schenectady City Council.
    The roundabout is part of a $14 million redesign project set to start in 2009 and finish in 2011.
    Palmer said the end is already crystal clear.
    “If they haven’t approved anything, why are they worried about buying us?” he said.
    He’s developed a building plan for his new store, on a site on Broadway in Bellevue, but he’s hired an engineer and an attorney to fight what he expects will turn into an eminent domain battle.
    “We don’t want to move. We don’t want to come to Broadway. They’re forcing us to,” Palmer said. “We’re just a business like everyone else. I’ve been there 38 years, paid all the taxes — you know, a tavern has more problems. They call police five, six, seven times a year. We’ve never called them.”
    C o u n c i l w o m a n B a r b a r a Blanchard also questioned the mayor for proposing sale negotiations before a final plan has been approved by the council. But she was reassured, she said, and ultimately voted in favor of the measure.
    “We’re only negotiating for the right of way, we’re not buying it,” she said.
    However, she added that she’s disturbed by the lack of improvements in the plan, and while she wouldn’t say how she feels about a roundabout, she said she has not heard any resident speak positively about it.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton insisted that the proposal is simply the best plan for the redevelopment of Erie Boulevard.
    “It feeds in well to the Stockade and the community college because of the roundabout,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to make a street that is predestrian-friendly and green.”
    He also said residents will have “ample opportunities to talk about these things at our steering meetings.”
OUT OF THE LOOP
    Blanchard disagreed, saying that she went to the most recent meeting but found the same plan that residents panned last year.
    “It does seem they’ve not made any changes,” she said.
    Special Arms & Munitions coowner Mark LaViolette questioned whether the city wants public input. He said he hasn’t been contacted by the city at all — not given the dates of the steering committee meetings nor informed of Monday’s council meeting.
    “It would be nice. All I ever know is what I read in the paper,” said LaViolette, who is also a city policeman and active in the police union.
    He, like Palmer, says closing the adult business is the city’s main objective.
    “They’re targeting next door and we’re collateral damage. That’s basically the only reason this is coming to fruition,” he said. “We’ll be relocated, but we obviously chose this location due to the close proximity of the police academy. I feel [moving] would be a detriment to our business.”
    Other business owners on Erie Boulevard have criticized the roundabout proposal because it would require customers to enter the I-890 interchange and turn back onto Erie Boulevard in order to access stores on the other side of the street. They have also said the roundabout isn’t needed at its proposed location — the intersection of Erie and South Ferry Street — because South Ferry does not cross Erie Boulevard.
    Palmer’s engineer, Lawrence Levine, said documents from roundabout designers Clough Harbour Associates, indicate the roundabout was originally proposed at the intersection with South Church Street.
    “The majority of the traffic going to the Stockade goes in at South Church. There are businesses located on South Church,” Levine said. “I did traffic counts — there’s a lot of cars going in at South Church. The left turns at South Church — if they have a problem on Erie, it’s there.”
    Also, World and Special Arms & Munitions would not need to be demolished if the roundabout were placed at South Church Street.
    “If you ask me, it kind of screwed up the whole project to put it at South Ferry,” Levine said. “Now you have a U-turn problem. South of there, you have to use 890 — that’s inadvisable. It’s a terrible weaving situation, it’s confusing, you have to cross several lanes of traffi c to do anything you want to do there. To put more vehicles in that mess — including trucks who may not be familiar with the area — is not a good idea, to say the least.”
    Levine is generally a fan of roundabouts, noting that the sharp right turn forces drivers to slow down and makes it unlikely that they would hit another car head-on.
    “It eliminates fatal accidents,” he said. “You make it a sharply angled turn, if you hit someone, it’s a glancing blow.”
    But he doesn’t like the design of the Erie Boulevard roundabout at all. It’s too gentle, he said.
    “What they’re designing is, I would call it, an Erie Boulevard bypass. Cars and trucks will be able to whip through there. So you tell me. If the speed is the problem...I don’t think everybody’s being completely upfront with the public.”
    Clough Harbour officials declined to comment, saying they cannot speak on the issue without permission from the city.

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“We don’t want to move. We don’t want to come to Broadway. They’re forcing us to,” Palmer said. “We’re just a business like everyone else. I’ve been there 38 years, paid all the taxes — you know, a tavern has more problems. They call police five, six, seven times a year. We’ve never called them.”

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Save nice building at gateway to Sch’dy

    Since I literally face this classically designed building almost every day as I wait for the traffic signal to change, I wonder: Is this the next building in Schenectady to be declared unusable?
    No. 1 State St. is a beautiful building facing the exit from I-890, greeting not only locals but visitors to the Schenectady area. It’s been boarded up for well over a year now. I envision kids or itinerants getting into the building and possibly causing a fire. I also envision allowing this building to sit in its current condition until the roof collapses and then it can’t be made usable. When such a situation arises, I imagine much outcry.
    There seems to be so much attention being paid to Erie Boulevard and the 400 block of State Street that other areas are being ignored.
    VIRGINIA GRANEY
    Scotia

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SCHENECTADY
Battle over Adult World brews Meeting set on relocation for roundabout
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The first public battle over the Erie Boulevard roundabout is expected today at the Schenectady Planning Commission meeting.
    Beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Room 110 at City Hall, the commission will review a proposal to move adult bookstore Another World from Erie Boulevard to lower Broadway. The relocation would make room for the roundabout, an idea that has been widely criticized by business owners and residents.
    When Another World owner Rocco Palmer last considered putting an adult bookstore at the lower Broadway site, in 2001, Bellevue neighborhood residents opposed the idea. This time, Palmer and his critics may become unlikely allies — none of them, including Palmer, want Another World on Broadway.
    “We don’t want to move. We don’t want to come to Broadway. They’re forcing us to,” Palmer said. “I feel sorry for the people over there.”
    Palmer says the city’s roundabout proposal was designed to force him out, and he’s already hired an engineer and an attorney to fight what may become an eminent domain battle.
    But if he has to move, he said, he’ll go to 1354 Broadway, where he’s owned a building for years.
    The domino effect of that relocation may also force one of the few manufacturing companies out of Schenectady. K&K Steel, which used to operate under the name National Welding & Fabrication, has leased 1354 Broadway for 14 years. Palmer has already told K&K co-owner Peter Kalil to be ready to move out on 30 days’ notice.
    Kalil, who hasn’t yet found a new home for his business, isn’t happy.
    “I’m going to become the victim. He’s being bought out and I’m being thrown out,” he said. “We’re playing musical chairs with business relocation and I’m just afraid I’ll be left without a seat when the music stops.”
    He needs a building in a light industrial zone that has space for 40-foot lengths of steel to be laid out across the floor. So far, those two requirements have eliminated every available space in the city.
    “I just have no places to go,” he said. “The last time I found something, it was in Amsterdam. I prefer to stay here.”
    The uncertainty has already affected his business. He’s hesitating to bid on major steel contracts because he’s not sure he’ll have a space to work in this fall.
    “Right now we’re bidding Niskayuna schools, but I don’t know … I can’t fabricate steel in the middle of the street,” Kalil said.
    As for the roundabout, he said it should simply be moved up one block, to Church Street, so that no one has to move.
    “Church Street, being the widest part of Erie, would be the place to put it, and you wouldn’t have to disturb any businesses,” he said.
    The Schenectady City Council has not yet approved the roundabout plan, but did give engineers permission to begin negotiating to buy the affected properties. Two buildings, both owned by Palmer, would have to be demolished: Another World and Special Arms & Muni-

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SCHENECTADY
Reluctant relocation approved Roundabout may force out adult bookstore
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    The owner of the Another World adult bookstore can relocate from Erie Boulevard to lower Broadway should a proposed roundabout require his current location’s demolition.
    The Schenectady Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a proposal by owner Rocco Palmer to construct a 1,200-square-foot addition and renovate the building at 1354 Broadway, which he owns.
    Relocation of the store is necessary if a traffic roundabout is constructed as part of a $14 million makeover of Erie Boulevard set to begin construction next year.
    The Schenectady City Council has not given final approval to the roundabout plan. However, in June, it gave authority for engineers to start buying the affected properties — Another World and Special Arms & Munitions. Palmer owns both properties.
    Palmer is going to delay any relocation until the council’s fi nal action. He said he does not want to move, but he said the city is forcing his hand. He believes city officials selected the roundabout option that would force Another World from that location.
    Palmer was carrying around a stack of letters that have been sent to the city from nearby businesses opposing the roundabout plan, citing that they believe it’s a waste of money that will eat up valuable parking spaces and is not proven to improve traffi c.
    “Why shove it down their throat if they don’t want it?” he said.
    The roundabout would also require that K&K Steel, which used to operate under the name National Welding & Fabrication, relocate from the 1354 Broadway property it has leased for 14 years to make way for the new Another World.

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Gripes spur traffic change Erie Blvd. businesses felt left out with proposed plan
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    That late-night burger will be within reach even after a roundabout and a park-like median changes traffic along Erie Boulevard, according to the revised plans for the street.
    Drivers would be able to whip around the median to the east side of Erie Boulevard via a U-turn just before the I-890 entrance. The change has been proposed in response to a stack of written complaints from nearly every business owner on the street.
    Most of the angry comments centered on the fact that customers heading south on Erie Boulevard from State Street could not get to Lyle’s Hoagies, Wendy’s Restaurant, the First National Bank of Scotia or any of the other businesses on the far left-hand side of the street. They would have to drive past, enter Interstate 890, and create their own U-turn back onto Erie Boulevard by crossing five lanes of traffi c.
    Response from the business owners ranged from polite — “This will be extremely inconvenient,” wrote Mark Ferry of 120 Erie Blvd. — to infuriated.
    “I think it is a HUGE WASTE OF MONEY and will accomplish nothing,” wrote Sabrina Heilman of AFLAC, 112 Erie Blvd. “With no easy way to access this side of the street coming from State Street, this will force businesses to move.”
    Schenectady City Council members indicated last week that they, too, aren’t eager to support the plan as written. Mayor Brian U. Stratton said he’s gotten the message. A new draft already in the works will be done within weeks and will be presented in early September.
    “You’ll see some significant changes,” he said. “We are providing accommodations. Many of their concerns and observations have been taken into consideration as we fine-tune the plan.”
    The plan still includes a roundabout at South Ferry Street and a wide, park-like median in the center of the boulevard. Business owners have been generally supportive of the city’s goal of improving aesthetics on the boulevard, which is so wide and bare that it is often likened to an airport runaway.
    Stratton said the aesthetics are his main focus.
    “Erie Boulevard is the most recognizable and significant entrance to the city,” he said. “It really is oversized. It’s really about making the city beautiful again.”
    City Council President Margaret King is supporting the plan for that reason.
    “I like it,” she said. “I think it’s going to make a much nicer entrance
to the city.”
    Other council members said they want to see the project go forward, but expressed frustration at the lack of information they’ve been given on the controversial issue. Stratton and his engineers have not briefed the council as a whole, although some members have been given private, one-on-one briefings and King was named to the mayor’s committee to work on the plan. She is the only council member directly involved with the planning.
    Councilman Gary McCarthy said the process was orchestrated to force the council to accept a design without making any changes.
    “The council has to approve it, but the mechanism has completely bypassed the council. The council should have a more integral role,” he said. “You’ve got to be realistic — it’s too far along in the process. The council’s going to be forced to rubber-stamp it.”
    Councilman Mark Blanchfield asked if there is a solution to the business owners’ complaints.
    “It’s a legitimate concern, but I’m not a traffic engineer,” he said. “I’m at a bit of a loss to come up with a constructive response.”
    Councilman Thomas Della Sala agreed, saying that if he has to vote on a project that every property owner objects to, he needs to know that the plan is necessary.
    “When the whole community is against something, I’d like to know we’re doing the right thing. The public isn’t always right — sometimes you have to do things because they’re the right thing to do. I’d like to know if this is,” he said.
    Councilman Joseph Allen is convinced that the roundabout plan should be thrown out.
    “There’s a list of different businesses that are on Erie Boulevard that are 100 percent against it. So why is this in the plans?” he said. “It creates problems for the business owners. I’m not in favor of it, never have been in favor of it from the first time I saw it.”
    The roundabout plan has also generated controversy because the city would have to make space for the large rotary by demolishing an adult bookstore and a gun shop near South Ferry Street. Owner Rocco Palmer has publicly said that he thinks the roundabout was designed solely to get rid of his Another World bookstore. He would move to lower Broadway if the city takes his property through eminent domain.

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Skip Erie Boulevard roundabout, fix city streets instead

    I hate roundabouts [July 17 Gazette]! I used to live in New England, and even they learned that these impediments to traffic were not a safe way to control traffic, and have removed them from their highways.
    Anyone who has traveled Route 67 at the I-87 interchange near Route 9 has experienced the nightmare of traveling through the “loop de loops” there.
    Now some idiots want to waste $14 million to add a “loop de loop” to Erie Boulevard in Schenectady. Ain’t that great? — the only block of street in the city that is open and smooth enough to drive on, except Victory Avenue and half of Glenwood Boulevard. How about the millions of dollars spent to rebuild those areas?
    Schenectady streets are in deplorable condition. You can’t drive on Erie Boulevard north of State Street without blowing a shock absorber. How about coming off I-890 at Broadway and turning right to go to Proctors? Welcome to Schenectady. Maybe turn right onto Millard, Veeder, and Nott Terrace to go to the new Hampton Inn, or to Union College. Perhaps you could travel on Albany Street or even Union Street, Van Vranken Avenue or Lenox Road, only to name a few.
    Fourteen million might not fix all the streets in Schenectady, but it certainly would do a lot more good than the proposed changes to lower Erie Boulevard. Smoother streets can mean a better ride, a safer ride, with less damage to vehicles. It also can mean a quieter neighborhood, as residents don’t have to listen to all the racket caused by cars, trucks and buses bouncing over all the bumps and potholes. Life is bumpy enough without having to face the bumps of Schenectady streets! This could also improve gas mileage.
    I ask the city council to consider this “loop de loop” proposal in light of the condition of our city streets in general. Do you really want to spend this much money this way? Even if the $14 million can’t be redirected to the city streets, do you really want show the citizens of your city that you can waste so much money on such a ridiculous project?
    ED HUTCHINSON
    Scotia

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Vision of Schenectady leaders shouldn’t be limited to roundabouts

    For a city trying so hard to reinvigorate and redefine its relevancy in the Capital Region, the debate over Erie Boulevard’s $14 million redevelopment has turned into a symbolic exchange of egos vs. economics — of publicly elected decision-makers against financially driven business owners. The only common ground between them is the pressure that positive and progressive change must happen soon or else political seats will be lost and businesses will be closed.
    How ironic it is, then, that Clough Harbour & Associate’s proposed roundabout has become the crux of most arguments for and against the new street design. According to their Web page, on which the reconstruction project is revealed, the aesthetics of the new Erie Boulevard should “present an image of a progressive, changing and forward looking city;” so, for some reason, they propose an endless, circuitous and indirect roundabout. They decide upon a traffic design that, by its very definition, implies deviation and evasion. Which leads one to wonder: Do our public officials actually have an honest and direct vision for Schenectady?
    Both Mayor Brian Stratton and Councilwoman Peggy King admitted in a July 19 article [“Gripes spur traffic change”] that aesthetics is the main reason they support Clough Harbour’s proposal despite the opposition (mainly business owners). I certainly hope Erie Boulevard doesn’t become Schenectady’s $14 million stoop that greets passersby to empty buildings and vacant lots. Sorry, mayor and councilwoman, but aesthetics will not reinvigorate a city.
    Schenectady’s vitality will come from business. The vision of Schenectady needs to be more direct, such as: To become leaders in renewable energy or leaders in technological innovation. Both of these visions allow for a range of business and community possibilities. They take advantage of existing resources while inviting new ideas. It also lets politicians and business leaders make better decisions, ones that will satisfy all sectors of society. Aesthetics cannot be Schenectady’s brand; if it is, Erie Boulevard will remain nothing more than a poplarlined thoroughfare to the suburbs.
    The mayor, city council and anybody else involved in this decision needs to get off the roundabout sometime soon and start working with businesses to make Schenectady viable. Re-evaluate the city’s vision and act accordingly. Just don’t let the ugly aesthetic of big egos obstruct the view forward. The modern world can be neither lighted nor hauled in a roundabout.
    JONATHAN J. MARKOWICZ
    Glenville

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.....the debate over Erie Boulevard’s $14 million redevelopment has turned into a symbolic exchange of egos vs. economics — of publicly elected decision-makers against financially driven business owners. The only common ground between them is the pressure that positive and progressive change must happen soon or else political seats will be lost and businesses will be closed.

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really these drive arounds are very hard indeed people, to drive through for the elderly and some women drivers and myself,

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Don’t let traffic engineers ruin Erie Boulevard

    Erie Boulevard, Schenectady wants to be Broadway, Saratoga — a pleasant, vibrant and enterprising urban gateway [July 20 Gazette]!
    An urban conference including architects, urban planners, developers, investors, educators, city and citizens should convene immediately to create a futuristic vision for this historical venue. Housing, offices, Tech Valley, education and retail in new buildings around 10 stories high would provide a comfortable scale, complementing wide, tree-lined sidewalks made for strolling. The focus must be broad and far-reaching instead of just planning for auto traffic. Perhaps a center median could include light rail transit.
    At any rate, traffic engineers should not be leading this immensely important effort Saying it’s about roundabouts (a trendy panacea), or the boulevard being oversized and not pretty, is thinking with blinders on. A U-turn negates a roundabout. A straightline thoroughfare, parallel parking next to new structures, keeping the planning traditional and classic vs. pseudo suburban will provide a lasting solution.
    Any money must be used wisely and include an urban conference. We need to spend more time up front with professional dialogue, and less with a rush-to-judgment attitude.
    MICHAEL DZIARNOWSKI
    Schenectady

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Straight talk about Erie Blvd. roundabout

    Each and every argument used by all the naysayers regarding the proposal of the roundabout at Erie Boulevard and South Church Street shows that they don’t see the obvious — i.e., roundabouts are meant as a means for calming traffi c as well as getting traffic where it is supposed to end up safely.
    Latham has had one for years and it’s still there working for the traffic in that heavily used corridor.
    Just coming back from Cape Cod I noticed that after several years of muchneeded upgrades to the entrance of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, the roundabout is working better, for it allows more traffic to move smoothly and safely to get on to one of the bridges to the Cape. The traffic backups along I-495 were all too common for years in that area without a new and improved roundabout.
    But in Schenectady, anything that makes sense always invites the most illogical responses. As it is now, traffi c speeds up at the end of Erie Boulevard to get onto I-890. There’s a lone yield sign on an island that divides traffi c. If that isn’t a disaster waiting to happen, nothing is.
    The traffic can get backed up during heavy traffic because of drivers’ inability to recognize yield signs. Ditto the Washington Avenue entrance to I-890 from the college.
    A roundabout would take care of these types of traffic problems immediately. Also, what’s wrong with green space upgrades along with safer traffic patterns that allow traffic to move and not come to a standstill inviting the inevitable fender bender?
    Just get used to the fact that roundabouts are here to stay. If you want easier and safer flow of traffic, then support this long-awaited traffic pattern on Erie.
    GERALD PLANTE
    Schenectady

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State DOT needs to keep up with weeds along I-890 corridor

    After reading “Gripes spur traffic change,” in the July 19 Gazette, I found it amusing that Mayor Brian Stratton is trying to beautify the entrances to Schenectady while New York state has all but stopped any aesthetic maintenance to the main corridor into the city, i.e. I-890.
    It’s obvious to anyone who uses I-890 daily and the Thruway that state Department of Transportation [DOT] is not doing its share. While the Thruway mows all the open area along its road, DOT is only making one pass, leaving the rest to grow up into beautiful weeds and brush. This certainly goes well with Mayor Stratton’s views.
    This is apparently another futile attempt by our state government to make the public think that they are trying to save money on fuel. Once again our state-run agencies are penny wise and dollar foolish! They are only saving pennies in this attempt.
    If they were really serious, perhaps they would look at cutting layers of middle management that aren’t necessary and doing away with most of the state vehicles that employees take home with taxpayer-provided fuel. Why can’t state employees use their own vehicles to drive to work like everyone else in private industry? Then at least some of the waste in state government would be eliminated and maybe our interstate roads and approaches to cities such as Schenectady would once again look as they should.
    LORI JONES
    Niskayuna

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Small businesses ignored with roundabout plan

    I do not believe that I am alone in my opposition to the city’s proposed reconstruction of Erie Boulevard. Two of my buildings [Another World bookstore and Special Arms & Munitions] will be subject to eminent domain acquisition should the project proceed as planned with the unnecessary roundabout.
    However, even surviving businesses will be adversely affected by this misguided effort in a multitude of ways — lack of access due to changed traffic patterns for vehicles and pedestrians, significant parking limitations, snow removal, delivery restrictions, etc.
    We have already taken the first step to establishing a formal opposition by obtaining documents through a Freedom of Information Law request. Not surprisingly, among those documents were written complaints and strong opposition by many Erie Boulevard business owners. It is clear that whatever the city’s motivation might be, they have not taken the concerns of its small business owners adequately into account.
    If you share my concerns and wish to work together to block this current construction debacle in order to save your business and our neighborhood, please attend a meeting at Brandon’s Restaurant, 1725 Van Vranken Ave. on Thursday, July 31 at 6 p.m.
    It is only with a unified front that we can fight this process.
    ROCCO J. PALMER
    Schenectady

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well that is wrong and its a bad thing, and this is the sort of stuff Tommasone does, wastes money- no good!

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Erie Blvd. history more important than ‘beauty’

    The various proposals to “beautify” Erie Boulevard miss an important point: When you drive on Erie Boulevard, you are riding on the Erie Canal. You are experiencing history.
    Erie Boulevard can be used to strengthen Schenectady’s efforts to emphasize its history so as to attract more tourism. Place big signs or billboards on the boulevard or at its approaches announcing the canal and showing scenes from when it ran through the middle of the city. Open a Schenectady Erie Canal museum in a building on Erie Boulevard. Have a diorama in the museum that shows how commerce jammed both sides of the canal in the downtown area.
    The key feature of Erie Boulevard is its history. Attempts at beautification seem misplaced. One of our friends said it’s like placing window boxes on the Great Wall of China.
    RICHARD O. WEBER
    Niskayuna

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SCHENECTADY
Businesses unite against roundabout Merchants on Erie Boulevard fear loss of livelihoods
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The promise of slight changes to the Erie Boulevard plan has not appeased the longtime business owners who see their livelihoods threatened by a proposed roundabout.
    More than 30 of them met Thursday and agreed to fight for the complete removal of the roundabout from the $14 million Erie Boulevard reconstruction plan.
    Some admitted that they had been wooed by the mayor’s changes to the plan, particularly a promise for a U-turn near Interstate 890. And a possible delivery road behind the businesses nearly won them over.
    But they decided that the roundabout would so greatly hamper customers’ ability to get to their businesses that they couldn’t support it under any circumstances.
    The issue is so grave, they said, that they see themselves in a battle against the city with their livelihoods at stake.
    On Thursday, they spent four hours with an attorney and a professional engineer getting help in developing tactics to fight off the roundabout.
    Their main problem with the traffic circle is that it blocks southbound customers from reaching businesses on the east side of the street.
    Customers heading from State Street onto Erie would be unable to stop at Lyle’s Hoagies, Wendy’s Restaurant, the First National Bank of Scotia and other stores on that side of the street. They would only be able to access those businesses if they merged onto Interstate 890, crossed five lanes of traffic and reentered Erie Boulevard.
    “Do you think they’re really going to do that for a $5 sandwich?” said Lyle’s Hoagies owner Doreen Pitsas at Thursday’s meeting. “I don’t think so.”
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton tried to head off those complaints two weeks ago by announcing a change in the plan. Customers could make a U-turn just before entering I-890 and whip around to the other side of the street, from which they would have easy access to those stores. Planners are also considering a service road behind the affected businesses, which would allow tractor-trailer deliveries without tying up Erie Boulevard. They could also use that space for employee parking. It was nearly enough to convince Pitsas to switch sides. “It would be perfect. That would be good for me,” she said. But after some thought, she add- ed regretfully that she still wouldn’t be able to support a roundabout. The service road, after all, sweetens the pot for business owners only.
    “It won’t help my customers,” she said.
    Other business owners said the mayor should go back to the drawing board and try something new. They offered some ideas, saying he should focus on the economy instead of beautification, his stated goal for the street.
    “How is it going to attract new businesses?” said AFLAC sales manager Sabrina Heilmann. “Think about that. If a new store comes in, how can they make money?”
    A roundabout, with a possibly harrowing U-turn, would not help new businesses grow, she said.
    Pitsas said Stratton had the right idea when he began lobbying for state and federal money to improve the street.
    “Slow traffic down so people can see the businesses, yes,” she said.
    But business owners said the city doesn’t need to spend $14 million to accomplish that. Placing a traffi c light at the intersection with Church Street would have the same effect, they said.
    They weren’t too impressed by the idea of beautification, either. They said they’d prefer it if the street stayed the way it is — wide enough to be an airport runway and with little greenery amidst the concrete.
    Lou Buhrmaster said the mayor should also get rid of the wide median planned for the center of the street. It’s designed as a narrow park and in Stratton’s view makes the street look much prettier.
    But Buhrmaster said it’s just not practical because it stops drivers from crossing the street to get to businesses.
“Erie Boulevard is not a walking street anymore. People drive. They are not going to be able to get places,” he said. A U-turn would help, he said, but he doesn’t think it’s enough. “The U-turn is not the ultimate answer. It’s an improvement over what we had [in the plan], but we’ve got to get rid of the roundabout,” he said. Stan Ducharme of Schenectady Hydraulics, whose driveway would be blocked by the roundabout, agreed. “I think they’re just trying to shut the bookstore down,” he said.

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Where and where not to put roundabouts

    It seems to me that the reason the state Department of Transportation favors roundabouts is that they limit accidents by allowing traffic to flow, albeit slowly, in places where there is a hard stop such as at a traffic signal. So if you look at Erie Boulevard, which intersections do you find have the biggest tie-ups and stop-and-go problems? State, Liberty, Union and Nott streets, and Maxon Road. State, Liberty and Union are much too close to each other for a single roundabout, so we would be better off with synchronized traffic signals. Nott Street and Maxon Road Extension would be somewhat ideal, and perhaps the reopening of the Maxon Road Extension outlet from the new Price Chopper headquarters would be workable. Those locations make sense.
    Everyone knows why the mayor wants the roundabout on nearly unused Church Street, and that is to get rid of two taxpaying businesses. But why spend the money there for something that will control non-existent side road traffic and most likely ruin several other businesses when the need for it in the first place is murky? If you have to have a roundabout because it is the in thing, use it where it is needed.
    ANDREW KOPACH
    Rotterdam

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Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE
Roundabout battle over Erie Blvd.
Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.

    If you want to know if I support traffic circles, or roundabouts as they are often called, I am going to beg off, taking due note of the fact that many people detest them. They detest them getting off Exit 12 of the Northway, where a traveler is apt to get dizzy before finding his way, and they detest them preemptively in Schenectady, on Erie Boulevard, where one is contemplated but not yet built.
    They really hate them there, or at least the Erie Boulevard business owners do, figuring that the one proposed for the middle of the stretch between State Street and the GE plant will impede drivers from crossing from one side of the street to the other and thus reduce business.
    The opponents run the social gamut from Jim Burhrmaster of the First National Bank of Scotia family, who says, “A roundabout will kill us, it will put us out of business,” referring to the branch of the bank at the lower end of Erie, to Rocco Palmer, proprietor of Schenectady’s most prominent pornography emporium, Another World, which would need to be demolished to make way for the roundabout.
    At a gathering of roundabout opponents at Brandon’s Restaurant the other night, on Van Vranken Avenue, I suggested to Palmer that perhaps the roundabout was proposed for that precise location in order to get rid of him, seeing as how his business is a disreputable one, and he said indignantly, “When they hand out condoms to 13-yearolds in school, you’re talking about a bookstore? C’mon!”
    It wouldn’t only be the porn shop, it would also be the gun shop next door, co-owned by a Schenectady cop. That’s Rocco’s building too, rented to the cop, Mark LaViolette.
    The roundabout would displace them both, which Schenectady’s city fathers might not regard as a huge cultural loss.
    I do note that the displacement, if it happens, would complete a process begun a few years ago, when City Hall tried to rid the city of porn shops and after a long legal battle finally struck a deal with Palmer, allowing him to keep the store on Erie Boulevard in exchange for getting rid of another one he owned on Upper State Street, which he did.
    Now the city finds a means, perhaps, to get him off Erie Boulevard also, thus negating that part of the deal.
    Actually, it wouldn’t be that big a change, since Palmer owns another building on Lower Broadway, properly zoned, that he is prepared to move his business into if need be.
    After 38 years, I guess he’s got a pretty good customer base. “It pays the bills,” he says modestly.
    As for redesigning the unwelcoming asphalt expanse of Erie Boulevard, Palmer says he plans to attend the City Council meeting tomorrow night. “I’m gonna say, forget Erie Boulevard. Why don’t we dig it up and put the canal back in. We can have waterfront property. Boats in the summer, skating in the winter. People will come downtown for that.”
    In his own way, he is a visionary.
    My understanding is that a large number of businesspeople plan to attend the meeting and make known their feelings about this roundabout business. They have even hired a lawyer to advance their case and to take whatever legal action might be indicated.
    I plan to stay out of it myself and keep my own counsel, though I confess I like the idea of restoring the old Erie Canal. The gun shop and the porn shop could have docks out front to welcome waterborne shoppers, maybe.

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SCHENECTADY
Council wants project changed
Businesses balk at Erie Blvd. plan
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Five of the seven City Council members called for changes to the Erie Boulevard development plan Monday, citing the vehement protests of nearly every business owner on the street.
    Councilwoman Barbara Blanchard argued that the council had to take into consideration the business owners’ concerns.
    “They stayed with us when we were down and out,” she said. “Now that we’re making a rebound, we have to listen to them.”
    Councilman Gary McCarthy criticized the mayor’s handling of the project, saying it has become so controversial that the city has lost any good will it might have generated for rejuvenating the streetscape.
    “We’ve lost that opportunity for an exciting, happy project,” he said, adding that changes must be made before the council will support it. The council has the final say on whether the $14 million project goes forward.
    Council members must make a decision soon. Work is scheduled to start in 2009 and finish in 2011.
    They spoke after eight business owners railed about the project at Monday’s City Council meeting, arguing that it would jeopardize their livelihoods.
    “We’ve got everything at stake here,” said Alan Holet, owner of Precision Graphics. “I’ve been here 23 years. I’d like to know if I’m going to have a job. Am I going to be able to get people in and out of my office?”
    Another business owner, Sabrina Heilmann of AFLAC, pleaded, “Just talk with us. These businesses have withstood the GE downsizing … and now it seems upsetting that out government is putting in a plan to put these business out.”
    The project would place landscaped medians in the center of the boulevard, from State Street to I-890, and a roundabout near the adult bookstore. Business owners believe those features would make it nearly impossible for customers to get to a store if they were driving on the opposite side of the street.
    The roundabout would also force two businesses to relocate; to make space, the city would use eminent domain to demolish the adult bookstore and the next-door gun shop. Bookstore owner Rocco Palmer organized his fellow business owners to fight the roundabout when he learned of the plan.
    Councilman Joseph Allen is solidly on Palmer’s side.
    “We don’t have that many businesses in the city of Schenectady as it is. We don’t need to run anybody away,” Allen said. “I would have some real concerns about running away one business.”
    He said he would only support a project designed to help businesses thrive and expand, and categorically refused to support a project aimed solely at beautification.
    Councilman Thomas Della Sala said he also wants the business owners to be helped, not harmed, by the plan.
    “It is my sincere hope over the next few months as the plan evolves, your concerns are met,” he told the assembled business owners.
    Councilman Mark Blanchfield assured them that there is still time to change the plan, although he made no promises to make the changes they want.
    “I think it’s time to make sure we have all the input we need to make the right decision,” he said.
    Council President Margaret King did not address the crowd, and Councilwoman Denise Brucker was absent.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton said the business owners will be pleased by the next version of the plan, which will be presented in mid-September. The only other public presentation was last November, when the project was revealed.
    “They haven’t had the benefit of seeing the plan,” Stratton said. “The plan hanging downstairs is not the current plan. I don’t know if they will all by satisfied, but they will have more information. It will be impossible to make every individual 100 percent happy, but we can make 95 percent of them happy.”

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“We don’t have that many businesses in the city of Schenectady as it is. We don’t need to run anybody away,” Allen said. “I would have some real concerns about running away one business.”

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Who needs big Erie Boulevard roundabout?

    I drive in both directions frequently on Erie Boulevard, and don’t understand why we need a big rotary in the middle of the boulevard between State Street and Edison Avenue.
    I see many cars heading away from State Street making left turns near the old Wolberg store and the old union building, and evening GE traffic makes many left turns onto the street just past the gas station. Why do we need such a big rotary that doesn’t get you to the end of the boulevard?
    Traffic engineers should be able to design a safe rotary and/or a safe left/U-turn lane in the wide expanse of the existing boulevard that should solve most of the complaints being registered by businesses and others.
    GERARD F. HAVASY
    Scotia     

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Pedestrians deserve priority on Erie Blvd.

    Enough of the roundabout on Erie Boulevard!
    When planning for changes to the former canal, now a wide expanse of a street, the first order of business should be to guarantee the safety of the pedestrians who have to cross it.
    I recently had a number of errands to run, and in the interests of saving gas and trying to be environmentally friendly, I parked my car in a lot and decided to walk. All was well until I had to cross Erie Boulevard at State Street. Talk about taking your life in your hands! I followed directions and waited for a walk light to come on, but trust me, even when you see that little white stick figure beckoning you to proceed, your heart is not filled with confidence that you will make it across alive.
    Actually, it could have been worse. I watched as a woman, pushing a stroller, accompanied by four little children, scrambled across. It’s no wonder the businesses on the west side of Erie feel like poor stepchildren. You can’t get to them!
    CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI
    Scotia

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Road alternative being advocated Businesses seek change in Erie Blvd. roundabout plans
Kathleen Moore
Gazette Reporter

Business owners are cobbling together their own plans in an effort to design a compromise for the reconstruction of Erie Boulevard.
    They’ve marked up Clough Harbour’s drawings and provided designs of their own that they believe will make the road more attractive, safer for drivers and pedestrians, and still allow the businesses to thrive.
    On Tuesday they’ll find out how persuasive their efforts have been. Clough Harbour engineers will present a revised plan to the Schenectady City Council at its 5 p.m. committee meeting in the council chambers at City Hall.
    Decades of experience in running a business may not be adequate preparation for a crash course in engineering, but some business owners believe they’ve come up with a plan that will end the year-long debate over how to rebuild the road.
    “I spent a week, day and night, thinking outside the box,” said property owner Carl Liss before presenting his idea to Clough Harbour last week. He leases space to several business owners on Erie Boulevard.
    “I think there’s a way to have the parking and a roundabout that stops T-bone accidents,” he said, adding that after some research he decided that the road does need some divider to reduce accidents.
    “I admit, that sounds like a good idea,” he said.
    He proposed a “stretched-out” roundabout, essentially turning the last block of Erie Boulevard into two one-way traffic lanes separated by a narrow median and connected by U-turns at both ends. He fi gures customers will be willing to circle around to their destination if they can see the route in front of them.
    “Within sight there’s a U-turn. No big deal,” he said.
    Clough Harbour’s plan has customers entering I-890 and merging across five lanes to get to the businesses on the southeast end of the street, location of Wendy’s and Lyle’s Hoagies; that part of the road would be open only to oneway traffic heading toward State Street. They have proposed adding a U-turn near I-890 so that drivers won’t have to enter the interstate to get to those stores, but Liss said his idea was better because it eliminates the roundabout entirely.
    He also suggested a narrow median, no more than 4 feet wide, so that there would be space for diagonal parking on both sides of the street. Some of that parking is eliminated in Clough Harbour’s plan.
    “Three to four feet is enough for these trees,” Liss said. “We can maintain the diagonal parking and put a 10-foot buffer between the driving lane and the parking so you’re going to be able to, relatively safely, back out and proceed.”
    That plan would cost much less than the $14 million