With the aim of encouraging a pedestrian-friendly environment similar to that in Skaneateles, the Village of Manlius may soon see a redeveloped area where people are "strolling around, visiting outdoor dining, and listening to music," according to a page one story in the Syracuse Post Standard.

by Doug Greene 

            A long-time columnist for the Buffalo News takes issue with the view that demolition is the way to deal with blighted neighborhoods -- citing the revival he's seen on his city's West Side.

            "I saw a neighborhood deep into a seemingly irreversible slide into slumville. I saw it dig in its heels and turn around, with hardly any tax-dollar handout," he said in a recent column addressing a reported plan to demolish 5,000 homes in five years to deal with blight in Buffalo.

            He reports that the key to neighborhood rehabilitation is a group like the West Side Collaborative -- the "band of some 100 urban pioneers includes students, activists, block-clubbers, long-suffering homeowners and new blood, all united for revival" -- and their leader, Harvey Garrett.

            Read his entire column at:

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/709907.html

            The Editorial Board at the Post-Standard in Syracuse argues that the new government consolidation bill approved in Albany recently may not work as intended without strong leadership at the local level -- but "something needs to be done."

            "New York is groaning under the bureaucratic burden of thousands of local governments -- not counting hundreds of school districts exempted from this legislation. Central New York alone has 1,348 municipal entities, including 79 towns, 41 villages, 183 drainage districts, 256 lighting districts and 180 "miscellaneous" districts," the editorial declares.

            While mentioning the need for through study before instituting major governmental changes that could be set into motion by a small number of voters if the new bill becomes law, the editorial also notes that "without a persuasive leader willing to take risks and win converts, there still may not be enough votes to finish the job."

            Read the entire editorial at:

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2009/06/a_boost_for_mergers_new_state.html

Walking through Downtown Schenectady one has to be impressed by the amount of successful redevelopment that has taken hold from the center of the city to the east along its main thoroughfare, State Street. There are numerous vivid examples of what official attention and lots of state money and development agency bonds can do to revitalize an Upstate urban center.

Take a stroll along the same street to the west, however -- across Erie Boulevard where "Clinton's Ditch" and the Enlarged Erie Canal bisected the town from 1825 through 1918 -- and a very different impression is painfully apparent. You enter what the Albany Times Union describes as "what looks like a dying city, with vacant storefronts, crumbling sidewalks and empty parking lots."

The neighborhood is a gateway to Schenectady's 300 year-old Stockade District, and many existing hundred year-old buildings are ripe for development, according to Steve Strichman, director of city planning and development. The story reports that officials intend to focus on what can be done to leverage state and Federal funds to improve the lower State Street area. A study has begun with the Capital District Transportation Committee to examine street layout, sidewalk and curb needs, and opportunities for residential and commercial development.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=806758