Town must preserve last remaining woods

You are not responding to the original writer but your comments would be appreciated.


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Town must preserve last remaining woods

12/8/2003

I grew up in the Town of Tonawanda many years ago. There were woods all around. Today we have one woods left, behind Elmlawn Cemetery, which many people enjoy. Mink, gray and red fox, raccoons, deer, white-footed mice, bats, night birds, red-tail hawks and many other birds still live there.
The Town Board is considering a proposal that would allow Ciminelli Development to lease the land for 50 years to construct buildings for small industry. This means destroying 30 acres of trees. Some of these oaks are more than 200 years old. Ciminelli doesn't even have a customer for this proposed business park.

I feel sorry for Elmlawn. It needs the money. But what our Town Board doesn't seem to realize is that 50 years from now, these buildings will be a blight on the neighborhood, where once stood a beautiful forest. I, along with many other people, would rather see my taxes go up than have the woods come down!

BOB JUMPER
Town of Tonawanda

Bob,
Thank you for volunteering to raise eveyones taxes. I have a better idea:

1) create a charitable organization and raise funds.
2) match or beat the offer from Ciminelli with your funds.
3) lease the land from the town and call it the BOB JUMPER woodland preserve.

A lot of non-profits are going this way these days. Nature Conservancy is one of them.

If you are going to suggest we need to raise taxes, please wear a bright yellow vest in public. That way if I see you walking in the road, I'll make every effort to run you over with my car. :D

Ask the developer or your townboard if they are going to get incentives based on a if come basis? Someone said once there are spectulative incentives given sometimes.



Are you going to have your woods torn down and not collect taxes until someone actually rents what the developers have built?


Notice we have LOTS of empty building in WNY that developers build without clients renting those. I think WNY is over developed so those type of incentives need to stop.. Lok at union road. I think we have 1000's of square feet of buildings just sitting empty.. I dont know but are we collecting full property taxes on those?