Niagara River Greenway Conflicts of Interest?

[ForestBird]

Anyway, yes it would be helpful if we had reasonable electricity rates, but the New York Power Grab (I mean "Authority") is not going to allow it. There is one way, and that would be for Buffalo to form a Municipal electric company, as have Jamestown, Mayville, and several other towns in New York. The PowerGrab is required to give them preference, when allocating electricity. BUT - Niagara Mohawk (now British Giant Corporate Sucking Your Monthy Check Overseas) has a "gimmee" clause: Anyone trying to withdraw from their grid must buy the wires and equipment (fair enough) AND pay them a fee equal to THEIR estimate of the lost revenues for a certain number of years. When Lakewood tried to do this, Ni/Mo wanted $9,000 PER CUSTOMER. This amount was somewhat reduced by the courts, but was still too much for Lakewood to handle. So, they are stuck paying the same ridiculous rates.

Every click on my meter costs 20+ cents .... my friends in Spokane pay about 6 cents .... Jamestown, about 4 cents. Plus, we are blessed to pay over $15 + tax before using ANY power ... the monthly "service charge". Wow, nice to live next door to Niagara Falls !!

[WNYresident]

Who's the guy with the moustache, Res?

Andy is his name. He's the guy that runs the networking group called The Buffalo Partnerhip. Which I noticed over the years is the Buffalo Niagara Partnership now.

Go read up on their services.. Are they none profit?

[biker]

Umm, duh @ biker : The CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUILDING was the abandoned office building. Was it not obvious to you, that the Chamber of Commerce would have its own name on its building?

Well, "duh" ---still obtuse.

Bye

[ForestBird]

Well, "duh" ---still obtuse.

I suppose it's obtuse for those who haven't followed local news or history for the past 25 years. I forget that there are younger people here, who weren't reading the papers from 1980-on ..

Now, exactly what are the conflicts of interest in this Greenway business?

[vanstrom]

To Biker: And I just love irony. Apologies for lengthy posts. Some situations complex. Best. Bob

[vanstrom]

Granpabob: Generally, I'd agree 100% with your reaction and scepticism. Specifically, though, the situation you speculate about here is very different. Not one person will lose a home. There are five alternate north/south routes that could easily absorb gorge parkway traffic, which is "significantly underutilized" according to NYS DOT figures. So there is no need for a "new" parkway. We don't even need the old one. The "city" wouldn't complain. What the parkway does now is direct traffic around and away from it. No construction company or union has stepped forward to endorse our proposal. Environmental funds exist, as well as money from the Power Authority, to make this a reality. Annual maintenance costs of the parkway are currently about one quarter million. No land need change hands. It's owned by the Power Authority, and State Parks, four of which exist along the 6.5 mile stretch of gorge. More detailed info at www.niagaraheritage.org especially at NHP Parkway Removal summary under recent postings. Hope you find this convincing. And will consider signing our online petition in support. Thanks, Bob.

[vanstrom]

Speaker: Since I wrote the letter Vanstrom asked me to respond to you. Actually, no, we don't envy the Canadian model, which directly across the gorge from us has a road almost next to the railing, with motels, private residences, a Buddist Temple, and so on, just on the other side of the road. We'd like such developments at least several hundred feet from the gorge edge on our side, located in the city proper. We'd like the four lanes of parkeway removed and the natural landscapes restored with a hiking and biking trail.

The Canadian image most have in mind is the road from Queenston Heights to Niagara-on-the-Lake. On our side what we have is the Lower River Road (running along the river north of the gorge) flanked by fine old homes, private residences and property owners from Lewiston (across the river from Queenston Heights) to Old Fort Niagara just north of the Village of Youngstown at Lake Ontario.

Our proposal deals only with the 6.5 miles of the parkway along the rim of the gorge between Niagara Falls, NY and Lewiston. Best, Bob.

[vanstrom]

Buffy: The money does come from NYPA. It's being funneled to the Niagara Greenway Commission. At least a big chunck of it. We certainly agree about the beauty and the facination created by the Niagara Gorge river. And we also agree that we should be preserving whatever we have left as you say. What we are trying to do in addition to that is reclaim some of the natural environment we've lost.

We have been in "contact" with NYPA about these issues during years of their relicensing process, where we were stonewalled and finally told to take our concerns to the newly formed Greenway Commission. This is what we are attempting to do now. Thanks very much for your encouragement. If you agree with what we are attempting please consider signing our online petition at www.niagaraheritage.org
Thanks, Bob.