As a resident of Amherst, what do you think about the following dozen items as public expectations? Would you eliminate, change or add any?
Freedom From Abusive Assessments
Freedom From Higher Taxes
Freedom From Unrestrained Development
Freedom From Over-Commercialization
Freedom From Traffic Congestion
Freedom From Spot-Rezonings
Freedom From Erosion of the Tax Base
Freedom From Destruction of Neighborhoods
Freedom From Irresponsible Government
Freedom From Abusive Tax Abatements
Freedom From Inadequate Public Facilities and Services
Freedom From Arbitrary Land-Use Decisions
Last edited by Member 2358; October 29th, 2009 at 09:07 AM.
Who can argue with any of them? As a long time Amherst resident, I am particularly concerned with irresponsible development. All you have to do is drive down Transit Road and see all the empty bulidings.
It seems to me that developers make great promises but are not held accountable after building. Case in point, the Aldi store at Transit and Casey. Supposedly, the adjacent area between the store and Casey Road was going to remain intact, preserving the trees.
I expect that nonpolitical will not get an apology from HP, and that the irrsponsible development will continue if things continue to stay the same.Originally Posted by nonpolitical
"All government, -indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,- is founded on compromise..." -Edmund Burke
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), (attributed)
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 George W. Bush
We've covered this topic before on a more general basis. You can thank New York State for a lot of the commercial development because of a law that the State Assembly passed which states that any new purchaser of property is responsible for making sure that the property meets anti-pollution standards.
To make it simple, you buy a corner property to build a pizzeria. Said property was once a gas station. If the tanks are still in the ground, YOU are responsible for their removal.
This law was supposed to force companies to clean up their properties before selling them, but actually just wound up encouraging the buyers to build on previously unused parcels. A specifically worded bill without all the extra crap would have been a lot better, but the Exxon-Mobil might have been on the hook for clean-up work.
Other than that, I think the original list would make for an excellant taxpayers' Bill of Rights.
Think you can trust the government?
Ask an Indian!
My expectation is that the Town Board will follow the Comprehensive Plan on zoning and not spot re-zone at the drop of a hat. Just say no for a change and see what happens. Perhaps the town would start getting development it actually wants instead of what is most profitable for the developers to build.
As for anti-pollution laws causing greenfield development, I don't think so. Just look at how much the state pays developers for Brownfield development. It pays for them to build dense commercial stripmalls because they get a percentage of the cost of the entire project in return. It reimburses the cost of cleaning up the property (sometimes to low standards) plus some. Why should we be paying for clean-up and to fund a landowner's profit (future commercial return). Not to mention if they have also received tax incentives to build at our expense.
good job! There is an army of public servants fighting you/us on these items
it is us vs the machine.
Regardless of party, it is so true, plus we have yet to see an apology from HP to nonpolitical. I love it when he proves me right.
"All government, -indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,- is founded on compromise..." -Edmund Burke
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), (attributed)
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 George W. Bush
right view, your already finished with your night shift at mcdonald's? nice work.
Bravo, you stayed to to form. Your HATE shows no bounds and you never fail to meet my expectations of you. I know you'll never apologize because you are too small of a man to do so.
"All government, -indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,- is founded on compromise..." -Edmund Burke
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), (attributed)
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 George W. Bush
How do you know HP is a man?
What does it matter?
He has stated so throughout his posts.
"All government, -indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,- is founded on compromise..." -Edmund Burke
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), (attributed)
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 George W. Bush
another idiotic statement from add it up, you can't spot zone from a comp plan as it is a concept as opposed to the actual code.
and that works both ways too you know -- aka walmart not being able to build on millersport despite the fact the property is zoned commercial.
stay on topic.
Spot re-zoning happens all the time. They just amend the comp. plan at will and do what they want. The millersport property is not zoned commercial, it is zoned suburban agriculture.
My expectation of a new town supervisor and town board will be that they no longer ignore the comp. plan and stop these unjustified spot rezonings. I don't think that's idiotic.
We know what to expect with board members we will still have regardless of the elections (Weinstein and Marlette and sometimes Manna) =support for more spot rezoning.
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