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Post by Clipper on Nov 25, 2019 18:58:05 GMT -5
www.cnyhomepage.com/news/utica-sign-tower-coming-down/?fbclid=IwAR2_Afk2G0Haj_IdWEFRez4OwUOoQM1kAOrdZ9ZU7zJgORYPjM4DYnPY1PgFirst question is what the hell did that silly damned thing cost to build? It was about the ugliest thing I have ever seen. The first time I saw it from the Thruway I drove down Genny to see what the hell it was. I thought maybe it was some sort of platform on which to place antennas or dishes. Nope. It looked like it was just an elaborate iron tower with A Utica sign perched on it. I don't know how much it cost to build, but I would be willing to bet that it will be equally expensive to tear down. Maybe they will allow people to go down and watch them disassemble it and haul it across Genesee St to the scrap yard, or maybe they can carefully take it apart and sell it to some other city to erect and put THEIR city name on top of it. Was it built under the Roefaro administration? I wonder if Roefaro would be interested in buying it. They can erect it on Culver Ave and put a Scala Roefaro Funeral Service sign on it. I feel badly for Mr. Giotto who donated the money to erect it. By the time they pay the demolition cost there probably won't even be any money left from selling the scrap steel for Mr. Giotto to get any of his money back.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2019 20:50:51 GMT -5
No it was built under current city administration but by the Landmark Society with some wealthy donors. So in its regards I find this totally unacceptable. Would the San Francisco Bridge be torn down because some nut jobs want to use it as a means to suicide. Launch a lawsuit against the people who want to use this landmark as a means to their crazy 15 minutes of fame. Where is the Mayor of Utica defending this fantastic landmark and echo of the beautiful things to come within the City of Utica. Do as I have done and email or write all your City officials. It really is a nice looking structure now that it was completed with a signage of the name Utica on each side of the structure.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 25, 2019 22:48:49 GMT -5
I guess we have different opinions of what is aesthetically pleasing PB. When I saw it all I could think of was an incomplete water tower without the tank installed on top.
We have a cell tower that I go by every time we go to Kingsport that I also look upon with great disdain. It is on top of a hill, visible for miles. It is supposed to look like a tree. If it is looking like a tree I have to think that the tree it looks most like is Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. It is more repulsive to the eye than if they had simply built the standard cell tower with the antennas bristling from the top, but I don't have to look at it out the window of my home. I am relatively sure that it was built that way to in some way appease those living around it that were bitching about having it there to begin with.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 26, 2019 8:31:48 GMT -5
I guess I am a pessimist but I wondered at the time why they would build such a structure to simply put the city name up there. Sorry if I offended you PB. It is sad that the actions of one individual would be the cause of it's being torn down. It seems that there would be a way to make it impossible to climb it. Possibly inverted cone like structures placed on the legs such as are used as "rat guards" on the mooring lines of ships. Guards that would foil any attempt to climb the tower. It seems to be an over reaction to tear it down. The cost of the emergency response should be borne by the climber. A court ordered garnishment of his income or a stay in OCJ for trespassing would certainly discourage any repeated climbing as well as deter any other's thinking about climbing it.
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Post by Ralph on Nov 26, 2019 13:46:47 GMT -5
They have a substantial fence around it, topped with barbed wire. The nutjob that climbed it both times to the easiest ingress that no one thought about.........he simply cut through the chain link. One strand is all it takes and you may as well have a door in it.
Though I wasn't a fan of it when it first went up I had come to enjoy seeing it when I came out of work and headed home. If they really want to improve N. Utica, they could get the street lights back on there. The four corners are as dark as a tomb and most of Genesee St. from there south into Downtown is dark as well.
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Post by BHU on Nov 26, 2019 20:16:15 GMT -5
I kinda like the sign myself. The person who's idea it was & who paid for it is claiming that the Canal Corp is leaning on him to take it down. Of course, they deny it because this may turn into a P.R. nightmare for them. There was mention of soil contamination at the base from the crane that was used to haul the cretin down who climbed it. Well, wouldn't that be the responsibility of the company who owned that crane if it leaked oil or whatever?
Yhis sounds to me like a bunch of Albany beauracrats who are using the ole C.Y.A. in case somebody gets hurt climbing it again.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2019 20:39:19 GMT -5
I heard that on the new tonight. Something is rotten in City Hall and who knows where else. I hope WKTV does some more investigative reporting and find out whats up cause something stinks. Clipper you didn't offend me. I bet you saw the thing when only two Utica signs were lite up. Now all four sides are lighted with the word Utica and some decorative work was done on the stand in the form of metal window outlines being installed. www.wktv.com/content/news/Two-sides-dispute-why-Utica-tower-is-coming-down-565497092.html
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Post by Clipper on Nov 26, 2019 23:16:51 GMT -5
I heard that on the new tonight. Something is rotten in City Hall and who knows where else. I hope WKTV does some more investigative reporting and find out whats up cause something stinks. Clipper you didn't offend me. I bet you saw the thing when only two Utica signs were lite up. Now all four sides are lighted with the word Utica and some decorative work was done on the stand in the form of metal window outlines being installed. www.wktv.com/content/news/Two-sides-dispute-why-Utica-tower-is-coming-down-565497092.htmlYou are correct PB. There was only two Utica signs on the tower and it was just an industrial looking iron structure. As for something rotten at City Hall, what's new? There has been corruption, nepotism, favoritism, contracts awarded to friends and relatives, and you name it over the years with more than one administration. Public works was corrupt for many years in the 50's and there was also a lot of shady business and suspicion of money being pocketed by city officials with garbage contracts. If the something rotten is closely associated with your mayor, I guess you will have to endure another term of Palmieri. He was just re-elected wasn't he? How long is the term for a mayor?
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Post by BHU on Nov 27, 2019 10:27:37 GMT -5
Nothing has changed. Late last winter across the street from me a huge limb fell out their tree coving their whole front yard. Couple days later at 1-2 a.m. there's the D.P.W. out there with a crew cleaning it up with chainsaws, bucket trucks, the whole nine yards. Since when does the D.P.W. go on private property to do this? And at 2 o'clock in the morning? If your in the Friends & Family Plan, they do.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2019 10:53:05 GMT -5
I heard that on the new tonight. Something is rotten in City Hall and who knows where else. I hope WKTV does some more investigative reporting and find out whats up cause something stinks. Clipper you didn't offend me. I bet you saw the thing when only two Utica signs were lite up. Now all four sides are lighted with the word Utica and some decorative work was done on the stand in the form of metal window outlines being installed. www.wktv.com/content/news/Two-sides-dispute-why-Utica-tower-is-coming-down-565497092.htmlYou are correct PB. There was only two Utica signs on the tower and it was just an industrial looking iron structure. As for something rotten at City Hall, what's new? There has been corruption, nepotism, favoritism, contracts awarded to friends and relatives, and you name it over the years with more than one administration. Public works was corrupt for many years in the 50's and there was also a lot of shady business and suspicion of money being pocketed by city officials with garbage contracts. If the something rotten is closely associated with your mayor, I guess you will have to endure another term of Palmieri. He was just re-elected wasn't he? How long is the term for a mayor? He had his term extended so he was able to run in the election that just ended and he won. Imagine. They are supposed to be two terms but now he is at 3 terms and rumor has it he wants to have a fourth term as Mayor.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 27, 2019 11:47:59 GMT -5
Nothing has changed. Late last winter across the street from me a huge limb fell out their tree coving their whole front yard. Couple days later at 1-2 a.m. there's the D.P.W. out there with a crew cleaning it up with chainsaws, bucket trucks, the whole nine yards. Since when does the D.P.W. go on private property to do this? And at 2 o'clock in the morning? If your in the Friends & Family Plan, they do. I hear ya BHU. There was a fellow at the end of our street that worked at the DPW. Whenever it snowed we could depend on seeing him come home in broad daylight, during the workday, with a city pickup to plow out his driveway and his next door neighbor's. He sometimes would come home for lunch with the city truck and be there for a couple of hours. It's all about who you know in the city of Utica. It always has been and probably always will be.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 27, 2019 15:20:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2019 15:36:44 GMT -5
Bravo to Mr. Picente a true leader who has the guts to come forward. Yes it does mark the seat of the County so be proud in that.
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Post by BHU on Nov 27, 2019 18:31:04 GMT -5
Picente was on WKTV earlier & according to him the only cost to the county will be $1000/month to light it. I don't always agree with him but I have to give him credit for this one. Who the hell is the Canal Corp to tell a private concern that a structure has to come down in this city or to harass them with all these demands? They paying any taxes to this city? Not that I know of!
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