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Post by Clipper on May 6, 2019 15:24:43 GMT -5
wibx950.com/utica-to-hold-open-house-on-dri-application/Sounds like "free money" but SOMEBODY is paying for it. I laud any effort to revitalize downtown Utica, but who will be left to enjoy it? At least it may encourage some new business growth and may make up for some of the property tax revenue lost when they decided to run off many long time merchants to build a parking garage for a hospital that has been a bone of contention ever since the plan to put it downtown was first proposed. Utica should be happy that Utica is getting a cjance at a small piece of the pie rather than seeing it all going to downstate and NYC. I didn't read in the article whether it was state money or federal. I hope that Utica is one of the selected locales for the grant to go to.
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Post by BHU on May 6, 2019 16:18:43 GMT -5
Funny how "The Utica Master Plan" is no longer mentioned now that they have pretty much trashed it with the new downtown hospital. When the bill comes due for the new parking garage that city & county taxpayers got sucked into paying for, people will rue the day that hospital was built down there. Not to mention the new police station that's in the future in which will also cost millions & city of Utica taxpayets are going to be on the hook for. Oh, let's not forget the massive sewer work which will be needed to handle the waste from this new facility.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 16:26:22 GMT -5
bhu the massive sewer system is being built now along with waste water runoff and new electrical etc systems. That is way downtown and oriskany st are being torn apart. I do like the way the new exit ramp to Jay Street/Second St is formed much much nicer.
I just hope the new hospital has much better care than the current Utica Hospitals. The last Medicare review gave extremely low score's. I wouldn't go there since Albany is not far away.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 16:35:17 GMT -5
If downtown does get that money I hope someone decided to paint over the large yellow sun emblem and gay rainbow. Looks so crappy. Also I worry about with the addition of more parks what with all the work will the DPW crew be able to handle it all. They certainly could not handle the extra work to maintain Liberty Bell Park after it was redone a few years ago. That looks crappy now too. I actually got the DPW to recently clean up that small historic marker next to the CENTRO Hub and Charlotte St Parking it looks beautiful now. I have to check on several more area's downtown to see if they need tender loving care. I am grateful to the DPW for cleaning up that historical spot.  fast picture upload |
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Post by BHU on May 6, 2019 16:40:23 GMT -5
bhu the massive sewer system is being built now along with waste water runoff and new electrical etc systems. That is way downtown and oriskany st are being torn apart. I do like the way the new exit ramp to Jay Street/Second St is formed much much nicer. I just hope the new hospital has much better care than the current Utica Hospitals. The last Medicare review gave extremely low score's. I wouldn't go there since Albany is not far away. Somebody is paying for that work & it's ratepayers on the county & city level. I don't see how the level of care will change. The problem here is that a good portion of the population is on public assistance, i.e. Medicaid for insurance or Medicare. High quality, well trained Dr's do not want to practice in an area where most of the population is on P.A., when they can make the big bucks in places like Boston, Chicago etc. Doctors do not make a lot of money treating patients who are on Medicaid so the cream of the crop don't come here. Don't get me wrong, there are a few good ones around here, but there are also plenty of bottom feeders who graduated from medical schools from God knows where. The new hospital can't change economic facts. |
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 20:48:32 GMT -5
So true but at least the new hospital will look nice. I wish they would build a new state of the art City Hall. With a connecting bridge to Harbor Point.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 20:52:35 GMT -5
I had to just mail out a final Doctor's payment since they were bugging me for the full payment. $120. That is gonna kill me. I just use Medicare since I cannot afford to pay the spend down to qualify for a month of Medicaid. I mean would you pay $270 to get Medicaid to take care of this bill. Crazy I think.
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Post by kit on May 7, 2019 7:25:58 GMT -5
"at least the new hospital will look nice"
When I need good medical care I look for a doctor or hospital that knows their job, not knows how to look nice. As the saying goes, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
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Post by clarencebunsen on May 7, 2019 11:23:11 GMT -5
We probably has a slightly different system than most for selecting providers. Since Barb spent so much of her career in healthcare quality, the first question is "How often did that name come across my desk?"
Took about 2 minutes on the internet to learn that my current doc did her internship and residency in Albany and went to med school in CT.
Moving St. E's out of their current geriatric building may improve the healthcare their patients receive. Every maintenance operation there brings up concerns like asbestos, lead based paints, stirring us legionella in the plumbing.
The St. E's building is very inefficient: heating, cooling and workflow are all bad. It was designed and built in the days of 40 bed wards then chopped up into smaller rooms over the years.
It is also a money pit. At the time it affiliated with St. Luke's it was losing about $12 million per year. Last report I saw I think it's now like $7 million. It has finite resources and faces the real possibility of going out of business.
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Post by Ralph on May 7, 2019 13:16:30 GMT -5
I hope that the money is used for something that will improve the area for the FUTURE.
The had a grant for facade work on James Street when I was working in the community about 18 or so years ago.
It made James Street look great.......for a bit. Now it looks like someone drove through there with a couple 30 cal mini-guns and just strafed everything. I expect to see tumbleweeds when I drive through there.
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Post by Clipper on May 7, 2019 18:23:24 GMT -5
I drove through there a few years ago just to look at the place I used to live. I wouldn't drive through there again unless it was in an armored vehicle with a cow catcher and a roof mounted 50 caliber for self defense.
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Post by BHU on May 7, 2019 19:11:32 GMT -5
You need a military grade Humvee just to drive on some of the streets in that area. It's a disgrace. I'm not kidding. A couple years ago I ended up on Brinkerhoff Ave or whatever street it was between Rutger & James due to a detour & I swear to God that street was actually dangerous to drive on. How the city can justify bonding for $20+ million for that parking garage with streets in this city the condition they're in is a disgrace.
Palmeiri is up for reelection but he ain't gettin' my vote.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2019 20:28:23 GMT -5
bhu whatever happened to the road repair plan for Utica that was approved by Common Council whereby 5 miles of road would be repaired each year for 5 years? Is it being done. I know last summer I saw repaving going on around the area of the new downtown hospital but that was it. A few years ago the area around MVCC was repaved but the wrong asphalt was used I think and it all rippled. Upper James above Mohawk St was also repaved last summer. Do they do any side streets?
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2019 20:35:50 GMT -5
Well I found this www.uticaod.com/news/20180923/public-eye-utica-asks-for-patience-with-paving-planPosted Sep 23, 2018 at 12:15 PM UTICA — A letter from a reader about the condition of Cherry Street is the subject of this week’s Public Eye. “The potholes and cracks in the road are beyond (disrepute),” the reader wrote, adding that he or she has not seen any construction projects on the street in many years. While a problem on Cherry Street will be fixed soon, the City of Utica wants readers to know that the city’s paving plan is scheduled to eventually pave every road in the city. The Problem Potholes and cracks on Cherry Street in Utica. The Solution City Deputy Engineer Mike Mahoney said that the city received a call about a sinkhole on Cherry Street recently. After a City of Utica employee investigated the street Friday, they found a high manhole structure in the road that Mahoney wants fixed. “They’re going to repair it probably in the next three weeks, before winter sets in,” Mahoney added. It is possible that the plows have caught it and done some damage to the road, he said. Repaving the road, however, is another subject. Numerous readers have written in about having their streets paved. While Mahoney acknowledges numerous streets need to be paved, he also said that there are only so many streets the city can pave every year. “We have a duty to keep our more travelled routes in the best shape we can,” Mahoney said, “and I still have tons of those that are not in great shape.” The city has a goal to repave every street in Utica as part of a 15-year paving plan. After a public referendum in 2016, the amount available for paving increased from $2 million to $5 million per year. “We’ll evaluate everything through the winter and spring, and our pavement program will be out again next year,” Mahoney said. “We’re trying to do the best we can.” Reporter Joseph Labernik investigates neighborhood complaints each week and reports the findings. If something is broken or neglected in your neighborhood, tip off Public Eye by sending an email with a thorough description of the problem tojlabernik@uticaod.com. Letters also can be sent to Public Eye, Observer-Dispatch, 221 Oriskany Plaza, Utica, NY 13501. Oh well I found this too spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2016/08/31/utica-mayor-vetoes-road-paving-plan15-Year Road Paving Plan Vetoed by Utica Mayor BY CARA THOMAS UTICA AUGUST 31, 2016 @4:11 PM UTICA, N.Y. -- A 15-year road paving plan proposed by the Utica Common Council has been vetoed by the Mayor. The plan proposed increasing the funds allocated toward paving roads from $2 million to $5 million per year. In a letter to the common council, Mayor Robert Palmieri says he cannot support this plan because the figures are inaccurate. Palmieri says the plan does not account for rising paving costs. He says it will also negatively impact the taxpayers and the budget, and would put a substantial burden on the city's future generations. The mayor's veto can be overridden by the common council. If that happens, the plan will be voted on in a public referendum this November. |
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Post by clarencebunsen on May 7, 2019 22:56:42 GMT -5
I think the city is on the 100 year plan, each city street will be repave every century unless there is a cash problem.
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