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Post by losjibaros on Jan 22, 2008 11:20:36 GMT -5
Before you post.. think about this.. if you chose to accept your assignment the topic is..
Today is January 22nd 2011, how does utica look, what businesses are here.. what ones left, what ones closed. what has happened to change the way the city looks.. is it better today than it was in 2008?
I was going to post something tounge in cheek but than i thought about how easy it was to make this a doom and gloom post...
It does not have to be...
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Post by kim on Jan 22, 2008 11:35:03 GMT -5
You're right, it doesn't HAVE to be a doom and gloom scenario, but sadly, I fear it might end up being such. My husband and I left the area in 1997, expecting to be gone only a few years. We were sure the area would turn around and we'd be able to come back. A few times we even thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light always went out.
However, I'll be an optimist. In my happy view of Utica 10 years from now, we have a thriving downtown...a safe place with lots of stuff going on. We have concerts, we have condos, we have a park with dancing fountains, we have free wi-fi for everyone downtown. In my view, we have many places to shop, eat and drink. We have a public transportation system that people want to use and do use. We have JOBS! We'll need the jobs before the other stuff can happen. Instead of businesses leaving, they'll be coming in. Instead of laying off they'll be hiring. The standard of living will go up. People will have more money to spend in the local stores, so even more money will go into the local economy. All the local towns and villages will work together to create one happy area. Young people will stay, people like my husband, son and I will move back. Utica will once again be what it was during its boom.
I would really love to see that.
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Post by Swimmy on Jan 22, 2008 12:26:52 GMT -5
Utica, ten years from now?
Swimmy rules the world!! Swimmy spreads Utica's good food throughout the world. No more hunger, no more killing, happiness for all and no poor.
Vote for Swimmy! Simmy rules the world. ;D
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Post by losjibaros on Jan 22, 2008 12:29:30 GMT -5
can i have some of your cool-aid?
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Post by clipper220 on Jan 22, 2008 13:21:27 GMT -5
I would love to see all of kim's visions come to fruition. I am forever optimistic about the future of Utica and I WILL be coming back. I think it is going to take more than 10 years though, and it will be an evolution, not a revival of the past.
I don't see downtown as a bustling commercial area. I can see kim's vision of wi-fi and shops and cafes, and an area of tranquility and fun. Not a madhouse of shoppers and workers bustling to and from large stores and businesses.
These visions are wonderful for the "center city", but I cannot quite put an image in my mind as to what will be the fate of the rest of the downtown area and the outlying neighborhoods.
Many changes on a state and federal level will have to come about in order for changes to come about in the city. With the economic issues facing us at a state level, it is hard to bring in business or industry.
I love my hometown, and I sincerely hope in ten years it is on it's way to recovery and recuperation. I just can't see it being Utopia in a short ten year period. However visions like kim's and hope like mine, can go a long way to helping.
We need to get some of the petty local issues out of the way of progress and work as a unified force to accomplish change.
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Post by Swimmy on Jan 22, 2008 13:41:01 GMT -5
You doubt my worldly capabilities? Swimmy, law stud by day, master of the world by night.
On a serious note, I don't see Utica changing a whole lot in 10 years given the area's current trend. We'll still have very backdoor closed politics. Crime might go down. Some jobs will come some will go. But overall, I see it being the same.
In dream world, it's a bustling city with a thriving business district. The area has taken advantage of having several great colleges in close vicinity creating the start to a super hub of research and job growth. Government has shrunk with consolidation and regionalization. Government spending has been in check for a few years and taxes have actually gone down because of the wiser spending habits. The area jumped on to the nanotech bang wagon early on, bridged with Albany's hub and is now the capital of the world in nanotechnology. Crime is down considerably and the area is turning around from what it is today. More businesses actually want to locate to the area. Albany has fixed its issues to allow for a more business friendly environment in upstate.
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Post by losjibaros on Jan 22, 2008 13:46:10 GMT -5
I love the optimism..
but one thing you have to consider.. i dont care who you are, nobody is going to lay down a plan that is going to get you from point A to point B when you are roadmapping a cities revival.
there are too many factors to consider that could change the way things work.
How about these.
Prision Closings M&T Bank Closing Branches Bank of America Moving Call Centers WalMart consolidating and closing stores in the area Verizon cutting back Time Warner Cutting Back National Grid Cutting Back Bus Industries Moving
Just one of these things could easly send this area off into another direction... with a recession looming so they say... this could cause a tailspin that would be tough to recover... right now.. any of them could easily happen in the next five years.
I would like to see some bullet proof industry moved into this area...
fuel cell research, BioFuel, Wind and Solar Energy , Water and Geo-Thermal heat ... Incubate a bunch of small energy companies... use us as lab rats with their new products..
Nano Tech is nice... Alt Energy is nicer.
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Post by Ralph on Jan 22, 2008 13:50:42 GMT -5
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Post by Swimmy on Jan 22, 2008 14:06:41 GMT -5
You're right los, but it's going to take a lot more than the turf wars going on right now to fix the area's woes, not just Utica's woes. There is some great potential for the area to become prosperous and thriving again. But it has to take a concerted effort, no one individual can do it. Right now, all anyone in power cares about is themselves and helping out their buddies. That's not going to change the area anytime soon.
You need to elect some people with real integrity and whose goal is the area, not their own careers and legacies. The topics you list could happen and would devastate the area. What if the state forces the Oneidas to pay taxes, and to spite the area, the Oneidas shutdown the casino? That's 5000 jobs lost. Will it happen, hopefully not, but I would rather steps were taken so that my father isn't sitting home everyday wondering what he will have to do in the event the casino was closed. After GE left and Laser Precision closed, the area hasn't had a good time retaining engineers, especially of my father's qualifications. Right now, both sides are fighting and the Oneidas have the ultimate bargaining chip: 5000 jobs. But politicians have acted dumber in the past, so i wouldn't put it passed them to lose 5000 jobs merely to prove a point. They couldn't even come up with a plan for that biodefense research facility a few years ago.
And I don't see things changing anytime soon. Change the political scene and you change quite a bit where M&T closing a branch won't be so vital to our economy.
The recession will happen if the credit and the housing market don't straighten out. Again, blame politicians lining their own pockets and securing their careers by catering to the credit industry over people.
Sorry I'm not as optimistic as you would like me to be, but I'm having a difficult time trying to picture Utica in a year from now let alone 10.
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Post by losjibaros on Jan 22, 2008 14:14:02 GMT -5
Honestly Swimmy i am more pesimestic than you are... GE and Laser P were bad.. but what about the base? thats like moving a whole town away...
rumor has it that right after the base in rome closed, Boeing was looking at it for a North East Service Center... Can you picture JET CITY EAST???
well from what i understand, they sent their people out to look around at the housing market, the job pools the roads and what have you and they liked everything they saw... until they started talking to the politicians... politicians that wanted to play games....
now.. i can not prove any of this.. it is 100% taken from what somebody else told me (who happened to go on tour of the area with the brass from boeing) .. but if it is true....
That is some sad stuff.
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Post by Ralph on Jan 22, 2008 14:14:52 GMT -5
I've said it before, it all has to begin at the state level and then roll up hill to the rest of us.
If not, that picture I posted won't be just Utica, but pretty much all of NY.
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Post by losjibaros on Jan 22, 2008 14:18:03 GMT -5
whats up with the purple weeds?
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Post by countrygal on Jan 22, 2008 14:20:28 GMT -5
Oh it's worse than you think. My brother was ground control at the base until the last of the planes left. A colonel told him that UPS and Fed Express wanted to establish a terminal in Rome but wanted the airport moved so they didn't get confusing with different airspace. The politicians wouldn't move the airport. I just shake my head.
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Post by Ralph on Jan 22, 2008 14:20:53 GMT -5
Well.....the water ya know? Hey!!! I just steal the pictures from Adobe!! LOL!!! ;D
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Post by Swimmy on Jan 22, 2008 14:22:16 GMT -5
The base closing is what devastated the entire area. After that closed, GE closed, Laser precision went...
I heard similar rumors. With some of these cohorts, I can not say that I am surprised.
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