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General News: Public Speaks on Parking Issue
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| Grace Lewis said bus drivers could have problems |
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| Kristine Williams talked about school safety |
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| Sen. Larkin expressed his views |
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| The village board listened to Catherine Tubridy |
July 03, 2007
Public opinion swayed the trustees of the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson at a meeting held Monday night to discuss a parking lot plan. About 70 people showed up at village hall, largely to express their concerns about plans to expand village parking and create a new traffic flow in the area. In the end, people felt buoyed by the trustees’ agreement to study the issue more thoroughly.
The special meeting was called to discuss a proposal put forward by Bob Gilmore, head of the village’s Department of Public Works, to create the new parking area with funding provided by local businesses and a $30,000 grant that he had solicited from the office of state senator Bill Larkin, who lives in the village.
The meeting started with each of the trustees commenting on the project. Mark Edsall spoke of his concern about school bus safety while others declared their support for the project. Trustee William Fogarty said the offer is like Christmas in July. “We will never get a present like this again,” he said, while noting that the process could have been handled better.
Trustee Pete Miller said he sees a parking problem in the village and he believed the plan was a good idea for the entire village. Trustee Rudy Hahn said that while the plan surprised him at the last meeting, it was a pleasant surprise.
Mayor Joseph Gross was the only member of the village board staunchly opposed to the project. He listed his many concerns about the project, including the lack of detailed planning on engineering and traffic flow, and he questioned whether a parking problem existed at all.
Then, two dozen people in the audience rose to speak, detailing their concerns. Some criticized how the project was created by one person, Bob Gilmore, without the public input that residents thought they had been promised. Others spoke about the impact on neighbors, some of whom are already dealing with traffic issues along River Avenue. Several called for a traffic study of the entire village square.
One woman, Grace Lewis, a school bus driver and River Avenue resident, spoke of the difficulty she and other drivers would have with the new traffic pattern. Former elementary school PTO president Kristine Williams criticized the planned change in traffic flow, predicting that it would create rather than solve safety problems. School board president Brendan Coyne and school board member David Carnright both said the school board would have to be brought into the discussion.
Deke Hazirjian, the president of the Local Development Corporation, endorsed the need for a traffic study of the village square area but he also noted that the infrastructure had to be upgraded.
State senator Bill Larkin also spoke at the meeting, explaining how he makes grants to the village, and other municipalities as well, that can be used for the purposes designated by the local government. He said that these grants help municipalities undertake projects without using local tax money. Larkin also noted that the $30,000 he had told Gilmore was available for the project would not be available until next year.
For more than an hour, resident after resident rose to speak about the need to plan carefully and not be swept away by the offer of donated labor and materials from local business, no matter how generous that offer may be.
Rick Gioia, who failed in his bid to become a trustee in March, reminded the crowd that newly-elected Mayor Joe Gross has his ear to the ground on issues like this. “Everyone should get behind the person we elected to represent us,” Gioia said. “This is about measured steps, not stumbling forward.”
Another resident, George Burger, gave credit to Gross for turning out a crowd at the meeting. “He promised to hear the people,” Berger noted. “and he’s done a great job of it.” The crowd endorsed his comment with a round of applause.
Residents’ arguments from the floor had a clear impact on the trustees. By the end of the meeting, each trustee agreed that more review was necessary and they thanked the public for being part of this debate.
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