“Oh Canada …”
You would think the
administration of Mayor Lou Rosamilia would pick a Collar City company to do a
comprehensive plan at a cost of $750,000.
Nope.
OK, then one from the Rensselaer
County.
Nope.
OK, one from the Capital Region??
Nope.
Then it has to be from New York
state since it hopes to get some state money to help pay for it.
Nope.
Jersey?? Maybe?
Nope
Then it has to be a company from within the borders of the continental
United States of America.
Nope.
The company it wants to pay
$750,000 is Urban Strategies and they are based in Canada.
Maybe when the company representatives come and visit they can check out the Uncle Sam statue near Riverfront Park. You know, the guy who is from Troy and is widely seen as a symbol of the USA.
Obviously, given the Scolite debacle, low bidder is not necessarily the determining factor in picking a company so I’m kind of at a loss as to why it decided to head north of the border when there was one company, River Street Planning, based, as the name implies, right on River Street.
Actually, the whole concept of a
comprehensive plan seems kind of like an exercise in futility. There hasn’t
been one since 1962, according to the city, and there is probably a reason for
that.
The biggest one that comes to
mind is that there are better, more practical, ways to spend three-quarters of
a million dollars like paving streets, alleviating the tax burden or even
helping defray overtime or pension costs that continue to escalate.
I’ve seen these multi-year,
multi-faceted planning schemes come and go and while there is probably some
merit to them, every shred of common sense tells me they are better left to
textbooks, term papers and egg head think tanks.
It’s kind of along the same lines
as Mayor Harry Tutunjian wanting to spend I forget how much money to “brand”
the city. “Enjoy Troy” had already been around for a couple of decades and was
widely accepted in a couple of different manifestations. And the most recent “brand”
comes from Tweeter Kevin McCashion and is simply #troycrazy.
There are certain spots in the
city where long term planning certainly could work but I’ve yet to see any of
them come to fruition. The Hoosick Street Overlay (or was it underlay)
District, the South Troy Working Waterfront and even the so called “porn
district” all fell by the wayside.
Maybe I’m just not a big enough
thinker – egg head – or maybe I’m just practical enough to know that for most
things when dealing with a city as eclectic as Troy with its fantastically
diverse population it’s better to just guide the stakeholders in a general
direction depending on a particular project or situation and let the chips fall
where they may.
It’s worked pretty well so far,
and it doesn’t cost $750,000.
I'd be shocked if the Council approves it and if they do, I'd be shocked if the state approves any money to pay a Canadian company to conduct a comprehensive plan in a city across the river from its Capitol when the governor is running for re-election.
I'd be shocked if the Council approves it and if they do, I'd be shocked if the state approves any money to pay a Canadian company to conduct a comprehensive plan in a city across the river from its Capitol when the governor is running for re-election.
