Residents Weigh in on Downtown Plan

    For years the main street in Utica has been Genesee Street. Thomas Loughlin Jr. of Utica says, "I have seen Utica change very much from being a bustling center of industry and commerce to what it is now."

            And now the city is trying to change the city, but not before it gets input from residents. Tonight the city held a public forum for Utica residents to voice their concerns.

            Joe Kearney of Utica says, "How can you get parades and bands down a two lane road while businesses try to be in business and be open that day and you've narrowed it down to a two way highway."

            Other residents say their concerns lay in the winter time. Loughlin added, "Narrowing Genesee St. is going to make snow plowing so difficult. The plows now have a tough time negotiating around parked cars, negotiating around. And just handling the snow mass as it is."

            The city says meetings like tonight offer helpful insight from residents who will be using the new downtown. Mayor Robert Palmieri says, "We want to bring this out and get input from the people, we think we have a great plan in place. But as we continue to talk with people there's different things we'll tweak. Again this is probably the last hooray well have of changing the complexion of downtown and we want to make sure when we do it we do it right."