Nozzolio (Rightly) Defers to Community-Based Planning Efforts in the City of Geneva

One unintended positive outcome of the City of Geneva’s downtown/lakefront planning process underway this year is that State Senator Mike Nozzolio is now leaving it up to local planners and the City Council to designate the location of a proposed visitors’ center. That’s as it should be.

Earlier this year, the Senator had secured from the New York legislature a series of earmarks for a number of what we felt were worthwhile projects for our community, announced as the “21st Century Geneva Initiative.” Back then, the Senator had announced the center would be on the lakefront, even though we were in the midst of a planning process involving two outside consultants, and that had not been decided. Nozzolio had set up a shadow committee and convened meetings to discuss the lakefront building's operations, even though City Council has never taken up the issue for discussion.

One consultant, Fairweather, placed the center on the lakefront into his feasibility report (concluding that the standalone facility was not feasible); and the other consulting firm, Bergmann, followed suit and incorporated it into their major planning document currently undergoing public scrutiny.

Then, as noted in a previous post, the Nozzolio website re-positioned the visitors center, changing its location from the lakefront to downtown. When or why that happened, we're not sure, but it is significant because the Fairweather and Bergmann documents—the central planning documents of the City— had given its location on the lakefront, and much of the plan for lakefront development, specifically "Building #12,” followed from that.

At last night’s City Council meeting, the Mayor announced that a phone conversation between him and Senator Nozzolio's staff had yielded yet another take on the plan-- the location for the visitors center was now unspecified. The center would be located, the public was told, where Council decided-- if, indeed, it were to become part of the plan. And, as reported by the local paper, Nozzolio's staff denied assertions by Chamber of Commerce leadership that the money would evaporate in short order.

To be absolutely clear about this issue, here’s what Nozzolio's website says, today, October 2, 2008:

"New Finger Lakes Visitor Center in Geneva

A new Finger Lakes Visitor Center located in Geneva will be a signature building for the Finger Lakes region that will serve as a destination for tourists and the Finger Lakes region. The Center will be interactive for visitors and will place an emphasis on the natural beauty of our area as well as the wineries in the region. The Geneva Chamber of Commerce will relocate to the new facility and will continue their work to promote tourism in the region. The Visitor Center will be state-of-the-art and will serve as a destination for all those seeking information on the many attractions of the Finger Lakes region.

The Finger Lakes Visitor Center will be modeled after the very successful New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, which highlights the food and wines produced in New York State."

This speaks well for civic engagement and represents a vote of conficdence in community-based planning, now well under way in the City. Thank you, Senator Nozzolio, for listening to the voices of your constituents and responding to their needs.