To ensure maximum transparency of this survey process, we are providing the results of the survey throughout the survey period - which will be from May 31, 2016 until September 30, 2016.
Below you will see the results as of the date noted (before the first graph) and it is our intent to update these results on a bi-weekly basis. We are hopeful that we will obtain hundreds of surveys submitted and that it will be representative of the population of residents and business owners of the Village of Herkimer.
The results are organized in the same manner as the survey in that the initial graph will provide a summary of the interest level (or appeal) of the characteristic groups, followed by the breakdown of each group's topics. If any comments were provided for any specific group, then they will also be posted in the order they were received and without any typographic or grammatical modifications (meaning typos and rough grammar can be expected).
The results are shown as a percentage of the total number of surveys submitted. What that means is that (for example) if 100 surveys were submitted and 60 surveys submitted has a specific characteristic topic checked, then that specific topic will have a ranking of 60% (or 60/100 = .6 or 60%).
We hope that this will demonstrate that the Planning Board is "above board" in our willingness to be transparent and hope that it will inspire residents and business owners of the Village of Herkimer to get engaged and provide your input.
If you have not yet filled out the survey, then get on it. If you have filled it out already, then THANKS and please spread the word, post it on Facebook, Tweet it, or send the link in an email to others of the Village. There is no time like the present to influence the future of the Village.
The CURRENT RESULTS below are based on surveys submitted between 5/31/2016 and 9/30/2016:
Below you will see the results as of the date noted (before the first graph) and it is our intent to update these results on a bi-weekly basis. We are hopeful that we will obtain hundreds of surveys submitted and that it will be representative of the population of residents and business owners of the Village of Herkimer.
The results are organized in the same manner as the survey in that the initial graph will provide a summary of the interest level (or appeal) of the characteristic groups, followed by the breakdown of each group's topics. If any comments were provided for any specific group, then they will also be posted in the order they were received and without any typographic or grammatical modifications (meaning typos and rough grammar can be expected).
The results are shown as a percentage of the total number of surveys submitted. What that means is that (for example) if 100 surveys were submitted and 60 surveys submitted has a specific characteristic topic checked, then that specific topic will have a ranking of 60% (or 60/100 = .6 or 60%).
We hope that this will demonstrate that the Planning Board is "above board" in our willingness to be transparent and hope that it will inspire residents and business owners of the Village of Herkimer to get engaged and provide your input.
If you have not yet filled out the survey, then get on it. If you have filled it out already, then THANKS and please spread the word, post it on Facebook, Tweet it, or send the link in an email to others of the Village. There is no time like the present to influence the future of the Village.
The CURRENT RESULTS below are based on surveys submitted between 5/31/2016 and 9/30/2016:
survey characteristic group support
The graph below provides the "interest ranking" of each of the Characteristic Groups that make up the survey. They appear in reverse order as a natural result of the tool being used. The higher the percentage of any group, the higher the interest level of the survey responders in that specific group. For example if a given group is ranked at 80%, then that means that it had topics that were of more interest than one that ranks at 40%.
family focused community
- Safe, recreational places for youth to go and spend time together
- Clean up the drug traffic downtown
- Family Health Ctr, like Clark's gym
- A YMCA that is on the ground floor and is excess able for handi cap and elderly
- Safe adequate housing for all
- "in-community schooling" as a priority is part of what's holding this community back.
- Focus less on parochial educational concerns
- Merge with another school district
- Herkimer is losing their population mostly due to high NYS taxes. if you want to keep families from leaving please consider cleaning up Main Street. add more activities to serve all age groups.
- Summer outdoor weekly activity like Saranac Thursday, and create an central area block like Varick Street in Utica with bars and restaurants.
- Green areas and other indoor venues family friendly and safe
- There needs to be Parks, Recreation for young and old, centers and places of recreation like movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants.
- a public swimming pool
- Make absentee landlords financially responsible for the damage their tenants cause. Put foot patrols on n main st at all hours. A stronger police presence will eventually deter the dealers
- Continue and enhancing community events like music and movies in the park.
- Youth center
- job training, wood shop, computer repair
- Have youth programs-somewhere the children can go.
- School system question does not delineate how/why this is currently thought to be untrue or in need of improvement. Community center for youth-specifically opposed to this. Age agnostic-equally-these demographic groups do NOT require equal treatment.
- academics first - sports next
- Its time this Village embraces and works with the College and not against this great employer. The College has great opportunities for this entire community
- Our schools are vital in order to attract and keep young people a part of our village. So many young adults who want to stay nearby move to New Hartford, Clinton, etc. when it is time to raise a family. Herkimer schools once had a wonderful reputation. We need a school administrator who appreciates young people and has a vision of what we can do to improve our students' education. The school can be at the core of what makes us great!
- Bring in something for the kids to do so they spend less time drinking and smoking weed. It is disgusting that the youth spend all their weekends partying because there is nothing to do.
- Clear zoning for residential fitting of their requirements makes no sense Who is "their"
- Should have merged school when we had the chance. I would like to see this happen.
Herkimer County's Retail Center Hub
- Walkable areas under weather protection, parking, shuttle buses
- healthy choices in fast foods no more Pizza
- Though we need new restaurants and maybe a movie theater
- Need to develop downtown retail and apartments on upper level. Need good codes department
- Other entertainment than bars. Such things as a movie theater.
- We need something other than Pizza
- I favor all of these, if, and only if, all costs are born by free enterprise, NOT taxpayers. Those not financially viable will be allowed to die. Do not subsidize marginal enterprises.
- Clean up Main St. for other stores to come in. The Rendes building is an eye sore.
- Military recruit center
- Movie theatre
- Main Street still has beautiful building facades! It could be returned to a quaint, lovely, place to be... Who are these people who have allowed their tenants to destroy our image by destroying those properties? If we as individuals don't have enough money to buy them out, can someone who understands financial things start a co-op to buy up the buildings and make them desirable again?
- Get rid of all the tattoo parlors please
- Again you can't answer this logically - whose "entertainment"? A movie theater? Coffee house? Indoor sports? Art museum? A strip club? Hopefully you see where I'm going with this. It would seem obvious that a retail center would have shopping, dining & entertainment.
- medicine/health care
- Clean up Main St. if possible; it is disheartening seeing empty store fronts, apartment dwellers sitting around on the sidewalk in groups and seeing little kids exposed to smoking and foul language.
- Block Party, Coffee House, Thrift Shop, Bands in Myers Park, Farmers Market, bigger events for Herkimer Days
Pathway of the Retail Center Profile
- Require all business occupants to carry fire insurance, etc regardless if they own or rent and show proof active paid policies quarterly.
- 4x4 posts put up with a garbage can and a box with recycled plastic grocery bags for dog poop pic up at all our park facility .
- Partner with other towns and villages in county in development.
- We need better retail in the community and it needs local support.
- Clean up
- Free parking
- laws put in place for unkept stores on main street . windows washed or fines go out. No boarded up windows
- Herkimer does not need more tattoo parlors or undesirable shops of business in this zoning. strict commercial and business zoning to enhance the image and promote commerce!
- Each business owner needs to be responible for everything outside their business, keeping it pleasing to the eye, inviting, clean
- more foot patrols
- Cleaning up the zombie properties and empty stores. Improve parking.
- The facade doesn't need to be so consistent (we need to keep the historic, small town charm but we also need a little diversity) so much as it needs a standard of maintenance
- more farmer markets
- Clean up Main St.-get the community involved.
- Consistent persona/facade if buildings-This is "overkill " response to color discord on one N.Main St. building's color scheme. Strongly opposed to this costly and self-defeating proposal. It has probable effect of finhibiting enterprise and seems inconsistent with "Mom and Pop"shops response on page 6. Future to food-If, and only if, proportionately funded by such "surrounding" communities. Remove all parking meters. I believe the both Mohawk and Ilion are "meter free"
- support companies that will fill a nitch between the demand of the public and walmart & k-mart
- Diversity of appearance, type of business, customer base is strength, especially for a small, dying town.
- ? not sure
- MAJOR clean up needs to happen with the buildings that used to be so vital to the retail market.
travel corridor of Herkimer county
- Route 28 is an unmined fortune!
- Advertise on thruway with signage that people coming from the east to west can easily travel route 28 to get to north country and not have to go to Utica. Also open the travel bureau off thruway again with rest rooms and staff
- Also exit to Cooperstown and points south
- We are so fortunate to be off the thruway. We need to provide for possible tourism.
- Routes must be given to specific routes thru village to avoid traffic congestion and inconvenience to travelers.
- It all goes back to Main Street. I'm ashamed to be living here. I grew up here. We need action to clean it up.
- also Cooperstown and points south, plus canal travel
- if done right we can be proud of the heritage that is in front of us.
Supporting a Rich Cultural Mix
- support for what Herkimer is known for cheese and farming.
- Theater, symphony, music events, sports events
- Need to attract a major hotel with banquet and meet rooms for businesses and travelers. Red Roof is not enough. Also, build a highrise county office building and even a state office building centrally located
- Herkimer needs a in town Museum-diamond, Standard Furniture Factory, Hales and other furniture Facorties, Quackenbush nut cracker. etc.. again, something to attract to the historical value of Herkimer's beginnings
- Focus on the children and young families. What is there for them to do? Also jobs, if there aren't jobs for young families they're not going to stay.
- Most of the dining is fast food or pizza other than Applebee's.
- movie theater bring back some of the dinner and drink bars
- We have beautiful areas already for outdoor events. Village needs to partner with these venues to show "life" in our village. I.e. Meyers park, folts home property, brook wood park
- I think there is enough shopping. We need more places where people can stroll. Maybe parks with fountains and picnic areas.
- More interactions with the diversity of HCCC students.
- movie theater, gymnasium
- We need more for youths in this area.
- This now exists with the facilities at Herkimer College. Venues for Cultural enrichment-if and only if such venues are funded fully by revenue generated by such cultural enrichment.
- Our Youth have nothing to do. They continue to go outside the Village and County for entertainment
- need a stronger emphasis on entertainment; maybe a movie theater.
Supporting the College Community
- We should not let the college be a driving force for our decisions
- a Hotel that has dining and indoor pool to attract parents of students to come and stay in the village
- Keep the HCCC students on the hill. No off-site apartments to deter slumlords.
- Connect the college with entire county, not just the Village
- Student only housing - not mixed in with residential
- College ignores locals for the most part; exception: free concert once a year is excellent!
- A lot of the students in recent years have been big problems in the community.
- Keep the college at the college
- Look at these students in positive light, not negative. Rental properties need to be attended to as to keep things looking clean and not run down
- Be cautious putting college students all through Herkimer. I recently graduated from there but it can be chaotic. Especially due to their "accept all" day.
- I think the majority of student housing needs to be on campus
- There's already a large amount of rental properties but how well are they maintained. The village needs a facelift. It's an economic problem.
- i think they need more to do with to college kids so they don't destroy the village or be violent towards or residents of the community
- Herkimer needs bookstores, coffee shops, sweatshirt/T-shirt stores, Herkimer souvenir shop, bagels and bakeries, restaurants, pizza, bike rentals, art boutiques and fine clothing
- The college and the village need to join together for community wide activities, events, use of facilities.
- Better communication between college and village for shared activities, events, use of facilities.
- Need the college to join in activities of the village and vice-versa.
- Issue with college kids using town tennis courts and making the town/village residents unable to use the courts because the college kids who do not pay property taxes have the right to use the courts over the local residents. The college needs to repair/rebuild their own tennis courts!
- This is your greatest opportunity
- We need more business to come to Herkimer, but Main Street needs to be cleaned up.
- Computer education after school
- Not sure what you mean by well defined
- What can the college do for the village?
- Especially the multicultural aspect
- So many small villages have built their reputations and communities around college life. eg.: Cazenovia. Let's open our minds to making this better for everyone and taking advantage of what students can bring to our community.
- More college activities available to the community.
- Provide safety for all from the violent and illegal activity being brought into the village via the college.
- Keep the college out of the community. They decided years ago to stop the one free event that they provided to Herkimer and the Mohawk Valley with the July 4th festival. Wake up it is obvious they don't care about Herkimer.
- Community is a two way street-yes, we should support HCCC, but not as a paternalistic figure as a neighborhood-not parents, but a home for adults students.
- offsite students have to be accountable by the college when they get out of control. A reminder to NOT walk in the road, especially in groups and to be friendly, mindful of the neighbors.
Appealing to the evolving high-tech workforce
- Absolutely!! this is a must to compete with surrounding villages, towns and cities
- Need more major retail and decent housing to attract Nano people
- Codes enforcement of residential properties
- Wifi that actually works would be nice. Most people can't use it as it gets too bogged down.
- Codes enforcement of residential properties
- Appealing real estate for workers moving into the area.
- Jobs for laborers needed
- Factory for computers, laser tech, radar
- Increase economic profile-What does this mean/imply ? Free wi-fi- This now exists in Herkimer Library. "Smart City"-undefined jargon precludes reasonable evaluation: What is this ? How much will taxpayers pay for it?
- Doing wifi and anything technical will be outdated before it's installed
- Resurrect/gentrify village to be (antique) "desk capital of world"
- Let's prepare for housing overflow that may be a part of our nanotech future! We may become a desirable "outskirt" for what is coming to the Utica-Rome region. Schools and neighborhoods need to be DESIREABLE! as well as economical!
- Wi-fi sounds great but.. I foresee awful implications. This will almost certainly backfire. (think of internet cafes-people physically present, but neither buying or selling and preventing actual customers from coming in.)
Expose and clearly define the County Seat profile/persona
- The Village of Herkimer, county seat, needs a working PARTNERSHIP, not a recurring argument/competition with, the County
- a water slide park near the Diamond mines
- Fix the village's relationship with the County Government
- yes
- Need an elected County Executive to run the entire county. Also, Old Forge needs to be brought into the mix
- Just like Colonial Williamsburg & so many other historical villages have.
- Should be a county wide effort involving all towns and county legislature.
- This needs to be done in collaboration of all towns of the county.
- The county needs to step up to the plate and make this the center piece of the county. Right now, they are dragging the village down with their lack of support and interest in making things better.
- Amplify the profile INSIDE-value of this is not understood.
- Reconstruct the Herkimer village. Remodel Main St.: turn it into a shopping center. Remove rentals and replace with restaurants, gas station, grocery stores, etc.
- Get more interactive with Old Forge, which often seems like another county.
- this village is older than dirt ! Sell the dirt ! (metaphysically...mostly)
Develop a Tourism Profile that amplifies the Village as a Travel Corridor
- We should lay-low until our area deserves it
- Bring back our lake, we choked it off.
- tubing on the west canada . fishing on the west canada calm down the rocks and make a fishing area
- gateway to the Adirondacks; Herkimer Regional Trolley Bridge District
- Linking businesses together/ discounts offered for using other tourist attractions.
- Need public transportation connecting Utica to Herkimer County North, south and east
- This can't happen until village main areas are cleaned up prepared or tourism
- More promotion in the Village. start working with the College on their ideas and get them to help support an upgrade to the village. eventually, they will attract students that have respect and take pride In their school and community
- I've lived in Herkimer since I was 5 and didn't even know there was a Historical Society until two years ago. It's not advertised at all.
- Better public transportation. local buses or trolleys.
- All excellent promoters of the area.
- Historical sites, Herkimer home and church, also other recreational like the canal trails.
- Band education, Music school
- Boat rides, diamond mines, KOA-Such private enterprises should NOT be publicly funded nor promoted with public funds.
- Lake Iroquois history & excavations
- Or Ace of diamonds. We have to be careful to not single out businesses. They are all contributors to our local economy and success.
- Sorry, but in my opinion, Herkimer Diamonds are being exploited for the benefit of one family who makes unreasonable amounts of money on our natural treasure and gives nothing back to the community
- more than 1 company.
- Let's worry about the residents before we worry about the tourists. Right now the residents are your biggest obstacle to tourism because they tell people to stay away
Retail Offering in line with Retail Center profile
- Minimize national chains
- clean up main street so people want to shop there
- Bike rentals for canal trail, maybe 4 seat bike carts for elderly to enjoy, too.
- all of our parks are surrounded by chain link fences they look more like a jail than a park
- The taxes in the village are too high to help sustain mom and pop stores
- No more huge chain stores-- we need to support mom and Pop enterprises. support your local families & farmers.
- State street needs better visibility and make it easier for people to walk and shop
- Main St. deemed "scary" by most locals and will not walk.
- theater-(need one!)
- Less bars and more other types of entertainment.
- Better signage for these areas from the road. Unique and village themed. Bring businesses together on planning
- Place for kids to go have fun
- The Mom N Pop shops around here turn into pawn shops, vapor stores, or more tattoo shops. We don't need any more of these. Same goes for bars. Trash is invited in then it's expected not to look like trash. That makes no sense. The problem with Main St. Isn't the street itself. All my friends agree as well. It's the trash that hangs around it. Sloppy buns, pajamas, strollers, smoking cigs. THIS is Herkimer's problem. Main St, King St, some of the South side of Herkimer. I know you can't just get rid of people but no one wants to go in those businesses on Main St because you need to be around those sort of people to get to it. Herkimer has their regulars who are in and out of jail that hang out round there too. Physically making it look good is a nice thing but may not help sadly. Also the odd color painted buildings don't help it look classy. It looks dumb.
- All of this is great!! I have never understood why there aren't good farmers markets in that area!!
- All chains and big box stores need to be on State Street. The Village shops need to be quaint, clean and picturesque
- Clean up Main Street. It is so embarrassing.
- Need to paint the village bridges! The graffiti from the 1970's painted on the South Washington Street bridge and other various bridges look HORRIBLE. This should have been done several years ago and enforcement of any destruction of the sites!
- Close off N. Main St. and make it open to foot traffic with shops, food, entertainment, etc.
- Boutique shoppes, Mom'n Pop shops-these are dying nationwide. Farmers market-must be financially self sufficient. Seasonal Decor-These, per se, will not make Main St. in Herkimer a shopping destination. Remove all parking meters.
- We need a dog park so people can socialize their pets !!!
- Gaming center
- I would love to see new shops on Main Street and throughout the Village! We need to clean up Main Street by enforcing Property Maintenance laws so business owners will be encouraged to pen a business here instead of somewhere else.
- Enforce crosswalk law on main st.
- Shop local campaign against Walmart
- Start a festival that can be carried out or expanded on year after year. Include the schools. Make float competitions, set limits (ex. Resources)
- Nat. chains-these are everywhere and much more accessible to non villagers at their non-Herkimer home locations. Minimize the monopolies! Don't run them out of town but emphasize them out of town but emphasize the "small town all-american older then the nation " roots of this village ! No one comes to Herkimer for the Walmart ! If they come at all it's for the strange , quaint small town Mohawk Valley feel.
- This is a college town and parents must visit. We need small coffee shops, book stores, sandwich shops. Shops that aren't cluttered with people standing on sidewalks exercising their rights to the sidewalk!
- For the small stores, making sure that they are actual "legal" storefront and not just overnight pawn shops.
- Everyone everywhere has a farmers market and I'd take Walmart off an anchor store list unless you're referring to them pulling everyone else under.
- PLEASE have a structured plan with facade choices and colors!
Visitor and Traveler Friendly
- Village attitude toward students, staff, etc ...especially "city" people has been antagonistic since forever! Need ideas here
- More diverse festivals.
- more parents weekend events to bring parents to the village
- we don't have any hotels worthy of staying in.
- One or two limited service hotels.
- Need meeting places for businesses
- Area businesses doing something special for parents weekend at the college
- Cleaner better more updated housing for local residents
- Again not sure what you mean by residential stay facilities?
- We should have signs in every business window welcoming HCCC students.
- Funded, in part, with county's contribution to college's budget. The tourist info. "Log Cabin" at thruway interchange # 30 has not been utilized in many years; why not ?
- First impressions: nice, aesthetic signs for entering roads into the village, painting the Thruway and Train overpasses like Cazenovia does.
- rich with hospitality-here brand recognition is vital, if the Chamber of Commerce is al all interested in promoting tourism..Staybridge suites, Hilton Inn, La Quinta, Days Inn if tourists and visitors dont trust the hotels they'll just go to Utica or Cooperstown.
Infrastructure Fitness
- Fix storm drainage issues
- also the dump if we had mulch available to residents for pick up to beautify there property
- Need good codes department to go after property owners
- Sidewalks in very poor condition-not "walk friendly". Roadways not well maintained-NYS responsible for some? Codes Enforced-Mayor Brindisi & interim codes enforcer (current fire chief) certainly doing their very best to cover this position.
- Need good codes department to go after property owners
- Also the dump if we had mulch available to residents for pick up to beautify their property
- Fix storm drainage issues
- To many empty, falling down, unsafe buildings and eye sores.
- Need to zone main street as commercial property and get all of the welfare residents off of Main Street. It has made this Village look horrific with the welfare people hanging out on Main Street. I won't even allow my 13 year old child to even walk down Main Street (day or night) and he is in fact afraid to go down Main Street. He knows Main Street is off limits. Pretty sad for us tax payers to not allow our children the access to business (that are left) on Main Street for fear of the crime and type of people that has been allowed to live on Main Street Herkimer. Did the Village ever hear of "the projects"??? Maybe some of our tax money should be used for building subsidized housing off of Main Street to try and get business back to Main Street. This certainly won't happen with the welfare and drug pushing people living on Main Street.
- Roads manifest-How ? Sidewalks-How? Roadways-This implies that these are now not well-maintained; why ?
- It all starts with Codes and Property Maintenance enforcement. That is the key to the success of every topic in your master plan.
- Big thing Must Enforce Codes.
- Make slumlords bring buildings up to codes, instead of closing them down. Make util. companies pay 2 replace sidewalks.
- Loitering laws enacted and enforced
- PLEASE fix sewers and correct for constant flooding whenever there is a heavy rain.
- Codes must be enforced; tall grass on properties.
- Get rid of dog crap everywhere
- TOO MANY PROPERTIES LOOK LIKE SLUMS! Please get the codes enforcer to get going on these eye sores.
Comments
- There are several old, beautiful, altho rundown near demolition pre-auction homes that should and could become fine B&Bs, guest homes, etc. Examples: Shaughnessy home on Green St., old Herk Library (Rotunda Bldg. ”ONCE A BEAUTIFUL BLDG, now terrible), Zoller property on Main (incl. old carriage house), and directly across Main is the former beautiful home once occupied by the "colony" of females that worked, during the old times, in the homes of wealthier people, ETC.
- Don't stress too much on college....the fire engine sirens are load and too often....move the dept up to college property. get more ma and pa shops back on main St...better codes to keep people just hanging around doing nothing on Main Street...in other words, get trash of main st
- THE WORD IS ''COMMUNITY''; THE DEFINITION HASN'T CHANGED OVER THE YEARS BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED. ; TIMES ARE CHANGING AGAIN -SO THE COMMUNITY HAS TO COME TOGETHER BY PUTTING PARTY LINES ASIDE AND NO KNOW-IT-ALLS. JUST ALL TOGETHER IN A POSITIVE WAY.
- Please go to The Town of Colonie and look at there swimming Pool. We are the county seat we can have a large pool that most of the residence would be able to get to fix the parking lot bring . add a picnic and snack bar inside the facility have students run the food stand with Healthy choices . charge for out of people to use the pool . Please check out the Town Of Colonie pool .
- You've got a lot to do before you get to this - First clean up main st
- As with any small town there will be multiple opportunities for improvement & advancement. My vote would be to focus on existing economic bright spots which currently exist in the community. Build around those areas and make them even better "bright spots". Who is the largest employer in Herkimer? Where do there employees live? Herkimer County Community College is one place to build on and around.
- From the 1962 Plan: "It should be noted that the steps that should be taken
to prevent blight, such as code enforcement, are of greater importance in
communities which have higher average age structures than in newer areas, and the future prevention of blight in Herkimer may well hinge upon such steps." 2016 we await. - Fix the epidemic: Rotten filthy drug addicts, welfare scamming families, & corrupt slumlords soaking up free money while they allow any dirty rat to call the once nice village home. Don't waste time and money to place a bandaid on Herkimer, get down to the roots.
- Please don't try to use this Master Plan and its survey process as a tool to fight the building of a jail on Rt. 28. That area is not and will not be a retail hub. Also, please don't try and use this as a tool to fight for the survival of a "village" school district against economic, academic, and common sense.
- I live on Perry St right next to the canal and the smell is bad and the bug eat you up when is there going to be something done and how long do we have to wait to get something done We can't even set out in our back yards please do something soon for us that live next to this nasty canal thank you
- As I drive through Herkimer, I see a growing number of houses deteriorating. Empty houses, rentals, etc. This is hurting our community terribly. The village needs to get these empty houses back on the tax payroll. The village needs to invest in these properties by making a plan to assist buyers with tax breaks to purchase, renovate and occupy these properties. This could have a huge ripple effect throughout Herkimer. It may cost a little at the start, but these slum-like houses are costing our community's image. There are several house throughout the village that are beyond repair and need to be torn down. These properties should be offered to an adjoining property who's owner can prove the ability to have them demolished. I can't stress enough how terrible and run down Herkimer is getting. We are seriously considering moving out of the area if things don't change soon and in a big way.
- Herkimer has all the ingredients in place for making it a vibrant place. Diamond Mines/ KOA Campground/ Erie Canal Cruise/ History. As I worked in the Tourist Industry in Anchorage, Alaska I can see how we can drill into these possibility's when businesses pull together. Already see change in Main Street.
- I'm so thankful for more people getting involved , without a vision there is no positive future!
- Build up downtown main street. Herkimer Housing Authority is undertaking major projects to up grade affordable housing for seniors and families, and would be interested in partnering with folks to help to improve housing stock. The village needs a very good grant writer, and go after any funding available through state and federal
- Codes MUST be enforced, particularly in the downtown area. Village and county must work together to make our area look and feel inviting for all. Assessments and taxes need to be thoroughly reviewed by impartial parties.
- advertise on billboards, free entertainment on main st, christian coffee houses,
- The village needs a lot of help. Roads are no good, police don't do their job, a lot of garbage and dog poop. Need to think more about people on bikes.
- Would love to see lots of improvements. Herkimer can be a wonderful place to live again!
- I live in St Johnsville but grew up in Mohawk and owned a home in Herkimer. I work in Herkimer and have family in the Valley . I remember the old Herkimer Main St and hope to see it back and better. Number one issue in my opinion would be to have stricter codes for Main St landlords and Tenants. I wish you luck
- When I first moved into Herkimer county I loved Herkimer and it's Main st. Unfortunately it was already starting it's decline. Over the past 25 years it has been sad to see some of the negative changes.
I do not live in the Village but I live in Herkimer County and I would love to see some of the improvements. - Clear main street of all the people just gathered in.groups infront.of businesses, and all down the side walks. I can't even walk my children down main st because the groups of people just standing around puffing down cigarettes. Broken alcohol bottles all over.
- This is a great start and I really hope you can use the information to make Herkimer (especially main St) a nicer place to spend time. I loved living in little falls because they have walkable streets and lots of parks. I'm outdoorsy. Also bike paths that connect to the canal path would be great.
- Work on getting the police to crack down on the heroin dealers and addicts on Main St. should be the major concern.
- Must eliminate metered parking to encourage shopping especially on main st.
- Mainly main street just isn't safe. Lots of people hanging out, bumming around, and many buildings are condemned or run down. Way to many low income housing options. It looks like the slums.
- free entertainment, farmers market, holiday strolls,
- Any Improvement will need to begin with a clean and orderly environment. Businesses in folks who'll patronize those businesses will not come to a dirty or unsafe area. Rules and regulations regarding codes and enforcement must happen. And then once the area is clean you can Implement consistent and pervasive signage and aesthetic pieces to encourage more businesses and patrons and build from there.
- Stop letting people loiter on Main st. The ones with chairs just sitting there drinking. Hate walking around those people. Enforcement of the no smoking signs over at the library. Make the owners of the buildings on Main Street clean them up. A fresh coat of paint does wonders. Just look at how they had people in Utica do the same. Stop going after the tenants Go After The Building Owners!
- Getting rid of the college kids from Maine St in itself attract people. No one wants to deal with unruly and inconsiderate kids from out of town. They have no respect for locals and that turns people away.
- What happens in Herkimer is reflected in Mohawk, Ilion and Frankfort. Codes enforcement could have stopped the decline in the 'quality of life' in these communities. These villages need to band together and start with a well-trained and funded Codes Department that can serve all 4 communities. First appearances are how people make judgements and the first impression that visitors get of our area are not good. Time to fix them all up. We can be the bedroom nano-community like we were in the 1950s to Univac, GE, and the AirBase.
- Great idea....looking forward to bringing Herkimer back to its original small town charm and beauty. Willing to assist. If you have noticed, graham street and Marion street recently have had homes purchased by young adults who grew up in the valley (ages 26-30). This is great to see. People do want to come back and raise families here. We need to give them a reason to do so. We need to make Main Street more inviting to small business owners. We need to somehow control the loitering that is there now. Landlords of those apartment buildings need to be accountable for what goes on in them.
- I grew up in this village as you did Brion it is a shame that our taxes go who knows were but i see it is not used to benifit the people that are paying them .main street was a lot better went it had some bars and dinners on it untill the cops ran them out of town with there bullshit. People work all day would like to stop a have a cold one without being worried of getting pulled over
- Currently main street is a very unfriendly place. I refuse to even park on that street due to the types of people loitering every where. The owners of those apartment buildings should be more selective of who they rent to. People in their pajamas chain smoking, cursing and making a scene all hours of the day and night is driving away customers to those businesses. And the fact that you have to practicality walk into the street to get around them because they refuse to let you past on the sidewalk is ridiculous. The only way to clean up main street is to get rid of the trash that's camped out there.
- The Main Street frequent visitors and loiterers need to be cleaned up. NO WHERE do you go to a college small town and see this type of unkempt, shady characters whose presence is a deterrent for villagers as well as out of town guests. I have heard the remarks that the tenants have pressed to sit on their fro t porch and that the side walk is their front porch. This is a bunch of crap!! The sidewalks are public and should NOT be obstructed but should be clear at all times. Tenants in an apartment building rent the inside premises and do not have "squatters" rights to the sidewalk or roadways or alleys. As I mentioned, their mere presence is a deterrent for all residents. There is a responsibility with the Village Trustee's, the Mayor, the Police, the Fire Department AND THE ABSENTEE Landlords!! Shame on you all for letting the beautiful village of Herkimer decline. Get your acts together and clean up the village streets. Do what you need to do and stop sending out surveys. If you build it, and Clean it, they will come. Bring back our heritage!
- We need quality of life businesses to attract and keep young adults from traveling to Utica/Syracuse/Albany for those items. A decent clean gym, variety in restaurants, health food stores, farm to table retail type businesses. People 40 and under find these things very valuable. These would add jobs, and have people spend $ here vs getting these things elsewhere.
- I think people are tired of the riff raff they see on Main St. who seem to be living off the system. On one hand, we need to make it a little harder to get certain types of assistance or at least make it more regulated. Also, there should be some incentives for food stamp recipients to shop local, such as easier use at farmers' markets. On the other hand, its hard for people to find work when there are few jobs around here to begin with and even fewer for those with limited education and no transportation. We should be trying to make improvements in all those areas...job growth, continuing education and public transportation.
- Pass a law that all utility companies that rip out sidewalks have to pay to replace them.
- I would suggest that the Master Plan founders seek input from the CLG Commission who has been working diligently for three years to bring about positive change on Main Street.
- We need more security for the youth. A system to identify people scanners that mark age and identify. We need more childcare services. Housing complex with moderate rentals.
- You should tear down all the old buildings on Main Street. Instead of putting the jail on Rt. 28 - build housing for the low income people there and down the road where the old electric plant was. That way they will still be able to live some place not too far away from the County Office Building where they can get their benefits.
- (1 ) Building codes must be given teeth and enforced. Higher value rentals will bring in higher rents and higher income families.
Higher incomes will bring in better school prepared children and higher SAT scores. Its a fact that the better the SAT score the higher the property value.
Higher property value means more taxes.(2) Move the social services - welfare office to Dodgeville. (3) right now -Herkimer is the push card capital. Having someone pick them up is like picking up your kids toys and clothes - there is no responsibility. Give tickets for littering of push carts - give a discount coupon to buy a card like your grandmother used. Collis hardware has them
(4) Absentee landlords should be assessed a covenant fee to cover the cost of cleaning property. If not used then that fee would be credited to a future village tax bill. (5) Pass a law limits the amount of tax-free properties to 50 % of the taxable area. As one comes off then one can be added.
(6) Coordinate the DARE run and the Gem fest with Herkimer Days. (7) Have the village yard sale - After school starts. the college kids will puck up lots of items. - I think the biggest thing that needs to be changed in cracking down on absentee landlords and renters to upkeep their properties and more importantly, make ALL village streets safe to walk down. I have small children and currently do not feel safe walking in many areas of Herkimer. Downtown needs to be cleaned up and owners need to be held accountable!
- As a employee of this Village its time we look to work with the College its mentioned several times in this survey. Work together not against. Look for consolidation and seriously look at duplication of services including your own jobs. The Village is in bad shape and the duplication of government may be a good start. Join forces and bring back this great area. Do we need a town and Village Government.
- I'm upset when people say what a bad place Main st. is when most of the time all they do is drive up or down. Park and walk around. There are nice places to visit and shop. The buildings are beautiful.
- Need to get rid of the "riff /raff" on main street. Enforce a dress code, have officer patrolling both sides of main street. Enforce a curfew and "no loitering" laws. Herkimer use to be a nice, quaint village with shoppes and places to eat, and bars with entertainment. Now it is nothing more than a slum. Clean up the street.
- The village needs continued input from the residents, businesses and schools. We also need to have a positive working relationship with the county. As the county seat, the legislature should want the community to have a better image for the ALL the county. Our voters and taxpayers deserve better than to have the political bickering that is currently happening.
- As of today I am ashamed to admit to anyone I live in HERKIMER. Growing up here I used to be proud of HERKIMER but NO longer. Main Street is a total disaster. There are landfills and dumps that are more attractive. Take a walk down Main Street if you don't believe me! This is a college town that the college does NOT support. Putting HCCC on the hill was a mistake. Had it been incorporated into the main stream of the town things would be different in my opinion. Why is HCCC enrollment down?
- After 2013, this is very scary! I don't blame young people for buying properties outside of our village! Sewers in streets were cleaned yearly when I was a child. Now debris is only 12" below street. Why aren't these cleaned out anymore? Streets are flooding constantly! What happened to the village having an engineer to make decisions regarding our infrastructure?
- I have lived in the valley since 1967. Our village was a beautiful, safe place to raise our children. I read several times about the college students being the problem. How many students live on Main Street? y. How many people loitering on the downtown sidewalks are college students? Codes enforcement is the biggest factor on Main Street. Cleaning the buildings windows would be a start.
- It would be great to start having parolees, jobless individuals in our communities to be required to clean up and build our "clean project" development. Giving people a job such as these can give them a sense of pride (one in themselves, that I feel many lack today). This doesn't have to be limited to parolees, that was just one classification of people that can be utilized!
- Walmart destroyed the village.
- One of the largest obstacles to the success of the Village is the appearance of Main Street-perception becomes reality. The Main Street Corridor is the show piece of any town, village or city, and is what drives people's perception of the rest of the town. The Village is struggling with out of area ownership and "zombie" properties that are falling into disrepair. I commend the Village Administration and the work of the Planning Board with their efforts to rectify these problems. The establishment of a strong Codes Enforcement presence is essential and I appreciate the steps being taken to establish that. Keep up the great work, this Village is and always will be a great place to live and raise a family, but we can make it better!
- To revitalize this dying town, to allow the village to survive past 2 more generations; 1-We must de-emphasize mega-corp stores, while emphasizing "Mom & Pop", boutiques, hole in the wall diners. 2- We must encourage mega corp, brand name hotels. Visitors won't stay in shady establishments !(most of them anyway) 3-"Sell" the village as old, quaint, picturesque. The Alternative is a slow bleeding out, a dull dying, a continuation of the village's 20 year decay.
- When I grew up on in the 1980's there was always people living above the stores in Main St. Why now do they sit all over the sidewalks and smoke and swear. They suddenly have a right they didn't have in 1980. Get a handle on those people and get a handle on this Village
- Stop worrying about the college and worry about the community. Give the youth something to do in the community. You have a county office building and COURT house with no coffee shops or sandwich shops within walking distance. Do something with Main St and make a change. It is getting old to have all these surveys and hearing about changes coming and 0 gets done. Everyone wants ideas and no one changes a thing.
- As a new small business owner it is unfortunate that in just under a year we are considering closing our doors due to not being able to find a larger storefront. There are plenty of spot available on Main St., but they all come with the loitering issues that I won't subject my customers to. I run a Facebook group that is geared towards cleaning up Main St. and to be positive, but it's hard when people feel no one is listening
- Nothing will be done until we are able to clean up Main Street. This all needs to be done in steps. It wouldbe nice if we had a nice big pool for the kids. The price that was quoted would build a pool huge. Where do they get places that price these things? Why nor get our pool places to give a cost I bet it would not cost what was quoted. As for going after the owners we should go after the renters.. I use to rent out my house in Herkimer and got tired of redoing it after they left. If the property is not kept up the people that live there should be served paperwork or be fined, that is what codes are for. I took a renter to court so I could recoup back rent and the judge told them to pay what they could each month..Guess what I never got a dime. The cops ought to fine all the lofers on Main street or arrest them. All the appartments should be rented for a lot more then they will get people that work. Build a low rent housing over where the jail was going to be. We need that first. Then the owners of all the property on main st. have to clean up the property and rent to the workers this area. Get rid of the parking meters the other towns did and people shop there. Put a movie house on main st, A safe place that the young kids can goto for fun. Games a place for food and fun. The old Mungers would fit the bill. Then keep the police on the area so they would be safe.
- Get rid of the apartments on main Street or enforce cleanup of the buildings. Clean up glory days site and begin a strict enforcement of making people keep up their homes with things like paint landscaping etc....
- I really do support what you're trying to do but so much of this is just common sense & shouldn't be a question...seriously, you think people will say they don't want good roads??? Or that we should only take care of some of them????
- I know it is a work in progress and I am glad to see this starting point. Herkimer was a wonderful hub of commerce when I was a kid. We can only move forward now and we need direction, incoming jobs and a restructure of the welfare system. Tax payers are struggling just to pay their taxes because they are so high.
The period of time for providing Survey input has come to a close as of September 30, 2016 for the Village Master Plan 2020. THANK YOU to ALL who provided your VOICE as input to this critical step in the development of the Village Master Plan 2020.