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WIDEWATERS COMMONS
"New Supermarket in Kinderhook Will Bring More Than Just Groceries…," claims Syracuse land developer Widewaters "And You Probably Won’t Like What More It Brings!" say Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth The Widewaters Group, a Syracuse land development corporation, wants to build a large strip mall in Kinderhook at the busy intersection of Routes 9, 9H and State Farm Road, across from the Ichabod Crane primary, middle and high schools. Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth (KNGG), a community-based group, is working to protect Kinderhook from ill-advised development schemes. KNGG favors healthy, productive growth but opposes the Widewaters development for several reasons, one of which is our belief that Widewaters is not being candid about the negative impact this project would have on the quality of life in Kinderhook. Widewaters recently mailed a flyer to people in Kinderhook touting the alleged benefits of this dubious venture. However, Widewaters’ flyer paints an inaccurate and unrealistic picture. KNGG would like to show you what this massive mall will really bring: Here are their claims and facts: WIDEWATERS CLAIMS… "Widewaters will make substantial improvements to the roadway system that will ease congestion"THE FACTS: Widewaters wants to: Remove existing traffic lights and replace them with painted pedestrian crosswalks on the roadways Construct a traffic circle that will be one lane wide within the limited existing rights of way Reduce the speed limit from 55mph to 20mph for traffic to be able to navigate the traffic circle Widewaters "improvements" will make movement more difficult for school busses, pedestrians, students, bicyclists, commuters, tourists and snowplows. The mall will generate considerably more traffic, including more18-wheeler trailer trucks. Left turns from Maple Lane, Rapp Road and the Ichabod Crane campus will become more difficult and hazardous because there will be no breaks in traffic flow. Traffic circles are not an "improvement," they are dangerous and confusing. How are shoppers, students and other pedestrians expected to cross at this already busy interchange when there is nothing to stop the traffic? If there is an accident within the circle, how will emergency vehicles navigate around the bottleneck? This "improvement" by Widewaters will create more safety hazards than we already have.
THE FACTS: The Widewaters’ drawing shows less than half of the mall that is planned. In addition, the building in the drawing has not been approved by the Town Planning Board. Widewaters does not explain what is meant by "permanent." Will they guarantee these 225 jobs will exist in 10 years? Are all 225 jobs full time and will full time work be a 40 hour work week? Or will they be minimum wage jobs with no benefits? How many jobs will be entry level and provide chance for advancement? How many management and middle management jobs will actually be available? Is Hannaford going to bring in their own management team instead of hiring local people? Widewaters does not say how many jobs will be lost when currently established stores and businesses are forced out of business by the new mall. Widewaters does not say if their construction crews will consist of local workers. And who will pay when new police officers are needed to handle traffic and other problems at the mall? You and me!
$90,000 is approximately the annual salary and benefits for only one or one and a half police men or women. These extremely low tax numbers could be even lower if Widewaters successfully appeals their assessment and gets a tax break. LET’S NOT BE FOOLED BY FALSE AND MISLEADING CLAIMS! LET’S PROTECT KINDERHOOK FROM DEVELOPMENT THAT DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD! Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth, Inc. P. O. Box 424, Kinderhook, NY 12106. 518 758-2646 or KNGG@berk.com
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