When Jason Molino talks about community engagement, and moving city efforts for neighborhood improvement beyond code enforcement and writing grant proposals, its clear he has at least one supporter on City Council.
Last night, when Molino's agenda item came up on neighborhood improvement, only Ferrando spoke up in terms that gets the gist of what the city manager is trying to push.
"I really believe in the part of the report that says that essentially you can’t force people, you can’t intimidate people, you can’t bang people over the head," Ferrando said. "You might get short-term results, but you won’t get long-term results. You’ve got to change the attitude. It’s got to be a positive kind of reinforcement."
He then talked about his experience as a youth sports coach.
"When you talk to kids and you want to turn failure into success, they’ve got to do it," Ferrando said. "You can’t hit them over the head to be good. They’ve got to want to be good. You’ve got to change that whole culture and attitude."
Ferrando concluded with a remembrance of the South Side he knew as a kid.
"A lot of the South Side was an immigrant population," Ferrando said. "They took pride in their property. Those properties were beautiful. Their gardens were beautiful. Even their backyards were beautiful. They took pride because their properties were special. They didn’t have a whole lot. We’ve got to bring that same kind of pride back to our neighborhoods if we’re going to make a difference."
And that's exactly what Molino has been talking about since he first introduced the concept of community engagement at the Oct. 27 council meeting.
To be sure, Molino isn't talking about just feel-good, community-building measures -- his proposal includes code enforcement and grant applications. But he is certainly looking at Batavia's future with far more depth than just throwing money at problems. And he's quite clear: You and I play a role just as vital as cops, firefighters and code enforcers.
Batavia won't grow and improve without community members taking pride and getting involved, which was the point of Molino sharing with council the Geneva Report.
Molino's report to the council included both grants and code enforcement, but underlying Molino's broader efforts is finding ways to promote community engagement. Last night, he just didn't put it as well as Ferrando.
Molino's eight recommendations:
- Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. The city applies for a $25,000 CDBG grant to study the needs of Batavia's neighborhoods and write a plan similar to Geneva's. This plan would bring in much of the community-engagement aspects of neighborhood improvement that Molino (and Ferrando) have discussed, as well as developing a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan for grants and/or code enforcement.
- Residential Rehabilitation Program. The CDBG program we wrote about previously.
- Housing Rehabilitation Partnership. Partner with an organization like Habitat for Humanity and rehabilitate forclosed homes.
- Trash Can Local Law. Requiring residents to use trash cans instead of plastic bags, which would cut down on trash in the streets and animal problems.
- Exemptions for Multi-Family Conversions. This would provide tax exemptions for home owners who converted three- and four-apartment units back into single-family (or possibly duplex) residences.
- Code Compliance Outreach. Providing information to residents, both home owners and renters, about proper property maintence, and providing renters a hotline to report problems.
- Neighborhood Revitalization Committee. The committee would assist with the revitalization plan if funded, and assist with recommendations and implementation.
- Continue Code Enforcement Efforts. Self explanatory.
In his report, Molino also shot down many of the recommendations of the Neighborhood Improvement Committee for new codes and new enforcement recommendations.
These included:
- Residential rental occupancy permits
- 36-month renewal for occupancy permits
- Rental property tenant registration
- Agent-of-record registration for rental properties.
Molino's report said these proposals were impractical either because of New York State law, expense (such as additional staffing) or inefficient because they didn't improve on current procedures.
The council took no action Monday on Molino's proposals. Council members such as Bob Bialkowski asked for more time to study the reports.
In other council news:
- On a 4-4 vote (with Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian absent) the council failed to approve the sale of property between Ellicott Street and Lehigh Avenue to the railroad. Councilmembers said that the offer of $1,600 for the parcel -- currently not on the tax roles -- was too low. The parcel is landlocked (no street access) and currently seems to serve no useful purpose.
- It turns out that the city's budget for legal services is running low. Lawsuits -- particularly the one with the mall merchants -- is driving up legal fees. The additional expenditures are likely to reach at least $35,000 before the end of the budget year.
- It was Council President Charlie Mallow's last official meeting. We've ask Charlie to write an "outgoing thoughts" post. We'll see if he comes through for us. He said he's already said enough, but has he really?
