New York is pouring millions of dollars into shoreline communities along Lake Ontario to improve their resiliency against another potential year of flooding, but work is underway in Oswego to do much more than just protect what the city has now.
The city is taking advantage of $6 million in new state funding to not only reinforce one of its piers but also to convert it to a pedestrian-friendly boardwalk. And the city is using another $6 million to elevate portions of its marina as well as add a restaurant and landscaping there.
Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow said this is an important opportunity for the city.
"Oswego taxpayers know how fortunate we are to have the waterfront in our backyard, not every community has that," Barlow said. It’s such an asset, but it’s only an important asset if you take full advantage and capitalize on it," Barlow said.
And there's more on the way including the construction of a new welcome center and renovated bathhouse at Wright's Landing marina. To oversee all of the changes, Barlow has established a waterfront commission led by former Oswego Mayor John T. Sullivan, Jr. Sullivan said this is an economic development and quality of life issue for the city's residents, who will have the opportunity to provide feedback and ideas to the commission.
"We are going to identify a list of priorities, ideas that we think will work, where we can get the biggest bang for our buck so to speak, and what is going to have the most overall positive impact on the local community as well as our ability to draw people from neighborhood cities like Syracuse," Sullivan said. "We want everyone to have a stake in the outcome and an opportunity to participate in the process of creating that outcome."
The commission will hold its first meeting in March.
