1971-1980 The Eighteenth Decade Overview The major development this decade continued to be the Urban Renewal program. Having essentially completed the Jefferson Street Plaza area south of Main Street, attention was next directed to the area north of Main Street. Then, that was followed by the area south of Ellicott Street and West Main Street, stretching from about Evans Street west nearly to Oak Street. Other developments of considerable significance included more housing for low income and elderly residents, the County Nursing Home moving to Batavia, a new fire station, a year-round skating rink, and a new building for BOCES. Batavia’s population continued to fall. By 1980, it was down to 16,703 (“Genesee County Information,” Richmond Memorial Library, online, accessed 3 January 2014), a decrease of 635 residents since 1970. 1: Infrastructure By the 1970s, the City’s water filtration plant, located on Lehigh Avenue, was about 50 years old and in the need of major work. Thus, at a cost of $1.5 million, plans were made for it to be completely rebuilt with the installation of modern automatic equipment and provisions for future expansion (The Daily News, 24 August 1970). The renovated facility was opened to public inspection on May 19, 1971 (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 8). In 1974, City Council voted to extend North Street from Vine Street to Naramore Drive (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 30 April 1974). In this decade, sidewalks once more became a focus of discussion at City Council meetings. As new streets were built, plans for sidewalks were sometimes scrapped. This was the case on Naramore Drive, Bogue Avenue, and Dewey Avenue when residents on those streets objected to having sidewalks. (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 9 August 1976 and 14 September 1976) 1 1971-1980 Repeatedly over the course of this decade, the state of Batavia’s bridges was also a focus of local officials along with that of their State and County counterparts. In October of 1972, City Council noted that the South Jackson Street overpass was badly deteriorated, but not yet seriously enough to close. In 1974, City officials decided to close the Walnut Street bridge to vehicular traffic although foot traffic was still permitted (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 13). The same year, the State announced that it would build a new River Street bridge (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 3 August 1974) and by a year later, in 1975, construction work was well underway (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 17 September 1975). The Chestnut-Law Street bridge, which had been built in 1900, was also replaced by the State in 1975 (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 13). The South Lyon Street bridge had been erected in 1903, after reportedly seeing earlier service as a Walnut Street bridge and, before that, perhaps service as a railroad bridge. When, in 1975, it was judged in danger of collapsing, workmen reinforced it. In 1980, further work was done that involved replacing the plank deck with steel mesh. (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 13) As the South Jackson Street bridge continued to deteriorate, debate occurred regarding whether to repair the structure or demolish the bridge and create an alternative route. In June of 1976, City Council decided to build a by-pass (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 16 June 1976). The by-pass routed drivers along Ellicott Street, over Lehigh Avenue, and to Creek Road. Less than four years later, the South Jackson Street bridge was closed (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 29 January 1980). By the late 1970s, the City was earnestly pursuing a recycling program. Residents were directed to separate out recyclables from ordinary trash for curb pickup. According to The Daily News of October 27, 1979, recycling got off to a good start. Officials predicted that recycling would bring in $52,000 annually, a sum that would be used to defray landfill and labor costs. At the time, operation of a landfill on Kelsey Road was expected to cost about $50,000 a year. The cost was to be shared by the Town and City in a 22-1/2% to 77-1/2% ratio. (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 27 October 1979) 2: Transportation Early in 1971, it was proposed that City bus service be completely reorganized with a dial-a- bus service to replace fixed routes (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 23). In August, according to a report in The Daily News, a dial-a-bus service was planned to start in late September or early October. The service was to 2 1971-1980 be under the auspices of the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transit Authority which had recently acquired the bus company. Under this new arrangement, the company planned to operate three radio-equipped mini-buses that would function in a manner akin to a taxi service. Called the “B-Line,” it was expected to serve as a model across the Nation. It was touted as an answer to urban transit problems. (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 13 August 1971) Service began in mid-September (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 15 September 1971). Operations were subsidized by public funds (Ruth M. McEvoy, The History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 23). Beginning in 1977, motorists in Batavia and throughout the State were allowed to make right-hand turns on red lights after stopping (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 15 December 1976). 3: Housing The East Main Street site where the Richmond mansion had stood was offered for sale in 1972 (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 22 March 1972). A little over two years later, The Daily News reported that the property had been purchased by St. Joseph’s Church (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 6 June 1974). The property became a parking lot owned by the Church, but shared with the Richmond Memorial Library. As this book is being written, all that remains of the mansion is a wrought iron fence along the sidewalk. An historic marker was placed at the edge of the parking lot in 2013 to identify the mansion’s former location. Batavia’s first apartment housing for the elderly, 400 Towers, located on the south-east corner of East Main and Swan streets, was completed in 1971. It contained 150 apartments. Funding for the structure was provided by the Federal Housing Authority. (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] pp. 130-131) In September of 1980, City Council gave permission for the construction of a second high-rise for the elderly on the south-west corner of Washington and Jefferson avenues. In November, the Gautieri Construction Company began pouring the foundation and by the end of December the framework was in place for the 131-unit high-rise. (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 131) During this decade, large-scale apartment house complexes continued to appear. In 1972, the Lawn Spruce Development Corporation built five buildings on the west side of North Spruce Street. Each building had 25 apartments. The development went by the name, “Woodstock Gardens.” (Ruth M. McEvoy, The History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 129) 3 1971-1980 Also in 1972, Stanndco Developers, Inc. of Rochester began erecting apartment buildings on the north side of Bank Street opposite Ross Street. The company went into bankruptcy before work was completed and the buildings stood unfinished for over a year. In 1974, first the Sibley Corporation and then the Carmas Construction Company, took over the task of finishing the project. By 1975, the individual units were no longer planned to be apartments, but rather to become condominiums. When that didn’t work out, in 1976 the development reverted to being an apartment house complex and remains so at the time this book is being written. (Ruth M. McEvoy, history of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 130) A smaller apartment complex was erected on Mix Place in 1972. Construction was started in September of that year. It consisted of two 4-unit buildings. (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 18 September 1972) Low-income housing continued to be built, as well. For example, in the early 1970s, such housing was built on the north side of Pearl Street. However, the largest development by far was that located south of Pearl Street and east of River Street. Originally referred to as “The Towne Houses,” it later became known as “Birchwood Village.” While construction started in 1970 (see the previous chapter), the 200 unit complex was not opened to tenants until March of 1973. (Ruth M. McEvoy, History of the City of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.: Hodgins Printing Co., 1993] p. 130) Under terms earlier established by City Council, the Council of Churches as the developer agreed to make either an annual payment of $30,000 in lieu of taxes or an amount equal to 10% of the rent collected from residents. They also agreed to assume responsibility for maintenance of the streets. (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 30 June 1970) 4: Energy sources In 1973, war in the Middle East and political retaliation against U.S.