You may agree or you may disagree with Mark Nicotra’s crusade to save I-81 as a viaduct rather than endorse a rerouting, a boulevard option or — yikes! — an underground tunnel.
Agree or disagree, you’ve got to give the Salina Town Supervisor credit – he’s doing what a good leader should do, he’s looking to the future and pointing the way.
Save81, a group of which Nicotra is an outspoken member, had identified I-81 as this region’s vital transportation backbone. Nicotra believes that altering it would cripple a regional economy already struggling in the wake of a national financial crisis, endanger public safety, undermine the region’s ease of accessibility, overwhelm the infrastructure of neighboring communities and hurt local employment.
The five-term supervisor urges town residents to get involved. “We need to get it right,” Nicotra said, “because the effects of this project will be felt for decades.”
Consensus member
Nicotra could give lessons in leadership. He’s an active member of Consensus, a 19-member commission on local government modernization that began examining possible municipal collaborations in 2013. Sharing services has already begun on some levels and could help taxpayers get a better bang for their bucks.
While Consensus remains focused on villages, towns, fire districts, the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County, you may argue — and you’d be right — that if they really wanted to lower taxes, they’d take aim at the area’s highest-taxing entities, the school districts.
Here again, Nicotra reminds us of the bigger picture. He admits that the county’s 26 school districts routinely support their multi-million-dollar annual budgets by raising property taxes, but, he said, Consensus had to start somewhere. The profligate county school districts — which soak up and spend more than $1.5 billion dollars in taxes — need to be looked at, he said, somewhere down the road.
Able administrator
As supervisor. Nicotra has concentrated on stabilizing the town tax rate, making infrastructure improvements to Mattydale’s water and sewer lines, finalizing the landfill closure, and establishing the Salina Pre-Treatment Groundwater Facility which will help clean up Onondaga Lake.
Meanwhile, he continues the less flashy but more foundational work of annually preparing a preliminary town budget, special district budget and capital budget and administering the fiscal operations of the town. He keeps the town board informed about town affairs, financial conditions and future needs. As head of the administrative branch of town government, Nicotra makes certain that the various town departments are delivering the necessary services to the public.
Still a relatively young man despite his many year of public service, Nicotra is particularly good with technology and has made sure that the town has developed a significant of social media presence.
Nicotra represented the Fourth Ward (Lyncourt and Galeville) on the town board for three terms from 2002-07 and has served as town supervisor since 2008. Good chance he’ll seek his sixth term this coming November.
Makeup Artistry
The location recently vacated by the Black Sea Tattoo shop at 105 First St., will soon reopen as Syracuse Makeup Artistry beauty and bridal studio. Syracuse University alumna Riki Lebied operates the upscale beauty biz. Riki specializes in flawless airbrush application, custom lash application, microblading and waxing as well as natural airbrush tanning. Call Riki at 256-4400
Dance the Hucklebuck
When Galeville guitarist Ron Spencer brings his band, Jumpstart, to perform at Liverpool Public Library at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, he’ll bring us back to the days of the Hucklebuck and the Carolina Shag, two popular dances of the late-1940s jump blues era.
Sunday’s free concert begins the library’s second annual Origins of Jazz Series presented in collaboration with Liverpool Is The Place; lpl.org; 457-0310.
