In order to move ahead with his plan to build an outdoor amphitheater at the Erie Canal Village, JGK Associates CEO Jerry Stucchi told the Rome Common Council they need to nix any existing deed restrictions that would stop construction and figure out how much the city is willing to pay to clean up the old, dilapidated buildings on the site.
There was no official project presentation to the council — that is tentatively scheduled for the next meeting, on April 24 — and there was no official legislation regarding the project. Instead, JGK Associates, the leading facilitator of the project, used the public comment portion of the meeting to discuss their ideas for the property and push back against some public backlash they have received in regards to preserving the historic nature of the Erie Canal Village.
Christian Mercurio and other members of the community, including Rome Rotary President Cameron Stewart, spoke at length during the public portion of the meeting in favor of using American Rescue Plan Act funding to help pay for the SFM Memorial Skatepark at Bellamy Harbor. There will be more fundraising events in the future, they said. The project has raised more than $500,000 so far, but is still short the more than $1 million needed for Phase 1 of construction. The Mercurio family has asked the council to consider using some of the remaining ARPA funding to close that funding gap.
Like a scene straight out of a horror movie, oversized rats are beginning to overrun neighborhoods in Rome and no one seems to know where they're coming from.
The first order of business for the Common Council is to allocate funding to various organizations throughout the city, such as $322,932 to the Jervis Public Library Association, $32,224 to the Rome Art and Community Center and $12,160 to the Capitol Civic Center. These funds were all part of the 2024 budget.