(rshsdepot) Rome, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's edition of the Observer-Dispatch.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Rome seeks to revive interest in rail  station 

_Patrick Corbett_ (mailto:pcorbett_@_utica.gannett.com)  
Observer-Dispatch
ROME — A $4 million monument to optimism sits  largely idle on Martin Street 
in South Rome. 

The only visitors are the occasional Amtrak  passengers, fewer than 20 a day 
on average in 2005. 

The monument, as Mayor James Brown refers to it, is the train station that  
only two years ago was being promoted as a transportation hub and a boost to  
local tourism. It was extensively refurbished, thanks mostly to federal grants. 
 

Now no one wants it. The city asked for proposals  to use the station but 
none came, Planning Director John Sorbello said.  

The city will not advertise again right away, he  said, but will consider any 
plans offered for the station. 

"We're looking for the best tenant," he  said. 

Joe Tamburino sees the station every day from his  auto body shop across the 
street. 

"People come in here and tell me they think it's  a farce," he said. "'What a 
waste of money,' they say." 

It hurts him to hear that. 

"My father (Gabriel) helped put that roof on the  station in 1912," fresh off 
the boat from Italy, he said. 

"I left from this station when I went into the  service, on Dec. 1, 1943," 
Tamburino said. 

Councilor Lisa Bellacosa, R-2, who represents the  area, is not ready to give 
up on the station. 

"I'm very disappointed it's not a transportation  center," she said, "but I 
still think there's a hope for that, maybe with taxis,  limos or shuttle buses. 

"I'd love to see private business in there and a  sheriff's substation," she 
said. 

Rome Department of Public Works Commissioner  Frank Tallarino Jr. said the 
station has about 1,200 square-feet of office space  that was designed for the 
city-owned VIP bus system. It was vacated when Centro  took over local transit 
operations last year. 

Rome Area Chamber of Commerce President William  Guglielmo said the Martin 
Street station is the first thing rail passengers see  when they arrive in the 
city. 

"I thought once it was remodeled, there would be  a city presence there (to 
welcome people)," he said. "When they get on or off  the train, they need to 
see someone there." 

Ten years ago, Amtrak was planning to close the  Rome station to save money 
because most of the rail traffic in the county went  through Utica's Union 
Station, only 15 minutes down Route 49. City officials  talked Amtrak into giving 
them the station, and they turned to Rep. Sherwood  Boehlert, R-New Hartford, 
for money to fix up the aged depot. 

Union Station has a similar story. The building,  listed on the national and 
state Registers of Historic Places, was a mess when  Oneida County acquired it 
in 1990, and since, millions of dollars in public  money have been used to 
renovate and restore the facility. 

The county also relocated several of its offices,  including the Department 
of Motor Vehicles, to increase public traffic in the  building. 

Trains still stop at Rome's station, but taxis  don't have any good reason to 
hang around the station, Brown said. Centro put  Rome's bus terminal back 
downtown, where most of the riders are. 

Ralph Froio, past president of the Rome Rotary,  said the club contributed 
$25,000 to the renovation project. While the station  has not developed as was 
originally envisioned, he said, "People using it ...  say it is better, cleaner 
and safer." 

And Tamburino said while he's discouraged,  there's still a chance for the 
station. Keeping the station open would be a kind  of a legacy for him. 

"The offices in there are gorgeous and there's  plenty of parking. Some 
lawyers or doctors should take it over," he said. 

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1351
********************************

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org