Richard Waterman, 86
Camillus mayor still bikes 12 miles most days of the week. He talks about one project he wants to see complete: the extension of the Erie Canal Trail in the village
By Mary Beth Roach
He is in his seventh year as mayor of the village of Camillus. Before that, he served for five years as a village trustee. He talks about a project that he has been hoping to bring to fruition for about 10 years — the extension of the Erie Canal Trail in Camillus through the village and toward Martisco.
Q: Your latest accomplishment is a grant for the extension of a bike trail, is that correct?
A: The grant is for the implementation of it, not the construction of it. Once the design is completed, we have to deal with nine different entities and get everybody in the same church, in the same pew, singing from the same hymnal.
Q: How many miles is that?
A: About four miles.
Q: I’ve read that you’ve been working on this for 10 years.
A: I’ve thought about it 10 years ago when Dr. Rick Smardon [the then-president of the Central New York Land Trust, owner of the land] and I walked it and it was one of those ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a trail?’
Q: Ten years is a long time.
A: It went idle for a long time. It’s not like we’ve been talking about it every other week. It’s only because of the Onondaga County Greenways and Blueways program that this happened, where we could get the funding to at least start. We did get $180,000 worth of funding, awarded the contract to Barton & Loguidice, who are doing the drawing of it, looking at all those situations what we’re facing along the way. Once we get done with all that, then they’ll have to go out for a funding for it and they anticipate it will probably be upwards of a couple of million by the time we’re done.
Q: Why has it been so important to you to do this? What do you hope the trail, once completed, will do for the village?
A: It’s important for the community — biking and walking trails. It gives people in the village more secure walking and biking area. It’s good for our businesses. That’s the objective. Thousands of people that bike now from Buffalo to Albany [on the canal].
Q: Do you have a timeline?
A: The plan should be this year. We’ve had one meeting with all the entities and have another meeting and then, if everybody agrees with everything, we go out for funding. Is it going to happen in my lifetime? I don’t know. Hopefully it is. I’ve made that statement before — I hope I live long enough to see it. But it’s started. Wheels are in motion.
Q: Are you a walker or bike enthusiast?
A: I’m a biker. I do 12 miles five out of seven days. And I do it in the winter too. I don’t do the trail; I do roads when they’re dry and not icy.
Q: And at an age when most people are retired, you’re mayor of a village and biking 12 miles at least five times a week. What keeps you motivated?
A: I enjoy exercising as a deterrent to the aging process. My dad lived to 93 and my mom to 92. So, I hope to beat those numbers — the good Lord willing.