Bernie Wagenblast / Transportation Communications Newsletter 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.
