Archive: Around Town

After driving by the East Shore Skate Park numerous times the Osbornes finally decided to see what it was all about.  The former grocery store looked shabby and unwelcoming, in stark contrast to the beautifully kept historical Rogues Harbor Inn it shares a parking lot with.

"I live in Lansing, and my wife and I have driven by this building numerous times," Derek Osborne says.  "About four months about we decided to stop in to see what it's about, and we thought it was a nice place for kids to come to.  But later we said, 'I don't think I would drop my daughter off there because it looks pretty bad.  It looks like a rough place.'  We thought that was sad.  We thought this place could look a lot better and maybe more kids would come."

Osborne set out to do something about it.  Four months ago he had started the new eTompkins Rotary Club chapter, and this seemed like a good local project to beautify a major corner in the town.  Saturday the club was out in full force painting the building.  Building owner Tracy Pinney  supplied the paint and supplies, including 17 gallons of beige for the outside walls, and a couple of gallons of burgundy for the trim.  She also provided food for the volunteers.


"On the outside it didn't look like a welcoming facility," says Ben Jones, who owns the business.  "I feel on the inside it is very welcoming and nice.  There are so many worse things that kids could be doing.  This is very social, very physical, very creative.  It's a wonderful outlet for youth.  The new paint will brighten the corner up quite a bit."

The skate park has been in the building for four years.  The former grocery store now sports a collection of ramps for skate boards, bicycles, and scooters.  It's open Wednesday through Sunday, after school on school days.  On the weekends people come from as far as Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, and Northern Pennsylvania.  Competitions in the Spring and Fall attract people from all over, including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Minnesota.  Jones also runs a six-week summer camp there.


In the Spring Osborne, the Tompkins County Undersherrif,  was sponsored by Rotary to be part of a four week Group Study Exchange in Taiwan.  He learned about Chinese law enforcement there, among other things.  Part of the sponsorship is that recipients must present to local Rotary clubs, and he and his wife both wanted to join.  But the weekly meeting made it impossible for Osbourne and his wife.  When he heard about the 'New Generations' program it seemed like a perfect fit.  He contacted people to be on the board and started the chapter in June.  Since then it has attracted 15 members.  They hope to attract another ten to qualify to be chartered by Rotary International.  All 25 will be considered 'charter members'.

"It's a little different from the others," says founding member Derek Osborne.  "It's modeled after what Rotary calles 'New Generations'.  It's meant to attract more younger, professional people.  A lot of the other Rotary clubs have a lot of retired members.  We're trying to attract a younger audience, people who may not have the time to attend weekly meetings."

The club meets only once a month, and it tries to make the meetings be service projects like the painting project Saturday.  Routine club business is handled through email and a Facebook page.  Osbourne says that focuses members' actual time together on service projects.


The club painted the two sides of the building that people can see, the sides facing the parking lot.  The other sides are overgrown and not facing public areas.  The project took two coats of paint.  Buck Farms saw a message on the club's Facebook page about the project and donated the use of a tractor.  D Squared Contractors donated a lift that attached to the tractor and worked as a mobile scaffold.

"Although the 'New Generations' model is geared toward younger professional people, we're open to anybody," Osbourne stresses.  "We don't exclude anybody.  And kids come to the meetings.  We made a pact at the beginning that we're not going to do anything that our kids could not come to.  We want kids to learn about service to the community, and what better way to do it?"

In addition the club is founding a group for high schoolers to be involved in service projects.  The club will keep a record of time spent on projects, and write a college recommendation when the time comes.  They are targeting all Tompkins County high school students for the initiative.

Osbourne says all the local Rotary clubs work together on projects.  The eTompkins club is scheduled to work with the Groton club on a project to benefit children in Uganda.

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