Archive: News

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D/WFP-125AD, Tompkins/Cortland) announced that her nomination to the New York State Board of Regents, former Ithaca teacher Susan W. Mittler, was elected as the new Regent from the Sixth Judicial District. The Board of Regents is responsible for overseeing all educational activites within the State of New York.

"It has been a great honor for me to be able to nominate this wonderful teacher and advocate for all our children and their teachers," said Lifton. "It is gratifying to see her elected as the new Regent for the Sixth Judicial District, where I know she will do a superb job making sound policy for all the schoolchildren in our state."

Arrowhead Ventures' Eric Goetzmann was before the Village of Lansing Board of trustees Monday to request the board's approval of setbacks for the Lansing Meadows senior housing project on Oakcrest Road.  But four Planning Board members were present to voice their opposition of a proposed change to the PDA (Planned Development Area) that would allow about 20% of the property to house a coffee shop or small diner.  The project has been held up for six years while Goetzmann negotiated the relocation of wetlands with the Army Corps of Engineers, but he said Monday that he finally hopes to start construction this summer.

"The fact that you don't see a shovel in the ground is merely because we tried to make this thing bigger and better than it was," he said.  "I said I would do this. I started it and I am going to try to finish it.  The commercial piece I asked for is something --- this was commercial property before."

School was out, the roads were closed, and people generally enjoyed a day or two off last week when about 18 inches of snow piled up in Lansing.  But the Lansing Highway Department crew  had the opposite experience -- it was their busy time, clearing the roads and making sure that emergency vehicles could get where they needed to go.  Highway Superintendent Charlie 'Cricket' Purcell told the Lansing Town Board Wednesday that last week's storm cost the Town about $61,000, and reported that keeping the town's roads clear went smoothly as his crew worked around the clock to plow Lansing's roads.

"Our little snow storm that we had last week was nothing really extraordinary," Purcell said.  "It cost around $61,000.  About 25% or that was labor, 55% is the cost to run and maintain our equipment, and around 20% was our materials, the salt and grit we use.  We had between 16 and 18 inches of snow.  By today's standards that's a rough event, because we haven't really had much like that in a long time, but we certainly handled it in good fashion."

The New York State Senate this week passed legislation sponsored by Senator Pam Helming (R,C,I – 54th District) as part of a comprehensive package of bills that would strengthen and preserve agriculture as the state's leading industry. This bill is the first piece of legislation sponsored by Senator Helming to pass the Senate.

Senate bill 4535 encourages farmers - particularly those located in areas of the state with greater development pressure - to participate in farmland preservation efforts and remain stewards of their land for future generations by changing the maximum acreage for agricultural assessment of farm woodlands from 50 acres to 100 acres.

Lansing United Methodist Church, in cooperation with our Muslim neighbors at Moosalla Noor, will host an Interfaith Community Dish-to-Pass on Thursday, March 30, from 5:30-7:30pm at 32 Brickyard Road in Lansing. This event is free and open to the public.

Everyone is welcome! Please bring a labeled dish-to-pass and an open heart to meet new friends. (If time or budget make the “dish” a hardship, please be our guest.) Join us for an evening of good food, fellowship and conversation.
Neighbors getting to know Neighbors.  It is our hope that this will become a monthly event and welcome your input and ideas. Thursday, April 27th from 5:30-7:30pm will be dinner number two. - Save the date!

Want to get involved? Questions? Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Corning, NY - Congressman Tom Reed supported changes at the federal level that would lessen the property tax burden across upstate New York.

"For too long Albany has pushed its responsibility to fund Medicaid onto local county governments. This shift is responsible for the unreasonably high property taxes in our state. It is time to fix this problem so that younger people stop fleeing our state and the elderly are not unfairly burdened with these taxes," Reed stated.

In a preliminary look at the Village of Lansing budget for the next fiscal year, Trustees overrode the tax cap in preparation for an estimated rise in its tax rate by 20 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value.  Mayor Donald Hartill told Village Trustees that major capital projects have spent down reserves to what will be unsustainable levels if an upward adjustment in property taxes is not implemented.

"We're spending down our capital reserve funds at a rate that is not sustainable over the long haul," Hartill said.  "As a result I am proposing to increase the tax rate from $1.10 to $1.30 to partially offset that.  In fairness, we've had several big projects in the last couple of years -- a new garage, the Village Hall, redoing Triphammer Road... this past year we made a fair amount of progress on Northwood Road... Bush Lane... several big projects."

Senator Pam Helming (R,C,I-54th District) joined her Senate Republican colleagues in unveiling a key part of their 2017-18 State Budget proposal to ensure all New Yorkers have access to clean, safe drinking water by addressing extensive water quality issues and infrastructure needs. The plan provides a record commitment of nearly $8 billion - highlighted by a new $5 billion Clean Water Bond Act and the creation of a new Drinking Water Quality Institute – to drastically improve drinking water safety and water infrastructure so that public health is protected.

"Clean water is our most valuable resource -- and no service is more important than providing access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water to all New Yorkers," said Senator Helming. "This record funding commitment would help protect our most important commodity and make urgently needed upgrades to the system that delivers it; ensuring a healthier, cleaner and more enjoyable New York for generations to come."