Archive: News

Beginning January 1st, 2015, it became illegal to throw any electronic waste, or e-waste, into the garbage or place at the curb for trash collection in New York State.  This disposal prohibition applies to all residents and includes computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, speakers, cell phones, televisions, and other small electronic equipment such as portable digital music players and DVD players.

Under the Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act of 2010, electronic equipment manufacturers who sell in New York State are required to accept for recycling or reuse their brand of equipment, as well as one piece of the same type of electronic waste of any manufacturer's brand.

The New York State Senate will hold a series of public hearings convened by four Senate committees starting in early January to examine police safety and public protection in New York City and throughout the state.  The hearings will review serious safety concerns raised by the shooting deaths of two NYPD Officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, in addition to other recent attacks and hostility directed at law enforcement.

State Senator Mike Nozzolio said, "As Chairman of the New York State Senate Codes Committee, and former Chairman of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues to strengthen New York's criminal justice laws. We will not tolerate the senseless acts of violence against our citizens, nor the profoundly violent acts of cowardice targeted against our police officers and first responders as they put their lives on the line every day to protect us. Ensuring the safety of our police officers and first responders has never been more important. Whether in New York City, in Rochester, or along the shores of Lake Ontario in Webster, these cold-blooded assassinations against our heroic first responders are attacks against all of us, and must not be tolerated or forgotten. As we begin this review to strengthen New York's criminal justice laws to protect our citizens and police officers, we also must place more focused attention on preventing criminal behavior by the mentally ill in our state. Additionally, we need to do all possible to protect the public from violent felons who show no remorse for their crimes and exhibit a dangerous propensity for violence."

Village of Lansing Trustees authorized a special 'nuisance season' Monday that will extend its deer population management program through February and March.  Village Attorney David Dubow said that the current Village hunting law empowers the Trustees to approve official DEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) program regulations even if they exceed Village's local hunting law provisions.  Dubow called the DEC Nuisance Program a kind of a 'higher level' of the Village's program, saying that the Trustees could make discretionary decisions as to which parts of DEC regulations are allowed.

"Those provisions would supercede the more restrictive provisions," he said.  "The one big example was that hunting had to be done in certain times of the day, and also during certain periods in which the activity could take place.  Now the orientation is to do it at night in the dark and in areas where it originally wouldn't have been done, and to be done when the primary deer season is in place.  So it's a separate process."

2014 wasn't about indigestion, but it was about gas!  Lansing wants it, Dryden doesn't.  Part of the problem is the philosophical arguments about fossil fuels versus renewable energy.  Just about everyone agrees that renewable energy is the only solution for the future, but local people argued fervently about whether or not the future is now or 20 years from now.

Lansing wants gas for two major projects.  The biggest issue was the fate of the Cayuga Power Plant.  Should it remain open?  Is repowering with gas the best option?  And most importantly, how will the State rule?  Will it allow the plant to repower, or close its doors forever?  The other was a pipeline to provide residential and business natural gas, largely to new and existing developments on Warren Road.

The problem is that if either of these projects go forward, each will require a pipeline from Freeville through Dryden to reach their Lansing destinations.  And many Dryden residents have said they don't want new gas pipes going across their properties or through their township.

• Power Plant Repowering Decision Deadline ExtendedPower Plant Repowering Decision Deadline Extended
• NYSEG Proposes Delivery Pipeline From Dryden to Lansing

And then there's the biggest natural gas issue: hydrofracking.  After Dryden spent the big bucks to win a landmark decision that allows it to exercise home rule in banning fracking within its borders, other municipalities like Lansing have decided to join the bandwagon.  Lansing was still in the exploratory stage when Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration surprised everyone in December, saying that there would be a state-wide ban.

• Will Lansing Ban Fracking Now That It Can?Will Lansing Ban Fracking Now That It Can?
• Lansing Considers Hydrofracking BanLansing Considers Hydrofracking Ban
• Will Lansing Pursue a Fracking Ban With a State Ban In Place?Will Lansing Pursue a Fracking Ban With a State Ban In Place?
• New York State Bans FrackingNew York State Bans Fracking

Possibly the most ambitious potential project for Lansing is the Town Center.  In June Lansing RFP (Request For Responses) Committee Chairman Daniel Adinolfi told the Lansing Town Board Wednesday that it should move forward with a plan to develop a town center on 156 acres of land across Route 34B from the town ballfields that could bring 260 new residential units and 23,000 square feet of retail shops to the property.  The committee based its recommendations on much data including the results of a municipal telephone survey the Twon had conducted.

• Committee Recommends Lansing Proceed With Town Center

But the project seems to be almost terminally stalled.  At the end of 2014 the Town agreed to let NRP Group out of its purchase agreement, and there has been a stunning silence from the other two developers who had pitched ideas to the committee.

In related news there was a flap over whether the Town of Lansing should hire a full time planner.  The Democratic majority 2013 Town Board voted to include the position in the 2014 budget, but the Republican majority 2014 board would not approve the hiring of a full time planner, even after a search yielded a highly qualified candidate.  Months went by before the Town hired Michael Long in a part-time Planning Consultant position.  The Town was lucky to get someone with Long's impressive resumé who was willing to take the position on a part time basis.

• Michael H. Long Joins lansing Planning DepartmentMichael H. Long Joins lansing Planning Department

School taxes continue to rise, with the threat of a major bump up in the next few years, especially if the power plant is closed.  But after a half dozen years of cuts, school officials went in a new direction last year.  Instead of cutting more teachers and wiping out programs they went on the offensive, explaining why higher taxes have come to this point, and going to Albany to lobby for money owed to school districts and to reduce unpaid mandates.

Meanwhile a couple of capital projects were approved for the school district, including a long-needed septic system replacement for all three schools.

And in exciting news a solar project that could potentially provide 95% of the school district's power at significant savings has been moving forward.  The projct still is not certain, but it has passed the first couple of hurdles, and with luck it could save the district $1.4 million.

• School Superintendent Explains Septic Cost to townSchool Superintendent Explains Septic Cost to town
• SMART School Project Passesd
• Solar Energy Could Save Lansing Schools $14MSolar Energy Could Save Lansing Schools $14M

With the addition to Central Station and the building of a new fire station in the Village complete, the Lansing Fire District has been working on renovations to the North lansing Fire Station.  As always their focus is on training.  The Commissioners are in the process of purchasing a training tower to be located in the field behind Central Station.  Included in this year's training was a unit on handling possible ebola calls, along with the purchase of special suits for ebola responses that are now part of the standard equipment on emergency fire and EMS vehicles.

• Lansing Fire Department Prepares For Ebola CallsLansing Fire Department Prepares For Ebola Calls
• Fire Department Considers Expanding Training FacilityFire Department Considers Expanding Training Facility

The Village of Lansing opened a new $1.3 million municipal office building in 2014, replacing the inadequate building it had been using as its municipal hub.  Deer program expansion.

• New Village Office Officially OpenedNew Village Office Officially Opened

The Village also continues to struggle with a deer population that has wreaked devastation on forested properties as well as residential gardens.  Last month Village trustees considered an additional two-month 'nuisance season' which will take place in February and March if approved.

• Deer Still Winning Against Village Population Control ProgramDeer Still Winning Against Village Population Control Program
• Village Moves to Extend Deer HuntVillage Moves to Extend Deer Hunt

In the Town, local laws stirred passions in 2014, including a new Sign Law and  proposed changes to the Land Use law.  The sign law controversy began when a small sign shop on Asbury Road erected a small LED sign that neighbors objected to.  That led to the discovery that Lansing officials had inadvertently repealed when Lansing zoning was updated in 2005.  A moratorium on new signs failed and the Town Board flailed, trying to put a new law in place before too many disagreeable new signs popped up.  it took a year, but the new law finally passed in February.

• Lansing Board Struggles With Absence Of A Sign LawLansing Board Struggles With Absence Of A Sign Law
• Town Sign Law Finally PassesTown Sign Law Finally PassesTown Sign Law Finally Passes

Residents were also quite vocal in decrying changes to the town's land use ordinance.  In September many citizens spoke against what board members described as 'tweaks' to the ordinance, and more came in December to oppose provisions in a newly revised draft.  Action has been tabled until at least January.

• Residents Question Land Use Changes

Meanwhile a major storm flooded Lansing and raised concerns that the Township is not equipped to deal with natural disasters.  Since then the Highway Department has obtained special radios that are tied into other local municipalities, and is working on getting a permanent generator installed to insure emergency vehicles and trucks can get where they need to be during future disasters.  The town is forming a disaster preparedness committee, which will develop a plan in the coming year.  Our article about how much the Lansing Highway Department saves taxpayers was very popular when we published it around Thanksgiving.  Readers agreed that the department is something we can all be thankful for.

• Severe Storms Flood Portions of Lansing
• Highway Superintendent Nearly Arrested For Addressing FloodingHighway Superintendent Nearly Arrested For Addressing Flooding
• Highway Department Saves Lansing Hundreds of ThousandsHighway Department Saves Lansing Hundreds of Thousands

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Spending by New York's largest public authorities jumped $3.5 billion since last reported in 2013, with  state and local authorities reporting nearly $60 billion in spending in their latest annual filings, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Meanwhile, the combined debt of state and local authorities topped a quarter of a trillion dollars.

"Public authorities borrow and spend billions of dollars outside the state budget," DiNapoli said. "And from Buffalo to Brookhaven, New Yorkers foot the bill. These shadow governments are responsible for the bulk of our hefty debt burden and are used to provide hundreds of millions of dollars annually in non-recurring resources to support the state budget. Recent authority actions suggest that authorities must do more to open their doors to public accountability."

Lansing may be a rural town, but it's not all Bambi and bluebirds.  Segments of the Town are dangerous, with repeated accidents marring the pastoral landscape.  What is the busiest intersection in Lansing?

The intersection of Triphammer and Waterwagon Roads have the highest annual average daily traffic (AADT) with 8079 vehicles on a 'typical' day of the year.  But a stretch of Conlon Road, between Gulf and Searles Roads, is the most dangerous in Lansing.  That stretch has the third highest crash rate (per million vehicles) of 10.91 in Tompkins County.  That data comes from an analysis of traffic data provided by New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) for 2000 through 2010.

While the Village of Lansing's deer population management program has anecdotally shown some positive results, Village officials are planning to step up their program to further cull the destructive population in their community.  At their December meeting program coordinator Dr. Bernd Blossey asked the Board of Trustees to extend the program to a two month nuisance season through February and March.

A nuisance season has different rules from normal hunting and the Village's deer population management season to date.  The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) allows shooting until 11pm using artificial lighting and bait to draw the deer to designated locations.  Blossey said the maximum hunting in any location would be two visits per week, to prevent a location from being over-used, alerting deer to avoid such an area.  He also suggested ways to trick deer into a sense of security around program deer stands, including ribbons that would blow in the wind, and dummies so deer get used to unthreatening movement and the shape of humans in those locations.

The Lansing Town Board unanimously passed a resolution declaring freedom from domestic violence as a human right at their December meeting.  The board recognized several forms of domestic violence including physical and sexual, psychological and economic, and said that domestic violence is a human rights concern that affects individuals in every walk of life.

"I believe this resolution is similar to resolutions being put forth in towns across the County, as well as at the County," said Councilwoman Ruth Hopkins.

Legislature Requests Assistance to Seek State Reform on Non-Emergency Medical Transportation
Expressing deep concern about the effects that a change in State Department of Health policy on non-emergency medical transportation has had on Tompkins County’s GADABOUT Transportation Services and other upstate demand response transit providers, the Tompkins County Legislature, by unanimous vote, is asking the State to consider the public benefit of such services. It requests that organizations including the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) advocate on behalf of Upstate counties and residents to work with the State to reform the current delivery of Medicaid transportation and adequately support community transportation services.  The Legislature notes that since the Department of Health last year began centralized scheduling of non-emergency medical transportation trips (usually via taxi), providers, including GADABOUT, have experienced “an immediate and continuing decline in ridership and revenue,” and that Tioga County’s entire public transportation system ceased to operate as a result of this change.

New York will receive approximately $99.9 million to implement and test health care payment and service delivery models that will improve health care quality and lower costs, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell announced Tuesday.

New York will adopt a tiered Advanced Primary Care (APC) model for primary care. This model will include behavioral and population health, and be complemented by a strong workforce and engaged consumers, with supportive payment and common metrics.

The Joint Work Group on Truck Safety met Wednesday and issued an update on their progress. The work group completed its review of the entire list of ideas generated to improve truck safety in Ithaca from all sources.  Ideas had come from the general public, the City of Ithaca and engineers and NYS State DOT.   A few items on the checklist have already been implemented, such as cutting of trees and brush near signs for greater visibility, and about sixteen replacement signs and three new signs are currently being put up.

The work group was formed after a truck crashed into Simeon's on the Ithaca Commons, killing Lansing woman Amanda Bush.  Bush was a bartender at the popular restaurant and pregnant at the time of her death.  the restaurant sustained major damage in the crash, which resulted in several customers and staff being hospitalized.  Simeon's owners announced in September that they intend to reopen the popular bistro.

After years of uncertainty, local moratoriums and bans and a groundswell of opposition, Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration announced Wednesday that there will be no hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in New York State.  New York will join Vermont and Hawaii in enacting a state-wide ban.  The recommendation was made by acting health commissioner Howard Zucker at a cabinet meeting called by Cuomo.

"I cannot support high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York," said Zucker.  "I consider the people of the state of New York as my patients.  We cannot afford to make a mistake. The potential risks are too great. In fact, they are not fully known."

Zucker said that he would not allow his own children to live near a fracking site.