Archive: News

 

	January 8, 2016 - A successful rescue of 17 Lansing mine workers at the Cayuga Salt Mine Thursday morning has revived interest in this story from 2012, which takes you on a tour of the deepest rock salt mine in North America.

450 million years ago Tompkins County was part of an ocean that dried up and left salt deposits that span from Albany to the eastern Ohio border.  Around 1915 miners started digging a shaft on the shore of Lake Cayuga that reached the first salt bed about two years later.  Today Cargill Deicing Technology employs 211 employees in Lansing, including office workers, salaried workers, seasonal baggers, and miners, and produces two million tons of rock salt per year.  When they say "Off to the salt mine..." they're not kidding.

The mine spans from the topside Portland Point facility under the lake to as far north as Bill George Road near Swayze Road.  Currently held mining rights will allow Cargill to expand farther north to Milliken Station before negotiating with the State again for more area.

Joe MareaneTompkins County Administrator Joe Mareane has delivered to the County Legislature a 2013 Recommended County Budget that increases total spending by just four-tenths of one percent, sustains current levels of service, and can be supported within the 3.5% tax levy goal set by the Legislature.  In his budget message to the Legislature, Administrator Mareane points out that the 2013 recommended budget is the first in four years to reflect stability, rather than further retrenchment.

The recommended budget includes one of the lowest property tax increases of the past 15 years, raising the average residential tax bill by just $18.

The Legislature, after more than two hours of careful deliberation, accepted the recommendation of the County’s Independent Redistricting Committee and adopted a new Local Law that realigns the boundaries of County legislative districts based on the 2010 Census, culminating a nearly two-year-long process.  The final vote was 10-5, with Legislators Carol Chock, Kathy Luz Herrera, Dooley Kiefer, Pam Mackesey, and Leslyn McBean-Clairborne voting no.  The law reduces the number of legislative districts from 15-14, and the number of districts within the City of Ithaca from five to four.

Before the adoption vote, there was considerable discussion regarding a proposed amendment, advanced by Legislators Chock, Kiefer, and Mackesey that would have substituted an alternate 14-district option to align City districts differently, combining East Hill, Cornell, and South Hill in a single district, and would have directed staff to prepare a revised Local Law, to be put to another public hearing.

More than a year and a half after accepting bids on an addition to Central Station Lansing Fire Commissioners anticipate they will get the final OK to use the facility next week at the latest.  Commissioners originally hoped the $2.3 million project would be complete last January, but construction delays, a leaky roof and municipal paperwork held up the project.

"It was municipal -- you've got government money, prevailing wages, this contractor, that contractor," says Chief Scott Purcell.  "Everybody's responsible for a little bit.  I think we're going to end up with a nice facility.  It's probably going to be worth the wait.  All in all I think we're going to do alright with it."

The Lansing Sewer Committee took a walking tour of the sites of two proposed senior housing developments Wednesday.  The two projects could generate 190 dwelling units, create roads and infrastructure for the town center, and jump-start the sewer project.  If approved, the projects will be constructed on about 30 acres on the eastern portion of the 156 acre town center land on 34B across the street from the Town ballfields.

The walking tour was led by Lansing Pathways Committee member Roger Hopkins.  He led the committee along the eastern portion of the Town Trail, showing members a shaded trail along the old Ithaca-Auburn Short Line railroad bed, a site proposed by NRP Group for an affordable senior cottage-style development, another proposed by Calimar for a three-story market-rate senior development, as well as a site proposed for a dog park.

Close to 20 people came to listen to the Lansing Town Board as they gather information to make decisions on how the town center will be developed.  Planning Consultant Jonathan Kanter outlined his initial impressions after twice walking the 156 acre property that is designated to become the town center.

"It is a site that has so much potential it's really incredible that the Town has this opportunity," Kanter said.  "The Town has about 150 acres of very nice land.  There are some beautiful views looking across the valley.  It is gently sloping so there are not too many constraints on the property.  It's a beautiful property and it has a lot of potential."

The Lansing Board Of Education appointed Chris Pettograsso Interim Superintendent Monday in the wake of Dr. Stephen Grimm's resignation.  Pettograsso has been the Lansing Elementary School Principal since 2007.  Before coming to Lansing she spent much of her career in the Watkins Glenn school system as a coach and elementary school reading teacher, and then as an Interim Middle School Principal for a year and two years as Curriculum and instruction Director.

Originally from Albany, Pettograsso earned a BA in Sociology at Ithaca College, then a Masters Degree in Reading Education from Elmira College.  She earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in School District Administration from SUNY Cortland.  Her family wants to move from Danby to Lansing, and her two young children will be starting in Lansing's kindergarten and first grade this year.

Richard Thaler was honored at Monday's Board Of Education meeting for service to the school district.  In his last school board meeting as Lansing Superintendent, Stephen Grimm presented Thaler with a "Blue Sneaker', signifying that Thaler went 'the extra mile for the district.'

"Dick Thaler was a great mentor and he had served on the board in the '90s.  He was urged to join the board again.  I'm glad he did," Grimm said.  Then Dick stepped up and he served on representing Lansing on the TST BOCES Board during his last year as a board member here, and even after he finished on this board he continued on the TST BOCES seat."

The Lansing Board of Education accepted Stephen Grimm's resignation as Superintendent of Schools Monday, appointing Chris Pettograsso the new Interim Superintendent.  Pettograsso has served as Lansing elementary school principal since 2007.  It was the first time in recent memory that a superintendent was promoted from within the school system.  Christine Rebera was appointed Interim Elementary School Principal.

"I'm really looking forward to getting to know the middle and high schools more deeply, and to working with the leadership team and the community," Pettograsso says.  "I would like to see more collaboration happening overall, and to really working with people and the community more broadly."

The countdown for sewer is beginning.  The Lansing Sewer COmmittee reviewed a list of steps necessary for forming Lansing Sewer District #1 Wednesday.  If there are no snags, the district could be formed as early as November 30.  Committee member Andy Sciarabba outlined four steps Town Attorney Guy Krogh laid out for him earlier Wednesday.

The first step is to produce the final Map Plan and Report (MPR).  TG Miller Engineers is working on trying to complete it by an early September deadline, adding to and editing a MPR submitted earlier this year by Hunt Architects.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation last week that will reduce telemarketing by prohibiting calls that deliver prerecorded messages unless the recipient has expressly consented to such calls and requiring telemarketers to provide call recipients with the option to put their phone number on the telemarketer’s do-not-call list.

The Governor's legislation would also give authority to the Department of State to ban telemarketing companies that violate New York’s telemarketing laws from doing business in New York State.

A new church will hold its first service in an old church in Lansing.  The Reformed Orthodox Christian Church will open its doors for the first time Sunday in Saint George Orthodox Church at Myers Heights.  At least a dozen people are expected to worship Sundays at the historical church, led by Father Matthew Binkewicz.  The church will offer the traditional Orthodox Christian service that will be open to all Christians.

"I'm looking forward to just bringing the message of the Gospel of Christ to people who want to hear it," Binkewicz says.  "That's it.  there will be nothing else.  It will be a community of faith and love... that's what we're hoping for.  We're trying to be a more inclusive church whereby Roman Catholic, Protestants and other Orthodox Christians would be welcome to come worship and receive Holy Communion."