- By Dan Veaner
- News
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Are you a college-educated tourist between the ages of 25 and 54, from the Northeast, planning a vacation in a hotel or bed & breakfast, with an income of $50,000 or more, with an interest in Cornell, and who likes hiking the gorges and eating fine foods? If so, you might be the perfect target for Tompkins County tourism businesses' marketing campaigns. Business people gathered Tuesday at the Ithaca Holiday Inn Tuesday for the release of a new study that will help them target new business."What we have here is critical information that was sorely needed for many, many years," said Tompkins County Convention And Visitors Bureau Director Fred Bonn. "It allows people to make the best business decisions possible. Many of our partners here are looking at new projects, new expansions of existing properties, perhaps a new restaurant. This information can be best utilized in the development of those business plans."
Lansingites have looked forward to a new Dunkin' Donuts since the Xtramart closed for reconstruction last November and it was announced that the popular donut franchise would be part of the new facility. Today a bigger and better Xtramart is opening on the same site on the corner of Triphammer and Peruville Roads, including Dunkin' Donuts. The two businesses will bring a total of nearly 40 employees to the site. The new store is three times the size of the old one, includes a sandwich shop as well as the donut franchise, and will sell gas, deisel, and kerosene.
In response to recent news stories highlighting the increase in incidents of bullying and cyber-bullying, State Senator Mike Nozzolio has sponsored legislation to give New York schools the tools needed to crack down on bullying and to protect our children. In addition, Nozzolio has drafted and introduced legislation to make cyber-bullying illegal by creating the crime of harassment by electronic mail or computer network.
Legislature Sets 5 Percent Levy Increase
A proposal for new housing development nested between Warren and Hillcrest Roads was presented to the Town of Lansing Planning Board for the first time Monday night. Developers showed the board a preliminary plan for a development that could potentially add as many as 76 new homes in the town. 32 are proposed as single family home lots, and 44 town home units are envisioned as part of a walled community that includes ponds and walking spaces and adjoins a federal wetlands area and woods.
After a contentious month, the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) Board passed its $100,779,392.00 2010-2011 school budget on April 20. Based on New York State’s Education Law, this amount comes in below the 4% spending increase defined as a “contingency budget.” On May 18, Ithacans will vote yes or no on this budget.
The Lansing Board Of Education received some good news in the wake of approving a budget that will cut supplies and personnel because of disastrous revenue losses caused largely by cuts in New York State aid and a severely downwardly renegotiated assessment of Lansing's biggest property taxpayer. Growth in the town's overall valuation and savings from an Energy Energy Performance Contract will begin to make up at least some of the anticipated losses, lowering the tax rate a potential 1% from that anticipated when the budget was passed two weeks ago. But that won't change the actual budget that the board approved two weeks ago.
Tompkins County Area Development and the Tompkins County Workforce Investment Board today unveiled the 2010 Tompkins County Workforce Strategy, a plan the partners describe as “a road map for local workforce development in these critical times.” The Strategy, developed over the past year and building upon a previous year-long assessment of the local labor market, strives to help individuals and employers achieve greater success, with that success driving the success of the local economy.
Next Tuesday Village of Lansing voters will go to the polls to elect two Village Trustees. John O'Neill and Julie Baker are both running unopposed for their own seats on the Community Party ticket. O'Neill is running for his fourth term, and Baker for her second. Both say that most of what they will face in the next two years is keeping the Village on the track it has been on, providing quality services while keeping the tax rate low.
The Rothenberg Report, a highly-regarded and widely-read political analysis firm, upgraded the race in New York's 24th Congressional District to "toss-up" last Friday. Rothenberg Report joins two other Washington-based analysts, Real Clear Politics and the Cook Political Report, in rating NY24 as one of the most competitive contests in the nation. NY24 is one of only fourteen 'toss-ups' in 435 contests, and the only one in New York State.