Archive: News

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo launched a new campaign to eliminate the pink tax in New York State this year. The campaign will include a series of events across the State to rally support for the elimination of the pink tax, as well as a social media campaign and a new hashtag - #PinkTax - to raise awareness and inform New Yorkers about the proposal. In the early 1990s, several studies reported disparities between the costs of substantially similar goods and services depending on if they were marketed for men or for women. Despite increased public discourse around gender-based pricing discrimination, recent research indicates that the problem still persists. To address these disparities, the Governor's budget proposal includes legislation to prohibit gender-based pricing discrimination for substantially similar goods and services. The legislation will require certain service providers to post price lists for standard services; businesses that violate the law would be subject to civil penalties.

"New York has made tremendous progress in advancing women's rights all across the board, but unfortunately women are still victims of cultural and institutional discrimination," Governor Cuomo said. "This year New York will once again lead the nation and continue our work to end this shameful and repugnant injustice by eliminating the so-called pink tax once and for all - because pink or blue, the price should be the same."

An additional $15 million is available to help eligible New Yorkers facing a home heating emergency. Starting Tuesday, February 18, households can apply for a second emergency benefit through the Home Energy Assistance Program - or HEAP - if they are in danger of running out of fuel or having their utility service shut off and have already received assistance from HEAP this winter. Additionally, the deadline to apply for both regular and emergency HEAP benefits has been extended until April 24. With this additional funding, eligible households could receive up to $2,200 from HEAP to help defray the cost of heating their home this winter.

"As temperatures continue to drop in every corner of the state, more and more New Yorkers are struggling with the high cost of heating their homes," Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said. "This additional funding will help ensure the most vulnerable among us will be able to stay warm this winter and I encourage anyone in need of help paying their heating bills to apply for this critical assistance."

Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso told the Board Of Education last week that student enrollment continues to rise in the district.  Pettograsso said that the district is up by 14 students since the beginning of the year, and rises in the elementary school population over the past few years are now beginning to show up in the middle and high schools.  Board member Linda Pasto asked Pettograsso whether growing enrollment is unique to Lansing or a trend county-wide. 

"We are definitely an anomaly," Pettograsso said. "I don't think it's just the County. I think it's a New York state. There are a lot of schools, especially around our size, that are decreasing. I think maybe the one district that will be increasing in enrollment that is close to us would be Ithaca.  But we're the only school our size that I know about (with increasing enrollment). Most schools are talking about closing buildings, or just just their demographic overall changing -- going down."

On February 14, 2020 at about 3:48 PM, the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 8400 block of Perry City Road in the Town of Ulysses for a motor vehicle crash.

Upon arrival it was determined that a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling West on Perry City Road when it collided with a 2008 Jeep Wrangler that was traveling East on Perry City Road. The driver of the Jeep Wrangler was airlifted by Guthrie Air to a Syracuse hospital. The driver of the Chevrolet Silverado fled on foot from the scene and was apprehended a short time later in a nearby wooded area. Perry City Road was closed to all traffic from the Schuyler County line to Waterburg Road for about 2 hours.

The Lansing Town Board approved replacing the front entry doors to the Town Hall Wednesday.  The new doors will be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible, and are expected to be simpler to lock and unlock than the original entry doors.  Lansing Director of Planning C.J. Randall told the Board that a $15,000 Justice Courts Assistance Program (JCAP) has been awarded to the Town to go toward what is estimated to be an approximately $60,000 project.

Town officials have discussed growing demands of the Lansing courts on and off for many years, in particular potential expansions to the Town Hall and safety measures especially for non-court offices when court is in session.  As the Board became more focused on problems with the existing entryway, including ADA accessibility, Randall consulted with Justice John Howell, asking him whether the Lansing courts had plans to apply for the grant for other purposes.  Randall said that Howell assisted her in applying for the grant, which may be up to a maximum of $30,000.

After postponing a vote for two months the Lansing Town Board reappointed Dean Shea for a new seven-year term on the Planning Board, and reappointed Thomas Butler and Dale Baker as Planning Board alternates.  The vote was postponed in December to give the Board time to consider an incident involving Shea and a member of the public, and again in January to give Shea and a Zoning Board of Appeals member a chance to catch up on mandatory sensitivity training that all Lansing board members must take.  They had missed a December session because it was cancelled due to weather and couldn't be rescheduled until this month.

At the end of November the Planning Board recommended that all three members be reappointed.  Before five fellow planning board members (with Shea and one other board member abstaining) made their recommendation board member Larry Sharpsteen argued for reappointing Shea.

The Lansing Town Board discussed Wednesday early steps toward upgrading and expanding the Highway Department building.  Water and sewer work are among the many current responsibilities of the department that did not exist when the facility was built 51 years ago.  Highway Superintendent Charlie 'Cricket' Purcell says that upgrading the building has been under discussion for the past dozen years, and something has to be done for the building to catch up to current demands.  He estimates that the project may end up costing the Town between $2.5 and $4 million.

"We've definitely grown as far as the maintenance and the things that we do. Some of them mean an increase in equipment, and just trying to have space for that as well as really trying to be more equipped and set up to deal with the water and the sewer work that we do," Purcell says. "51 years ago it really wasn't an issue. And we've kind of grown into that and with the Warren road sewer district and stuff, the department's expanded as far as what we're responsible for."

Only two people chose to speak at a Village of Lansing Short-Term Rental Forum Monday, as the Village Planning Board continues to contemplate rules for Airbnb-type rentals.  One was a landowner considering building a senior housing complex with short-term rental units that could be rented to friends and relatives of her long-term renters, and the other who used to run a Bed & Breakfast before the Village shut it down.

The discussion began because of multiple complaints from neighbors of a house on Oakcrest Road that was hosting events as well as renters.  The homeowner subsequently applied for a permit to host events at the house, but didn't pursue it after the Board discouraged it based on allowed zoning uses for her neighborhood.  At that time she asked to be involved in future discussions of potential short term rental laws, but was not present at Monday's forum.

County Clerk Maureen Reynolds announced the appointment Last Friday of Legislator Shawna Black (D- Town of Ithaca) as Chair of the Tompkins County Legislature.

As stipulated in the Tompkins County Charter, the Clerk is charged with appointing the Legislature Chair after a 30-day vacancy. The position became vacant at the January 7th organizational meeting when Legislator Mike Sigler (R - Town of Lansing) of Lansing was elected Temporary Chair to oversee the selection of a new Chair. Legislators were then unable to reach consensus between Mike Lane of Dryden and Anna Kelles of Ithaca, both Democrats.

Tompkins County will receive a $70,426 grant that will help prevent hunger and reduce the disposal of food waste though food donation and recycling. The grant is part of $4.3 million for 111 projects across the state that will will support efforts by municipalities and organizations, such as pantries and soup kitchens, to help divert scraps for recycling and reduce the amount of organic waste by redirecting excess, edible food to New Yorkers struggling with food insecurity.

"Wasted food hurts needy families facing the terrible challenges of food insecurity and harms the environment by growing landfills and contributing to climate change," Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday. "These awards are the latest step New York is taking to help local governments and community organizations support smart investments that prevent food waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by food disposal, and provide nutritious and healthy food to combat hunger across New York State."

On Sunday, February 9, the results for the second Cornell University student tested for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) were negative. The individual is no longer a person under investigation (PUI) and was released from isolation.

The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) continues to work closely with local medical providers including Cornell Health, Ithaca College Health Center and Cayuga Medical Center, to protect the health and well-being of our community. Guidance from the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is informing our process for prevention and response.

Only one person chose to speak at the Village of Lansing Planning Board's public hearing on a proposed 43-home development Monday, but that comment mirrored the Planning Board's positive reception to the Ithaca Solar Village project.  The speaker was Tompkins County Legislator Deborah Dawson (D- Villages of Lansing and Cayuga Heights), who is a Village of Lansing resident.

"I would like to speak in support of this development," Dawson said. "The sizes of the units are consistent with our comprehensive plan that seeks to have housing units of varying sizes. I commend the net-zero quality of the buildings. It's certainly the wave of the future, and complying with the CLCPA (New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) going forward we need more of these projects that are climate and energy conscious.  I also like the clustering of the houses, because it preserves green space.  So congratulations -- it's a nice plan."