Archive: News

Woodsedge will officially be a non-smoking facility beginning April 10.  Currently the common areas of the Lansing independent living facility plus an area 50 feet outside the building have been non-smoking areas.  But after two years with no smokers living in the building, a new tenant who is said to be a chain smoker alarmed residents enough to spark a chain of activism that resulted in the new policy.

"We were a little upset because we know that second hand smoke is not healthy, and most of us have health problems as it is," says resident Shirley Graves.  "We wanted to keep it a smoke-free facility."

	Unemployment in Tompkins County rose by a full percentage point from December of 2007 to December of 2008.  In December 2007 unemployment was at 3.1% (1,700).  By November of 2008 it had gone up to 4.3% (2,400).  And in December it went up again to 4.7% (2,600).  This month the national unemployment rate soared at 7.6% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Michael A. Arcuri (D-NY) met with President Barack Obama at the White House this evening along with fellow members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition to discuss the economic stimulus plan currently before Congress as well as bipartisan solutions for long-term fiscal responsibility.

“The economic recovery legislation before Congress this week is just the first step in our long march to a full economic recovery,” said Arcuri, who met with President Obama this evening. “First, we have to jump start our economy and create jobs in the short-term. Then we have to get our fiscal house in order, restore fiscal responsibility and ensure accountability in how we spend tax-payers’ hard-earned dollars in the long-term.

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No matter where you put a town center you are going to need infrastructure.  People need water, electricity, sewer or septic or a package system, telephone, television.  And these days, politicians are beginning to include Internet access in the list of essential infrastructure items.  These are all comparatively easy in a city, but much harder in rural areas.  In Lansing, a mix of suburban and rural living, it is easy in some areas and seemingly impossible in others.

	Click here to read Part I Click here to read Part II

Yet local officials haven't given up, and are looking at creative ways to provide the foundation for future planned development.  While President Obama's stimulus package probably won't be the panacea local officials have been quietly hoping for, it is not the only solution to creating the right atmosphere for a Lansing Town center.

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As you drive along Route 34 near the Bolton Point water facility you may notice unobtrusive roads leading down toward Cayuga Lake.  They mark a development that will eventually be a lakeside neighborhood with more than 20 lots.  Last Monday environmentalist John Dennis addressed concerns he has to a joint meeting of the Village of Lansing Planning Board and Trustees.  Dennis identified five problems, and suggested solutions to Village officials.

In additions to environmental concerns about the lake Dennis noted that the Bolton Point pumping station is at about the midpoint of the development's 3,000 feet of lake frontage.  The water commission pumps water from a single pipe in Cayuga Lake to 30,000 consumers.   The commission reports that daily production averages 2.476 million gallons per day, or about 38.4 million glasses of drinking water.

Tompkins County Sheriff Peter Meskill held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce that a $1,000 reward is being offered to people who come forward with information that leads to the procecution of the person who murdered Enfield resident Deborah Rumsey.  Rumsey (49), was found in her home in the Sandy Creek Trailer Park Saturday when the Sheriff's Office, emergency medical personnel, and Enfield Fire and Rescue were called to the residence.

"We have ruled out at least five persons of interest who were known to be acquaintances of Deborah, but we have many more leads we are still looking for additional information from the public," Meskill said.  "I can't emphasize enough how important that is to us and the family and all the residents of this county to make that happen."

Not everyone agrees that the Town of Lansing should have its own town center.  Some say that the mall shops in the Village of Lansing are close enough and why not leave well enough alone?  Even if you take a town center as a given you would be hard put to find two identical opinions on what it should look like or even where it should be located.

"I would love a town center in Lansing," says Lansing's representative to the Tompkins County Legislature, Mike Sigler.  "I don't want the county involved in that, so as a County Legislator -- that's a town issue to me.  But speaking as somebody who lives in the town I would love a town center.  I would like a place to go and take a walk with my kids.  The Village of Lansing is nice, but it's four miles down the road."

New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn announced Wednesday that $685,988 will be spent to purchase 19 buses for Central New York agencies that transport elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities. 

In administering the funds, the department today submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) a total of 95 grant recommendations, totaling $8 million in federal funding.

Robertson Resigns as Legislature Vice Chair, McBean-Clairborne Elected.  Koplinka-Loehr Remains Chair

Nearly a month after disputed leadership elections, the County Legislature sought to put to rest the issue of who will lead the Legislature during 2009, but it took more than two hours of debate to reach that conclusion.  Martha Robertson, who has served as Vice Chair over the past month, resigned from the position, saying she would not pursue the position of Chair or Vice Chair this year.  Robertson, joined by several of her Democrat colleagues, urged Chair Michael Koplinka-Loehr to follow suit, maintaining that the approach of having both chair and vice chair resign, then holding new elections would be the clearest and simplest approach to resolve the issue.

The U.S. Census Bureau has opened three census offices in New York to carry out early 2010 operations and is looking for qualified applicants to fill more than 3,500 jobs across the state. The local census offices are located in Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse. Positions include address listers, office clerks, recruiting assistants, crew leaders and field operations supervisors.

The census employees will help develop an address list in spring 2009. The address list will be used to deliver census questionnaires in 2010. The jobs are temporary; some are full time and others part time. Census jobs offer flexible schedules and allow close-to-home employment. Pay starts at $12.25 per hour and varies by job and location.

 

At a County-sponsored briefing session for members of the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG), Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-22nd District) today called the $819 billion federal stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives last week legislation that will make a "significant positive difference" in the nation's economy over the next 18 months. But he added that it is imperative that municipal leaders communicate with their elected representatives to help ensure that the federal funding is allocated for local stimulus projects.

Mr. Hinchey advised that much of the money will be allocated directly to states, with state spending based on what it sees as its needs, and another large portion awarded to localities through existing federal agency funding streams. Since federal stimulus funding could win final approval as early as mid-February with funds beginning to flow by March, the Congressman said local governments need to alert their representatives quickly about recommended stimulus projects, to be in a competitive position to access the funding.

Tompkins County is split into two U.S. Congressional districts, so if the current wisdom that the county will get $26 million of the $819 billion federal stimulus money passed by the House of Representatives last week is correct, Congressmen Michael Arcuri (who represents the Town and Village of Lansing) and Maurice Hinchey (who represents the rest of the county) will have to duke it out for what looks like a relatively small piece of the pie.

That figure came out of a meeting of the Tompkins County Council Of Governments (TCCOG) last week at which Hinchey tried to explain how the money will be distributed.  "There was a lot of confusion and not much specificity as to how this is going to work," says Village of Lansing Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski.  "There is no specific plan as to how the money is going to be distributed."

Since the Lansing Post Office was smashed into by an elderly driver in a Ford F150 4x4 in late November residents have been eagerly awaiting its reopening.  Repairs to the Lansing Plaza storefront were completed around December 19th, and it seemed the branch would reopen any day.  At least one business owner in the plaza says that no post office has hurt her business.  But over a month after repairs were completed it is still closed, held up by Postal Service Bureaucracy.

"There's an inconvenience unfortunately," says Ithaca Postmaster William Hyrnko.  "It wasn't planned by any means.  Are we going to open?  Yes.  We're going to be back in there.  We don't have a time yet, other than that the paperwork was submitted to the Northeast Area and I'm hoping any day.  We're ready other than the display case.  We can open without that case."