Archive: News

On January 28th, 2020 at 11:56 PM, Tompkins County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a business located in the 100 block of Salem Drive in the Town of Ithaca for a reported suspicious incident. The call was initiated by a nearby resident who claimed to hear people inside the business after hours. Upon arrival, deputies located a running Jeep Wrangler parked in the driveway and quickly ascertained that they had interrupted a burglary in progress. After setting up a perimeter, deputies confronted a male and a female attempting to flee from the rear of the building. The two immediately ran back inside and the male attempted to escape through the front of the building where he was taken into custody without incident. During a search of the inside, deputies located the female suspect.

The male was identified as Daniel P. Samson, age 36 of Groton and the female was identified as Tressa E. Mikula, age 36 of Groton.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $151 million in new funding for the renewal of State roadways impacted by extreme weather events. This State funding will support 95 paving projects and the renewal of approximately 1,013 lane miles of pavement across the state, including at least one project in every county and the City of New York. This new funding, provided through the PAVE NY Initiative, complements $743 million in direct State aid provided for local road and bridge projects that helped renew approximately 3,700 lane miles of road across New York State.

$2.6 million of the money will be spent on two projects in Tompkins County, and an additional $1 million will renew Route 34B from the Tompkins County line to Route 90 in Cayuga County:

After years of decreasing value and uncertainty about the Cayuga Power Plant's future, the plant shut down for good at the end of last year.  The closing is bad news for Lansing property taxpayers, but it may not be as bad as you think.  School officials say that careful planning will help keep taxes from spiraling upward, and a New York State program specifically designed to provide relief to communities whose power plants have closed may mitigate taxes in the short run.  It also means that under the state tax cap calculation the Lansing Central School District may collect up to $425,000 more from property taxes than it otherwise could have.

"Though we know we can pull from the tax base at a higher level, we don't plan to go up to that tax cap," said Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso at Monday's Board Of Education meeting. "We will be looking at all of our resources, looking at what our needs are, where we may be able to make reductions that would not hurt our student population. Where can you be more efficient? Do we are trying to really look at the program in that manner."

Washington, DC - House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Republican Leader Tom Reed introduced the Improving Social Security's Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act (H.R. 5446). This bill would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide identity theft victims with a single point of contact within SSA when the misuse of their Social Security number (SSN) results in the need to resolve one or more issue(s) with SSA.

"It's not fair to compound the stress of identity theft with bureaucracy. We care about ensuring that victims don't have to deal with a different person during every call to the Social Security Administration, or have to explain their situation repeatedly while worrying if the SSA employee they are working with is a fraudster," Reed said. "SSA should make it easier, not harder to undo the damage, and having a single point of contact for victims ensures peace of mind."

The Tompkins County Department of Planning and Sustainability (TCDPS) and the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council (ITCTC) announced a corridor study of New York State Route 13 in Tompkins County. The 9-mile stretch of the corridor under consideration runs from Warren Road (Village of Lansing) to the Village of Dryden's western boundary, and has 14 total intersections, including five priority intersections that carry significant amounts of traffic. It is a main commuter corridor serving employment centers in the Ithaca area as well as a main freight route for trucks serving local businesses.

By Fall 2020, Tompkins County aims to complete the study, which will provide strategic guidance for future projects and help protect the functionality, capacity and reliability of the roadway while ensuring the safety of its users.

The Village of Lansing is considering setting regulations for the short-term rental of rooms, apartments, and homes in our community.

The Planning Board invites Village residents to share their experiences about short-term rentals in the community--either as a short-term rental owner or as a neighbor to a short-term rental property--

When: Planning Board meeting of Monday, February 10, 2020 at 7:00PM
Where: Village of Lansing Office, 2405 N Triphammer Road

As the coronavirus outbreak evolves, Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) is working 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. This new coronavirus strain which originated in Wuhan, China, has not previously been found in humans.  China announced yesterday that there are 170 confirmed coronavirus deaths, and added that cases have been confirmed in every region and province in China.

TCHD said there is low risk of infection to community residents at this time. In an alert this week the department said if you are planning any travel outside the U.S., visit the CDC’s Traveler’s Health webpage for the latest travel health notices.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced last Friday that New York State's efforts to deter underage drinking and promote health and public safety resulted in a record number of fake identification seizures and citations issued in 2019. A total of 918 fake IDs were seized—up from 892 in 2018. In addition, a record of 1,016 citations were issued to people attempting to buy alcohol while underage—up from 922 citations issued in 2018. This enforcement initiative helps educate young New Yorkers and prevent avoidable tragedies on our roadways.

"Underage drinking is a serious and dangerous offense that will not be tolerated," Cuomo said. "These record numbers underscore our strong commitment to cracking down on underage drinking and holding those who enable it accountable."

Continuing her aggressive efforts to improve local infrastructure, Senator Pam Helming today announced that she has successfully secured a $75,000 grant for the Town of Lansing to make critical improvements to Woodsedge Drive.

"This important funding will be used by the Town's Highway Department to realign Woodsedge Drive, a Town road connecting to a state highway, to help make a new affordable housing complex possible. Many thanks to Senator Helming and her staff for securing this grant!" said Town Supervisor Ed Lavigne.

Solar Home Factory President and CEO Ryan Wallace Was back in the Village of Lansing to discuss issues with the village planning Board Monday for the 43-home Ithaca Solar Village project.  The development is to be built between Northwood and Dart Drives, and bordered to the east and west by Warren Road and Marian Hartill Park. Wallace said that energy costs for the homes will be "completely net zero".

The Board asked questions and discussed preserving old trees, the design of the proposed private road, emergency vehicle access, and walking and bike pathways and walkability via Dart Drive to the shopping area of the Village.

As short term rentals have quickly become more popular, the Lansings are scrambling to define rules that will best protect residents while still attracting tourism and trade to the municipalities.  The Village of Lansing has discussed the issue at length, prompted by complaints about an Airbnb home.  The Town is also talking about adding short term rental regulations to its laws.

"It's something that we need to consider," said Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne at the January Town Board meeting. "The city of Ithaca has theirs, the Village of Cayuga Heights has theirs. We also need to be thorough and say, how do you enforce it? Those are things that that are on our plate for this year."

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the creation of the Census Council, which will be co-chaired by Martin Luther King III, Lucy Liu and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to ensure every New Yorker is counted in the upcoming 2020 census. The Council will act as the state's coordinating arm to achieve a complete census count using the information learned from the state's Complete Count Commission and support from state, local and foundation funding resources. The Governor will also propose an additional $10 million in this year's budget to ensure a fair and complete count of every New Yorker in the census. The additional funding will bring the state's financial support to up to $70 million for the 2020 Census.

"Being counted in the Census may well be second only to voting when it comes to citizen action in the Democrat process," said Martin Luther King III. "Unfortunately, people of color are the ones most often undercounted, which leads to negative consequences for their communities. I am proud to work with Governor Cuomo to ensure every New Yorker, even those that are hardest to reach, is counted in the 2020 Census."