Archive: News

UTICA, NY – Congressman-elect Michael Arcuri (D-Utica) today announced that he has been selected by the 110th Congress House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The full Democratic Caucus is expected to approve Arcuri’s appointment in the coming weeks.

“I’m overwhelmed with enthusiasm,” said Arcuri. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, who Arcuri will succeed in Congress, has served as a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for 22 years.

This Tuesday, December 12 voters will choose a new fire commissioner for the Lansing Fire District.  Dennis Griffin is stepping down after countless years of service, and Kimberly Spencer is running uncontested for the position.  Voting will be at Central Station on Ridge Road and at Station #5 in the Village on Oakcrest Road.


The Star caught up with Spencer at last Tuesday's Fire Commissioners meeting.  She talked about her involvement in the volunteer fire department, and the roots she and her husband James have in both the department and the community.  Our exclusive interview is reproduced in full below.

The Board of Education is awaiting the final estimates for the proposed capital project they will bring before district voters in February.  The $20.1 million project has been sent to the New York State Department of Education to determine the precise level of aid that will be available to the project.  At this stage the numbers stand at $18,725,000 for Proposition 1, which deals with campus-wide repairs, the bus garage, moving the District Office to the high school, and upgrades and new classrooms and renovations to the high school.  Proposition 2 stands at $2,005,000 for new band and technology rooms.

"The numbers really have not changed from the last meeting," said Superintendent Mark Lewis.  "The design team is in the process of working with the State Education Department seeking approval of the overall project scope in determining what precise level of state aid will be applied to the project."  Lewis said the aid information would definitely be available to the Board at their December 14 meeting, if not before.

Lansing will probably not vote on a sewer project until some time next summer as the Sewer Committee continues to gather data and answer questions from the public.  At Wednesday's meeting the group focussed on  questions raised at public meetings and responses to a questionnaire the Town sent to residents within the proposed sewer district.  " We're certainly not ready to ask the public to vote on it right now," said Sewer Committee Chairman Bud Shattuck.  "We just wanted an opinion and we asked for comments.  It's easier to get answers to those comments if we have them."

(Ithaca, NY) The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce announced that the Strebel Planning Group of Ithaca, NY is the recipient of the 2006 David R. Strong Memorial Small Business of the Year Award, while Felicia’s Atomic Lounge of Ithaca, NY is the recipient of the Chamber’s 2006 New Business of the Year Award.

The awards were presented to both organizations at a Chamber luncheon, Friday, November 10, 2006 at the Lakewatch Inn on East Shore Drive in Lansing, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m.

Mark S. LewisIn October, the Lansing Central School District Board of Education gave the green light to the district administration and architects to take the next steps towards placing a construction proposition before the district’s voters during February 2007. One of the issues that is yet to be resolved is the fate of the district office. The current district office is plagued with many structural and space limitation problems that the board feels must be addressed within the current construction initiative.

On November 2, 2006, the board held a special meeting to review various options for addressing the district office situation. Both on-campus and off-campus solutions were considered, with the board leaning towards pursuit of an on-campus solution. This ruled out some off-campus lease options that were being investigated. There are some clear advantages in terms of state aid for a solution within one of the existing school buildings. The state aid formulas provide over 62% state aid for conversion of existing classroom space into district office space, even if it results in the need to construct new classrooms to offset those taken for offices. The formulas will provide a similar level of aid for those classrooms as well. Conversely, the state provides no aid for construction of district offices beyond the walls of existing schools. This is an anomaly of the state aid formulas that has been in existence for over half a century.

Welcome to LansingThe Lansing Town Board adopted the Town's Comprehensive plan at it's regular meeting Wednesday.  The plan is an approach to guiding future growth and development within the town. 

"We have over 200 residential properties or subdivisions that are in the process now, or coming to the planning board to be talked about in the near future," Deputy Supervisor Bud Shattuck said.  "We've had senior citizens complexes approach us about being able to move into this community.  And we've had hotels.  Banks, restaurants, and grocery stores are all part of that mix."

In February Democrat Michael Arcuri began his campaign to fill Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert's seat with a visit to Lansing.  Then Lansing Democratic Party Chairman John Cawley presented him with a Lansing throw, the blanket designed and sold by the Lansing Lions Club to help fund a new band stand in Myers Park.  Last Sunday Arcuri returned the favor, presenting the present Chairman Greg Lawrence with a framed full set of Arcuri 'baseball cards,' part of the campaign that got Arcuri elected to the US Senate in Tuesday's election.

Doing something about Lansing's School District Office has been anticipated since at least the late '90s. But last week the Board of Education (BOE) was still talking about what to do about the dilapidated building that lacks adequate space and that many say is unsafe for the people working there. Superintendent Mark Lewis presented the board with short and long term options for dealing with the problem. "The current district office is certainly in a significant state of disrepair," Lewis said. "We have space problems. We have seepage problems. We have heating and ventilation problems, just to name a few."  (Click here to see our story on problems with the current district office.)

Last year the BOE had mandated that the office be moved by last August, but as the time came to do something, nobody had decided what to do. The board lifted the mandate to allow more time to decide. But the Capital Project Facilities Committee balked at including the office in the proposed project because they wanted to concentrate on needed repairs and classroom space only. Presented with that recommendation, BOE member Dan Brown said that a district office solution belongs in the capital project, so the board is now considering what to do and how to do it.

October 26 -- A few weeks ago Fifth Grade Science Teacher Therese Arsenault brought her students to a Board Of Education meeting to show how they had learned to become expert observers on a field trip to the zoo.  Andy Parkes, Olivia LeMaro, Allie Golden, Jason Yahn, Isabelle Corgell, Cameron Peter, Kaela Teitelbaum, Elaine Cummings, Annie Reynolds, Jenny Kelly, and John Schafer lined up to tell their part of the story and demonstrate what they had learned about observing.

Lansing's Town Board approved the $5.8 million budget Wednesday night at a special meeting in the Town Hall.  After conducting public hearings on special districts and the budget itself, the Board voted unanimously to accept the budget.  The 3.76% increase is under the cost of living, according to Town Bookkeeper Sharon Bowman.  (Click here for our story on the 2007 budget)

Nobody chose to speak during the public hearings, probably because the budget rise is a reasonable $467,897.  The impact to taxpayers is much less, with only $2.38 million being raised by taxes.  That means this year's tax levy will be $105,356 more than last year's.

Peter Meskill has won a third term as Tompkins County Sheriff with 13,871 votes.  Brian Robison finished with 9,026, and TIm Little 3,918.

All Elections:

US Senator:   Hilary Clinton
US Congressman:     Michael Arcuri

Governor:   Elliot Spitzer
Lieutenant Governor: David Paterson
Attorney General:   Andrew Cuomo
State Assemblywoman:   Barbara Lifton