Archive: News

The Lansing Town Board approved a water district extension Wednesday that will provide a redundant loop in the Terpening Corners area (where several businesses including Crossroads Bar & Grill, Lansing Market, and Mirabito Gas are located).  The resolution passed unanimously after a public hearing at which nobody spoke.  Lansing Supervisor Ed LaVigne said that the project will provide a fail-safe in case the existing water main breaks.

"At a meeting today at the Bolton point, I asked (Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission General Manager) Steve Riddle and we're also working with Cricket (Lansing Highway Superintendent Charlie Purcell), as more and more waterlines are coming into play, how we can connect more of these spurs so that you have more benefit districts in case something breaks," LaVigne said. "We can that way we have continuity. One of our biggest concerns right now will be Milton Meadows cause they only have one source of water and that goes underneath that road."

Sheriff Derek Osborne ran on a platform of increasing community engagement, embracing diversity, dealing compassionately with drug addicts while protecting their victims, keeping within the budget and managing overtime, striving for prompt crime response time, and dealing with county jail inmates to curb criminal behavior in a positive and meaningful way. Now that he has been Sheriff for eleven months, Osborne says he has been busy working on all of those things.

"I've set out to fulfill everything I talked about during my campaign and as time goes on, things do come up and you do get busy.  But I think we're going in a very positive direction and I'm happy with the progress we've made in such a short amount of time.  We're coming into the close of the year and we're well under our budget, so I'm very happy about that. The community engagement been huge. That was the primary focus that I set out for this year, and we're doing a good job with that."

The new, improved Ithaca-Tompkins Airport is scheduled to open any day now.  Construction on the project must be completed before the end of this year.  But airports are works in progress, and this airport is no exception.  When the project was announced Airport Manager Mike Hall said more than 3/4 of the airport's natural gas consumption would be replaced by solar energy and heat pumps.  That would save about $50,000 per year on utility costs, even though the terminal is now 1/3 larger.  But it also makes the terminal more reliant on electricity, and that has been problematic of late.

"The electric side of this is still NYSEG. We're hooked to the grid," Hall says.  "When I went to the FAA for a meeting a couple of weeks ago and they said, well, you've got your terminal, you're moving the fuel farm, uh, you're building the flight Academy, building the new firehouse. What else do you want me? And I said, well, I want an electric circuit that is robust, redundant, and sustainable. We don't have that right now."

This month the Lansings have been working on becoming Climate Smart Communities,  The Village of Lansing passed a resolution to join the program in mid-November, and will likely take the next step in becoming certified as a Climate Smart Community at their next meeting when Trustees are expected to vote on creating a Climate Smart task force, with Deputy Mayor Ronny Hardaway as the chair.  Town of Lansing Director of Planning C.J. Randall encouraged the Town Board last week to consider joining the program at its December meeting.

"I think the most important thing for the Village right now immediately is to assess our climate resilience is and what are we doing?" Hardaway said. "What have we done, what are we doing, and what will we do to protect the Village from the effects of severe weather damage, rain storms, tornadoes --  whatever comes along due to climate change when it comes along 20 or 30 years from now."

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation (S.6145/A.7986) Monday prohibiting the installation or covering of mercury-containing flooring in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools.

"No parent should have to fear their child will be exposed to mercury vapors at school," Cuomo said. "With this measure, New York is joining a small group of states that have taken this aggressive action to protect our children's health and safety."

Rensselaer, NY - With another winter season rapidly approaching, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) announced that New York’s electric system has enough capacity to meet forecasted demand for electricity and maintain necessary operating reserves during cold weather conditions through the 2019-20 winter season.

“Cold weather conditions over the past few winters have allowed the NYISO, the state and generators to improve coordination in order to maintain reliability,” said Wes Yeomans, Vice President of Operations for the New York Independent System Operator. “This year’s peak demand forecast is slightly lower than last winter and we anticipate having adequate supply throughout the 2019-20 winter.”

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced monday that an agreement with National Grid to immediately lift the current moratorium on gas service in Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn. National Grid has identified short-term supply mechanisms that will conservatively meet demand for approximately the next two years, allowing it to restore service to any customers that it had refused and grant all pending applications. National Grid will present a long-term options analysis within three months, subject to a public review process. The long-term options will be in place and functioning in Fall 2021.

To compensate customers who were adversely impacted by the moratorium, National Grid will pay a $36 million penalty. The penalty will also support new energy conservation measures and clean energy projects as directed by the Director of the New York State Division of the Budget in consultation with the Public Service Commission.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation Monday establishing a hate crimes recognition training program for local law enforcement (S.3909A.3606). This measure directs the Municipal Police Training Council to work alongside the New York State Division of Human Rights and Hate Crimes Task Force to develop, maintain and distribute policies and procedures ensuring local law enforcement are properly trained in recognizing and responding to hate crimes.

"Hatred has no place in New York State and we will continue taking aggressive measures to stamp out hate whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head," Cuomo said. "This measure will provide our law enforcement with the tools they need to identify and respond to hate crimes - moving us one step closer to a stronger, fairer and more inclusive Empire State for all."

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced that it made an award to Dandelion Energy in support of new drilling technology that will enable ground-source heat pumps (also called geothermal systems) to be installed faster than traditional equipment while reducing costs for homeowners by 20 percent. Increasing the use of clean heating and cooling technologies supports Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Green New Deal - the most aggressive climate and clean energy program in the nation – and New Efficiency: New York's 2025 energy efficiency target to reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to the energy annually consumed by 1.8 million homes.

Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA, said , "This new technology is a game-changer for the clean heating and cooling industry, and will significantly help scale up the number of homes using geothermal systems, which is critical to meeting Governor Cuomo's nation-leading clean energy goals. We applaud forward-thinking companies such as Dandelion for bringing their cost-effective and innovative solutions to the marketplace, expanding consumer options and helping us reduce harmful emissions and stewarding the environment for generations to come."

In a joint Lansing Planning Board/Agriculture Committee meeting Cornell Cooperative Extension Agriculture Program Leader Monika Roth asked for board input on specific lots that should be included or removed from Tompkins County Ag District 1. The Planning Board is currently considering a new Ag District that would encompass most of the northern half of the town, so the timing of the town and county deliberations somewhat aligns.

Roth said the only major addition is the 500 acre farm that was formerly known as Kingdom Farm, which spans between Peruville and Buck Roads. The farm had been removed from the Ag district, but when it was sold to another local farm owned by Dale Mattoon, plans for development were dropped. A few small farms in the south were discussed, as well with attention given to whether or not they are currently being actively farmed.

The Tompkins County Legislature's Public Safety Committee today passed and advanced to the full Legislature a detailed four-page proposed resolution that would call upon New York State to make needed changes to implement the State's sweeping new criminal justice reform measures, as of January 1st.

The measure indicates the County's general support of the principles behind criminal justice reform, but also that much needs to be done to put the reforms in place in an effective manner—including providing additional guidance to judges, as well as technical assistance and financial support to counties related to implementation of the new requirements.

Each year, when Planning Board members terms come to an end the Board recommends candidates for the vacating seats to the Town Board.  The Board voted Monday to recommend Planning Board member Dean Shea for a new seven year term, and alternate members Tom Butler and Dale Baker for additional one-year terms.  But not without controversy involving Shea and members of the public at a contentious public hearing at the end of March at which Emmons Road neighbors to a the Osmica Bed & Breakfast / Reception Venue project fiercely voiced their opposition to the project.

The incident occurred when Richard Van Emery's phone sounded an alarm while his wife, Trish (one of the most outspoken opponents to the Osmica project, which was subsequently approved) was addressing the Board.  Shea told him to turn off the phone, or to leave the room to deal with it.  But Van Emery, who is hearing-impaired, couldn't hear his phone, and didn't understand what Shea was saying.  The incident escalated even as another member of the public sought to help to Van Every.