Archive: News

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the completion of the state supported 50-mile unmanned traffic management drone corridor Tuesday. The corridor runs from Central New York to the Mohawk Valley. The first-in-the-nation corridor is the most advanced drone testing corridor in the nation. With the needed infrastructure now in place, companies will be able to test both unmanned aerial systems platforms and UTM technologies in real world settings, generating data that will inform the industry and regulators and taking us one step closer towards the routine commercial use of drones. The completion of the corridor advances the regions' collective strategy to accelerate and support emerging uses of UAS in key industries, including agriculture and forest management, transportation and logistics, media and film development, utilities and infrastructure and public safety. At the Syracuse International Airport, the Governor today also announced that the home of the innovative GENIUS NY UAS competition, the Tech Garden in Downtown Syracuse, will undergo a major expansion project to include the addition of two floors to the existing facility. The increased visibility and street-scape will serve as the anchor of the Syracuse's City Center Innovation Hub, a core component of the Syracuse Surge strategy, and will serve as the gateway to the "Innovation Alley" on Warren Street in Syracuse. Empire State Development is assisting the expansion project with up to $12.5 million made available through the regionally designed CNY Rising Upstate Revitalization Initiative plan.

"The completion of the 50-mile drone corridor is a groundbreaking achievement that caps a key strategy laid out in our CNY Rising plan to make Central New York and the Mohawk Valley a global center for UAS testing and innovation," Cuomo said. "Additionally, the Tech Garden expansion in Syracuse will further our efforts to draw forward-thinking industry entrepreneurs, including within the UAS industry, to the area ensuring the region continues to rise for decades to come."

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Tompkins County 2020 Budget Adopted
Concluding a process that began more than two months ago, the Tompkins County Legislature tonight adopted the County's 2020 Budget and the 2020-2024 Tompkins County Capital Program. The budget was approved by unanimous vote. There were no amendments to the Tentative Budget before adoption.

The $193.5 million budget, which includes $93.0 million in net local spending, increases the County tax levy by 2.75%. The tax rate of $6.31 per thousand is down by 10 cents (-1.70%) from 2019, representing an increase of $11.41 in the tax bill for the median-valued $190,000 county home. The levy increase falls below the County's tax cap of approximately 5.41%, as calculated by New York State.

Last month Sciencenter employees voted to unionize. Last Friday Sciencenter announced that the ballots of the October 24 election held at the Sciencenter by the National Labor Relations Board revealed that of the non-challenged voters who cast ballots, the vote was unanimous for staff to be represented by Workers United, SEIU.

"The Sciencenter management is pleased by the fact that nearly everyone who was eligible to vote did so," the announcement reads. "Now that the union has been certified, management looks forward to the next step of negotiating in good faith for a first collective bargaining agreement."

The New York State Police issued a total of 1,048 tickets statewide during special traffic enforcement details targeting motorists who drive recklessly through work zones. 'Operation Hardhat' is a joint initiative between State Police, the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Thruway Authority, to crack down on work zone violations and highlight the importance of safe driving when encountering construction, maintenance and emergency operations along state highways.

"Our first responders and highway workers are out every day for one reason - to ensure the rest of us can get where we need to go safely," Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said. "Please use common sense and put away smart phones, slow down and move over for those working on our roads. Those who drive recklessly and endanger others will be held accountable."

Citing the epidemic of veterans' suicide, New York State Senator Pam Helming has introduced legislation that would require coroners and medical examiners to count information regarding the veteran's status of anyone who takes his or her own life. Currently, coroners complete a death certificate after every unattended or suspicious passing. This new legislation would amend the form they currently complete to have them check off a box if the veteran's status of the decedent is known.

"We have an epidemic of veteran suicide facing our country and state. Yet, we still do not know just how big the problem is because of the difficulty gathering facts about this issue. Every time I visit a veterans' group anywhere in my district I hear about this problem. However, current law does not address this issue and there is not enough data available for lawmakers, veterans' advocates, public health officials, or community members to properly address the root causes of this problem. The data gathered using this new tool will be critical for the success of our anti-suicide efforts. We should and we must do more to honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans. This is just one small step forward, but together, we can end the veteran suicide crisis and ensure that those who have bravely served our country get the help and support they need to succeed," said Helming.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced an additional $5 million is available to support critical upgrades at New York's animal shelters. This is the third round of funding for the New York State Companion Animal Capital Fund, which will allow eligible organizations to make major improvements to their facilities to enhance animal care and health. A total of $15 million has been dedicated to the program since 2017.

"Over the last two years, this program has provided animal shelters with the funding needed to ensure New York's pets receive the care they need," Cuomo said. "Today's continued funding builds on the ongoing work to help expand the resources and tools these facilities, employees and volunteers need to help find pets loving homes."

The Village of Lansing Planning Board began considering an amendment to Village law that would regulate short term rentals (STR) such as Airbnb.  The discussion was prompted by several complaints by neighbors of an Airbnb home on Oakcrest Road, and then by a request by the owners to host events there (that was not approved).  The discussion focused on whether short term rentals should be subject to licensing, should be restricted in terms of how many days per year they are allowed, how a potential law could reasonably be enforced, safety, and how Airbnb-type rentals impact residential neighborhoods and interact with Village zoning.

"The biggest issue is preserving the character of the neighborhood for the people who live there and also understanding that this rental model is beloved and profitable," said Planning Board member Carolyn Greenwald. "There's a lot of benefit, but you have to preserve those neighborhoods as well. So that is the balance. That is what this is really about."

The Village of Lansing Planning board Monday approved a preliminary plat proposed by Beer properties, LLC for a project they are calling Lansing Village Cottages.  The proposed cluster development would be comprised of 38 rental duplex cottages on 41.19 of land between Craft Road and Bush Lane.  The project includes park lands, walking paths, and 4.56 acres of 'forever wild' land with paths that tenants can walk along. 

Two weeks ago a number of neighbors from Millcroft Road attended a public hearing to oppose the project, largely on the grounds of traffic, connecting their road to a new road in the Beers' development, and saying that they were restricted to conditions of the 'Millcroft Covenant' when they bought their homes, and now feel "betrayed" because the Covenant was removed from the Beer property that was originally to be future phases of the Millcroft development.  But Village Attorney William Troy advised that the covenant was a private agreement between the former developer and the homeowners, thus not under the jurisdiction of the Planning board.

State Police issued 21,467 tickets and arrested 280 people for impaired driving during the annual Halloween Enforcement Campaign, which began on October 25, 2019 and continued through Friday November 1, 2019. In addition, other law enforcement throughout the state issued 40,272 tickets for various traffic violations, including impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving, seat belt infractions and move over law violations. The enforcement campaign was funded by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.

"This effort ensured a safer Halloween by preventing the needless tragedies that are caused by those who choose to drive while impaired," said Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. "New York has zero tolerance for impaired drivers and, as the results of this campaign show, those who choose to drink and drive will be arrested."

According to the tallies from early voters and Election Day on Tuesday, Ed LaVigne (R)will serve a second term as Lansing Town Supervisor. Andra Benson (D) was also reelected, and newcomer Bronwyn Losey (D) will join the Town Board. Even though electronic voting has been instituted state-wide, the final count from this year's election will not be known for another week and a half or so. The reason is that votes coming by mail have not all arrived or been counted.

As it stands now incumbent Ed LaVigne (R) is 86 votes ahead of challenger Mike Koplinka-Loehr.  Andra Benson (D) and Bronwyn Losey (D) have the most votes for Town Council seats, with the spread between Losey and the next highest vote recipient, Judy Drake (R), is 93 votes.

Over the past several weeks, vandals have smashed out several glass panels at six TCAT bus shelters causing inconvenience to riders and costing TCAT thousands of dollars to repair.  The recent criminal activity is also prompting TCAT to delay replacing older shelters with more modernized structures to avoid the risk of the new shelters becoming targets.

"We are really looking forward to providing our riders with new and improved shelters, but we don't want to risk those being damaged as well," said TCAT project manager Megan Pulver, who is overseeing TCAT's shelter replacement plan. "This is a disappointing to our customers who rely on the shelters to protect them from the elements while waiting for their buses."