Archive: News

In 2010 Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill said that about 40 deer were killed in auto collisions in the Village the previous year.  Monday he said there have been none.  That is one of the impacts of the Village's deer population control hunt, which is entering its 13th year.  But Cornell University Department of Natural Resources Dr. Bernd Blossey, who runs the hunt for the Village of Lansing, Cornell University, and a few other local municipalities, says there is still work to be done to reduce the local herd to sustainable levels.  But Cornell University Department of Natural Resources' Dr. Bernd Blossey, who manages the Village of Lansing program said there is more to do.

"If you didn't do this as a maintenance job every single year, you would be going back to where you were in a couple of years," Blossey said. "That's the experience whenever people have tried to stop the programs.  When we look at the ability of plants and forest trees to grow, it has improved, but it is far from where you would like it to be.  Without protection you're not going to get an oak to grow here.  People report they are seeing plants in their yards that they haven't seen.  Ash is growing better.  That's fine, but it's nowhere near where you should be."

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced Wednesday the launch of the second phase of its multi-year Home Energy Rating Pilot (Pilot) initially launched in February. Tompkins County is among three communities where Pearl Home Certification will be available. NYSERDA is seeking applications from licensed home inspectors to deliver home energy ratings during pre-purchase inspections to support homebuyer remodeling of a newly purchased one- to four-family home.

Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA, “Reducing energy use in homes provides a foundation for greater statewide energy savings and advances us another step towards meeting Governor Cuomo’s energy efficiency target by 2025. Piloting home energy ratings with home inspectors offers New York homebuyers access to a useful and informative tool that will identify energy efficient needs, features and upgrade opportunities to inform future remodeling decisions that will help them lower energy costs and increase the comfort of their homes.”

Developers Steve and Rocco Lucente were set to build an apartment building plus a community center in the current construction season.  Along with Steve's father they had a Planned Development Area (PDA) that included two different projects.  Steve and Rocco developed Village Solars on a portion of the property, and Steve's father had his own apartment development on the other portion.  The community building was sized for the Village Solars tenants' use.  But in March of 2018 Steve's father died.  That opened an opportunity for Village Solars to acquire that property from the estate and his step-mother and merge it into their project.  That would raise the potential population of their project, which prompted them to envision a larger community building that would be more than adequate to support the additional renters.  So they asked the Town for a waiver that would allow them to postpone building the community center for a year while the complicated estate is unraveled so their offer on the property could be considered.  They were forced to defend the request at Wednesday's Town Board meeting.

"It may look disorganized to some people," Steve Lucente said. "But join us at some of these meetings and see the complexity of what's going on.  The market has already decided. We are number one.  We've turned the entire Northeast (portion of Lansing) upside down. We've made history.  We're providing affordable housing that is spectacular."

The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) was informed that a release from the Cayuga Heights Wastewater Treatment Plant at 951 East Shore Drive was discovered late Wednesday night. The discharge was stopped by approximately 3:30 a.m. this morning. It is estimated that approximately 1000 gallons of supernatant was released from the sludge digestors at the plant. Supernatant is the liquid over the settled solids in the digestors.

The liquid was observed in the roadway ditch flowing south before entering a culvert. The Village of Cayuga Heights is working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) on cleanup of the ditch. Cayuga Heights reported that the NYSDEC saw no evidence of a plume where the culvert entered Cayuga Lake.

The Tompkins County Health Department wants members of the public who could be drinking untreated water or who swim in the lake to be aware of the discharge.

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Senator Pam Helming announced Wednesday that several measures aimed to expand protections for victims of domestic violence have been signed into law. With Senator Helming's support and advocacy, these measures passed the New York State Senate during the 2019 Legislative Session.

These measures include: S.1243B/A.4467A Allows domestic violence victims to report abuse to any law enforcement agency in New York State, regardless of where the act took place. This legislation breaks down barriers that prevent the abuse from being reported.

US Congressman Tom Reed visited the Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport Wednesday to highlight a $10 million federal investment into the $24.7 million construction project.  Reed met airport officials, contractors, and construction workers on an extensive tour of the major renovation.  Airport Deputy Director of Operations and Airport Fire Department Chief Josh Nalley and Airport Manager Mike Hall led a tour to show Reed the new check-in area, gates and security areas, baggage handling, and office space for up to six airlines.

"It's great to be at the Ithaca Airport today to see first hand this federal investment of close to $10 million dollars, to see how its going to benefit the community," Reed said. "This is a great team. It's a great example of people working together for the betterment of the community."

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The Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport is going to need a new sign next year that changes 'Regional' to 'International'.  That is becomes a new federal customs facility is part of the Airport Expansion and Rehabilitation project.  Airport Manager Mike Hall says the new capability will enhance local firms that already do world-wide business, and that he is negotiating to bring Ithaca's first commercial international flights to Tompkins County.

"I think it's important to understand the business aircraft community, there are a lot of companies that use general aviation to fill in the granularity of air service," Hall said Wednesday. "For example, commercial air service from the airport will always be to a hub.  If you don't happen to be going to a hub, but you've got a facility like Borg Warner does in smaller communities in Canada, and what have you, they choose to fly their airplane, which is a Cessna Citation, internationally to support that business."

The Town of Lansing (outside of the Village) has two traffic signals.  The one at the T-intersection of East Shore Drive (NYS Route 34) and Ridge Road (NYS Route 34B) had red/yellow/green traffic signals, while the one where Peruville Road (34B) crosses Triphammer Road flashed red at a four-way-stop intersection.  A change to red/yellow/green signals at the Triphammer intersection had been hinted at by town officials for years, but nothing happened.  Last year hefty looking poles were erected.  But no lights.  Townspeople wondered whether there would really be new traffic lights.  Elementary, my dear townspeople... construction this week has solved the mystery.

"The projects -- which are part of a statewide signal contract including work in other areas of the state -- were planned to take two constructions seasons, with pole installation last fall and signal installation and activation this summer," says New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Public Information Officer Curtis Jetter.

New York state paid more than $100 million in duplicate payments to managed care organizations (MCOs) for premiums over a more than four year period, according to an audit released Thursday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“System flaws and incorrect or incomplete information have caused duplicate Medicaid premium payments for a long time,” DiNapoli said. “The Department of Health needs to do a better job coordinating with all stakeholders in the Medicaid system to eliminate this waste, improve efficiency and streamline communication.”

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation (S.6388/A.7788) Wednesday extending the driver license suspension process for two years to further enforce child support obligations. This highly successful enforcement process allows the child support program to identify parents with a driver's license who fail to pay child support and then notify them that their driving privileges will be suspended unless child support payments are made. The bill will extend this important law through August 31, 2021.

"Child support is critical to ensuring kids of separated parents have the resources they need for a healthy and stable upbringing," Cuomo said. "By extending this measure, we will help hold accountable any adult who fails to meet this basic obligation by suspending their driver's license until they step up and address the problem."

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Wednesday that the landmark Child Victims Act has gone into effect. Under this measure, individuals who have experienced sex abuse are now able to bring a lawsuit against their abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred. Survivors whose claims have been time-barred are now given a one-year window to have their day in court. Cuomo signed the bill in February 2019, accomplishing a key component of the Governor's Justice Agenda.

"Child sexual abuse is a real epidemic. It's been in the corners and in the shadows, but it is much more widespread than people want to admit," Cuomo said. "The Child Victims Act says if you were sexually abused as a child, you have a right to justice and to make your case. Children have legal rights, and if you abuse a child, you're going to have your day in court and you're going to be called to answer for it."

New York State public and charter schools, with a combined student population of nearly 2.7 million, reported more than 32,000 violent and disruptive incidents in the 2017-18 school year (SY), including assaults, bomb threats and sexual offenses, according to a report released Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

"Violence of any kind has no place in our schools and the public rightly demands that school officials take the necessary steps to protect all students and faculty from threats," DiNapoli said. "In order to learn effectively, students need to feel safe. Sadly, many students and faculty are confronted with violent and disruptive activity on a regular basis. My office recently completed a series of audits looking at the programs New York has in place to keep our school children out of harm's way. We found much work needs to be done. We will continue to examine and report on the issues that most affect New York's schools and education."