Archive: Opinions

EditorialLansing saw a number of 'firsts' in 2008.  In his first year Town Supervisor Scott Pinney immediately set out to keep promises he made during his campaign.  New School Superintendent Stephen Grimm also made his mark in his first year, getting a difficult budget passed even though it meant painful cuts, plus crafting two capital projects that will not cost taxpayers even an additional dollar.  And this was the first year Lansing had an official public library.

New sewer in Lansing had its ups and downs.  The one active sewer project on Warren Road was going great guns until it got to the State Comptroller's office, where it got mired in some bureaucrat's in-box.  This was largely because of the high cost to businesses in the new sewer district, despite the fact that everyone in the district wanted the sewer, is willing to pay the cost, the project has County support, and some in the new district had begged the Town to expedite the project.

Meanwhile, Town officials were trying to get more than $4 million in bond act money to put toward a stand-alone sewer treatment plant that could have meant affordable sewer in the 'town center' portion of Lansing, and for the schools and lakefront neighborhoods that really need it.  But, in a major blow to the Town, DEC (New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation) officials nixed the idea, and refused the Town $1.5 million of reimbursement  for engineering costs on the project that failed because it would have been too expensive.

There were hot button issues in the Town, and the School District as usual, and a cadre of Lansing people against the library continued to oppose it.  Even in the usually calm Fire District waters, some questioned the sale of land in the Village of Lansing.  The Village or Lansing was comparatively  sanguine, taking it in stride when the Route 13/Triphammer Road bridge was hit by an overloaded truck.

It was a landmark year for landmarks.  The Rogues Harbor Inn reopened its nineteenth century ballroom after it had been closed to the public for decades.  The opening event  was a party celebrating the repeal of prohibition, something the rogues at the inn never really recognized.  The inn (and the ballroom) were built in 1830.  That same year a barn was erected next to what is now the Elizabeth restaurant.  That suffered a much less joyous event this year when it burned to the ground.  And at Myers Park the Lansing Lions Club dedicated the band stand it had built to the Town.

There is no way to encapsulate everything that Lansing people did in 2008 -- that would take a book, not one issue of a newspaper!  But I hope you will enjoy the highlights in this issue, and that you will have fun voting on the top stories of the year.

I always enjoy this retrospective issue, because seeing events of a year in narrative form put the stories I have covered individually in context.  Sometimes that context is unexpected, sometimes it is predictable.  But it always shows how fascinating the people who live here are.

Here's a New Year's toast to everyone in Lansing, New York.  May all the news in 2009 be good news!

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