News Briefs:
Redmond taps Bloom her Deputy
(Feb. 27): In what was news to even one Town Board member, Enfield Supervisor Stephanie Redmond announced Friday during a broadcast interview her selection of Terry Bloom, owner and chef of Stone Bend Farm, as her Town’s new Deputy Supervisor.
“I’m excited to see what Terry brings to the table,” Redmond said on WHCU’s broadcast, “607 This Morning.”
“He’s got a great social network. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s got a lot of great ideas,” Redmond said of the Hines Road resident. “So I’m excited to see what comes in the next year.”
Bloom would succeed Greg Hutnik, Deputy Supervisor since 2023, but who is moving to Danby and will become ineligible to continue. Deputy Supervisor currently pays $5,464 annually.
Redmond had not disclosed her planned appointment prior to the broadcast. No mention was made at a Town Board meeting two nights earlier, nor had other Board members been told in advance by email.
“The deputy serves at the Supervisor’s will. That’s the law.” Councilperson Robert Lynch wrote other Board members and Town officers following the announcement. But “as a member of Enfield’s governing team, I believe better internal communication would serve us well.”
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Enfield Boosts Senior Exemption
(Feb. 25): Following the lead of Tompkins County and several adjacent towns, and racing to beat a state-imposed deadline, the Enfield Town Board Wednesday approved a newly-enhanced property tax exemption for lower-income older adults.
Existing Enfield law permits seniors earning less than $35,000 annually to claim a 50 percent reduction in property tax. The enhancement—taking advantage of a state law adopted last year—will provide up to a 65 percent exemption for older adults earning less than $32,000. Those with incomes between $32,000 and $35,000 would benefit on a sliding scale.
Applicants must file for the benefit by March 1.
All four Town Board members present February 25 enthusiastically supported the change. No one spoke against it at a public hearing. Resident Rosie Carpenter called the enhancement a “great idea,” yet still cautioned that benefiting seniors might come at a cost to younger residents, each of whom would need to pay slightly more.
“If people are younger,” Carpenter said, they might ask “Why come to Enfield to pay more tax?”
Before casting a vote, one Councilperson noted that if older residents can no longer afford their taxes, they move away and usually out of Enfield. We lose “neighbors and friends,” he said.
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Stars, Stripes, and Licenses
(Feb 22): On Friday, Feb 20, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, on his official letterhead, announced the “Pledge America Campaign,” a voluntary (it’s assured) effort to link broadcasters’ arms with President Trump’s “Salute to America 250 Task Force.”
Radio and TV stations can join, Carr said, “by airing patriotic, pro-America content that celebrates the American journey and inspires its citizens by highlighting the historic accomplishments of this great nation from our founding through the Trump Administration today.”
Yep, the Chairman had to throw his boss’s name in.
Bullet-pointed suggestions include, “starting each broadcast day with the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ or Pledge of Allegiance.”
There’s something unsettling about this. Many of us feel patriotic. We view America as the greatest nation on earth. But we don’t need some government agency tipping the scales about what we see and hear.
And yes, others stand among us. They speak to America’s Original Sin of racism; to slavery, persecution of Native peoples, and the legal injustices of today. In critics’ eyes, America is far from “great,” let alone exceptional. We’re imperfect, they say. We need work.
A “1776 Project” bias pervades the words of a man who would now impose the Equal Time Rule on late night comics, but not talkradio conservatives. Carr never said “MAGA.” He didn’t have to.
Better had Brendan Carr kept his mouth shut and his keyboard stilled. Broadcasters can hold a birthday party without his help. / RL
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Podunk Bridge for Sale
(Feb. 19): In what sounds a lot like the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) objections that stalled building deconstruction on the Center of Government site, the New York State Department of Transportation has ordered Tompkins County’s Highway Department to try to sell the steel-decked Podunk Road Bridge before it may cut it up for scrap and replace it.
“They deemed it, I guess you’d call it, partially historical,” Highway Director Nick Ensign informed a committee of the County Legislature February 19.
“A lot of us feel it’s not really historical, but some of them in New York State feel it is,” Ensign told the committee. “It’s right on the cusp.”
Tompkins County has plans set to replace the narrow, aging bridge in Ulysses as well as to smooth Podunk Road’s sharp curves that approach it. But the project’s on hold until the County first advertises for a possible buyer; someone who’d dismantle the structure, remove it, and reassemble it as a bridge somewhere else.
“It’s caused a very large delay in that project,” the Highway Director warned.
There’s another problem: safety. A re-inspection several months ago lowered the Podunk Bridge’s weight limit yet again.
“The next weight limit lowering will close the bridge,” Ensign said.
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County Senior Tax Break Tweaked
(Feb. 19): Taking advantage of a newly-revised state law, the Tompkins County Legislature Feb. 17 granted older homeowners with very low incomes a heightened exemption on their property taxes.
The adjustment approved by county legislators Tuesday would grant a 65 percent exemption on the county portion of tax bills so long as a senior’s adjusted annual income fell below $33,500. The state-allowed exemption has been 50 percent. Those with incomes between $33.500 and $35,500 will receive a partial added exemption.
The Enfield Town Board will consider a similar adjustment—with slightly different income limits—at a special meeting February 25.
Only Dryden’s Dan Wakeman voted against the change Tuesday. He never explained why.
Most notably, Ithaca legislator Judith Hubbard agonized aloud, admitting she was “still a little torn.” Hers was the Robin Hood dilemma:
“This kind of exemption is not free money,” Hubbard pointed out. “It’s a transfer of tax burden from one group to another group,” in this instance to young families with mortgages and day care to pay.
Suggesting she was surprising her colleagues, Hubbard decided to support the change, in part concluding it would help seniors stay in their homes and thus save public funds.
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As goes NYC, so us, too?
(Feb. 15): Newly-elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, according to news reports, has made construction of public bathrooms a priority. And what’s happening down there could soon be echoed up here.
The lack of public bathrooms is a “manifestation of economic inequality,” Mamdani told CNN.
The 34-year old democratic socialist mayor has pledged $4 Million to build 20 to 30 modular public toilets in a city where there’s just one public restroom for every 8,500 residents.
In Ithaca, fellow progressive Veronica Pillar is making similar moves, the progressive Tompkins County legislator calling for public restrooms—and also drinking fountains—to find their way into the $64 Million Center of Government design.
“I know it takes maintenance and I know that it’s added work,” Pillar acknowledged at a design meeting in December. But “if we’re going to be constructing anyway,” she said, why not “fill some needs that are significant, but not that hard to fill, even if they’re technically outside the mission of building a building to do direct government departmental work?”
No decisions been made on public bathrooms yet.
Pillar noted the Center of Government would mark the “biggest downtown construction project that is ostensibly in the public interest since the Commons redesign.” Of course, that $15 Million dollar investment last decade didn’t include public bathrooms either.
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Halseyville Road stays 55
(Feb. 13): Speed limits save lives. Sadly, once again, those at New York’s Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) don’t get the message.
In a letter February 6, the Regional Traffic Engineer for NYSDOT rejected the Town of Enfield’s June 2025 request to consider lowering the speed limit on Halseyville Road from the state maximum of 55 MPH to maybe 45 MPH.
In what had been an even longer reach by the town, NYSDOT also rejected Enfield’s appeal to reduce speeds on the lightly-traveled, gravel-based Tucker Road.
The Regional Engineer, Scott Bates gave the counter-intuitive, cookie-cutter reason he’s used before to explain why Halseyville’s speed shouldn’t be cut.
“The 85th percentile speed on this section of Halseyville Road supports the current speed limit of 55 mph,” Bates wrote Enfield. “The 85th percentile is the speed at which drivers will drive under free-flowing conditions and is used to set the speed limit at a safe speed, minimize crashes, and promote uniform traffic flow.”
Better put: Let the inmates—or in this case, reckless drivers—run the asylum.
“I’ve seen children crossing the road to school buses and hoping to God that (they don’t get hit),” Councilperson Cassandra Hinkle said of Halseyville Road’s dangers at last June’s meeting.
This Councilperson has suggested Enfield urge New York let towns set local limits, rather than have to go begging to the state. But others, including Highway Superintendent Barry Rollins, have questioned such an initiative. / RL
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Delgado exits Governor’s race
(Feb. 10): Governor Kathy Hochul can forget this year about a challenge from the Left.
Four days after a Democratic Party convention resoundingly endorsed incumbent Hochul for reelection, her lone potential intra-party challenger, Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, abandoned plans to wage a primary fight.
Multiple media reported Tuesday that Delgado had ended his campaign, the sitting Lt. Governor citing a lack of a “viable path forward.”
“Though my campaign has come to an end, I fully intend to do all I can in our effort to build a more humane, affordable and equitable state that serves all New Yorkers,” Delgado said in a statement. Delgado, a former Hudson valley Congressman, pledged to support Democrats in their efforts to oppose President Trump.
Initial reports failed to indicate Delgado’s specific endorsement of Hochul.
Antonio Delgado, African-American, launched his challenge to Hochul’s reelection last year. Since then, he’s performed little more than ceremonial duties in Albany, Hochul reportedly having stripped him of his staff.
As recently as Friday, Feb. 6, Delgado had promised to crisscross the state with his running mate, India Walton, to gather petition signatures for a primary bid. That might have brought him to Ithaca, where progressives had earlier signaled their support.
“I do not make this decision lightly, particularly given that so many have poured their belief into our campaign and are desperate to be given a voice,” Delgado stated.
Delgado’s exit leaves only Hochul and Long Island Republican Bruce Blakeman in the Governor’s race.
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Coronations This Time?
(Feb. 10): Two-term New York State Senator Lea Webb announced her expected run for reelection Saturday, February 7. That’s really not news. Nor is the fact that Tompkins County’s Assemblymember, Anna Kelles, has likewise filed with the New York State Board of Elections for another term.
The news could be that both Democratic Party incumbents may cruise toward reelection without Republican opposition.
Petitioning for party designations begins February 24. But with that date just two weeks away, Board of Elections filings indicate the GOP has yet to identify a candidate for either office.
Two years ago, Lansing Tompkins County legislator Mike Sigler ran as the Republican against Webb. Sigler lost to the Binghamton Democrat; Webb receiving 57.4 percent of the vote, Sigler 42.6 percent. Webb won the heavily-Democrat-favored Tompkins County handily, carried her home county of Broome just barely, and lost to Sigler in Cortland County, the three counties that comprise the 52nd District.
Mike Sigler has given no indication so far that he wants a rematch.
Kelles’ seat is even more secure for the Democrats than is Senator Webb’s. The Ithaca Democrat faced no opposition in 2024 or 2022. This year may prove the same.
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Unforced Error
(Feb. 7): I guess Donald Trump can’t help himself. Bullets keep piercing his foot.
All have now learned of the crude, insensitive meme video reposted on our President’s Truth Social page in recent days, the one in which AI-generated images depict President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama as primates. It should rightly offend anyone with common decency. It yielded our President no benefit. I guess Trump or someone he works with thought it funny.
A few media outlets have shown the depiction. I will not. I prefer a classier photo.
A decade or two ago, a Rochester talk show host lost his job after thoughtlessly comparing his city’s African-American mayor with an orangutan that had escaped the zoo. His was a hard lesson to learn. Our President hasn’t learned it.
I’m a local political leader, albeit in a tiny, rural town. But because of the position I hold, I sense an obligation to answer to a higher standard: Think before speaking or writing; guard against impulse; respect sensibilities; and travel the High Road, especially when the gutter tempts one’s detour.
Political criticism has its place. But what got attributed to our President’s digits and desires that night stood devoid of meaningful purpose. It was cheap. It was childish. It inflicted pain. It invited shame.
And for those among us who support President Trump and his policies, it set you back. / RL
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Trump Endorses Oberacker, Blasts Riley
(Feb. 7): For Republican Congressional aspirant Peter Oberacker, it could be an asset or a liability, depending on who’s listening.
On his Truth Social platform February 4, President Donald Trump endorsed State Senator Oberacker in his bid to unseat incumbent NY-19 District Congressman Josh Riley. Trump blasted Riley with predictable insults in the process.
Josh Riley is “a true Radical Left Extremist who does not represent the Values of Central New York,” the President posted. “Josh Riley wants Open Borders, Men playing in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, Defund the Police, and wants to take away your Second Amendment, meaning, your guns,” Trump stated.
Yes, there’s a “cookie-cutter” nature to all of this. One wonders how many other Democratic incumbents get similar treatment. Does Donald Trump even know Josh Riley?
Trump’s tweet lauded Senator Oberacker as “a very successful ‘Meat Maker’ Businessman, Dedicated Public Servant, and now, as State Senator, who has strongly served his community with a career ‘loaded up’ with accolades and wins.” By “Meat Maker,” Trump likely refers to Oberacker’s agri-business background.
Had Trump not endorsed Oberacker, that would have been the surprise. The senator has no competitive GOP primary opponent in the NY-19 congressional contest. / RL
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No Free Lunch, Enfield
(Feb.6): To the passerby, the concrete culvert carrying Rumsey Hill Road over an (unnamed) creek doesn’t look that bad. But roadway experts may soon demand its replacement.
Toward that end, and at Supervisor Stephanie Redmond’s request, the Enfield Town Board in January authorized application for a New York State Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant that if approved, would cover 80 percent of the culvert replacement’s cost.
The money won’t be coming. In an email February 5, the Department of Transportation rejected Enfield’s request.
“Based on our pre-review, the proposed culvert replacement project is ineligible as written,” the DOT’s Ike Achufusi wrote the Supervisor.
Redmond had argued for funding on grounds the culvert would “improve safety, accessibility for pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles, support emergency response, and connect to the Finger Lakes Trail, Stevenson Preserve, and other community amenities.” In essence, the replacement would benefit more than just cars.
But DOT thought differently: “TAP eligible projects are ones where pedestrians or bicycle improvements are the primary purpose,” Achufusi stated. “This project seems to describe incidental use by non-motorized travelers and does not meet the eligibility requirements.”
Redmond pegged culvert replacement at $2.5 Million, perhaps a bit high. No decision’s been made on how soon the work need occur.
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Party Brass Nominates Hochul
(Note: This story has been updated with announcement of Delgado’s withdrawal.)
(Feb. 6): Surprising perhaps only by its margin, New York’s Democratic leaders, at a convention in Syracuse Friday, nominated Governor Kathy Hochul for reelection, and tapped her recently-chosen running mate, former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, for Lieutenant governor.
A tally of the weighted vote awarded Hochul and Adams 85.3 percent support, Hochul’s intra-party challenger, Antonio Delgado and his chosen running mate, India Walton, secured only 14.7 percent.
Having failed to reach the 25 percent convention threshold, Delgado and Walton must petition for the June primary. Hochul and Adams don’t need to.
But Delgado promises to stay in the race.
“The millions of people I talk to, not folks on the inside of politics, are hungry for change,” Delgado told reporters, according to City & State.
Delgado, the sitting Lieutenant Governor and a former Hudson Valley Congressman, is running to the left of Hochul and promises to crisscross the state gathering signatures.
Delgado holds support within the Ithaca progressive community. Expect local liberals to petition on his behalf.
Hochul’s nomination by party leaders February 6—the convention largely a coronation—followed one day after Hochul’s endorsement by progressive New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a move seen as a blow to Delgado’s prospects.
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New Enfield Cell Tower Sketched
(Feb. 4): It wouldn’t improve cell service. It would just save Verizon some money.
And developers of a newly-proposed, 195-foot communications tower off Van Dorn Road admitted as much as they brought their initial “sketch plan” drawings before the Enfield Planning Board February 4.
“Rent is increasing and increasing; the rent becomes just crazy,” Tony Phillips of Kendall Communications, a promoter for the new structure, told planners Wednesday.
The new tower at 217 Van Dorn Road North would stand just two-tenths mile from an existing tower where Verizon now locates. But the current tower’s owner keeps jacking up the rent. And Phillips describes his plan as part of Verizon’s “High Rent Relocation Program.”
Enfield planners voiced concerns, in part about the tiny, 100-foot square proposed lot, beyond which the tower might fall, They also don’t like its close proximity to the road.
“I think we’re going to get a lot of pushback from the public, given the location of it and proximity to other houses,” Board Chair Dan Walker predicted.
“It’s all financial. It’s not like the Town’s going to get any benefit,” Board member Rich Teeter remarked.
Plans may advance to the next stage come March, or more likely, April. A public hearing would follow.
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Black: ICE “vicious and vengeful”
(Feb. 3): In her strongest words to date, Tompkins County Legislature Chair Shawna Black Tuesday put herself—and by inference, all 15 colleagues—at odds with the Trump Administration’s deportation practices.
Addressing the February 3 meeting with her Chair’s report, Black, masked, paused to acknowledge the killing of Renee Good and Ales Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. She then said:
“While these incidents did not occur in Tompkins County, they have had a profound impact here because they were connected to federal immigration enforcement activities and have raised fear and concern in many communities across the region and the country.”
Black continued: “Particularly in our county, we realize that ICE can appear without notice. We stand firm with resolve that we will protect those that need protecting however unpredictable, vicious and vengeful actions on behalf of our federal government put us all at risk.”
“We also know that it’s not a matter of if it will happen, but probably when it will happen,” Black said as to the prospects of a Minneapolis-style crackdown coming here.
Unlike at the Legislature’s two prior meetings, few from the public attended Tuesday’s session. The meeting was short, its business routine, and no action was taken to address Shawna Black’s concerns. Legislators meet again February 17.
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