News Briefs:
April 2026
Ostlund: EMS Report “Sloppy”
(April 29): It was months late and cost local taxpayers $48,000 to prepare. But a 118-page consultant’s report evaluating local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers and recommending future changes finally reached a Tompkins County legislative committee this week. And one committee member has issues with it.
“When I was reading it, it looked like there were a lot of errors that were still in it,” Ulysses-Enfield representative Rachel Ostlund complained April 28 of the Center for Governmental Research (CGR) report.
There were “typos, sentences that were started and not finished,” Ostlund informed the Public Safety Committee. “They spelled Tompkins wrong.”
More substantively, Ostlund critiqued, the report failed to recognize that her district’s Trumansburg Ambulance service contracts to serve municipalities outside of Tompkins County. And the report wrongly stated that the county’s Rapid Medical Response (RMR) program, a predicted cornerstone for future EMS expansion, had “sunset” at the end of last year. It hadn’t.
“Other parts of the report seemed really useful and had I think really good pieces of information,” Ostlund credited the CGR study. “My concern is that when these really good pieces of information are kind of couched in something that looks sloppy, it’s going to be hard to hold it up as a document that people can really trust,” Ostlund reasoned.
Director of Emergency Response Michael Stitley acknowledged the flaws. He said he’s alerted CGR to them, but was heard off-camera describing CGR’s effort as “disappointing.”
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Portelli’s on-and-off Candidacy
(Update; Apr. 26): Posting on social media, Alex Portelli now claims the New York State Board of Elections has rejected objections to his placement on the ballot, and that he’s assured a position in the June Republican Congressional Primary. Details will follow. / RL
(Apr. 25): Challenges to insurgent candidate Alex Portelli’s Republican run for Congress in our local NY-19 district could end not only his own candidacy, but also the prospect of Tompkins County holding many, if any June primaries this year.
According to media reports, the New York State Board of Elections has found enough invalid ballot petition signatures to prevent Portelli from meeting the 1,250 signature threshold, pending further hearings.
Portelli, best known for his creative, AI-generated campaign ads and his promise to kick NYSEG out of New York State, not only faces objections to of his petition signatures, but also allegations of fraud by a Columbia County resident. The New York State Board of Elections must resolve the challenges by April 29.
If Portelli loses ballot placement, the party favorite, State Senator Peter Oberacker, wins the Republican congressional nomination by default.
Democratic Congressman Josh Riley faces no intra-party challenge in NY-19. Local State Senate and Assembly candidates also run unopposed within their respective parties. Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne and County Clerk aspirant Rachel Graham likewise face no party opponents.
No opposition means no primary. As one local elected leader famously remarked a few years back, elections officials may be sitting around June 23 “eating bon-bons.”
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Crisis Center’s Second Act
(Apr. 23): Although it was never sold that way, Tompkins County’s much-heralded, but problem-fraught Community Recovery Fund came to an end this week. And it ended with Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) forfeiting a $1.5 Million award, the fund’s largest, which would have opened a Crisis Stabilization Center to treat mental illness and substance abuse.
“It’s just a timing issue,” legislator Deborah Dawson explained April 21. The Recovery Fund’s underlying American Rescue Plan (ARPA) support faces a year-end spending deadline, and state regulatory entanglements block Cayuga Medical’s permission to proceed.
Yet legislators expressed bipartisan intent at Tuesday’s meeting to fund the stabilization center with local tax dollars once CMC clears away the bureaucratic obstacles.
Legislature Chair Shawna Black described crisis stabilization as “the one missing piece” to local treatment, adding that “once the licensure has been secured by Cayuga Medical, it’s the assumption that we would move forward with making that commitment to that project.”
“I don’t want people to think that we’re backing away from that commitment,” Republican Mike Sigler agreed.
Just how a private non-profit, CMC, could legally spend public funds apart from the ARPA program never gets explained.
To prevent a federal clawback, legislators unanimously voted to repurpose more than $1.6 Million in ARPA proceeds on internal needs like staff salaries and software subscriptions.
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A Bridge Nobody Wants
(Apr. 23): The quaint, metal-decked and marginally historic Podunk Road Bridge in Ulysses has been closed since March 12 and or orders from the state. NYSDOT rendered the bridge no longer safe. Tompkins County has a $3.5 Million replacement planned, but can’t move ahead until two state agencies consent.
At a committee meeting April 16, its information conveyed to the full Tompkins County Legislature five days later, Highway Director Nick Ensign reported that it offered the old bridge free for the taking as the State Transportation Department had required. No takers.
“We marketed the bridge for 30 days. We didn’t end up getting any offers,” Ensign advised the Facilities and Infrastructure Committee.
But a separate state agency, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), must also sign off. SHPO’s known for being slow and nit-picky.
“Any feeling as to how long that is going to take?” legislator Randy Brown asked Ensign in committee.
“Well, no,” the Highway Director answered. “Too long,” Brown reacted.
“I’ve gotten quite a few complaints about the bridge being closed,” Brown told Ensign, “because it is… really a shortcut for a lot of people coming out of T-Burg.”
Ensign said, bureaucracy willing, he still plans to open the replacement bridge by fall 2027.
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Roger Lauper: 1951-2026
(Apr. 21): Enfield lost a hero last week.
Roger C. Lauper, a more than 50-year member of the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC), its long-time line officer and former EVFC Fire Chief, died April 15 following a long illness.
Not only was Roger a leader in the community. Not only did his efforts save lives and encourage others to join him in doing so. But this ex-Marine and former Department of Corrections employee was a good man. I knew him. He will be missed.
From Roger’s obituary:
“Roger taught others to do a good job—and the right thing—for its own sake. He led by example and served his country, community, and family wholeheartedly.
“As a first responder, Roger helped people at vehicle accidents, health crises, and fires at all hours and in all conditions. He volunteered to be there for people in their worst, most vulnerable, and sometimes last moments.”
Roger Lauper is survived by his wife of 50 years, Doreen, as well as by children and grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life for Roger will be held May 16, from 2:00 until 4:00 pm at the EVFC fire station. Please join us. / RL
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As goes T.C., so goes T-Burg
(Apr. 19): First the City of Ithaca severed its ties with Flock Safety. Then the Tompkins County Legislature voted April 14 to do the same. Now the Village of Trumansburg, which also utilizes Flock’s license plate reading cameras, will likely allow its service to wither on the vine.
At a meeting held one night before the County Legislature acted, the Trumansburg Village Board agreed by consensus—no vote was taken—not to renew Flock’s 3-year contract by the August deadline the company’s set.
Unlike the heightened concerns over civil liberties and immigrant rights voiced at City and County meetings, the Trumansburg discussions April 13 were remarkably low-key; pragmatic, not ideological.
“Chief (Joe) Nelson and I have been talking, and it’s not really to our benefit to continue with the contract,” Police Commissioner and Village Trustee Jhoanna Haynes told the Board. “We’ve benefited very little from the use of that,” Haynes said of Flock. “I think they’ve used it twice in the two years that we’ve had it.”
“My personal opinion is that if the chief is recommending that we don’t renew it, then we don’t renew it.,” Mayor Rordan Hart stated.
Village officials additionally said there’s no assurance the $30,000 state grant that funded T-burg Flock service will itself get renewed.
Flock in T-burg is contracted to run through August 2027. Hart would leave it to Chief Nelson whether to continue using the service until then.
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Ithaca BOE Splits on Budget
(Apr. 14): With no votes to spare, the Ithaca Board of Education Tuesday approved and passed on to voters a proposed $177.6 Million 2026-27 District Budget, one that would raise spending by just over five percent and hike the tax levy by 3.4 percent.
The school board also April 14 authorized tapping up to $1.5 Million for emergency repairs at Cayuga Heights Elementary School, the building hard hit by flash flooding March 31.
The budget discussion proved the more contentious. After nearly 90-minutes of often-meandering fiscal hair-splitting, the board could muster only five votes, a bare majority, to support the spending plan.
Member Todd Fox dissented, arguing for no more than a three percent levy rise. Colleagues Adam Krantweiss, Emily Workman, and Jacob Shiffrin abstained, Krantweiss leading the argument that spending cuts hadn’t been adequately examined and that the budget process lacked “collective input.”
Pushing back, budget supporter Erin Croyle called Krantweiss’ objections a “canned speech.”
The proposed 3.4 percent levy hike falls about in the middle of options the board has considered of late. School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown had initially sought a 4.18 percent levy rise, equal to this year’s state tax cap. Other, rejected options would have restricted the increase to as low as 2.18 percent.
District officials admitted the $1.5 Million set-aside for Cayuga Heights may be more than what’s needed to clean things up. Fox said he’d been told the damage was ”mostly cosmetic, nothing structural.”
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Faster Farewell to Flock
(Apr. 14): With all attending Democrats voting in favor, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday made good on its promise of one week earlier to terminate its contract with Flock Safety and remove the license plate reading cameras from local roadsides in little more than a month.
The 12-1 vote came at a special meeting April 14, one week before the next regularly-scheduled session, one at which the termination vote had first been planned.
By moving up the decision, the Legislature precluded Flock’s public supporters from making their case. Special sessions don’t allow public comment.
Civil liberties and immigrant rights advocates have repeatedly called for the removal of Flock cameras. But law enforcement has maintained the devices prevent crime and save lives.
“We made Sheriff (Derek) Osborne’s job very, very hard whenever we decided against the Flock cameras,” Legislature Chair Shawna Black acknowledged at Tuesday’s session.
“And so I want to apologize for taking away one of your tools,” Black told the Sheriff. “I know that it was effective at times, and Derek was about to kill me a few weeks ago,” Black said in jest. “But I think we’re friends again.”
Only Newfield’s Randy Brown opposed Tuesday’s action. A second legislative Republican, Lee Shurtleff, didn’t attend, and the third, Mike Sigler, joined remotely but wasn’t permitted to vote.
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School Damage could reach $1.5 Million
(Apr. 13): The March 31 flood damage at Cayuga Heights Elementary School could reach as high as $1.5 Million, according to an emergency resolution now posted for action at the Ithaca Board of Education’s April 14 meeting.
Cayuga Heights Elementary is open, but much of its ground floor is closed off and torn up, as contractors undertake remediation.
School officials had already warned that repairs could exceed the school district’s $500,000 insurance policy on the building. Board members last Thursday speculated work could cost several hundred thousand dollars above insurance reimbursement, but didn’t offer an exact figure.
Then Sunday, the district posted with this week’s agenda a resolution stating, “that it is in the best interest of the District to utilize up to $1.5 million that is currently housed in the District’s unappropriated fund balance of the 2025-2026 budget to cover the cost of any remediation work that is necessary to repair the water damage at Cayuga Heights Elementary School,” the resolution recognizing that insurance would cover the first half-million.
District officials blame the flooding on a rush of water from a hill behind the school during the late-March flash flood that dumped at least two inches of rain locally within minutes.
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CMC’s Dollar Dead-End
(Update; Apr. 15): At its meeting April 15, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee redirected the American Rescue Plan funding reassignment to the County Legislature’s Budget, Capital and Personnel Committee. The Budget Committee next meets May 11.
(Apr. 12): It never struck some as right: Why should a rich hospital, Cayuga Medical Center (CMC), go to the head of the line and snag the largest grant, $1.5 Million, from Tompkins County’s $6.5 Million Community Recovery Fund, moneys drawn from Washington’s post-COVID American Rescue Plan (ARPA).
Cayuga Medical Center’s troubled quest to secure that money will likely end this month, and end in failure.
A resolution set for action by a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature April 15 would repurpose Cayuga Medical’s funding for a grab-bag of unglamorous uses, things like paying accountant’s fees and buying subscriptions to Microsoft 365.
The hospital corporation had hoped to invest its $1.5 Million to open a Crisis Stabilization Center, most recently at the former Alcohol and Drug Council building on North Triphammer Road. But the Council, itself, went defunct, CMC couldn’t gain clear title to the building, and state bureaucrats proved annoyingly unhelpful.
The County must act fast, since ARPA funds not spent by year’s end get clawed back by Uncle Sam.
Couldn’t the $1.5 Million be better redirected to local projects like building a mental health wing at the Enfield Community Center?
No, answered one deputy administrator earlier this month. If an agency wasn’t an original Recovery Fund grantee, it can’t claim funding now, she said.
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Ithaca, Parking and Old People
(Apr. 10): The city that removed your friendly, coin-fed parking meters a few years ago now plans to retire the complicated machines that took their place.
In a memo from Acting Ithaca City Manager Dominick Recckio—aired at Common Council Wednesday, April 8 without anyone taking a vote—Recckio has directed that, “Physical pay stations are being phased out and will be removed throughout the paid parking areas in the coming months.”
The plan is for everyone to pay using a smartphone app or the Internet.
“This is like kind of a nice little microcosm of one of the things that’s really working quite well about the approach that Acting City Manager Recckio is bringing to the city,” Mayor Robert Cantelmo described the change in a radio interview (WHCU) the next morning. Yes, those were his words.
Cantelmo, Recckio, and most on Common Council are youthful, tech-savvy Millennials or Gen-Z’s. Yet some older adults don’t use smartphones. And even Boomers who do may find apps and QR codes to be foreign concepts.
And what if you’ve left your phone at home? Or maybe it’s run down? Or maybe you’re an out-of-town visitor who hasn’t installed the app?
Cantelmo claims over 80 percent of those who park downtown use the ParkMobile app or the website. But what about those who don’t?
If downtown needed a final nail in its coffin, this is it. / RL
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Heights Flooding Hits ICSD
(April 10): Unreported to date, but likely to make headlines soon, Ithaca City School District officials revealed for the first time Thursday that the flash floods of March 31 caused major damage at Cayuga Heights Elementary School. And the needed repairs may push up the tax levy for the proposed 2026-27 ICSD Budget.
“So we’re in the process of determining the full scope of work,” Dominick Lisi, ICSD’s Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance, told a Board of Education committee April 9 during what was expected to have been a routine budget session.
“Right now our first order of business is the resolution to declare it an emergency so that we can use that funding to serve that purpose,” Lisi said.
Specifics of the damage were not detailed at the meeting. But a post-meeting summary suggested both interior and exterior damage. Repairs are expected to top the school’s $500,000 insurance policy.
“Do we have an order of magnitude of what it might cost?” school board member Todd Fox asked.
“Hope to have that soon,” Lisi answered.
Prior to the flood, board members were steering toward a mid-range increase option for next year’s tax levy, perhaps a 3.18 percent rise.
The Facilities and Finance Committee held off its tax recommendation Thursday. But School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown now recommends a 3.9 percent increase, in part to pay for flood repairs.
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A Ban or Something Less?
(Apr. 2): For the second straight month, the Enfield Town Planning Board Wednesday inched toward answering the Town Board’s request for first-ever billboard prohibitions, even though the town now has no new billboards to prohibit.
In February, frightened by one casual inquiry to the codes officer, Supervisor Stephanie Redmond urged Enfield ban billboards. The Planning Board got tasked with writing the law.
But at the April 1 meeting, at least one Planning Board member suggested a ban was overreach.
“Do we need to outlaw completely, or just regulate?” Rich Teeter asked colleagues.
One Town Board member (this writer) explained that his own concern in February involved potential multi-image electronic signs, like one along Dryden’s Route 13, advertising that could be incompatible with Enfield’s rural character and resemble “Times Square.”
Teeter said he’d accept banning lighted, digital billboards, but added, “I think there’s other things we could look at before signs.”
“You’re in the country,” Teeter said.
Most planners agreed that any billboard law should avoid content control, even though member Mike Carpenter acknowledged, “Sometimes people say slanderous things.” And Rich Teeter cautioned that some find female nudity to be art.
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It’ll take an act of…
(Apr. 2): Should Tompkins County seek to impose its own, higher minimum wage, it’ll likely require state legislation.
In a morning conference call with municipal leaders April 2, County Administrator Korsah Akumfi conceded as much. He expected the New York State Senate and Assembly would need to adopt a special law to set Tompkins County apart in what employers must pay employees.
We’d need to see “what the legislative process would look like,” Akumfi said.
Prodded by “living wage” activists, the Tompkins County Legislature in August 2024 authorized a $50,000 consultant’s study into the prospects of a stand-alone minimum wage. Cornell professor Ian Greer heads up the study. A “public convening,” the first of several community meetings on the issue, was held March 24.
A County news release announcing the meeting had never referenced the need for state legislation.
The County Legislature “is not necessarily recommending we make it a living wage,” Akumfi’s deputy, Bridget Nugent, emphasized to municipal leaders.
New York’s current upstate wage is $16 per hour. The local “living wage,” as calculated a year ago, was $24.82.
A Court of Appeals ruling from the 1960’s—reaffirmed as recently as 2006—granted state government the exclusive right to set minimum wages in New York. Locals have talked of re-testing that case, only to be told a lawsuit would cost money with no assurance of winning.
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March 2026
Electric School Bus Mandate Holds
(Mar. 30): Barring an election-eyeing signal from Governor Hochul and an accompanying change of heart by legislative leaders—both distinct possibilities—expect New York’s electric school bus mandate to proceed unabated.
A test vote came March 23 when Republican State Senator George Borrello lost in his attempt to suspend the mandate, the one that requires school districts buy only electric buses as soon as next year. The mandate would demand the entire fleet be electric by 2035.
Borrello, whose rural district arcs from Batavia to Jamestown, called the mandate an “unmitigated disaster.”
“Let’s stop pretending we’re doing this for the kids,” Borrello said, “We’re doing it actually at the expense, at the sacrifice of our children in order to bow down to the extreme Left, the people that truly believe that if we don’t do this that the world is going to come to an end.”
Citing infrastructure limitations, the Ithaca Board of Education in 2025 declined to buy any more electric buses during the current school year.
Borrello still has a stand-alone bill that would block the mandate, but it’s gotten no farther than a Senate committee. His latest move sought to tie the mandate’s delay to another bill that would help schools “go green.” Only 22 of 60 attending Senators supported the effort.
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Anna Comes into Her Own
(Mar. 28): Whatever you think about aggressive environmental regulations—like oil furnace bans and electric school buses—recognize this: The legislator Tompkins County sends to Albany, Democrat Anna Kelles, is quickly emerging as the State Assembly’s point person on climate policy.
Green New Deal progressives are currently sparring with Governor Kathy Hochul over Hochul’s attempts to rollback previously-set greenhouse gas reduction goals A hill liberals seem willing to die on involves the “emissions accounting methods” to achieve prior-set benchmarks.
A statewide publication, “City and State,” reported on an Albany rally March 25. And Kelles figured prominently. It wrote:
“While some legislators spoke mostly in generalities and the need to move quickly to address the climate crisis, Assembly Member Anna Kelles made it clear she wants cap-and-invest now. ‘Get those regs released,’ she said at the rally Wednesday, banging her hand on the lectern between each beat.”
No other legislator was so prominently quoted.
Anna Kelles is beginning her sixth year in the State Assembly. She’ll likely win reelection. And in a chamber of 150 members, where it’s easy to become invisible, Anna’s clearly no back-bencher. As they say, watch this space. / RL
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Lea Webb’s Legal Mess
(Mar. 27): To say the least, the optics are atrocious. So is the irony.
On the same day as Tompkins County’s State Senator, Lea Webb, urged on her website that “the wealthiest pay their fair share,” The Ithaca Voice reported that Webb has received free legal services from a nonprofit agency designed to serve the poor.
According to The Voice’s March 27 report, “Webb has been represented by the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York in a foreclosure case on her Binghamton-area home.” The foreclosure, previously reported, involved defaulted payments of over $7,000 on a $373,117 federally backed mortgage.
The news report focused on $30,000 in taxpayer funding Webb secured for the legal services group, thereby raising alleged ethical questions, at least on appearances.
Senator Webb has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and The Voice reports the senator “intends to reimburse the organization for the legal services she received.”
But state senators, including Webb, receive an annual salary of $142,000 for essentially part-time work. The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York states that “its services are generally available free of charge to those whose household income is up to 25 percent above the federal poverty line.” That poverty line is around $33,000.
“We must ensure the wealthiest New Yorkers pay their fair share of the tax burden so that working families across New York have access to essential services like healthcare and childcare,” Webb wrote in a budget-focused news release the day The Voice’s story broke. Terrible timing.
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Steeple Good Bye
(Mar. 27): In 2021, the Enfield Community Council (ECC) bought the now-defunct Living Water Church—steeple, cross, and all—and turned it into a community center.
But the steeple always prompted discomfort. Some people objected. Critics viewed a religious symbol as inappropriate for a secular facility. Alternatives weighed included replacing the cross with a metal duck somebody had, or maybe even a trendy “book dragon.”
Now simple economics dictates the solution. “We’re removing the steeple altogether,” Council President Cortney Bailey announced at the ECC’s monthly Board meeting March 26.
ECC intends to re-roof its center later this year. And the contractor advised it will be cheaper to take the whole steeple down than to work around it. What’s more, the steeple’s “points,” when shingled around, might later leak.
“It’s cheaper, safer, and it will change the image,” Bailey stated. “Oh, that’s a community center, they will say.” Bailey assured.
Plans for roof replacement come now that a long-lingering lawsuit by former, purported Living Water leaders was dismissed in recent months, a suit that had clouded ECC’s title. With ownership clear, the ECC may now renegotiate its mortgage and re-do the roof.
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Baby Steps to a County Ambulance
(Mar. 26): Quickly and quietly—discussion lasted little more than a minute—a local legislative committee this week took a key procedural step toward creation of a Tompkins County ambulance service.
The Public Safety Committee’s unanimously endorsed March 24 recommendation would have Tompkins County apply to New York State for an ambulance-authorizing “Certificate of Need.” If approved by Albany, the certificate would enable County government to buy one or more ambulances and run them countywide. Expect the full Legislature to act on the recommendation in April.
Michael Stitley, Tompkins County Director of Emergency Response, described the application as “a really wise strategic opportunity for us.”
“And if we choose not to pursue growth of our EMS program, it would simply expire in two years,” he said of the authorization.
A consultants study last fall recommended Tompkins County seek the Certificate of Need. The Center for Governmental Research (CGR) preliminary report envisioned Stitley’s department could add ambulances to its Rapid Medical Response fleet. CGR predicted the expansion would “lead to better patient outcomes.” The report also forecast that privately-owned Bangs Ambulance could disappear by 2050.
For the past year, leaders of towns with rural ambulance corps have urged Tompkins County to seek the Certificate of Need. If there’s opposition, it’ll likely come from Bangs’ operator.
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“Green” Anna vs. Pragmatic Kathy
(Mar. 26): A (no doubt, amicable) rift erupted in recent days between Governor Kathy Hochul and climate-focused Assemblymember Anna Kelles over energy policy.
And their differences underscore the well-worn description of Ithaca as “Ten Square Miles Surrounded by Reality.” Political priorities here are not those everywhere.
Both Hochul and Kelles seek re-election this year. But while progressive Kelles will likely cruise to a fourth term unopposed, Hochul, also a Democrat, faces Republican opposition and a statewide electorate far less ideological and more pragmatic.
On March 20, Hochul aroused liberal concern with her 1,400-word Op-Ed published on a little-known website in which Hochul signaled a roll back in New York’s climate goals. “The undeniable fact is we cannot meet the Climate Act’s 2030 targets without imposing new and additional crushing costs on New York businesses and residents,” Hochul wrote.
Almost immediately, Dr. Kelles released her own 400-word reply.
“The question now is whether we strengthen our action or weaken the law to avoid it,” Kelles stated. “I believe we should implement the law, not weaken it, so we can create jobs, stabilize energy costs, and finally take control of our energy future.”
In pursuit of a Green New Deal, New York has attempted things like phasing out oil furnaces and gas ranges. But while Ithaca may think one way, other, more politically-blended communities may think another. People there also vote. / RL
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The End of an Enfield Era
(Mar. 24): I wished I’d saved the last one. It would have become a memento, for me anyway. Sadly, I tossed it into the recycling bucket before I realized.
If you’ve noticed something missing this year, it’s the annual Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC) wall calendar. The tear-off-by-month calendar, showcasing a newish fire truck at its center and the names of contributing merchants circled about it, won’t be handed out this year… or probably ever again.
“It got too hard for find volunteer drivers,” one prominent EVFC volunteer informed this writer at a recent chicken barbecue. What’s more, another said, the printer raised the price, making it tougher for the fire company to break even.
Still, that calendar was a welcome year-long celebration of community; something on the wall to remind us that while Enfield may be tiny in size and population compared to some of our neighbors, we have the biggest of hearts and one of the best volunteer fire companies in the region. Those who climb aboard “601” or respond to a 2 AM EMS call bring us that strength.
Sadly, we’ll no longer find the familiar calendar bag dangling from our mailboxes. We’ll miss it. Times change. / RL
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The Other Face of Flock
(Mar. 20): Amanda Kirchgessner once lived in Enfield and ran for Town Supervisor. She now speaks often before the Tompkins County Legislature. She spoke on March 19th, but brought a message different than usual.
“On Wednesday, March 11, around 9:30 at night, on Cayuga Street right in front of the library, I was approached by three men in a vehicle and propositioned for sex,” Kirchgessner related. “They were trying to get me into their car. The man speaking to me lowered his voice and was trying to draw me closer,” she said. “It was subtle, but very intentional. It was a tactic.”
Kirchgessner didn’t go to Ithaca police until the following Sunday.
“I went down to IPD that afternoon and the officer told me the Flock camera system had been disabled,” Kirchgessner said, “which means if it had been active there’s a real possibility that the vehicle could have been identified.”
As widely reported, Ithaca’s Common Council this month ordered termination of its contract with Flock Safety. And privacy advocates have urged Tompkins County do likewise.
“We’re watching Epstein dominate national headlines, confronting the reality of exploitation at the highest levels of power,” Kirchgessner observed, “and yet we seem unwilling to acknowledge that trafficking is not distant, it is local… And at the same time we are removing one of the most valuable tools law enforcement has to identify patterns and intervene.”
The Legislature handled other business that Thursday night. What Amanda said will likely never get reported. But it proved the meeting’s most powerful moment. / RL
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T.C. Legislature Backs Data Center Pause
(Mar. 20): It’s mere messaging, carrying no power beyond that of persuasion. But the Tompkins County Legislature Thursday effectively endorsed a three-year pause on the redevelopment of the Cayuga Lake power plant into a massive AI Data Center.
The controversial TeraWulf project was never mentioned once as the Legislature in quick fashion endorsed a seven-part, member-filed resolution that urges state legislative action on a host of climate-friendly initiatives.
Still, one of those endorsements backed a bill, sponsored in the Assembly by local member Anna Kelles, that would impose a three-year moratorium on data center siting and permitting.
“Data centers disproportionately use fossil fuels rather than renewable energy,” Caroline/Danby legislator Irene Weiser wrote in a memo accompanying her resolution. Moreover, she wrote, data centers gobble up renewable energy, “thereby resulting in continued use of fossil-fuel burning energy generation beyond current expectations.”
The Weiser green energy package passed March 19 on a 10-2, party-line vote, with several members (including Groton Republican Lee Shurtleff) excused that night. Lansing’s Mike Sigler, notably open-minded on the TeraWulf venture, never referenced it before he voted no.
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Smoke Eaters and Sheepskins
(Mar. 18): A young man in his early-20’s, geared in work clothes and baseball cap, visited the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners meeting March 17. Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC) President Dennis Hubbell said “CS” (we’ll use his initials) wanted to join the company, eager to volunteer. Just one problem, Hubbell said. CS lacks a high school diploma.
The Enfield fire service has a rule requiring volunteers to have graduated high school, hold a GED, or be working toward one to join. Commissioners Chair Greg Stevenson explained that many training courses gear themselves to college entrance proficiency. He said most employers demand graduation as well, so it’s an all-around good thing to have.
Commissioner Barry “Buddy” Rollins then turned in his seat, faced Hubbell directly and blurted out, “That’s ridiculous. I don’t care about getting a job, I care about you volunteering.”
Rollins wasn’t through. “A lot of people who don’t have GED’s have common sense!” he said.
Stevenson repeated several times that he, himself, was “a bad student” but that education served him well in later life. The chairman offered to help CS get his GED.
Hubbell reports the EVFC membership is likely to recommend CS’s membership given his interest. Meanwhile, Stevenson says Commissioners will likely revisit the high school requirement in view of Rollins’ concerns.
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Rethinking February Break
(Mar. 13): Credit freshman Ithaca School Board member Jacob Shiffrin for resisting the tug of tradition.
“I just was curious for the rationale behind the February break?” Shiffrin asked March 10, as the Board of Education finalized its 2026-27 academic calendar, February break included. “It’s not a common practice around the country,” Shiffrin said. “It seems like a very New York thing.”
Those of us old enough recall when schools took separate days off for Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays, and that was it . The week-long vacation began with the energy crisis of the Carter era, when a week’s shutdown saved heating fuel.
“So what’s our current rationale, then?” Shiffrin pressed the point.
“It’s cultural,” School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown admitted. “The culture in the community and our surrounding area is to have that break, and there are things that happen in our community during that time,” Brown said.
People take February vacations. And of course, there’s the “Ithaca Loves Teachers” celebration.
Dr. Brown hails from down south, where schools don’t take the week off. He reminded the board that he cut the break to just two days one year, only to be told “Don’t ever do that again.”
“It’s not a hill I want to die on,” Shiffrin said as he retreated. Yet congratulate him for asking why do we do something just because it’s always been done? Times change.
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NYS Closes Podunk Bridge
(Mar. 12): Quaint to look at, funky to drive over, and maybe just a touch historic, the steel-decked Podunk Road Bridge is now closed for good.
Tompkins County sent out the message Thursday, and County Highway Department crews erected barricades to block cross-bridge vehicular traffic. (Pedestrians can still cross.)
“The New York State Department of Transportation (NYDOT) has requested that the Podunk Road Bridge… in the Town of Ulysses be closed due to structural deterioration of the bridge,” a Tompkins County SIREN notification stated March 12. “The bridge will remain closed until a new bridge can be installed,” the message continued.
Tompkins County already has a capital plan to replace the bridge and realign its approaches. But as Highway Director Nick Ensign informed a committee of the County Legislature February 19, NYDOT has thrown up a roadblock; classifying the structure as historic and demanding the Highway Department attempt to find a buyer for the bridge before dismantling it.
Before it closed, the Podunk Bridge had a posted eight-ton weight limit. At the committee meeting, Ensign had warned that one more bad inspection would close the bridge for good. Now it has.
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Closed Meeting: We can guess
(Mar. 12): With so little notice that they had to waive the Open Meetings Law, the Tompkins County Legislature convened a special emergency session this week.
“We are going to have a special topical presentation and/or discussion this evening; a discussion for emergency housing,” Chair Shawna Black announced. The Legislature handled beginning formalities and then plunged into closed session, never returning to take a public vote.
With the March 9 meeting coming on the heels of the Ithaca City fire marshal’s closing of the Asteri apartment complex, and residents of up to 181 housing units told to vacate, one can connect the dots.
“I would also like to go into executive session for matters which will imperil the public safety, if disclosed,” Black stated. It’s an exception state law provides for closed meetings. Yet how it fits remains baffling.
Three days later, County officials have yet to issue a statement regarding matters discussed.
Nevertheless, in a Wednesday report to the Enfield Town Board, legislator Randy Brown stated:
“The County received less than a day’s notice from the city and it caused many more people to be homeless and unprepared to move.”
Brown added, “County staff and many non-profits stepped up and worked through the night and the following days to solve the problem. The County, City and building owner, Vecino (owner) and NYS representative are meeting daily to sort things out.”
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Bostwick Build Bid Let
(Mar. 12): Sometimes, even if rarely, a choice becomes a no-brainer.
Without glamor or controversy, the Enfield Town Board March 11 awarded the low bid for excavation work that’ll install a new box culvert to carry Enfield Creek under Bostwick Road.
For no apparent reason, the bids swept a wide range. The Town Board awarded the low offer of $351,300, submitted by JB’s Excavation Services of Apalachin. Highway Superintendent Barry Rollins vouched for the firm’s proficiency. JB’s done Enfield stream work before, Rollins said.
The four submitted bids ranged upwards to just over One Million Dollars. Supervisor Stephanie Redmond said that was the first of the four she’d opened, shocked that maybe the project couldn’t proceed.
Wednesday’s represents the second and final Bostwick bid to be let. In January, the Town Board awarded Jefferson Concrete Corporation’s low bid of $471,600 for the concrete culvert itself. A Water Quality Improvement Project grant of $693,866 will fund much of the work. But Redmond conceded Wednesday that even though JB’s bid was far less than others, the Bostwick project will still land over-budget.
Town officials have said that stream erosion and the fear of flooding dictate the culvert’s replacement. Because Enfield Creek is a designated trout stream, the work can run only from mid-May through September.
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CEDO naming tells us much
(Mar. 12): At its meeting March 3, the Tompkins County Legislature named Leon Holden as Chief Equity and Diversity Officer (CEDO), the third person to hold that position in its little more than half-decade history. Holden succeeds Charlene Holmes, who resigned last October.
But what tells us volumes about how the Legislature views itself is how Holden’s appointment was rolled out that night.
The posted, pre-meeting resolution had contained no text, let alone the appointee’s name. The resolution was moved onto the floor and then unanimously adopted without reading its content.
“The recommendation County Administration received from the (review) panel was to move forward with Leon,” Administrator Korsah Akumfi stated.
“Leon, would you like to come up and say a few words,” Legislature Chair Shawna Black then asked the new CEDO.
Notice what was missing? Leon’s last name. It was never mentioned until legislator Veronica Pillar casually referenced it in citing the now-scripted resolution’s text near the end of an eight-minute welcoming presentation.
Too often, one observes, Tompkins County’s legislators talk to themselves as kind of a closed loop; inadvertently overlooking the fact that a broader community—us residents—is listening. And respectful recognition becomes even more important when appointing a person of color.
“I’m going to nail it,” Holden said in accepting his new role. The new CEDO recognizes his responsibilities. So should our elected leaders. / RL
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New Cell Tower to move
(Mar. 5): Responding to stiff pushback from the Enfield Town Planning Board, developers will move the location of their recently-proposed Verizon cell tower further from the edge of Van Dorn Road, Planning Board Chair Dan Walker confirmed Wednesday night.
“After discussing this project with our client and the property owner, we’ve decided to take the Board’s advice and relocate the tower,” Tony Phillips of Kendall Communications, Verizon’s “Site Acquisition Firm” wrote in a February 19 email to Town officials, a message shared at Wednesday’s meeting.
Kendall and Verizon would move the requested structure to the rear of the residential property at 217 Van Dorn Road N, behind the Kartychak family’s house and barns. “This will have the least visual impact and remove any Fall Zone safety questions,” Phillips wrote.
Revised plans would also shorten the proposed, unlit tower from 195 to 170 feet.
Initial plans, presented the Planning Board February 4, would have placed the tower just 100 feet from Van Dorn’s right-of-way. Theoretically, the tower could have collapsed onto the road. Planning Board members had raised safety concerns. They also feared resident objections.
Verizon already locates antennas on another Van Dorn Road tower, one just two-tenths mile away. But it’s gotten too expensive, and Phillips calls the change part of Verizon’s “High Rent Relocation program.”
Expect further Planning Board review in May.
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Bolles to challenge Senator Webb
(Mar. 3): Democrat Lea Webb will face a contest, not a coronation this year as she seeks a third consecutive term to represent Tompkins County in the New York State Senate.
In a news release Monday, retired Binghamton firefighter and two-time Army veteran Mike Bolles announced his entry into the Republican race to oppose Webb and represent the 52nd Senate District, which also includes Cortland and parts of Broome Counties.
State Board of Elections records indicate Bolles filed his application paperwork February 23. Bolles and Webb are currently the only candidates registered.
“New York families are stretched thin by the mess Albany has created,” Bolles said in his March 2 rollout. “I’ve seen enough. I’m ready to serve again to restore real affordability, back our first responders for safer streets and fight for every resident in the 52nd Senate District.”
Mike Bolles’ website conveys as pro-military, firefighter-friendly message, employing an “ammo-box” font, a picture of geared-up firefighters, and the American flag and bald eagle prominently displayed. “American Made Leadership” becomes his slogan.
Platform planks, according to Bolles’ still-lean website, include “Restore Affordability,” “Stand with Law Enforcement,” “Defend Small Businesses,” and “Protect Freedom and Families.”
Bolles’ resume includes 22 years in the U.S. Army and 21 years as a Binghamton firefighter. He currently runs a small clothing company.
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ECC Extends its Arms
(Mar. 3): The Enfield Community Council (ECC) remains Enfield’s own. Only now it’s reaching out a bit farther.
At the ECC Annual Meeting February 26, the Board of Directors amended agency bylaws to permit for the first time residents of several adjoining towns to become members.
Up until now, the ECC limited membership to Town of Enfield residents, Enfield-based business owners, and employees or parents of children at Enfield Elementary School. The newly-approved change broadens membership to include those residing in the adjacent Tompkins County towns of Ulysses, Newfield, and the Town of Ithaca.
The revision passed without much discussion. Leadership maintained the change better reflects the ECC’s current service area.
Also during the Annual Meeting, the ECC board reappointed incumbent directors, re-elected Cortney Bailey its President, and affirmed a 2026 Budget, that while unbalanced—about $13,000 short—stands less unbalanced than the 2025 budget.
“It is as it is,” Treasurer Vera Howe-Strait acknowledged. “We’re in better shape than last year.”
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