News Archives, 2025

On the sub-tabs to this section, read the news stories posted on this website during 2025, sorted by month.

Bob Lynch

Taking A Stand, a tab on the top menu, provides my take on various issues of community concern in Enfield; commentary on our Town’s Current Events. I hope my words will prompt robust debate.

Highlights :

May 2024: Priority One: Our Boeing Problem; (Addressing poor academic performance in Enfield Elementary School and elsewhere in light of the district’s current budget controversy.)

November 2023: Flycars, Fund Balances, and “Flat-Broke” Towns; (Addressing a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature on the merits of cost-sharing for a Rapid Medical Response Service.)

September 2023: Think Before You Act (They Didn’t); (Addressing the Tompkins County Legislature to urge delay in proceeding with a Center of Government.)

August 2023: Democracy, Clinging by a Thread; (Addressing the Enfield Town Board on the controversy surrounding its appointment of Enfield’s initial Board of Fire Commissioners.)

July 2023: I am Impatient. They are Hungry. (Addressing the Tompkins County Council of Governments regarding the Tompkins County Food System Plan’s “Roadmap” and how it needs improvement.)

Prior postings and statements, (2019-2022) are now included in the Commentary Archives.

Amanda: her true story

(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 19^th, 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

Legislator Irene Weiser

(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.

The Mar. 17 Board meeting (Rollins at far left)

(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.

BOE’s Jacob Shiffrin

(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.

(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.

(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.”

(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.

TC CEDO Leon Holden

(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

New prop. tower site near rear lot line (on right)

(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.

Candidate Mike Bolles

(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 52^nd 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.

Re-elected; Pres. Bailey

(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.”

(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.”

(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.

From the White House “America 250” webpage

(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

(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.

Hubbard: A cautious yes.

(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.

Legislator Veronica Pillar

(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.

(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 85^th percentile speed on this section of Halseyville Road supports the current speed limit of 55 mph,” Bates wrote Enfield. “The 85^th 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

Antonio Delgado (from his campaign website)

(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.

Sen. Lea Webb

(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 52^nd 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.

The Obamas, attending a funeral at the National Cathedral, 2018 (courtesy Associated Press).

(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

Sen. Peter Oberacker

(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

The culvert: Rumsey Hill Rd. at Trumbulls Cor’s.

(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.

Photo courtesy Kate Lisa, City and State

(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.

(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.

(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.

Mayor Cantelmo with Acting City Manager Dominick Recckio, Jan 14.

(Jan. 30): If the story grows legs, it could pit legislative liberty against deference to administrators and test the strength of the City of Ithaca’s fledgling City Manager form of government.

Credit Jaime Cone Hughes of Tomkins Weekly for latching onto a tidbit that others threw away from Common Council’s January 14 session, a resolution that would rein in “inappropriate political pressure, harassment, or undue interference” by any headstrong alderperson.

Among its provisions, the measure would require the specific written request of at least three Council members to compel City staff to attend a meeting.

Violations could bring miscreants a “written reprimand” or “formal censure” should any step out of line. Transgressions could also bring “temporary suspension of direct staff access privileges, or removal from liaison or external appointments.”

“We recognize we want to just demonstrate our appreciation for our city staff during this critical transition,” Mayor Robert Cantelmo said as he unveiled the 18-paragraph resolution to establish “Professional Conduct and Oversight Protocols.”

“But also we want to deploy some best practices and consistency and code of conduct issues that we don’t presently have on the books,” the mayor added.

The kind of controls Cantelmo proposes could blow the place up if some were to see them as a “shut-up-and-vote” power grab by Cantelmo and City Administration.

Council that night gave the resolution only brief comment. It then handed it to a “working group,” its three members chosen by the mayor. Alderpersons Pat Sewell, Joseph Kirby and Jorge DeFendini will take incoming critiques.

Shut down; voting for Executive Session Jan. 26.

(Jan. 29): Quite plainly, we don’t know what we don’t know. And the people we’ve elected are sworn not to tell us.

Yet Tuesday afternoon, February 3, and for the third time in as many weeks, the Tompkins County Legislature will convene in Special Session. Tuesday’s special meeting, like the two before it, will be only for a closed “Executive Session.”

When legislators convened in private January 13^th and 26^th, the “real estate exception” to the New York Open Meetings Law was used to justify their closing the doors and shutting off cameras.

The logical inference one draws is that these meetings have something to do with the planned Center of Government, a now $64 Million downtown venture that has some, like Newfield-Enfield’s Randy Brown talking about alternatives like Harold’s Square or the Cornell Business Park.

Just 90 minutes after the February 3 private huddle begins, the Legislature will reconvene in public for its regularly-scheduled meeting. That later meeting’s agenda is nearly bare; nothing surprising. Of course, matters resolved in private could always be added for public action thereafter.

Stay tuned.

“Legacy work.” Eversley Bradwell (2nd fr. left)

(Jan. 27 updated Jan. 28): The Ithaca Board of Education Tuesday gave final ratification to a new, three-year contract with district teachers, an agreement that grants instructors most of what they’d asked for.

“This is legacy work,” Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell remarked prior to calling the vote, Eversley Bradwell noted that teacher negotiations last year occurred during public, live-streamed sessions. The Board President said the process was “one of the things I am most proud of.”

Board ratification January 27 came by a show of hands and was overwhelming, 8-1. (The video stream failed to capture all members voting. But a district official Wednesday confirmed that Jacob Shiffrin had cast the lone dissent.)

Ithaca teachers similarly granted the contract lopsided support in mid-December.

Key provisions teachers requested—and got—included average seven percent annual salary increases (reduced to six percent in the contract’s final year) and a “step and lane” compensation plan that rewards teacher experience and professional development.

Teacher talks had been anything but trouble-free. Parties hit impasse last June, but resumed discussions in the fall and reached accord in late-October.

The contract is retroactive to July and continues through June 2028. It runs 115 pages. Board member Todd Fox said he’d considered voting “no” just to clean up some of the legal language. Fox ended up voting “yes” nevertheless.

(Jan. 27): Balanced budgets have long eluded the Enfield Community Council. They still do. Yet figures released at the ECC’s January 22 Board meeting suggest the long-sought goal may stand within reach.

Due to a combination of factors—most notably a reduction in planned program costs—a tentative 2026 Budget for the agency predicts only a slightly more than $12,000 shortfall. The 2025 Budget had forecast an over $34,000 funding gap.

“It looks bad, but in reality it’s so much better than the year before,” Vera Howe-Strait, ECC Board member and the budget’s crafter, told attendees.

During the past year, the ECC transferred one of its costliest activities, its annual summer day camp, to Cornell Cooperative Extension. Major financial adjustments followed.

Thursday’s Board discussions brought one disappointment. ECC President Cortney Bailey announced there’d be no springtime event—last known as the “Rhubarb Festival”—for this, the third year.

“We can’t do both the Rhubarb Festival and the Mother’s Day Breakfast,” Bailey stated, as both events would run too close together. Only if others want to be a “guaranteed team,” she said, could a festival happen.

The ECC Board will vote on its budget in late February.

(Photo courtesy Gannett)

(Jan 26): From the crowd that would block your ability to buy an oil furnace, comes a new Public Enemy #1: Your snow blower.

In an Opinion piece circulated in the (paywall-protected) Gannett press, two New York activists argue New York ought to “ban” the gas-powered snow blower… and the gas lawn mower… and the leaf blower; just about anything that makes noise and bothers them.

“These machines are not only staggeringly loud, but they also produce a shocking amount of air pollution,” Blair Horner and David Masur argue. They’d have you junk your reliable old Briggs and Stratton-powered thing for one that relies on only batteries (and yes, runs down at the most inopportune time).

The Nanny State walks by baby-steps. And what a closer read of their Op-Ed reveals is they want the New York Legislature to adopt a struggling bill—one that State Senator Lea Webb co-sponsored—that would grant commercial and institutional users unspecified rebates for purchasing battery-driven lawn equipment. (By the way, homeowners wouldn’t qualify.)

The bill died last year. It’s being revived and lives in a Senate committee.

Of course, if gas snow blowers are banned, a good many of us will revert to the back-breaking, heart attack-inducing, handy shovel. (Then, again, bet you’ll find a gas one for sale in Pennsylvania.) / RL

(Jan. 22): Resolving an issue that’s dogged the Enfield Fire District for more than a year, the District’s Board of Fire Commissioners January 20 designated a professional occupational medicine firm, “Occustar,” to oversee the legally-required physical examinations for firefighters.

The switch comes as doctors at Trumansburg Family Medicine, which has performed most of the Enfield physicals, signaled they may exit the service and as Commissioners’ Chair Greg Stevenson has warned that toughened regulations may demand a “medical director” to oversee exams.

Up until now, the obstacle had been cost. At the outset, Commissioners feared Occustar might cost twice the Fire District’s $6,000 annual budget line for its on-site service.

But the bid OK’d by Commissioners Tuesday cost the district only $6,818, reduced by a combination of factors. Stevenson said surplus funds in last year’s budget may be encumbered to make up any difference.

While Occustar will visit just once a year, likely in October, the Fire District will also contract with the medical service “WellNow” for physicals needed at other times, such as for new volunteers.

(Jan.21): Each January, Highway Superintendent Barry Rollins presents the Enfield Town Board a list of the roads he plans to repair, and Board members, by their signatures, grant him the funding to fix them.

At its January 14 meeting, the Town Board granted approval, and without argument .

The two roads Enfield Highway targets for major “permanent improvements” this year are a 2.5 mile stretch of Buck Hill Road South from Harvey Hill Road to Route 79, and a one mile portion of Harvey Hill Road from Rothermich Road to Black Oak Corners. Rollins budgets each project at $150.000.

Another $179,469 would be put toward “General Repairs” on roads about the town.

With those two roads set for major work, the question arose at the meeting: will the Buck Hill/Harvey Hill intersection get fixed? For almost a year, orange barrels have narrowed the crossing to protect a road sign that Highway moved out from the shoulder.

Rollins said the corner will be fixed. The crossing sign will stay where it’s been moved, but the road line will be narrowed to about where the barrels now stand.

Rollins also confirmed some trees may be cut in the repair areas.

Six seated; the Legislature, meeting Jan. 13

(Jan 15): Wednesday, January 14, in an annual rite of futility, this Enfield Councilperson, Robert Lynch moved to re-insert the Pledge of Allegiance into the start of every meeting for our Town Board. Since 2020, the Pledge gets recited only if someone requests it.

Once again, as always, no Town Board colleague seconded the motion. Current policy remains.

And whenever the Pledge is requested, Supervisor Stephanie Redmond and Councilpersons Melissa Millspaugh and Cassandra Hinkle remain seated. Councilperson Jude Lemke stands, but keeps hands to her sides.

The Pledge of Allegiance remains an opening ritual for the Tompkins County Legislature. But during an abbreviated legislative session January 13, as many as six legislators (Brooks, Dawson, Pillar, Hubbard, Packman, and an Enfield representative, Rachel Ostlund) remained seated.

Refraining from reciting the Pledge is a constitutionally protected right, of course. It also judges many things.

One wonders whether beyond the alternate reality that is Ithaca, Enfield, and Tompkins County, leaders behave the same. / RL

(Jan. 15): Since 2020, this Councilperson, Robert Lynch, has represented Enfield on the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG), an intermunicipal advisory committee to the Tompkins County Legislature. TCCOG reviews current topics of governmental concern and recommends legislative action.

But there’s a change: By mutual agreement of the Enfield Town Board and this Councilperson at the Town Board’s January 14 Organizational Meeting, I will step aside, and Councilperson Jude Lemke will assume the responsibility to represent Enfield on TCCOG. Melissa Millspaugh will serve as alternate member.

In a final TCCOG report to the Town Board meeting night, I warned of a challenging year ahead for the organization.

A straw poll of TCCOG members December 11 had suggested that the group may uncouple itself from the rigors of New York State Open Meetings Law. Tompkins County insists Open Meetings rules apply. Should the two bodies disassociate, TCCOG could lose its meeting room and staff support. I warned it could happen within the year.

Councilperson Lemke will assume the duty of informing the Town Board of TCCOG actions. I will watch from the sidelines. / RL

(Jan. 12): Enfield Town officials voiced disappointment Monday as bids were opened for a giant culvert to be placed under Bostwick Road to deter flooding and prevent an existing culvert there from further deterioration and continuing stream erosion.

A Watertown firm, Jefferson Concrete, submitted the apparent lowest of three bids. But Jefferson’s totaled $471,600, far more expensive than project planners had hoped. The remaining bids registered at $684,514 and $705,800, respectively.

Angel Hinickle, Resource Conservation Specialist for the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, said original estimates had budgeted the purchase at as little as $200,000. But she said the State Transportation Department had demanded a ten percent increase in culvert size to accommodate for the feared future effects of climate change.

A New York Water Quality Improvement Grant in 2024 awarded Enfield more than $693,000 for the culvert replacement just east of Enfield Center. But added work would still require culvert installation and stream realignment, not included within the January 12 submissions.

Officials fear the latest bids could put the project out of reach. The Town Board will either accept one of the bids or reject them all January 14.

From the Enfield Civility Resolution, adopted by the Town Board, Sept. 13, 2017:

RESOLVED to exhibit and encourage the kinds of personal qualities that are typical in a civil society—gratitude, humility, openness, passion for service to others, propriety, kindness, caring, sense of duty, and a commitment to doing what is right in the Enfield community. All Enfield board members, committee members and staff shall strive to:

Treat everyone courteously
Listen to others respectfully
Give open minded consideration to all viewpoints
Focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate
Embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights that are inherent components of an inclusive public process and tools for forging sound decisions and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Enfield board members, committees and staff shall strive to promote the use of and adherence to these guidelines in all Enfield community activities.