Why I Still Pledge

This Councilperson, Robert Lynch, speaking after requesting and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the Enfield Town Board’s monthly meeting, February 12, 2025:

Board:

“I’ve just joined this Enfield Town Board in the Pledge of Allegiance. I’ve done so for most every monthly meeting I’ve attended since I first joined this Board five years ago. I recognize that a majority of my colleagues don’t accompany me; they remain seated. One member generally stands, but declines to recite the words. That is your prerogative. The Constitution guarantees you that right. I defend your freedom to exercise your choice, just as you should always respect my decision to exercise my own within the rules of this Board.

“Much has changed in America since we last met. Some of us in this politically blended community of Enfield may welcome the change. Others may question if the United States of today remains the same country they’ve always known, respected and loved.

“And because of that concern, some of you, our residents, may now refuse to stand, hand-over-heart, and pledge to our flag. I regret that you’ve made that choice.

“The American flag I pledge to represents freedom, patriotism and love: Love for our Constitution, our Rule of Law, our resilient institutions, and our nearly 250-year heritage as a—yes, sometimes flawed, but always evolving and self-correcting—democracy. We express our love for the dedicated public servants in uniform and in civilian service. And yes, we express our love for the citizens—or non-citizens—whom we sometimes leave behind, but later reach down and pull up to join in our unique American experiment.

“Nowhere in the words I recite is there a demand of allegiance to one man—or to one woman—or to one office. We pledge allegiance to a principle, to a nation, and to a concept of liberty and justice for all that our Constitution commands we embrace.

“And if they ever rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance to demand obedience to a particular leader, I will be among the first to stop standing and requesting we recite those words.

“One thing more: I assure you that the winds of change that have buffeted our nation have not dislodged Enfield from its foundation. Enfield’s strength, its resilience, and the generosity, compassion and determination of its people remain as rock-solid as ever. I’m glad I live here and serve here. Thank you.”

[Our meeting continued.]

###

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.

Legislator Rich John

(Feb. 18): It escaped widespread attention beyond the airwaves. But three-term Tompkins County legislator Rich John has quietly disclosed his intention not to seek reelection this year. He’s the sixth incumbent on the 14-member legislative body to plan departure.

“I really think it’s time for me to go on to another opportunity, and frankly for somebody else to come in with new ideas and energy and give it a shot,” John said in a WHCU interview January 31.

What nobody’s reported so far is that had John chosen to run, redistricting would have forced him into a primary battle with another incumbent, fellow Democrat Veronica Pillar. It might have become the only contest for any of the Legislature’s incumbents, who, recent experience holds, often win re-election unopposed.

But the seats that will be vacated could see challenges. Tompkins County Elections Commissioner Stephen DeWitt confirms he expects multiple candidates to petition in some districts, both inside and outside the City of Ithaca. DeWitt did not name names.

“I think that the people need to be represented from somebody else for a while,” Rich John told his interviewer. But least for some of those in John’s new district, that “somebody else” could be incumbent Pillar.

Leslie Tabor (rt.) with TCPL’s Business Mgr.

(Feb. 17): It may explain why the many shelves at the oversized, yet underutilized Tompkins County Public Library look so naked.

A deep-dive 3,500-word expose posted Monday in The Ithaca Voice, product of a year-long investigation, profiles troubled times at the heavily County-funded library, most of the problems traced to Leslie Tabor, library director since 2022.

There’s dissention amongst staff, The Voice’s story reports. Unionized employees have lodged unfair labor practices complaints. Some people have quit. A high-profile law firm was brought in to investigate.

Most troubling, however, is the destruction of books. It’s called “weeding,” and Tabor allegedly ordered it with a vengeance. The director disposed of nearly 109,000 books and other materials during her first year of service, more than 40 percent of the library’s total collection, The Voice reports.

For the 33-library Finger Lakes Library System, as many as 60 percent of stored volumes were tossed out, many of them books the local library did not own.

“Weeding” drew little attention during Tabor’s 30-minute budget presentation to the Tompkins County Legislature last September. Yet not all were happy.

“I’ve seen empty shelves; we’ve heard a lot of griping from members of the community,” legislator Deborah Dawson told Tabor that day.

And yes, to those of us in rural places like Enfield, we could have used those books. It’s a crying shame. / RL

Lucy Brown with her likeness, August 2024 (photo courtesy Cornell Chronicle)

(Feb. 17): Any Baby Boomer who came of age in Ithaca and held a passion for civil rights knew the name, Lucy Brown. And if fortunate, they knew her personally.

Brown was an activist icon of an older generation one looked up to. It would pay disrespect to compare her to anyone else but herself.

It took nearly a week for Brown’s passing to circulate widely in this community. Now it has.

Lucy J. Brown—known endearingly as “Mama. Lucy” or “Ms. Lucy” by those who knew her—died February 9^th at age 91.

Brown served on many local boards and committees. She mentored students as an administrative assistant at Cornell. She helped co-found Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS), whose leadership last week paid tribute:

“Beyond any title or position, Lucy J. Brown was a lifelong agent of change, a constant advocate for those marginalized, and a respected presence in decision-making processes,” INHS stated.

Lucy Brown was on hand last August when a commemorative statue was unveiled in her honor. It stands outside the Henry St. John Building on Ithaca’s Clinton Street.

A celebration of Lucy Brown’s life is planned for March 1 in Georgia, where she’d resided with family since 2020.

Claudia Tenney

(Feb. 16): Memorialized holidays usually honor dead people. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney wants one to revere someone still very much alive—her beloved President Donald Trump.

On Valentine’s Day, Tenney, who represents our neighbors in the Town of Hector, Seneca County, and points north, introduced the “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day Holiday Establishment Act.”

If adopted, our banks, government offices and schools would, no doubt, close every June 14—Donald Trump’s B’day—inconveniently just a few days before our other new holiday, Juneteenth. Flag Day falls on the same calendar day as when Trump was born.

“No modern president has been more pivotal for our country than Donald J. Trump,” Tenney’s sycophantic press release states. “As both our 45th and 47th President, he is the most consequential President in modern American history, leading our country at a time of great international and domestic turmoil,” Tenney proclaims.

Given how President Trump has polarized America, one can only envision how divisive a “holiday” like this would be. You’d find more protest than praise in places like Ithaca.

But anyone who drove Routes 5&20 near the Geneva Walmart before the election and saw that grinning Trump-Tenney billboard will surely find Claudia’s payback gratitude unremarkable. / RL

(Feb. 13): All may not like it, but the Newfield Town Board has taken a key procedural step toward approving yet another solar farm off Millard Hill Road.

By majority vote, the Town Board Thursday assumed what’s called “lead agency” status in the environmental review of TJA-New York’s planned 5 Megawatt facilities to be located not far from other solar farms near the Enfield town line.

In its Resolution, the Newfield Board also designated Barton and Loguidice as the consultant that will guide its environmental study. By taking the lead, Newfield’s elected officials assume the authority often assigned to the town’s appointed Planning Board. Planners had started the review.

Notable in Thursday’s discussion, TJA’s Michael Frateschi stated preference for negotiating any Payment-in-Lieu-of-Tax (PILOT) agreement with the Town directly, and not through the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency.

“We’re very willing to work with the Town,” Frateschi told the meeting. By state law, a Town-based PILOT can only run 15 years. After that, a “standardized assessment model” would apply, members were told.

Newfield Supervisor Michael Allinger finds himself defending his Town against criticism the project would harm taxpayers.

“The Town Board has one job and that is to work for the best of the Newfield Community,” Allinger wrote on the Town’s website February 3rd in reply to a social media critic.

The project’s next step will likely be a Public Hearing, tentatively set for March 13.

In the floodplain

(Feb. 13): Enfield residents, for the first time, will be able to purchase federally-backed flood insurance, under a wordy resolution adopted Wednesday night by the Enfield Town Board.

But the actual availability of those policies must await Town Board approval of floodplain development regulations, still under review.

New York rules mandate Enfield now join the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) after newly-approved federal maps identified lowlands along portions of Enfield Creek—but nowhere else—as lying within a floodplain. In those flood-prone areas, the state also dictates Enfield restrict what’s built there.

Enfield’s Town Board and Planning Board have scurried in recent weeks to meet a March 20 deadline for submission of draft regulations to state officials. Before Wednesday’s meeting, Supervisor Stephanie Redmond had attempted to jump-start the process by getting draft approval almost on-the-spot.

It didn’t work. Questions arising during Town Board discussions—including whether the Town could ban new home construction altogether in floodplains—bogged down the process. A mid-March submission now seems more likely.

Expect it to be June before Enfield residents can actually buy NFIP policies.

(Feb. 12): Enfield Town Board members, you might say, were set back on their haunches Wednesday night as three public critics vigorously faulted a proposed new Dog Control Law for the town, one that’s been discussed off-and-on for nearly a year, but that night finally made it to a Public Hearing.

“Are we fixing something that is not broken?” one Enfield Main Road resident asked the Board.

“Why are we going after every dog owner?” resident Tammy Alling inquired. “So many other things in this town are more important.”

What rankled the critics, owners of multiple canines, was a provision that would designate any home with five or more dogs as a “kennel” and impose restrictions on food storage and waste removal. It would expand Enfield’s current, concise two-page dog law to as many as 16 sheets, with new dictates the Town’s attorney had recommended.

“It’s to protect the dogs,” Town Clerk Mary Cornell pleaded as she defended the revisions. But faced with more than an hour of withering criticism—with at one point Supervisor Stephanie Redmond yielding the floor is disgust—the Town Board gave up. It postponed action, and adjourned the hearing until April.

Dr. Brown: “Louder than any statement”

(Feb. 12): It was a meeting of the Ithaca Board of Education Tuesday night made newsworthy for what wasn’t said. An elephant standing prominently within the ICSD’s York Lecture Hall, where members convened, got purposely ignored during the more than 90-minute session.

In its first meeting since word surfaced that the Trump Department of Education had launched an investigation into alleged anti-white bias at the Ithaca City School District’s “Students of Color Summit,” neither school board members nor Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown chose to face Trump or his administration’s policies head-on.

To the contrary, Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell shut down any critique.

“This is the first time the board has had a meeting in two weeks,” Eversley Bradwell reminded observers. “So it would not be wise for any board member to respond without us having some time to share space together to determine what our path forward is.” All members complied. The Board President promised a statement, eventually.

Superintendent Brown acknowledged that he, too, has been begged to comment, even by shoppers at Wegmans. Brown, like all others, guarded his words Tuesday night, saying only that current programs are “lawful… compliant and consistent with the state standards and frameworks” to which the ICSD adheres.

“I hope our actions speak louder than any statement,” Brown told the Board.

Equally surprising, no one from the public addressed the school board on the subject. Restraint prevailed. But the emotional undercurrent remained palpable.

(Feb.11): Tompkins County Assessment Director Jay Franklin reportedly told an Ithaca Board of Education committee Tuesday he’ll recommend a four-year pause in most property reassessments so as to convert his department to new, more reliable software.

The Department “will not attempt to measure market changes between now and 2029,” Finance Committee Chair Garrick Blalock relayed to the full Board of Education Tuesday evening.

Franklin’s revelation, stated at a committee meeting just hours earlier, marked its first known public disclosure. Franklin had never mentioned it when he updated the County Legislature’s Government Operations Committee five days earlier.

“He will reassess physical changes,” Blalock advised the board of Franklin’s plan. But if you’re assessed for $300,000, and your house “doesn’t fall down and you don’t improve it, it’ll stay at $300,000, even if you sell it for $400,000.”

Any multi-year reassessment pause would require the County Legislature’s consent. One or more legislators are expected to oppose a lengthy delay.

Last year, inflation-powered, double-digit assessment increases stunned many homeowners. Franklin told the County committee February 6^th he’d sent out more than 20,000 assessment changes last year, but only 630 so far in 2025, the director already planning a one-year hiatus. But a four-year pause is new.

The big downside would be sticker shock later on. “If I’m on this board in July 2029, don’t come here and say I didn’t see this assessment coming,” Blalock warned taxpayers.

Champion: “Any hope?”

(Feb. 11): On the same day President Trump ordered the federal government to go back to using plastic straws—not paper ones—a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature moved Monday in the opposite direction, supporting a likely-to-fail effort to force the producers of plastic packaging to pay for recycling it.

“I love this. I’ve loved this for a long time,” legislator Amanda Champion crowed as the Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality Committee backed a proposed state law, introduced for this, the fifth consecutive year, to impose “producer responsibility.”

“Is there any hope it’s gonna’ pass?” Champion queried.

Probably not. Any “bubble-pack bill” faces stiff headwinds from industry lobbyists. Moreover, what’s on Albany’s table may not be ready for prime time.

“I totally agree with the goal,” Rich John, a law professor, stated. But “I looked at the legislation, and I was appalled. It’s a total mess.”

There’s a section on financial impact. “There’s nothing there,” John reported. Drafters had failed to predict what the law might cost producers—and ultimately, consumers.

What’s more, the text is “massive,” John observed. “It involves an incredibly complex bureaucratic system that by all indications New York State is not capable of. They just cannot do this.”

Rich John voted no. Champion, Veronica Pillar and committee Chair Anne Koreman supported the endorsement, which heads now to the full County Legislature.

ITA’s Kathryn Cernera

(Feb. 5): Ithaca Board of Education member Jill Tripp spoke. So did the President of the Ithaca Teachers Association, as did this writer, Enfield Councilperson Robert Lynch.

And their time was rewarded Wednesday as a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature recommended adoption of state legislation that would expand membership of the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) from seven to nine members.

The initiative, first pressed by the Ithaca School District, aims at granting school districts and rural towns a louder voice in the IDA’s tax abatement decisions.

“I’m always going to err on the side of having more people at the table; more diversity at the table,” Housing and Economic Development Committee member Travis Brooks said, one of six on the panel who gave expansion unanimous support.

But concerns came from others. Legislator Rich John—not a committee member, but holding a seat on the IDA—feared a school representative would tend to reject valuable abatements that actually bring schools benefits.

“The IDA has helped the schools fundamentally in gigantic ways,” John said. “You absolutely need growth if you’re going to have a sustainable community.”

The committee’s resolution next goes to the full County Legislature and then to lawmakers in Albany.

Enfield Creek; flood plain

(Feb. 5): Acting on short notice, and never bothering to cast a formal vote, the Enfield Town Planning Board Wednesday recommended Town Board adoption of a Flood Damage Protection Law needed for the first time now that federal authorities have classified slivers of land along Enfield Creek as lying in a flood plain.

“I’m comfortable with it,” Planning Board Chair Dan Walker said following less than a one-hour Board review of the law, drafted by state officials and given the Town to adopt as nothing short of a mandate.

The 20-page document—plus add-ons and appendices—may see preliminary adoption by the Town Board February 12^th. Its requirements would either prevent new development altogether in flood plains, or require buildings there to be elevated, perhaps on stilts.

After advising Enfield a full year ago not to enact a local law until flood maps were set, state officials in mid-January directed the town to hastily adopt a draft “floodplain management ordinance” and submit it for their review by March 20.

At least one Enfield Councilperson (this writer) had cautioned Wednesday that he would not vote on anything until the Planning Board had given its blessing. Now, with that evening’s endorsement, it has.

Seeking sunlight; Sigler

(Feb. 5): The most newsworthy part of the Tompkins County Legislature’s February 4^th meeting may have been the part we never saw.

Just five days after federal agents seized for presumed deportation an undocumented immigrant in downtown Ithaca, and after some conservatives have called for Sheriff Derek Osborne’s arrest for earlier releasing the man from custody, Chair Dan Klein called the Legislature into Executive Session at the close of Tuesday’s public meeting “for discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation.”

Klein wasn’t more specific. No public action was taken afterward. And in a departure from usual, some opposed the decision to convene in private.

“I think we should have this discussion in open session,” Republican legislator Mike Sigler said before the majority voted to close doors, shutter cameras, and kick the public out. “I don’t think we should have an executive session for this discussion,” Sigler said.

Fellow Republican Lee Shurtleff and Democrats Susan Currey and Travis Brooks joined Sigler in opposing the closure.

The “Meeting in executive session” tile stayed on the screen for just over an hour before the feed was finally cut. We’re left to speculate what “litigation” lawmakers discussed.

(Feb. 4): Recently-elected Commissioner Don Gunning cast his first dissent Tuesday as the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners authorized its Chair to sign a one-year, $75,000 lease of the Enfield Fire Station from its owner, the volunteer fire company commissioners oversee.

“While this may not be perfect,” Board Chair Greg Stevenson said of the lease, “we need someplace where to operate out of and where to park our trucks.”

The rental charge is up four per cent from that of last year. “It is what it is,” Commissioner Barry “Buddy Rollins said of the agreement he nonetheless supported. But Rollins complained the rental payment stands $23,000 over what the owning fire company pays on its mortgage.

Gunning took a different position, faulting the fire company for not renting out its large meeting room for community events.

“We’re here to fight fires and train and not in the rental business,” Fire Company President Dennis Hubbell countered. Hubbell said renting out requires oversight and maintenance. It also puts the fire company in direct competition with the Enfield Community Council and the Enfield Valley Grange.

The contract approved Tuesday has been tossed back and forth between attorneys for months, leaving its approval delayed. The Fire Company’s Board of Directors is expected to give its own consent this Thursday.

White attendees; 2023 (courtesy Ithaca Times)

(Feb. 4): An arm of the Trump Administration has launched an investigation into the Ithaca City School District’s annual “Students of Color Summit” and whether it excludes white students, according to one local media report, published Tuesday.

According to The Ithaca Times, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on January 27 activated a probe into the complaint filed last August against the school district’s event, but left unanswered by the prior Biden Administration.

A conservative group founded by Cornell University Law Professor William A. Jacobson alleged in the complaint that the district’s one-day events, held for each of the past four years, violated both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause “by intentionally excluding white students,” according to the article.

Nevertheless, a photo accompanying the Times report, one taken at the 2023 Summit, appears to show white attendees.

“It is hard to imagine more open, prolonged, and intentional racial discrimination, despite ICSD’s denials,” Jacobson reportedly wrote in his complaint.

Ithaca School Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell told the Times he “welcomes the investigation,” but denied the allegation.

“Ithaca City School District programs do not exclude,” Eversley Bradwell said. “The 2024 event was created by students to support and affirm Students of Color, and all students, staff and educators were invited to attend.”

Anna Kelles

(Feb. 2): In a statement issued following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids locally last Thursday, Ithaca Assemblymember Anna Kelles has spoken out, both condemning the Trump Administration’s escalating deportation initiatives and defending local law enforcement officials who allegedly failed to cooperate.

“The intentional misinformation spread by the current federal administration highlights their targeted actions against the entire immigrant community in our country,” wrote Kelles on official letterhead. “This community represents millions of people who collectively contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of our nation,” she stated.

While not referencing Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne by name—some Republican critics have called for Osborne’s arrest—Kelles defended the local Sheriff’s only limited cooperation regarding a former jail inmate later apprehended by ICE agents in downtown Ithaca.

Citing the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment, Kelles, the original author of what equates to Tompkins County’s “sanctuary city” law, stated: “The notion that the federal government can mandate compliance with immigration initiatives is a misinterpretation of the Supremacy Clause, and courts have consistently upheld that states cannot be forced into such roles.”

Sheriff Osborne had not commented on the matter as of the weekend. But Tompkins County Government has defended his conduct.

Meanwhile, a top Justice Department official, Acting Deputy attorney General Emil Bove, according to the Associated Press, has signaled that the U.S Attorney’s office will investigate local actions “for potential prosecution.”

Back then; May 2022

(Feb.1): Our district’s new Congressman, Josh Riley, during his first campaign in 2022, was photographed on a park bench, accepting the endorsement of progressive Assemblymember Anna Kelles, who when in the Tompkins County Legislature authored the closest thing our county has to a “sanctuary city” law.

But now in Congress, facing Donald Trump’s headwinds, Riley appears backing off on his progressive bona fides. Though he was hospitalized on the day the vote was taken, Riley has stated his support for the “Laken Riley Act,” the newly-adopted, Trump-signed statute that may receive the credit—or blame—for at least one local immigrant’s detention by federal officers this week.

“By ending ‘catch-and-release’ policies for undocumented immigrants who commit certain crimes, this bill takes an important step toward keeping our communities safe-and that will always be my top priority,” Josh Riley released in a statement, quoted by The Ithaca Times.

Forty-six Democrats supported the Laken Riley Act when the House passed it January 22. But 156 in Riley’s party opposed it. Progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the law’s critics, saying the measure constitutes a “fundamental suspension of a core American value,” namely due process. An immigrant need only be accused of a crime, not convicted, to risk deportation.

Josh Riley barely won election last November. No doubt, he knows what kind of attack ads Republicans could run next time should he vote the wrong way. Welcome to reality. / RL

(Jan. 29): Making good on informal word he’d given the Enfield Town Board earlier this month, Randy Brown, who represents Enfield’s southern half in the Tompkins County Legislature, made public Wednesday he’ll seek a second term.

“The silver lining I didn’t think of is communicating and meeting with people in Enfield,” Brown told Town Board members January 8^th. Brown hails from Newfield. But his district crosses the town line.

“I find that people in Enfield are very welcoming,” the Republican lawmaker told Enfield’s Board. He’s confided that any new term would be his last.

First elected in 2021, Brown has delved into planning for a new downtown office building, addressing homeless issues and opioid addiction. He’s also sought to invest government surpluses wisely.

Enfield’s northern legislator, Anne Koreman, announced her planned retirement in December. And with party petitioning starting soon, incumbents are either stepping up for new terms or opting out.

Democrats Shawna Black, Greg Mezey, Travis Brooks, and Veronica Pillar, plus Republicans Mike Sigler, and now Brown, all plan reelection bids. Democrats Dan Klein— the Legislature’s Chair—plus fellow Democrats Amanda Champion, Deborah Dawson and Susan Currey have joined Koreman in declining reelection.

Jill Tripp: Four Options

(Jan. 28): Tasked months ago with finding new revenue sources, Ithaca School Board member Jill Tripp Tuesday presented Board colleagues a narrowed list of four funding options. She’d hoped for a straw poll of preferences, but never really got one.

Tripp’s Revenue Generation Advisory Council—established in the wake of last year’s ICSD budget woes—seeks to identify outside revenue sources so as to ease the burden on taxpayers while keeping programs strong.

Tripp’s four alternatives included the potential sale or lease of district property, imposing a “utility tax” on services like cell phones, requesting a larger annual contribution from Cornell, or the closing of school buildings while sharing program costs or administration with neighboring districts.

Of the four, the utility tax proved least popular. And little time was spent on consolidation.

What got greatest attention Tuesday was the Cornell option. But there, initial opinions proved mixed.

Raising the current $650,000 in annual University stipend to as much as $10 Million “would involve negotiations and perhaps a campaign to get Cornell to pay more,” Tripp acknowledged.

But would Big Red money come through a binding agreement or a “voluntary contribution,” some questioned.

“Not all money is good money,” School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown reminded attendees. “What would you give up in return?” he asked. And Brown warned “voluntary” assistance given one year could be pulled away the next.

(Jan. 28): It pays to have friends in high places. And former Congressman Marc Molinaro has Donald Trump.

Multiple news sources reported Tuesday that the Hudson Valley Republican Congressman, who represented Tompkins County from 2023 until last year, will soon be nominated by the new President to lead the Federal Transit Administration, a bureaucracy that provides financial and technical assistance to public transportation systems like our own TCAT.

In this instance, there may be more at work than just a new President rewarding a party loyalist who had the misfortune of losing his race for Congress.

Trump and Molinaro may share a mutual hatred for New York City’s “Congestion Pricing” scheme that charges drivers $9 a day to enter some parts of Manhattan. (I know, let’s hope they never think of it for Ithaca.)

A downstate news source, The Gothamist, reports Trump has called the tolls “a massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers.” And Molinaro on X has termed congestion pricing the “State’s cash grab.”

“It’s just this constant drug of new taxation, without any capacity or interest in actually getting the (downstate transit system) to function effectively,” our former House member reportedly said in November.

If Molinaro’s offered and accepts the Trump appointment, odds are he’d abandon hopes of succeeding the North Country’s Elise Stefanik in Congress. / RL

(Jan. 22): Eyeing the great success Dryden firefighters recently had in snaring a $395,710 federal grant, the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners voted Tuesday to go after a—presumably, somewhat downsized—version through the same government program.

“We need some younger interior (structure firefighting) people,” Commissioners Chair Greg Stevenson told Tuesday’s meeting. “I think a ‘SAFER’ grant is the way to do it.”

The FEMA-administered “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)” program pays for recruitment advertising, PPE, physicals and new member training, Stevenson reported. The money received depends, in part, on the number of volunteers recruited.

Dryden’s SAFER-funded effort brought in 50 new members over a four-year period, the chairman informed the Board. Enfield’s annual goal, Commissioners concluded, stands more in the “four- five- or six-person range.”

With its unanimous vote, the Board of Fire Commissioners set aside up to $3,000 for grant-writing.

“I’m told SAFER grants are undersubscribed,” Stevenson said. That means less competition for available cash. And should SAFER pay the cost of a new member’s turnout gear, the Enfield taxpayer doesn’t have to.

Brown: “He could do it.”

(Jan. 22): Still confident he could make it work, but resolved to political reality, Newfield-Enfield County legislator Randy Brown Tuesday signaled he’ll drop his idea, first revealed at an Enfield Town Board meeting in December, to keep the Legislature’s size at its current 14 members, rather than expand it to 16 as is planned at the start of next year.

Brown told Tuesday’s Legislature meeting that County Attorney Maury Josephson talked him out of it.

“Maury convinced me that it was very difficult to do because I was the only one that voted no,” Brown said, referring to his dissent in a 2022 decision that accepted a redistricting commission’s call for the two-person expansion.

“It’s a complete waste of money,” Brown continued to insist Tuesday. He cited a clerk’s estimate that funding the two extra positions would cost about $75,000 annually.

Brown claimed Tompkins County population grew by only about 4,000 over the past decade, defeating the idea that the county needs more lawmakers to serve more people.

But his argument may miss the point. The Independent Redistricting Commission had found no way to keep 14 districts of equal population and still align them with established community boundaries.

“If I sat down with (the Commission) again for about four hours, I could draw some lines and make it work,” Brown said assuredly.

Stephanie Redmond

(Jan. 21): Enfield’s Supervisor, Stephanie Redmond, spoke to its adoption, and lawmakers later agonized over the pros and cons for a half-hour.

Barely securing enough votes to pass, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday adopted and sent to state regulators a call for a tougher study of Cargill Incorporated’s plans to flood an unused shaft at its Cayuga Salt Mine under Cayuga Lake.

“I’m not saying that it’s highly likely that the mine could collapse,” Lansing’s Deborah Dawson said before casting her affirmative vote. “The problem is that the low probability is more than offset by the catastrophic results that a collapse could have.”

With two legislators excused and with Ulysses’ Anne Koreman attending but unable to vote, the Resolution calling for either an Environmental Impact Statement or the state’s outright denial of Cargill’s permit application passed eight-votes-to-three. The measure mirrored one adopted earlier this month by the Enfield Town Board and by most other local towns.

Lansing’s Mike Sigler prevailed in striking from the resolution a stronger statement that would have held the company’s application in conflict with Tompkins County’s “commitment to sustainability” and its “environmental stewardship.”

Sigler still voted against the final text, suggesting supporters’ true motives were to close the mine and that any talk of retraining laid-off workers is “all B.S.”

[Expanded coverage of this story is now posted.]

(Jan. 20): Ithaca’s Anna Kelles is viewed by many as a rising star on New York’s environmental Left. So it’s not good when the online publication City & State January 17 cited the third-term Democratic Assemblymember as among its three “Losers” for the week.

The demerit stemmed from Governor Hochul’s perceived backtracking on a Kelles-promoted effort to get polluters to pay for the pollution they cause. Albany calls it “Cap-and-Invest.”

“Hochul won’t move forward on implementing ‘cap and invest’ this year, despite promising draft regulations last year,” Politico reported after Hochul delivered her State of the State Address. Instead, Politico informs us, the governor, in an accompanying policy book, has merely “directed state agencies to develop requirements for companies and polluters to report on their emissions.”

Truth is, Kelles didn’t like the “cap and invest” plan a state agency had come up with anyway.

To Kelles, the agency proposal would only have pushed corporations to profit off their sale of pollution credits, rather than prompting them to convert to renewable energy and not need to buy credits in the first place.

Our Assemblymember introduced her own, tougher bill. But without Hochul’s backing the agency measure, her bill’s prospects look dim.

“She can still push to get (the bill) passed,” City & State acknowledges, “but who knows when it would actually go into effect?”

A de facto AC Mandate?

(Jan. 16): Yes, it’s another unfunded state mandate, stumbled onto Thursday by this writer during an otherwise-uneventful Ithaca Board of Education committee meeting.

If your school building doesn’t have air conditioning already, it may need to install it soon, particularly if there’s summer school.

Little noted by most of us, the New York Legislature passed last June and Governor Hochul signed December 13 a bill that sets 88 degrees as the “maximum temperature in classrooms and support services spaces.”

In addition, the law would require school officials to “relieve heat related discomfort” as soon as the mercury reaches 82.

What must they do? Teachers could turn off lights, pull down shades, open doors and windows and turn off electronics. (No mention made of studying on the lawn.)

“Extreme heat can significantly impact a student’s concentration, focus and ability to learn,” Hochul proclaimed in a statement.

Local Democratic Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles each voted for the new law. Notably among just three dissenters in the Senate were neighboring Republicans Tom O’Mara and Peter Oberacker.

The law takes effect next September.

Holmes retired first.

(Jan. 15): And now it’s Social Services.

Kit Kephart’s announcement Wednesday that she plans to retire in July after nearly eight years as Commissioner of Tompkins County’s Department of Social Services marks yet another top-level departure from the upper ranks of Tompkins County Administration.

First, County Administrator Lisa Holmes announced her own retirement last April. Holmes officially turned over the job to her successor this month. Last week, County Whole Health Commissioner Frank Kruppa announced his hiring away by the local hospital corporation, Cayuga Health. The Director of Human Rights left in December. And, by the way, the Communications Director’s position is open, too.

Each may have had his or her own reasons. But the speed to the exit is frightening… troubling too.

In Wednesday’s news release, Kephart described her management style as “using a strengths-based, person focused, and trauma informed care approach.” Most recently, Kephart was at the front lines of pulling together on short notice the temporary Code Blue Shelter and hardening security at the Human Services Building.

“Kephart served our community with strength and kindness, pragmatism and advocacy,” County legislature Vice-Chair Greg Mezey remarked.

Incoming County Administrator Korsah Akumfi has many jobs to fill.

Blalock: Could kids be shifted around?

(Jan. 14): Without wading into specifics, one Ithaca Board of Education member suggested Tuesday that future budget economies could bring altered elementary school attendance lines. And one could thereby envision a school or two closing in the process.

“We can look for a budget that grows faster than the tax cap, or we can look for savings,” Garrick Blalock advised his fellow Board members.

“What savings,” Erin Croyle asked.

“The possibility of operational efficiencies,” Blalock responded. He referred to an earlier Finance Committee meeting, its summary not yet posted by meeting time.

An elementary school enrollment of 450 to 500 students is “optimal,” Blalock asserted. Enrollment at some buildings is below that number right now, he said. “Could enrollment be shifted around?” he asked.

The Board’s president said the ICSD hasn’t done a “demographic study” since 2012.

Again responding to Croyle, Blalock conceded the changes he’d contemplate remain a ways out. Maybe next fall the process could begin.

“The recognition is we have to assure ourselves and assure the public that we’re forward-thinking,” Blalock maintained.

They should have left the Old Library

(Jan 12): Hooray for Todd Bruer, organized labor’s representative on the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency.

Bruer proved the only member of the agency’s Board January 8^th to stand up to Travis Hyde Developers and oppose the firm’s renewed request to lower to age limit threshold for renting an apartment at Library Place.

Travis Hyde, which finagled the Old Library building away from Tompkins County nearly a decade ago and secured a more than $5 Million tax abatement for its replacement apartment building on grounds it would provide senior living apartments, now has permission “to welcome younger tenants,” according to the Ithaca Times.

According to the report, the developer in November said the project faced “financial instability,” with fewer than one-third of its units occupied. In essence, skyrocketing rents became too high for many older adults to afford.

After rejecting Travis Hyde’s age limit reduction in December, the Board relented this time, reportedly on the firm’s promise it would temporarily lower Library Place rents by ten per cent.

But that did not placate Bruer. “When this was sold to the public, it was affordable housing for senior living,” the Times reports the labor rep as saying, “and so we’ve still got that void there for senior living because it is tough for people to get in there financially.” / RL

Frank Kruppa

(Jan 10): During the pandemic, he was Tompkins County’s answer to Dr. Fauci. And now Frank Kruppa is leaving County Government for a job at the hospital corporation with which he’s worked so closely.

Twin releases by County Government and Cayuga Health Systems Thursday confirmed the resignation of Kruppa as County Whole Health Director and his hiring by Cayuga Health as its Assistant Vice President for Community Program Development and Partner Integration.

The announcement confirms a broadcast report that aired briefly December 19 on WHCU. But it then vanished from the station’s air and website, and Health Department officials never responded when asked to confirm it.

Cayuga Health states that Kruppa will “play a key role” in developing its “Crisis Stabilization Center project,” that which gobbled up the largest grant from Tompkins County’s Community Recovery Fund.

“Frank has been a valued partner to Cayuga Health for many years and is a proven advocate for our community,” a hospital official said.

Kruppa’s departure marks another loss for County Government, which has been shedding leadership since County Administrator Lisa Holmes announced her retirement and Schoharie County’s Korsah Akumfi was named to replace her.

It’s a stretch to speculate. But Akumfi in early-2023, apparently on orders from Schoharie’s Board of Supervisors, fired that county’s health director and locked her out of her office over her implementation of COVID-19 restrictions.

“Anytime there’s transition in leadership, there’s always kind of interest and perhaps a health concern about where things are going to go,” Kruppa told The Ithaca Voice.

Read into that what you may.

Clerk’s Office, Jan. 9

(Jan. 9): On the eve of a National Day or Mourning, the Enfield Town Board Wednesday night followed President Biden’s lead and ordered the flags at all Town properties lowered to half-staff in memory of the late President Jimmy Carter, who died December 29. The Resolution described Carter as a leader “who served this nation with compassion, honor, and integrity.”

In accordance with Biden’s directive, the Town Board’s Resolution specified that flags remain lowered “continuously for no less than the full period of time directed by President Biden,” that is, until January 28, “notwithstanding any subsequent Presidential declarations that might otherwise shorten or terminate President Biden’s directive.”

President-Elect Donald Trump has made known his displeasure with flags remaining at half-staff during his January 20 Inauguration, and some have posited Trump may order the flags elevated as soon as he takes office.

But while a Trump command could impact flags at federal facilities, the Enfield Board’s action would retain the reverent gesture for its originally-announced 30 days at Town locations.

The Enfield Board briefly considered declaring the closure of Town Offices the following day, the date of Carter’s state funeral. But with snow to plow and tax payments to receive, members concluded too little time existed to order the closure.

(Jan. 9): Following the lead of the Tompkins County Legislature in mid-November, the Enfield Town Board balked Wednesday at its annual designation of The Ithaca Journal as the official newspaper for posting legal notices.

State law mandates Enfield use of the Gannett daily as the only paper that meets its requirements. But in line with County Government, Enfield will investigate posting ads in a second paper, likely a weekly, partly as a form of protest.

“The Ithaca Journal in recent years has continually declined to cover the news of Enfield, including that of this Town Board, a dereliction of journalistic duty for which this Board wishes to express its extreme displeasure,” the amended designation resolution, states.

Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) supplied the amended language, which the Town Board passed unanimously.

Town Clerk Mary Cornell was directed to determine the availability and the costs of a second paper, which could be designated as soon as February.

(Jan. 8): With just the bare number of votes to pass, and with Supervisor Stephanie Redmond recusing herself, the Enfield Town Board adopted an earlier-tabled resolution Wednesday that asks state environmental officials to heighten scrutiny of Cargill’s plans to flood an abandoned shaft at Its Lansing salt mine under Cayuga Lake.

By the Board’s failing to offer a seconding vote, it rejected Councilperson Robert Lynch’s substitute motion that would have had Cargill prepare not only an Environmental Impact Statement of the mine flooding, but also one evaluating the “economic impact” that a tougher stance might have should Cargill respond by closing the mine.

“Notwithstanding these environmental concerns, Cargill’s Cayuga Salt Mine stands as a driving force in the local economy,” Lynch’s amended resolution stated. The mine’s employing more than 200 people and contributing millions to the local economy “demand regulators take a reasoned, balanced approach to any permitting decision,” the amendment stressed.

The adopted recommendation would have state regulators either deny the pending application or demand an Environmental Impact Statement and convene a hearing. It passed by the minimum three votes. Lynch opposed it, and Redmond abstained, as she works for a lobbying group that’s called for the Cayuga Mine’s closure.

To be missed; Dawson

(Jan. 8): Call them the “sophomore class” on the Tompkins County Legislature. Ulysses’ Anne Koreman, the Ithaca Town’s Amanda Champion, and Lansing’s Deborah Dawson all were elected in 2017. They’ve admitted they’ve clung and caucused together, a squad of like-minded liberals.

Now, each is leaving.

Koreman had revealed her intention not to seek reelection before Christmas. But in a joint statement Wednesday, Dawson and Champion, along with Legislature Chair Dan Klein and Ithaca Democrat Susan Currey announced with Koreman their decision not to run in this year’s elections.

All County legislative terms come up this fall. A new state law will likely limit the new terms to three years, rather than four.

“We have served with pride, but we also recognize that all good things must come to an end,” the five stated in a letter to local media. Beyond that, little stands known about why the group chose to exit right now.

Of the five, Dawson’s departure may be most striking. A budget hawk and unabashedly outspoken, Dawson has notably fought against drawing down budget surpluses to fund tax relief.

The County Legislature is set to expand by two seats next year. Wednesday’s announcement means at least seven of next year’s 16 members will be newcomers.

The Chairmanship vote; unanimous

(Jan. 7): Little drama; no contest. In a brief, efficient affirmation, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday night re-elected Danby’s Dan Klein its Chair for this, a second year.

Dan’s a “clear communicator… and an excellent listener,” Ithaca’s Veronica Pillar said as she placed Klein’s name in nomination. Klein’s “done a very good job; a steady job,” she said.

The only surprise was in the election of Vice-Chair. Without any opposing candidate, Dryden’s Greg Mezey was tapped to succeed the Ithaca Town’s Shawna Black as Vice-Chair.

Black did not comment on the replacement. Yet she was one of two legislators (the other, Susan Currey) who opposed Mezey’s elevation, without nominating a candidate of their own.

“My goal is to live up to your expectations,” Klein said as he assumed the gavel he’s held for the past 12 months.

“I appreciate the confidence,” Mezey said following his own election.

The January 7^th meeting also marked the first for Tompkins County’s new County Administrator, Korsah Akumfi.

(Jan. 7): Enfield’s Board of Fire Commissioners reorganized for the New Year Tuesday night. Without controversy, Commissioners unanimously reelected Greg Stevenson as chair.

But when it came to designating a Fire District Bank, the Board chose three institutions, not just last year’s exclusive depository, Tompkins Community Bank. And the action builds on a festering grievance Stevenson has had with the Ithaca-based company.

“I was really disappointed that the Trust Company (Tompkins’ better-known name) didn’t step up and help us with our credit cards,” Stevenson told Commissioners.

After a meeting in early-December, the Chairman related that in order to issue credit cards to himself, the Fire Chief, and the Fire Company President, Tompkins had demanded the District post a $15,000 bond, arguing the Fire District, formed by Town Board action in 2023, had “not been in business for very long.”

Truth is, the underlying Enfield fire service began in 1948.

“It troubles me that they’re willing to keep up to a half-Million of our dollars, but say we don’t have credit,” Stevenson said of Tompkins Bank Tuesday.

Commissioners added Chemung Canal Trust Company and the Bank of Greene County (where their fire trucks are financed) as additional designees. Stevenson will try to get credit cards there.

(Jan. 7): No, it’s not the flashing blinker some of us may have wanted. But word this week from the State Department of Transportation should make the accident-prone “Applegate Corners” in Enfield a bit safer.

“We’ve completed our work order for a new Stop ahead warning sign and new Stop sign with reflective posts on North Applegate Road and sent the request to our maintenance forces,” Scott Bates, Regional Traffic Engineer for our region of NYDOT, wrote Enfield Fire Commissioner Robyn Wishna on January 6. Wishna, who lives on North Applegate, has taken a lead in this safety upgrade.

“The sign work will be completed by our maintenance crews once the materials are procured and the work scheduled,” Bates told Wishna.

Many auto accidents have occurred over the decades at the corner of Route 79 and Applegate Road, at least one of them fatal. In response to both Wishna’s and the Enfield Town Board’s prodding, Bates’ department ordered improved signage at the crossroads last February. But the accidents kept coming, a couple more last October.

The Town Board’s request went so far as to seek a flashing blinker at the intersection. But DOT hasn’t agreed to that.

“It seems that increasing signage is a small price to pay to make the intersection less dangerous,” Wishna wrote NYDOT after the latest accidents. She’s pleased the State agreed.

(Jan. 7): Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) announced its winter-spring schedule this week. The revised schedules commence January 12.

The good news is that not much has changed for Route 20 trips to Enfield. But that’s also a disappointment. TCAT has declined to resume its Sunday service to Enfield Center, discontinued a few years ago in the face of declining post-pandemic ridership.

“Most service is unchanged from fall, but TCAT planners adjusted some routes to meet ridership demand, fulfill riders’ requests, and to improve on-time performance,” the intermunicipal transit service released in a statement.

For Route 20, alternating between Enfield and the Ithaca Commons, the second weekday trip leaves three minutes earlier. It will depart the Green Street stop at 10:07 AM and from the Enfield Highway Garage at 10:32 AM. To Enfield, the service makes three round-trips daily.

TCAT winter-spring service runs through May 24.

Ed and Helen, online Town Board attendees.

(Jan. 4): We should have invited them to our meeting. We didn’t. There should have been photos. There weren’t. In fact, some of those we lauded only learned of it when I informed them days later. Our Enfield Town Board should have done better. And each of us who represent you should demonstrate better courtesy the next time.

Wednesday, December 11, by a unanimous vote among those attending, our Town Board awarded Volunteers of the Year to three worthy couples or individuals for their selfless efforts in Enfield.

Ed and Helen Hetherington were lauded, in part, for their beautification efforts. “They created the beautiful barrels of flowers that the town has used for the past two years around our light poles and cared for our fall flower displays,” their award nomination states.

Maureen Bolton was recognized for her repair of the holiday wreaths that grace light poles in Enfield Center each winter. “The wreaths enrich our community by bringing a sense of joy to others,” Bolton’s nomination proclaims.

And we recognized former Town Supervisor Roy Barriere and his wife, Carol, for their involvement with the Community Council, the Food Pantry, and our Fire Company. “When they see a need, they step up to the plate,” their nomination states. “They are always willing to assist those in our community whenever needed.”

Congratulations, volunteers all. / RL

Praising Clarke: “Stability, stature, and scholarship.”

(Jan. 4): It couldn’t have been more low-key. So no wonder most of us were blindsided when Tompkins County announced December 30^th that the Office of Human Rights headquarters on West State Street would close temporarily and that the Office’s Director, Dr. Kenneth Clarke, had departed.

First word of Clarke’s leaving, we now learn, was shared at a Tompkins County Legislature meeting December 17, but buried within a routine report by County Administrator Lisa Holmes.

“He served the County for seven years and brought stability, stature, and scholarship to that Department,” Holmes said in praise of Clarke’s service. Her otherwise-routine disclosure took but 30 seconds.

Legislator Rich John followed with his own commendation.

“He really stepped in at a time when we needed help, and he stood up and did that, and it’s really appreciated,” John said of Clarke. “I wish him all good things.”

A reception, similarly low-key, occurred a couple days later. Unless you’d waded through the mid-December meeting, only a much-delayed summary of it, posted by County staff on New Year’s Eve, would have informed you of Clarke’s decision. The “why” of that resignation remains unstated.

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.

Since January 2020, I’m proud to have been the Enfield Town Board’s representative on the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG). At our regular Town Board meetings, I report on TCCOG discussions of intermunicipal interest that TCCOG has addressed in its meetings.

Now added to this website, filed under the the “TCCOG” tab, are the written versions of my monthly reports, presuming TCCOG has met since our Town Board’s last session. Please browse these reports and provide me whatever input you’d like.