Susan, Bob & Mark found chatting in front of the Fuel Cell car.

Pictured above, Jerry Smith, Jr., Kenneth Griffith, Edward Woods and James Soggs from Batavia Youth Football. They wanted their picture on the home page of The Batavian, so here it is!

It's a beautiful evening and the vendors are getting all set up, so come on out for Summer in the City in Downtown Batavia.

There's something about throwing a pie in somebody's face that's just funny. Always has been, always will be. Same can be said of watching someone full grown and fully dressed suddenly drop into a tank of cold water against his will.

The latter is but one bit of fun in store for people who go to the fifth annual Summer in the City festival this Friday and Saturday. Food, drink, rides, music, crafts and more will be plentiful.

Now this business about dunking isn't free, although the festival is, of course. You must pay to get a chance to hit the thingamajig that, successfully done, pulls the whatnot and plunks politicians and the like into the aquasphere.

This mildly twisted amusement takes place in front of the Girl Scout Building on Main Street from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The fine, upstanding stooges have volunteered their time for specific half-hours, so if you've got a grudge or a sense of mischief you might want to consider this option. You may not get another chance.

Plus, the money will go to buy supplies to build wood cook stoves for mountain folk in the Domincan Republic. They could sure use the stoves, according to Tim Rimmer, who along with Jon Rimmer is getting creative in ways to raise money for their cause as part of service to the Peace Corps.

Here are the dunkables:
3:00 – Bill Cox
3:30 – Mike Rimmer
4:00 – Steve Carr
4:30 – Cory Richenberg
5:00 – Ted Hawley
5:30 – Jay Gsell
6:00 – Hollis Upson
6:30 – Owen Gould
7:00 – Steve Hawley

Friday's festival runs from 5 to 9 p.m. and on Saturday from noon 'til 9 p.m. Entertainment will be provided by: McMahon Irish School of Dance; The Double Image Band; Ghost Riders; and Joey T & The Formula.

Children's activities include “I’ve Got Rhythm” KidsZone in Jackson Square. Plus, “Fun For Everyone Shows” will be returning with carnival rides and games in Jackson Street Parking Lot.

On Saturday, the Super Car Cruise is scheduled with over 450 vehicles of all types.

This event is sponsored by the Batavia Business Improvement District Summer in the City Committee.

For more information about “Summer in the City” Festival visit the B.I.D. website at www.downtownbataviany.com or call the following: B.I.D. at 585-344-0900 or Jeffrey Gillard at 737-3484 for more details.

           70s WEEK-END AT CALISTA MIAKODA, August 21-22, 2009                                                                                 

            238 Ellicott Street, Batavia (across from Pok-A-Dot Diner)

Celebrate downtown Batavia's Summer in the City at Calista Miakoda, vintage clothing/accessories shop!  Special events on Saturday (August 22) from 3:00-6:00 PM:

• Book signing of local author C.M. Barons' new novel, In the Midst Of 
• Unveiling of locally produced video by Penguin Multimedia, starring Lynda Hodgins and John McGee
• Refreshments and 70s-themed specials

Earlier this morning, one of our readers, John Roach, left the following comment:

It’s a shame that after all the hard work by BID, the 5 Republicans on City Council have submitted a budget proposal that will take enough money away from city celebrations and events that it might kill the Summer/Christmas in the City.

That caught our attention, and we set out to find exactly what the City Council had planned for budget cuts that might affect future events downtown. We asked for comment from Council President Charlie Mallow and Don Burkel, director of the downtown Business Improvement District. Burkel has not yet commented. Burkel responded via e-mail at noon today:

"There should be no budget cuts for Christmas in the City, Summer in the City or any other BID activities, as this would definitely have a negative impact on the downtown businesses.  In this time of economic hardship the merchants need these events to generate activity to attract shoppers and visitors to the Batavia Business Improvement District."

Mallow responded in an e-mail:

"I was sent a proposed amendment to lower the city's contribution from a few of the council members. Council will be talking about this proposed amendment as well as the rest that were submitted on Saturday.

"From my point of view a consensus was come to on the amount of this line item in the last budget. I do not support the cut, I think its unfair and hurts the businesses downtown and I think doing anything to jeopardize either event would lower our quality of life in the city.

"The members that proposed the amendment alluded to the idea that they had a majority in favor of the cut. I find that hard to believe."

While we were waiting to hear back from Mallow and Burkel, we also spoke with a few other members of Council: Rose Mary Christian, Kathy Briggs and Bob Bialkowski.

Bialkowski, who expressed an overall optimism about the budget process this year, said: "We're not eliminating any downtown events." Instead, he said, several members of Council were looking at ways to reduce overtime costs—especially those related to the management of downtown events—to help reduce the property tax burden. While this would not "eliminate" downtown events, it would reduce the funding available for them.

According to the budget proposal prepared by the office of the city manager, actual overtime costs so far paid out in the current budget season total more than $530,000, as listed in the budget's general fund. That total does not include such special funds as water and sewer, ambulance—in which overtime costs exceed $300,000—and the mall, which for some reason is maintained as a separate fund.

Nevertheless, most of those overtime expenses fall within the budgeted amounts. In fact, both fire and police overtime costs were under. For some reason, the communications department totaled more than four times what was budgeted. To date, that department has accrued $28,612 in overtime costs, while a mere $7,000 was budgeted.

What's most apt here, however, is the overtime cost for "community celebrations," which has totaled $4,997 so far. Those are the costs that Bialkowski has called into question. He says that if the city could get more use out of volunteers for the downtown celebrations and shift the schedule for assistance from public works employees from the weekend to Friday and Monday, the cost would drop from, say, $1,000 to $500, since overtime costs would be avoided.

"I'm a big believer for volunteering for events," he said. "We're just trying to keep any property tax minimal. We're looking at all costs, trying to keep it down as low as possible."

Cutting back on overtime costs are just one way he would hope to get expenses down for the next budget season. He has proposed a list of amendments, he says, that would reduce about $70,000 in "miscellaneous items" and by sharing services and getting more time out of certain city vehicles.

Christian and Briggs said that the cuts proposed by Bialkowski and others would, in fact, cut the funding for downtown events and shift the cost burden onto the BID, which would not be able to manage, and so be forced to eliminate the events.

"Some council members have recommended cuts in this area," said Briggs in an e-mail. "One suggestion was cutting it from $3,000 to $2,000. Nothing is definite yet. In my opinion the events shouldn't be scrapped. I'm not going to support this cut. We can't expect the Business Improvement District to pick up all of the cost, and we have to have some celebrations, right!"

Christian is of the same mind. She says that she is "not one of them," referring to some other members on Council who are trying to cut the funding for downtown events. Instead of those cuts, she said that she asked for City Manager Jason Molino to see if he can cut 1 to 1 1/2 percent from elsewhere in the budget. She hopes to get an answer on where and how that might be pulled off at the session Saturday.

"We'll see if Jason can find cuts in certain areas," she said. "The budget is astronomical. It's $24 million. We have to be realistic. The economy is a disaster. The stock market is a disaster. Even the president has said, it's not up to government, it's up to us. It's up to the people to make a change."

We're having a great time at Summer in the City.  It's fun to meet so many fans of The Batavian, and we're also finding lots of people who haven't heard of the site yet but say it's a great idea and long over due for Genesee County.

Yesterday, we did a video asking people "What do you like about your home town?"  Here's the video:

We're less than an hour shy of the start of Batavia's biggest downtown festival of the year: Summer in the City. Vendors take up their posts at 5:00pm tonight along Center, School and Jackson streets—all of which are closed off between Ellicott and Main streets.I just took a stroll down Center Street and spotted some barbecue smoke, popcorn kettles and the sugary promise of a fried dough stand.

Tonight's music selection features the Genesee Valley Band form 5:30 to 7:00pm, followed by Kindred from 7:30 to 9:00pm. Both shows will be on the main stage in Jackson Square.

The festivities continue tomorrow with more music, more vendors, plus crafts and the Rotary KidZone. Saturday's fun starts at 3:00 and runs to 9:00pm. Ghost Riders kick things off from 3:00 to 4:30, followed by Westside Blues from 5:00 to 6:30 and Popshow from 7:00 to 9:00.

Court Street will also be host to a car show tomorrow: Classic Cars & Cycles at 2:00pm, followed by the Super Cruise from 3:00 to 9:00pm that could feature several hundred vintage vehicles. Kids will have plenty to do, as well, from bicycle decoration to tennis lessons and sand art to carnival games.

Check out the Web site for the Batavia Business Improvement District for a full schedule of events. Or just head downtown anytime this weekend. It shouldn't disappoint.