Dan and Debbie Fischer sure know how to throw a party.
There was plenty of food and laughs tonight at 113 E. Main St., in the studio of Batavia's WBTA.
The radio station hosted the Chamber's monthly mixer and made sure all guests were quite entertained.
Below, Dan received a certificate of recognition from the Chamber for hosting the event.
I spotted this mural on Swan Street in Batavia a few days ago and was taken by the idea that it was probably painted prior to 9/11, and it's still there -- on what is otherwise a pretty run-down old building. The mural, which consists of two panels of the New York City skyline, is signed "John Howard."
Everybody loves a good auction, and at this time of year, an auction can be a great way to pick up an interesting present.
Batavia's WBTA is holding another of its periodic auctions this Saturday. For rules, information and a list of the items up for grabs, visit WBTA1490.com.
Among the many interesting items:
Genesee County sheriff's deputies have made an arrest following their investigation into the bomb scare yesterday afternoon at Genesee Community College. Kimberly M. Volk, 20, of 27 Dellinger Avenue, Apt: Upper, Batavia, was charged with a felony count of first-degree falsely reporting an incident. Volk is accused of sending a text message to a college student who was on the campus at the time. The message read: "I planted a bomb in the library last night, make sure your out of the building by one." The student who received the text message then notified security, which resulted in the evacuation of the campus and the subsequent search for an explosive, which was never located.
Volk was released under the supervision of the county court. She is scheduled to reappear in Batavia town court on December 16.
There has been a rash of out of town people telling Batavia City Council how to spend city resident’s money as of late. I always sit back in amazement when people who don’t live in the city or pay our taxes call for raising the burdens on city residents. City Council represents the interests of city residents, period. It is not in the interest of city residents to provide “extra” services or expend dollars we don’t have to support wasteful spending being demanded by residents who don’t live in the city.
From the New York Farm Bureau:
New York Farm Bureau members today elected Dean Norton, a dairy farmer and agricultural consultant from Batavia, N.Y. as the organization's new president. Eric Ooms, a dairy farmer from Kinderhook, N.Y. was elected as vice president.
The election was held at Farm Bureau's State Annual Meeting in Albany. Membership delegates representing farmers from around the state cast ballots. New York Farm Bureau is the statewide lobbying/trade organization that represents approximately 30,000 farm families.
Norton takes over for John Lincoln who retired today after 14 years as president and 29 years in various leadership positions in Farm Bureau.
Norton is a Senior Agriculture Consultant with Freed Maxick & Battaglia CPA's. His family owns a dairy farm in Elba, N.Y. and runs a custom trucking operation for forage and commodity harvesting. Norton has served on Farm Bureau's state board of directors since 2004 and was the Genesee County Farm Bureau president from 2000-2004.
"I am proud to have the opportunity to represent this organization during such a critical time for the farm families of New York," Norton said.
Ooms owns and operates a 425-cow dairy farm with his father and brothers in Kinderhook in Columbia County.
He has served New York Farm Bureau for 10 years as Columbia County Farm Bureau President, and six years on the State Board as Young Farmer and Rancher Chair and District 10 Director.
"It truly is an honor to be selected by the membership to help lead this great organization," said Ooms.
Photo courtesy of the Farm Bureau. Pictured: Outgoing President John Lincoln (left) congratulates newly elected President Dean Norton.
We found this video on YouTube and thought to share it with everyone. Genesee Community College's media crew did a great job on this nine minute documentary about the Holland Land Office Museum. We especially enjoyed this line from the text: "For those unfortunate individuals who are geographically removed and incapable of visiting our museum, we now offer our overview video for visitors online."
There's no doubt that Genesee County can revitalize its workforce and reclaim its former reputation as a center of industry and innovation. There's also no doubt that it will take a willingness to change on the part of our communities. Alabama, in particular, could see drastic changes over the next couple decades...
Chad Zambito, vice president of marketing with the Genesee County Economic Development Center, brought us up to speed earlier today on a few of the more promising projects currently in the works for the county.
Most folks are probably familiar with the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, which has received a lot of press coverage in the Daily News. A Canadian food processor is planning to break ground at that site in the spring. That could mean the creation of about 100 jobs. There are also hopes for the site to include a sort of agricultural showcase center similar to the New York Wine & Culinary Center recently launched in Canandaigua that would highlight the region's dairy production.
Another major project in the pipeline is the Upstate Med & Tech Park and Commercialization Center. Situated on 34 acres across the street from Genesee Community College, the park will host a Life Sciences Center that would allow college students to get on-hand training in those fields. About half of the land is already shovel ready, so expect to see some buildings going up there soon.
That brings us to the most ambitious project currently in the works at the GCEDC: Alabama's STAMP site. STAMP stands for Science, Technology, Advanced Manufacturing Park. It's situated on no less than 1,300 acres between Route 77 and the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. Zambito estimates up to 10,000 jobs could be created at the site at full build out. He cautiously follows that up with the note that it would likely take some 25 years to acheive that.
All the purple buildings in the center of this map would house the manufacturing centers. Zambito said the site would likely be used for the production of photovoltaic cells that would harvest electricty from sunlight. In fact, this project, situated in a region that is already coveted for its potential wind energy, could become the foundation of a green energy industrial complex. This project is still some years from any actual construction. The GCEDC is right now getting the designs finalized and hopes to start bringing potential investors and manufacturers out to the site for visits later next year.
Buffalo Pundit links to a story about the economic hard times in Detroit and draws a comparison with Western New York.
From the Time.com story:
When a state lives with a story line of decline for so long, it doesn’t just affect the mood. It becomes part of the culture. Whereas America’s history has been one of expanding horizons, yours has become funnel-shaped. Much like the postbellum South, Rust Belt culture looks backward at an idealized past–a nostalgia not for plantations but for three-bedroom houses paid up on blue collar salaries. (See pictures of the remains of Detroit.)
“It used to be you could get a job at one of those factories, even without an education, and make a decent living to support your family,” says letter carrier Dina Schueller, 33, of Saranac. Now her husband has been laid off from his construction job, and her brother moved to Maryland for work. Like many left-behind Michiganders, she’ll be seeing fewer family members this season.
We've had discussions about the future of Western New York before, and I know some people are skeptical that the local economy can ever grow again, but when you look at efforts to bring new manufacturing businesses to Batavia and Alabama, for example, then it's hard not to be hopeful that renewed growth is a real possibility.
WNY has a lot going for it, such as natural resources, open spaces, an available work force, affordable housing. There's no reason there can't be a renaissance of sorts.
Philip visited the Genesee County Economic Development Council today and is working on a post now about some of the things GCEDC is doing to help expand business opportunities in the county.
Sean Dobbin, with Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle, spent some time out at Graham Corp. recently. He put together a fine piece on the Batavia manufacturer.
Following a recent drop in the company's stock price, Graham Corp. executives set up a guided tour of the facilities Wednesday for six potential investors.
From that article:
(Chief Executive Officer Jim) Lines told the group, which was a mix of financial advisory executives and private investors, that the company didn't adequately prepare for the economic downturn, citing improper staffing as the reason for some of Graham's struggles. But the company is in the midst of overhauling its in-house processes in hopes of emerging from the recession stronger.
Dobbin picked up on a sense of optimism among the investors.
Investors seemed impressed with Graham's presentation, which included lunch and a question-answer session with the executives. Some saw Graham's stock as a potential bargain. "It was probably too high at $54, but then it got all the way down to $6.85, and now it sounds like it's too cheap," said Gary Lindsley, a private investor from Clyde, Ohio.
The article also includes a couple of good photographs.
Genesee County sheriff's deputies are seeking a "person of interest" relating to yesterday's bomb scare at Genesee Community College. Deputies first received the call yesterday at 12:34pm that a student at the college had received a text message stating that a bomb had been placed inside the school's library that was set to go off at 1:00pm. Deputies and state police arrived on scene to evacuate everyone from the college while they investigated the threat, which was later determined not credible. We spoke with Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster this morning. He informed us that the sheriff's office knows the identity of the perpetrators, they have been interviewed, and arrests will soon be made.
UPDATE: The Daily has an updated story this morning on the bomb threat. No arrest yet.
Martin A. Miller, 48, of Le Roy, was charged with a felony count of third-degree grand larceny and a felony count of first-degree scheme to defraud, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Earlier this week, Scott DeSmit of the Daily News reported on the several complaints received by the office that Miller's contracting firm had collected payment without rendering services. Miller was arrested on the specific accusation that he had taken $3,800 to repair a roof in Alexander and failed to do so. Miller is also accused of accepting money from other homeowners in Genesee County and some surrounding counties. He allegedly also failed to perform the work stated in those contracts. Miller was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.
Keith O. Patterson, 53, of 17 Clifton Ave., Batavia, was charged with felony driving while intoxicated Tuesday night, sheriff's deputies said. Patterson was seen driving on Route 5 in the town of Batavia and swerving several times over the lane lines. Patterson was also ticketed with failure to keep right and moving from the lane unsafely. He was sent to Genesee County Jail without bail.
Jon H. Bush Jr., 25, of Elba, was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment last Thursday, deputies said. Bush is accused of pushing a woman over a log causing her ankle to break.
The Genesee County Legislature approved next year's budget with little comment last night, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. The property tax rate will remain the same at $9.82 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Investigators are citing an overheated furnace as the cause of a fire that gutted a home on Fisher Park yesterday morning. The total damage was figured at $85,000.
The Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign in Batavia has a little more than halfway to go to reach its fundraising goal for the season. So far, the group's volunteers have taken in $31,000. They have two weeks left to reach $65,000.
Here's one of the more interesting free classifieds placed on The Batavian yet:
I am will to trade charges from the Batavia Police for the return of the brown box that was stolen from my truck on Friday night.
Here's to hoping Richard Clark of Alexandar is able to make the swap.
For any of our readers who stopped by our booth at Christmas in the City and answered the question on video of "What Christmas means to you?" and you're wondering why we haven't posted that video ... truth is, I lost it.
I remember just before leaving the office, I stuck the tape in my jacket poket, but didn't have it the next afternoon when I went to edit the video. I was afraid, or hoped, I left in my truck, which I took in for service Saturday morning and didn't get back until last night.
It wasn't in the truck.
So I double checked the office.
Today, I stopped in at Sunny's, where Hilly and I went for dinner that night, to see if it fell out of my pocket there -- no luck.
Well, there's always next year ...
A double-occupancy residence at the corner of Elm and Fisher Park was gutted in a fire that was reported at 7:40 a.m.
Both families evacuated themselves without incident according to Batavia Fire Chief Thomas Dillon, who said the fire was a hard one to fight because of the age of the building.
No injuries, either to the families or firefighters, were reported.
We'll have a video interview with the chief posted within an hour. (as you can see, video now up) The Daily News has three photos posted, but no additional information.
UPDATE: Here's a Google Street view of the location.
UPDATE II: Photo of the aftermath:
Google has recently updated their Maps with Street View for Batavia. Here are a few places of interest:
It's fun to see if you can find your car or someone you know walking the streets. What do you think, is this an invasion of privacy?
After months of "we'll have a web site soon" -- some tell us years -- the Batavia Daily News finally does.
The site launched some time in the past two hours.
The site, hosted by Town News, which is a favorite content management system used by many small publishers, is rather basic. The platform offers limited ability for big news packages or posting breaking news.
But the daily will offer comments on stories, at least for now. However, the registration process is rather lengthy and submissions are held in a moderation queue pending approval, a process often used by papers on Town News, but tends to inhibit community conversation.
We'll see if the comment I just left on a Joanne Beck story gets posted!
Of course, Daily News staffers are always welcome to leave comments on The Batavian.
Many people have asked me what the launch of the Daily News site means for The Batavian. To me, it only bodes well. The Daily is going to help create more community interest in local online news, which means many, many more people will find The Batavian and like the different way we handle news.
Go take a look at the site and let us know what you think of it.
UPDATE: They did publish my comment ... at least for now.
Festivities at this year's Christmas in the City were fervid enough to warm the people of Batavia inside and out, despite the frigid winds and snow that whipped down Main Street from time to time throughout the evening.
"It was the best one we've had so far," said Lynn Garlock, owner of Grugnale's deli and restaurant on Jackson Street. "At one point we were so busy, I thought we were going to have to start a waiting list. All the tables were filled up."
Sandwiches, subs and salads were churned out en masse. Clarinets, flutes and a capella vocals were on hand to serenade the diners. All the while, you could hear the steady clop clop as a horse and buggy trotted past the storefront, carting its mittened passengers on downtown.
Garlock was particularly taken with the talents of the Bluebells, a group of about six or seven young female vocalists from Batavia's middle and high schools. In fact, she was so fond of their singing that she has asked them back.
"We liked them so much, we're going to have them come sing during lunch," she said.
Don Burkel told us that this year was a raging success. Burkel is the director of the downtown Business Improvement District, the event's sponsor. No less than 43 vendors came out to set up a table and wares in the Batavia City Centre. Not bad, considering most years the event doesn't draw many more than 30 or so, said Burkel. Add to that all of the downtown shops who stayed put, hosted musicians and held sales.
"We had a record number of vendors," said Burkel. "It was good to see a nice turnout. ... We need to support these business people. That's the key in this economy."
Garlock's praise is typical of the business owners who participated in the event this year, whether they hosted carolers or set up in the mall. Passers-by were treated to a warm cup of chili out front of Adam Miller's Toy and Bicycle.
"We had a great night," said John Roche, the store's owner. "We had a lot of traffic, a lot of people in. And, the chili was really good."
People especially enjoyed the entertainment from the carolers and other musicians who rotated in and out of the store all evening, he said. He didn't spot a single empty seat in the horse and buggy all night.
Of course, you might not know the event was such a success—that is, if you saw the article that ran in the Daily News Saturday. Two photos ran with the article. One depicts a short stretch of Main Street out front of the mall entrance. The sidewalk is empty. The street is lined with parked cars. The caption reads: "Cold temperatures drove people off the streets during the annual Christmas in the City Friday downtown."
That can't be entirely true. A frequent contributor to The Batavian, Daniel Cherry, was not only out in the cold, but documenting the night's festivities—he posted several of his photos to the site. Cherry even snapped a few photos of the horse and buggy, which we're told ran until well after the event officially ended because so many people came out to take a ride.
As for the other photo that ran with the article, a shot inside the mall, the people in the picture are so distorted because of the poor quality of the image, that it is more likely to excite pity than joy.
One Attica resident is even quoted as saying that this Christmas in the City was "terrible." Terrible!? Despite the hundreds of people who were crowded into the mall concourse throughout the evening, she goes on to say that: "There's hardly anyone here." She also laments that there isn't enough "free" stuff.
Not everyone agreed, however. One Batavia resident judged the mall "full" of people. Another felt that "people were more excited this year."
I say we practice a little bit of that gratitude we boned up on over the Thanksgiving holiday. We may be a little too quick to stuff that altruism back down the dirty stocking of the rest of the year. Christmas in the City sure saw a lot of folks come out. There was free chili, free bread, free horse and buggy rides, free entertainment all over downtown. Santa danced around a stage in the mall with his chipper, glittered elves. So yeah, I say it was a success. How about you?
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