batavia

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15 Linwood Ave., Batavia. Super solid and well cared for home in the City! Awesome location on quiet street! This home has a lot of curb appeal -- large yard, two-car detached 20x20 garage, perfect for all the "stuff." Home features large room sizes, nice woodwork, and a walk up attic that could be just about anything -- toy room, storage, etc.

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Submitted photo and press release:

Responding to community needs, the Batavia Rotary Club is contributing a $20,000 donation from its Foundation to assure Genesee County residents have access to food and other essential items during this time of increased needs.

"We want to make sure the families and individuals are not suffering during this time of financial uncertainty and increased health concerns," said club President Bob Knipe.

The Rotary Club tapped its endowment that was created by various fundraisers conducted throughout the years, he explained.

The contributions will be made in two waves. The first $10,000 is being donated now, primarily focused on assuring food supplies for needy families and for emotional support for senior citizens. 

"One-hundred percent of the contributions are going to provide support directly to people, not for administration," said Rotarian Ed Leising, who has served on a special COVID Relief committee for the club.

The Salvation Army in Batavia will receive $7,000 for its emergency food distribution.

The United Way of Genesee County will receive $2,400 for its backpack program that provides food to families with school-age children.

Genesee County Office for the Aging will receive $600 toward emotional support for local senior citizens who have been isolated during this period of stay-at-home social distancing.  

A second round of $10,000 funding will be released in about a month.

"At that point in time, we anticipate having more of an understanding on the economic impact of layoffs and joblessness caused by the pandemic," said Rotarian Sharon Kubiniec. 

Rotary is an international service club whose motto is "Service Above Self."  The Batavia Club has been in existence for more than 100 years and provides regular financial support to community organizations such as Crossroads House, the YWCA Domestic Violence Safe House, college scholarships to local students, youth sports and capital improvements to United Memorial Medical Center. 

"We are working to continue supporting the organizations that we have been sustaining for many years, but club members were adamant to respond during this unprecedented time of need for our neighbors," said President Knipe. 

For more information about Batavia Rotary, visit its website at www.bataviarotary.com.

Photo, from left: Rotarian Donna Saskowski, Rotarian Ed Leising, Tony Condello from the Genesee Senior Foundation, associated with the Office for the Aging, Diana Fox of the Office for the Aging, Rotary President Bob Knipe, Rotarian Sharon Kubiniec, Tammy Hathaway, executive director of the United Way of Genesee County. All the Rotarians are members of a special COVID Relief Committee.

Press release:

Jackson Primary School Parent Teacher Group is hosting a celebration parade for all Jackson families on Friday at noon.

The parade will begin at Ascension Parish / Sacred Heart parking lot, located at 19 Sumner St.

The parade will proceed up Hutchins Street to South Jackson Street and through the front bus loop at Jackson Primary (411 S. Jackson St.) where teachers will line the sidewalk. There will also be a safe walking zone that will be roped off for those who wish to walk the parade.

The parade will be lead by SRO Jason Davis from the Batavia Police Department. Jackson Primary would like to thank the Batavia Police Department, the Batavia Fire Department and the Jackson Primary Parent Teacher Group for support Jackson Primary.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

If you have any questions, please call Mrs. Notaro, principal of Jackson Primary at (585) 343-2480, ext. 4000.

City police are responding at the request of Sheriff's deputies who are on scene at a fight at Batavia Commons, 444 W. Main St., Batavia. It's the shopping center where Dollar Tree and Harbor Freight Tools are located.

Public Notice

Though the City of Batavia Planning and Development Committee will be holding its June meeting, as per executive orders regarding COVID-19, face-to-face public hearings are still not allowed. It meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16.

Here a PDF link of the agenda.

Any person wishing to comment on the following proposals, should submit an email to:   drandall@batavianewyork.com, or call (585) 345-6327 prior to June 16. Comments may also be placed in the drop box hanging on the wall to the right of the outside doors at City Hall.

1. DePaul Apartments -- 555 E. Main St., Paul Schreiner, PE, agent for DePaul Apartments – Special Use Permit for the construction of a 20,100-square-foot, two story, 20 dwelling-unit addition to an existing 49,786-square-foot 42 dwelling-unit “large-scale multifamily development” building.

2. Clinton Gardens Subdivision -- 387 Garden Drive Rear, Robert Pidanick, senior project manager for Nussbaumer & Clarke – Major subdivision of this property into six separate parcels.

For questions, please call the Bureau of Inspection at (585) 345-6345.

Near the end of a hot day, Cassandra Wroblewski was bored so she decided to draw flowers on the sidewalk outside her apartment on Ellicott Street in Batavia.

Wroblewski said she is a crafter and an artist who is busy every day with her creations but decided she needed to go outside to be creative for a change.

Press release:

Four Batavia Tops employees who are also high school seniors in the Class of 2020 were each awarded $1,000 scholarships by their employer:

• Mary Caprio 
• Joanne Clemm 
• Karissa Kesler 
• Samantha Lucki

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, Northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont, have been an advocate of supporting formal education of its employees for over two decades.

Since the inception of its two scholarship programs, which are in conjunction with the UFCW, more than 22,400 scholarships have been awarded and more than $21,700,000 has been provided to Tops associates for scholarship reimbursement.

In 2020 alone the UFCW and Tops Markets will award over 200 associates a total of more than $233,000 in scholarships and Tops will award 28 students $28,000 in scholarships this year.

“At Tops, we recognize the hard work of our associates and in turn, supports our associates with scholarship opportunities,” said Denise Terrell, senior learning and development specialist for Tops.

“Supporting education is a high priority for us, not only as a means to provide career growth and opportunity within the company, but also to ensure that members of our community are given options and presented with resources to succeed. Providing scholarships to outstanding students to enable them to better their education is our way of investing in the future.”

A caller to dispatch complains that tenants in an apartment in the 100 block of Tracy Avenue in the city are smoking marijuana -- allegedly. City police are responding.

Batavia City Council President Eugene Jankowski said he plans to continue the conversation started by speakers at Sunday’s Downtown “March for Justice,” assuring people of color in the community that city leaders will be open to their concerns.

“What I can say is ‘get your council person involved; we’ll help you,’ ” Jankowski said today as he prepares comments to be shared with other council members at tonight’s Business Meeting.

Council members will gather at City Hall for the first time since early March, but the public and media will not be allowed to attend – instead having to view it via Zoom videoconferencing or Facebook Live.

Jankowski said he wasn’t aware of the hesitancy among African Americans and other minorities to contact City Council.

“There are certain members of the community that apparently didn’t feel comfortable calling us, and they didn’t know why they didn’t feel comfortable calling us,” he said. “So, they want to call us now and I say, ‘Please do.’ ”

Jankowski said organizers of the protest, which drew hundreds of residents to gather in front of the City Centre and march on Main Street, invited him to attend. He and Police Chief Shawn Heubusch stood quietly by as speakers with megaphones addressed the crowd.

What the two men heard were impassioned pleas for city officials to “hear our cries … this is my community … we are uncomfortable … Black Lives Matter.”

They also heard from speakers who said they have been harassed by police, don’t feel welcome in restaurants and other public places and are fearful for their children’s safety.

“This is very emotional. I didn’t realize some of the pain that the members of our community were feeling. It definitely sparks me to work a little harder to try to drill down and find out what we can do to make everyone who lives here feel that they’re included and welcome here,” Jankowski said when interviewed by The Batavian during the event.

Victor Thomas, the protest’s key speaker, said he believes the peaceful protest was a good beginning.

“We got our message across," Thomas said. "You can see that Batavia is standing with us today – and that’s a beautiful thing. But it doesn’t stop today. Today is just a start. We’ve got to continue the conversation." 

He issued a call to “push this agenda to prove that this is our community.”

“It’s not what they said. Not with these boards on these windows. Not this negative vibe that they were sending around town about buses coming in here. This is Batavia. This has always been Batavia,” he said. “We thank you for listening to us, but we need to see some action. We will continue to march for justice.”

Jankowski said he plans to stay in touch with organizers and bring their issues to City Council.

“My belief, from what I’ve been told by the organizers, is that they are reaching out to all members of Council to create a path of communication going forward,” said Jankowski, who apparently was the only council member to attend the protest.

Heubusch acknowledged that “this is a conversation that is long overdue for all of us, I think.”

“We’re certainly going to start that conversation,” he said, calling the protesters “a bunch of good guys here and a bunch of great women that want to do the right thing. So, we’re here to help in any way we can. We want to help keep the peace and move this community forward.”

Batavia City School District Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr., a person of color, also spoke on Sunday.

Afterward, he pointed to the “pain and hurt” across the nation.

“It’s no different here in Batavia. There’s been lack of visibility of people of color in various positions,” he said, noting that 22 percent of Batavia students are either African American or Latino. “But it is important to be unified – just to let them know we’re in this together. This we have to address, and the best way to solve this is to get engaged and get involved.”

Alan D. Tidd Jr., 30, of Oak Street, Batavia, is a Level 3 sexually violent offender who is charged with failure to report a change in contact information within 10 days -- first offense. It is alleged that Tidd failed to disclose an email he had been using to exchange pornographic material, solicit sexual acts, and create accounts on online dating websites. He was arrested on May 19 then released with an appearance ticket for arraignment in Batavia City Court at 1 p.m. on July 14. The case was investigated by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison, assisted by Genesee County Parole.

Darrell Smith, 53, of Jerome Place, Batavia, is charged with third-degree assault. It is alleged that he struck a person and caused injury during a domestic incident at 6 p.m. on May 31 on Oak Street, Batavia. He was arrested, arraigned in Batavia City Court and then released. He is due back in city court on July 16. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Samuel Freeman, assisted by Officer Christopher Lindsay.

Paul David Hussey, 64, of Hurricane Mills, Tenn., is charged with bail jumping in the second degree. Hussey failure to appear in Genesee County Court on Oct. 24 for sentencing on charges of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree (no other details provided). He was arrested at the Port of Seattle in the State of Washington in February. After obtaining a Governor's Warrant, he was extradited back to New York State and arraigned in county court and jailed without bail. The case was handled by Batavia Police Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello.

Shawna M. Purcell, 42, of Tracy Avenue, Batavia, is charged with second-degree criminal trespass. It is alleged that at 6:27 p.m. on June 3 that Pursel entered a private residence on Eleanor Place in Batavia and refused to leave when asked to do so. She was arraigned in Batavia City Court via Skype and released on her own recognizance. She is due bak in city court on July 16. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Joshua Girvin, assisted by Officer Austin Hedges.

Al Lang turned 80 on Saturday and his friends and families organized a parade to celebrate his birthday.

Lang worked at Pepsi in Batavia for most of his life. When he retired from Pepsi, he started a landscaping business, Country Caretakers, and also ran for the town board of Batavia and became a town councilman. He has nine children, 40 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren, with two on the way. 

Photos and information submitted by Dave Alvord.

Aerial photos submitted by Anthony Sweet.

Photos below by Bonnie Marrocco.

While livestreaming yesterday's protest/march, I was also video recording with my DSLR camera. Here are key points from three hours of recording edited into 20 minutes so that you might, hopefully, be able to get a flavor of the day's event in a condensed version.

I hope and trust that the editing has maintained an accurate reflection of the event. A few people have complained that during the livestream, they couldn't hear interviews. The iPhone used for the livestream is an omnidirectional mic. It picks up everything. The shotgun mic on my DSLR is directional, so you will be better able to here the excerpts from those interviews in this video.

This is a significant event in Batavia's history. Please watch.

For more photos, visit Steve Ognibene's photo gallery.