batavia

The Salvation Army thrift store at 19 Jackson St. in Batavia reportedly smells like smoke and it is being evacuated. The city fire department is on scene and reports nothing showing, but it is investigating.

Joshua Ray Radley, 25, of Old Meadow Lane, Batavia, is charged with unlawfully growing cannabis, unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of fireworks. Radley was arrested following an investigation into a complaint filed on July 27.

Loralyn L. Bateman, 35, 874 Gabbey Road, Corfu, is charged with driving while ability impaired by alcohol. Bateman turned herself in at Batavia PD on a warrant out of Batavia City Court.

Michael A. Witkop, 19, 249 Ross St., Batavia, is charged with DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation and improper right turn. Witkop was stopped at 12:38 a.m., Sunday, on River Street, Batavia, by Officer Darryl Streeter.

Brian M. Raphael, 23, of 4 Noonan Drive, Batavia, is charged with aggravated DWI, moving from lane unsafely and improper turn. Raphael was stopped at 1:09 a.m., Saturday, on Liberty Street, Batavia, by Officer Marc Lawrence.

Peter J. Kaiser, 50, of Jackson Road, Middleport, is charged with driving while ability impaired by alcohol, failure to stop for stop sign and speed not reasonable and prudent. Kaiser was charged following an investigation into a traffic accident that occurred Sept. 16 on Lockport Road, Alabama.

Rusty Everett Vanson, 46, of Jefferson Street, Attica, is charged with felony DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and driving left of pavement markings in a no-passing zone. Vanson was stopped at 12:57 a.m., Sunday, on Attica Road in Alexander by Deputy Jason Saile.

Eric Michael Duda, 49, of Main Road, Stafford, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st. Duda allegedly asked a third party to contact a person he is barred by court order from contacting. He has a previous conviction for criminal contempt, 2nd, within the last five years. Duda was jailed on $5,000 bail.

A six-point buck reportedly ran into the door of Batavia Middle School a short time ago.

Police were dispatched because classes are about to be let out.

A second report says the buck has also run into a car.

A police officer on scene reports that parents are complaining about blood on the door, asking that the school clean up the blood before children are released from classes.

Press release:

The Batavia Development Corporation as administrator of the City of Batavia small business loan funds, has approved and closed the fourth loan this year to spur economic activity within the city. A total of $72,000 has been distributed for assistance in business start-up and acquisition, purchase of new equipment and working capital.

“Receiving this business loan has changed my life,” said Kate Gonzalez, longtime resident of Batavia and new owner of the Enchanted Florist on Main Street, Batavia. “I can not say enough good things about this program.”

Gonzalez received a $22,000 loan to use toward purchase of the successful flower shop that gives Gonzalez the opportunity to become her own boss after 25+ years of florist experience.

Last month, Sunny’s restaurant received a loan to purchase new kitchen equipment. In August, master-barber Brandon Armstrong of City Styles received start-up funds to open his shop on Ellicott Street providing hot-towel shaves and contemporary styles like unique fades and brush-cuts. And, Colin Dentino was able to add new equipment and hire additional employees to deliver professional and entertaining “fencing” classes through En Garde.

Overall, these businesses were able to hire three new full-time persons, five part-time employees and retain two jobs with these funds.

The City of Batavia now offers the only small business grant and loan program available in Genesee County allowing requests as low as $1,000 up to $50,000. Eligible applicants must be located within city limits and use funds for business activities within the City of Batavia. Contact the Batavia Development Corporation for more information by dialing 585-345-6380 or visit online at www.BataviaDevelopmentCorp.org. 

Photo, by Howard Owens: Kate Gonzalez, center, with her mother, Margaret Anna, left, and her daughter, Rachael Heatherman.

The John Gardner Society gathered Saturday at the Pok-A-Dot for the annual reading of the author's works.

Readers were Lucine, Bill and Gretel Kauffman, Erica Caldwell, Terry McCormack, Tracy Ford, Maureen Maas-Feary, Brian Paris, Helen Maier, Terry Abrams and John Maier.

WNED's Jay Moran recorded the readings and will air a segment later in the week, possibly on Wednesday.

If you can't view the slide show, click here.

A two-car accident is reported at East Main Street and Masse Place in the City of Batavia. It is blocking traffic. Unknown injuries. City firefighters are responding.

UPDATE 1:02 p.m.: City fire back in service.

David Michael Johns, 46, of East Street, Gainsville, is charged with grand larceny, 4th, falsifying business records, 1st, and petit larceny. While employed at Kistner Concrete Products, 10056 East Road, Bethany, Johns allegedly loaded merchandise valued at more than $1,100 into a customer's vehicle and failed to turn in funds to the business from the transaction. Johns is accused of falsifying a packing slip and turning it over to his supervisor in an attempt to account for reportedly missing merchandise. In a separate incident, Johns is accused of loading merchandise into a customer's vehicle with a value of $150 and failing to turn funds over to the business.

Joseph James Lloyd, 40, of 100th Street, Niagara Falls, NY, is charged with grand larceny, 3rd. Lloyd, operating as M. Franklin Home Improvement, Inc., is accused of accepting a payment of $15,000 from a Town of Pembroke resident in October 2010 to build a garage on her property, but Lloyd allegedly failed to use any of the money towards the project.

Matthew C. Higgins, 29, of 2823 Graney Road, Caledonia, is charged with felony DWI. Higgins was taken into custody by Le Roy Police after a concerned citizen initially reported an occupied vehicle parked in the driving lane of Perry Road just south of Route 20. When the citizen approached the vehicle, the driver took off north on Perry and continued into the village. A car reportedly driven by Higgins was stopped on East Main Street in the village after allegedly failing to keep right. Higgins was jailed on $5,000 bail.

Seokjoon Suh, 25, of Batavia Stafford Townline Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, 4th. Suh is accused of possessing a collapsible baton while at College Village.

Cody James Sundown, 21, of Skye Road, Tonawanda, was turned over to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office by the Niagara County Sheriff's Office on a bench warrant out of the Town of Pembroke for criminal mischief, 3rd. Bail was set at $750 or $5,000 bond.

Robert Lee Williams, 21, of State Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Williams is accused of violating an order of protection by going to the place of employment of the protected party. The order specifically barred Williams from going to that business location.

Greg Post, supervisor for the Town of Batavia, which currently has no town property tax, is tempted to announce a 50-percent increase in the tax levy.

For those who haven't done that kind of ciphering in a few years, 0 x 50 percent = 0.

But Post is rather irritated with Albany and the state legislature's passage of a 2-percent cap on property taxes without corresponding mandate relief.

Mandates include increases in health care costs for employees, an increase in power rates without local input, and an increase in pension benefits.

Meanwhile, many local governments are facing problems with aging infrastructure -- infrastructure that needs to be in good repair to attract jobs and retain businesses and help emergency responders get to where they need to go.

Albany, Post, said, should just butt out of local government.

"I’m perfectly capable, as is my board, of making decisions," Post said. "Whether they’re good decisions or not can be judged by the community. The community can show up here at public hearings and voice their concerns and if they don't like our decisions they can vote us out of office."

For the most part, Post said, the small towns and villages of Upstate New York are fiscally conservative and do a good job of holding down expenses. Albany, he said, has no idea how to run a town in Western New York and shouldn't even try.

But some towns have put off infrastructure repairs and their needs are getting critical.

He said he knew of one town that wanted to raise its tax levy 20 percent, which would have meant only a $20 increase in the average property tax bill.

But because of the tax cap, the board is faced with a tough decision -- take a special vote to override the cap, or not go out and get the revenue it needs for the town to survive.

Post sees the levy as a trap laid by Democrats in Albany to force conservatives in small towns in Upstate New York out of office. 

Uninformed voters, he said, will likely vote out of office any official who votes to override the cap, and they will be replaced by less fiscally responsible, less experienced officials.

That's why, he said, he introduced a local law for the Town of Batavia to override the cap. Even though Post has no intention of allowing a tax increase to go through, passage of an override measure is a protest against the heavy-handedness of Albany.

He hopes it will provide cover for those jurisdictions that really do need to override the cap.

He said he plans to introduce the same measure every year that he's in office so long as Albany refuses to pass meaningful mandate relief.

On Wednesday, the town board unanimously approved a public hearing on the proposed local law. The hearing is set for Nov. 9.

A three-car accident with minor injuries has been reported on East Main Street at Vine Street, Batavia.

City Fire Department and Mercy EMS on scene.

When I left the office late this afternoon, the clouds and shafts of light cutting through them looked pretty awesome and I started thinking about what sort of picture I could make on limited time. I remembered a barn on Pearl Street Road that I've never gotten a good shot of and thought of the clouds and light behind it. So I drove out there, and I was right. It could have been a great photo. Unfortunately, the owners had parked a high lift right in front of it. That just wouldn't do. So I kept going and circled back to the city by way of Upton Road and Rose Road. On Rose, a potential advertiser called me, so I pulled over to chat -- with this flag right in front of me. "There's a possible picture," I thought.

District 1 Legislator Ed Dejaneiro spoke at the YWCA this afternoon as part of a candidates forum sponsored by Independent Living of the Genesee Region.  According to James Moody, 14 candidates for city and county offices appeared at the forum. Each candidate was given a chance to make a presentation and then answer questions from the audience. The forum was not a debate. Moody said the forum gives candidates a chance to learn about the rights of people with disabilities and the needs of the community. "We feel it's important for people with disabilities to get a chance to ask candidates questions."

Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer is using his time away from Albany -- the legislature is out of session -- to meet constituents and visit local businesses.

Today, Ranzenhofer did an ag tour in Genesee County, visiting Kreher’s Organic Egg Farm in Basom, Torry Farms in Elba and Offhaus Farms in Batavia.

Above, Gordy Offhaus talks with Ranzenhofer about dairy cattle.

Moody's -- the bond-rating agency -- likes Batavia.

Maybe not as much as they could -- the city's bond rating was downgraded in 2005 from A1 to A2 and remains there -- but a series of fiscal reforms caused the agency to issue a "positive outlook" for the city.

"It should be seen as good news," City Manager Jason Molino said. "They're saying, not only have you achieved the goals you set out to do, you achieved them sooner than you expected. In 2006, the city council set out to pay back all deficits by 2012. They did it by 2010."

Not that there aren't areas of concern for Moody's.

First, the fund balance isn't as high as it should be for a fiscially healthy municipality, and the unresolved contract with the Police Benevolent Association is a cause for concern.

Those two items are prime reason the city isn't getting back, just yet, it's A1 rating.

A municipal bond rating is like a credit score for personal finances.

In 2005, Moody's knocked the city for operating defcits four out of five years, negative general fund balance, high amount of delinquent property taxes, excessive police and fire overtime and the fact that the city's largest revenue source was sales tax.

Now, Moody's is praising the city for operating surpluses in all funds the past four consecutive years, eliminating certain kinds of municipal borrowing, and making progress on equipment and infrastructure projects. Plus, Moody's notes that in 2009 the city had the first positive undesignated fund balance since 2004.

"What they're saying," Molino said, "is that here in the past we faced challenges, in the not-too-distant past, but what the city council did, what we did as a community, is achieve transformative change."

A rainbow spotted off Bank Street Road, Batavia. Photo submitted by Diane Deleo.

Workers have been busy the past few days chiseling out the mortar between the bricks of the First Presbyterian Church on East Main Street, Batavia, in preparation for replacing the mortar.

The project is one of many being undertaken by the church as part of a $650,000 capital improvement project, according to Pastor Roula Alkhouri.

The money was raised during a fundraising drive this spring.

Projects include renovating the fellowship hall, asbestos removal from the basement, work on the foundation and repaving the parking lot, among several other projects to help preserve the building.

A driver involved in a single-car accident shortly after 2 a.m., Tuesday, that destroyed a telephone pole on South Jackson Street has been charged with DWI.

David M. Hagen, 23, of 22 Williams St., Batavia, faces additional charges of failure to keep right, passing a stop sign, leaving the scene of an accident and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Police located Hagan at his residence after he fled the scene on foot. When he returned about 15 minutes later, he immediately started picking up some sports equipment that had been thrown from the car. He told an officer, "I didn't think I was going that fast, but I guess I was."

Hagen, who complained of back pain and was transported to a hospital by his mother, was arrested by Officer Eric Dibble once Dibble completed his investigation.

Following arraignment in Batavia City Court, Hagen was released and is scheduled to reappear in court on Nov. 9.

(Initial Report)

Within days, the Town of Batavia will complete the purchase of 19 acres of land from the City of Batavia ostensibly to clear the way for a new courts facility.

The facility, the story line has gone, would enable the Town of Batavia to merge court functions with the towns of Oakfield and Elba.

What has been little known while this process has gone forward is that neither Oakfield nor Elba ever agreed to such a court consolidation.

In fact, the Oakfield Town Board voted several months ago to reject court consolidation with Batavia.

As for Elba, the board has never taken action to either approve or disapprove consolidation, but the town did apply for and receive a $10,000 state grant to remodel its court bench a year ago and invested another $5,000 of town money in other courtroom upgrades.

Greg Post, supervisor for the Town of Batavia, said that two years ago, when the project was first proposed, there was more momentum behind the idea of consolidation, but over time the other towns have shifted gears.

It's not even a project, he said, that he's paid much attention to recently.

"It's off the top of the pile of my (to-do) list," Post said. "I have a fire district contract to deal with, a budget, infrastructure issues, Alpina coming in. This is something that will be considered in time, but I have other projects to deal with."

Although it's not at the top of Post's to-do list, it is apparently high on the town attorney's list.

On Tuesday, Batavia City Manager Jason Moliono said he had spoke with the town's attorney that day.

"I've been corresponding with the attorney and everything seems to be in place for us to sign the purchase agreement in the next couple of days and then proceed to escrow," Molino said.

The town is paying $150,000 for the property and one of the conditions of the purchase is that the town build a $140,000 sidewalk on Park Road and Richmond Avenue.

At a time when the idea of consolidation between the town and city is still, at least technically, an unresolved issue, City Council President Marianne Clattenburg -- the only council member to vote against selling the 19 acres to the town -- questions why the project has proceeded as far as it has.

She had no idea until Tuesday evening that neither Oakfield nor Elba had signed off on a court consolidation proposal.

"The wise course of action is to put these plans on hold until the citizens vote on consolidation," Clattenburg said. "Why expend any amount of dollars on this until then?"

The city has a fairly new court in the Genesee County Court building on at 10 W. Main St.

Post said that with or without consolidation, the town needs a new court facility.  The current Town Hall, opened about seven years ago, is running out of office space, Post said.

The town board considered expanding the building, but decided it made more sense to build a new court facility.

"I feel strongly that unless something has changed that I don't know about, we will need to expand  space for our courts and it would be beneficial for our communities," Post said.

About the time the town was making its decision to build a new court facility, Post said he heard that Oakfield and Elba had talked about consolidating. He said it made sense to offer those towns the opportunity to move its courts to the new town court building.

In this same time period, Post said, he heard the chamber of commerce was looking for a new facility, so space was offered to the chamber as well.

The site selected is bounded on two sides by Park Road and just west of Oak Street. It's a wetlands area with an open pond popular with ducks and geese that is nearly hidden from view and hard for people to access. The city acquired the land from the federal government in 1968 and in order to get approval from the Veterans Administration to buy the land, the town had to agree to protect and mitigate the wetlands and build the sidewalks on Park and Richmond.

"We elected to make the purchase and offer the facility up to other communities as an opportunity," Post said.

While Oakfield Town Supervisor Micheal Cianfrini believes town court consolidation is likely and even beneficial, Oakfield, he said, will not consolidate with Batavia.

He said the town board decided Batavia wasn't a good fit with Oakfield. It would make more sense, he said, to consolidate with towns closer to Oakfield's size, such as Alabama and Elba.