batavia

On the way home for lunch, I noticed two DOT employees standing by the train tracks at Ellicott Street and Jackson Street, so I stopped and asked if they were planning on improving the intersection.

Anybody who has driven over or walked past the train tracks knows the road is in bad shape there.

Troy Sampson, a civil engineer with the DOT, said the state will rip out the asphalt along the rail line and replace it with concrete panels, just like the railroad crossing on Route 98 now.

The work was supposed to start next week, but there has been a delay. The state hopes now to start work in August. The project will take 6 weeks to complete.

"It's 100 percent going to happen," Sampson said. "It's just a matter of how it's going to happen. There's lots of logistics here."

UPDATE: Well, not so fast.  The project that looked so certain this morning is now on hold. I just received this e-mail from Troy Sampson:

We spoke, in brief, earlier today at the rr crossing on Ellicott St.  The  proposed work will be done by the Railroad's contractor, not DOT forces.  Myself and a RR representitve were onsite to investigate some issues that have come up that need to be resolved in order for that project to progress.   Because of those changes, the project is currently on hold until all the  necessary parties can meet to evalute the new scope of work.  The orginal  plan that was all set to go is now on hold.  We intend to do a project, but  are not "100%" as noted.

I shot the video this morning and just happened to catch a single lightning bolt and a little thunder.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for this afternoon at 12:10 p.m. and then canceled the warning at 12:35 p.m.  A thunderstorm watch remains in place. The watch extends until 7 p.m. (meaning, the bad weather, we hope, will pass in time for Muckdogs baseball at Dwyer and the Ghost Riders at Jackson St. Square.)

Victorian Manor in Batavia, which has been facing financial difficulty (just last fall, there were $1.54 million in liens against the property), has a new owner and a new name.

It's now The Manor House, owned and operated by Manor House, LLC.  The financially troubled Sunwest Management transferred the facility to a group of 10 individual investors.

Full press release after the jump:

It’s official—Victorian Manor is now The Manor House.  On Friday, June 
26, 2009, ownership was transferred from Sunwest Management to Manor House, 
LLC.

The new owners are the 10 individual investors who were originally brought in 
by Sunwest when it purchased the facility in 2006.  When Sunwest began to 
struggle financially in 2008, the investors undertook an effort to take 
control of the facility and have now been able to conclude the transfer of 
control and ownership.

“We loved this facility when we first invested in 2006 and love it even 
more today as we have been able to really get to know the staff and 
residents,” said Gordon Davis, the Managing Partner for the new ownership.  
“This is more than a physical facility.  It is home for our residents, but 
also, a community itself and an integral part of Batavia and all of Genesee 
County.”

The Manor House is an independent living facility for seniors with 40 
apartments and a full dining room in the original 15 year old building on 
East Main Street.  The new owners will now complete the construction of two 
new wings which will bring the total number of studio, one and two bedroom 
apartments to 90.

Despite its financial and management troubles, Sunwest, as the fourth largest 
operator of senior living facilities in the nation, understood how to design 
a senior living facility that was more than just an apartment.  The new wings 
were designed to complement the existing building with additional common 
community spaces, an exercise room; a games and recreation room, a hair salon 
and a large “ice cream parlor.”  “I think the ice cream parlor will be 
where everyone meets during the day” said Davis.  “Living at The Manor 
House is about being with friends and people you enjoy.  Staff is there to 
support our residents with high quality meals, organized activities and 
service that meets the different needs that our residents have.”

“We have finalized our agreements with the contractors and they will be 
back to work to finish the new wings beginning next week” said Davis.  
“We expect to have our first apartments ready for occupancy within about 
four weeks.”

Local contractors who had stopped work last summer and filed liens on the 
property are pleased to be back to finish their work.  “We are proud of the 
work that we do and it was hard to see this so close to completion yet no way 
to finish” said Brian Wormley of Wormley Construction, a contractor doing a 
walk through today. “This is a great facility and it will be nice to see 
people moving in soon.”

The Manor House was originally built by St. Jerome Hospital in conjunction 
with the Sisters of Mercy in 1994.  It has been a prominent feature on East 
Main ever since, and during the summer months, always with residents enjoying 
the daily movement of Batavia from its expansive porch.

If you've driven past Zigrossi Motors on Route 5 in Batavia last night or this morning and took note of a seemingly empty parking lot, don't jump to the conclusion that Zigrossi is out of business.

While you will be seeing less inventory on the lot over the next few months, that isn't why the lot was emptied last night -- that had more to do with hail than the fact that the business is being sold.

Harry Zigrossi has been in the car business for 30 years, he said, and he's ready to retire.

A buyer has been found, but because of the General Motors bankruptcy, the deal cannot close until early 2010, unless GM emerges from bankruptcy sooner.

"Because we were fortunate enough to be on good asset side of the General Motors list and not the bad asset side, we can be sold," Zigrossi said. "If we were on the bad asset list, there would be no new dealer and we would be shutting down."

Meanwhile, Zigrossi is still open for business. The new cars on the lot are all for sale and the service department remains open.  Zigrossi said all operations will continue until the new dealer assumes control.

This afternoon, I popped over to the first day of the Downtown Public Market on Ellicott and Center. First stop: Alston's Bone-Suckin Bar-B-Que sauce stand. The sample alone was worth the trip.  Then I had a couple of red hots from the Jackson St. Grill said.

The market closed early today after the National Weather Service sent out a severe thunderstorm warning.

It will open again next Thursday in the same location at 8:30 a.m.

Since I complained about it, I should note the clean up: When I was driving to the office this morning, I noticed this man out in front of the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Jackson cutting the grass strips in front of the parking lot.  When I drove home, the whole area looked much nicer.

A case of H1N1, often misidentified as "swine flu," has been reportedly contracted by a member of the United Memorial Medical Center staff, according to Randy Garney, interim director of the health department for Genesee County.

Citing privacy concerns, UMMC spokeswoman Colleen Flynn said she could not share any information about the reported case. Flynn did confirm that a memo was sent to employees on Tuesday.

Garney indicated people should not dwell too much on where a case might be found, but realize H1N1 is prevalent throughout the state.

"The general public should realize it's here," Garney said.

People, he said, are largely unaware of how  widespread H1N1 is at this point because most cases are never severe enough to lead to the person seeking medical attention.

But if you have flu-like symptoms, you have H1N1.

"It's considered H1N1 right now because we're beyond the flu season," Garney said. "If anybody has those symptoms, they should consider it H1N1."

Flu symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and extreme tiredness.

While H1N1 is pervasive throughout New York, the fatality rate is very low, less than .1 percent.

"The more troubling part of H1N1 is that it's being more aggressive with five- to 21-year-olds," Garney said. "Flu is usually more aggressive with people over 65, but H1N1 is not bearing this out."

Because H1N1 is such a new strain, Garney said, there is still much scientists are trying to learn about the strain. It's possible that older people at one time contracted a variant of the strain in their younger years and now have some level of immunity.

Garney reiterated that people with flu-like symptoms should stay home and avoid as much as possible and avoid unnecessary contact with other people.  Also, wash your hands and maintain other sanitary practices.

Andrew Kosiorek, 37, 53 W. Main St., #101, Corfu, is charged with criminal contempt and harassment following an alleged incident in Batavia. Kosiorek reportedly following a family dispute in which he allegedly struck another person. The person allegedly attacked is covered by a protection order.

Patricia M. Morris, 58, 5359 Horseshoe Lake Road, Batavia, is charged with DWI , driving with a BAC of .18 or more and driving left of road markings in a no passing zone. Morris was stopped following reports of erratic driving in the City of Batavia and Stafford.

Jennifer L. Heil, 26, 5690 Eagle Harbor Road, Oakfield, is charged with DWI,driving with a BAC of .18 or more and driving left of pavement markings. Heil was charged following a traffic stop in Stafford.

On tuesday night the boys and i went to the super cruise.They had a DJ.A 50/50 raffle we lost.It was alot of fun.Vintage automobiles make great images.

Ryan Gugel, the Gulf Coast League barely got to know you.

The Batavia high grad who signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies organization after the Major League Baseball Draft didn't get to play in the GCL Phillies opener because he's been promoted from the short-season rookie league to long-season A ball.

The catcher will make his professional debut with the Lakewood BlueClaws of the South Atlantic League.

The club is 42-26 and leading the Northern Division.

Fellow BHS grad Chris Page was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds organization, but has yet to sign a contract. The Reds drafted four first baseman and is waiting to offer him a contract until a position opens up.

Fire trucks are responding to Notre Dame High School for a tripped fire alarm.  A custodian on scene reports no smoke nor fire seen. Crews on scene also report nothing showing.

An oven fire has been reported at 19 Hart St., Batavia. Fire engines are responding.

UPDATE 5:10 p.m.: Burnt food only.

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Batavia Police Youth Det. Todd Crossett completed his first marathon May 25 in 4 hours and 4 minutes, and it was for a worthy cause.

Crossett ran into the Buffalo Marathon to raise funds for the Royal Rangers, a scouting group of 30 boys supervised by Crossett.

He raised $400, which will help boys participation in the Royal Rangers.  Many would not be able to attend camp outs without the funds, according to a BPD press release.

Police are responding to Emory Upton's monument at Ellicott and Main.

A woman is there moving around mulch and fiddling with plants, telling a person there that she is cleaning up her father's grave.

Scott A. Fehr, 34, 8378 Lake Road, Corfu, is charged with DWI. Fehr was reportedly found parked on Galloway Road. Further investigation revealed he allegedly hit a sight while turning left from Route 63 onto Galloway. He then allegedly left the scene without proper notification. He was also charged with a BAC of .08 or more and leaving the scene of a property damage accident without notification.

A 17-year-old employee of Darian Lake is accused of stealing $765 from the theme park. He is charged with petty larceny. The youth is from Strykersville.

Travis Bauer, 20, 4685 Crittenden Road, Akron, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Bauer was allegedly found to be in possession of marijuana during an investigation of a reported domestic dispute in Alabama.

Debra Farminger, 47, 24 Lewis Road, Akron is accused of pushing and hurting another family member during a domestic dispute in Alabama. She is charged with harassment in the second degree.

Now that I'm a city resident, there are things (though not many) that bug me a little more than they did in the past.

One of these pet peeves is the weeds in the Salvation Army parking lot on Jackson near Ellicott.  Weeds from the curb to the front door, in every crack, and weeds at the base of the light polls, and weeds along the north side of the parking lot. Not to mention the building hasn't been painted in decades and the front sign polls look like they came off a rusted battle ship. 

I drive past this location every day and feel sorry for the owner of Floral Fantasies, who must try to run an elegant business next to this mess.

It's just plain unsightly.

Apparently, I'm not the only city resident who's had enough of the weeds around town. It turns out City Council members get regular constituent complaints, but the current ordinance is proving ineffective at getting property owners to make their land and buildings a little less ugly.

The proposed changes would give property owners 48 hours to clean up weeds, trash or debris once a notice has been posted on the property. If the work isn't done in 48 hours, outside crews will be brought in to clean up the mess and the property owner will be assessed the price of the clean up and fined $250. A second violation in the same calendar year would yield clean-up costs and a $100 fine.

The only controversial point in the proposed changes is that an alternative penalty is 50 days in jail. The council debated this provision for a good 15 or 20 minutes after Councilman Bill Cox raised an objection to the language.

"This is America it’s not Russia," Cox said. "We don’t put people in jail for not cutting their grass.  We can fine them heavily, but even to to threaten them with jail is not what we do."

Councilman Tim Buckley took an opposing view, saying a violation of the law is a violation of the law and the threaten of jail time would encourage people to pay their fines, rather than let them slide (the city can put a lien against the property, but would have no other recourse to collect unpaid fines and bills).

"Deep in our hearts don’t want to send anybody to jail," Buckley said. Later adding, "I understand where Mr. Cox is coming form. This is America, but in America when you break the law, you pay the penalty."

Several council members, City Attorney George Van Nest and Asst. City Manager Sally Kuzon all said that sending people to jail for not cleaning up their property would only be used in extreme cases.

"I think the judges and the police officers involved would have enough discretion to recognize this is an extreme measure," Councilwoman Marianne Clattenburg said.

Removing jail time from the proposed language failed on a 4-5 vote.

Next, the proposed changes will be the subject of a public hearing.  I didn't write down the date and will update this post as soon as I have it. 

BTW: If somebody wants to organize a clean up crew to help out the Salvation Army, I'll set aside a Saturday to pitch in and whack a few weeds.

The City of Batavia's two-year effort to amend its charter is running head-on into any idea of consolidating the town and the city into a single government in the near future, according to John Roach, chairman of the Charter Review Commission.

Roach said this evening that City Attorney George Van Nest informed the commission that state law prohibits any other measure from being on the same ballot.

That means city officials will need to choose - new charter or push for consolidation.

"If we thought consolidation would pass, we would pull the charter," Roach said.

The Charter Commission's term expires, under state law, on election day. If there is no vote this November, then the city will need to appoint a new Charter Review Commission and the two-year process will start over.

Roach noted there are some issues in the revised charter that will not controversial, are critical. Among them the need to drop the requirement for the city to employee a City Engineer, a position that is currently vacant and is apparently no longer needed.  Also, under state law each member of the seven-member planning board should serve seven-year terms. The commission is recommending reducing the board to only five members so terms will be only five years (yes, that's the way state law works, according to Roach).

City Council President Charlie Mallow, a strong proponent of consolidation said to him there's no question, consolidation should be on the November ballot, not the charter.

Asked about the risk of the town not passing consolidation and then the city would need to start over on the charter, Mallow said, "That's the risk you have to take. That's something as an area we have to reach for."

City Manager Jason Molino, who serves on the consolidation committee, declined to say which choice he favored.

"It's up to the elected officials," Molino said. "If they feel fit to put it forward to the populace then they will."