Business

At 5:30 p.m., traffic entering Darien Lake for the Zac Brown Band concert Saturday night moved briskly and the lines on Route 77 from both the north and south were less than a half-mile long.

That wasn't the case two weeks ago for the Jason Aldean concert, when all of the roads around the concert venue were heavily congested and it took some patrons hours to get into the parking lot.

Traffic didn't clear until nearly 8 p.m. that night.

Last night, by 7 p.m., there were no cars waiting in line to enter the facility.

"We left our hotel at 7 and were in the park grounds by 7:15," said Syracuse resident Shannon Coholan.

Several other Zac Brown Band fans shared similar stories. None of the concertgoers interviewed Saturday said they experienced any kind of delay entering the venue.

"So far, this is a million times better," said Ashlee Miller, of West Seneca, who attended the Aldean concert. "There is probably triple the people directing traffic.  Everything was a million times easier. Walking in right now, a million times easier. It was horrible last time."

Officials were also pleased with the results, which they attributed to adjustments by the Sheriff's Office and Darien Lake in how traffic was directed and changes in access points.

A polite, mature and well-behaved group of concertgoers also helped make things go smoother, officials said.

Asked for his assessment on the inbound traffic situation, Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble said, "Outstanding."

"We were worried because once again, traffic didn't come in early," Dibble said. "You would think you would have a last-minute rush, but it cleared up fast. It cleared out by 7. That's just outstanding. There is no other way to put it."

Gerald Rakestraw, VP of development for Darien Lake's owner, Herschend Family Entertainment, said there were several adjustments made by park officials following the Aldean concert.

He described the changes as:

• Active inbound traffic management from the toll booths to the checkpoint;
• Allowing inbound traffic through the performing arts center exit to relieve congestion as needed;
• A defined and communicated plan for taxis, limos and parental drop-offs;
• More staff directing traffic;
• Further reducing pedestrian traffic at the area known as "the crossover."

"The crossover" is a two-lane roadway that flows east and west and crosses the north and southbound Employee Road. It's a main connector between the front entrance on Route 77 and the grass lots on the east side of the property.

Keeping Employee Road clear of inbound concert traffic, including VIP parking and pedestrians, allows the crossover to flow more consistantly and evenly. 

In the past, when the private parking lots on Sumner Road were open, the crossover was usually heavily congested with both cars and pedestrians. 

At the end of concerts back then, the crossover couldn't even be used for outbound traffic until more than an hour after a concert ended because of heavy pedestrian traffic exiting to the private lots.

Yesterday, the only private lot operating was Cherry Hill Campground and there was a minimal amount of traffic coming from the lot to the concert.

Afternoon rain may have kept many Zac Brown fans from attending the show earlier, but the late arrivals helped Darien Lake officials test their new parking plan.

Rakestraw said the learning process is ongoing and officials will continue to evaluate the process and make adjustments as needed.

"Tonight was a good night," Rakestraw said. "I think we’ve been able to learn from our experiences thus far and we did some things to facilitate a quicker parking experience."

He said the plan used for Zac Brown was built around providing "relief valves" to move traffic to alternate routes when congestion started to build.

"If we have a 22,000-person show and people choose to all come at the same time, there is going to be some level of back-up," Rakestraw said. "We encourage people to come earlier in the day and enjoy the park or enjoy themselves with their friends. It worked out well today, even with the weather."

Chad Zambito, an appointed Town of Batavia board member and candidate for the GOP nomination for that seat, expected the assets of his former laundromat to sell for somewhere close to $30,000.

The actual highest bid on Tuesday, in an auction conducted by the Bank of Castile, was $3,500.

That's enough to cover Zambito's debt to the bank, but he still owes more than $14,000 to the Batavia Development Corporation, which provided Zambito with a low-interest loan in 2010 to finance upgrades to the laundromat.

This morning, Zambito issued the following statement:

I continue to work towards resolving the issues related to the closing of my business and intend to meet with the BDC board to resolve any outstanding issues. I have started the Chapter 13 process which in the short term will provide me 60-90 days to get my finances in order. If I complete the process, the result would be a court ordered and monitored five-year repayment plan. 

Grammy's Laundry closed earlier this year and Zambito said much of the business's difficulties stemmed from a plumbing problem in the mall where Grammy's was located. He said the business never recovered from the set back.

A former laundromat owner who observed Tuesday's auction said just one of the high capacity dryers at Grammy's retails new for about $3,500. There was some 40 or so washers and dryers, some in apparent disrepair, in the facility. The buyer is an out-of-county laundry owner who reportedly plans to remove all the machines and take them to another of his laundromats.

Zambito's GOP primary opponent is John Gerace, who held the office for nearly a decade before resigning in April after a Town of Batavia Fire Department awards and installation dinner where Gerace reportedly had some sort of confrontation with Supervisor Greg Post.

Bill Ripple can now claim he's the fastest sub eater in Genesee County.

Ripple won a sub eating contest this morning at Molasses Hill, the food store at 466 Ellicott St., Batavia. The contest was held in conjunction with the Batavia location's one-year anniversary.

In all, six men who thought they could eat an entire, meat-packed sub faster than anybody else, showed up for the event.

The grand prize, $100, was presented to Ripple by Neal Harder.

The other contestants were Brian English, John Brenkus, Earl Reimer, Frank Bellucci and Patrick Morris.

Public notices: they’re paid for by taxpayer funds, created by public employees, intended for wide public distribution, but publication is dictated by a monopolistic government subsidy for newspapers.

It’s a law I and every other independent online publisher in New York State would like to change.

When I last wrote about this issue, a guy who has created a national public notices Web site contacted me and told me he was already compiling all of the public notices available online for Genesee County. For the simple price of sending him over our logo, he would provide a link where visitors to The Batavian could go and view public notices in a user-friendly fashion.

He wants to work with independent publishers to help prove online-only publications are just as capable of handling public notices as print publications, so he was offering the service for free.

The Batavia Daily News, under the current law, is the carrier of most paid public notices in Genesee County.

Since the notices originate not from the Daily, but from public agencies, it was our belief the notices are public property and not proprietary to the Daily. Besides, the only action The Batavian was taking was providing a link to a third-party Web site for the benefit of readers.

Now, months after we provided the link, the parent corporation of the Batavia Daily News, has decided to take a different view.

A few days ago, I received a “cease and desist” email from John B. Johnson, an executive with the chain of newspapers that owns the Daily.

The note was cordial, but also asserted legal authority to require us to stop posting public notices that originated from the Daily.

The note accused The Batavian of “copying” notices from thedailynewsonline.com, which was a factually untrue statement. As I noted in a reply to Johnson, the service was provided by a third party for which The Batavian has no contractual relationship and no monetary interest.

The assertion that The Batavian was violating the Daily’s copyright of notices also flies in the face of case law that substantiates the idea that a newspaper cannot claim copyright on material that it did not create. Since public employees create public notices, the notices are public property.

And besides, since no advertising appeared on the third-party’s public notice page, and since print publication of public notices is an income stream protected – a monopoly subsidy -- for newspapers courtesy of the State Legislature, the Johnson Newspaper chain cannot establish an important element of any assertion of copyright violation: financial loss as a result of the use of the material.

All that said, the Johnsons can afford corporate lawyers and The Batavian, still a small, family owned start-up, cannot. When you factor in that there is no monetary benefit to The Batavian for providing the free public service of increasing access to public notices, the risk-reward equation for challenging the newspaper chain’s claims falls well short on the reward side.

There’s just no point in fighting the corporation’s claims. 

But we want to continue to provide the service.

The owners of the third party Web site, at no charge to The Batavian, have graciously agreed to start accepting public notices directly from town, village and city clerks along with the agents of every other public entity in Genesee County that create public notices.

Such agencies can now email those notices to (notices at the batavian dot com) (reformat that address into a proper email address, of course).

I’ve already been in touch with about a half dozen town clerks and all cheerfully agreed to start sending their notices directly to this email address.

While the service is free to the public agencies and won’t cost taxpayers a dime, it is no substitute – under current law – for an agency’s legal requirements to publish public notices in a newspaper that has been designated by state law to publish such notices.

While we wish our friends at Johnson Newspapers well in their effort to protect a business model that is being disrupted from a variety of competitive forces, we believe public notices should not be a State Legislature-sanctioned monopoly subsidy for print publications.

In this day and age, public notices should be widely available to the public, and publications other than strictly print should be able to compete for the business of providing verified, legal publication. We will continue to encourage lawmakers to change the law.

Saturday was the first big test for a new pedestrian access policy at Darien Lake and while officials are satisfied with the results overall, they admit there are some kinks to work out.

On the positive side, officials said, traffic control after the concert was much better than used to be expected for a sold-out concert.

On the negative side, there was some confusion over what to do with taxis, how to handle passenger drop-offs and dealing effectively with people trying to circumvent the policy.

Cherry Hill Campground was open for concert parking and apparently tried to establish a private vehicle shuttle service for its patrons. 

Part of the terms of service now for ticket holders is there is only one vehicle entry and one vehicle exit per person and you must have a valid ticket to come onto the property.

Drivers of cars observed coming off The Hill were threatened with arrest for criminal trespass when they were observed coming in through Employee Road and then leaving immediately.

Many of the dozens of people who tried to walk in through Employee Road managed to bum rides from other concertgoers in cars. Of course, they became pedestrians after the concert trying to exit the venue on Employee Road.

Those people were told either to walk to the main gate to leave or to the exit point at the east side of the property.

Officials wanted to keep Employee Road open for vehicle traffic, so a strict no-pedestrian rule was enforced.

"The overall objective is just to make the traffic flow smoother and just create a safer environment for our guests," said Darien Lake General Manager Bob Montgomery. "To that extent, it’s working. If we’ve got a few little leaks here and there, we’ll correct them were we can. If people are really working hard to beat the system, I guess they can if they think it’s really worth all the effort."

Some issues will just work themselves out, Montgomery said, as guests become more familiar with the new system and fewer of them are willing to hassle with private lot parking.

From just before 5 p.m. until shortly after 8 p.m., vehicle traffic to Darien Lake was gridlocked from both the south and the north.

While some concertgoers blamed the new parking policy for the stop-and-go entry, Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble, of the Sheriff's Office, said he doesn't see the connection.

"We've had traffic being backed up in the past when the private lots were open, so I don't see that being the issue," Dibble said.

What surprised authorities, Dibble said, was how relatively few concertgoers started arriving at noon or one o'clock.

Typically, a Saturday concert attracts a lot of early arrivals, and this show didn't for some reason. Many people waited until later in the afternoon to arrive, which meant more people trying to drive in closer to showtime.

Dibble said he spoke to some patrons prior to the show who said they expected other concertgoers to come early, so they decided to come late.

There also seemed to be a higher number of concertgoers coming from the south of Darien.

"There’s something about this place," Dibble said, "that no matter how long you work out here, when you think you’ve got it figured out, there’s just something to do with who the band is, whether they're drawing from the Rochester market, the Syracuse market, the Canadian market, that makes a little different pattern. To a degree it’s unpredictable, it really is."

The worst traffic-related incident prior to the show occurred just before 8 p.m. when the passenger of a vehicle stuck in traffic jumped out of the car and ran into the path of a motorcycle heading south.

Jessica Freeman, 23, of Rochester, suffered head and facial injuries and is in critical condition at ECMC, where she was flown by Mercy Flight.

Prior to the show, concertgoers turned away at Employee Road were clearly frustrated, some of them, but didn't hassle police or security about the policy.

One group of three young men did manage to talk their way onto Employee Road and enter the venue.

Apparently, they had bought their tickets and made their reservations at Cherry Hill Campground in June. After the new policy was announced, one of them had an email exchange with officials at Darien Lake and was told, incorrectly by somebody, that they would be allowed to walk onto the property.

Gerald Rakestraw, VP of development for Darien Lake's owner, Herschend Family Entertainment, was at property Saturday both observing and supervising implementation of the new policy.

He snapped an iPhone picture of the young man's email and then allowed the trio to walk up Employee Road into the venue.

The biggest conflicts of the night came after the concert was over and some people tried to exit the venue on Employee Road.

Rakestraw had predicted some 500 people would try to leave via Employee Road -- far fewer than the thousands walking out in concerts past.

The actual number of pedestrians trying to leave on Employee Road was probably far fewer than 500.

Most were cooperative when told to head in another direction.

One gentleman who was highly intoxicated got lost in the employee parking lot (which was used for regular guest parking last night).

Two people were arrested after apparently wearing out their welcome, so to speak, arguing with deputies about the pedestrian policy.

Rebecca A. Pickem, 25, of Olive Drive, Baldwinsville, discussed the situation with a couple of different cops, went round and round with Sgt. Tom Sanfratello. After several minutes of discussion, Sanfratello told her to leave or she'd be arrested.

Her alleged reply: "I guess you'll have to arrest me," which at that point became a refusal to follow an officer's order, so she was arrested.

Her companion, Tyler A. Vincent, 24, of Olive Drive, Baldwinsville, wouldn't leave and was also arrested.

Reportedly, Pickem and Vincent had parked their vehicle more than two miles from the concert facility and were apparently concerned about how to get back to their car.

The thing is, if Pickem and Vincent had been a little more patient, they were two minutes away from a cab ride to their car.

Sgt. Steve Mullen had called a cab for them.

There was another group of young ladies, four of them, who were stranded at the park. They were reportedly staying at the Attican Motel. The Attican charged them $20 for a shuttle ride to and from the show, according to Mullen. When the driver dropped them off, he reportedly informed them the shuttle might not be available for a ride back to the hotel.

When the women called the motel, they were reportedly told the van had broken down (Note, I was on Employee Road when I saw the van, with Attican Motel written on it, pull into the parking area).

Mullen called a cab for the young ladies and escorted them out to Sumner Road and waited with them for the cab.

By the time Mullen returned to bring Pickem and Vincent to their cab, they were already in custody.

While all of this was going on, there was a young Canadian woman in full agitation mode, running around from one cop or security guard to another yelling at them, hurling insults and threatening to call the Canadian Embassy.

Deputies said she had been difficult to deal with prior to the concert when she tried to walk into the venue.

After the show, she claimed her "bestfriend" had gotten separated from her and her other friend during the concert, three hours prior to her first notifying law enforcement.

She gave three different ages for her missing friend and changed the clothing description.

Any time an official would try to ask her questions about her friend and their travel plans, she would just start yelling again.

She also claimed she wanted to walk out of the facility, but continued to yell at deputies for not doing more to find her friend.

At one point, she yelled at a deputy, "I hope your daughter gets raped some day."

There was another young woman from Canada who was also missing her travel companion, another young woman. She was calm, but clearly worried about her friend.

At 1:30 a.m., Darien Lake security officials were still involved in trying to help both young women locate their friends.

At 1:30 a.m., all Darien Lake parking lots were empty, which under normal sold-out concert nights was at least an hour earlier than might be expected.

Dibble said with Sumner Road free of traffic from private lots, it was much easier to get cars out of the parking lots. Both lanes of Sumner Road could be used for traffic leaving the facility. If not for a couple of minor accidents on Sumner Road, patrons would have gotten out even quicker.

While there were 15 arrests at the concert, the majority of them were related to the new policy, such as three people accused of climbing the new fence to try and gain access to the property.

I spent two hours at the entry gate known as "South PAC," where concert security will bring any unruly patrons for deputies to deal with and potentially arrest or release. South PAC is normally bustling with activity during a concert. During the two hours I was there, not one patron was escorted from the concert.

Batavia resident Carrie Hylkema, who's attended several country shows at Darien Lake, was at the show Saturday as a volunteer for a beer concession set up to raise money for Batavia Ramparts.

She said the atmosphere Saturday was very different from any country show she had ever attended at Darien Lake.

She said concertgoers were much less aggressive than she's seen in the past.

"A lot of times we come driving in, whether we’re working the concert or just going to the concert, you can see it’s out of control before you even come into the gates," she said. "It just seemed more managed tonight. My husband I both commented tonight that it just seemed more in control."

Some of the explanation for the mellower atmosphere, Dibble said, is the fact that so many people came later to the show, got caught in traffic, and had less time to get intoxicated in the parking lot before the concert.

"I’d like to think the underage drinking work that we’ve been doing is paying off, too," Dibble said.

There were 48 underage drinking citations issued Saturday, which is far fewer than have been issued at big country concerts over the past two seasons.

Among the kinks in the system Saturday was what to do with taxi cabs. The plan was, officials said, to only allow cabs into a designated area after 10 p.m. -- for pick up only, not for drop off. But cabs were entering the facility prior to the show.

There was also some confusion over how parents dropping off concertgoers were to enter and leave the facility.

Montgomery acknowledged he and his staff are going to need to figure out these issues for future concerts.

"What we'll do with the team here is, we'll meet again tomorrow and kind of put those issues on the table," Montgomery said. "There's nothing big, nothing that would be a big concern. You're right about the issue with taxis and where do we place them. We want to go back specifically and address that. That's one of the issues that stood out."

Traffic entering the venue, heading toward the main gate, backed up on Sumner Road, with a group of pedestrians in the distance getting into a passenger vehicle offering them a lift.

Pedestrians being told they would not be allowed to walk into the venue.

This vehicle came down off The Hill and is heading toward the main gate.

A trio of concertgoers (third person already in the back seat) get a lift into the venue.

A vehicle that had allegedly previously come off The Hill and delivered concertgoers into the venue gets a trespass warning, and would not be allowed in with another group.

Another driver allegedly issued a trespass warning.

This gentleman was eventually allowed to walk on Employee Road and into the venue after displaying an email from Darien Lake saying that he would be allowed in on foot.

Subject taken into custody after allegedly refusing a police officer order to leave the facility.

Concertgoers party in a 1968 stretch Checker Cab.

A reportedly highly intoxicated individual is taken into custody, charged with disorderly conduct, after allegedly causing a disturbance in a parking lot at about 11 p.m.

This photo submitted by a reader. One concertgoer decided to drive his tractor to the show.

Who knew Batavia had a Syracuse Orange dad hanging out behind Pizza Hut?

Kurt Fisher and his family own Fisher Sports NY, at 412 E. Main St. in Batavia. His son, Andrew, a graduate of Oakfield-Alabama High School, plays football for Syracuse University.

"I trained (Andrew) through the years," Fisher said. "Now I follow him around the country."

Fisher, a 1981 Batavia High School graduate, opened the storelast month to provide a venue for players of various sports to access needed equipment. He felt that was something lacking in our area.

"No one sells quality equipment in Batavia," he said. "There are a couple stores that carry a little, but not the major stuff. (It's been that way) probably since Chuck's Sporting Goods closed (in the 1980s)."

A passion for youth sports is part of what inspired Fisher to open this store. He has assisted with football at Oakfield-Alabama High School and is looking to make more opportunities available locally.

"I'd love to get punting and kicking opportunities for kids," he said, "so that they have the same opportunity as my son."

He encourages anyone interested in such opportunities to contact him, either by phone or by coming to the store.

Making equipment readily available is a big part of his mission to preserve and increase athletic opportunities, and that's where Fisher Sports NY comes in.

"(Business) has been getting better as we go along," he said. "But we're still trying to get our name out and let people know we're here."

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 344-2500.

Press release:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced a federal grant worth $199,821 for a secondary access road at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

The funding is allocated through the USDA’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program, and is being awarded after Senator Gillibrand toured the nearly finished Alpina Yogurt facility and called for more federal investments in infrastructure at the ag-park in Batavia.

“This is an important investment that can help attract more businesses to the Genesee Valley ag-park, and support more jobs right here,”Senator Gillibrand said.

“I know the potential the ag-park has to help local businesses grow and be a major economic driver for the region. Investing in transportation infrastructure is one of the fastest, most effective ways to create new jobs now, and lay the foundation for more jobs to come.”

In September 2011, Senator Gillibrand helped secure an additional $58,000 from USDA Rural Development for initial infrastructure upgrades at the agri-business park, including expanding existing roads and utilities.

Senator Gillibrand also brought a USDA official to Batavia in April 2012 to tour the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park and hear firsthand from local leaders about the need for federal investments to grow this critical industry for the region.

In addition to the USDA, Senator Gillibrand has been active in pushing for federal funds through the U.S. Economic Development Administration to complete infrastructure improvements at the ag-park.

The federal grant funding will be used to design, engineer and construct a secondary access road at the ag-park, a key component of a range of planned infrastructure improvements, including the construction on an aquifer that is required by food processors.

Muller Quaker Dairy, an international yogurt producer, and Alpina Foods would greatly benefit from the completion of the aquifer and would contribute to an increased investment in Genesee County.

Upon the completion of the infrastructural improvements to the Ag-Park, Muller Quaker Dairy would be able to complete a $206 million yogurt manufacturing facility that they expect could generate approximately 186 jobs in the near-term, with the ability to create up to 600 jobs in the long-term. Alpina also expects to be able to create approximately 50 new jobs as a result of finishing the construction.

The Genesee County Economic Development Center is helping the owners of Darien Lake Theme Park refinance $57.5 million in loans by authorizing a mortgage tax exemption of $719,062.

According to a GCEDC release, the bank refinancing the loans is -- for an unexplained reason -- requiring a new mortgage on the property, which is triggering a mortgage tax.

The theme park is owned by Georgia-based Herschend Family Entertainment, which has invested approximately $15 million in upgrades to the facility.

There are 400 full-time equivalent jobs at Darien Lake with an annual payroll of $11 million and the park generates $2.5 million in revenue for local governments and school districts through property and sales taxes.

Press release:

With the construction of Batavia Downs Casino’s new LED sign, pieces of the old neon sign are now available to interested parties. Batavia Downs Casino has already given two letters to representatives of the Holland Land Office Museum of Batavia, but other letters still remain.

Interested persons should contact Tom Balk, director of Building and Grounds for information on obtaining remaining pieces. It should be noted that the letters are over 7 feet tall and in various states of disrepair having been on the roof for so long. Mr. Balk can be reached at (585) 343-3750, ext. 312.

Workers today are installing the first two silos at the new Alpina Products plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, Batavia.

The first silo is 40 feet tall and will hold up to 20,000 gallons of raw milk. The second silo is half the height and will hold 12,000 gallons of whey.

More silos can be added as the capacity of the Greek yogurt plant increases.

More pictures after the jump (click on the headline to continue):

REMINDER: You must "Like" Graham Careers on Facebook and register for the contest to be eligible to win. Click here.

In 2011, 7-Eleven, Inc., acquired the Buffalo-based Wilson Farms chain and according to an industry report, the company that pioneered the convenience store concept decided to sell three of newly purchased locations in Genesee County.

According to CSPnet.com, 7-Eleven will sell two locations in Batavia and one Le Roy.

The Batavia locations would appear to be the stores at corner of Ellicott and Cedar streets and at 189 Pearl St.

A month or so ago, 7-Eleven converted the Wilson Farm at 505 E. Main St., Batavia, to its own branded store.

It appears 7-Eleven is unloading the locations that sell gas.

"In any acquisition of an entire chain, there will inevitably be some stores that don't fit with a buyer's long-term strategic plans," said Robbie Radant, 7-Eleven vice president of mergers and acquisitions. "Such is the case with these 30 properties. While not right for our current operations, we believe they will provide great opportunities for the right buyers, as they did for Wilson Farms over the years."

Children participating in the city's Summer Youth Program stopped by Pioneer Reptiles in Batavia today, where owner Crystal Poyfair showed the youngsters a variety of lizards, turtles and snakes and other creepy-crawly things. With certain animals, the children were able to feed, hold or touch them. They also got to meet some of the future food of the reptiles, such as giant cockroaches.

Pioneer Reptiles is herpetological breeding facility that breeds and works with pet reptiles and investment-quality reptiles and some critically endangered species.

Poyfair has been working with reptiles for 20 years. She recently moved her business to Batavia from Virginia so her family could be closer to her husband's family.

She said she's deeply involved in the reptile industry and served as executive producer on the documentary Herpers 3. She's been working with Bob Irwin (father of late, great Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin) and Colin Riddell to help end the slaughter of endangered sea turtles and dugong species in Australia.

Tours of the reptile facility are available by appointment, Poyfair said. She really wants to help educate children on the importance of reptiles in nature.

"One of the biggest messages I'm trying to get across is the fact that you really need conservation," Poyfair said. "Don't listen to the old myths. Not all snakes are dangerous. They're not all bad. They serve a purpose in nature, but they're disappearing at an alarming rate."

Don't let the scaffolding around the historic Masonic Temple building at Main and Center streets fool you -- the shops and offices inside the structure remain open for business.

Owner Dave Howe has hired Catenary Construction out of Rochester to give the brick and mortar structure a $150,000 facelift. The masonry is being repointed and restored.

"I could have done some temporary fixes along the way, and could be doing that forever, but the right thing to do to save the building is restore the whole building," Howe said.

Catenary's most recent Batavia projects were the restoration of the St. James Episcopal Church tower and the restoration of the First Baptist Church.

Construction of the Masonic Temple Building was probably completed in 1909. Howe said he has tattered blueprints that are dated 1908.

While Howe is shouldering the majority of the expense, he has conditional approval on a state Main Street Grant for $35,000 and the Business Improvement District is providing a $7,000 facade-improvement grant.

"I couldn't have done it without the help of Don Burkel at the BID and Julie Pacatte at the BDC," Howe said.

Howe recently won a Landmark Society Award for the restoration work on his house in Alexander and the long-time business owner has nursed along the aging Masonic Temple building for a couple of decades, making various repairs and upgrades to keep the building suitable for his business, Charles Men's Shop, and his tenants.

"Besides the fact that I love older buildings and the history of older buildings, also my business is here and it's important to keep up the appearnace of the building for my business and my tenants," Howe said.

Tenants include Enchanted Florist, Travelore, The Batavian, Blue Pearl Yoga, attorney Tom Burns, A Place for Change and the BID.

All businesses and offices remain open during the project, which will take a couple of months, and pedestrian access to East Main Street remains open under the scaffolding.

Batavia's rail system sits on beds that are more than 150 years old, but remain relevent and essential in 2012 to local business.

To help ensure the more than one dozen Batavia businesses that regularly use  the line -- now operated by Genesee Valley Transportation -- can continue to depend on the rail system to bring in materials for manufacturing, the state and feds have ponied up nearly $500,000 in grants to make critical repairs.

This week crews are replacing the ties under the steel rails on portions of the entire three miles of the track.

"There's a lot to be said for the work going on out here because if you take the weak spots and strengthen them, that strengthens the whole line," said Director of Operations Doug Eisele. "What’s that have to do with the customer? A whole lot because (if) you derail somewhere, the customer is not getting his product until you get it cleaned up."

Throughout New York, according to Syracuse.com, short line rail is experiencing a resurgance in business, but refurbishing antique tracks is an expensive process primarily because the heavy equipment for the jobs is too costly for small lines to even think about buying for infrequent work.

That means contractors -- driving up costs -- are necessary, and that means without the grants, lines so essential to local business would continue to decline to the point of being impossible to use.

Typically, the tracks have been deteriorating for years because owners who were responsible for the lines before they were acquired by short lines (and this was the case in Batavia, according to Eisele) neglected routine maintenance.

According to the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, the number of short line companies in the U.S. has increased from 200 in 1980 to more than 500 today as national carriers have decided to sell of regional routes.

Eisele said rail makes a lot of sense for manufacturing businesses because it's so much more cost effective than trucking.

"Trucking is available to get there quick, but on top of that is the extra expense, whereas rail can undercut those rates and still provide reasonable service," Eisele said. "That’s really what the customers are looking for."

According to the Syracuse.com article, rail can ship "three to four trucks worth of goods 300 miles on a gallon of diesel."

The Short Line association reported in 2009 that "Short line railroads take the equivalent of nearly 33 million truck loads off the highways, saving the country over $1.4 billion annually in highway repair costs and improving highway safety and congestion."

GVT operates six lines with 300 miles of track in Orleans and Erie counties as well as Utica and the North counties along with one line in Pennsylvania.

The company is based in Batavia and employs locally -- including rail operations and company administration -- 22 people.

Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, said GVT is definitely an economic development asset for Batavia.

In discussion with companies looking at Batavia as a location for manufacturing, the availability of rail is a common topic of discussion.

"Having a short line rail system that is well established and well respected and does a really good job like Genesee Valley Transportation is another major asset that helps our strategic development efforts," Hyde said.

While none of the current tenants of the new Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park has yet requested rail, Muller/Pepsi and Alpina have expressed an interest in rail, Hyde said, and future tenants might have a strong need for rail.

The GVT line runs right up to the property line of the ag park and the state has earmarked $1 million in grants to extend the line if the need arises.

The local short line connects into CSX tracks and typically, rail cars are picked up and dropped off at operations connecting the two lines.

For businesses such as Chapin, Graham, Genesee Lumber and Eddy Arnold Recycling, the GVT line is pretty much a direct part of their businesses, but for many other local companies, GVT's recently constructed transfer center at Evans and Mill streets offers a cost-effective way to send and receive large shipments via rail.

The 22,000-square-foot warehouse can help any business throughout Western New York not directly connected with a rail line eliminate hundreds of miles of highway shipping for the more cost-effective alternative of rail.

The ease of access for local rail is also the best bet for turning old factory space in the heart of Batavia into thriving business ventures again, according to both Eisele and Hyde.

"We have buildings here that have been vacant for years," Eisele said. "If a new customer can come in and get a business in shape, if we have the track there that hasn't been used in years, we would come in and find ways to get that track back into shape so the could get their business going. The whole idea is to bring business back into the county and that's what we do."

Hyde said GCEDC is available to help revitalize that aging industrial infrastructure.

"Having an active rail line near some of those older industrial sites to help those things redevelop over time is good and we would certainly be happy to be part of the team," Hyde said.

Press release:

For the third year in a row Genesee County has been recognized in the top five of the rankings in the Metro Food Processing Industry Growth category by "Business Facilities" a national site selection publication.

The agriculture industry in Genesee County employs more than 1,500 workers, a number that will dramatically increase with the opening of Alpina Foods, LLC, and PepsiCo/Muller yogurt manufacturing facilities.

“The construction of two major new food processing facilities by Alpina and the joint venture between PepsiCo and Theo Müller demonstrates a significant return on our investment in our Agri-Business Park which we believe is driving our high national ranking,” said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC). “We are honored to be once again recognized by 'Business Facilities' as it keeps us on the radar screen for site selectors throughout the United States and the world.”

The Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park encompasses 202 shovel-ready, pre-permitted acres strategically located between Western New York and the Finger Lakes Region. On site there is access to low-cost process water via a local aquifer that produces more than six million gallons per day and a pretreatment facility as well as rail access.

Through the support of National Grid and National Fuel, the site has an enhanced utility infrastructure. The agri-park was originally a public-private partnership between GCEDC and Farm Credit East.

“The Agri-Business Park in Genesee County is perfectly tailored to fill a niche in our region created by our productive agricultural sector,” said Mary Pat Hancock, chair, Genesee County Legislature. “It makes perfect sense to have those who process food to have their facilities as near as possible to where the food is produced.

"It makes for a better, safer, and tastier product and is also more efficient.  Our resources lend themselves to food processing and our location is ideal for quick market access. We look forward to continued success and expansion.”

Alpina Foods LLC, one of the most recognized dairy companies in the world and a leading dairy producing company in Colombia and South America, has decided to open its first specialty yogurt manufacturing plant in the United States at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

PepsiCo, in a joint venture with German dairy company Theo Müller, also broke ground earlier this year on a $206 million yogurt manufacturing facility at the park. Other food processing facilities in Genesee County include O-AT-KA Milk, Yancey’s Fancy and Allan’s Canning. 

“The significant dairy supply, abundance of fresh water, and talented workforce are just some of the assets that attract food manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Theo Müller and Alpina foods to Western New York,” said Mark S. Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise. “It’s no wonder that more than 100 food manufacturers have operations here.”

“Genesee County’s strategic location and agricultural assets make it a prime location destination for the food processing industry,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise.

“The vision Genesee County officials have shown in developing shovel-ready sites like the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park has distinguished them among peer communities and allowed us to succeed in attracting global investment and job creation like Alpina, Mueller and more."