Daily News

Batavia's CIty Manager Jason Molino told the Daily News that the city's public works union has dropped its grievance with the city. That union had taken issue with the city's "use of volunteer's in the place of public works employees." Beck writes:

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed the grievance after the 2007 Summer in the City festival. The group claimed it lost out on overtime work during the summer event.

I can't imagine city taxpayers would ever take the side of the union in this dispute. If the city can save $3,000—the figure cited by Beck—by getting more volunteers to clean up at the festival, why wouldn't they?

As Business Improvement District Manager Don Burkel said: "Our motive has always been that if we can save the city money, then we'll do that. It's a volunteer group. We're doing volunteer things." The BID runs the Summer in the City event.

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 In Friday's edition of The Daily News, Sam Pontillo gave reporter Joanne Beck his side of the story, and it is kind of confusing.

The Batavian broke the story about Pontillo's restaurant owing about $112,000 in back taxes on Wednesday after a story in the paper about it being closed for renovations.

Pontillo told Beck that he does not own the Batavia branch, but does own the Le Roy one. He says that the Batavia restaurant is still in his mother's name and the estate is being settled, blaming his brother John for the financial situation.

John claims that Sam and another brother, Paul, are at fault for the situation. It sounds pretty messy.

Sam Pontillo also says the Batavia restaurant will reopen in a few weeks with renovations that "won't be an obvious change that patrons will notice".

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Batavia's Mall Merchants Association has requested the city to remove its appointed liaison to the group, according to the Daily News. A letter sent to City Council President Charlie Mallow asking for the dismissal of liaison Tim Paine cites Paine's "veiled use of a tape recorder during meetings, questioning the integrity of meeting minutes and being disruptive" among its list of reasons why Paine should go.

Mallow told reporter Joanne Beck that members of public committees "have the right to rexpress themselves and argue their points." Mallow added that Paine has done nothing to warrant his removal from the Mall Operating Committee and Association.

Association President Mitchell Chess said of Paine:

"He's not serving the role as intermediary (between the city and merchants). The relationship has become unworkable. He doesn't trust what we're saying and we don't trust him. It's not a good mix. We want someone to explain their point of view and not be antagonistic."

Tim Paine is a frequent contributor to The Batavian, and we've heard him express himself on many different city issues—never in any way that's been outright "antagonistic"—and it's pretty obvious that he takes an interest in the goings-on at the level of city government. If anything, we would have to say that he is an active citizen and be thankful for that in the face of so much general apathy on the part of the greater public.

Whether Paine is being "disruptive" and frustrating meetings of the mall association because of trust issues, we can't say. Chess went as far as to say that Paine is "looking for ways to undermine" the mall merchants. That sounds like a pretty heavy charge. But why would Paine even be in a situation to undermine the merchants? Who is he undermining the merchants to? Has the relationship between the city and the mall reached a point where it is perhaps too involved? Let's phrase this in another way: How does an association between the mall merchants and the city—to the point that paid staff spend time at such meetings—benefit the residents, a.k.a. taxpayers, of the city of Batavia?

The purpose of the Neighborhood Improvement Committee is pretty obvious. The Board of Assessment Review serves a pretty clear function.

One thing is clear: the city and the mall merchants just don't get along. Headlines pitting one against the other were splashed across the front page of the Daily several times this summer. Whatever the purpose may have been for a Mall Operating Committee and Association, it's obvious that it has been frustrated.

The Web site for the city of Batavia says this of the association: "The Mall Operating Committee is made up of mall owners and City staff and is responsible for overseeing the operation and maintenance of the mall."

That sounds simple enough. So why so much drama?

In other news, nothing significant happened at the town of Batavia budget hearing and the Genese County elections crew had no need of the emergency paper ballots, as all the machines remained in good working order throughout the day Tuesday.

And.... that's about it.

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Pontillo's closed Monday morning and will remain that way for a couple of weeks or more, according to the Daily News. The restaurant will undergo renovations in that time.

In other news, the city school district—along with others all over the state—have been warned "to brace themselves about future state aid," according to Pat Burk, Batavia's Board of Education president. More info should become available in a couple weeks.

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Today's Daily News is understandably devoted to election coverage. Four stories on the front page, plus another handful sprinkled through the rest of the paper take up everything from the musings of local voters to the specifics of some of the area's contested races—including the the 59th and 62nd State Senate districts, along with Town Board races in Le Roy and Albion. Heck, there's even an article on the uncontested race of state Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

Oddly, aside from a blurb in a wire story tucked into the bottom of page eight, there's no mention of the 61st Senate District race between Democrat Joe Mesi and Republican Mike Ranzenhofer. The 61st district includes Batavia and Genesee County. News of the 26th Congressional District race—aside from a brief mention of the ballot change on page two—was also relegated to page eight, and only as part of a larger wire story about national trends. Yet, again, that's the district that includes Batavia and Genesee County. Instead, the three race-specific front page stories take up contests in Orleans and Erie counties, as well as a piece on Hawley that amounts to little more than a pat on the back for the unopposed Assemblyman.

In an article by Roger Muehlig on page one, some area voters have their say on the imminent elections. I was especially intrigued by the comments from Jim McNally of Batavia who told Muehlig:

...he plans to vote, but probably won't decide who gets his vote until he's in the voting booth.

"I don't think much of this because I don't like anybody who's running," he said.

McNally, 45, said he wasn't just referring to the presidential candidates.

"Any of them."

So many news outlets have been billing this election as "historic"—an amorphous, often meaningless designation—and have frequently made stories out of record voter registration across the country and the ineluctable enthusiasm of the populace. Yet we still have folks out there who are completely uninspired by the slate of candidates from top to bottom. Such people—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood—don't at all exhibit the sense of urgency that we've been made to believe reigns supreme.

Muehlig's article is a perfect example of this. It's a well-crafted piece of journalism that fulfills its simple promise of man-on-the-street news reporting. Yet the title—Fervor mounts as vote nears—seems directly contradicted by the content. Sure, there are a couple people in the article who could... maybe... be categorized as fervent about the upcoming election. But for the most part, the tenor is more dispassionate than zealous.

In addition to McNally, who flat out admits his dissatisfaction with all of the candidates, Muehlig chats up local business owner Steve Mullen, who says: "he'll be glad when the election is over." Then there's Doug Boatfield of Le Roy, who says that he plans to vote for Sen. John McCain, but does not say why he likes McCain, but why he dislikes Sen. Barack Obama.

Then, at the very end of the article, in a brilliant move on the author's part, Muehlig writes:

Back at the City Centre, one man said he couldn't vote because he is a felon. Another said he's not voting and never has.

Why? "Laziness," he said.

And there it ends! I'll say it again, Muehlig's article is brilliant and totally misrepresented by the headline, which seems to give in fully to the national trend of playing up the election hype. A better editor would have recognized th gem Muehlig produced and given it a better designation, but that's neither here nor there, in the end.

Now, all analysis aside... what is the real issue here? There are certainly people out there who are very worked up about the election—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood. Did Muehlig, then, just happen to run into the unenthusiastic? What have you seen? Are people fervent or are they dispassionate?

Obviously, there are both sides out there. But we would like to hear to which camp you belong, and why.

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The Genesee County Legislature will need to cut $1 million from its budget if it wants to avoid an increase in the tax rate, according to the Daily News. Of course, the county could also come up with another $1 million in revenue.

County Manager Jay Gsell proposed a few options to the Legislature, including the elimination of vacant positions and using as much as $500,000 of the fund balance.

Paul Mrozek puts together a pretty informative article that I would encourage folks to check out if they're looking for more details.

In other news, Dateline NBC Producer Michael Nardi paid a visit to Genesee County District Attorney Lawrence Friedman to talk on camera about the recently-convicted murderer Robert Kirkup. Dateline is producing a segment on Kirkup that will be aired sometime in the spring or summer of 2009.

The town of Batavia maintains a property tax rate of zero in its proposed 2009 budget, despite an increase of nearly $322,000 in the highway fund. Residents can attend a meeting at 6:45pm on Wednesday at the Batavia Town Hall to discuss the budget. The town of Albion will meet at 7:00pm Monday to discuss its proposed budget.

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Renovations are about finished on the Warsaw Cinema, which has been brought back to life over the past several months, according to the Daily News. Parts of the original have been preserved, including the "orginal, Roman-style murals," writes Matt Surtel.

The theater will mark its rebirth with an open house (November 15) from 1 to 5 p.m. That will be followed by a 7 p.m. reception, along with performances by a yet-to-be-announced Western Swing band, and the Jim Tudini Big Band from Buffalo.

Not really too much in the way of Genesee County news in today's paper: a couple feature stories about happenings in Oakfield and a couple other small blurbs of topical interest.

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Recently convicted killer Robert Kirkup has got the attention of Dateline NBC, which plans to devote segment of its news magazine show this spring or summer retracing the path Kirkup took leading up the murder of his wife at a Genesee County campground, according to the Daily News.

Scott DeSmit spoke with County District Attorney Lawrence Friedman, who is being interviewed for the show. Friedman had this to say about the interest in the case:

"I think it's the elements of a cold case. ... You have a 16-year-old murder, an infirm, older defendant, a body that was never found and the fact that he was interviewed (by police) in the same motor home that he killed her in 16 years ago."

DeSmit was unable to connect with the show's producer. No one yet knows if the crews will be filming in Genesee County.

In other news, a mix-up Monday afternoon led to a 7-year-old Batavia city school student getting on the wrong bus and dropped off a few miles from her home. The girl, Emily DiSanto, did eventually make it back home safely. School Superintendent Margaret Puzio said that the schools will now require each child to carry a bus pass "with his/her name, address, drop-off point and bus number on it" so that this mishap is not repeated.

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Batavia's City Council decided last night not to pitch in $2,750 toward a shared recreation study of park and play land in the city, according to the Daily News. Check out our post from a couple weeks ago for the details. Councilman Bob Boialkowski said he would rather the city sold the land to get it on the tax rolls, and he wasn't alone in that opinion. Reporter Joanne Beck wrote:

(City Council President Charlie) Mallow took the agreement as a directive to Molino He asked him to give the district a call and tell school officials the city isn't interested at this time.

In other news, Joanne Beck put together an excellent article on the city's decision to cut the position of plumbing inspector down from full- to part-time. Beck fleshes out that rather dry news by talking with the city's plumbing inspector, Barb Toal, and, in doing so, shows how a decision ostensibly made for the greater good impacts the livelihood of one individual. For example:

(Toal) will lose half of her salary ... and will now have to pay nearly $500 a month for health insurance. She will also have to work for a longer period of time to reach her full pension benefits since she's now being cut to part-time. She would have reached that goal by January.

Read this one if you have the time.

Beck also wrote an article on the discussion at last night's Council meeting about the city's ambulance service. That news was first featured here on The Batavian this morning when we picked it up from WBTA's coverage. If you're looking for more detail, you might want to check out the article in the paper.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

The village of Le Roy will consider paying $15,000 in consulting fees to look into becoming retailers of electricty, according to the Daily News. Mayor George Brady invited "a company that helps villages establish such projects" to come to a future meeting so that village trustees can learn more about what's involved and what it means if a municipality turns retailer.

Of course, nothing has yet been decided, but reporter Scott DeSmit reports that the village of Hilton in Monroe County has become a retailer of electricity, selling to its residents and saving them about $40 per year as a result.

One question: How much would the $15,000 consulting fees cost residents in a year? Less than $40?

In other news, Roger Muehlig put together a fantastic piece on the upcoming 62nd season of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra. Muehlig concentrates on one member of that orchestra, 11-year-old Leighann Howland, a violinist. The GSO will open the season this Sunday at 4:00pm at Genesee Community College, then at St. Mary's Church in Medina on Monday at 7:30pm.

Today's issue also features a few stories on upcoming Halloween fests and frights for those who are wondering what to do this weekend and next.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Genesee County Legislature Chair Mary Pat Hancock cautioned that the proposed county budget that was filed yesterday "gives a whole new meaning to the word 'tentative'," according to the Daily News. Hancock told reporter Paul Mrozek that so much hinges on what will happen at the state level—"Will there be mandate relief? Will there be mandates that are unfunded?"—that it's tough to say just what the county can afford.

That means the legislature will likely wait until December to vote on the budget, hoping that at least some answers will come from Albany by then. For more details on the budget, check out our post on Mrozek's story from yesterday.

In other news, Virginia Kropf has an interesting article in today's paper. She writes:

I just want to sound off about people who hang up on me when I call about a story. It has happened several times lately and I find it hard to understand. It seems people (and businesses) want the publicity when things are good, but think the public is not entitled to the news when it's not so good.

Kropf then recounts a couple particular instances, such as when she tried to inquire about the rumors that Pizza Hut was planning to close some of its area restaurants, and she was told by a fellow at the district office that "he had no idea what (she) was talking about"—and then he hung up on her.

It's fine, writes Kropf, if someone "can't comment now," but "don't hang up on us." That seems like a fair enough request. But it also seems like par for the course for any reporter who is digging in someone's dirty laundry pile—a real complement for any journalist of the investigative stripe.

What do you think? Do reporters deserve more courtesy? What about the other glaring issue here: folks did not only hang up on Kropf, they flat out lied to her? Sure, the fellow at Pizza Hut's district headquarters may have been rude in hanging up the telephone instead of answering Kropf's question. But what about the big fat lie that he didn't know what was going on. Listen to what Kropf says here:

I mentioned I had seen a sign on the counter of the Albion store which read, "Due to our closing, we are out of the following..." He told me it was news to him and he guessed he'd have to call and tell them to take it down.

Then, the very next day, Pizza Hut issued a news release about the closing of the stores. So why lie? Is this a simple case of a hush-hush corporate policy getting tangled up in a situation that no one can deny?

One thing is for sure: I can sympathize with Kropf. As a reporter, I've had a few phones slammed in my ear—often to the great delight of the other person.

But it's going to happen.

Let's now have a talk about our rights as "the" public. As Kropf says, the same folks who seek out press coverage of their goodness will often nevertheless act as if "the public is not entitled to the news when it's not so good." So, what are we entitled to? Do we deserve to know that Pizza Hut is closing? The employees certainly should. But do we? If we call to ask, can the management just tell us to buzz off?

What about the time I called Ponderosa to ask about a recent burglary and I was told that there was no burglary only to read the next day in the paper that there was, in fact, a burglary? Should they have told me the truth? Are they required to talk to me at all?

Where is the line drawn for what the public deserves to know? Or how about we start with this: what does the public "want" to know?

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Genesee County's tentative budget doesn't have much to recommend itself to a public already strained by a distressed economy. A proposed spending increase of 5.2 percent and an increase in the tax rate of 4.2 percent (41 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation) won't please too many folks, including the legislators.

County Manager Jay Gsell filed the $141 million proposed budget—and let's stress that: this is a work in progress, and the work has just begun—yesterday afternoon, according to the Daily News. Reporter Paul Mrozek says that Gsell expects that "lawmakers will work to reduce those figures before voting on the fiscal plan."

Gsell said this morning he is "cautiously optimistic" he and the Legislature will be able to get the tax rate down to its '08 level.

No jobs are expected to be cut, but 21 vacant positions may remain that way. Also, "all outside agencies" that benefit from some county funding, such as the Cornell Cooperative Extension, will receive the same amount of funding as this past year—except for Genesee Community College, which was already approved for a $50,000 increase.

Mrozek does a great job with this article, extracting the budget essentials and not getting too technical on us. I only had one question that I couldn't find answered: if no jobs will be added to the rolls and no extra funding will be going to outside agencies—why the increase in spending? I put in a call to Gsell to see if we can get a quick answer to that. We should hear back from him by the end of the day.

(UPDATE 2:33pm): County Manager Jay Gsell phoned to explain why the proposed budget shows an increase of 5.2 percent in spending if there are no increases in funding for new staff or outside agencies. He said that it's true that the county will take on no new programs and no new services, but the increased cost of construction materials, fuel and the increase in the funding needed for county health care push up the total spending for the county.

In other news, snow tubing will not be offered at Letchworth State Park this winter. This is a very specific instance of how the state budget cuts will be affecting folks in the coming months. Reporter Matt Surtel writes:

The tubing cost the park about twice the amount of revenue that the activity generated (Park Manager Richard Parker said). He declined to give an exact figure, but said the economic realities kicked in, when the park looked at ways to cut expenses.

Some staffers may also feel the pinch as the park does not plan to take on as many folks as usual this winter.

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What a difference a week makes... Last Monday's Daily News featured three front-page articles on the cautious optimism of local retailers, consumers and financiers about the eventual rebounding of the economy and return of "people's desire to shop." Today's top story—a wire story picked up from the Associated Press—proclaims: "High anxiety on economy: Magnitude of financial meltdown starting to hit people hard." Ouch! Nothing cautious or optimistic there.

From today's report:

The share of people who believe the country is moving in the right direction has plunged in just a few weeks, from 28 percent in September to 15 percent in October. ...

At the same time there is a drop in those surveyed who say they are happy about the way things are going in their lives.

One-third of people are "worried about losing their jobs," half don't think they can keep up with bills—mortgages and credit cards, in particular—and two-thirds of those surveyed said that their investments were losing value.

Where are you at? Do you fit into the cautiously optimistic picture sketched in last week's articles? Or are you pulling your hair out in worry?

In other news, a standoff in Le Roy kept police there busy for two hours Friday night and into Saturday morning. A Darien man is accused of setting fires in an apartment, attempting to kill a woman there and slashing at a police officer with a knife. Jonathan J. Connolly, 30, of Darien, was charged with seven felonies. Connolly eventually had to be taken down with a taser gun. Reporter Scott DeSmit has all the details on this incident featured in today's local section.

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The Daily News reports that the city of Batavia will post five bright-orange signs to help curb speeding in the city. City Manager Jason Molino told the Daily: "It's an attempt to get people to slow down. We're trying a few out. ... We'll see how it works and we may move them around. It's a trial period."

Reporter Joanne Beck describes the signs as like "the old Burma Shave-style signs ... except these signs will be posted one at a time instead of Burma Shave's tactic to have one after another."

What do you think? Will an orange sign that proclaims: "Got time for a speeding ticket?" slow down speeders? Would you slow down because of it?

Does anyone know how much the signs cost?

It turns out that despite a "flurry of new registrations"—1,451 new voters joined the rolls this election season—total voter enrollment in Genesee County is down from four years ago: from 40,635 to 34,862. Democrats can boast, if a boast it is, that they had one more new registrant than the GOP: the two clocked in at 450 and 449, respectively. Roger Muehlig put together an informative article on this topic that's worth checking out.

Sacred Heart Church on Sumner Street in downtown Batavia was burglarized Sunday night, according to city police. Nothing is yet know to link this burglary with the several others during August and September. Det. Richard Schauf told the Daily that they are still waiting on the lab results from the other investigations.

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Today's Daily News features reporter Tom Rivers' third installment in the apple orchard series that started Tuesday. That's about all for this issue.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Here's what we've got from the Daily News for today... Batavia's city fire crews will be flushing fire hydrants most of the day Thursday on and around the following streets: Mill Street, Apollo Drive, Brooklyn Avenue, Franklin Street, Industrial Boulevard, Orleans Avenue, Treadeasy Avenue and Walnut Street. Folks may notice a bit of discoloration in their water in these areas during the flush. In case of rain Thursday, the flush will take place on Friday.

Two of the three stories on the front page were already reported on The Batavian. Ellicott Street's sidewalk project was featured on the site over a month ago. And a story about the school district's request for $2,750 from the city to look at possibly sharing recreation services has been featured in a pair of posts on the site Monday and Tuesday, and again this morning in a post picked up from WBTA.

In other news, Tom Rivers has another enormous article about picking apples featured on the front page... and he'll have another one in tomorrow! Well, New Yorkers do love their apples. Fortunately, Rivers peppers in some human interest throughout his apple saga to keep things interesting. There are only so many paragraphs we can read about apple picking. I especially enjoyed the story at the end of today's piece about a 54-year-old Jamaican laborer who has worked to put his kids through school.

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It's all about the economy today in the Daily News. Hardworking reporter Joanne Beck logged no less than three front page stories today, all with a local look at how the current economic crisis is hitting home for folks in Batavia.

In one article, Beck chats with some downtown business owners about how they're faring "despite the recent stock market collapse." Chris Ariyaratnam, owner of the Main Street beauty salon Mane Attraction, told Beck that shoppers aren't "going to cut back."

"They're starting their Christmas shopping now," [said Ariyaratnam]. "I think they'll spend the same, but I think it will take longer. I think it's going to be OK."

Beck found much of the same mood among other downtown retailers and restaurateurs. Maybe they're not stocking as much, but their expectations of a good season are high.

In another article, "consumers" are given their turn to be optimistic despite the ongoing financial crises. Sherrity DiSanto told Beck:

"Short-term, I'm worried. But long-term, I think it will be picking itself back up. With gas prices going down and some sales, people's desire to shop will come back."

The optimism keeps on rolling in Beck's third article on the economy, in which she gets the advice of Dave Chua, a financial adviser with the Legend Group, "a retirement planning and investment company." Chua urges people to "remain still with where you are" and know that "it won't last forever." In particular, people looking for some extra cash shouldn't just dip into their retirement account. They should "explore other options."

Meanwhile, a wire story picked up from the Associated Press reads: "Debt clock out of digits." Apparently, it couldn't fit the "1" to indicate the nearly $10.2 trillion in national debt. Good news, though. We'll get a new clock in 2009 that "will be able to track debt up to a quadrillion dollars, which is a "1" followed by 15 zeros."

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Byron diary farmer Robin Keller, 39, has been elected the new president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau, according to the Daily News. Tom Rivers reports that Keller replaces Dale Stein, a Le Roy dairy farmer, who did not seek re-election after his four years in the position. Keller and her husband moved to the area a little less than a decade ago, looking to expand their dairy business.

"Genesee County was the ideal location for growing a farm business," she told Rivers.

Genesee County Legislature Chair Mary Pat Hancock told the Daily News that

the New York State Association of Counties is not going to sit back and allow the state to impose budget cuts without NYSAC having some say in how those adjustments are made and implemented.

County Manager Jay Gsell said that the current fiscal crisis on Wall Street could be an "opportunity for reform in Albany" by getting the state to cut back its "expenditures, jobs, services" and "unfunded state mandates"—what Paul Mrozek describes as "the albatross on the back of county governments."

Mothertime Marketplace will roll into St. Joseph's School this Saturday and Sunday. The consignment sale event that often includes everything from bedroom sets to books, will run from 10:00am to 5:00pm Saturday and from 10:00am to 3:00pm Sunday. Admission is $2 per day or $3 for both days. Some coupons are available at selected locations around the city. Visit Mothertime Marketplace online for more information. St. Joseph's School is located at the corner of Summit and East Main streets downtown.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Reporter Scott DeSmit has a pair of interesting articles on the front page of today's Daily News. In one, DeSmit writes about how many municipalities saved themselves some considerable money by locking in their price for this year's road salt at last year's figures. That move will keep them immune, at least for now, from the 30-percent increase in the price per ton.

In the town of Batavia, that move saved them nearly $12,000. They've got 1,300 tons of the stuff packed in their barn.

It's a great article. Worth a full read.

In his front page piece for today, DeSmit writes about an odd state of affairs in Le Roy, where it turns out that ten parks in the village—some more than 100 years old—have never been "properly designated" as parks. "When is a park not a park?" DeSmit quips. "When it's in the village of Le Roy."

Now, the village will have to pass a law to say that yes, in fact, the parks are parks.

This farce is worth more than a laugh. In fact, it's a great example of the ubiquity of legislation in our lives. Without this law, those parks remain a sort of no-man's land where "regulations and restrictions on park use" cannot be "properly" enforced, and the town can't yet do anything to make sure people obey the rules, "rules such as being in the park after hours." Although, as DeSmit admits, this glitch has never prevented those rules from being enforced in actuality. Only now, once the law is passed, it will be official. Funny stuff.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.