downtown

The proposal is in the city budget, it's in the strategic plan, it's on the drawing board, but officially, the Batavia City Council has yet to approve the creation of an economic development director.

The vote will take place at the council's next business meeting, but on Monday council members got a chance to learn more about the proposal, ask questions and state their opinions.

There were no strong objections, and Councilman Bill Cox called on his fellow council members to approve the proposal.

"It’s a great opportunity for the city and it’s the most important thing we’ve done in a long time," Cox said. "I don’ think you’re going to see any results for 18 months, because no matter what you decided, you’re going to have to apply for grants, you’re going to have to wait for replies, you have to be selective, so I think we’ll see the first fruits of our labor in 18 to 24 months."

Under the proposal, the city would chip in $10,000 per year for each of the first two years (funded by cutting $15,000 from the grant writing budget of the city), with the balance of the eventual hire's salary being covered by money from the revolving loan fund and the micro-enterprise fund (both funds filled years ago by state grants).

The Batavia Development Corporation, which in the past has overseen the revolving loan fund, would hire and supervise the economic development position.

Councilman Bob Bialkowski wondered if, within the two years allotted for the new position to start paying off, whether new grants would start funding the position.

Ray Chaya, president of the BDC board of directors, said, "that would be the hope. Even though the state is in dire straits, there is still money out there for economic development. We want to be able to capture whatever is out there as soon as it’s available."

Council members asked questions about benefits -- the new hire will not receive benefits through the city as an employee of the BDC -- and what the person will actually do.

The job description specifies that the economic developer will be required to recruit and retain small businesses in the city and help businesses find ways to expand and grow.

If the council approves the proposal, the BDC can get to work on recruiting the right person and hopefully getting him or her in place on or before Aug. 1.

"We really need three-to-four months to get that person in here and really have benchmarks set up," Chaya said. "Two years is really a short amount of time, so this person needs to have strong communications skills, small business sense and a really good understanding of economic development."

A young C.M. Barons -- regular contributor to The Batavian and former State Assembly candidate -- was a journalism student at GCC when the north side of Main Street, Batavia, was demolished to make way for the Genesee Country Mall.

Over the weekend, Barons found his old photos for a story he did in college.

The bottom photo is of David J. Gordon, who was the urban renewal planner in charge of the project. Barons sent it along in case anybody needed new dart board material.

City crews were on Main Street, Batavia, this morning, mulching the flower beds.

A little bit of snow -- and it was a very little bit -- hasn't kept Steve Hawley (pictured above) from opening Hawley Hots outside of Glass Roots on Center Street today. Steve said he'll be open daily from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Well, it looks like the fake angry owls and streamers aren't doing much to keep the gulls from the roof of the former Latina's building.

As the snow melts, months worth of trash is being revealed in some of the flower beds on Main Street.

Don Burkel, executive director of the Business Improvement District sent out a timely reminder to downtown business owners to do a little clean up in front of their establishments.

Burkel said that if everyone would pick up trash, debris and cigarette butts in front of their stores or offices, it would have a big impact on the impression customers get when visiting downtown.

Right on schedule, the migratory gulls that have plagued downtown buildings the past few years -- most notably the former Latina's location on Ellicott Street -- are returning.

This March, they're getting a slightly different reception.

The one-time Montgomery Ward store has a new owner, V J Gautieri Constructors, Inc., and CEO Vito Gautieri is determined both to get new tenants in the building and keep the gulls away.

"The key is to keep them from nesting," Gautieri said. "Once they nest, we can't touch them."

To that end, employees of Gautieri's were recently on the roof installing streamers and decoy owls (mean-looking ones at that).

Today, the gulls circled the building and cried their perpetually angry sounding cry, but none were landing on the roof.

Friday, Don Burkel, executive director of the Business Improvement District, sent a message to BID members asking them to deal with any developing gull problems promptly.

As the gulls return downtown we should be prepared to resolve any problems that may develop. If they are beginning to nest or create a problem with your property do not hesitate to contact us. We can put in touch with the Wildlife Services who professionalyl deal with these issues promptly.

As for the building on Jackson, Gautieri said he is weeks away from signing at least one new tenant for the building, and possibly two. He said he's had interest in the building from two or three grocery store operators and discount retailers. One particular retailer and one grocery store would be a particularly good fit as neighbors in the building, he said.

"They would be a draw for each other," Gautieri said.

Gautieri recently closed his purchase of the building from Tom Lewin's LKLWL Properties. Lewin made regional headlines late last summer as the city took steps to condemn the building and press code violations charges against the Buffalo-area resident.

Gautieri said it's in his best interest to keep the property clean and gull free, especially if he hopes to attract a grocery store to the location.

The second floor, Gautieri said, will also be available for office space or apartments. The plans are still being drawn up but, in either case, Gautieri said he is planning to install an elevator to help draw tenants to the location.

Gautieri was the contractor who built the structure and he said because of a high water table under the building, it was too expensive to put in a basement, so the second floor was originally designed as warehouse space with the ability to hold a150 lbs.-per-square-foot load.

A little bit of old Batavia is going to come back to a new bar on Jackson Street, according to co-owner Derek Geib.

Geib and partner Michael Hyland are busy renovating 9 Jackson St.

Longtime residents will remember the building as the one-time Silver Slipper, and later the Candlelight, before becoming Fuel.  The location was most recently the Jackson St. Grill/Belladessa's.

As a restaurant, Silver Slipper's once gorgeous mahogany bar was boarded over and the back bar painted white.

Geib and Hyland have removed all of that clutter and the dark-brown wood of the bar and walls, as well as a large mirror behind the bar, are visible again. The partners have also partially exposed the brick wall of the original structure.

The duo will dub their new establishment "Bourbon & Burger Co."

And the name reflects what Geib, most recently co-owner of Matty's Pizzeria, hopes people will think of when they think of the tavern -- a place to drink and a place to eat.

"It will be a bar and I don't want people to think just 'food,' Geib said. "I want them to get the idea that it's both."

As for the food, though, Geib is aiming high.

"We'll have the best burgers in town," Geib said. "If you ask 10 people where their favorite place to go for a burger, you'll get eight different answers. We want to be the number-one answer."

If the liquor license process goes according to plan, Geib thinks the doors on Bourbon & Burger Co. will open by May 1. The new tavern's application is going before the Batavia City Council for consideration at Monday's meeting.

The sturdy red brick building at the corner of Center and Main streets was built by Batavia's Masons in 1908 and has been their home ever since.

That will change this summer.

Members of Batavia Lodge No. 475 of Free and Accepted Masons have made the difficult decision to leave their finely crafted and ornate temple to merge with the Olive Branch Lodge in Le Roy.

Jim Rosenbeck, master of the 151-year-old lodge, explained that since the Batavia Masons' lease expires this year, they are working on a merger with Le Roy to hopefully, "...get greater strength in numbers and get a higher profile for Masonry by merging and doing collaborative things."

In the process the lodge -- formed on April 9, 1859 -- will be dissolved.

The move is necessary because it's not financially viable for the 50-member lodge to pay rent. The lodge has occupied the building rent free for at least 15 years.

Rosenbeck said he wished nothing but the best for the Masonic Temple building and hoped that owner David Howe could find the right tenant to take care of it in the future.

Howe, who also owns Charles Men's Shop, acquired the building 15 years ago.

He gave The Batavian a tour of it earlier this week.

I was most impressed with the look of the "Lodge Room." Walking through the double doors and into the great hall, a view of throne-like chairs at the opposite side gave an almost humbling feeling. History seems to ooze out of the cracks of the walls in that place.

Theater seats line the sides of the great hall and a balcony that once held a pipe organ overlooks the room. The carpet is a fittingly ornate pattern and one of the earliest of "dimmers" can be found hulking underneath the light switches. When the giant crank is turned, the lights soften to a haunting glow.

"I love the history of this building and anything historic -- anything that is bigger than life," Howe said during our tour.

From the beginning, the Masons rented the first floor of the building to retail businesses and the second floor has always contained rented office space -- mostly used by attorneys until a few years ago.

The third and fourth floors have been shared by the Masons and Blue Pearl Yoga.

What happens next, Howe isn't quite sure.

He guessed that a theater group could work well, and apartments are possible, but improvements will be needed with either scenario.

At the time Howe acquired the building, the roof was in bad shape and a portion of the southeast corner of the building collapsed down to the basement. That's all been fixed, but other repairs are yet to be made.

As for the Masons, making tough choices to ensure their survival certainly isn't a new thing. The Le Roy Masons sold their lodge to make way for a Walgreens a few years ago, and after months of searching, decided to make 12 Bank St. in the village their new gathering place.

Historically, the Masons have found ways to keep their society thriving despite hardships. Former Holland Land Office Museum Director Patrick Weissand tells an interesting tale of William Morgan -- who learned the Masons' secrets but wasn't allowed to remain part of the lodge because he had a tendency to "shoot off his mouth" after drinking too much.

Although no one can prove exactly what happened to Morgan -- historians do know he was kidnapped and silenced after threatening to publish a book about the rituals of the freemasons. Weissand tells the riveting tale in a three-part video series here.

Although the Masons may have been a secretive society with an alleged political agenda in the past, Rosenbeck says that isn't what being a Mason is about.

"Basically, we are a benevolent organization that makes good men better," he said. "One of our goals is to provide services to the community that we're in and it's been sort of an issue with us lately because we have so few active members to do anything meaningful."

A good portion of the Batavia lodge treasury will be donated to local charitable groups, once the lodge disbands, Rosenbeck said. The rest will go to the Le Roy lodge, probably to help with construction of a kitchen there.

Rosenbeck says they do their best to donate to worthy causes. He pointed out that in order to be a Mason, one criteria is the belief in a Supreme Being.

"It's unique that the brotherhood of Masonry doesn't discriminate between religions. Christianity, Catholics, Muslims and Jewish beliefs and a few others can become Masons.

Rosenbeck said he regrets having to leave "the glorious old building" but it was a choice made out of necessity.

"Our decision to merge and join Le Roy has nothing to do with our feelings towards David Howe or the lodge building. We are going to really miss the beautiful place but this is something we need to do for our survival."

The permanent fixtures of the building -- such as distinctive door handles and the carved wood of the temple -- stay with the building. But the Batavia lodge owns all of the furniture -- such as the palace-like chairs in the temple and the two couches in the hallway -- and those will be taken to Le Roy. 

Photos by Howard Owens. Top, interior of the Masonic Temple. First inset, Jim Rosenbeck and his son Mike Rosenbeck. Mike is the last member of Lodge No. 475 to complete his Third Degree and sign the charter. Other insets, details from inside the building. Postcards provided by Dave Howe.

Ken and Andrea Mistler have made some big changes to their former coffee and smoothie shop at the corner of Main and Jackson streets.

The former Daily Grind is now Espresso Salads and Subs.

Ken Mistler said it was time to expand what the shop offered. While a prep area has been added for food service, much of the food prep -- including baking fresh sub rolls daily -- takes place at Mistler's other food establishment downtown, South Beach Restaurant.

Andrea manages day-to-day operations for the  sub and salad shop.

Subs and salads are made to order with fresh ingredients.

For the coffee and smoothie crowd, the full selection of the Daily Grind remains on the menu.

Mistler has also added free wi-fi and there are now leather chairs and couches available for customers. In the summer, Ken said, he will add outdoor seating.

The local Girl Scouts have a new home, 5 Jackson St., Batavia.

After the location the Girl Scouts occupied in City Centre was sold, the local office and retail shop was relocated to vacant retail space just about a block away.

It took about a month to get settled in, but the retail shop is now set up and the staff is ready to help local scouts and leaders.

The scouts will host an open house at its new location from 3 to 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 28.

The grand opening will include free drawings, prizes and discounts on scouting items as well as a food drive for the Salvation Army and Batavia Agri-Business Child Development.

The shop is open from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the service center opening at 8:30 a.m.

Pictured above, from left, Stephanie Burgett, customer service, Marlene Worthington, membership manager, Kathie Waika, program manager and Robin Ettinger, membership manager.

Margarita's Mexican Restaurant on Jackson Street has closed.

Owner Carlos Hernandez was not available for comment today.

NOTE: If you bought a Margarita's gift certificate from The Batavian within the past 30 days, return it to us for a refund. No refunds will be issued without return of the physical gift certificate and the purchase must have been made in the past 30 days.

At least eight buildings in Downtown Batavia were tagged with graffiti some time since later yesterday evening, according to police.

The police report doesn't specify which buildings, but the building owners were notified that police officers spotted the graffiti sometime around 2 a.m.

There has been a little tagging of downtown buildings in the past, but this new tagging does not match the previous words/symbols left.

Chief Randy Baker said the police officer wasn't even sure what the message of the tags were.

Baker suggested that anybody who is downtown after dark call police and report any suspicious activity around buildings.

UPDATE: Downtown property owner Ken Mistler is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the tagger.

City DPW workers were busy Monday night in Downtown Batavia. Crews hauled off a good deal of the snow that was blocking walkways between parking and the sidewalk along Main Street. Tim Walton supplied the picture below of the snow removal.

It's an annual complaint from downtown merchants -- piles of snow that mound up between roadside parking and the sidewalk on Main Street. The snow, merchants say, discourages foot traffic into their stores.

This morning, one merchant made an effort to open a little walk way through the snow after a loader closed it with a pile of ice. The merchant said he couldn't even budge the ice block that fell onto the sidewalk.

City Manager Jason Molino said it's cost prohibitive to remove the mounds after every snowstorm, but the city does schedule a time for removal as resources permit.

Molino said there was a full city crew on last night plowing and salting, so the city is down to about half staff for today.

"Everything will be removed," Molino said, "but it depends on when we have the manpower."

Because of the heavy traffic on Main Street and the equipment needed for the removal, it can only be done at night, Molino said.

Yvonne Burgess has a real talent -- she can turn an ordinary cupcake into a work of art.

She stopped by The Batavian office Thursday afternoon to show of the decorative "flower box" of cupcakes she had with her and showed off mobile phone pictures of several other designs she's come up with.

The owner of Fry Dogz, a mobile food service, Burgess is looking to expand her business to offer customers cupcakes designed to fit any occasion.

"I feel a lot of enjoyment making these," said Burgess, explaining why she would like to make this speciality her primary business.

She would like to open a retail location, offering other baked goods, as well, in Downtown Batavia, but first, she said, she needs to demonstrate that she can make money making cupcakes.

A cancer survivor (she said she had a brain tumor), she said she's recently found it easier to work for herself, and making beautiful cupcakes is what she enjoys doing most.

"I couldn't find work that suited me (after getting cancer) and this does," Burgess said. "I love creating things and helping others. That's just me."

To contact Burgess, call either 585-591-7911 or 585-861-0414.

Christmas came twice for Jan Nichols of Batavia.

Nichols picked up a big present at the Batavia Improvement District Office today -- a $500 gift certificate for a shopping spree at participating downtown businesses.

The prize was the award of a contest sponsored by the BID called "Shop in the Zone."

Thirty-five downtown businesses took part, with entrants being required to stop at at least 12 businesses and fill out a participation card.

The winner was drawn from all qualifying entrants.

The contest ran from Dec. 1-24.

After a decade of giving financial advice as a staff member of other firms, Batava-native Marc Staley has decided it is time to strike out on his own.

He planted a big flag downtown -- signing a lease in a former bank building at the corner of Jackson and Main streets (most recently the location of the former House of K) -- and signed on as a financial advisor for LPL Financial, one the largest investment firms in the nation.

"I believe in this area," said Staley, who is also a hockey coach at Notre Dame High School. "While other firms are pulling out, I wanted to stay and work."

The 37-year-old Staley is married to a local teacher, Erin, and they have two children, Helaina, 3, and Luke, 1.

"We love this community," Staley said. "I've had the chance to go to other places, but my wife and I decided that this is the place we want to live. This is where we want to raise our kids, so I have to build my career around that decision. That's non-negotiable for me."

When he decided to open his own brokerage, he decided to represent LPL Financial because the company has a strong reputation -- ranked by J.D. Power as number one in customer satisfaction for investment performance and number two for customer satisfaction for investment advice -- and the firm's ability to provide a range of advice to big investors and small, just-starting-out investors.

"Folks are leery of Wall Street right now and investing in general," Staley said. "I wanted to make sure I partnered with a company that represents Main Street more than Wall Street -- one that helps me deliver world class independent research, state-of-the-art technology, and the freedom to deliver to my clients what they need.

"Even though this is a new endeavor for me, I work for the same people I’ve always worked for -- my clients," he added.

While LPL Financial was tops in the nation (for Independent Broker Dealers) in revenue in 2009, Staley acknowledges that a lot of people in this area may not have heard of the firm.

"I feel a little like the guy who brought the Tim Horton's to town at first," Staley said. "For a lot of people, this is the first time they're hearing of LP Financial."

Even so, after opening for business at the beginning of December, Staley said he's had a steady flow of new clients walk through his doors -- exceeding his first-month goals. In part, that's the location, but also, Staley said, he's been around town a long time and a lot of people know him.

He picked the location, he said, because he plans to grow and be around for a long time.

It wasn't just sleigh bells you heard ringing in the days before Christmas. It was also cash registers.

Downtown merchants say they are quite pleased with their 2010 holiday season and hope it means there are good things to come in 2011.

"The numbers aren't official, but it was probably our strongest Christmas in a couple of years," said Greg Gluck, owner of Alberty Drugs. "It was certainly better than last year and probably better than the year before, which is probably a good sign for everyone."

Besides filling prescriptions, Alberty sells gift items and greeting cards.

Owners of The Enchanted Florist, Charles Men's Shop, Glass Roots, Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles, Valle Jewelers and 3D Wine and Spirits all say sales were up a bit this year, though nobody is saying "Wow, I can't believe how great it was!"

But any improvement over the past few years is a welcome sign that at last some people have money to spend and they're spending it.

"The top shelf wines sold and the wines on the bottom shelf sold, but the wines in the middle didn't sell as much," said 3D's owner, Dave Buchholtz. "The people who have the money are spending it, and the people who don't, aren't."

At Charles Men's Shop, owner Dave Howe agrees to a point. He said 2010 was a good improvement over 2009's Christmas season, but he said he heard from a lot of customers who were looking for quality from a local shop. He said people seem tired of overpriced, overhyped "buy one get six free" sales.

"People are less apt to drive all over the countryside," Howe said. "They gave us a shot first to see if we can help."

Next door, at The Enchanted Florist, Kathy Saile, said Christmas sales were up and met her expectations for the season.

"We didn't have any product left over and we were able to make all of our deliveries," Saile said.

At Adam Miller, people came in looking for bikes, hobby items, puzzles and unique toys you just can't get in the chain stores, said John Roche.

"The last two weeks we were swamped," Roche said. "It was way better than what I expected."

The strong sales locally matches reports of strong holiday sales nationally. The New York Times reports:

After a 6-percent free fall in 2008 and a 4-percent uptick last year, retail spending rose 5.5 percent in the 50 days before Christmas, exceeding even the more optimistic forecasts, according to MasterCard advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks retail spending.

The rise was seen in just about every retail category. Apparel led the way, with an increase of 11.2 percent. Jewelry was up 8.4 percent, and luxury goods like handbags and expensive department-store clothes increased 6.7 percent.

There was even a slight increase in purchases of home furniture, which had four consecutive years of declining sales. The figures include in-store and online sales.

The day before Christmas, Valle's Jewelers was packed with customers, and co-owner Mary Valle said the store was busy throughout the holiday season.

The store ran several promotions and advertised heavily for Christmas shopping, Valle said, and it seemed to pay off.

"We saw many new people in the store," Valle said. "People wanted to shop in the county and they verbalized it."

Advertising also paid off for Jeremy Almeter, owner of Glass Roots. For the first time in the five-year history of his business, he ran advertising -- exclusively in The Batavian -- promoting his handmade glass Christmas ornaments.

"For the first time, we sold out of ornaments," Almeter said. "We saw at least 20 faces in the store we'd never seen before."

Top: Mary Valle and Kamilla Kabel. Kabel, the former owner of House of K, is helping out at Valle's.Top inset, Dave Howe; bottom, Dave Buchholtz.

WBTA's Geoff Redick contributed to this story.

Business owners and people with jobs that leave them only limited time for lunch are the target audience for South Beach Restaurant's noon-time buffet, according to owner Ken Mistler.

Mistler launched the buffet a month ago.

"People on lunch hour need to get in and get out and eat at their own pace," Mistler said.

The buffet allows people to come in, place their drink order and immediately serve themselves -- no waiting for a meal to be prepared and multiple courses to be served.

The food is all freshly made each day, Mistler said. Nothing is frozen.

And the available entrees also change each day, based on what's available at the market.

Already there've been days featuring meatloaf, steak, fish, chicken, pork, ribs and all kinds of pasta dishes.

"We want people to get a good, wholesome meal and still be in out quickly if that's what they need," Mistler said.

The buffet includes a full salad bar -- at least 24 items each day -- and fresh, homemade soup.

"We have a new soup recipe every day," Mistler said.

The desserts are also fresh and made from scratch, according to Mistler.

The buffet is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the cost is only $10 (drinks sold separately), though it is not "all you can eat."