Elba Central Schools parents and teachers organization hosted its first Muckers and Sons event -- with real Elba muck supplied by a local farmer -- at the school today.
(Apologies to the folks in Elba -- I only have one picture because I had an incorrect setting on my other camera, so all of the pictures on that camera were overexposed.)
Investigator Ron Wilson volunteered to be the guy who got tasered today to demonstrate the nonlethal method for subduing suspects for dozens of people who turned out today for the Troop A open house at the Batavia Barracks of the State Police.
The taser demonstration was one a of a dozen similar events staged by troopers during the open house, held to as part of the 100th Anniversary of the State Police.
Troop A is especially proud of the anniversary because it is one of the four original troops in the state, and it's always been based in Batavia, thanks to lobbying by the local Chamber of Commerce in 1917.
The garage at the barracks was also opened for historical displays, including classic and vintage patrol cars.
(This 1983 Dodge sedan brought back memories -- it's just like the patrol vehicles we had when I was a Law Enforcement Specialist in the Air Force.)
Karie Schmigel wipes a tear away during a ceremony dedicating a memorial bench for her daughter, Sgt. Shaina B. Schmigel, this afternoon at War Memorial at St. Jerome's in Batavia.
Sgt. Schmigel, a paratrooper, died in a training exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., May 30, 2014.
During her military career, Schmigel served in Iraq in 2011 and earned the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and Army Good Conduct Medal.
Darien Lake Theme Park hosted the Color Me Rad 5K for this year today. The event is a fundraiser for Special Olympics.
More than 1,000 people participated in the 5K.
A motorcyclist is down in the area of 5050 Ellicott Street Road, Batavia. Minor injuries are reported. A vehicle may also be involved in the accident. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. The location is between Sheppard Road and Bethany Center Road.
UPDATE 11:45 p.m.: The adult male motorcyclist is being evaluated; very minor, if any injuries. A small child, maybe about 5 years old, was a passenger on the bike and was not injured. A small pickup truck towing a trailer collided with the motorcycle, but the driver was not injured. There is minor damage to the motorcycle.
Kendra Lamb is passionate about dairy farming, so much so that she speaks at conferences, participates in education programs, serves industry groups and now she, and her family, are in a commercial promoting dairy. It started airing June 1 on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel.
The commercial was produced by Dairy Good, a national trade group that represents family-owned dairy farms, such as Oakfield-based Lamb Farms.
Leslie and Gordon Lamb started the farm in 1966 with 110 cows and it has since grown to 2,400 cows. Kendra’s husband, Matt, runs the home farm, but they have expanded to five other locations.
Dairy Good contacted Kendra about the commercial two and a half months ago and said she was excited to do it.
“Since I became a mom, I’ve become passionate about talking about what we do,” Kendra said. “I think that as people get further removed from agriculture, there’s a distrust with what you don’t know.”
Kendra said she wanted to do the commercial because there is a lack of understanding.
“Farmers haven’t always been good at talking about what we do,” Kendra said. “That’s become my role on the farm.”
Kendra said she shares pictures on their Facebook page to show their values at the farm.
“That’s what people care about these days,” Kendra said. “They want to see the person behind the product. They want to know that you care, and we do.”
Kendra also guides free tours throughout the farm, showing the facilities and cows being milked, providing an educational experience for visitors to learn where their food comes from.
The farm is always improving sustainability, Kendra said.
A methane digester was installed in 2010 that powers the whole farm, creating green energy from cow waste.
“We’re always improving [sustainability] but we don’t do a good job talking about it,” Kendra said.
Kendra said 97 percent of the dairy farms in the United States are family-owned.
“Hopefully those that see our commercial see that we are family farms, even though we are bigger than what people picture when they picture a family farm,” Kendra said. “We care about taking care of the cows. We are proud to produce a high-quality product.”
Friday afternoon was member appreciation day at Copart in Le Roy and The Batavian was invited out for some BBQ and a tour.
I first became aware of Copart in the early morning of March 26, when a car caught on fire behind the electrified and locked gate, which made it difficult for firefighters to gain access, so the fire spread to other vehicles, so it was interesting to learn more about the facility.
One of the managers, Scott McCumiskey led the tour.
Copart specializes working with insurance companies to acquire and sell "total loss vehicles." That's the bulk of its business, but it also sells vehicles that have been donated to charity.
All auctions are conducted online and buyers must be members, and either a licensed dealer or affiliated with a licensed dealer. Different condition cars tend to have different kind of buyers, buyers that specialize in each kind of vehicle, such as those that can be driven off the lot, those that can be repaired and resold, those good only for parts and those that are nothing but scrap metal.
An insurance loss car might sit on the lot for 30 to 90 days until the insurance company releases it for sale. Sometimes that release for sale might take months or years, depending on the legal case a vehicle might be involved in.
Cars donated to charity are usually sold within a week of arriving on the lot.
Copart has 190 locations worldwide, including in Canada and Europe, with 125 in the United States, including three in New York. The Le Roy location's territory stretches from Syracuse to Buffalo. The company was founded in 1982 in Vallejo, Calif., by Willis J. Johnson, who remains chairman of the board. It is now based in Dallas.
Vehicles involved in serious-injury or fatal accidents might sit in the lot for months or years while civil cases remain pending. The cars are sealed in plastic and tagged as a potential biohazard. Only insurance company or attorney representatives can then enter the vehicle.
Most of the vehicles involved in the March 26 fire have been sold, probably for scrap metal, but these few remain.
Copart also takes in and resells boats, as well as other vehicles, such as semi-trucks, trailers, RVs, and buses.
This bus was destroyed in a fire more than a decade ago and it's been sitting on the Copart lot ever since. The insurance company has not yet released it for sale, presumably because there is a civil case still pending.
A melee on Holland Avenue on Friday evening involved multiple underage youths and a BB gun, and when police arrived, two adults got involved, and then, there was a kitchen fire.
The result: Two adults and one juvenile arrested, at least one person taken to a hospital, and a ruined dinner.
The adults charged were Jaequele M. Tomlin, 22, of East Main Street, Batavia, and Lionel J. Anderson Sr., 45, of Oak Street, Batavia.
Tomlin is charged with disorderly conduct, attempted assault, 2nd, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.
Anderson was charged with disorderly conduct.
Batavia PD, along with troopers and deputies, responded to a report of multiple individuals involved in a fight with at least one weapon involved at 4:37 p.m.
Once police arrived, another fight broke out.
That fight allegedly involved the adults, and Tomlin allegedly then fought with officers on scene.
A 16-year-old is also charged with criminally using drug paraphernalia.
A witness said the fight started on Holland Avenue, with several youths taking off their shirts and engaging each other in a physical fight.
One youth reportedly shot another youth with a BB gun.
The person shot was a juvenile and his name has not been released.
Police said there was one injury as a result of the shots, but did not specify who was shot. The victim was treated and released at UMMC.
As police were attempting to sort out the incident, a kitchen fire broke out at 23 Holland Ave. and a woman came out of the house complaining that with all the commotion, she wasn't able to pay attention to cooking dinner.
City fire was already on scene to assist with medical issues and firefighters quickly dealt with the fire and kept it from spreading.
The fire seems to have started with a pot on the stove and spread to the wall behind a microwave.
Tomlin was ordered held without bail.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and they don't anticipate releasing more information until the coming week.
The Batavia Downtown Public Market season has started and the market will be open three days a week this year, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Above, one of the vendors, Charleen Satkowski, of Harper Hill Farm, of Darien.
Creek Road near Lehigh Avenue, Batavia, is closed for culvert replacement.
Even though signs warn of the closure as far back and East Road, people are still driving all the way down to the barriers, even semi-trucks, according to a Creek Road resident, who thought it might be a good idea to remind residents of the closure.
The closure started Wednesday and is expected to last for seven to 10 days.
It would mean a lot to Frank Panepento if you would come out to the VA Center in Batavia at 1 p.m. on Sunday to celebrate Flag Day with our veterans.
It will mean a lot to him because it means a lot to the veterans living at the center.
Panepento helped organize the event, which will include a motorcycle procession from Stan's Harley-Davidson and a presentation by students from Batavia Middle School, who wrote essays on what the flag means to them.
The BMS Art Department also created flags for the veterans.
"For the residents in the hospital, just to know that someone cares about them is huge," Panepento said.
St. Joe's Brass Ensemble, which Penepento leads, will also play.
Nicholas A. Cianciosi, 68, of 400 E. Main St., Apt. #429, Batavia, is charged with second-degree criminal mischief -- property damage greater than $1,500. The defendant is accused of intentionally knocking over a 2003 Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was parked in the 400 Towers apartment complex parking lot, causing $5,014.78 in damage to the motorcycle. The incident allegedly occurred at 6:15 p.m. on May 23. Cianciosi is due in Batavia City Court on June 21 to answer the charge. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Frank Klimjack.
Karissa K. Sardina, 34, of Needham Street, Perry, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and having an unattended motor vehicle. It is alleged that at 11:55 a.m. on June 1 on Main Street in Batavia that Sardina parked her vheicle in the parking lot of a local bank and left the vehicle running and unattended. She is accused of leaving her 3-year-old daughter in the car to go inside the bank and conduct personal banking business. She was due in City Court June 6 to answer the charges. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Frank Klimjack, assisted by Officer Kevin DeFelice.
Marshall R. Steffans, 38, of Condon Avenue, Buffalo, is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child -- acting in a manner injurious to a child under age 17, criminal mischief -- intentionally damaging property, and third-degree criminal assault -- acting with intent to cause physical injury. Steffans was arrested on June 2 on an arrest warrant out of City Court on the charges, which followed his arrest on April 18 on Liberty Street in the city following a domestic incident. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Nicole McGinnis, assisted by Officer Arick Perkins.
Michael T. Coffey, 48, of South Main Street, Albion, is charged with third-degree burglary, criminal mischief -- intentionally damaging property, and petit larceny. Coffey was arrested at 6 p.m. on June 5 on East Main Street in Batavia after police responded to a reported burglary in progress. While officers were en route, the suspect was located in the area and detained. Coffey is accused of breaking a window and stealing property from inside the building. He was due in Batavia City Court on June 6. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Stephen Cronmiller, assisted by Officer Nicole McGinnis.
Brandon James March, 32, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with disabling equipment -- preventing communication with emergency services, and fourth-degree grand larceny -- taking property from another person. March was arrested on Cone Street in Batavia at 10:05 p.m. on June 2 following a domestic incident. March is accused of taking a cell phone belonging to another person while that person was attempting to call 9-1-1. He was jailed without bail and was due in City
Court June 5. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison.
Andrew Charles Maier, 30, of Main Road, Corfu, is charged with aggravated DWI with a BAC of .18 percent or more with one prior conviction, DWI with a previous conviction within the last 10 years, and speeding over 55 mph. He was arrested at 8:29 p.m. on June 3 on Colby Road in Pembroke following a traffic stop. He was issued an appearance ticket for Town of Pembroke Court on July 18. The case was handled by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy McClellan, assisted by Deputy Eric Seppala.
Patrick D. Moore, 39, of Strouts Road, Elba, is charged with third-degree criminal mischief -- intentionally damaging another person's property in an amount greater than $250. Moore was arrested June 4 on an arrest warrant out of City Court. Batavia police were dispatched on March 1 to 13 Holland Ave., Batavia, for a disturbance. After an investigation, charges were levied and an arrest warrant was issued for Moore. He was due back in City Court on June 5. The case was handled by Batavia Nicole McGinnis, assisted by Officer Chad Richards.
Bennie Wright, 32, of Jay Street, Rochester, is charged with fourth-degree grand larceny and unlawful possession of marijuana. At 5 p.m. on June 3, Wright allegedly stole money from another person on Central Avenue in Batavia by taking the money out of the person's hand. Wright was allegedly found to possess marijuana during his arrest. The case has handled by Batavia Police Officer Jamie Givens, assisted by Officer Jason Davis.
Nichol L. Schutt, 29, of West Crest Drive, Gates, is charged with second-degree harassment. On June 3, Batavia police arrested Schutt on an arrest warrant -- stemming from an unspecified incident at 1:50 a.m. on June 1 on West Main Street in Batavia -- after Gates police detained her for a traffic stop. She posted $500 bail and was released. She is due in City Court on June 14. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Arick Perkins, assisted by Officer Matthew Wojtaszczyk.
Morgan L. Cox Jr., 25, of Xavier Street, Clarence, is charged with DWI, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and refusal to take a breath test. Cox was arrested after an investigation into a fight that occurred on Trumbull Parkway, Batavia, at 11:05 p.m. on June 3. Witnesses allegedly identified Cox as being involved in the fight and claimed he drove away from the scene. He was located in the area and subsequently arrested. He was jailed on $1,000 bail. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison, assisted by Officer Felicia DeGroot.
Travis Martin Klotzbach, 26, of Elm Street, Batavia, is charged with: moving from lane unsafely; drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle on a highway; DWI -- common law; and aggravated DWI -- per se -- with a BAC of .18 percent or more. Klotzbach was arrested following a traffic stop at 10:02 p.m. on June 3 on Pearl Street. Police pulled over his 1997 blue Ford Expedition after a complaint of erratic driving. He was allegedly found to be operating the vehicle while intoxicated with a BAC of .23 percent. He was issued traffic tickets and released. He is due in City Court on June 14. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Arick Perkins, assisted by Officer Eric Bolles.
Aisha I. Culver, 18, of Willow Street, Batavia, is charged with second-degree harassment -- physical contact, and endangering the welfare of a child -- acting in a manner injurious to a child under age 17. She was arresred on May 26 on Willow Street. The charges are linked to a disturbance that police responded to at 8:05 p.m. on May 20 on Maple Street. She was released with an appearance ticket and was due in City Court on May 30. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Nicole McGinnis, assisted by Officer Arick Perkins.
David P. Grossman Sr., 34, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with obstructing governmental administration and unlawful possession of marijuana. The charges stem from an incident at 5:44 p.m. on March 1 on State Street, Batavia. Officers responded to a distrubance and it is alleged that Grossman Sr. was resistant with officers and tried to prevent the officers from taking him into custody. After his arrest, he was allegedly found to possess marijuana. He was due in City Court June 6. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Chad Richards, assisted by Officer Frank Klimjack.
Dora L. Poodry, 23, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. She was arrested on May 28 on East Main Street in Batavia after allegedly stealing multiple items from a convenience store. She was issused an appearance ticket and was due in City Court on June 6. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Stephen Cronmiller, assisted by Officer Lindsay Christopher.
Thomas A. Carson, 41, of Wood Street, Batavia, was arrested on June 5 on a Batavia City Court bench warrant issued May 5. He was jailed on $2,500 bail and was due back in court the same day as his arrest, June 5. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison, assisted by Officer Matthew Wojtaszczyk.
Patrick J. Dickinson, 48, of East Henrietta Road, Henrietta, is charged with second-degree harassment and unlawful possession of marijuana. He was arrested following the investigation into a road rage incident which occurred at 10:05 a.m. on June 3 on Main Street in Batavia. Dickinson is accused of chasing down the occupants of another vehicle and shoving one of them. At the time of his arrest, marijuana was allegedly located inside his vehicle. He was released on an appearance ticket was due in City Court on June 6. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison, assisted by Sgt. Dan Coffey.
Christopher M. Grant, 28, of Schaefer Drive, West Seneca, was arrested June 3 on a bench warrant out of City Court. The warrant was issued after Grant failed to appear on a misdemeanor traffic ticket. He posted $250 bail and was released. He is due back in City Court on June 20. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Christopher Lindsay.
One of New England's largest dairy producers, HP Hood, with an increasing reach into New York, is acquiring the former Muller Quaker Dairy plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batavia.
The plant has been vacant, except for a few maintenance workers, since Theo Muller Group and PepsiCo dissolved their yogurt-making partnership in December 2015. A month later, Dairy Farmers of America, a dairy farmers cooperative, purchased the 363,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art milk processing facility for $60 million.
Since then, DFA has been mum about its plans for the plant, and for 2017, the company wound up paying all of the property taxes due on the two parcels, more than $650,000, because they were not meeting the employment obligations of the PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) agreement Muller Quaker received for the project.
Rumors have started circulating weeks ago that DFA planned to sell the plant to a large dairy producer.
Public documents released by the Genesee County Economic Development Center in advance of a meeting next week where new tax incentives will be considered indicate that Hood is the buyer. It is a 170-year-old company that does more than $2 billion in business annually, and is based in Lynnfield, Mass..
Hood is a subsidiary of Catamount Companies. The owner and CEO is John A. Kaneb, who is also a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox.
News of Hood's purchase is good news to local dairy farmers. Both Shelly Stein of Stein Farms and Dean Norton, former NY Farm Bureau president and owner of a dairy farm in Elba, said anything that creates more demand for local milk helps all farmers.
"Anything that can go into that plant and help with the oversupply of raw milk that we have in the Northeast right now, that would be good," Norton said.
Norton said he has met Kaneb a couple of times.
"He's a good guy and it's a pretty solid company," Norton said.
Bill Baskin, owner of Baskin Livestock in Bethany, got his start in the dairy business in Massachusetts, so he is very familiar with Hood and said it's a good, old, old, old company with deep roots in Boston.
The funny story, he said, is that his great uncles had a 700- or 800-cow dairy farm back in the 1940s and they didn't like the price they were getting from Hood for milk, so they started their own bottling plant, which years later they sold.
Both Stein and Norton are DFA members. Norton said he doesn't know, but he would expect that DFA will become the supplier of milk for Hood's operations.
Monica Massey, senior vice president and chief of staff for DFA, said she could not confirm the transaction with Hood.
"We are getting close to finalizing an agreement," she said.
Massey said DFA acquired the plant as a "strategic opportunity" because the region is an important and underserved milk shed.
Asked if DFA would supply milk to Hood, Massey said, "We acquired the facility because we thought it would benefit our member-owners." That is still the goal, she added.
Hood's purchase price for the former Muller Quaker plant has not been released, but GCEDC documents indicate that Hood plans to add another 100,000 square feet to the plant, which is already considered the largest in the United States, for a warehouse.
How much that additional investment will cost is not disclosed in the documents.
While Muller Quaker topped out at 162 jobs created, Hood promises 250 jobs at the plant, with an average annual salary of $47,000.
Hood plans to begin construction this summer and be operational by the first quarter of 2019.
Construction will create 524 jobs with a payroll of nearly $26 million.
The original cost of construction for the plant was $206 million, which is the cost of capital investment still tracked by GCEDC for its accounting purposes.
The GCEDC board will be asked to consider reinstating the PILOT, which will provide Hood with more than $7 million in tax abatements over 10 years, with an anticipated total economic benefit to the region of more than $330 million.
Hood has been expanding into New York and other parts of the United States over the past few years. In 2004, the company acquired Crowley Foods, based in Binghamton. It's also acquired dairy companies in Minnesota and Sacramento, Calif.
Eric Zuber, a local dairy farmer and VP of Upstate Niagara Milk Cooperative, said he hasn't heard what Hood plans to do with the plant, but like Stein and Norton, he believes anything that will "soak up some of the milk supply" is a good thing.
"There sure is a lot of milk around right now," he said. "A little more capacity with the right thing is a good thing. We need more processing capacity. I don't care where it comes from."
Hood and Kaneb, he said, have a good reputation in the dairy industry.
"He’s done a fantastic job with (Hood)," Zuber said. "They know how to manage a milk plant. Whatever they decided to do, I'm sure it's going to be first class."
Public Health Column from the Genesee County Health Department:
Do you know that mammals, including humans, can contract rabies? Bats, raccoons, foxes and skunks are assumed to be infected with this deadly virus and must be avoided. In any case with animals, it is better to love your own and leave others alone!
What is rabies? How is it transmitted? What are Signs & Symptoms?
Rabies is a virus that attacks the nervous system of mammals, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. There are more than 4,000 different species of mammals, all of which are vertebrates (they have a backbone or spine), are endothermic (“warm-blooded”), have hair on their bodies, and produce milk to feed their babies.
Transmission of the rabies virus usually begins when the saliva of an infected host is passed to an uninfected mammal. The most common way rabies is transmitted is through the bite and virus-containing saliva of an infected host. Other routes include contamination of mucous membranes (i.e., eyes, nose, mouth), aerosol transmission, and organ transplantations.
The first symptoms of rabies may be very similar to those of the flu including general weakness or discomfort, fever or headache. These symptoms may last for days. There may also be discomfort or a prickling or itching sensation at the bite site, progressing within days to symptoms of cerebral (brain) dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation.
As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations and insomnia. Common signs of rabies in animals are; nocturnal (night) animals active during daylight, foaming of the mouth, overly aggressive, or uncoordinated. The acute period of disease typically ends after 2 to 10 days. Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive.
What to do if potentially exposed to rabies?
“If you are bitten, or if infectious material (such as saliva) from a wild or stray animal gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, or a cut, wash the area with soap/water and call your doctor or local County Health Department immediately. Please note that bats have very tiny, razor-sharp teeth so you may not feel or see a bite mark,” said Sarah Balduf, director of Environmental Health for Genesee & Orleans Counties.
IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to safely capture the suspect animal if it has or may have been in contact with people, pets or livestock so it can be tested for rabies. Capturing the suspect animal for testing is important because unnecessary medical treatment to people and confinement of pets or livestock may be avoidable.
“To diagnosis the rabies virus in animals testing the tissue of the brain is needed. Keep this in mind when capturing the animal because damage to the head/brain can cause it to be untestable. If treatment is recommended, it consists of a series of four shots, over a period of 14 days. An additional fifth dose of rabies vaccine is given on day 28 to immunocompromised patients (less capable of battling infections),” Balduf said.
*A link to a video on how to safely capture a bat is located below.
How do you to prevent rabies?
Rabies is 100-percent preventable! Here are some ways to protect your families and animals.
· Don't feed, touch or adopt wild animals, stray dogs or cats, including the babies.
· Be sure your pet dogs, cats and ferrets as well as horses and valuable livestock animals are up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations. Vaccination protects pets if they are exposed to rabid animals. Pets too young to be vaccinated (under 3 months old) should be kept indoors and allowed outside only under direct observation. Keep family pets indoors at night. Do not leave them outside unattended or let them roam free.
· Do not attract wild animals to your home or yard. Keep your property free of stored bird seed or other foods that may attract wild animals. Feed pets indoors. Tightly cap or put away garbage cans. Board up any openings to your attic, basement, porch or garage. Cap your chimney with screens. Bats can get in spaces as small as the width of a pencil.
· If nuisance wild animals are living in parts of your home, consult with a nuisance wildlife control expert about having them removed. You can find wildlife control experts, who work on a fee-for-service basis, in your telephone directory under pest control.
· Teach children not to touch any animal they do not know and to tell an adult immediately if they are bitten by any animal.
· If a wild animal is on your property, let it wander away. Bring children and pets indoors and alert neighbors who are outside. You may contact a nuisance wildlife control expert who will remove the animal for a fee.
Upcoming Dog, Cat and Ferret Anti-Rabies Vaccination Clinics:
Clinics are free to county residents -- charges may apply for out of county residents.
Donations are appreciated -- for complete details visit the county health department’s website.
Genesee County Clinics are held on Thursdays from 4 - 7 p.m.:
For more information on rabies, how to catch a bat safely, and much more visit, https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/zoonoses/rabies/
For information about Health Department services contact,
The demand for ride sharing in Western New York, including Genesee County, is strong and has been growing for years, according to the two leading companies expected to provide service locally as soon as it's legal on June 29.
Representatives of both Uber and Lyft said they anticipate being able to provide service to Batavia and the rest of the county that day and they're getting ready to meet the demand.
Both companies are eager to be ready for a potential surge in demand around the July 4 holiday.
Ride-sharing services are a child of the mobile digital age, allowing private drivers to make themselves available to offer rides to people who hail them through a mobile app on a smartphone.
Both Uber and Lyft have become global companies with valuations in the billions of dollars and both companies compete fiercely for drivers and riders. It's been years since either company has been able to expand service in a U.S. market, such as Upstate New York.
Sen. Micheal Ranzenhofer sponsored a bill passed by NYS Legislature and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to make ride sharing legal Upstate in time for the July 4 weekend, after the Legislature had previously approved ride sharing this year.
The lobbying effort by Uber and Lyft included more than $2.6 million combined in campaign contributions. Details do not yet seem available on how much in campaign contributions Ranzenhofer might have received.
A spokesperson for Uber said the company has been eager to start service in Upstate because the demand for the service has been so strong. Certainly in Buffalo, but even in Genesee County, said Alix Anfang, adding that drivers have been signing up in numbers that give the company confidence they will be able to provide fast and reliable service.
"New York, Upstate New York, is one of the last places in the country to have access to ride sharing and people in the area have been demanding it for years," Anfang said. "The governor and the Legislature listened to their constituents and their desire for better transportation options and we're excited we will be able to offer the service."
While there are small cab companies in Batavia and a bus service, ride sharing helps enhance those services rather than compete against them, Anfang said.
"The reports show that more the ride sharing available, the more people use public transit," Anfang said. "The real competition for ride sharing is personal car ownership."
Oftentimes, Anfang said, ride sharing is a "last-mile solution" for people who would want to use public transit, but a bus doesn't get them close enough to their intended destination. Many ride sharing customers, she said, take a bus and then use ride sharing for that last mile.
"If you can get reliable ride sharing, you're more likely to leave your car at home," she said.
Bar and restaurant owners may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of ride sharing. It's smarter to hail a ride, and even plan ahead, with an app on a smartphone than it is to risk a DWI arrest, which is one reason Uber and Lyft were eager to get the service legal and up and running by July 4.
Uber isn't just successful in large cities, Anfang said. Throughout the country, Uber has found willing drivers and demand for services in rural areas as well.
"We want to be everywhere and serve every customer as soon as we possibly can and we're working to make sure we can be ready, especially with the July 4th holiday coming," Anfang said.
Campbell Matthews, representing Lyft, provided the following statement:
"We are excited to officially become a part of communities across New York State,” said Jaime Raczka, regional director of New Markets for Lyft. “In every community in which ride sharing operates, it improves road safety, boosts local economies, and brings local families needed income.
"We thank the thousands of New York State residents who fought to bring these benefits to their neighborhoods and cities, and we look forward to becoming New Yorkers' ride-sharing platform of choice.”
UPDATE: Daniel Aikin, a spokesman for Micheal Ranzenhofer, said the senator hasn't take a dime in contributions from either Uber or Lyft. "His support for the expansion of ride-sharing across Western New York is a result of thousands of Upstate New Yorkers demanding access to this new, safe and reliable transportation option."
The financing of the Ellicott Station project by Buffalo-Based Savarino Companies is complicated, but it's moving along at a swift pace and CEO Sam Savarino doesn't expect any delays in financing that would prevent construction from the starting this summer.
Savarino Companies will have a direct investment of about $3.5 million and will borrow approximately another $10 million or more and local, state, and federal programs will cover another $5 million or so of the more than $18 million in project expenses (a bit of an increase over prior project estimates).
Assistance programs to make the project viable come in three forms: tax abatements from the Genesee County Economic Development Center, grants from the State of New York, and a federal New Market Tax Credit program.
"We knew going in we had a hole in this budget of about $5 million," Savarino said. "The state came in, Empire State Development, and filled part of the hole with the grants that they have, but it's still left us out there and that's why we went out we said we need enough allocation to fill that hole."
That hole is being filled by the New Market Tax Credit program, created about two decades ago in part to replace grants that financed many failed urban renewal programs. Tax credits on the project that can be sold as assets help create a market-driven way to encourage development in economically distressed neighborhoods. It's a way for the market to help decide which projects are worthy of assistance rather than the federal government making the decision.
The tax credits are administered by Community Development Entities (these can be for-profit companies or nonprofit agencies). The CDEs decide which projects to back. The tax credits are then sold to investors, who can use the tax credits or sell them on the open market.
"An area like this particular area is a distressed area," Savarino said. "It's got way more unemployment than other areas in the county. It's got way more incidents of poverty of people living there, more than any other part of the county. It's also a brownfield site. So it's got all those things going against it. That's just the type of site -- and by the way that has prevented its redevelopment -- it makes it too expensive to really redevelop. It's not really marketable. That's exactly the type of project that the New Market Tax Credit program is meant to address. But there are federal tax credits and they're meant to bring life into sites and generally in cities that don't have that much of a chance."
Julie Pacatte, economic development coordinator for the Batavia Development Corp., said Ellicott Station is unique in the county because the total investment exceeds $5 million to $10 million, which is necessary to even attract New Market Tax Credits.
"That's what makes it difficult for rural communities to access the program because projects generally don't project to that kind of scale to access the program," Pacatte said.
Savarino said the Ellicott Station project will use about $7.5 million in tax credits, which will translate into about $2.5 million in direct investment into the project.
Without the assistance programs, traditional lenders wouldn't even consider a project with the liabilities of the former Della Penna property, which needs extensive environmental remediation and is in a neighborhood with higher than average unemployment and lower than average incomes.
"There's no way it would even be financeable," Savarino said. "It's not just a developer like ourselves coming in and so everybody can gainsay your efforts over there because of you and you are out there trying to -- you're not going to do this to lose money. We're judged more harshly by the people who come and provide the financing for something like this.
"So we take a risk for going out and risking that we're going to lease up these units. We're risking that will lease up the commercial space. We're taking the risk that we've got a cap on the cost, and we have all the normal risk that you have (in a development)."
Some of the risk is mitigated by the fact that Savarino has already secured an anchor tenant for the project, Resurgence Brewery, out of Buffalo, which will open a restaurant, beer garden and sour beer brewery at the location. That business is expected to create at least 15 full-time jobs.
Savarino said the Resurgence owners are eager to get going and would move in today if they could.
The complicated financing isn't anything new for Savarino Companies, which has been involved in redeveloping several properties in Buffalo that were also highly distressed and needed to make variety a variety of financing and investment options to make them viable.
The New Market Tax Credit is limited to the commercial side of the project. For that, Savarino must secure the tax credits, attract the investors, find additional financing, get the proper approvals from local and state officials, and then the company must still also secure financing for the apartment complex.
Over the course of planning, the apartment complex has gone from 30 units to 42, to 47, and now the plans call for 54 units.
"When we started laying it out and we actually got the building down, we got to our unit mix and it turned out that we could fit 54 units in there," Savarino said.
That's one reason the costs have gone up a bit, but a recent environmental examination of the property also uncovered a surprise -- a previously unknown storm water drainage canal running under the entire length property.
The canal -- they're calling it the "Grand Canal" -- shows up on no maps, no site drawings, no infrastructure maps. It was built of brick long, long ago and forgotten about.
There's also evidence of contamination in the canal.
The best-case scenario is the canal can be declared as abandoned and filled in (as a matter of engineering, the buildings can't just be built on top of it), but if it needs to be rerouted, it can either be mitigated by connecting it to existing drainage lines under Ellicott Street or put under the easement for the new Ellicott Trail, which will run behind Ellicott Station. Savarino isn't expecting the canal to blow up the budget.
"Some of that is just the nature of the brownfield redevelopment and the remediation program of the state's is intended to offset those costs," Savarino said. "So to the extent that you find something that's a little worse than what you knew about, your site-prep costs will go up, and hopefully it works out such that you get the tax credits to offset that cost."
Savarino and Pacatte were at the Genesee County Planning Board meeting last night as part of the process of getting land-use approvals for the project.
The planning committee recommended approval of the site plan.
The project moves forward next with a GCEDC public hearing June 20 on the $1.5 million tax incentive package, which includes breaks on sales and mortgage tax, and a payment in lieu of taxes plan on the new tax liabilities generated by the increase in assessed value of the property. That same day, the city's Planning Committee will review the site plan and on June 22, the Zoning Board will review the plan.
This morning, the County Legislature held a special meeting to approve a $225,000 grant to assist construction of the brewery and restaurant for Resurgence Brewery. The grant is a pass-through of federal Community Development Block Grant money administered by the state's Office of Community Renewal. The special meeting was necessary because today was the deadline for completing the application.
Savarino said he doesn't anticipate any delays in financing, that financing should close in July and construction will begin in August.
Christina V. Dadey, 43, of Corfu, is facing numerous charges after an investigation following a 9-1-1 call about an erratic driver around 4 p.m. on June 7. Dadey was stopped on Gulf Road in the Village of Wyoming by Wyoming County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Chase and Sgt. Colin Reagan. They had responded to a call that originated in Genesee County about a vehicle that was all over the road. The vehicle had failed to keep right and the driver was pulled over and a roadside investigation was completed along with field sobriety testing. Dadey was subsequently arrested on suspicion of DWI and transported to the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office where she allegedly supplied a positive BAC or .18 percent or higher. She was charged with DWI, aggravated DWI, failure to use an ignition interlock device and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle. Dadley was convicted earlier this year of DWI, making this a felony arrest. She was put in Wyoming County Jail on $500 cash bail or $2,000 bond. She is due in Town of Middlebury Court on June 19.
Marissa Marie Yott, 21, of Livingston Street, Warsaw, is charged with second-degree assault. Yott was arrested at 7 p.m. on June 3 on Alleghany Road in Darien after allegedly striking another person in the head with a glass bottle, which caused injury to the victim. Yott was arraigned in Pembroke Town Court and subsequently released under supervision of Genesee Justice pending futher court appearances to be scheduled in Darien Town Court. The case was handled by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Graff, assisted by Deputy Ryan Young.
Jordan David Edenholm, 28, of Gabbey Road, Corfu, is charged with: operating a motor vehicle with a BAC of .08 percent or more, first offense; DWI -- first offense; DWAI (driving while ability impaired) -- combined influence of drugs or alcohol and drugs; criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th; and unlawful possession of marijuana. At 7:57 a.m. on June 8, Edenholm was arrested on Griswold Road in Stafford. Following a traffic stop, Genesee County Sheriff's deputies conducted an inventory search of the vehicle and allegedly found a controlled substance and marijuana. The defendant was released on appearance tickets and is due in Stafford Town Court on July 27. The case was handled by Deputy Chad Cummings, assisted by Deputy Andrew Hale.
This afternoon, a reader named Tracy Gaus submitted this photo of a lost dog and sent us this email:
"This very friendly dog was found wandering around our back yard (at) 3701 Pearl Street Road, Batavia. The dog does have a choke collar with a rabies tag. But no other ID. Can anyone help us find his home? I can be reached at (585) 409-0826."
UPDATE Friday, June 9, 2:37 p.m.: We are happy to report that shortly before 9 a.m. this morning, Tracy Gaus emailed us and told us the dog has been reunited with its family.
Le Roy is open to anything at this stage regarding waterfront and downtown revitalization, Mayor Greg Rogers said at a strategic planning meeting on Wednesday.
Rogers opened the meeting, explaining that Le Roy received a grant for planning the revitalization of Main Street and the waterfront. He said they put together a planning committee for this.
“We’re just trying to make Le Roy better than what it is now and it’s pretty darn good now,” Rogers said.
John Steinmetz, a member of the committee, said the biggest challenge is that there are many ideas, but that they still want more. He said they are in the very beginning planning stages.
“We’ve been at this about a month,” Steinmetz said. “We were awarded the grant well over a year ago, but it took about a year to get the contract from the state. Now it’s officially a go.”
Residents at the meeting expressed their concerns about always having a plan for Le Roy, but never following through. Steinmetz said he thinks there hasn’t been enough momentum for the previous plans to follow through.
“Le Roy has done a lot of planning,” Steinmetz said. “The problem is, it’s not in one place. This grant is a way to say, ‘Are these ideas still relevant? What are the new ideas the community has?' and 'Let’s put them all in one document.’ ”
Steinmetz encouraged residents to think big and small when generating ideas.
“The most successful communities make sure the buildings designed can be reused,” Steinmetz said.
During the meeting, attendees rated pictures from other local communities, in order to give the committee an idea of what the public wants to see, regarding landscaping, residential development and mixed-use development.
Attendees were then put into three groups to brainstorm ideas they had for Le Roy, regarding specific parts of town.
Sandy Brady, a Le Roy resident, said there should be a bike path.
“We missed out when we did some work on Main Street,” Brady said. “We didn’t leave a bike path. Wherever you go these days, there’s a bike path.”
Brady said that bikes are everywhere nowadays and Le Roy does not have enough bike paths.
“It’s a different time now,” Brady said. “It’s many years later and we feel differently about bikes."
Committee Member Molly Gaudioso said this meeting was essential for them to hear what is important to the community.
“We want to know what ideas are out there,” Gaudioso said. “Of the ideas are already in plans, we want to know what ideas still make sense. It’s our job now to take this and make some sense out of it and put it into the plans.”
Steinmetz said the next meeting will be held toward year's end or the beginning of 2018.
Saying it's a reality of business these days, Foxprowl Collectibles announced on Facebook that it is closing its downtown store, though the business will continue as an online-only business.
"This is by no means the business ending," Bill Hume said in the statement. "It is simply changing and adapting with the current state of retail (over 50 percent of U.S. retail sales now occur online)."
Hume, who operated the business with his wife, Joy, started Foxprowl as an online-only business and opened a store on Ellicott Street in 2010. They moved the store to Main and Jackson streets less than a year ago, in September 2016.
Foxprowl won the Chamber's "Entrepreneurial Business of the Year" award for 2016.
The store also operates an annual local comic and collectibles convention, Foxprowl Con. Hume said the convention will be on hiatus this year because of the business transition but will return in 2018.
The physical store location closing is effective July 1.
Photo: File photo of Joy and Bill Hume.
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