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Vine Street

Batavia PD releases safety tips after bear spotted in back yard on Vine Street

By Howard B. Owens
bear on vine street batavia

Batavia PD has a timely reminder for city residents: Never approach a bear.

The warning comes after a Ring camera on a residence on Vine Street recorded a bear walking through backyard.

Other safety tips:

  • Secure food, garbage and recycling;
  • Do not leave pet food outside;
  • Remove bird feeders if you spot bears in your yard;

More tips regarding being bear-wise can be found on the DEC website.

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Sponsored Post: New Listing Alert: 173 Vine Street

By Lisa Ace


Such a great house -- don't let this one slip by without looking! Solid 3 bedroom 2 full bath ranch tons of mechanical updates and just a lot of value for the money!

Great yard, location and neighbors-attached garage that is meticulous and used for entertaining presently! Perfect hang out hobby area. Basement in this home is huge and completely finished and great for large gatherings and to add lots of extra space for living-there is more to this home than what meets the eye!

Call Lynn Bezon at Reliant Real Estate at 585-344-4663 or click here to view the listing.

City to host meeting tonight on new water main on Vine Street

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

The Department of Public Works will be holding an informational meeting regarding the scheduled installation of new water main on Vine St (East Main to East Ave), Chase Park (Vine St to Elm St), and Elm St (Chase Park to East Ave), and the installation of new sanitary sewer on Elm St (East Ave to North St) this year.

The meeting will be held Thursday, May 11, 2017 at City Hall, in the 2nd floor Board Room at 6:00pm. A brief project overview will be given with staff available to answer questions and review the construction plans. 

It's Officially Too Dang Cold

By Howard B. Owens

Alex Roberts was walking with her son Taariq, 3, this morning down Vine Street after dropping her daughter off at school.

Today is our eighth-straight day of lows in single digits, but a warming trend starts tomorrow with a predicted low of 23 degrees. Highs in the low 30s are predicted for Friday and Saturday.

There's also snow in the forecast.

A wind chill advisory remains in effect until 3 p.m.

Vine Street Ice Rink, Batavia, circa the early 1950s

By Sam Campobello

Photo shows the ice skating rink on Vine Street before the current John Kennedy elementary school was built. The old stone building can be seen on the left side of the photo. If anyone else has any other photos of the ice rink, please post them. Also, please post any photos of the old Nu Lake swimming area on the corner of Wortendyke Road and South Main Street Road.

Family burned out of two apartments in two years looking for assistance

By Howard B. Owens

For the second time in less than 13 months, the Ricigliano family is looking for a place to live and trying to figure how how to replace all of their belongings.

On Wednesday night, they were burned out of their apartment at 20 Vine St., Batavia.

The suspected cause and origin of the fire has yet to be released by the Batavia Fire Department.

A year ago, Nick and Melissa were living 132 State St., where a woman died after reportedly starting a fire by smoking too close to her oxygen tank.

"My son’s birthday is Feb. 7," Melissa Ricigliano said. "Last year, two days after his birthday, he lost everything. This year, two weeks after his birthday, he loses everything."

Both Melissa and Nick work (at Sunny's restaurant and McDonald's), but after spending the past year replacing all of their belongings, money is tight and they can't afford the expense of a new rental.

After the State Street fire, they knew they needed to get renters' insurance and started the process but hadn't yet signed the paperwork.

Meanwhile, they lost all of their clothes, a new couch, TV and Xbox.

"It took almost a whole year to buy all of our stuff back and now it’s all gone again," Melissa said.

Melissa said she's been disappointed in the response she's gotten from the American Red Cross. On Wednesday, Ricigliano was given $300 and told to come back the next day.

The next day, the woman she talked to said, "What are you doing here?" The woman said there was no more assistance available. When Melissa said, "I'm homeless and we need food," she was told she should have used the $300 for food.

The $300, Melissa said, went for two sets of clothes for each member of the family, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Judy Nagel at the Genesee Region Red Cross said the available money for fire victims is tightly regulated by the national headquarters. Each victim, she said, is given a debit card and a form that says, "spend X amount on clothing and X amount on food."

"It's all put into a computer and there's a formula based on policies set by headquarters," Nagel said. "The computer creates the debit card. We're not able to do more than that. We don't have any control over the amount (of assistance)."

Nick and Melissa are currently staying with friends. Their children, Dominic, 6, and Martha, 3, are with family in Chili. Melissa also said the people at John Kennedy School and New Hope Church have been trying to help, as well as several others in the community.

Her sister is working on organizing a fundraiser at a town fire hall, but no date has been set yet.

Melissa said she has a message for any potential landlords: "You might want to put out there that I am a good tenant and I don’t have a curse.”

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