Tompkins Weekly Online - Lisa Randall

Transcription

Tompkins Weekly Online - Lisa Randall
www.tompkinsweekly.com
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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
Volume 1, No. 16 • January 29-February 4, 2007
Barber Eyes a Change in Venue
By Ann Krajewski
Town of Caroline Supervisor Don Barber, who has
been involved in local politics since 1983, is mullling a
change of office and considering a run for New York
State Senate. Barber, a
Democrat, recently granted
an
interview
with
Tompkins Weekly at his
farm on Landon Road.
Photo by Ann Krajweski
County succeeds with
Recycling efforts ........page 2
TW - Why run for the
Senate, and why now?
Tax abatements topic of
negotiations ............page 4
Dryden board revises
school referendum ..page 5
Opinion and letters page 6
Cramped quarters at
Lansing schools..........page 8
Physicist thinks outside
the box ............................page 9
Public weighs in on comprehensive plan ........page 11
Taking a dim view of
the future ......................page 11
DB – “First of all, it’s not
clear that I am running. I’ve
entertained the idea. This
came about because I enjoy
politics and I like what I’m
doing at the town level and
also the county level with a
number of different initiatives. So I feel I can move
pretty well through the
political mix, knowing that
each of these entities has a
completely differentset of
circumstances. I’d like to do
what I can for my neighbors
and my family who live in
nearby Danby, where I grew
up, knowing the pressures
Volunteer driver Tan Bradfield helps Challenge client Michael Kirkwood
get on the Gadabout bus.
that are on upstate New
York.
“I have three daughters,
one of whom has already
moved outside the state to
find work. The middle
daughter is still in [New
York] and my youngest is at
Cornell. But I’m jconcerned
that all of them are looking
these issues and I have a
deep and abiding concern
for them. I’m not sure that a
lot of people in Albany do. I
think that they live on a
whole different plateau.
And so that's the passion I
bring. I’m not sure where
the best place is to work on
that passion. It could be as a
New York State Senator.
People have told me that I’d
be good, that I could be a
great voice. District 51 is a
gerrymandered
district,
but in doing so they only
have two cities, Cortland
and Oneonta. All the rest of
it is towns.”
TW – How did you become
the Town of Caroline
Supervisor?
DB – “I was first elected to
the town board in 1993. At
the time I was the only
Democrat. Four years later,
when my term ran out as
councilman, Bob Spaulding, supervisor at the time,
was in a career change and
no longer had the time to be
in the position. I then ran
for
opportunities
and
they're not finding them
around here. I have a 75acre farm, and in past generations you would have
your kids move near you
but it’s not even in the
cards these days. It has happened to so many people,
and I feel like I understand
Please turn to page 14
Town Contest Starts Early
ByMike Levy
Town of Ithaca residents
should not fear a vacuum in
their leadership now that
long-time supervisor Cathy
Valentino has decided not
to seek a fourth term of
office. Two Democratic candidates emerged soon after
Valentino announced her
decision in mid-January,
marking an early start to
the town supervisor race.
Tim Joseph and Herb
Engman have both tossed
their hats into the ring.
Both have recent experience in governance —
Joseph on the county level
and Engman with the town.
And both would like to
avoid a primary election,
deferring instead to the
town Democratic committee to select a candidate.
Joseph, who has served 25
years with the Tompkins
County Legislature, including the last six as chairperson, wants to lead the town
into a future where success
means less dependence on
oil.
“I think we’ll be coming
to a crisis point where a carbased transportation system is simply not going to
be possible anymore,” he
says. “If it came today, we’d
be in serious trouble.”
Joseph sees a need for a
fresh approach to the
town’s development. “It has
to have pockets of density…you don’t sprawl all
over the place, you live in
compact areas,” he says.
“Rather than separating
workplace, residence and
commercial in the way that
so much land use regulation now does, you mingle
everything.”
His proposed move to
town government is a necessary step toward realizing this goal, Joseph says.
“The physical layout of the
community is done at the
town level. I have been getting more involved in those
issues through my county
work- working on affordable housing and the county comprehensive plan on
economic development.”
Joseph believes he is
qualified to affect the type
of change he envisions. “I
have an ability to articulate
a vision and the ability to
work across a broad spectrum of people who don’t
necessarily agree on a lot of
stuff but need to work
together.”
Engman, a town board
member for more than
three years, believes he has
a similar ability to work
with people. “I know all the
other town board members
and have worked very successfully with them,” he
says. “I also know all the
staff, so I wouldn’t have a
problem in terms of trust. I
think I’m in a good position
Photo provided
Council of governments
gets to work ..................page 3
FREE
Tim Joseph
to be a good town supervisor.”
Engman describes the
supervisor’s job as mostly
administrative, a role for
which he believes he is well
suited. He is currently a
senior extension associate
at Cornell, and has also
served as director of the
university’s migrant program.
Other duties have included state leader for youth
community action, a position connected with 4-H.
Engman says he has had
responsibility for as many
as 50 employees at a time,
has handled large budgets
and raised money through
more than a dozen grants.
“I’m not awed by the
administrative challenges,”
he says. “I think I’ll do just
fine with those.”
“It’s going to be a very,
very hard decision to
make,”
says
Ithaca
Democratic
Committee
Chair Merry Jo Bauer.
“They’re both experienced,
qualified and good people.
Of course, we have to consider that there might be
other candidates.”
Bauer estimates that the
decision process could take
as long as four to six weeks.
The committee will search
for and interview potential
candidates for the supervisor job as well as for the
three town board positions
on the ballot in November.
The group will then present a report to the town’s
Democratic
committee,
which will endorse a candidate. While it’s possible
that the selection of a
Democratic candidate will
go no further than this, a
close vote might be cause
for a primary election.
“The loser has every
right to challenge the committee’s
endorsement,”
says Bauer, though she suggests that such an outcome
is unlikely.
The selection process is
an excellent opportunity
for registered Democrats to
get involved in town politics and decision-making,
Bauer says. One option is
to run for elective office,
another is to seek an
appointment to a town committee and a third is becoming a member of the
Please turn to page 16
County Succeeds in Losing Waste
This is the second insallment of a
two-part series on solid waate and
recycling in Tompkins County.
“When we started it was all about
the old landfill,” relates Barbara
Eckstrom, Tompkins County’s
Solid Waste (TCSW) manager.
Eckstrom, who has worked in the
solid waste department for 21
years, adds, “I remember watching
Montgomery Ward bringing in all
this furniture. It was in good shape
and somebody could have used it,
but they slashed it all and then
dumped it. When I asked the guy
driving the truck about it, he said,
‘Our policy is we're not allowed to
give it away.’ And that was common. Desks from Cornell and furniture from other businesses all
went in the landfill. And I thought,
‘There's got to be a better way.’”
Eckstrom describes the county’s
waste disposal effort as “taking
that waste stream and dividing and
conquering it.” TCSW is not so
much about throwing things away
anymore as about re-apportioning
them. Much of what used to be considered garbage is now recycled,
and as people become more conscious of the waste problem they
reduce the amount of stuff they
discard. Further, throwing things
out is more expensive in the end,
and causes more problems, than
recycling them or re-using them.
Tompkins County has the highest recycling rate per capita in New
York State, but “There’s still a lot
more we can do,” says Tom
Richardson, recycling supervisor.
Richardson is happy to conduct a
tour of the recycling center, bring-
2
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
Photo by Kathy Morris
By Glynis Hart
With a concerted effort Tompkins County is dividing and conquering the waste stream,
says Barbara Eckstrom, solid waste manager.
ing groups of kids or adults into
the transfer station to watch the
process. In the front bays of the
building huge piles of recyclable
containers and paper and cardboard waste are loaded onto conveyors, which feed into a processing station on the other side of the
wall.
The tour group gets to go behind
the wall and watch the sorting
process; today the sorters are picking cardboard out of the paper
feeds. The paper goes forward and
is collected in 1,000-pound square
bales, while the cardboard goes into
a separate bin to wait its turn. The
bales, whether they are paper,
metal or plastic, are marketed for
Tompkins County by Recycle
America. Depending on the type of
material, they go to a variety of
buyers and end up back on the market in new forms. As such, recycling brings in a profit.
Since 1990 the waste stream has
been reduced in Tompkins County
by 50 percent. “What I’d like to see
happen is for it to go down another
25 percent in the next 10 years,”
says Eckstrom. There are a number
of initiatives underway to make
that happen. Some existing programs will be more effective if
more people know about them, so
the push is on to get the word out.
A new county solid waste Web
site (recycletompkins.org) now lets
residents know where and how
they can reduce the amount of
waste they send to the landfill.
Most people are unaware that
Tompkins County is piloting a food
composting program for residents
and
small businesses. While there is
already a food composting program
in place for large businesses—
Ithaca College has been successfully composting its dining hall
refuse—this new initiative will
help residents reduce their household trash fees. Many rural residents are familiar with and practice composting. Now apartment
dwellers and those without yards
will be able to do the same.
“If you think about it, that’s the
heaviest part of the waste," says
Skip Parr, solid waste operations
specialist. “We already know it’s
going to be a cost savings.” TCSW is
still gathering data on the composting programs, but they already
know that composting waste has
the virtue of eliminating the disposal fee.
TCSW works with several local
organizations to reduce the waste
stream. Paint can be recycled
through a partnership with
Significant Elements, which also
handles construction and architectural items. TCSW encourages consumers to buy green products, and
fingerlakesbuygreen.org serves as
a tool for consumers looking for
recycled products. Users can click
on a product listed online and see
where to find it.
Through Sister2Sister TCSW
promotes green body products,
such as mascara that doesn’t contain tar, to adolescent girls. Linette
Short, communication and administration coordinator at TCSW, regularly visits schools or local organPlease turn to page 16
By Danielle Klock
Community leaders have discovered that the borders within
Tompkins County do not define
their only common ground. The
formation of the Tompkins County
Council of Governments (TCCOG),
led by elected chair Don Barber,
means that representatives from all
17 of the county's municipalities
can now communicate more effectively, share information and work
together on common issues to
deliver government services in a
“more efficient and fiscally responsible" manner, according to the
group's bylaws.
According to Barber, Town of
Caroline Supervisor, the council
brings a holistic perspective to
local decision-making. He emphasizes that although Tompkins
County; the City of Ithaca; the
towns of Caroline, Danby, Dryden,
Enfield, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing
and Ulysses; and the villages of
Cayuga Heights, Dryden, Freeville,
Groton and Trumansburg all have
separate governing bodies, they
certainly do not have isolated concerns.
“As development makes the
spaces between our communities
shrink, with the increasing
demands being placed on local governments by our state legislature,
and with increasing property taxes,
a council of governments whose
purpose is to find ways to increase
efficiency of service delivery is a
positive step,” Barber says.
Ithaca Town Supervisor Cathy
Valentino certainly agrees. It was
Valentino who envisioned this kind
of cooperation about four years
ago, and initiated the council’s formation by inviting Carol Sweeney,
Supervisor for the Town of Owego,
to a meeting to discuss Tioga
County’s Council of Governments.
The TCCOG is modeled after the
neighboring county’s organization,
which has been meeting monthly
since the early 1990s to share ideas
and pool resources among Tioga’s
nine town and six village governments to work most effectively, both
individually and as a whole. “We
followed a lot of the things they
did,” Valentino says.
Valentino, who announced
recently that she will not seek reelection in 2008 and plans to retire,
felt that the municipalities within
Tompkins County were entirely too
isolated from not only each other,
but also from the county government. She cites inter-municipal
cooperation as a driving force
behind her initiative. “I wanted to
find a way to bridge that gap.”
Find it she did. And the show of
support is as great as she had
hoped. Since TCCOG is designed to
establish non-binding resolutions,
none of the municipalities is
required to participate in the council. But each and every one of them
has voluntarily decided to sign on.
Doug Austic, Ulysses Town
Supervisor and vice chair of the
TCCOG, describes why voluntarily
cooperation on issues such as
health insurance for municipal
workers (the group’s current priority) and road maintenance are
appealing ideas not just to legislators, but also to Tompkins County
residents.
“The smaller communities don’t
have the resources," he says. And
Photo provided
Towns, Villages Find Common Ground
Cathy Valentino has been a driving force
behind the council of governments.
apparently the resources that are
there can sometimes be used more
effectively. As an example, Austic
cites re-allocating road domains
between the Town of Ulysses and
Tompkins County. Some roads that
were county roads could be better
serviced by the town’s highway
department because of location, he
notes, while other roads designated
as town roads have become more
frequently used by a greater number of people to reach neighboring
areas in the county.
These roads are better suited for
county services, Austic explains,
and so the designations are being
changed to reduce overall costs.
“The final tax bill is less if one of
those groups saves money. Then the
taxpayers save money.”
The TCCOG also serves as a
forum for county officials to disseminate and gather information
that will affect all of the municipalities, such as the new public safety
communication system. The new
800 mHz system, which includes a
195-foot tower on the Ithaca College
campus, will replace dated equipment and piecemeal communication frequencies to allow emergency responders and dispatchers
from various public safety departments to communicate with each
other through a centralized system. All of the municipalities will
use it, so having a clear channel to
work together in making the
change smoothly is important.
But potentially one of the most
interesting aspects of the new
inter-municipal organization is
that previously disconnected communities will now have a better
understanding of how decisions in
one place affect the others. With
non-binding resolutions, leaders in
one town can help make decisions
and provide solidarity for the
entire county without having to
participate in individual policies.
A case in point is health insurance for municipal workers. With a
larger group, lower premiums and
better coverage may be secured, but
if one of the towns already has
lower costs than the larger group
plan, it would not make sense for
that area to participate. And they
would not have to. The council has
already asked for state grant support, under the Department of
State’s Shared Municipal Services
Initiatives program, to investigate
the health insurance issue.
Valentino also says that formation of the TCCOG means potentially more influence at the state
Please turn to page 16
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
3
City, IDA Continue Talks on Tax Breaks
By Nate Dougherty
It was among the top items on common council’s agenda for the beginning of 2007, but plans to coordinate with the Tompkins County
Industrial Development Agency
(IDA) to create a system of ranking
applicants seeking tax abatements
from the city apparently need more
work.
The Community Investment
Incentive Program, which would
replace Ithaca’s current density
policy, would prioritize companies
based on criteria determined by the
city and IDA. Under the original
intent, common council would evaluate the tax break requests, rank
them separately from the IDA and
then pass along its recommendations.
But IDA officials wanted more
say in the original evaluations. “At
the last IDA meeting, officials said
they were interested in what we’ve
developed but aren’t ready to sign
on just yet,” says council member
Dan Cogan (D-Ward Five), who
headed a subcommittee on the program. “They’re just not ready to
relinquish decisions on community
benefits, but they understand it’s
the goal to do this kind of evaluation early on in the process.”
The new program is meant to
bring the IDA and city together
when evaluating tax breaks for
companies in dense areas of the
city, reducing the time companies
spend in the application process. It
is also meant to cut back on duplications between the city’s and IDA’s
evaluations.
Criteria for the city’s point system would include a number of
items, including whether there are
officials discuss where they believe
the program should go next. He
says members of the subcommittee
should attend the next IDA meeting
to get on the same page.
“We recognize that we need to
allow the IDA to get further in its
discussions,” says Cogan. “Our
"[The IDA] is just not ready to relinquish desicions on community benefits, but they understand it’s the goal to do this kind of evaluation early on.”
- Dan Cogan
green building components to a
project, or if the developer is sensitive to race and gender in its hiring
practices.
“It’s not as if any developer
would have to fulfill each of those
desirable goals,” says Council
Member Maria Coles (D-Ward
One). “They would be rated according to how many they fill. If affordable housing is part of any development, or if the developer uses materials that are easily produced and
do not inflict harm on the environment in the production, like vinyl
in housing, that would be a plus for
them.”
Cogan suggests that council wait
until the next IDA meeting to let
subcommittee could convene again
to discuss this, but it would be more
fruitful for us to start again once
[the IDA] has met.”
Council members involved in the
project have said they hope that if
the IDA does agree to the project,
the city could take on a larger role
in tax abatement decisions. “As we
put this together, the idea is that a
project would come to council for
endorsement after everything is
finished,” says J.R. Clairborne (DWard Two). “Our endorsement
wouldn’t necessarily mean the project is selected by the IDA, but we
would hope that it carries some
weight.”
Mayor Carolyn Peterson says
finding a way for the city and IDA
to agree on a process is crucial if
the program is to work. She notes
that some concerns have been
raised about using a cut-and-dry
point system versus a more subjective evaluation of applications.
“One of the major issues is finding a way to interface with the IDA
so they’re aware of an issues early
on,” Peterson says.
The most important thing now is
for the IDA and the city begin to
work on jointly agreed upon criteria, Cogan says. If this isn’t accomplished, then the program won’t get
past the complaints of the lagging
and redundant process it now faces.
“In addition to a parallel
[approval] process, we’d like to
have one set of criteria shared by
both groups,” Cogan says. “We
don’t want to adopt something like
this then start using it and have the
IDA come up with something completely different.”
Though there may have been
some friction in these initial
efforts, Cogan says the work is
nonetheless important and lays the
groundwork for future program
development. “What we’ve done so
far is valuable,” he says. “We sent a
strong message to the IDA, and now
we can have a back-and-forth with
them.”
Residents’ Lawsuit Targets Dog Park
The City of Ithaca’s decision to
authorize an off-leash dog park is
the target of a lawsuit filed by a
group of local residents who charge
that the city failed to meet requirements of the State Environmental
Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
Ithaca’s common council late last
year agreed to suspend for a year
the leash law for dogs in the proposed dog park, located on the city’s
15-acre Festival Lands property,
which is surrounded by the Allan
H. Treman State Marine Park.
The lawsuit alleges that a oneyear period covering two bird
migrations and a nesting season is
not temporary, and that there is no
way know if the dog park will have
an adverse impact on the environment without an official review.
The Plaintiffs include Herb
Engman, Mark Whitmore, Kenny
Christianson and Joyce Gerbasi.
“In addition to the violation of
the SEQRA law, this is an open-gov-
4
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
ernment issue” says Whitmore, in a
statement. “By failing to conduct a
SEQRA review, the city neglected to
involve a broader range of persons
and groups as envisioned by
SEQRA.”
At issue is the impact on grassland habitat in the Festival Lands
and both grassland and shoreline
habitats in the state marine park
posed by dogs running loose.
“Without a fence it is hard to
imagine how dogs and their owners
can be kept from encroaching on
the natural habitats,” Christianson
says. “Dogs have been observed
entering the high grass areas on a
regular basis since the off-leash
area opened. They also have been
observed going onto State Park
property illegally, since all dogs
still must be leashed on the state
land.”
The suit charges that common
council created the dog park without any SEQRA review despite
advice to the contrary given by city
attorney Dan Hoffman. The city’s
park commission also advised lawmakers that a dog park at the
Festival Lands was ill advised.
According to the plaintiffs, Ron
Stewart, regional director of the
New York State Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation, wrote to Mayor Carolyn
Peterson in a letter dated two weeks
before the off-leash area became
effective, saying “It is the position
of OPRHP that the city’s rescission
of the leash law is neither minor
nor temporary and is an action that
should be subject to a New York
Quality
State
Environmental
Review.”
Both the County Legislature and
the Tompkins County EnvironCouncil
mental
Management
passed resolutions in November
advising the city to conduct a full
environmental review, and to
install fencing to protect the grass-
land nesting areas, Hog Hole (a
state-declared wetland and a county
Unique Natural Area) and the
shoreline habitat, the suit contnds.
Common council’s decision goes
against a long history of cooperation among the city, state parks, the
Tompkins County EMC and other
environmental groups, according
to the complaint. It also alleges that
city lawmakers bowed to pressure
exerted by the Tompkins County
Dog Owners Group.
“There is no reason that a dog
park cannot be compatible with all
the other multiple uses of the
Festival and State Parks lands,”
Gerbasi says in a statement. “It
simply must be done in the proper
manner, which includes a SEQRA
review before implementing the offleash area and putting up a fence
completely surrounding the dog
park to protect both dogs and other
users of the areas.”
Dryden Supplements School Referendum
By Anthony Hall
The Dryden Central School District
Board of Education approved a
$4.26 million referendum at its
January 22 meeting, then debated
the merits of billing the project of
maintenance and security upgrades as one that won’t impact
local taxes.
As it turns out, the board put its
toe just over the line, dipping ever
so slightly into the district’s general fund for $38,500 and using another $72,000 set aside by the school
board five years ago for security
purposes. In doing so, the board
lost a public relations opportunity:
the ability to sell a capital improvement project of over $3 million as a
freebie. But of course, nothing is
really free.
“It’s still all tax dollars, when you
think about it,” says board member
Chris Gibbons, somewhat blithely.
It’s true. School boards love to paint
state aid money as manna from
heaven, as if upstate was spending
downstate money and vice-versa,
when the bottom line is that state
tax dollars from all New York State
residents are used. It is public
money and it doesn’t come from
nowhere.
On the other hand, it sure looks
good when the state offers EXCEL
money (which comes from a lawsuit filed on behalf of New York
City schools demanding a new formula for state aid), then tells school
districts they can use that money
as the local contribution for building projects, which then generate
more state aid. The money, accord-
ing to the rules, can be used for
projects that fall into broad categories such as education technology, health and safety, accessibility,
physical capacity expansion (to
accommodate more students) and
energy.
In Dryden’s case, the state procured $578,000 in EXCEL money,
which the district can use to generate a $2.5 million contribution from
the state, which sounds like a lot of
maintenance work for free. And
district voters have been adamant
about improving building maintenance, according to board member
Karin LaMotte. “I hear that all the
time,” she says.
As a result, board members
worked from a priority list that
includes items the public will hardly notice. The most expensive item
is a new roof for the “A” wing of the
high school ($690,000), followed by
unit ventilators in the middle
school ($428,000). Two new boilers
for the middle school ($252,000),
some new plumbing, phone
upgrades, disability accessible
parking and walkways for the
school auditorium, and a new ramp
at the middle school front entrance
are included in the package.
The board then decided to stretch
the dollars as far as they deemed
safe for a district that approved the
last school budget by less than 40
votes and has had even closer votes
in recent years.
Five years ago, the school board
set aside $72,000 for security
upgrades and never used the
money. Tossing that into this mix
will generate a contribution of
some $200,000 from the state, and
the board could not resist the temptation.
Board members then
agreed to use $38,500 of this year’s
$200,000 budget surplus for the
same reason, hoping the money
will allow them to replace the middle school roof, which is due for a
replacement in the next four to five
years, or for new windows in the
middle school.
The window replacement was the
next recommendation by the dis-
District voters have
been adament about
improving building
maintenance, school
officials say.
trict’s facilities steering committee,
says Les Cleland, representing that
group. Cleland also urged the board
to be cautious about kicking in
locally-raised tax dollars. “The district approved one of the largest
increases, almost a 7 percent
increase in the tax rate last year,”
he notes. “I recommend a budget
[this year] that reflects that and
gives something back [to taxpayers],” he said.
‘Frustrating’ Situation
District Supervisor Mark Crawford
called the New York Department of
State Education’s placement of
Freeville Elementary School on a
list of schools needing improvement, “vexatious and frustrating
and meddling,” during his remarks
to the school board. “It’s unwarranted and it’s silly,” he said.
Freeville Elementary was among
the state schools placed on a twoyear watch list for falling short of
goals set by the No Child Left
Behind Act, which mandates
improvements in schools that do
not meet minimum academic standards, measured by the state-wide
testing program.
The problem, in part, is that this
testing begins with children in the
third grade, and Freeville only goes
to the second grade. So, third
graders are “back-mapped,” to
their earlier classroom. When district school records administrator
Wendy Earl did this, she sent the
data to the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga
BOCES, but the informationapparently got lost between BOCES and
the State Department of Education.
With no data to work with,
Freeville Elementary was placed
on the watch list.
The situation follows a similar
misstep that put Dryden High
School on the same list for two
years after a miscalculation regarding juniors who did not take the
English Language Arts Regents
tests two years ago.
Two students took the test in
January that year and passed, but
their grades did not show up on the
list. They were counted as absent,
as were four special education students who were not scheduled to
take the test and three students
who never showed up at school that
year, having moved or dropped out.
The total of nine absences put the
high school on notice. “That’s also
frustrating,” the superintendent
says.
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
5
Editorial
Opinion
Garbage in, Garbage Out
The Price of a Good Education
Clearly we have gotten the message
about reducing the amount of stuff
that ends up in the garbage.
Tompkins County is second to none
in New York State when it comes to
the number of folks who dutifully
stack and bag their newspapers,
rinse and collect those cans, bottles
and jars and put it all in a bin set by
the curb. Every other week you see
them lined up along the road.
The tons of waste going into the
landfill have been reduced by half
in the past 16 years thanks to such
diligence. Our landfill’s life expectancy is stretched, preserving land
that would otherwise be converted
to a dump, while most the items
sorted eventually end up back in
our possession in one form or
another.
But, as county solid waste manager Barbara Eckstrom says, why
stop there? Food waste, old furniture, windows and paint are just of
few of the items that don’t have to
be trucked away and buried.
There’s some truth to the axiom hat
one man’s trash is another man’s
treasure; it’s a matter of making
the connections. Our institutions of
higher learning are moving in the
right direction when it comes to
waste management, as well as pur-
chases of environmentally-friendly
goods. The challenge is to convince
businesses that it’s in their best
interest to stem the flow of refuse,
despite the effort involved in taking
a closer look and at what’s thrown
away and what products they need
can be recycled.
It’s doubtful that trash haulers
are losing their grip on the garbage
market, but if they are collecting
half as much as they did in 1990 it
has to effect their costs. A second
look at the trash-tag “tax” placed on
residents would be good as well.
Classifying all drink containers
as returnables is another step in
the right direction. Resistance to
this change by Albany decisionmakers is puzzling. The current
system works well, with nearly all
of the containers carrying deposits
being recycled and a lot less litter.
Meanwhile, tea cans, water bottles
and Gatorade jugs end up tossed by
the wayside or end up in the trash.
Putting a price on their heads
would make these containers a
potentially valuable commodity.
Yes, there’s more to do in th
garbage in-garbage out routine, but
if we all take a closer look at some
unmentionables everyone will
breather easier.
Letters
Enlightenment Starts With Information
Dear neighbors: Perhaps you have a
concern about local taxes, news or
community events, as I do. You may
have seen other pieces I have written about these topics. As a followup to my last piece about taxes and
the high rate of property tax in this
area, I wanted to comment on some
of the positive things taxes do.
We have a great police force, we
have many social programs, we
have places to park and roads to
drive on. While we sometimes wish
some of these things were better,
and that the money spent on social
programs generated greater community-wide results, what does
each of us do to contribute to the
community, on a personal level? If
you already contribute, or do volunteer work, what else can you do?
Perhaps you feel you are so busy,
you can do no more. I believe we
can all make small, subtle changes
(or big life-changing ones) that will
benefit ourselves and those around
us. One thing we should all do is
pay attention to the news, read the
news, listen to the news, and share
the news. If others in the community ignore the news and thus are not
aware of a crime, how can they
fully value the police force? If people do not understand the cost of
supporting a program, how can
they take a stand for it or against it
If you are unaware of the vibrant
community events, how can you
participate, and enjoy our area?
These are the types of things that
are reported in our daily and weekly papers. If you read the paper,
encourage others to do so also.
Mention an article to others. Give a
subscription. Ask others, what is
their opinion? Listen. Try it. We
live in an enlightened community,
so enlighten yourself. Find out
what your neighbors think and
how they feel. It may be a small
start, but it is a start. An important
one.
I am not telling anyone what to
think, just asking you to think, and
to communicate with each other.
Thank you.
Brian DeYoung
Ithaca
Published by Tompkins Weekly, Inc.
Publisher
Jim Graney
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Jay Wrolstad
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Contributors:
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Tompkins Weekly publishes weekly on Mondays.
Advertising and Editorial Deadline is Wednesday prior at 1pm.
Member Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce.
For advertising information or editorial business, contact our offices at PO Box 6404, Ithaca, NY 14851,
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include SASE. Contents © 2007 Tompkins Weekly, Inc. The opinions expressed in this piece are those of
each writer, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the publisher. No parts of this newspaper
may be reprinted without the permission of the publisher.
6
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
By Maureen and Jim Bell
On Feb. 6 Town of Lansing voters
will vote on two propositions for
repairs and improvements to
Lansing Central School District
buildings. More than half of proposition 1 funds would go toward
needed repairs to the bus garage
and at the elementary, middle and
high schools. The rest would be for
high school renovations and additions. The architects’ plans are
posted in the schools, at Curves and
the Field/Rink in Lansing, and at
www.lansingschools.org
under
“Capital Project Information.”
After negative community feedback regarding earlier propositions, a Facilities and Community
Awareness Committee (FCAC) of
parents, teachers, and administrators in the District plus engineering and architectural advisors was
formed. This group assessed which
potential maintenance and renovation items must be done for building safety (roofing, HVAC, etc.) as
well as which should be done for
the schools to continue to offer the
exceptional education experience
that Lansing residents have come
to expect. The group was critical
and the meetings were grueling;
the resulting capital project plan is
a “bare bones” blueprint that will
meet our district’s basic needs. The
Lansing school board carefully considered the FCAC recommendations and voted in December to put
the plan before the voters.
Many people wonder why the
high school needs more classrooms
when enrollment has not increased
dramatically. The answer is recent
changes in New York State Regents
requirements. When the high
school was built (mid-1970s) students were not required to get a
Regents diploma. Now nearly all
are, which means one more year of
history, two more years of math
and science, a year of fine arts and
two years of foreign language. The
biggest strain on our high school
has been providing classrooms for
all of these extra classes that students are now required by the state
to take. Science classroom needs
are particularly challenging because they are twice the size of
other classrooms and require specialized lab space.
There was considerable FCAC
debate about whether the Regents
requirements were useful and
whether it was worth it to add on to
the high school. Do our students
really do any better because they
are forced to take more classes? In
particular, are the fine rts requirements (orchestra, band, and studio
art) useful? While debate on the
Regents requirements is moot —
students must pass them to get a
high school diploma — we still
wanted a community discussion of
these issues.
Do all of these classes help the
next generation to succeed? There
have been a number of studies to
determine what is the best predictor for success after high school.
The best predictor for academic
success in college is the student’s
high school record: the number of
classes taken and grades in those
classes. In fact, the SAT was actually a poor predictor of a student’s
success in college (see, for example,
www.fairtest.org/facts/satvalidity.html). For this reason many colleges (including Cornell) are considering dropping the SAT as a
required entrance test. Colleges
(and employers) appear most interested now in well-rounded students
who take not just the required curriculum but also advanced placement classes, and who participate
in clubs, community service organizations and sports.
Are fine arts classes valuable?
Studies have been conducted on
this question to learn if participation in arts programs benefits students in the long term. A National
Governors Association report (see
www.nga.org/cda/files/050102ART
SED.pdf) found that students who
participate in arts classes are four
times more likely to be recognized
for academic achievement and
three times more likely to have the
best school attendance records.
Fine arts also prepares students for
the job market by fostering creative
thinking and increased skills in
design, visualization and problem
solving. Sometimes these programs
are also just a source of sheer joy
and pride, as everyone who participated in the standing ovation after
the Dec. 6 Lansing High School
orchestra’s masterful performance
of “Pirates of the Caribbean” will
surely remember.
Is it worth your tax dollars to
support these two propositions? We
believe so. In addition to the philosophical arguments of providing
the best education possible for the
next generation, there are strong
economic advantages for our community. There is a direct link
between the reputation of the local
school system and the value of
one’s home and property. Taxpayers
in Lansing could be “shooting ourselves in the wallet” if we allow our
schools to deteriorate or our kids’
education to become anything less
than excellent.
We urge Lansing voters to vote
yes on Feb. 6 on both propositions
in the capital project initiative.
Maureen and Jim Bell are residents of Lansing.
Contact Us:
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Briefly...
County Library Renews Sunday Hours
The Tompkins County Public Library Board of Trustees has announced
that the library will re-open on Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. starting on Feb. 4.
The announcement followed the news that Vector Magnetics has made a
significant contribution to the Tompkins County Public Library
Foundation, which was to be used at the discretion of the library board.
Sunday hours ceased in February 2006, following a six-week open period funded by a New York State grant from Assemblywoman Barbara
Lifton. Efforts to secure the necessary funding to maintain Sunday hours
during 2006 through a public referendum in the Ithaca City School District
and through direct appeals to the Tompkins County Legislature wereunsuccessful.
Board president Henrik Dullea said that the board deeply appreciated
the gift and that the decision to use the funds for Sunday hours was
thoroughly discussed by the trustees, in light of the many other needs
which need funding. While Sunday hours was a high priority for private
fundraising in 2007, Dullea said that library trustees will continue to
urge the county legislature to include funding for Sunday hours in the
future as part of the library's core operations.
With the new seven-day schedule, the library will be open 59 hours per
week, four more than the minimum required by state law, but nine hours
less than comparable libraries in similar communities. Sunday hours will
be in effect from Feb. 4 through May 20, and again from Sept. 9 through
Dec. 16.
Library hours are: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8:15 p.m; Friday
and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.
Educator Will Speak at Cornell
Robert Parris Moses, a distinguished civil rights leader and mathematics
educator, will make his first visit to the Cornell campus as the Frank H.T.
Rhodes Class of ’56 professor. Moses will deliver a public lecture titled
“Quality Education as a Civil Right” at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, in the
Statler Auditorium. Cornell President David Skorton will introduce Moses
and moderate a discussion following the address.
Moses served as field secretary for the Student Non-violent
Coordinating Committee, helped form the Freedom Riders in Mississippi
and worked on voter registration during the most turbulent days of the
civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Later, Moses returned to the
classroom, where he taught mathematics in Tanzania from 1969 to 1975. In
1982, he was awarded a five-year MacArthur Foundation grant, which provided initial funding to develop The Algebra Project, an award-winning
program designed to raise the floor of understanding and participation in
mathematics by members of underrepresented groups, particularly
African-American, Hispanic, and low-income rural and urban high-school
students.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. They
are available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office.
Street Beat
The word on the street from around
Tompkins county.
By Kathy Morris
Question: How do you feel about the
Ithaca schools bond issues?
“I like the new facilities, but not
at the price projections.”
- Chris Archer, Ithaca
“I understand what it’s like to
work in a facility that needs
work. ACS needs real science
labs.”
- Christina Mead and daughter Maggie,
Ithaca
“I’ve only been here a week so I
haven’t really studied the
issue.”
- Sylvia Taylor, Ithaca
Relay for Life Seeks Team Members
The local Relay For Life committee has a variety of openings for those who
would like to help plan the American Cancer Society’s annual fundraiser.
Event organizers need individuals to serve as committee chairs and members in the following areas: team recruitment, spirit points, relay kick-off
event, survivor activities, entertainment, Incentives, fundraising and
sponsorship.
Leadership team meetings are held monthly with additional work completed at the committee level. For more information contact Deb
Mohlenhoff at deb.mohlenhoff@gmail.com or call 274-3222, or Allison
Knoth at Allison.knoth@cancer.org or 206-0999.
Relay For Life is an overnight event designed to celebrate survivorship
and raise money to help the American Cancer Society save lives, help
those who have been touched by cancer, and empower individuals to fight
back against the disease. This year’s relay will be held at the Lansing High
School track on July 13 and 14. The official event kick-off is slated for
March 28.
“I think it’s excessive. I’d like
to see them look at their
expenses more closely.”
- Dave Pytcher, Ithaca
Submit your question to Street Beat. If we choose your question, you’ll
receive gift certificates to GreenStar Cooperative Market and Ithaca
Flower Shop. Simply log onto www.tompkinsweekly.com and click on
Street Beat to enter.
C e l e b r a t i n g 3 0 Ye a r s
“We invite you to join our family”
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
7
School Issues Address Cramped Quarters
By Anthony Hall
The Lansing Central School
District Board of Education has
proposed a two-part building project referendum that goes to voters
on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and divides the
district’s space and maintenance
needs into two propositions, which
also might be termed two district
priorities.
The school board took a cautious
approach in spite of plans to use
the entire $410,509 of EXCEL aid
they received from the New York
State Department of Education as
their share of the multi-billion dollar settlement of the lawsuit in
which New York City school districts challenged the state’s school
aid formulas.
The money used will be just 2
percent of the local share for the
$18.725 million project, in part
because it may not be available for
long and in part because the
money can leverage an additional
$2.3 million from the state, which
normally kicks in the lion’s share
for school construction projects.
Voters can turn down the whole
thing, denying the district addi-
8
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
tional space and maintenance projects that include boiler replacements, electrical upgrades and septic improvements at the elementary school; energy management,
window hardware repair and
improved drainage at the middle
school.
Proposition 1 also includes six
new classrooms and an expanded
art classroom at the high school.
show stabilized enrollment for the
future. While much of the project
is basic bread and butter maintenance, the strongest argument for
additional classes lies in the
strength of the programs offered
by the Lansing schools.
The art room, which includes
two teachers working within limited space, had 60 students coming
and going 10 years ago, art teacher
Ten years ago 60 students used the music
room for band lessons. Now the school offers
band, orchestra and symphony orchestra,
sometimes piling 95 students in one room.
Or they could approve the project
and an additional $2 million, which
will go toward high school music
and technology additions and
alterations.
A tour of the building shows
why board members are asking
district voters to consider the
expansion project, despite the fact
that demographics for the district
Patty Brown says. But enrollment
in art is now three times that number and state requirements for a
certified art program have expanded.
The high school now offers a
five-course sequence in art, and is
sending students to the country’s
top art colleges, according to art
teacher Robin Rogers. With two
teachers working from one room at
the same time, Brown says “Thank
goodness, we’re really good
friends.” Rogers quips in return,
“Thank goodness we’re really good
professionals.”
Besides cramped quarters for
the teachers, there isn’t much
room for separating clay projects
or drawing instruction, let alone
scheduling clay sculpting at a time
when the dust won’t settle on students drawings and other artwork,
the teachers said.
The music room is similarly
cramped. At least one instrument
(a cello) is stored in the principal’s
office. In the music room itself, the
number of chairs alone makes it
nearly impossible to move around
even without students and their
cumbersome trombones, tubas and
drum sets.
The music room, according to
current state Department of
Education codes, is more than two
times too small, says high school
principal Michelle Stone. The reason is the same as it is for the
squeeze in the art class. Ten years
ago, 60 students would pile into the
music room for band lessons. Now
the school offers band,
orchestra and symphony
orchestra, sometimes piling
95 students and their instruments into one room.
“I can squeeze clarinets
shoulder to shoulder, and I
do,” band teach Eric Hummel
says. “But when we teach
the
stringed
symphony,
instruments need room.”
When the violin players are
bowing, “They are very close
to harpooning each other,”
Hummel adds.
It doesn’t take an OSHA
inspector to surmise that the
school’s symphony practices
are a fire hazard. Even if the
room is large enough for 100
students, with instruments,
the kids are packed against
the wall and seats are inches
from the only exits.
The administrative office
has sent flyers on the project
to district voters and one
might wonder how this was
done. The small building
holds business, personnel
and administrative teams,
none of which has enough
room. The staff has no place
to eat lunch, archival files are
stored in a trailer in the parking lot and some filing cabinets are so close together that
drawers cannot open all the
way.
The hallway is used for
office work; the bathroom is
used to store paper. District
treasurer Sue French is not
quite entombed, but she has
two printers high above her
head on supply shelves that
block her and her desk from
view.
In the high school, the science labs look viable during
Regents week, but two chemistry and biology teachers
share a room in which laboratory work cannot be prepared in advance if the
teacher needs to lecture as
well.
The lab desks double as
writing tables, which means
they must be cleared while
the teacher explains a project. Students, after the discussion is done, must then
collect the beakers, burners,
test tubes and other items,
which cuts into learning
time.
By Larry Klaes
In earlier times, art and science
were intertwined in education and
culture. A person was not considered a truly well rounded individual unless he had sufficient schooling in both the humanities and the
sciences. This concept was ignited
once again with the 2007 edition of
the Light in Winter festival, held
throughout Ithaca on the last weekend in January.
Event organizers describe the
festival as bringing “together
artists and scientists from all over
the world to share one-of-a-kind collaborations and the excitement of
discovery.”
One event among many that
reflected this theme was “Warped
Passages,” based on the popular
science book Warped Passages:
Unraveling the Mysteries of the
Universe’s Hidden Dimensions
(HarperCollins Publishers, New
York, 2005), authored by Dr. Lisa
Randall of Harvard University.
Randall, a professor of theoretical
physics, talked about her work at
the Statler Hall Auditorium at
Cornell University’s School of
Hotel Administration on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 27.
Barbara Mink, founder and producing artistic director for Light in
Winter, explains why she invited
Randall to Ithaca. “I try to read
every popular science book that
comes out. Not only did I love
Warped Passages, I felt strongly
that inviting a woman from a maledominated profession to speak at
the festival about physics was
important for the visiting public to
see and understand,” she says.
Randall’s book and talk are based
on two science papers she wrote in
1999 with Raman Sundrum, now a
professor in the department of
physics and astronomy at Johns
Hopkins University. The research
describes a possible solution to a
problem that has baffled physicists
for decades: why is it that of the
four fundamental forces of nature
— strong, electromagnetic, weak
and gravity — the force of gravity
is so weak compared to the other
three sets of interactions between
particles and the large-scale behavior of matter throughout the universe?
Randall and Sundrum conceived
a theory that has our three-dimensional (four if you count time) universe residing in an “infinite extra
dimension that warps spacetime so
much that gravity [in the form of
particles called gravitons] is concentrated near another brane [a
three dimensional hypersurface
embedded in a higher dimensional
bulk],” says Randall. “There are
actual physical consequences
because of this extreme warping of
spacetime.”
In essence, certain parts of the
cosmos may have stronger concentrations of gravity than what we
experience due to these higher
dimensions, thus explaining why
gravity is the weakest of the four
forces of nature, at least for us.
Randall and her colleagues may
be able to prove their theory later
this year when the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) becomes operational at the CERN laboratory near
Geneva, Switzerland. This giant
Photo provided
Meditations On a Higher Dimension
Harvard professor Lisa Randall offered a lesson in physics, accompanied by music, during
the Light in Winter festival.
particle accelerator and collider
may be powerful enough to produce
and detect what are known as
Kaluza-Klein particles that move
through those extra dimensions.
The physicists could then determine their properties and potentially prove that we do exist in a
world of higher dimensions that
obey different physical laws.
“If the theory is true, it will
affect many other sciences, such as
cosmology and string theory,” says
Randall. “The scientists in those
fields will have to explain their theories and the phenomena they
detect in relation to those extra
dimensions that interact with our
universe.”
Strings of another sort accompanied and framed Randall’s lesson in
physics, courtesy of musicians
Stephen Andrew Taylor from the
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign and Wendy Herbener
Mehne and Pablo Cohen, both of
Ithaca College.
Using a combination of flute, guitar and live electronics, the trio performed Taylor’s piece, titled “Seven
Microworlds,” which premiered in
Toronto in 2000. The piece can be
heard on Taylor’s Web site:
www.stephenandrewtaylor.net.
Taylor earned his Ph.D. in music
composition from Cornell. Over the
past two decades he has composed a
number of pieces honoring science,
including one dedicated to Dr. Carl
Sagan called “Pale Blue Dot” after
the late Cornell astronomer’s
description of earth as seen from
the edge of the solar system by the
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
9
Residents Weigh In on Village Plan
Local residents turned out in force
at a recent public meeting in
Trumansburg that was scheduled
to share information on the village’s comprehensive plan and to
gather public input. Audience
members described what they
most valued in the village, citing
things such as “walkability,” the
“sense of community,” the “potential of the village” and the “historical aspects” of the community.
Most of those in the room were
village residents, although several
people from the Town of Ulysses
and adjoining counties also
attended the meeting.
Comprehensive plan committee
chair
Deirdre
Cunningham
described the proposal as a “living
document” used to provide guidance for community leaders in
planning. Having a strategy in
place also provides advantages
such as giving the village a competitive edge when applying for
grants. Cunningham noted that
the committee’s process has
included reviewing two previous
proposals (which the village never
adopted), analyzing data from a
community survey, drafting a primary vision statement and developing a timeline.
Former mayor Tom Bennett
attributes the failure of previous
plans to the village board’s view of
them as not “being perfect.”
Cunningham responded that the
committee understood some of the
obstacles that previous groups
had faced and has adapted its
strategy to focus on educating the
public and board members. This
educational process will stress
that each step is a “benchmark”
that can be revised or approached
in a different way if needed, and
that the comprehensive plan
would be a “working” rather than
a “finalized” document.
Information collected from the
public meetings will be used to
draft vision statements that will
establish a foundation for the
plan. The committee hopes to have
a draft plan ready to review by
this summer.
Among those who addressed the
meeting was David Filiberto, village board liaison to the comprehensive plan committee. He summarized the results of a community survey mailed out to residents
last spring, about one-third of
which were returned, some with
extensive comments. Survey find-
Photo by Sue Henninger
By Sue Henninger
Chris Thomas, comprehensive plan commmittee member, displays a land use map at
the recent public information meeting in Trumansburg.
ings show that most respondents
work
either
in
Ithaca
or
Trumansburg, with a significant
percentage working from their
homes. Filiberto noted that many
people appear to be using
Trumansburg as their residence,
while spending their money and
getting their needs met elsewhere.
Additionally, most respondents
either strongly or somewhat
agreed that the village should
invest time and money to “preserve the natural and architectural features of the village landscape” while also feeling that it
was “moderately important” to
see the value of their property
“keep pace with other properties
in Tompkins County and surrounding areas.”
Tompkins County senior planner Crystal Buck had the group
break up into “topic tables” to discuss the plan’s six major areas:
environment, recreation/youth,
community, housing, economic
development and land use. Village
resident Susan Thomas stressed
that she would like to see the principles of “smart growth” used to
increase affordable housing within the village. Others agreed that
the proper design of “high density,
non- homogenous” sections of
affordable housing combined with
green space would be ideal.
Overall concern about the
recent addition of several new
stores (when there are already
similar stores in close proximity)
was expressed by many. If there
are no means to regulate this type
of development, the land use
group would like to at least identi-
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
fy a way to limit its growth.
Identifying retail operations that
would fit into village life, such as
more stable, community oriented
businesses rather than big box
stores was another priority.
The land use group also urged
the comprehensive plan committee to focus on the pros and cons of
encouraging light industrial businesses as a means of increasing
the tax base and making life in
Trumansburg more affordable.
The economic development
group offered similar suggestions,
such as encouraging the development of “high value, low impact”
businesses that employ locals,
maximizing existing resources in
Trumansburg such as creating an
“artisan retail market” and finding an acceptable balance in
tourism by bringing in outside
money while not being “overrun”
by visitors.
Chris Thomas, past chairman of
the zoning board of appeals, noted
that the village’s zoning laws have
not been updated since 1971. The
revision process started by the
current zoning board has yet to be
completed. Thomas, and others,
would like to see the residential
zoning on Route 96 changed to a
category such as “compatible
mixed use” so that homes and
small home-based businesses
could co-exist along the Main
Street corridor, gradually transitioning into the downtown area.
Protecting the “green corridor”
land along Trumansburg Creek
was a prime concern of Ulysses
resident Liz Thomas. Dick
Peterson of the environment
group noted that his group sees
developing a larger scale recreational area by the creek as a priority, as well as keeping tabs on
the condition of the storm drains
and preserving local water quality.
Thomas emphasized the importance of monitoring any development of agricultural parcels in
and on the outskirts of the village.
Town board member Roxanne
Merino, agreed, suggesting that
there is a “false separation”
between inter-municipal planning
and zoning, and that the town and
village need a “shared vision and
a dialogue” concerning areas that
overlap municipal boundaries.
**** Children of Men. Directed by
Alfonso Cuarón. Regal Cinemas.
**1/2 Volver. Directed by Pedro
Almodóvar. Cinemapolis.
By Nicholas Nicastro
In Alfonso Cuarón’s fine new futuristic thriller Children of Men, the
day after tomorrow looks a lot like
today’s Iraq. The British, having
sealed off their borders against illegal aliens, have erected a national
security state complete with checkpoints, identity cards and the
inevitable insurgency. London
looks both tailpipe crusty and
hopped-up on digital imagery. “The
world is falling apart,” a government commercial blares, “and only
Britain soldiers on!” We can almost
hear Donald Rumsfeld boasting
that freedom is on the march.
There’s one significant difference: based on P.D. James’ novel of
the same name, Children of Men
posits a future where all human
females have mysteriously become
infertile. With no children born for
the last 18 years, humanity is looking into the abyss of inevitable
extinction. Naturally, the “wrath of
God” nutcases — Islamist and otherwise — come out of the woodwork, triggering a worldwide wave
of terrorism. Suddenly, market day
in Sadr City isn’t looking so bad.
Granted, there are quite a few
folks around today who would take
the prospect of childless restaurants and airplane flights as blessings. For the rest of us, though,
Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien)
presents what is possibly the most
vivid dystopic nightmare since
Blade Runner. As in Blade Runner,
the script by Cuarón, Timothy
Sexton et al builds on the old
gumshoe/hard-boiled genre — that
no human depravity should come
as a surprise — and subverts it into
something hauntingly the opposite.
Perhaps most impressive, he
achieves this not through flashy
production design, but with a confident visual style that includes some
truly brilliant (and harrowing)
long takes. Compared to this, V for
Vendetta feels like a trip to feed the
pigeons in Hyde Park.
* * *
On January 19, the attendees were
packed so tightly at 7th Art
Corporation’s
Volver
benefit
screening that reaching the banquet table was an achievement.
Fortunately, the cause was worth
the trouble: the event was held to
raise funds for the non-profit corporation’s projected multiplex theater
on Green Street. Along with
Cornell Cinema, 7th Art is a mainstay of Ithaca’s lively film culture,
and deserves support in its quest to
grow (information for donors is
available at www.cinemapolis.
com). In this particular case, the
pre-screening edibles (donated by
Just
a
Taste,
Moosewood,
Madeleine’s, The Lost Dog and the
Mahogany Grill) and Iberian-style
live music (by guitarist Matthew
Billie) made doing the right thing
the pleasant thing as well.
The local premiere of Pedro
Almodóvar’s Volver (“to return”)
was received with similar enthusiasm. I mean, you know you have a
receptive house when, as the heroine (Penelope Cruz) turns a bowl of
Photo provided
In the Future, Women and Children First
Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in Children of Men.
flan, the audience lets out an audible gasp of awe. Cruz has been nominated for an Oscar for the role of
Raimunda in Almodóvar’s latest
gynocentric talkfest, and by the
way her radiant presence dominates the film, she deserves it.
Watching her, it’s as if we’ve been
transported back a couple of generations, to when actresses like
Jeanne Moreau and Sophia Loren
had opportunity to show the glamour of being complex, grown-up
women.
It’s to the credit of Almodóvar
(Talk to Her; Tie Me Up, Tie Me
Down) that he’s willing to give the
film over to Cruz. Alas, being a conscientious objector to the director’s
chatty girl-fections, this writer too
often found his mind drifting back
to that banquet table out in the
lobby.
To contact Nicholas Nicastro visit
www.nicastro-books.com.
Movie Ratings
*****
****
***
**
*
Classic
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
11
Tompkins County Community Calendar...
January 2007
29 Monday
Catholic School's Week
Cinemapolis Now Playing: Letters
from Iwo Jima (R) 7 & 9:35pm, Volver (R)
7:15 & 9:35pm. Info www.cinemapolis.org
or 277-6115
Center Ithaca, The
Commons
Cortland Youth Center Open 129pm. Info: www.cortland.org/youth 7530872
Eating the Rainbow, Ulysses
Philomathic Library, 10-11am. Hands on
nutrition class for children. Rec for ages 6
& under. Guardian req for children under
18yrs. Info www.trumansburglearningcooperative.org
Fall Creek Pictures Now Playing:
The Last King of Scotland (R) 7:15 &
9:35pm, The Painted Veil (PG-13) 7:15 &
9:35pm, Curse of the Golden Flower (R)
9:35pm, The Queen (PG-13) 7:15pm. Info
www.cinemapolis.org or 272-1256. 1201
N. Tioga St
GED Classes, at GIAC, 9am-12pm.
Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, at TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Info BOCES 273-8804
GED Classes, at TST Community
School, 5:30-8:30 pm.
Free. Info
BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, at Groton Elementaty .
Info BOCES 273-8804
GIAC Teen Program Game Room,
Video Games, Open Gym & Field Trips
4-7pm. 318 N. Albany St., Ithaca.
Lifelong, Enhance Fitness @ Lifelong
8-9am; Enhance Fitness @ the
Mecklenburg Fire House10:15-11:15am;
Open Computer Lab 10:30am-Noon;
Strength
Training
12:30-1:30pm;
Enhance Fitness @ McGraw House 23pm; Bridge Group 2-4pm; International
Folk Dancing 7-8pm; English Country
Dancing 8-10pm. Info 273-1511. 119 W.
Court St.
Phil Shapiro's Group Folk Guitar
Lessons, North Room Willard Straight
Hall, Cornell University. 7pm Beginners,
8pm Intermediate. There are 8 one-hour
lessons. Reg at first lesson. Fee. Info 8444535 or email pds10@cornell.edu
Suicide Prevention & Crisis
Service Training, Mature, caring individuals are needed as volunteer counselors. Volunteers learn conseling techniques, suicide prevention skill, and community resource information. No prior
experience necessary. Info 272-0752 or
email SPCScrisisline@verizon.net
30 Tuesday
Catholic School's Week
2nd Annual Jump on Board Event,
Holiday Inn, downtown Ithaca, 5:307:30pm. Jump on Board is designed to
connect community members and young
professionals in particular, with agencies
and organizations that are seeking volunteer leaders for their Boards of Directors.
Info 274-3222 or www.tompkinschamber.org or www.ithacaforward.org
Beat Box Bard, Center for the
Performing Arts, 7pm. An original piece
combining
beatboxing
with
Shakespeare's sonnets and soliloquies.
Tix & info 254-ARTS or www.arts.cornell.edu
Cortland Youth Center Open 129pm. www.cortland.org/youth, 753-3021.
Dryden
Democrats
Village
Caucus, Dryden Village Hall, 8pm. This
caucus is a means of selecting candidates to run for the positions of village
trustee and mayor, each are for a twoyear term. Info 227-0858. 16 South St,
second floor
GED Classes, at TST BOCES Campus,
9-noon. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED CLasses, Newfield Elementary,
9:30-11:30am. Free. Info BOCES 2738804.
GED
Classes, South
Seneca
Elementary, 9am-Noon. Free. Info
BOCES 273-8804.
GIAC Teen Program Game Room,
Video Games, Open Gym & Field Trips 47pm. 272-3622 318 N. Albany St., Ithaca.
Basketball 7-9pm Tuesdays at BJM. 2723622
PeeWee Naturalists, Cayuga Nature
Center. Jan9-Feb 15. Bring your favorite
3-5 year old to explore nature with us.
12
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
Each program is different & includes activities, crafts, a nature walk, & snack. Info &
reg www.cayuganaturecenter.org. or 2736260. 1420 Taughannock Blvd.
Snowshoe Making, Cayuga Nature
Center, 7-9pm. Jan 16-Feb 6. This class
will guide you through the process of creating your very own set of Ojibwa style
snowshoes. The course fee includes kit,
materials, & instructions. There will be a
class trip on the basics of snowshoeing.
Fee. Info & reg www.cayuganaturecenter.org or 273-6260. 1420 Taughannock
Blvd
Toddler Storytime, Tompkins County
Public Library, 10:30am. Parents and
caregivers with children from 16months-3
years. Every Tuesday. 272-4557 x275
Tot Spot, Ithaca Youth Bureau, 9:3011:30am. Indoor stay and play for children 5months to 5 years & their parents.
Fee. Info 273-8364
Winter Reading Festival and Open
House, Immaculate Conception School,
6-7:30pm. Story hour by Regi Carpenter,
Scholastic Book Fair, hot cocoa cafe,
cozy reading corners & activities. Open
house for PreK3-8. Info 273-2707. 320 W.
Buffalo St
31 Wednesday
Catholic School's Week
Active Learning with Black
Locust
Initiative, Trumansburg
Village Hall, 3-6pm. We will introduce students to community environmentalism
concepts like: community forestry, the
importance of soil, community policy, &
providing for their own material needs. All
ages welcome. Donation suggested.
Guardian required for children under
18yrs. Info www.trumansburglearningcooperative.org
Beat Box Bard, Schwartz Center for
the Performing Arts, 8pm. This original
work mixes vocal percussion with
Shakespeare's work for a fun performance of music, dance and theatre. Tix &
info 254-ARTS. Cornell University, 430
College Ave
Comfort Food, The Kitchen Theatre,
7:30pm. Can twilight romance burn as
brightly as first love? From the playwright
and composer team who created Tony &
The Soprano and The Angle of the Sun
comes a new musical story of dining, dating, dessert & desire. Tix & info 273-4497
or www.kitchentheatre.org.
Cortland Youth Center Open 129pm. www.cortland.org/youth, 753-3021.
Food
Addicts
in
Recovery
Cayuga
Addiction
Anonymous,
Recovery Services Building. 7-8:30pm.
There are no dues, fees, or weigh-ins.
Info 387-8329. Crn. State & Plain Sts.,
Ithaca.
GED Classes, at GIAC, 9-Noon. Free.
Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, at TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED
Classes,
South
Seneca
Elementary, 9am-Noon. Free. Info
BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, TST Community School,
5:30-8:30pm. Free. Info BOCES 2738804.
GED Classes, Candor High School,
5:30-8:30pm. Free. Info BOCES 2738804.
Healthy Home Interiors Seminar,
DeWitt Middle School Auditorium, 7-9pm.
The Ithaca Green Building Alliance &
Cornell Cooperative Extension of
Tompkins County will present "Natural
and Non-toxic Interior Finishes and
Materials", a seminar by Brent and Diana
Katzman of Balance Studio. Fee.
Advance reg req. Info & reg email
tms23@cornell.edu or 272-2292
Immaculate Conception School
Open House, 9am-2pm. Immaculate
Conception School welcomes children of
all faiths for an outstanding elementary &
middle school experience. Info 2732707. 320 W. Buffalo St
Little Explorers Storytime 11am.
Borders Books in Pyramid Mall, 2570444.
Love, Death and a Little Ecstasy,
Ithaca College, Hockett Family Recital
Hall, Whalen Center, 7pm. A faculty
piano recital by Jennifer Hayghe, performing works by Granados, Scriabin,
Brahms, Busoni & Prokofieff. Free. Info
274-1153 or www.ithca.edu
Screening: Out of the Closet and
Onto the Screen, Ithaca College
Textor 103, 7pm. Series showing of
"Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr.
Evelyn
Hooker".
Free.
Info
www.ithaca.edu or 274-1153
The LGBT Democratic Club of
Tompkins
County
Annual
Meeting, TC Human Services Building,
7-9pm. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender Democratic Club will have
their annual meeting to set goals for
2007 & elect officers. Current & new
members welcome. Info 592-4188 or
plp3@twcny.rr.com
"The Photograph Commands
Indifference",
Ithaca
College,
Gannett 112, 6:30pm. An artist's talk by
Nicholas Muellner, whose new photographic work, along with Ron Jude's, is
currently on display in the Handwerker
Gallery. Free. Info www.ithaca.edu or
274-1153
February 2007
Black History Month
1 Thursday
Catholic School's Week
AL-ANON Hope for Today, Meeting
open to anyone affected by another person’s drinking.
7:30pm
844-4210.
518West Seneca St., Ithaca, main floor.
Alumni Recital, Ithaca College,
Hockett Family Recital Hall, Whalen
Center, 8:15pm. Kristin Bacchiocchi
Stewart (flute) and Joel Brown (guitar),
playing works by Ibert, Machado, Giuliani,
Piazzolla and Tedesco. Free. Info
www.ithaca.edu or 274-1153
Beat Box Bard, Schwartz Center for
the Performing Arts, 8pm. This original
work mixes vocal percussion with
Shakespeare's work for a fun performance of music, dance and theatre. Tix &
info 254-ARTS. Cornell University, 430
College Ave
Comfort Food, The Kitchen Theatre,
7:30pm. Can twilight romance burn as
brightly as first love? From the playwright
and composer team who created Tony &
The Soprano and The Angle of the Sun
comes a new musical story of dining, dating, dessert & desire. Tix & info 273-4497
or www.kitchentheatre.org.
Cortland Youth Center Open 129pm. www.cortland.org/youth, 753-3021
GED Classes, TST BOCES Campus,
9am-Noon. Free. BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, Groton Elementary,
9am-Noon. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED CLasses, Newfield Elementary,
9:30-11:30am. Free. Info BOCES 2738804.
GED Classes, Candor Elementary,
9:30-11:30am. Free. Info BOCES 2738804.
GIAC Teen Program Game Room,
Video Games, Open Gym & Field Trips 47pm. 272-3622 318 N. Albany St., Ithaca.
Lecture: "Making Nonprofits
Responsive", Ithaca College, Park
Hall Auditorium, 7:30pm. By Robert
Egger, founder of the D.C. Central
Kitchen and author of "Begging for
Change". Free. Info www.ithaca.edu or
274-1153
Movie Screening, Ithaca College,
Texter 101, 7pm. Black History Month
showing "I Shall Not Be Removed: The
Life of Marlon Riggs" and "Brother
Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin".
Free. Info www.ithaca.edu or 274-1153
Out of Bounds, WEOS-FM 88.1,
7pm.This weekly interview program will
feature Deborah Tannen discussing her
new book "You're Wearing That?
Understanding Mothers and Daughters
In Conversation". Info www.outofboundsradioshow.com
PeeWee Naturalists, Cayuga Nature
Center. Jan9-Feb 15. Bring your favorite
3-5 year old to explore nature with us.
Each program is different & includes activities, crafts, a nature walk, & snack. Info &
reg www.cayuganaturecenter.org. or 2736260. 1420 Taughannock Blvd.
Prenatal Yoga Classes 5:30-7pm.
Diane Fine. Info fineyoga@yahoo.com
564-3690 or dianefineyoga.com
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Featuring Heidi Grant Murphy &
Kevin Murphy, Bailey Hall, 8pm. Fee.
Info www.cornellconcertseries.com or
273-4497
Tot Spot, Ithaca Youth Bureau, 9:3011:30am. Indoor stay and play for children 5months to 5 years & their parents.
Fee. Info 273-8364
Wagon Wheeels West, Cortland HS
Auditorium, 7pm. Performed by Cortland
Jr. HS. Info 758-4100
Waldorf Enrichment Series 1st
Thursday of every month. 7-8:30 pm.
Stone Circle School, 399 Turkey Hill
Road. Info/RSVP: 272-2221.
Waldorf
Parent
Toddler
Afternoons
Peach
Blossom
Kindergarten, 23 Nelson Road. 1-3pm.
For ages 2-5. Info/Register: 272-2221.
2 Friday
Catholioc School's Week
Alice, the State Theatre, 7pm. So you
think being rich will get you a giant house,
fun times, & lots of great friends? This
delightful world-premiere adaptation of
Whoopi Goldberg's children's book, in
which Alice discovers the best jackpot in
life isn't money or fame at all, kicks-off
Black History Month. Tix & info www.stateofithaca.com or 27-STATE
Artists in Residence Series with
John Gurche, Museum of the Earth,
6pm. This lecture will use examples of two
human ancestors, the ancient Lucy & the
more recent IceMan, to describe the
process of reconstruction based on skeletal material.
Info www.museumoftheearth.org or 273-6623. 1259
Trumansburg Rd., Rt 96
Beat Box Bard, Schwartz Center for
the Performing Arts, 8pm. This original
work mixes vocal percussion with
Shakespeare's work for a fun performance of music, dance and theatre. Tix &
info 254-ARTS. Cornell University, 430
College Ave
Comfort Food, The Kitchen Theatre,
8pm. Can twilight romance burn as brightly as first love? From the playwright and
composer team who created Tony & The
Soprano and The Angle of the Sun comes
a new musical story of dining, dating,
dessert & desire. Tix & info 273-4497 or
www.kitchentheatre.org.
Free Beading Class, Beads! On The
Commons. Noon-Easy earrings &
3:30PM Lariat necklace. Info 256-3618.
144 E. State St.
Free Tax Help, Lifelong, 10am-Noon
This service is free to Tompkins County
residents who are Senior Citizens, people
with limited incomes, individuals with disabilities. Info 273-1511. 119 W. Court St.
GED Classes, TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GIAC Teen Program After Hours
Spot 4-midnight. Movies, open gym,
game room, video games, snacks, computers, skating & more. 272-3622 318 N.
Albany St., Ithaca.
Ithaca College Concerts, Ford
Hall,
Whalen
Center,
8:15pm.
Performance by the Turtle Island Quartet
with the Assad Brothers, performing individually & together. Fee. Tix & info 2734497, 800-284-8422 or www.ithaca.edu
Movie Night at Borders, Borders
Book Store, 6:30-8pm. Harold and the
Purple Crayon And more Harold stories.
Free popcorn & balloons. Pyramid Mall.
Info 257-0444
Opening
Reception,
Johnson
Museum of Art, 5-7pm. See all the new
exhibitions, plus live music, refreshment,
& fun for all ages. Free & open to all. Info
255-6464 or www.museum.cornell.edu
Pajamarama Storytime, Barnes &
Noble, 7pm. Join us for stories for preschool & elementary age children. Juice &
snacks provided, pj"s welcome. Info 2736784 or www.BN.com
Rookie Reader Storytime, Barnes &
Noble, 10:30am. Join us for stories perfect for infants & toddlers. Activities will
follow. Info 273-6784 or www.BN.com
Senior High Area All-State
Festival, Ithaca College. Grades 1012. Info 274-2176 or 274-2259
Story Hour at Lansing Community
Library Old Town Hall, Lansing. 2 yr
olds: 10-10:20am. 3 yr olds: 10:30-11am.
All children with care provider. Info: Susan
266-0266.
Story Hour at Southworth Library,
Dryden, 10am. No sign-up required - just
come and enjoy stories, activities and
refreshments. We are also looking for volunteer readers for this program. 8444782.
The Lansing PTSO Annual
Spaghetti Dinner, Lansing HS
Cafeteria, 5-7pm. Benefits the PTSO
scholarship
fund.
Fee.
Info
dodibird32@hotmail.com
Wagon Wheeels West, Cortland HS
Auditorium, 7pm. Performed by Cortland
Jr. HS. Info 758-4100
3 Saturday
Alice, the State Theatre, 11am. So you
think being rich will get you a giant house,
fun times, & lots of great friends? This
delightful world-premiere adaptation of
Whoopi Goldberg's children's book, in
which Alice discovers the best jackpot in
life isn't money or fame at all, kicks-off
Black History Month. Tix & info www.stateofithaca.com or 27-STATE
All-you-can-eat Soup & Salad
Buffet, 1st Baptist Church, 5pm. This
event is to raise money for an adult mission trip to Slidell, LA to help Katrina victims continue rebuilding. There will also
be an indoor rumage sale 9am-7pm.
Fee. Info 387-9497 or 227-0836. E.
Seneca St., Trumansburg
Animal Feeding, Cayuga Naure
Center, Noon-1pm. Get an up-close view
as we feed some of the 40 animals here
at CNC. Fee. Info www.cayuganaturecenter.org or 273-6260.
Art-Full Family Saturday, The
Johnson Museum, 10am-Noon. African
drumming & dance with Billye Smith &
Jali Diebate. Free for members. Info
255-6464 or www.museum.cornell.edu
Beat Box Bard, Schwartz Center for the
Performing Arts, 8pm. This original work
mixes
vocal
percussion
with
Shakespeare's work for a fun performance
of music, dance and theatre. Tix & info 254ARTS. Cornell University, 430 College Ave
Children's Story Time, Borders Book
Store, 11-11:30am. We'll read stories about
Groundhogs to help celebrate Groundhog
Day. Pyramid Mall. Info 257-0444.
Comfort Food, The Kitchen Theatre,
8pm. Can twilight romance burn as brightly as first love? From the playwright and
composer team who created Tony & The
Soprano and The Angle of the Sun comes
a new musical story of dining, dating,
dessert & desire. Tix & info 273-4497 or
www.kitchentheatre.org.
Expectant Parent Woprkshop,
Cayuga Medical Center, 9am-4pm. Meet
the 1st Saturday of the month. Info 2744011 or www.cayugamed.org
Explorers Storytime 11am at Borders
Books in Pyramid Mall, 257-0444.
Families
Learning
Science
Together, Tompkins County Public
Library, 2nd Saturday of the month, 1-2pm.
Info 254-8256 or kdilley@ccmr.cornell.edu
Family Storytime Tompkins County
Public Library. 11:30am-12pm. Free.
www.tcpl.org, 272-4557 x272
Free Tax Help, Lifelong, 10am-Noon
This service is free to Tompkins County
residents who are Senior Citizens, people
with limited incomes, individuals with disabilities. Info 273-1511. 119 W. Court St.
GIAC Teen Program After Hours
Spot 4-midnight. Music, movies, open
gym, game room, video games, comput-
ers, skating & more. 272-3622 318 N.
Albany St.. Ithaca
Kids' Fun Events, Borders Book
Store, 3-4pm. Join us for Charlolette's
Web fun activities. For ages 4-10yrs.
Pyramid Mall. Info 257-0444.
Morning Story Time 10am. Caroline
Community Library 2670 Slaterville Rd.
Slaterville Springs. www.tcpl.org.
Mother-Daughter Book Club,
Tompkins County Public Library, 1:302:30pm. Area girls ages 10 -13 & the special women in their lives are invited to
read & discuss a great book with a local
author. This is the groups last meeting.
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
will be disucssed. Info 272-4557 x276 or
x277 or www.tcpl.org
Music Concert, Ithaca College, Ford
Hall, Whalen Center, 8:15pm. The symphony and chamber orchestras, directed
by graduate conductor Devin Hughes,
performing works by Beethoven,
Schubert and Theofanidis. Free. Info
www.ithaca.edu or 274-1153
Naturtal History at Noon, Museum
of the Earth, Noon. Donald J. Leopold,
Ph.D., will discuss native plants of the
Northeast.
Info
www.museumoftheearth.org or 273-6623. 1259
Trumansburg Rd., Rt 96
Open Family Swim Tompkins
Cortland Community College, Dryden.
11am-1pm. Fee. 844-8222.
Pancake Breakfast, Enfield Valley
Grange Hall, 7:30-10:30am. All you can
eat pancakes, waffles, french toast,
sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, applesauce
& beverage. Fee
Public
Skating,
Community
Recreation Center, Ithaca, 8:30-10pm.
277-7465
Saturday
Morning
Live:
A
Musical Showcase with Bart and
Kevin, TC3, 10:30am. Award winning
duo rocks it out with messages about
manners, courtesy, diversity, tolerance &
more. Fee. Info 844-8222 x4450 or
email activities@TC3.edu
Sciencenter Special Presentation:
"Genetic Manipulation of Plants
and Animals", Sciencenter, 2pm. John
Alvcerez del Castillo will bring in examples
of fish, plants, and birds that have been
manipulated on the genetic level, and consider why and how people domesticate
and modify other species. Included with
museum admission. Info www.sciencenter.org or 272-0600. 601 First St.
Senior High Area All-State
Festival, Ithaca College. Grades 1012. Info 274-2176 or 274-2259
Sketching in the Greenhouse,
Cornell Plantations, 1-5pm. Visit the
greenhouses of the Cornell Horticulture
Dept. to draw careful renditions of beautiful native & tropical plants. Ages 12 yrs
& up. Fee. Pre-reg req. Info www.plantations.cornell.edu or 255-2400
Sustainable Saturday, Museum of
the Earth, 11am-Noon. Join us for creative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.
This week we make Valentine's day popup cards & envelopes. Info www.museumoftheearth.org or 273-6623. 1259
Trumansburg Rd., Rt 96
The Cave of the Yellow Dog,
Cornell Cinema, Willard Straight, 2pm.
This intimate & touching film follows a girl
who adopts a dog against her father's
wishes. Rec for age 6yrs & up. Fee. Info
255-3522 or www.cinema.cornell.edu
The 2007 Crossing Borders LIVE
Season begins, Club Euphoria, 8pm.
This is a benefit concert fot the Ithaca
Free Clinic. Playing will be The Horseflies,
Sim Redmond, Trevor MacDonald, and
Thousands of One. Info www.crossingborderslive.org. 115 N. Cayuga St.
Tot Spot, Ithaca Youth Bureau, 9:3011:30am. Indoor stay and play for children 5months to 5 years & their parents.
Fee. Info 273-8364
Trail Rides, Patchwork Therapeutic
Riding Center. Help feed our lesson
horses for the winter months by taking a
trail ride. Beginner friendly horses, one
hour trail rides, also pony parties. Info
898-3808 or email patchwork2@hotmail.com
Wild Ones, Cayuga Nature Center,
Noon. Visitors can see how three snakes
& two hawks eat. Info www.Cayuga
NatureCenter.org, or 273-6260. 1420
Taughannock Blvd. (Rt 89)
4 Sunday
American Red Cross Lifeguarding
Classes, Ithaca HS, 9am-5pm. Held
Sundays Feb4 thru 25. The minimum age
to participate is fifteen and a skills pretest
must be passed. Advanced reg req. Info
273-1900 x14
Beat Box Bard, Schwartz Center for the
Performing Arts, 2 & 8pm. This original
work mixes vocal percussion with
Shakespeare's work for a fun performance
of music, dance and theatre. Tix & info 254ARTS. Cornell University, 430 College Ave
Book
Reading:
"Mindless
Eating", Bookery II, 2pm. Author Brian
Wansink will read from his new book
which explores some of the factors that
influence how much we eat & the food
choices we make. Info email bookeryevents@yahoo.com or call 273-5055.
Dewitt MAll, 215 N. Cayuga St
Bound For Glory: Pat Wictor, Cul de
Snack, the Cafe at Anabel Taylor Hall, 811pm. Maybe the only contemporary
songwriter going who's instrument is slide
guitar. Free. Info 844-4535 or email
pds10@cornell.edu. Listen to the broadcast on WVBR 93.5
Cayuga Chamber Orchestra to
Feature Principal Players, First
Unitarian Church, 4pm. Fee. Info & tix
www.ithacatalenteducation.com. or 2734497
Comfort Food, The Kitchen Theatre,
4pm. Can twilight romance burn as brightly as first love? From the playwright and
composer team who created Tony & The
Soprano and The Angle of the Sun comes
a new musical story of dining, dating,
dessert & desire. Tix & info 273-4497 or
www.kitchentheatre.org.
Food
Addicts
in
Recovery
Cayuga Addiction
Anonymous,
Recovery Services Building. 9am. There
are no dues, fees, or weigh-ins.
Everyone is welcome including those
who think they may have a problem with
overeating, bulimia, or anorexia, or are
concerned about someone else. Info
387-8329. Crn. State & Plain Sts.
Sciencenter First Free Sundays,
Sciencenter, Noon-5pm. The Sciencenter
opens its doors for free to everyone in the
community. Get ready for winter with an
exciting line-up of winter-themed activites
& presentations. Info www.sciencenter.org
or 272-0600. 601 First St
Tompkins County Public Library
Open on Sundays, 1-5pm. The
Library will be open again on Sundays
from Feb4 thru May 20 and Sept 9 thru
Dec 16. Info 272-4555 or www.tcpl.org.
101 E. Green St.
Tot Spot, Ithaca Youth Bureau, 3:305:30pm. Indoor stay and play for children
5months to 5 years & their parents. Fee.
Info 273-8364
Trail Rides, Patchwork Therapeutic
Riding Center. Help feed our lesson horses for the winter months by taking a trail
ride. Beginner friendly horses, one hour
trail rides, also pony parties. Info 8983808 or email patchwork2@hotmail.com
Vegetarian Cooking, Cayuga Nature
Center, 1pm. Join a chef from the Full
Plate Farm Collective to learn some
amazing new vegetarian recipes, then
stay to enjoy the feast. Fee. Info & reg
www.CayugaNatureCenter.org or 2736260. 1420 Taughannock Blvd
5 Monday
Coffee and Talk Book Club Lime
Hollow Nature Center. 1st Mondays of
the month 6:30-8pm. Info: 758-5462.
Cortland Youth Center Open 129pm. Info: www.cortland.org/youth 7530872
GED Classes, at GIAC, 9am-12pm.
Free. Info BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, at TC3 Campus, 11am2pm. Info BOCES 273-8804
GED Classes, at TST Community
School, 5:30-8:30 pm.
Free. Info
BOCES 273-8804.
GED Classes, at Groton Elementaty .
Info BOCES 273-8804
GIAC Teen Program Game Room,
Video Games, Open Gym & Field Trips
4-7pm. 318 N. Albany St., Ithaca.
Parent Partner Program, Cornell
Cooperative Extension, 6-9pm. This 2
part workshop is for parents, family, &
close friends of those with disordered eating. Local professionals from the fields of
medicine, nutrition, & mental health offer
information & support. Small fee but open
to all. Info & reg www.counties.cce.cornell.edu or 272-2292 or 273-9250. 615
Willow Ave.
Trumansburg
Optical
Neil Henninger, O.D.
Full Service
Eye Care
Now Accepting
Providing optical services for patients of all ages,
contact lens services, and a
wide selection of frames and accessories.
Please call for an appointment
607-387-7327
79 East Main Street (Rte. 96), Trumansburg
Tompkins Weekly
January 29 13
Briefly...
Barber
Comic Book Club
Hosts Winter Show
for supervisor, he ran for councilman and essentially we switched
places. He was a great mentor to
me.”
Illustration by Sega Entertainment
Continued from page 1
The “Cabin Fever” Winter Comic
Book Show will set up shop on
Saturday, Feb. 3, from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. at the Women’s Community
Building in downtown Ithaca.
Among the guest cartoonists and
writers who will attend are Elmira
native Joe Edkin, the writer of
“Sonic X,” a comic book of original
stories about Sonic the Hedgehog;
artist Ken Wheaton (“Simpson’s
Treehouse of Horror,” “I Dream of
Jeannie
Tricks
and
Treats
Annual”); small-press comic book
Sonic the Hedgehog
creator Jim Coon (“Dead End,”
“Detached”); and Superman novelist Roger Stern, writer of “Darkman vs. the Army of Darkness,” a miniseries starring characters created by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi.
The show is sponsored by the Comic Book Club of Ithaca, and includes
comic book dealers, videos and DVDs. Other activities include a coloring
table and “Artists’ Alley,” where the guest artists will be doing sketches
and caricatures, Sales of selected comic books and graphic novels will
benefit Tompkins Learning Partners (formerly known as the Literacy
Volunteers of Tompkins County). Admission is $2 and the show is open to
fans of all ages.
TW - What can you do as a senator
that you can’t do as supervisor?
Immaculate Conception School offers an open invitation to the Winter
Reading Festival on Tuesday, Jan. 30 , from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the school gymnasium.
The event includes storyteller Regi Carpenter, a winter wonderland of
children’s books and art, browsing for books at the Scholastic book fair
and treats in the hot cocoa café.
In celebration of “good news in education”—the theme of this year’s
Catholic School’s Week events from Jan. 29 through Feb. 2—the festival
will also feature a school open house for preK-3 through grade 8. Daytime
open house hours will continue between from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Wednesday, Jan 31.
Book sales benefit reading enrichment at ICS, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Family Reading Partnership. For more information call 273-2707. The school is located on South Plain
Street in Ithaca.
DB – “Right now there’s a lot of
pressure concerning the property
tax. There’s a very good reason for
that. As [Mario] Cuomo was ending
his term as governor and [George]
Pataki came on, New York State was
in the middle of the pack for property taxes compared to other states,
but with the highest income tax.
Now we’re about the middle of the
pack in income tax, and you could
say, like some people in Albany do,
that the towns and school districts
in the rural areas are just bad managers of money, or you could say
that the state has transferred its
programs to the property tax
because they start up programs,
they still spend like they do in the
same reckless manner, but whatever the outcome is they don’t have to
take the heat for it. The federal government is in the same game, mostly with schools, so a lot of things
are coming down to property tax.
“Shifting programs to the local
level may not be bad, but at the
same time you can’t take the money
from us. When I first came to the
town board we got a certain amount
of revenue share from the state. It
was always the same amount for 15
years. But then when the budget
started getting a little tight, they
stopped doing that. Our costs are
going up, 3 to 5 percent a year, so
essentially it’s a reduction in state
aid. It’s a continual erosion of the
property tax that local governments
have to work with.
Author to Speak on Philanthropy
TW - What are the biggest issues
now facing the state government?
In his book Begging for Change Robert Egger says nonprofits must stop
chasing money and start focusing on the true work at hand. Egger will
bring that message to Ithaca College on Thursday, Feb. 1, in a free public
talk titled “Making Nonprofits Responsive: Solving the Interconnected
Problems of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness.”
The presentation will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Park Hall Auditorium; a
reception and book-signing opportunity will follow.
DB – “The biggest issue actually is
the structure, because it is set up
like the proverbial ‘three men in a
room.’ The Senate and the
Assembly are both set up so that
they give the minority party no say
School Sets Reading Event, Open House
and the majority party gives their
words of wit to their leader, who
then goes and sits down with three
men in a room and hammers out
whatever deal he can get. When all
is said and done the things that are
most important to you personally
are the ones you’re going to fight
the hardest for. The other problem
is spending. They leave the hardest
choices up to the local governments.
TW - What makes you think you can
get something done in a state
Senate run by Republicans?
DB – “It’s actually not that far apart
between Democrats and Republicans, but I'd like to see it deadlock,
so that the only way you can get
things done in that house would be
for the Republicans and Democrats
to get together, have debate and take
away the power of the Senate
majority leader.
TW - What types of legislation
would yo like to introduce
DB – “I would like the dairy industry to have more of a voice for the
farmers. The way the law is set up it
is my understanding that co-ops
speak for dairy farmers. In its day
that was advantageous, but the
dairy co-ops have become more of a
big business. The individual dairy
farmers are left out. One would
think that with the current stress
on dairy pricing in New York State
that this would be a no-brainer. The
system is already in place for
improvements, but nothing happens.”
TW - How would being in the state
Senate affect your business and personal life?
DB – “I’ve been working on transfering responsibility for my [contracting] business over to my partners, so I am not in the day-to-day
operations any longer and that
gives me more time. My personal
life is the real issue here. My wife
Rita and I want to go into this with
our eyes wide open. So if we decide
to do it, we would be able to manage
it and know what we were up
against.”
Traveling?
Away from home?
Read us on-line at
tompkinsweekly.com
14
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
Classifieds
BAXTER'S DRIVING SCHOOL - Save
money on insurance and reduce
Take Baxter's Defensive
points.
Driving Course on February 24th at the
Pyramid Mall. Call Baxter's Driving
School today @ 797-7776.
Larkin Insurance Home, Auto,
Business 401 N Aurora St., 273-4732
Health
Gimme FREQUENSEA.
Marine
PhytoPlankton rich Ionic cellular
organic Sea/Land tonic. Delicious
tasting. Energizing, re-juvenating w/
awesome benefits. Incredible testimonials. Call Tiny 607-387-3887 or Joy
802-999-1815. Product information
www.joy.provibranthealth.com
Women over 40 - Relax & renew your
energy, flexibility and mental clarity.
Easy, safe, effective yoga classes First Class FREE - Thursdays 2pm
Call Ann 607-257-3677
only.
www.theyogacorner.com
Celebrating 30 Years Family
Medicine Associates of Ithaca 209 W.
State St & 8 Brentwood Dr. email
mail@fma-ithaca.com or277-4341
Insurance
Automotive
BAXTER'S DRIVING SCHOOL - 5
hour course taught at Pyramid Mall on
Sundays February 4th and February
18th. Call Baxter's Driving School
today to reserve your spot! 797-7776.
Two Convenient Locations Same
Great Service Autoworks 277-9989 at
1278 Dryden Rd., and Autoworks
Express 277-FAST 987 Dryden Rd.,
M-F 7:30am-5:30pm
Child Care
NYS Licensed provider 17 years.
South Danby Road. Openings ages 3
-12. SVE Schools. Siegard's Day Care
273-2003.
Food & Drink
Two Locations to Serve You Best
GreenStar 701 W. Buffalo St. 2739392 & 215 N. Cayuga St 273-8210
Your Hometown Grocery T-Burg
Shur Save Rt 96, T-Burg 387-3701
Shortstop Deli Open 24/7 at 204 W.
Seneca St., Ithaca 273-1030________
For Rent
PS2 $99 / X Box $149 / Game Cube
$69.95 with 3 Free Games or DVD's
and 90 Day Warranty. Media Max 607341-3636.
Flowers, gifts and home decor. Not
just a flower shop, Ithaca Flower Shop
273-0600, Ithaca Shopping Plaza.
Ithaca’s Largest and Oldest
Independently Owned Bookstore he
Bookery II, 215 N. Cayuga St. Info
bookery2@hotmail.com 273-5055
Resnicks Mattress Factory Direct
256-9666 618 Elmira Rd., Ithaca.
www.resnicksmattress.com
Cobbler’s Cottage Over 30 brands &
300 styles available. 273-2951 Ithaca
Shopping Plaza, across from K-Mart
Excavating & Drainage. Estimates,
Full Insured. Mancini-Ferrara & Sons,
Inc. 608 Elmira Rd., Ithaca 272-3600
Save Money on Heating Costs Burn
Corn Hearth & Home 726 W. Court St.
273-3012 or www.HearthHome.com
Insurance
Always There, State Farm Insurance,
1111 Triphammer Rd. Call 257-8900
BAXTER'S DRIVING SCHOOL - Save
money on insurance and reduce
points.
Take Baxter's Defensive
Driving Course on February 24th at the
Pyramid Mall. Call Baxter's Driving
School today @ 797-7776.
Always There, State Farm Insurance,
1111 Triphammer Rd. Call 257-8900
Larkin Insurance Home, Auto,
Business 401 N Aurora St., 273-4732
Pets
Your Yard, Garden & Pet Place,
Ithaca Agway, 213 S. Meadow St. Call
272-1848
Wanted to Buy
Games & Electronics. Broken or not
video games & systems, I-Pods, Cell
Phones, Zunes, Laptops, Media Max
317 Harrison Ave., Endicott, NY next
to Valvoline Oil Change off Main St.,
17-C Open M, W 10-6, Th, Fri noon-8
Sat 12-5 607-785-4380
Employment
Writers Wanted
interested in writing for
Tompkins Weekly? We are
looking to expand our group of
writers. Contact Editor Jay
Wrolstad at 607-539-7100 or
email wrols@twcny.rr.com
Delivery
Drivers
Wanted
Must be reliable with your
own transportation.
References please.
Part - time.
Call Tim at
607-339-9774
Real Estate
Leisure
Fall Creek Pictures Show Info 2721256 or Cinemopolis 277-6115
http://cinemapolis.org/home.asp
Salons
Crystal’s Spa. A full Service Spa &
Salon. www.crystalsspa.com 2416 N
Triphammer Rd., Ithaca 257-3334
Look Your Best Donna’s Styling
Salon 45 Main St., Spencer 589-4344
Two bedroom apartment 3 miles
from Buttermilk State Park. Clean &
roomy living in country duplex.
Beautiful views, ample parking, separate laundry room. Utilities included at
$800/month. Call 607-564-7921.
For Sale
Buy-Sell-Trade New and Gently Used
Children’s Clothing Mama Goose 401
W. Seneca St. 269-0600
Sell It Fast!
We'll run your classified line ad for
only $5! (per 10 words)
Mail to: Tompkins Weekly Classifieds, PO Box 6404 Ithaca NY 14851,
fax this form to: 607-347-4302, (Questions? Call 607-339-9774)
or enter your classified information from our website www.tompkinsweekly.net
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Tompkins Weekly
January 29
15
Town Contest
Continued from page 1
Democratic committee. Interested
parties can contact her directly.
Both supervisor candidates have
expressed a desire to allow the
Democratic organization to decide
on a candidate. “I’m expressing my
interest to the party and the
Democratic committee will decide
who they support,” Joseph says.
“Tim and I both want the committee to express a preference, and
then if there’s a very clear choice,
that will probably be [the end of]
it,” says Engman. “If it’s a split
decision, then we’ll have to talk
about what to do. Candidates don’t
like primaries because they absorb
lots of time, money and energy.”
End of an Era
Valentino cites several factors
influencing her decision to leave
the supervisor’s post after her third
term. “I’ve been the town supervisor for 12 years, and I’ve spent 23
years in elected offices altogether.
Twelve years in a really busy, busy
job like that kind of wears you
down after a while,” she says.
“I was 72 years old in December.
I got to thinking, ‘You know what,
there’s a lot of other things I want
to do that I can’t do if I’m still trying to do a good job here,’”
Valentino adds. “It felt like it’s time
to move on, it’s the right thing to
do.”
Among Valentino’s future plans
is volunteering for various local
organizations, something she says
she never had the time for while in
public office. “It’s not like I’m going
to retire and go away,” she says.
“It’s been great working in this
community and working with so
many great people,” she says.
“This community’s been very kind
to me.”
Losing Waste
Continued from page 2
izations to give a presentation on
recycling and reducing waste.
Further, according to Parr, new
initiatives will focus on getting
local businesses in line. “We offer a
walk-through waste assessment for
businesses, focusing on things like
their purchasing practices,” he
explains. “At the end we give them
a report with recommendations on
how to reduce their waste.” A
“green purchasing” advisory group
helps with this program and others,
making it easier for businesses and
residents to buy cleaning products,
for example, that can be recycled
rather than become hazardous
waste.
“In the end it costs less to do
these things than to throw everything away,” says Parr. Still, one
group involved in the process may
suffer an adverse affect. As the
waste stream narrows the trash
haulers may find their workload is
reduced as well. If less waste is
going to the
dump, consumer fees for garbage
disposal should start to reflect this
decline.
“It's a change in social consciousness,” says Eckstrom, “from when
it was the hauler controlling all the
waste. That reduction should be
reflected by reduced costs to the
consumer from the haulers, but we
haven't seen it yet.”
Common
Continued from page 3
level, noting that a resolution
passed by county legislators is
more effective when signed by all of
the inclusive municipalities. “It
sends a much stronger message to
the state,” she says.
All members of the council are
elected officials from local governments, usually town supervisors.
But alternate council members who
are not elected officials are in place
to vote when primary council members are absent. Tompkins County
is providing staff support for the
council.
As the TCCOG gains its footing
and begins to dig in with in-depth
discussion, local leaders may find
that their common ground reaches
more deeply than ever before imagined.
Program Focuses
on Health of Lakes
Meditations
Continued from page 9
Voyager 1 space probe in 1990.
Taylor explains what brought
him to create music based on particle physics. “I was inspired to compose ‘Seven Microworlds’ by learning about string theory, a recent
branch of physics in which fundamental particles such as quarks
and photons are thought to consist
of unimaginably small, vibrating
strings. By vibrating in different
ways, these strings account for all
currently known particles, just as
you can play many different notes
on a single guitar string.
“But nobody knows whether or
not the theory is true, and in some
ways it is quite bizarre.” Taylor
adds. “In addition to our three
spatial
dimensions,
familiar
strings inhabit several other ultramicroscopic dimensions curled
into complex knots. We don’t notice
microdimensions,
even
these
though the theory says we move
through them constantly.”
In Taylor’s piece, the electronics
are intended to act as a bridge
between the “real world” of the
flute and guitar and these hidden
microworlds that permeate us all.
“Of the seven movements (played
without pause), the first, fourth and
seventh for both flute and guitar
loosely
represent
the
three
macrodimensions,” he says. The
others are solo movements inspired
by various twisting microdimensions. “Collision Focus,” the first
movement, zooms into microscopic
chaos; the fourth, “Verticality” (the
only movement without electronics), plays with ascents and wide
leaps; and “Flatland” is a meditation on a plane curving into itself,
Taylor says, just as the seemingly
flat surface of earth wraps into a
sphere.
The humanities and sciences do
not always meet and mesh in our
modern world. But for a few brief
days in Ithaca in the middle of winter, these two cultures work together in a seamless flow called Light in
Winter.
All of the Finger Lakes are currently listed by the New York State
Department of Environmental
Conservation
as
threatened,
stressed, or impaired.
Residents and policy makers are
invited to learn more about the
complex threats facing Cayuga
Lake and other lakes in the region
during a presentation by John
Halfman, professor of geoscience at
and
William
Smith
Hobart
Colleges, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, from
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Human
Services Building, 320 W. State St.,
Ithaca.
Halfman will summarize his preliminary investigation of water
quality indicators from the seven
central Finger Lakes and reveal
potential links between water quality and the level of legislative protection of the environment. The
presentation will be followed by a
discussion of local efforts to monitor conditions in Cayuga Lake.
This event is co-sponsored by the
Tompkins County Water Resources
Council and the Cayuga Lake
Watershed Network.
Dryden Democrats
Announce Caucus
The 2007 Village of Dryden
Democratic Caucus will be held
Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m. on the
second floor of the village hall, 16
South Street. All registered
Democrats in the Village of Dryden
may vote in this caucus and are
encouraged to attend.
The January caucus is a means
of selecting candidates to run for
the positions of village trustee and
mayor in the village election to be
held March 13. This year village of
residents will elect two trustees and
a mayor, each for a two-year term.
For more information about the
caucus, or to learn about running
for office in Dryden, call Simon St.
Laurent at 227-0858.
Melt Your
Valentine's
Heart with
Ice Cream Cakes, Purity Gifts,
36 favorite Purity flavors,
Sensational Sundaes,
Milkshakes,
Gourmet Chocolate Truffles
Open Daily 272-1545
Rt. 13, Ithaca
www.purityicecream.com
S
$
273-PAPA
UPER
P E C I A LS
$
229 9
TWO- X-Large Cheese
or 1 Topping Pizzas
*Customer pays all tax. Cannot be
combined with any other offer.
Offer valid 2/4/07 only. TW
3 99 9
3- XL Cheese or 1 Topping Pizzas
2-orders Buffalo Wings
2-Two-Liters of Soda
*Customer pays all tax. Cannot be combined with any
other offer. Offer valid 2/4/07 only. TW
papajohns.com
16
Tompkins Weekly
January 29
$
5 99 9
SIX X-Large One or
Two Topping Pizzas
*Customer pays all tax. Cannot
be combined with any other
offer. Offer valid 2/4/07 only.
Rt. 13N & Third St. Ithaca