Living in Dryden

Yesterday in photos

I'm way behind on everything, but hopefully these photos will give you some idea of the past few days. Well, all of them are from yesterday, except for the obligatory (and fun) Sungiva photo.

Sungiva stretches out.

Peace march banner.

Peace march pauses.

Marchers along 13.

Chickens wandering the yard.

Women's Expo at TC3.

Recognizing the 20 Outstanding Women You Should Know at the Women's Expo at TC3.

Relaxing at the Women's Expo at TC3.

Recreation master plan meeting.

And then my camera's battery died.

Recreation meeting tonight

It's been a busy few days.

If you have the chance, please go to the Recreation master plan discussion tonight. Recreation's been a key topic in Dryden for years, and an area that the Town has pushed hard to improve in a lot of directions. If you'd like a chance to suggest more directions - activities, trails, parks, facilities, and more - tonight's the best time to get into the conversation.

Cathy Wakeman's Dryden Town Talk offers a roster of events for Mother's Day weekend and beyond.

It sounds like drinking led to a collision at 13 and Lower Creek Wednesday.

The county legislature is aiming at a 3% tax levy increase this year.

There's also more rabies in the county this year. Be careful!

There's an article on the new I Love NY campaign, which I have to agree is about the worst thing to happen to upstate NY since... oh, wait. They're canning the upstate development guy. That's probably worse than squirrels, butterflies, and grass growing. Or maybe we just need the grass to grow over the Empire State Development Corporation?

Gadabout needs more volunteer drivers.

I'll cover the opinion pages in a separate article.

Varna to get $20K for generator

Update: Wow, the overall state data is a snarl. The Journal's Saturday article used old data, making the discussion below into an incredible tangle. Start with the latest article on it, then jump down to Varna.

Saturday's Journal also noted that state legislators were handing out $147 million for community projects, in member-item spending. It's a grotesque system, and the article notes for example that Senate Republicans, who have a 32-30 majority, have $88 million to hand out, while Senate Democrats get $992,000.

Update: There's more on the Assembly spending at The Albany Project. The Assembly Democrats, who have a 106-42 majority, spent $57.3 million on their projects while Republicans spent $4.9 million.It's a mere 11-1 ratio instead of an 88-1 ratio, but only looks better because the Senate numbers are so grossly disproportionate. Update: It looks like the Journal article's numbers were wrong, or maybe for 2007. This piece on the Senate spending suggests that the Senate Republicans have $76.096 million to hand out, and Senate Democrats have $8.983 million. That's more like 8-1 than 88-1, though still pretty awful.

Some of that money, of course, is coming to this area. I haven't managed to sort out Senator Seward's spending yet, but deep inside the barely-organized PDF file of Assembly items (they couldn't make it easy to see the spending, you know!) is this item:

SFY 2008-2009 LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE FORM
Legal Name, Address, and Telephone Number:
VARNA COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC.
943 DRYDEN ROAD - P.O. BOX 4771
ITHACA, NY 14852
(607) 272-2658
Name of Project Director:
DAWN POTTER
Purpose of Project:
FUNDS WILL BE USED FOR THE PURCHASE OF A 40KW MULTI-FUEL GENERATOR. WORKING WITH TOMPKINS COUNTY RED CROSS, VARNA COMMUNITY CENTER HAS BECOME AN EMERGENCY SHELTER.
Funded Amount:
$20,000
Requested By:
LIFTON
Name of Administering State Agency:
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

The Varna Community Center also now has a walk-in refrigerator and freezer to support the emergency shelter project, which has had mixed levels of support from the town in past administrations. I hadn't heard that much about this piece of it lately until I stumbled on it in that file.

I've put the rest of the items that were solely sponsored by Assemblywoman Lifton in the extended entry, and I'll do the same for Senator Seward when my patience returns. Search... cut... paste... argh. Feeling impatient? Here's the Senate list of 5,191 items, on 5,191 pages.

Poverty, water-tasting, clean-up

Saturday's Ithaca Journal was quiet on Dryden, but their continuing series on poverty is well-worth reading.

Energy East, the parent company of NYSEG, saw its earnings fall.

In today's paper, Bolton Point water, which serves western Dryden, won the annual taste test of local waters. (The article also mentions a Town of Dryden treatment plant - I'm pretty sure they mean Village of Dryden.)

Just to the east, it looks like a teaching winery will be coming to Cornell Orchards soon.

In Darts & Laurels, the Finger Lakes Land Trust thanks volunteers who helped in a clean-up on Irish Settlement Road.

Ellis Hollow Nursery School Open House Saturday

It's southwest Dryden education morning here, but there's also an event Saturday:

ELLIS HOLLOW NURSERY SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
May 3, 9-11am
At the Ellis Hollow Community Center

What's it like to be a 3- or 4-year old child at the Ellis Hollow Nursery School? Find out!

Meet our nurturing and creative teachers, Ellie Biddle and Regi Carpenter

Pot a plant for Mother's Day

Do 10 things with dots (and a lot more)

Listen as Ms Regi weaves a story at 10am

Thinking ahead to the 2008-09 school year? We'd love to tell you more about our community school.

At our non-profit, parent cooperative nursery school, children learn as they do best -- with hands-on activities for observing, exploring, and experimenting.

Classes are held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 9am-12noon, from mid-September through mid-June. Find out more online at http://www.ellishollownurseryschool.org/ or contact us at ellishollowns@gmail.com or 227-8006.

Playground build at Caroline elementary

On May 9th and 10th, there will be construction days at Caroline Elementary School playground. It's in Caroline, yes, but that school serves Dryden kids from Varna, Ellis Hollow, and Bethel Grove.

I had a good time at a similar building day at Dryden Elementary. This is definitely a great way to help kids, meet people, and even have fun.

Dryden school taxes barely climb

Now there's a fun headline. The Dryden schools' property tax levy will climb less than 1% this year. Spending increased 6.48%, but state aid increased 10%. This is a year to be nervous about state aid, however, as the prospects for the state's economy look dim.

There's now an $8,800 reward for the safe return of Bethanie Dougherty, $500 of which was raised at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night.

In yesterday's Journal, Dryden resident Mac Larsen was among those who filed to run for the Ithaca City School Board, one of six for four seats.

On today's opinion page, the Journal wisely shoots down the gas-tax holiday proposals, and some punk named Simon St.Laurent of Dryden writes to suggest that the values that get promoted for school boards may actually get in the way of them doing their job.