Leaderboard

Thank you @Lawana Morse I truly hope that the IDA provide the transparency and accountability that we all expect and deserve. Including a past accounting of their use of taxpayer money to give the Legislature and the public a full context. Okay, we can all agree that the misguided decision to “invest” $1.25 million into the (then) “City of Elmira’s” hockey arena was made by county Legislators who have all since ‘left the building’. Even in 1999, that decision was not without controversy (I believe a 10-5 vote). However, a number of our current legislators were in office by the time the last "private" owner (current Aviation Director, Tom Freeman) occupied the Arena. All of the Legislators who have currently held four or more terms of office voted for a 25yr commitment (2014 – 2039) to provide $103,000/yr of Room Tax Revenue to the IDA for the Arena....as well as in 2016 when the IDA made the decision to “assume temporary ownership” of the Arena and the Legislature voted to also funnel $1 million in Casella funds to the IDA’s acquisition of the Arena. (That 25yr Room Tax commitment makes one wonder just how “temporary” the arrangement was intended to be. We’re 10 years [over $1 million] into it with another 15 years [1.5 million] to go.) And in the last 2 years... the $875k in ARP funds. I can’t be certain that other county tax money hasn’t been spent (it’s quite likely I’m unaware of some). But those I’ve noted amount to over $2.9 million paid to the IDA in last 7 years.....and another $1.5 million committed through 2039. Room tax (2014-2024) $103,000x 10yrs: $1.03 million Casella funds (June 2016): $1 million ARP funds: $875,000 Still promised, Room tax (2025-2039) $103,000x 15yrs: $1.545 million And then there is whatever Donner may or may not have deposited into that wonderful “capital” account that the latest (Nov 2021) IDA lease required. That agreement was made under the current IDA leadership – no passing the buck to “past actors” who mismanaged the situation. That provision “guaranteed” a minimum of $125k per year from Arena revenues (with promises that it would likely be at least twice that amount). How much had Donner put into that ‘kitty’ in the 20 months before the lease was terminated? And where is that money? If that amount is anything less that a quarter million dollars....can we have some explanation from Margeson/Roman why they abjectly failed to hold Donner to that agreement (and some justification on why/how we should trust them now?

Here is a publications regarding the background of the IDA. It is from May of 2006. Industrial Development Agencies in New York State: Background, Issues and Recommendations (ny.gov) The IDA is not a county entity. The IDA organization is a state creation. They have oversite from the OSC. Each IDA has a governing board and a director that is in charge of the day to day operations. "Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) are public benefit corporations originally authorized by the Industrial Development Agency Act of 1969 and governed by the provisions of Article 18-A of the General Municipal Law. Since that time, 177 IDAs have been legislatively authorized and 115 remain active today." (At time of publication of above document) The county gives organizational funding to the IDA each year just as funding is given to CCE, STC, Soil and Water, etc. (You can see this information on the budget overview portion of the 2024 county budget.) IDAs receive funding from the state. They also can issue bonds, hold a lease, and "typically maintain their operations by charging various fees to the businesses that participate in their projects". I am unsure if the IDAs are able to go after grant funding themselves also but they do work with other organizations that can obtain project grants. I fully admit that I am still learning and gathering information on the IDA organizations across the state and how they have actually helped the communities. Anyone that has resources and articles that give the facts of the IDAs across the state, please feel free to email me links.

Honestly good. If you can't do it right, shut it down. It's not fair to local venues or businesses. It's sad that Lowmaster and Dunce didn't do this right from the start but I hope this showcases not just the need for a small venue like this, but that it could work and be popular in the area. Hopefully someone comes around, opens a real location, and does it the right way.

Remember the horror we all felt when Columbine happened? Now something like this barely gets a reaction out of many of us. Just another day in America. This nation has been rotting from the inside out for decades. Focusing on and making laws based on what feels “good” vs what feels right. This is the result. But the cries will sound, blaming the inanimate object because that’s the easy thing to do. Far easier than looking in the mirror and realizing the real problem is us.

He didn't call for any (corporeal) bloodbath, he's simply predicting an (economic) bloodbath if the current administration continues its path. And he's not necessarily wrong about that. But it's not his supporters who are spreading the inflammatory out-of-context phrase....the problem is those who are against him that are hoping to foment fear and counting on the idea that voters who "don’t understand context" will believe he is calling for a "bloodbath" if he doesn't win.

I hope for his sake he doesn’t throw out his own ballots.

It’s official: After a two hour delay due to issues on board, we’ve landed a lunar module for the first time in 50 years. Took them some extra time to find the module, as it landed intuitively, in other words it decided where the safest landing zone would be on its own. The confirmed a faint signal and are now working to refine the signal. Apparently we’ll get images from the moon at some point. Too cool.

Considering that Granicus has not provided adequate support for their Streaming platform, it does not give me a lot of confidence in their PEAK agenda software that the Exec purchased. I'm further amazed that a few people commented on Strange's post that the County should consider hiring outside IT services to get the Streaming issues resolved. For the $26k/year subscription that we are paying them, Granicus should be able to work with our County IT Department. And if we need "outside experts" because the County IT Department isn't proficient enough to handle it, the Legislature should be considering whether the 15 FTE employees with a payroll of over $800k/year plus benefits are a good investment.

Yes. It's frustrating watching from the outside and frustrating seeing it more in depth from the inside - especially when you're damned if you do - damned if you don't. I saw on another forum someone playing the party blame game "This wouldn't be happening if partyX was in control". All I can say to that is a big ole' "B-S". This isn't a party issue. It's a personality issue. An issue of forgetting - or never even caring - why you are elected in the first place. There is blame on both sides and nothing is going to change unless the desire for complete control is abandoned.

I would love to hear some feedback from more in the community regarding the resolution we passed through committee last night that supports an end-to-end audit of the NYS voter rolls. I have heard a few voices for and a few against and all are very passionate in their stance. I voted it through the committee and am most likely going to vote it through on the floor for a few reasons: I see this resolution as a show of support to those in the community who feel like something is off with our voter rolls in the state. I honestly don't think that resolutions from the counties and towns do much to sway the state floor. During Covid, one of the biggest frustrations for me was feeling like concerns were simply swept under the rug. I remember conversations with school officials that I left feeling like I wasn't taken seriously and that I was given a pat on the head and told to run along rather than having my concerns actually addressed. Those interactions made me think there was some stuff going on that shouldn't be. If there's nothing to hide, will it really hurt to put the concerns and fears to bed? I don't see how asking for confirmation that all is well feeds into the "misinformation." I appreciate all the work our county BOE does (there are things they go above and beyond to do that are not required to help ensure our county rolls are accurate), but as I saw while out campaigning, there is cleanup needed. I like to think I am an honest person with integrity and that I don't have a scammer's imagination, BUT I can think of at least 4 different ways how I could commit election fraud. I can't even begin to imagine all the ways someone with bad intent and lots of resources could do so.

Everyone here knows me as a legislator but my bread and butter job is a tax accountant working with small businesses in the area. Every once in a while there are items of interest that I'd like to get out to the public beyond just my clients because I don't see information being circulated through traditional news outlets. Once such item that has been a hot topic in the accounting world for a year or so now is a reporting obligation that just took effect 1/1/2024. FinCen is requiring any business that has done a filing with the secretary of state (so LLCs, Corps, and a few other types such as trusts and non-profits) to report the Beneficial Ownership Information. This is being requested to try to deal with shell companies and other foreign illegal entities. In reality, the only thing different for this reporting over the registration with the SOS is uploading a form of identification. If you have a business and it falls under an LLC or Corp, you have until 12/31/2024 to complete the filing. (It took me 10 minutes and 5 of those were spent trying to find my husband's driver's license in his hodgepodge wallet.) If you are looking to start a business in 2024, you will have 90 days from filing to complete the BOI requirments. If you start a business after 1/1/2025, you will have 30 days. Anytime there is a change of ownership you have to update the reporting. You can find information on the FinCen website under BOI reporting. (A google search will get you there).

“We reached out to all 15 legislators for a comment on how they voted. In an email, Chairman Mark Margeson, who voted in favor of the raises, said “I currently have no comment.” Source How absolutely insulting to the taxpayers ( you know, those of us who aren’t able to give ourselves raises ) to tell us we need to cough up more money, then take more for yourself. This scenario seems familiar to me… “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples….Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples.” And then to just say, “No comment?” C’mon Mark, you can do better than that. At least explain your rationale for taking money out of our wallets and putting it in your own. Granted, it won’t make it alright, but it’s less a slap in the face than “no comment” and carrying on, business as usual. A huge THANK YOU to Bill, Lawana, and the others who tried to do the right thing for the people they represent. I hope Moss vetoes this pay raise.

A side note related to this, there has been a bill that keeps trying to go round at state level to stop elected officials from holding a place on the IDA boards. Legislator Chalk spoke to me a few meetings ago and told me that he specifically asked to be on the IDA board because he too was concerned with the amount of time the meeting went to executive session and because he has a desire for the transparency to be there. There are a few members of that board that are new as of 2023. I believe they are seeking the greater transarency, accountability, and to make positive changes, but it is slow going. It is not easy to come onto a board and implement changes. It takes some time. The frustration on the public side is the lack of communication. If the new members would just say "hey, this is what changes I'm working towards and this is what is being accomplished" it would go a long way to create some trust from the public ESPECIALLY when the prior leadship of an organization has caused a lot of mistrust.

This was the headline that got my attention: Source He sounds like a scorned lover. I have a solution. How about we stop funding BOTH!

The Church, Adam and whomever the poet is knew of Scotts past. Many witnessed it first hand. And they still went along with it. Terrible actors.

Let me get this straight, they didn't know about any of the zoning and tax issues yet were disgusted about it when they found out but it's the towns fault for finding out about improper zoning and the stations fault for reporting the news??? Even if it's all on Lowmaster, Bunce continued to operate the illegal opperations long after Lowmaster left mid summer. To get mad at the station and the town is laughable beyond belief.

Exactly..... If they want to demand the steadily increasing rents, they'd need to bring back the benefits that they removed over the last several decades that had made that square footage "gold" in the first place. From the time the Arnot Mall was built until somewhere in the mid-late ‘90s, it operated with the basic recipe/formula that made other malls across America thrive (and justifying the higher rent costs to their tenants). Free Events like pageants, art shows, parades, etc drawing consumers into the facility. Non-Competition clauses in their leases that promised tenants that they wouldn’t have to fight over customers for identical goods and services right down the hall.....while providing consumers with a Wide Variety of shops & services. Anchor Stores comprised of large, popular, national retailers with traffic from a consistent customer base. Then we saw some of the “ingredients” in that recipe being skimped on (or completely omitted) in order for the Mall Management to squeeze more profits...... Instead of hosting free events, they began charging vendors to participate (like the Farmer’s Market Chris mentioned). Eventually, they just offered up corridors full time to any fly-by-night junk dealer who wanted a booth. There was also no longer any attempt to protect older tenants from competition. Any new booth or storefront can come along and sell the same stuff as the next guy. And with the rent being too damn high.....a lot of those new tenants don’t invest in any remodeling or refacing of the old business. They just throw tarps up as walls and use temporary banners for signage. Whereas people used to show up for themed free events, no one goes to the Mall for the enjoyment of browsing a dozen cheap booths and trashy stores full of the same Chinese junk they can get at Dollar General. So...less traffic. And less traffic means more of the businesses leave– so raise the rent of course! Because going back to the business model that was successful would just be crazy.

The old Macy's is currently being utilized as an event space. There were several "community gardens" started over the years. I know there was on in Elmira. There was one up here in Erin where I live. Interest in them lasted 2 or 3 years.

A millennia of fiction writing proves that ‘imagination’ is limitless. However, realism and pragmatic solutions are constrained by actual real-world boundaries. And remember that we’re talking about hypothetical uses for a privately owned, commercial property (that once hugely contributed to financial prosperity in the area). Unless one's “imagination” includes a fantasy world where tax revenue is not needed, and hinges on the expectation that the owners should just surrender their asset for “the public good”....those three ideas would need to be at least analogous in that they are profitable and produce more jobs and tax revenue. And in the interest of distinguishing mere ‘imagination’ from realistic scenarios.....each concept should include cited examples of anyone, anyplace actually achieving them for some realistic length of time. There are plenty of criticisms we can throw at the current Mall management for its deteriorating role in the local economy. Wanting it to be even less economically successful seems like the antithesis of a solution. It’s beyond asinine to suggest reducing the Mall’s business revenue when the local economy needs the opposite. We already have a surplus of underutilized publicly owned and completely vacant/derelict private properties that are currently less beneficial to the community than they should be.....even less so than the mall. The Arena, Erie Plaza, Hills Plaza. While it’s still probably an impractical idea to invest millions of dollars into re-inventing those places as public resources like community gardens and municipal centers....at least doing so would not eliminate existing business revenue potential.

For most things in my own life, I absolutely prefer a practical approach of reusing and repurposing. But million+ square foot commercial properties aren’t like old sinks that can be painted a new color and used for some completely different function, like a kitschy planter. It’s one thing to add non-structural walls to a relatively small building and create office space and/or studio apartments, etc. However, the larger the property that was built to accommodate a specific enterprise, the more impractical it is to “revamp” to another use. Yes, third world countries (that do not have the means to start over) are often forced to try things like turning abandoned factories into hospitals. But those “repurposed” facilities are not by choice. They are substandard and far inferior to their practical and functional counterparts that were built to serve as hospitals. Example: Over its 25 years of dormancy......it was painfully clear that the A&P Plant as it stood, would never have been practically suited for anything other than what it was built for. No amount of retrofitting and redecorating could have ever turned it into some other use that would be modern, operational, and profitable.....like a Walmart, a hotel, a medical center, a truck plaza, or an apartment complex, etc. Period. And the Mall, as it stands, will never be practicably suited for any of those uses either.

I will, and I intend to remain active

Just makes you wonder whose buddy is fixing the clock tower so many better ways to spend that 3.5 million. Most people can only read digital clocks these days anyways

Well, a home improvement company certainly would have a bonanza in Elmira 🤣

September 19th 6:30pm at Ag Society office at fairgrounds there will be the annual meeting of Ag Society to bring on new board members to begin planning for 2024 fair. They are looking for 4-7 new members. Show up if interested in being part of bringing the fair back to something to be proud of.

I don’t think the Republican Party is all that behind Trump. It’s the people. What upsets me is that on most of the news channels all you see and hear is about Trump and indictments. To me, this smells of election interference, what Trump is accused of doing, in my opinion. The focus is on Trump and nothing about the Bidens and the possible corruption there. A can of worms has been opened. Was it Lenin or Marx who said “accuse the other side of that which you are guilty”. In my opinion, that’s what is happening now.

Oh I didnt mean from me.

Not saying NO pay should be given, but lets look at their compensation 15k or more plus health insurance for less than part time hours(actually worked) yet other part time County employees are prohibited from getting insurance. Many of these Legislators have served multiple terms and when topic of term limits comes up they, like clockwork, reply with elections are the opportunity to limit terms, yet they do not/would not trust those same voters with determining whether they deserve raises or not. so they continue to reward themselves....which goes to your second point: there are SOME who are interested in working to improve governance, that being their primary intention, not their primary source of income

"Less 'upper crust' = more public trust," would be a great slogan. Just sayin'

As you may or may not have heard Wheelock Rides closed their doors over the weekend. Why does that matter? That happens to be the same company that has been contracted to provide rides for the 182nd Chemung County Fair. We have already reached out to different companies including a well known one in the area. Once a new one has been found and a contract signed I will let you know. This will not stop the demolition derby, truck and tractor pulls from still going as planned. The contract for the concert has also been signed already so The Oak Ridge Boys farewell tour will also go on as planned.

Start suspending more of their asses, and we'll see how strong their convictions are. Although I'd hazard a guess from the amount of face coverings, it can't be too awful strong.

Nope, nope, nope...thats like putting salt on watermelon or syrup on corn-fritters and sausage Well theres nothing worse than expecting one texture, then suddenly experiencing the ear piercing crunch of a finely chopped(poorly hidden) onion Im amost thinking we Should just change the topic to "Adam's Opinions" instead? lol

It’s crap like this that keep great things for the county like this ( approved nearly two years ago and not a peep since ) from happening. All but two or three in the current county government need to go.

Alcohol : Brains not developed enough until 21 Sex: Not mature enough to consent until 18 Guns: Not mature enough to purchase until 18/21 Contract age: Not mature enough until 18 “I want to change my gender.” “How brave!” Regardless of age. Look, I don’t care what an adult decides to do to or call themselves. What I do have a problem with is children being so young and either being exposed to conversations about sexuality or adults in their life going to such extremes because the kid says one day they wanna be ____. I wanted to be a ninja before I was 10 years old for chrissakes, but my parents didn’t change my name to something more Eastern and dress me in ninja gear! We need to pump the brakes on this topic a little. And even me saying that out loud makes me a bad person to many. If the teacher told the kid they couldn’t use whatever bathroom they identified with, he did, in fact, violate state law. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise because they drill the students rights laws into school staff brains every school year. As for bathrooms, I don’t understand why Americans get so bent out of shape about who pisses where. Take the space that’s already available, split them into smaller, “one-holer”, gender-neutral bathrooms and problem solved.

As usual, Jon Stewart is all over it:

A few things to weigh in with: The original Novus system was not implemented at the request of the exec branch as had been said by another member of the community in other forums. It was at the request of the then clerks to make their job easier with dealing with route slips. The executive branch can not tell the Legislative branch what software to use to do it's job and vice versa so when it comes to how the exec communicates and get route slip information from the dept heads, he can do it however he wants. Carrier pigeons. Telegram. Chalkboard meetings. Whatever. The Novous system was adopted by previous execs for simple ease and streamline but the clerks had the administrative access. (A comment was made that Moss doesn't like the clerks to be able to see the process until he has finalized things on his end. ) Novus will no longer be supported after July so a new system does need to be in place. Granicus/Peak has bought the Novus platform and in 2022 the Legislature did approve for the Granicus system to be used for the live streaming and web services - but not approved as a replacement for the legislative route slip system. Research was showing that there were too many issues and even though it had bought out Novus, it would not migrate the years of archives over. The blow up of this issue came about due to the exec choosing the Peak system - which maybe in the buried fine print of approving Peak for the web services, had the route slip system included in contract - and telling the Granicus team to not speak talk to any member of the legislative body and to not give the clerks administrative access to the system. The legislative leadership team was looking at Civic Plus already due to the fact that they will migrate the old archives seamlessly, it is being used by multiple other legislative bodies within the state, AND talking with other municpalities that have used Peak, they are making the switch over to Civic Plus because Peak just does not deliver for the needs. Now again, if the exec wants to use Peak to gather the information from his department heads, he is more than welcome to BUT the rules and procedures set in place by the legislature in 2008 state that in order to do business with us, the exec branch needs to follow the rules of putting his information into our system. If the rules said he needed to submit route slips to us on the back of a 50 year old land tortoise that we would provide, then that's how it would need to be done. Not because there is a want of a pissing match, but because we all know there is need for procedures to be set out to keep things running smoothly. Now my personal opinion - I don't care what software is use as long as it does the job. My issue with this (along with others that I am jumping into the hot pan regarding and will be putting a target on my back of being one who does not comply so stay tuned! LOL) is that there has to be communication and collaboration and that is not happening and while this issue seems to be silly and a waste of time/money and taking us away from doing the real work we should be focusing on, this idea that we can constantly be steam rolled into compliance can not continue. And that is why the leadership is making this a fight. And as frustrated as I am, I will stand behind the leadership and our attorny and let them fight this fight as they see fit. We do not have department heads coming to meetings to answer questions. We play the back and forth game and just don't get good information to make decisions. And I'm really to the point that I feel like I need to vote against everything brought to us because of the refusal of communication which would not be in the best interest of the community but as with everything in this world, things seems to be reaching boiling points. I will try to keep popping in and giving my feedback as I can. I'm full throttle in every area of life right now.

3018 Lake Rd, Elmira, NY, United States, New York Facebook Page We've been here for several events over the past couple years but never as a place to go when we don't feel like cooking. We heard the fish fry was really good, so decided to stop in here for dinner last night. Full disclosure, I used to work with the current owner and have known him for years. But I also know when he has his mind set on how he wants things done, they get done that way. And it shows when you're here. The staff are all friendly and the overall vibe is laid back. That's really important for me. When we arrived we were told to sit anywhere we like, including the bar if we wanted. There was one table left in the bar area, so we took that. The music playing overhead wasn't too loud, also important, and they had a good selection of beers including local, which is also important. We order the "Haddock filet" which is their version of a fish fry, but it's done in an air fryer so expect little more time. With that in mind we got mozzarella sticks for an appetizer. I ordered an Ithaca brewing "Flower Power" which is really good and seems to be a regular presence there. When the food came out, it was good and hot so apparently an air fryer does the job. The fish wasn't one of those greasy, over breaded fries we've come to expect. I got fries and slaw as my two sides, but there's a wide choice of other sides available. The fish was about 8oz, and the portion sizes were just right. I didn't take a pic of my dish but here's what you can expect the fish to come out looking like: Overall it was a good meal and great dining experience. The prices are very reasonable in my opinion. I commented that while we don't go out to eat often, we should make this a regular stop in the future. Apparently a lot of others feel the same as it got busier around 6pm with some familiar faces coming through the door. My only regret was we had somewhere else to be so couldn't hang around for another drink and socialize more. I definitely recommend The Starlite room!

If you've haven't had a chance to see what occurred at the meeting last night, let me give a quick recap. On 1/8 we were informed by Chairman Margeson that due to the County Exec deciding to change the software being used to submit route slips to the legislature without consultation with the legislature and clerk, that we might not have an agenda for the 1/22 meeting. Margeson had planned that night to make a formal statment but due to the issues with the streaming system, he held off on the statment until last night. During the past two weeks, I have not said anything in hopes that maybe, just maybe, this power struggle could be resolved. I know - a little naive of me, right? But out of respect to the leadership of the Legislature, I sat back. Last week, each member of the legislature received an email from the Exec with a statement from him regarding this issue and giving his side to the story. We also recieved all the route slips and needed information for each. Then we received our normal email from the clerk that the agenda had been upload to Novus. But - it was all blank. My thought was, ok, a compromise has been reached. We have the information for the 1/22 meeting. There was a glitch with Novus. THEN last night happened. The Chairman in passing said he did not receive the email from the Exec. During the opening of the meeting, he gave his statment. I was thrown off because, again, naive assumptions by me thinking we were going to be able to do our job. So - where I'm at. I have a he said/she said side of the story concerning the software so I can not confidently know where the real disconnect has occurred. I see a constant power struggle between the branches that I had been hopeful of seeing progress made given a better starting relationship between the Exec and Chairman. I see the Exec undermining what is considered the legislative workings due to what he has seen as the legislature undermining/trying to control his areas. I see the logic in the leadership of the legislature to not "give in" on this issue because of past events but have the frustration /anger of not being able to do our job because neither is willing to compromise. Truth is, this software could be a zillion times better but since no effort was made to involve the legislature in this process, a process that is set in place by the legislature to ensure a smooth transfer of information for making the needed decisions, we are now where we are. I fully believe in the transparency of government, but do believe some conversations need to happen behind closed doors. I do believe this is an issue that the public needs to be made aware of while respecting that every detail of every conversation does not need to be made public. Out of respect for the leadership of the legislature and honestly, because I don't want to cause more harm than good with this, I did not speak out at last night's meeting. There is nothing I could have said to change what was happening. I am fully prepared to be blasted for not saying or doing something. I already have been. Part of this is deciding what fight to fight. I will not speak out/fight when I am not confident of the facts that I have been given and I will not make enemies of those I need to stand with me regarding other matters. I am frustrated with the leadership in not finding some compromise. I respect that they have been talking to the Exec regarding this and if there was a compromise to be had, they would have done so. I can see all sides to this. My last statment on this matter: we need our Exec to be open to listening and taking ideas and suggestions that are not his own. To understand not everyone is out to undermine his leadership. That this county is a partnership of the Exec, Legislature, and the people for the good of the people.

I’m not sure about other states, but in New York State the prison system regularly changes terminology. I suppose it started with “reformatories” and “penitentiaries” becoming “prisons” and then “correctional facilities”. I have no idea when (or why) “wardens” became “superintendents” or who decided that “prison guard” was insulting and needed to called “correctional officers”. And then there is the evolution of “convict” (short for the perfectly clear and accurate “convicted felon”, since they had clearly been convicted of a felony - duh). By the 80s or 90s, that was unacceptable and was changed to “inmate”. Not only did it involve editing every single document, blank form, database and directive that was used in a prison ....um Correctional Facility......staff could face disciplinary action for using the “old” language. The 2000’s saw another change from “inmate” to “offender” (no longer convicted of a felony, they had just committed an offense, I guess?). Many of the “offenders” themselves took exception to the new label....as it seemed too similar to the already common “sex offender” title that had replaced distasteful descriptions like “rapist” and “child molester”. So, in spite of all the thousands of documents, blank forms, databases and directives that were revised to replace “inmate” with “offender”....the word “inmate” was still the preferred term. However, the Verbicide continues..... and the revision process started all over in 2022 when they were renamed “incarcerated individuals” because the term inmate is "dehumanizing". Sorry....having been convicted of felonies, they are still convicts.

Thats the entire point of this site from its very conception 10 years ago. It’s not a “safe space” in terms of being free from disagreement ( trust me, they call me out when I’m wrong too LOL ) but the conversation is always respectful. I’ve always likened it to all of us hanging out in someone’s living room.

I'm picturing the same.

Would I say “worst”? Certainly not. I would agree it’s pretty bad though. And not even in comparison to the “Queen City” Golden Years, I’d just look at now vs 20-30 years ago and Elmira has declined. Of course anyone whose income is derived from the city government or who sees it as an investment opportunity would disagree. Even if it were burning down around them when asked.

I dont say much on here but ive even reading these topics and recognising a couple names so i did some looking into it how many times can people move around and run for office ? you got one running for mayor who ran for legislature in catlin, and a campaign manager. whose run for mayor of corning a couple time and then suddenly the next year for county legislator here in chemung county you've jumped on two topics that are hot and ion peoples minds and say we lack imagination like were a bunch of rubes but were smarter than you think makes me wonder what the real agenda is here with all this hopping from place to place

Those traffic lights on Water Street in Elmira for the access roads drive me nuts. You come off of I-86 to Water St. to turn left and go up Jerusalem Hill Rd. First off, when the light is green there's enough time to get 2-3 cars through. God help you if there's a semi or a cement truck there. Then when you get to the light at the base of Jerusalem Hill, 9/10 times it's a stale yellow and now you have to sit at another light within spitting distance from the one you just sat at. It's maddening some days.

To be fair to the workers at the fair, they are all volunteers but saying that this year had a lot of errors and missteps. I do think there needs to be a little more investment from the county to try and right the ship, working with more media outlets on the big acts or weekly acts. I noticed in those pictures the grandstand had a lot of empty seats. I know it's a lot of work and resources that need. As for getting more use out of the fairgrounds, a farmers market on like a Tuesday or something wouldn't be a bad idea but even the big ones like the one in Elmira I notice have lacked vendors this year so I don't know how many they would get.

I pulled the potatoes today. Not a bad yield overall:

Looking real good Chris ! I had to muster the energy to get the last four heads of cabbage out of the raised beds and into the crock for Sauerkraut today . Only got about 15 pounds but that should be plenty . Garden to crock super fresh and I was munching on the part not going into the crock . I put too many cabbage plants on one half of the bed (6) and Brussels Sprouts in the other half (6) , kinda crowded but growing great . I will change planting plans next year . And definitely picking up anther of these new beds !

https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/top-stories/the-project-will-not-move-forward-in-this-community-truckstop-not-coming-to-sperr-park-ida-confirms/

I think I'm going to be getting busier come 2024....

Back to Square One should entail a full, transparent and publicly accessible audit and historical accounting of annual costs to taxpayers before the CCIDA makes any more decisions......and before any further funds are paid by the Legislature/Exec (including a hold on any currently approved ARP funds that have not been disbursed yet). There have been a lot of costs over the years – some more widely publicized than others. Here are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head: It was in the news in 1999 when the County Legislature forked over more than $1 million. Later, the CCIDA purchased the building for $3.5 million (including $1M allocated from Casella grant contributions). A large chunk of the County Room tax goes straight to the IDA for Arena operations every year ($103k for at least the past 10 years - so more than $1 million - and still counting). The nearly $1 million ($375k + $500k) approved from the County ARP funds were a little less public and listed on Minutes/Agendas as “budget transfers” to the CCIDA. None of the Arena owners have ever paid Property taxes (only sewer and special taxes, when they aren’t in arrears). This was even when it was assessed at a $17 million Market Value. That assessment has dropped dramatically over the years (to a low of $1.1 M in 2014, and now back “up” to $2.4M). At the new “depreciated” values of $1-2M....the County, City and School taxes on comparably assessed commercial add up to something like $40-60,000 in lost tax revenue every year, for over two decades. And I’d wager a guess that a full accounting would reveal a few more (hidden costs and expenses) that I’m not even aware have taken place year after year.