Adam

1 hour ago, Beekeeper said:

Do you mean to create the ice rink under the parking garage like Corning?  That actually would be a great idea!  Let the people of Elmira have something to do in the winter..I do agree that First Arena was a great idea, but the community is not attending...The money to help grow our city should not be used every year to bail out the arena...What about putting garden share beds in somewhere?  Fenced so the deer cannot get in.  People would pay to have one of the beds and then would maintain it.  Might be a good way to get people talking to others in the community.

 

wasnt my original intent to have rink like corning, but if economic feasible, then why not, more the point was Corning has a TON of parking for folks to use so they can walk around market street, ample and accessible parking is a huge advantage when trying to build/revive a downtown....something Elmira has been blind to for years

On 1/11/2025 at 7:48 PM, Chris said:

The best part of the whole wildflower meadow movement is this: You just throw the shit out there and let Nature take its course. These plants have grown here for millennia, there’s no real science to it.

youll be wanting to get the peach trees pruned soon too

demo arena, create parking space like corning has, replace IDA board members( or at least install minimum 2 non political community members), use funds to rehab existing buildings on water street and encourage small/medium businesses to move in( no bars or clubs btw). better develop parks/greenspaces into what they used to look like in the turn of century, develop at least a portion of the river for sport fishing, stop depending on grants(municipal welfare) for survival

Wrestling Tourney last weekend, wonder if another loss or did it at least break even?

9 hours ago, KarenK said:

The IDA is not fully funded by the county. The get some money as a line item just like a whole lot of other people, places and things in the county.

"Some" is being bit generous given how the current Chair seems to have no qualms about spending each and every last penny that can be squeezed, and im quite sure other entities that dont get as much, have and are doing much more for the community.

9 hours ago, KarenK said:

The CCIDA is a public benefit corporation, so it is actually a "for profit" corporation.

In that case they should be getting ZERO taxpayers' dollars as no other for profit should. And if you look at the minutes i posted, theyre doing a piss-poor job of profiting anywhere, another reason they shouldnt be trusted with any more public monies

3 hours ago, KarenK said:

The IDA is a separate entity and that is what Mr Roman gets the car for.  When the arena is sold the IDA remains along with Mr Romans car which is included as part of the job.

IF would be more accurate descriptor, i understand the set up of the entity but they are still funded through monies that come from the taxpayers of the county and the way their account is dwindling, and continuous negative net-income all the while pouring marge sums int o the proven quagmire that is the arena which distracts from other possible/better ways of investing int he area you would think providing one vehicle and looking to possibly provide for more employees would NOT be a smart idea. in fact it gives the impression they feel the funding comes from an ever-full teet so why be judicious with it

November 2024:

"Net income is down $423,000. We are working with
the County Executive on receiving the $500,000 in ARP funds that were approved. The County Legislature
provided information to the County Executive last week. The funds won’t solve the arena’s problems, but
it will help accommodate expenses. Ms. O’Brien asked about the auto expense for the IDA. The IDA
vehicle lease is a benefit Mr. Roman receives with his position. She said the Steuben County IDA put more
money in the budget for auto expenses so staff can travel for economic development projects."

"Old Business
Check Ratification: Mr. Roman discussed a check ratification for $108,799 to
cover three payroll periods, vendors and credit card payments for the arena."

interesting that robbing peter to pay some interest to Paul continues, and they KNOW its not improving anything, but hey lets pile on by providing transport for Mr. Roman, and perhaps few more folks on the taxpayer's dime!

Oct 2024:

"Utility expenses at the arena are approximately $20,000 per month."

"We have payments for arena insurance, Stemerman Sports and MRB Group. We have a net loss of $21,000.
Current assets are $1.2 million, down from approximately $3 million."

"Ratification of Check: J. Roman discussed the operational expenses for $39,000 that needed to be
covered at the arena for the Price is Right show and other items, which needs to be ratified."

"Budget: Mr. Roman reviewed the 2025 budget with the board. We estimated agency income at
$500,000 as we never know how many projects there are going to be each year. This year we exceeded
the $500,000 since 3 Sisters Solar Farm closed recently. The CVS Bond payment will be gone after 2025,
leaving an approximately $650,000 hole in the IDA’s budget."

Mr stemerman is mentioned quite a bit but i cannot seem to find just how much he is being paid

Sept:

"Total income was $7,839.87.
Expenses were $163,085.07 with a net loss of $155,245.20. Year to date total income is $699,109.93 and
Net Income through August is a negative $1,099,877.76. Cash on hand is $1,305,263.92."

August:

"Mr. Margeson and Bob Kramarik have been working with LECOM on naming rights. LECOM has agreed to a five year
contract for $500,000. LECOM will have 400-500 students attending school here. Mr. Margeson hopes it
will bring the community together. Cash remaining is $1.4 million."

June 2024:

Joe Roman: "Expenses are mostly for the arena"

"Net income for June was a negative $151,046.28. We have $1.7 million cash on hand."

" Mr. Roman commented that things happen quickly at the arena
and bills over the agreed upon amount sometimes need to be done prior to board approval." quite concerning on many levels

"Mr. Collins commented that the City’s
Code Enforcement Officer attempted to inspect the arena with previous tenants and was told to
not come in the building." UMMM, maybe THIS was a red flag for those in charge of the building to get involved, maybe so much damage and alleged theft could have been prevented? yet there was no one held accountable to date.

"July Payroll/Payables: This expense for $85,531.00 is related to payroll, payroll taxes, union, IC,
Britt Floyd and debit card purchases. There is not a lot happening in the summer at the arena."  seems to contradict recent claims....

further, Mr. Margeson was adamant that they only used Exec session once....looking in the minutes, there are 3 between Jan 24 and Aug 24. here is the notes pertaining to it:

"Mr. Margeson provided a brief overview of the board’s discussion. There is consideration of providing a
new hockey league at the arena. We have a local businessman, Mr. Marc Stemerman, who is involved
in this particular process. Marc has made a significant investment in the community and in the team
and I think it is going to be a tremendous asset to our community. A couple things about this particular
operation; it is our fiduciary responsibility to continue financially to look at the arena. This particular
deal will cost approximately 50% less out of pocket for the hockey structure. We will continue to offer
hockey in the arena. The form of hockey will be the North American League. This is a league that
actually brings college students into the D-1 division and additionally, effective today, there’s been over
50 participants in the NAHL League that have gone to the NHL. We are looking at a different style of
hockey. These are the folks that are the future hockey players coming from Elmira and going onto D-1
colleges and into the NHL. I feel it’s a very strong financial decision we needed to make to keep hockey
in Elmira. I think it will be a real positive impact to the community having a significant business owner
involved in this process. I would like to publicly thank Marc Stemerman for getting involved."

1. this seems to be in direct contradiction to the reason for going into Exec session...what monies were discussed/promised since public monies are being directed to the arena?

2. Exec session details are not supposed to be discussed outside of the session, so it seems( i could be mistaken) that Mr. Margeson providing even the synopsis he did either violates the NYS meeting Laws, OR more likely, shows that the exec session for this discussion was mis-used.

3. WHY the strict fous on hockey in ANY form for so many years? it seems a complete 180 from the bolded quote from him in my previous post.

march IDA minutes: "There was $15,731 in total income. Total
expenses were 321,482. Net income was a negative $305,751.00. On the profit and loss for January
through March 2024 total income was $155,325.00. Total expenses were $768,926 and total net income
was a negative $613,600. We have $1,816,081 cash on hand. Mr. Margeson commented that
approximately $600,000 are hockey expenses. He hopes to make changes in the coming year to reduce
that amount. Mr. Keenan commented that the amount of spending needs to be addressed. We need a
cash flow statement/projection for the IDA. Mr. Margeson further commented that the IDA is for
business development. We need to get back to expanding business opportunities that we may be
overlooking. We need to be aware of opportunities out there. " Perhaps concentrating so much on the arena is blinding them to other opportunities? also if one reads the minutes, as the year progresses, the negative balances further increase while cash on hand steadily dwindles

4 hours ago, Chris said:

Margeson mentioned private ownership and that right there is what's needed. With no interference and/or onjection of money by the county in any way, shape or form. 

except any past offers have been soundly rejected, or nit-picked until backed out of

11 hours ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

Centralus sounds like an ED medication

theyd still screw that up....

word is, they are putting vending machines in with centralus swag for purchase....smh 

On 11/26/2024 at 10:31 AM, Twin Tiers Living said:

The National Football League has been cracking down on celebrations that may look like guns – but Patrick Mahomes apparently missed the memo.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was one of the latest to use his arms in the fashion to celebrate a touchdown, and it affected his wallet.

The NFL Network reports that Mahomes was fined over $14,000 for what the league is calling a "violent gesture."

Source

oh FFS

ill watch with open mind, but much like Bale is Batman, Jackman=wolverine, Reynolds=Deadpool, Cavill is/was best Superman(aside from Reeves)

2 hours ago, Chris said:

I’ll have to see how the milkweed comes up this coming year.

ill be pulling up all the plants by our side porch in th spring for transplant

as for Mr. Margeson:

Quote

"because it does seem like the media in the community picks up on items that really don’t make much sense. I mean, you’re looking at a significant budget, a lot of mandated that we don’t collect for. It’s scary. So, I appreciate everything that you’ve said, and Brennan also said a lot of good things. Again, we get picked on because we are the ones who finalize the vote, and I guess people like drama. I don’t know, I’ve been beat up all week, so I’m just used to it by now. It’s either this or something else that I’m doing so I’m used to it.”" 

 for many taxpayers, it has zero to do with drama, but the fact that you are forcing( not asking) us to pay out more from our resources while taking even the smallest % of that for yourselves, between that and the incessant cheerleading and financial blood-letting for the Arena...you and many others deserve every "beating" you've gotten thus far and any future ones until some true financially responsible decisions get made

14 hours ago, Chris said:

It’s about attracting qualified diverse leaders who can focus entirely on serving their constituents, not scrambling to make ends meet elsewhere.”

 

Quote

If we undervalue ourselves as legislators in the long term, then we’re setting the stage for those who don’t need the salary being the only ones available to serve"

Well Joe, i can think of no one better to serve the public than someone who has no financial incentive to do so                                                                                                                                  As to your concerns about making ends-meet: WEAR A DAMN CONDOM!

while glad to see majority of Legislators have scruples and voted down their increase, it is disappointing to see the raises approved, at least, for the exec/deputy exec. he keeps bemoaning how Leg got 3% last time around, but fails to mention his 15 and her 21 percentage increases the year before!

Moss has been such a disappointment as the Executive and frankly while im not thrilled with attitudes of a few Legislators; he has increasingly shown himself petty and authoritarian in his approach to just about anything requiring cooperation

11 hours ago, KarenK said:

The full-time elected officials certainly deserve a paycheck and a raise.  It's their full-time job. They don't have another one. 

except the Exec/deputy got 15.3% and 21.1% increases last year respectively, and given that 33 governors make less than moss, and close to 30 make less than his deputy, and bigger counties pay their execs less( monroe comes to mind) combined with decreased revenues, the ridiculous amounts of monies bled into the arena AND an increase in our property taxes Mr. Moss is WAY out of line. and 7% of his previous raise was approved by the Legislature, so him winging about how THEY got 3% last year is just plain bullshit no matter how you cut it.

he got a 15% increase for 2023

so tired of hearing we need to have good wages to attract elected officials...how about a sense of doing one's civic duty for a SHORT period of time, then moving on for new people/ideas to move forward? ELected positions were never intended to be a life-long, full time endeavor.

Moss has been such a disappointment since getting in office. i had heard from some that worked under him regarding his "my way or highway" monarchy mind-set when he first ran but figured it was chalked up to malcontents....i guess i was wrong

we can only hope that the LEgislature votes to override his veto and not use the veto to say "well we tried, and to pass a timely budget well just HAVE to accept the pay raises"

kind of like the pigs in farmer Jones' house...they had to eat the apples and drink the milk despite their dislike of it, for the good of the other animals on the farm ya know?

19 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

"Hard Hit Productions" have nothing but a an address and phone number online (no website, so nothing about its ownership or services are publicly listed). 

only thing i could find was Bruce Perron is the owner. 

i was curious as to who hes connected to, to be pulling in those fees

we havent watched the latest episode yet, having seen the 1st though, if Jamie wanted to save his hide, first call should have been to Casey after the girlfriend fessed