Archive: Around Town

The Thursday Concerts in the Park series have been very popular in Myers Park.  They have featured an eclectic blend of styles with everything from old fashioned concert band to rock to country.  This year Lansing Park Superintendent Steve Colt hopes to expand the concerts with an acoustic series at Ludlowville Park.  Colt hopes the music will attract to the smaller, historic park where they can discover the beauty of Ludlowville Falls and be in a place that was part of early movie history.  He is hoping to receive a grant that will pay for the new series, allowing it to go forward.

"The idea is to take advantage of how really nice Ludlowville Park has become," Colt says.  "There is that hand built band stand in Ludlowville that was custom built by Ludlowville residents.  That's been there for quite a few years now, but we've never really taken the step and actually used it for concerts.  Right now we have three dates, if we get the grant approved."

Hey there my name is Charlie. I'm around four to six year's old, and I'm a domestic shorthair/mix. I'm a loving guy who's looking for a loving home. So come visit me at the SPCA to see if I'm the right cat for you!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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Wells College has opened an Innovation Lab, offering a class in design thinking, under the auspices of its new Center for Business & Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts. Although still in its infancy, the Wells College Innovation Lab will attempt to solve real-world problems, locally, globally, and within the Wells community.

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving that is fast, cheap, and that yields breakthrough results. Its process depends upon ethnographic understanding, and the rapid building and testing of low-tech prototypes. Developed at the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, design thinking has already spawned a host of businesses, books and lectures. Yet, says the Innovation Lab’s course instructor Tracy Brandenburg, undergraduates outside of Wells have a difficult time learning this problem-solving technique.

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Last week two Ithaca bookstores announced they would be closing.  Borders immediately put everything on sale, the Ithaca store being one of 200 that is closing as part of the corporation's Chapter 11 filing.  Buffalo Street Books also began selling off its inventory, selling abut $30,000 worth in the first week.  When the sales are over Borders will be gone.  But Buffalo Street Books may yet be resurrected with an unusual and innovative business model.  Employee Bob Proehl put out a call for investors to raise $200,000 to buy the store and keep it alive in Ithaca.  Incredibly he received $150,000 in pledges within the first week.  If he succeeds the store will be more of a cooperative like Greenstar Market than a traditional business.

"There are a number of ways you can think about this," Proehl  says.  "There is already a perceived concrete monetary value that I think a lot of people understand when they buy books at a local independent bookstore.  I think it operates as a sort of literary arts center.  It services the literary community whether that is something as simple as offering local authors a place to sell their books, offering a place for readings, or just offering a place to encourage a love of literature."

It was cold and snowy, but the atmosphere was warm with volunteers and well-wishers who came to Habitat For Humanity of TOmpkins and Cortland County's ground breaking in Lansing last Saturday.  Construction on the new house begins this month, with a projected completion later this summer.  Don Gagnon and his three daughters will move into the house when it is completed, and will participate in getting it built over this year.

"I love the neighborhood," Gagnon says.  "My daughter's got two or three good friends that live right up the block here, so it's an ideal situation.  We needed to find something that was close to my brother, because he comes to help move my daughter four or five times a day."

This Spring Lansing voters will fill three Board Of Education positions.  Board Vice President Glenn Swanson, and members Richard Thaler and Glenn Cobb's seats are up for election.   Of the three, only Swanson is running again.  That means that school officials are hoping for a minimum of two new  candidates.  This year school board members want to actively tell people what it's like to be on the board, and to encourage more people to run for office.  To that end they are talking about what the commitment really means in their lives, and the things that they get out of being board members.

"If Aziza (Benson) can do it with three sets of twins and a dairy farm to run, I think most people would be able to do it," Swanson says.  "It's an opportunity to get out and give something back to the community, and maybe use a different part of your brain."

After 12 years as Founder and Artistic Director of the Light in Winter Festival, Barbara Mink announced she is stepping down to pursue new artistic opportunities. The Light in Winter board today accepted, with regret, her decision. The board is committed to the vision of  Light in Winter and is planning for future festivals.

Mink said: "We have enjoyed eight years of exciting, creative and enlightening programs that have brought new visitors to the community and new insights to many of us. I look back with pride at many of our audacious productions over the years that made this small city gain national attention, and I thank everyone for helping turn what was just an idea into such a wonderful reality."

When a 12‑ton bus strikes an 18‑pound dog, well, the prognosis is never good.

But then again, a combination of canine resiliency and human big‑heartedness saved the day for Benji, a 1‑year‑old gray poodle mix.

At around 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 30, Benji, owned by Randi Denmark, somehow escaped his house near Enfield Center where Randi and her children were recovering from strep throat. Benji ran right out in front of a TCAT Route 20 bus that was traveling nearby.  It appeared Benji was being chased by another dog or perhaps a coyote, said Raymond Knuutila, who was driving his car behind the bus.

Valentine’s Day was $1,000 sweeter for Rochester teacher Tina Thomas and her colleagues at Northwest College Preparatory School. Thomas won $1,000 worth of school supplies for her classroom and school in an online drawing sponsored by Ithaca’s Winter Recess teachers festival.

On Valentine’s Day, Thomas received $300 worth of Staples Gift Cards to buy supplies for her room and $700 worth of Staples Gift Cards to benefit her school. The online drawing was created to promote Ithaca’s annual teacher week by directly aiding a New York teacher and her school.

Hey there my name is Skywalker, I am a six-year-old male domestic shorthair/mix. I'm a big teddy bear who is looking for a loving family to take me home. So please come and visit me at the SPCA to see if I'm the right cat for you!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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