Living in Dryden

Sungiva at four months

There seem to be two schools of thought about Living in Dryden at the moment. One wonders why I'm so distracted by our new baby and not posting. The other wants all Sungiva photos, all the time, and wonders why I'm not posting enough of those. Hopefully this will help those folks!

Yesterday was Sungiva's four month sort-of-birthday, which she celebrated pretty happily. She's continuing to grow beautifully, finding new ways to entertain us and herself.

Sungiva explores the world of musical bugs.

Sungiva being cheerful.

Sungiva ready for church.

Sungiva with her friendly mammoth.

For many more fun photos, see the third and fourth month gallery.

Dryden Democrats holding BBQ Saturday

It's summertime, and politics may seem like a fall activity, but politics can be fun in July too. The Dryden Democrats will be getting together for a much less formal event than usual this Saturday. If you'd like to support and meet your fellow Democrats, it should be a good time!

What: A fundraiser and dish-to-pass / barbeque to kick off our 2008 local elections, introduce local and state candidates, and support the Dryden Democrats.

When: Saturday July 26th 5pm - 7pm

Where: 17 Hunt Grove Road, Ithaca, NY 14850

Bring your family - Bring your kids!

Please bring lawn chairs and a dish to pass. We will provide the drinks.

Thank you for your support!

Dryden Democrats caucus, meet, July 16th

The Dryden Democratic Committee will be holding its caucus to select candidates for Town Justice and Town Councilman (1-year) tomorrow night, July 16th, at 7:30pm at the new Dryden Town Hall, 93 East Main Street, in Dryden. All registered Democrats in the Town of Dryden are welcome to participate. We'll also be having a meeting to gear up for the November election.

Recreation meeting in Varna Wednesday

I'm still way behind, but this, from County Legislator Martha Robertson, is definitely worth posting quickly:

If you're interested in the future of recreation in Dryden - what kinds of programs and facilities we have for children, teens and adults - PLEASE JOIN US this WEDNESDAY, July 9! We will be at the Varna Fire Station, Turkey Hill Rd., at 7:30.

The Town is working on a master plan for recreation, to provide a vision for the next twenty years! NOW is your chance to have input! Help us dream a little, and tell what YOU think should be in our town's Recreation Master Plan.

• Do we need more soccer fields?
• Would you like to see a theater program for teens?
• Do you think we need a tots-n-parents program?
• Should we build a center for indoor recreation?
• What would YOU like to see???

Children, teens, seniors, ALL AGES are encouraged to come!

For more information, or to offer your ideas if you can't make the meeting, please contact:

Melissa Bianconi
Town of Dryden Recreation Director
844-8888
recreation@frontiernet.net

I was very impressed by the similar meeting at Dryden Town Hall in May, and am very curious to see what suggestions people will make at this one.

Traffic meeting in Varna Monday night

Concerned about the impact of traffic on Route 366? I am. Here's a chance to talk about it.

Later this month, residents will have a chance to learn about findings of a transportation study of the Route 13/366 corridor, as they relate to the Hamlet of Varna.

Results of the Route 13/366 Corridor Management Plan, prepared for the Tompkins County Planning Department, will be presented at a public meeting, to be held on Monday, June 30th, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Road, Ithaca.

Results of the transportation study relevant to the Varna area will be reviewed and strategies for implementation will be discussed.

The Route 13/366 Corridor Management Plan reviewed physical and operational characteristics of the roadway to assist in determining the future scenario for development along Routes 13 and 366.

For more information on the transportation study, visit the County Planning Department web site at www.tompkins-co.org/planning/Route13CorridorStudy.htm.

Contact: Planning and Public Works Commissioner Ed Marx, 274-5560.

This sounds like it's based on a study I thought was dreadful, but the parts specifically about Varna were okay (removing the passing zone), so hopefully something useful will come out of it. Varna could certainly use some relief from the traffic that slices through it.

Dryden Renewable Energy Workgroup meeting tonight

It's late to post this, but if you're free at 7:00pm tonight, there's a meeting at the Dryden Community Center Cafe.

Things I've missed

Here's a quick listing of things in the Journal I normally would have written about in more detail, but didn't get to. Some of them are still on my list of things to write about.

• One of my neighbors, Duane Testut, was named a Volunteer of Valor for his tremendous work at the Varna Volunteer Fire Company. (I'll have more on this soon!)

• TC3 is proposing a 3.5% tuition increase.

• The Journal reported on 200th anniversary celebrations coming to the Dryden Presbyterian Church.

• There's a photo gallery from Dairy Day.

• State Senate candidate Don Barber called for moratoriums on natural gas drilling in the area. Remember those orange flags last year along the highways? That was mapping for gas.

• McLean, Dryden, Freeville, and Cortlandville fire departments responded to a hay fire last week.

• There's a new Dairy Princess in Tompkins County, Lacey Foote of McLean.

• It's been a loud but not too effective state legislative session.

• A Cortland highway contractor, Suit-Kote, is trying less energy-demanding low-temperate asphalt application.

• As in Dryden, the Town of Ithaca is finding that residential windmills laws aren't an easy this to write.

• Waiting for a grant from the state? Even if you got it, it may be a while before the check arrives.

• Dryden schools are taking pre-K lottery applications through July 9th.

• Last Monday's heat drove electrical consumption very close to record levels.

Garbage truck saga moves toward conclusion

One of the many stories I'm behind on is the update on plans for re-routing garbage trucks off of local highways and back on to the interstate system. (Okay, I really think it would be smarter for them to use New York's still-amazing canal system, but apparently that doesn't fit the current reality of garbage handling.)

I've written about this a number of times, most recently noting that I thought former Assemblyman Marty Luster's telling of the story with Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton as its heroine really needed some fact-checking.

Yes, Senator Chuck Schumer is a publicity-monger, fond of cameras and press releases. But either Lifton has the world's worst sense for press, or the story pretty much runs as I'd told it earlier: when it became clear at a forum that Lifton was a barrier to moving trucks off the road, Schumer's office challenged her there and then Schumer called the governor while Lifton wrote plaintive letters to the Department of Transportation worrying about how "Some must think I'm not telling the truth."

The timing of Lifton's pieces in the Journal and her relatively low profile in this latest article do, well, absolutely nothing at all to convince me that she was actually a catalyst in getting this done. All she seems able to push is that she didn't like a particular Republican bill, without recognizing that what really did her position in was fellow Democrats. She took the same tack in her op-ed a week after the story initially broke.

Hopefully the trucks will move off the roads sooner rather than later. The DOT lately seems to be taking an interest in issues other than maximizing traffic flow on every road possible at the highest speed possible, which is a major improvement, I think.

Dairy Day 2008

This morning's weather was kind to Dryden Dairy Day - just a few warning sprinkles, but no downpour. It was a great parade as usual, with a larger crowd than I remember seeing in the past. Sungiva and I marched with the Dryden Democrats, and Angelika took wonderful photos of the parade and the Montgomery Park celebration afterward.

I've posted a huge gallery of parade and booth photos; here are a few highlights.

Kiwanis Softball in the parade.

Honored guests.

Community Cafe in the parade.

Enjoying the parade.

Coming to Montgomery Park.

Booths in Montgomery Park.

Petting animals in Montgomery Park.

Dryden Dairy Day tomorrow!

I need to catch up on all kinds of stories, but can't miss noting this preview of tomorrow's Dairy Day events.

The parade down Main Street starts at 9:30am, and there will be booths in Montgomery Park until around 4:00pm.

Town Board meeting in Varna tonight

The Dryden Town Board will be meeting tonight at 7:00pm at the Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Road (Route 366). Presentations will include the Racker Center, Alternatives IDA proposal, TCAD, Ithaca Cancer Resource Center, and OURS.

Over?

NYCO's blog is regularly thought-provoking, but this morning's she posted a piece, On Being Over, that's well-worth some extra thought.

Road costs climb

Driving keeps getting more expensive, and it isn't just the gasoline in our tanks - it's the road maintenance we pay for through taxes. This morning's Journal examines local responses to a doubling in the cost of blacktop over the last two years, on top of increases in diesel fuel and other materials.

I don't think we're at the point yet where people will tolerate drastic change in how we use and maintain roads, but I've written about some options for maintaining roads when energy and materials prices climb beyond what taxpayers are willing to tolerate over at TCLocal.

There's a map in the print edition showing where the county will be repairing roads this summer. For Dryden, it's Irish Settlement from Ferguson to 13, Ringwood south of the midline intersection, and Ellis Hollow, getting repairs from Thomas Road to Game Farm Road. Work on Game Farm Road will continue intermittently through June.

(Update: And via Dryden Daily KAZ, this from the New York Times on gas prices and rural areas. Ouch!)

And yes, it's way too hot. The Journal calls for "mid 90s" today. On the bright side, strawberries will be ready soon. And I enjoyed getting caught in a downpour at Taughannock Falls yesterday - except that my cell phone perished in the deluge.

Don't move that firewood!

I don't see this in the Journal, but Newsday reports that New York State is banning moves of untreated firewood that go beyond fifty miles or bring firewood in across state lines.

Why? Bugs taking a ride, and then causing havoc at their destination.