I've had a couple of conversations lately with people I like that led to strange places. One was about the seemingly crazy investment I'm making in ducks, chickens, and all the infrastructure they need, and the other was what I...
I missed an interesting article in this morning's Ithaca Journal - thanks to David Makar for pointing it out. Borg-Warner will be moving 174 jobs from Oklahoma to their Lansing plant thanks in part to a $400,000 incentive from NYSEG....
A few quick notes while everyone is asleep and all the animals are fed - This morning's Ithaca Journal has an editorial on state laws and energy, citing bills that might make some small dent in the cost of a...
Most of today's Dryden news is on the opinion page in today's Ithaca Journal. The Dryden Youth Opportunity Fund has a letter from Paul Streeter and Michael Dick of Dryden encouraging readers to remember the DYOF and: consider providing your...
There's an article in today's Ithaca Journal on the Tompkins County Red Cross's new director, Jennifer Yarbrough. The first few paragraphs have some interesting bits about the organization's reaching out geographically: This vision and past vistas will be on display...
Today's Journal notices what the Cortland Standard noticed a few months ago: increasing grain prices are making it harder for local bakers and others who use lots of flour. There's also a more general piece on wheat prices and another...
Every now and then, people are surprised that I'm not a huge advocate of wind farms. I wasn't too certain at the outset of the Cornell proposal for towers on Mount Pleasant, but by the time the project suddenly halted,...
The Journal has an update on Robbie Busby, reporting that his cancer is in remission. He'll be heading back to Freeville Elementary School after fighting off Burkitt's lymphoma and getting support from the community through a benefit concert earlier this...
Once again, the Dryden Courier sparkles as the one place in town to find in-depth news on the Town of Dryden. One issue of the Courier is easily worth two weeks of the Ithaca Journal or Cortland Standard. Of course,...
It's presidential primary day, and polling places will be open from noon to 9:00pm. Please remember that in New York State, only voters registered to a party can vote in that party's primary, so only Democrats can vote in the...
This morning's Ithaca Journal has a report on the send-off ceremony for the 108th Infantry's Company D held yesterday at the National Guard Armory on Hanshaw Road. 80 local residents are off to Fort Bragg, NC for two months of...
GM's showing a pluggable hybrid with a 3-cylinder diesel engine, probably for release in 2010 and 2011. Now if only it could be used as a generator, and have a pickup bed, it'd be about exactly what I was looking...
I was out of the house on Saturday from 8:30am to 10:30pm, and didn't get to catch up with much. Saturday's Journal had some stories that aren't specifically Dryden, but still worth exploring. There's an AP piece on our changing...
I probably shouldn't admit this on a Dryden blog, but there are lots of times I'm jealous of Groton. Their downtown seems to be doing better than Dryden's at this point, the state highways that connect the Village to the...
This morning's Ithaca Journal has a piece on Dryden fourth and fifth graders visit to see "The Nutcracker" in Syracuse at the end of November. They also have two articles on the state of the environment here - one on...
I've written a lot here about my expectation that energy prices have nowhere to go but up, though talking about even $5 gasoline seems to be difficult for a lot of people's imagination. (My guesses for twenty years from now...
Between some travel and connectivity problems, I'm a little behind. To catch up... Yesterday's paper reports that the Finger Lake Land Trust will be establishing a 138-acre nature preserve near the headwaters of Six Mile Creek. Looking at the map,...
Dryden resident - and my wife - Angelika St.Laurent went over to Oneonta on Wednesday night to join a panel discussion on peak oil and climate change. The local paper picked up most strongly on her call for people to...
Dryden police officer Kurt Soderholm was honored at the STOP DWI Awards Luncheon for his work fighting DWI at a small police agency: Soderholm said he made 14 DWI arrests from November 2006 to this November. He believes people who...
This morning's Journal includes Gary Stewart's report on Cornell's modifications to the gas line it will be building to connect its power plant to the pipeline that runs through Ellis Hollow. It sounds like it will be narrower and generally...
County Legislator Mike Hattery leaped on Governor Spitzer's pulling back on his drivers' license plan to send a press release complaining about "actions that undermine citizenship". On the opinion page, Louise Edelman of Dryden writes to support the International Association...
It's always seatbelt season, really, but State Police are busy enforcing seat belt laws, starting from a checkpoint in front of their barracks on Route 13 in Freeville. The opinion page has two Dryden letters: Cheryl Wagner of Freeville writes...
While sorting through the piles of paper that accumulated during election season, I found my printouts of the Route 13/366 Corridor Study, and remembered that I'd promised long ago to write up my concluding thoughts at the end of a...
I didn't manage to get out to the Green Buildings Tour this weekend, but fortunately the Journal has some coverage of one of the houses in Dryden, complete with photos of the straw-bale house under construction. (I reported on the...
I've had a few people question one of my underlying assumptions, one that makes a huge difference to what I see happening in Dryden in the future. In general, I see energy prices going up, especially gas prices. Ethanol won't...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on last night's storms, which dumped more than three inches of rain in the northern part of the county, including Lansing, Groton, and Dryden. We didn't seem to get anything here but thunder and lightning...
I don't know if anyone else was interested in Angela Sparks-Beddoe's nomination to chair the Public Service Commission. I didn't think it was a great idea to appoint a lobbyist for Energy East to that position, but she never got...
Dryden news is quiet for the weekend, but there's an update on New York energy issues, including tangled questions about the nomination of Angela Sparks-Beddoe to lead the Public Service Commission. And while none of these hospitals are in Dryden,...
I may be the only person (apart from State Senator Thomas Libous) who's still interested in this, but the State Senate seems ready to hold confirmation hearings for Angela Sparks-Beddoe, Governor Spitzer's choice to lead the Public Service Commission. If...
This morning's Ithaca Journal is quiet about Dryden, but has some broader news that affects us. There's a rundown of the $810K of member items coming to Tompkins County, and the print edition's editorial runs down - maybe runs over...
This morning's Journal leads with an article on heroism during a fire on Hickory Circle Sunday morning. Anondo "Binji" Mukherjee helped his family get out of their burning house, and returned to find a friend. An article on a new...
This morning's Ithaca Journal has a brief piece on Congressman Michael Arcuri's visit to Lansing to lead a panel discussion on energy issues. (Unfortunately, I didn't get to go, having scheduled time as a docent at the History House a...
This morning's Ithaca Journal notes that Congressman Michael Arcuri will be speaking on energy issues in Lansing this morning. (I can't make it, unfortunately - I'd agreed to be at the History House as a docent this morning.) There's more...
I hadn't heard much lately about Angela Sparks-Beddoe, Governor Spitzer's controversial appointee to chair the Public Service Commission, but this turned up in the Elmira Star-Gazette: Angela Sparks-Beddoe, his controversial pick to head the state Public Service Commission, will be...
A vehicle and garage on Snyder Hill Road burned Friday morning, according to the print edition of the Ithaca Journal. There was also a disturbance at Caroline Elementary School, where most young Dryden children in the Ithaca schools attend. I'm...
The front page of this morning's Journal has three articles that strike me as important to Dryden, if not focused on it. There's a set of articles on the New York State Lottery, with one on lottery scholarships and one...
I was starting to wonder if I was the only one surprised by Governor Spitzer's appointment of NYSEG/Energy East lobbyist Angela Sparks-Beddoe to lead the Public Service Commission, the regulatory agency NYSEG fought pitched battles against. (See here and here.)...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the creation of the Tompkins County Council of Governments, a new organization including all of the municipalities in Tompkins County - villages, towns, city, county. They "will meet on a monthly basis to discuss...
When Dryden passed a renewable energy law in October, it expressly aimed at small-scale windmills providing power that is mostly consumed on site, rather than large-scale windmills designed to produce power that is fed into the electrical grid. (An earlier...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the Dryden Physical Education teacher accused of public lewdness resigned. TC3 grads have new opportunities at Niagara University, including study in Italy. Meanwhile, the fitness center at Dryden High offers fitness opportunities. Sadly, it...
This week's issue of Tompkins Weekly takes a look at the empty storefronts in the Village of Dryden. It's been almost a year since the stores at the four corners all seemed to empty out, and Anthony Hall reports that...
Saturday's Journal was quiet on Dryden, but did address the mysterious, complicated, and generally useless results of one of the dumber ideas the state has had in a long time: letting customers choose their own power supplier. This isn't a...
I wrote about my dream vehicle about a year ago, and I'd still really like to see a three-cylinder diesel hybrid. I don't plan, however, to hold my breath. I do, however, have a new reason for wanting one. There's...
This week's Dryden Courier watches the Sim Redmond Band perform a workshop with middle school students, exploring music and song writing. Also on the front page is a picture from the dress rehearsal of "The Nutcracker" at Dryden Elementary, which...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that congressional opponents can stay friends, as Democrat Mike Arcuri and Republican Ray Meier call each other Sam and Ralph, after a classic Warner Brothers cartoon. Now that's deep news analysis. There's an update on...
This morning's Ithaca Journal catches up on the passage of the renewable energy law on October 5th. It features many of the same voices that spoke at the public hearing, and most of the same concerns. This clearly isn't the...
NYSEG posted this message in yesterday's Ithaca Journal, page 5A: PUBLIC NOTICE Ithaca Transmission Project - New York State Electric and Gas Corporation Pursuant to Article VII of the Public Service Law of the State of New York and implementing...
It's been a week since the renewable energy law passed, and I haven't found time to do the detailed story on the hearing that I wanted to do last Friday. Since I'm not likely to get to that, here's a...
No, I'm not moving south. The south, however - or at least its weather - seems to be coming here. This morning's Ithaca Journal takes a look at what global warming might mean for upstate New York. Some gardeners might...
This morning's Ithaca Journal asks some hard questions about gas prices in Tompkins County: As gas prices drop throughout the country, area residents are beginning to notice that gas prices in Tompkins and nearby counties remain high.... Every metropolitan area...
I'll expand this article later today, but the Town Board passed the Renewable Energy Facilities Law of the Town of Dryden, New York last night by a 5-0 vote....
The Town of Dryden Public Notices page lists a hearing on the Renewable Energy Facilities Law of the Town of Dryden, New York for Thursday night at 7:00pm. I'd heard earlier that it might be at Neptune Hose Company, but...
If you'd like to know what the new rules for windmills and other alternative energy conversion systems in the Town might look like eventually, you can read the proposed Renewable Energy Facilities Law of the Town of Dryden, New York....
This morning's Journal sort of suggests that the Town Board passed an alternative energy law last night, though it was only introduced: Residents of the Town of Dryden moved one step closer to generating their own sustainable energy Thursday night,...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the alternative energy ordinance will be introduced at tomorrow's Town Board meeting, hopefully eventually freeing Dryden residents to take further steps to generate power for their own homes. I'm happy to see that the...
In an aside in an article about the possible impact of a new sewer system in the Town of Lansing, the Journal notes that Dryden led the county in new home construction last year, with 212 to Lansing's 211. I'm...
While the groundbreaking for the new Town Hall, which will use geothermal heating and cooling, proceeded, a law meant to allow town residents to install alternative energy systems is still in the works. Town Board member Mary Ann Sumner reports...
This morning's New York Times (registration required) reports that American automakers seem to have concluded that high gas prices will require them to shift their product lines: The Chrysler Group, which depends more heavily on sales of pickup trucks and...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the New York Public Service Commission rejected NYSEG's proposals for electric delivery rates hikes and instead ordered a reduction and a rebate: The state Public Service Commission ruled unanimously that the Binghamton-based utility has...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports a quiet weekend for Dryden. (Actually, it doesn't report anything on Dryden at all, which I hope means a quiet weekend.) It does, however, include a piece by Jay Gallagher on New York State and...
This morning's Ithaca Journal includes a report on ways Tompkins County is helping out flooded areas to our east, as firefighters, the Red Cross, stores, and others helped out. Dryden sent a fire truck and ambulances. It looks like there...
Two Brooktondale men were arrested for a robbery and burglary committed in Dryden on May 31st, during which shots were fired. Briefly in Dryden reports: The Dryden Swim Team will be raising funds for a new scoring and timing system...
This morning's Ithaca Journal has a letter from Greg Kimbell of Dryden, extolling the virtues of motorcycles both for miles per gallon (78mpg available!) and fun per gallon. There's also an article on the state legislature's latest attempt to buy...
This morning's Ithaca Journal visits Thursday's Town Board meeting, reporting on the improved prospects for the Dryden-Freeville trail. They also note the delays on the final Town Hall plans, the proposal for a Dollar General near TC3, and a Varna...
I didn't know PTA finances could get this exciting, but the Treasurer of the Freeville PTA was arrested for forging an audit, creating a one-page audit on an auditor's stationery. A picture of students cleaning Ithaca's Stewart Park includes Dryden's...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the challenge of building a residential-scale windmill in the Town of Dryden, visiting Ken Jupiter and Carol Schmook and looking at their efforts to move through "bureaucratic limbo". (I visited them last month as...
There isn't much Dryden news in today's Journal, but there is a fair amount of county news worth exploring. Former Ithaca investigator Brian Robison announced his run for sheriff yesterday, running as a Republican against two-term incumbent Democrat Peter Meskill....
This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at the challenge of paving roads on a fixed budget when asphalt prices keep climbing: As major consumers of oil, which is used to create asphalt, highway departments have been heavily hit by increasing prices...
I didn't manage to get to it, but Town Board member Mary Ann Sumner reports on a tour of Caroline windmills the Planning Board and Town Board took on Thursday....
This morning's Ithaca Journal is quiet about Dryden, but has two stories that definitely affect Dryden residents. There's an article on Tompkins County Area Development, which reviewed its work at its annual meeting. TC3 was among a number of area...
Town Board member Mary Ann Sumner has written a brief description of Thursday's four-hour Town Board meeting. The only thing I'd add to it is that it looks like the proposal for a water district on Ellis Hollow Road will...
Last week, I published Town Attorney Mahlon Perkins' opinion on windmills. It turns out that the attorney for the Zoning Board of Appeals, Randy Marcus, also wrote a letter to the Town Board on the subject (110KB PDF, 156KB selectable)....
Last week I stopped in to talk with Carol Schmook and Ken Jupiter, whose plans to put a 10 kW windmill on their property at the corner of Baker Hill Road and Mount Pleasant Road came to a sudden halt...
I've written a few times about what impact rising gas prices might have on Dryden, but it looks like we're now going to be getting used to $3.00 gas that was just speculation two years ago. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman...
I published Environmental Planner Dan Kwasnowski's proposed alternative energy ordinance and accompanying explanation last week, but I wasn't aware that the Town Attorney, Mahlon Perkins, had also weighed in with his opinion. It's not a particularly legal opinion - it's...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on some strange aspects of the No Child Left Behind law that let school districts exclude test scores for some groups to avoid penalties. Usually those groups are non-white students, though white students' scores were...
This morning's Ithaca Journal leads with the news that Cayuga Press is leaving its Hanshaw Road facilities for an Empire Zone in Cortland. The Town Board passed a resolution Thursday night that their departure was for reasons that couldn't readily...
I stopped by Town Hall today and picked up a draft copy of the proposed wind energy ordinance that board members will be discussing tonight, as well as Environmental Planner Dan Kwasnowski's summary of it. I recommend reading the summary...
Apparently last week's Zoning Board of Appeals meeting went much longer than usual, with one of the issues a request for a variance to put a residential windmill at a house on Mount Pleasant. They couldn't grant it, because the...
This morning's Ithaca Journal explores the impact of higher gas prices on the Ithaca area. It even includes a handy list of current gas prices, though it's kind of hard to tell what they mean when a station is listed...
Dryden High School senior Simon Horrocks will be speaking at an FFA state competition in May, having placed first in the regional Extemporaneous Public Speaking competition, second while delivering a prepared speech, and second in a Job Interview contest. Dryden...
I must be doing something right, as my NYSEG bill claims that my daily power consumption has declined from 21 kWh in February-March of last year to 8 kWh this past month. I traded in my basement dehumidifier for one...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on a new effort to expand the TC3 honors program by giving 15 full scholarships to Tompkins and Cortland County students who enroll in at least 30% honors classes, and are either in the top...
Yesterday I made what I hope will be the last necessary major energy-efficiency improvement to my house for a while. A few years ago, I had the furnace replaced and the house insulated, but since the water heater still worked,...
There's a lot happening just past Dryden's western edge. Cornell is planning to add two natural gas turbines generating electricity to its heating plant, improving its efficiency to 75% (from 49%) and reducing their amount of coal burned by 30-50%....
I wrote back in November about how I'd really like a small diesel hybrid pickup truck. It seemed unlikely then, as no one was talking about diesel hybrids, but that hurdle has been cleared: several automakers, including Ford, Mercedes, and...
This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at ways to reduce energy costs, and visits a Cooperative Extension class on fixing up older windows that I attended earlier this week. Mark Pierce explained that the best ways to save energy are to...
As gas prices have lurched around and my loyal 1996 Saturn's odometer has clicked past 162,000 miles, I've been thinking a lot about what I'd like my next vehicle to be. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist, though I'm pretty certain all...
A few months ago Cornell withdrew their plans for massive wind power generation on Mount Pleasant, rumor has it because of FAA opposition. At last Thursday's Town Board meeting, the subject of wind power was back on the agenda, thanks...
My water heater's been less and less happy over the past few years, and I'd been thinking about solar energy anyway, so I called Performance Systems Contracting to take a look at possible solar water or power here. (They'd done...
This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at energy-efficiency improvements in houses, visiting Freeville resident Derek Osborne, who sounds like he's doing about the same work to his 1920s house as I had done to mine a couple of years ago, and...
One of my earlier pieces about the importance of energy drew a comment about things we can do now. Cornell Cooperative Extension will be hosting energy conservation workshops on Wednesday, October 26th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm and again on Thursday,...
Unlike Dryden's 1968 General Plan or the currently proposed Comprehensive Plan, both of which looked at the recent past and projected change (and responses to change) based on more of the same, another plan for Tompkins County considers a future...
It's not quite in Dryden, but 50 years of Milliken Station, now AES Cayuga, seems worth noting. Despite the magic of the grid, it's reasonable to suspect that electricity generated there in Lansing may have been used in Dryden. In...
I always thought that state colleges and universities were supposed to be paid for by the state, but it's become clearer and clearer lately that the state, or at least the people currently running it, doesn't like that idea much....
This morning's Journal is fairly quiet about Dryden, but has lots of coverage about how higher gas prices might affect municipalities and school districts in Tompkins County, adding further to budget challenges. If you'd like to work on ways to...
I speculated last year about the possible impact of $3.00 a gallon gas on Dryden. This morning, thanks to Hurricana Katrina, it's here. Gas prices with improvised 3s. (I also have an aunt and a cousin with family in Gulfport,...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with a profile of Rob Bailey, a US Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel serving in Iraq. The article is largely an interview with his brother, John Bailey, also of Dryden, and echoes Bailey's Memorial Day address....
Back in April, I sent a letter to Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, a letter to Senator Jim Seward, and a letter to Governor George Pataki about the State Legislature's apparent grab for the NYSERDA piggybank. While the legislature enjoyed talking about...
I woke up uncomfortably warm at 1:20am to find my ceiling fan had stopped and the battery backup for the computers downstairs was beeping. All the lights in nearby houses were dark, as were the streetlights at the Route 13/366...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that Cornell has decided to stop its study of putting wind turbines on Mount Pleasant, publishing a brief press release to that effect after notifying residents at a meeting Thursday night. According to Simeon Moss,...
Now that I've finally finished what happened at the EMC meeting on the Cornell wind farm, I'd like to report what happened at the April Dryden Town Board meeting the next night. During citizen's privilege, Bill Openshaw read a prepared...
Continuing with the comments at the EMC meeting about Cornell's Mount Pleasant wind farm proposal, Mount Pleasant resident John Semmler asked Lanny Joyce, Manager of Engineering, Planning, and Energy Management in Cornell's Utilities Department about infrasonic noise, noise below the...
After Lanny Joyce, Manager of Engineering, Planning, and Energy Management in Cornell's Utilities Department, gave a presentation at the April 13th Tompkins County Environmental Management Council, it opened up to questions from the council and the public. Steve Nicholson, the...
Lanny Joyce, Manager of Engineering, Planning, and Energy Management in Cornell's Utilities Department and a member of the Kyoto Task Team, presented at the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council meeting last Wednesday after residents spoke at the beginning of the...
Cornell's proposed windmills on Mount Pleasant, near the WHCU radio tower, encountered a lot of opposition last week. I missed the informational meeting at the Varna Community Center, so I went to the Environmental Management Council meeting last Wednesday instead....
In this past week's Dryden Courier, Tony Hall asks "how green will the new building be?" He reports on NYSERDA's possible financial support for an energy-efficient Town Hall, and related green-building projects at the SPCA and the Town of Lansing...
The Ithaca Journal's editorial starts as "the raspy gee-gaw call of a male redwing blackbird echoed in a Dryden marsh," writing about the studies of local bird populations done by the Birdhouse Network, a project of the Cornell Lab of...
I've been fond of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for a while now. I first heard about them when I had work done on my house and received a rebate, but they also audited that work...
On Monday afternoon, I went to see a presentation up on Mount Pleasant that may hold some promise for both agriculture and open space in Dryden. Cornell scientists have been working with various kinds of grass, working to find ways...
Cornell University will be giving an overview of a wind power generation study to the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council meeting on April 13th, which starts at 7:00pm with the Cornell presentation around 8:00pm. The meeting will be held at...
This morning's Ithaca Journal spends its editorial on the difficulties of sustainable power including hydropower and wind. It doesn't mention Dryden, but in some ways it echoes recent resistance to windmills here. Planner George Frantz, who has been the consultant...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on the windmills Cornell has proposed building on Mount Pleasant, which could provide 10-15% of the university's electricity. Neighbors are less than happy, and the Courier reports that 15 of them signed...
This morning's Ithaca Journal is pretty quiet about Dryden-specific news, but absentee ballots for village elections are now available from the Tompkins County Board of Elections. Requests for mailed applications must be received by March 8th, though applications may be...
This morning's Journal mentions a project I've heard rumored but not seen in print, the possibility of Cornell setting up windmills in Dryden and elsewhere in Tompkins County. The University is doing tests now in Dryden, "though Joyce declined to...
In this morning's Ithaca Journal, Dryden County Legislator Mike Lane argues for lower pay raises than those supported in a competing plan: "Legislators work hard," Lane said. "You can't expect them to work for nothing. On the other hand, we...
Today's Journal reports on Governor Pataki's apparently sustained veto of $325,000 in aid to TC3. The article left me wondering if the college aid was included in a list of vetoes the Senate couldn't override because the Assembly hadn't overridden...
Today's Ithaca Journal reports on the indictment of a Lower Creek Road man for DWI and vehicular manslaughter in an accident last June on Fall Creek Road. A power line break along the Town of Dryden/Town of Ithaca line blacked...
There's not much Dryden news in today's Journal, but there's a fair amount that applies to Dryden in some way. The Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) is starting up again for the winter, and the Tompkins County Office for the...
This morning's Journal has very little specific to Dryden, but does include an article on a subject that affects us and a letter from the town on that subject: energy. Last week, the Journal published an article on a 15%...
Several houses in Tompkins County were part of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's 2004 Green Buildings Open House. I didn't make it to the Tompkins County SPCA, which is usually more accessible than private houses, but I did get to...
It's another quiet day for Dryden news. The only Dryden-specific item in today's Ithaca Journal is a letter from Dryden resident Steve Scott defending President Bush on both his recent statements about John Kerry's service in Vietnam and Bush's service...
Thanks to New York's protracted budget delay, local schools are still wondering what aid they'll be getting as they prepare to set their tax rates. Dryden School Board President Rachel Dickinson and Business Administrator Teresa Carnrike are both quoted in...
I saw this poster at the McDonalds/Mobil station in the Village of Dryden on Thursday: Poster advertising Tompkins County's first solar-powered school Following the web link in the poster took me to a description of how this works. Like other...
When I was at Town Hall a couple of weeks ago, there was talk that local gas stations had been told to order '3' signs to be ready just in case gas went over $3.00 a gallon. That thought has...
County Legislator Mike Lane is quoted in today's Ithaca Journal on the state's Empire Zone program, which has left Tompkins County as one of 11 counties without one. Lane says that "it would be different if only really economically depressed...
Today's Ithaca Journal reports that the county legislature's Planning, Development and Environmental Quality Committee tabled a motion calling for the county to get 5% of its energy from renewable sources by 2008. The reason: unknown costs. Though Senior Planner Heather...
This week's Dryden Courier includes an article on Dryden Middle School's production of Fiddler on the Roof, which will be performed April 22nd through 24th at 7pm each night. On a similar note, the "Mind over Matters" column looks at...
I mentioned Dryden High School seniors Sam Glidden and Jared Delahanty's hydrogen car project back in January, when the Ithaca Journal covered it. Now I've stumbled on their site covering the project, which has much more detail on the car...
Thirteen people, including four Dryden residents, met last night at Rogues Harbor in Lansing as part of the Sustainable Tompkins project. This was the first meeting of the "salon", which will gather every Monday there through May 3. (There are...
I wrote earlier about how we'd had an energy audit followed by major energy improvements to our house last year. Monday night, I got a call from the Energy Star folks saying that they wanted to take a look at...
I reported a few weeks ago on the energy efficiency improvements we made to the house last summer, and that our gas meter at that point looked very promising. A new bill has arrived, and the results are in: we...
As the weather doesn't show much sign of warming up, it's a good time to note that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) is available. The criteria for HEAP funding are on their web site, noting: New York's benefit program...
Thanks in part to New York State, my 74-year-old house finally has substantial insulation and a new furnace. When we bought the house, it had been a rental property for years. The owners had lived in it briefly at some...