By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
LYNDONVILLE – Our view in this photo in the 1930s shows a huge pile of apples behind crates at the Lyndonville Canning Company.
One of the plant’s products was applesauce, which was sold with a label bearing the letters VB. This stood for Visher Brothers, who owned the canning factory. The two letters also doubled for “Very Best.”
The 401 national parks are closed and 21,000 parks employees are furloughed. A bill offered by House Republicans would fund the parks and also the National Institute of Health.
The Democratic majority in the Senate refuses to consider a piecemeal approach to funding the federal government.
Congressman Chris Collins, R-Clarence, issued this statement on Wednesday evening following the rejected offer from the Senate.
“Tonight, the House continued to work and offer reasonable and commonsense solutions to the partial government shutdown by passing bills to fully fund the National Institute of Health for critical research and open all national parks and museums.
“The American people should not be short changed because Washington can’t get its act together.
“Unfortunately, Senate Democrats continue to slam the door on our efforts to reopen the government by refusing to talk to House Republicans and negotiate a responsible budget solution.
“Congress must stop putting itself ahead of the American people. I continue to encourage my colleagues to voluntarily suspend or donate their pay, as I have, during a shutdown and refuse the special Obamacare exemptions for Congress, its staff and the White House.”
Press release, NYSDOT
New York State Department of Transportation today announced two paving projects that are taking place in Orleans County this month.
Work begins this week on a project to resurface Route 104 from the Niagara County Line to Knowlesville Road in the town of Ridgeway through mid-October.Traffic will be reduced to alternating single-lane travel.
Beginning next week, work begins to resurface the eastbound travel lanes on the Lake Ontario State Parkway between Route 237 (including interchange ramps) and Route 272 in the town of Kendall. Work should be complete by late-October. Traffic will be reduced to a single lane in the eastbound direction.The ramps will temporarily close while being worked on.
Photo by Tom Rivers
I’ve wanted to share more from last week’s quick trip to the Albany area, but it’s been a particularly busy week. I hope to have articles about the Million-Dollar Staircase in the State Capitol building, and the impressive Civil War monuments in Ballston Spa and Saratoga.
For now, I want to share a photo of three elevator plaques from the World Trade Center. They are among several 9/11 exhibits in the State Capitol that also include an American flag from the WTC site, and pieces of steel from the fallen towers. There is also a door from a New York City fire truck, a fire hose that was recovered, badges from the state Office of Tax and Finance, and other artifacts from that tragic day.
When the exhibits were unveiled on Sept. 11, 2012, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued this statement: “Communities throughout New York, our nation, and the entire world felt the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. This year, on the 11th anniversary, we remember the thousands of innocent victims and honor the countless heroes who responded on that day and in the months that followed. This exhibition will serve as a way to educate New Yorkers and those who visit our state about the tragedy that unfolded on September 11, as well as remind each of us about the bravery and courage of our first responders.”
Photo by Tom Rivers – Some beef cattle are pictured in Carlton back in April.
The federal budget isn’t the only deadline that passed on Sept. 30 without an agreement in Congress. The legislative body also failed to act on the Farm Bill, which sets the nation’s agricultural policy.
The Farm Bill is usually renewed in five-year agreements. Congress was unable to approve a five-year deal in 2012 and instead opted for a one-year extension. That expired on Monday.
“Only this time, the likelihood of a one-year extension seems remote,” said Dean Norton, the New York Farm Bureau president. “This only raises the uncertainty level on our farms that are looking to plan ahead for next year as the current harvest season enters its final stages. How does any business set a budget, purchase supplies, or make hiring decisions without having some idea of what governmental policies are in place that have a direct impact on what they do day-in and day-out?”
Norton is in Washington, D.C., urging lawmakers to move on the Farm Bill.
“Without it, our dairies are put in an especially vulnerable position if volatile milk prices swing too low,” he said. “This will continue to leave many of New York’s important fruit and vegetable growers without a reasonable safety net as well. In addition, a number of other cost saving reforms and vital programs will be cast aside if there is no movement to secure a responsible farm policy in the next few months.”
The Farm Bill doesn’t just affect farmers. Consumers could see higher prices and reduced access to local food, Norton said.
Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said Farm Bureau members throughout the country are “deeply concerned over the political challenges that are making it next to impossible for Congress to reach a compromise on important legislation.”
Farm Bureau wants to see a Farm Bill that provides a safety net for farm products and other risk management tools as farmers plan for next year’s crop, Stallman said in a statement.
“Farm Bureau is encouraging Congress and President Obama to work together to get the budget process in order, get our national economy back on track and move forward on legislation important to agriculture, such as the Farm Bill, immigration and tax reform and waterways funding,” he said.
Courtesy of CHA – JFJ Holdings added a turning lane leading to the drive-through based on a recommendation from the Orleans County Planning Board.
MEDINA – Dunkin’ Donuts is working to bring a store to Medina at the southeast corner of the routes 31A and 63 intersection. The site is outside the village in the town of Shelby.
Brian Bouchard, assistant project engineer for the CHA firm in Syracuse, presented a preliminary plan to the Shelby Planning Board on Tuesday. He expects the formal site plan to go before the Orleans County Planning Board on Oct. 24 with the town giving a final vote in early November.
The site is vacant and would have a 2,000-square-foot building, just like the project in Albion. That site on South Main Street next to Tim Hortons was given a final vote of approval tonight from the Village of Albion Planning Board.
Bouchard said JFJ Holdings will work to close on the property in the next two weeks. JFJ is based in North Andover, Mass. The company owns about 200 Dunkin’ Donuts, Bouchard said.
Both the Albion and Medina sites are close to two state roads. Medina’s would be at the intersection of 31A and 63 while Albion is on Route 98, four buildings north of Route 31.
The Albion site includes a big warehouse just south of the railroad tracks. Charles Breuilly of Albion owns the site. Bouchard said the company will likely have to do some asbestos abatement before the building comes down. He would like the site to be cleared in a month so contractors can work on building the parking lot and the foundation so the shell of the building can be up before winter.
If the weather cooperates, Bouchard said it’s possible the Albion store could open in January. If the weather slows down construction, the store may not open until March or April, he said.
The site includes driveways on Main and Platt streets. The Platt Street driveway will line up directly across a driveway that leads to the parking lot for CRFS.
The site plan was tweaked after last Thursday’s County Planning Board meeting when the board recommended JFJ add a turning lane near the Platt Street driveway. The lane will accommodate cars waiting to turn into the drive-through lane. Planners worried there could be a backup of cars waiting to get into the drive-through.
If the parking lot and driveways are congested, JFJ is willing to add a three-way stop near the drive-through to help facilitate traffic flow, Bouchard said. Village officials and the company will see how the site works before committing to the three-way stop.
“If it becomes an issue, we’ll do something,” Bouchard told the Village Planning Board tonight.
The new Albion store will have 30 seats inside, 46 parking spaces, a 230-square-foot freezer next to the building, and a drive-through lane that can accommodate 10 vehicles.
The site plan for Medina will be a little different because the site isn’t as long and narrow as the Albion location. The building, however, will be identical, Bouchard said.
He expects the Medina store will open about a month after Albion.
Press release, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced the New York State Tax Relief Commission that will identify way to reduce the state’s property and business taxes to provide relief to New York’s homeowners and businesses.
The Commission will be co-chaired by former Gov. George Pataki and former State Comptroller Carl McCall. The Commission’s recommendations will be due by Dec. 6, for inclusion in the governor’s 2014 State of the State message.
“The responsible budgets and fiscal reforms put in place over the last three years have put the state in a position to seriously tackle the ‘tax capital’ mentality that for too long has driven businesses and families from New York,” Gov. Cuomo said. “The new Tax Relief Commission includes two of our state’s most respected leaders, former Gov. Pataki and Comptroller Carl McCall, as well as other highly-qualified New Yorkers who will examine new ways that we can reduce the burdensome taxes facing our businesses and our families, and by doing so make our state more competitive and fuel economic growth.”
The Tax Relief Commission is in addition to the governor’s efforts to streamline New York’s tax code to make the state more affordable and competitive, ultimately creating jobs and helping grow the economy. The new Tax Relief Commission will collaborate with the Tax Reform and Fairness Commission, launched last December to conduct a comprehensive review of the State’s taxation policy, including corporate, sales and personal income taxation and make recommendations to improve and simplify the current tax system.
The formation of the Tax Relief Commission is enabled by three years of fiscal integrity and responsible budgeting that puts the state in a position to examine new ways to provide tax relief to New Yorkers. Actions taken over the past three years to restore fiscal integrity to the budget process include:
Three budgets that held state spending to 2 percent or below;
• The elimination of automatic inflators that previously accounted for unsustainable increases in Medicaid and education spending;
• Tier VI pension reform that will save taxpayers an estimated $80 billion over the next thirty years;
• A state labor force reduced from 137,000 to 120,000;
• Three responsible state labor contracts that will save taxpayers $450 million.
Building on these fiscal reforms, the governor is charging the Tax Relief Commission with identifying new strategies to deliver tax relief to homeowners, renters, and businesses alike. The Tax Relief Commission’s recommendations may include additional property tax relief, business tax relief proposals to encourage job creation and economic growth, as well as other ideas to reduce the tax burden on families and businesses that will make New York State more competitive with other states.
The governor’s actions recognize that New York has been viewed as a high tax state for too many years, hurting the state’s competitiveness and driving businesses and families from the state.
The members of the Tax Relief Commission include:
George Pataki, former Governor of New York State
Carl McCall, Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees
Dall Forsythe, former New York State Budget Director
Jim Wetzler, Director, Deloite Tax LLP and former New York State Tax Commissioner
Heather Briccetti, President & CEO of New York State Business Council
Bill Rudin, CEO Rudin Management, President of the Association for Better New York
Jack Quinn, President of Erie Community College
Denis M. Hughes, Senior Advisor at Brown & Weinraub, PLLC
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – The Buffalo Touch, a polka band, performs on Saturday during the annual Accordion Fest, which moved from Hickory Ridge Country Club in Holley to the parking lot next to the Medina Senior Center and the Medina Railroad Museum.
Four groups performed during the festival, which was organized by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council. In addition to the Buffalo Touch, C’est Bon Cajon Band, Accordions ’Round the World and Roland Demos performed.
The event was part of a busy day in Medina, which also hosted Ale in Autumn, the dedication of a firefighters’ memorial, and the YMCA’s Mud Run.
Provided Photo – Medina resident Shirley Bentley is Orleans/Niagara BOCES Substitute of the Year.
Press release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
Shirley Bentley is no stranger to Orleans/Niagara BOCES; she had worked for them for 38 years. She was a special-education teacher aide at many of the BOCES sites. When she retired in 2011, she found that missed the students a lot.
“I love the kids and that is why I keep coming back here to sub,” she says. “How many jobs can you go to where you look forward to going to them? The staff at BOCES is wonderful and it was a great honor to be recognized by them with this award.
POINT BREEZE – One of the benefits of Point Breeze landing the title as “Ultimate Fishing Town” is all of the free advertising on the World Fishing Network, which runs an annual online contest to declare the top fishing community in the country.
The World Fishing Network has produced a clip about Point Breeze and its fishing prowess. The network interviewed Mike Waterhouse, the county’s sportsfishing coordinator, and Sharon Narburgh, owner of Narby’s Superette and Tackle.
The segment shows local waterways and some of our historic sites and impressive architecture, including the Orleans County Courthouse. (Click here to see the video.)
WFN crew members were in Point Breeze on June 26 to present a trophy to Carlton town officials and a $25,000 check to promote the fishery. Several businesses have already displayed big banners, declaring Point Breeze as the “Ultimate Fishing Town.”
ALBION – The economic development agencies for Orleans County and New York State are each providing some help for Claims Recovery Financial Services to move into the former Chase call center and add 150 jobs.
The company already employs about 600 people in Orleans County at the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina and next door to Chase in Albion.
Empire State Development has offered CRFS an $872,500 incentive package to assist with job creation and retention, which includes a $472,500 wage tax credit and a $400,000 capital grant to help pay for new computers, desks and other office furniture.
The Orleans Economic Development Agency approved a $250,000 low-interest loan from the Orleans Revolving Loan Fund. That money will help CRFS with some of the upfront costs for creating the new work spaces. The EDA also will approve a sales tax abatement for the equipment purchases.
The Chase building at 231 East Ave. has been acquired by Roger Hungerford and his development company, Talis Equity. Hungerford owns the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina.
The EDA board of directors hasn’t met to discuss a tax abatement plan for the building, which is assessed at $4,046,000. The EDA approved a 10-year abatement plan for Chase in 2011. That first year Chase didn’t have to pay any taxes to the local governments. With each following year, the company would pay 10 percent more of a $4,046,000 assessment until the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) expired in 2021.
Once Chase shut down the Albion site, the PILOT was cancelled and the property returned to the tax rolls at 100 percent of its assessed value.
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – They were popular during the Revolutionary War, tall wooden poles typically put up in town squares. They were painted red on top, a sign of defiance against British rule.
In 1982, the people of Gaines and the Cobblestone Society Museum erected a replica Liberty Pole next to Farmer’s Hall on Route 98, just south of Route 104.
I’ve noticed the pole before, but I didn’t know what it symbolized until Saturday, when I stopped by the museum for its “Traders of the Lost Arts” event. A lady demonstrating flax processing clued me in on Liberty Poles. She said they were popular in New England. There aren’t too many around anymore.
The Liberty Pole in Gaines includes a carving of a bald eagle. The pole went up in 1982, “The Year of the Eagle,” according to a marker by the pole.
Press release, Congressman Chris Collins
Congressman Chris Collins, R-Clarence, has asked House leadership to suspend his own pay during the duration of the partial shutdown of the federal government. Late last night, Collins sent a letter to House administration requesting that his pay be withheld for the length of the shutdown.
This comes after Collins announced growing support for his bill that would suspend pay for all members of Congress during a government shutdown. Eighteen members of the House have signed onto the Government Shutdown Fairness Act. Members of Congress are paid $174,000 a year.
“The American people sent us to Washington to do a job,” Collins said. “If we cannot live up to that obligation, we should not be taking a pay check, a pay check that is funded by the taxes paid by our fellow hardworking Americans. If the federal government is shut down, members of Congress should not get paid, and we should not be held to a different standard when it comes to Obamacare, either.”
Last night, Collins voted for a measure that fully funds the government and eliminates any special treatment and exemptions from Obamacare for Congress and its staff, as well as the President and his appointees. The Senate refused to act on the proposal.
“The American people deserve more from their Congress and it is time, as members of Congress, that we put ourselves at the back of the line and put our constituents first.”
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally signed an expanded Niagara Wine Trail into law, a measure that could be a significant benefit to Orleans County.
The Niagara Wine Trail ran along Route 104 mostly in Niagara County. It reached into Orleans to include the Leonard Oakes Estate Winery near the western end of Ridgeway. But it couldn’t keep moving east, without a change in the state law.
Several groups, including the wine industry, have tried for years to extend the wine trail. The State Senate was the first to go for it, but the Assembly didn’t agree until this year.
The Assembly and Senate both voted in favor of the measure. It seemed a done deal back in June. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature seemed a no-brainer.
This trail is expected to be a tourism boost for Western New York. It will stretch from Niagara Falls through Orleans and into Monroe County. It also will run south from the Falls area into Erie County.
I’ve been watching this for nearly four months now, wondering why it was taking the governor so long, especially with all of his talk about creating jobs, promoting New York and agriculture, and the need for more state attention for Western New York. We lost the summer, a chance to rev up our tourism engine while this sat on his desk.
The governor finally summoned the strength to sign this last week.
The legislation expands and renames the Niagara Wine Trail system. The new configuration, which takes effect immediately, extends the trail across all of Orleans County and into western Monroe County, encompassing more wineries.
We in Orleans can piggyback on this trail and create other trails. A “Cobblestone Trail” on 104 makes a lot of sense. We might consider trails for farm markets, Medina sandstone and perhaps other historic sites.
We can tap into the tourism promotion dollars in Monroe County, Rochester, Buffalo and Erie County. This could be big for Orleans.
The trail will run on Route 104 between the Ferry Avenue/Route 62 intersection in Niagara Falls and Route 390 in Monroe County. That will be known as “Niagara Wine Trail Ridge.”
The complement to the Ridge route is the “Niagara Wine Trail Lake,” which follows Route 269 north from its intersection with Route 104 at the Niagara-Orleans County Line to Route 18. It then runs west to Route 425, then south to Route 62 and along that route until its intersection with I-290 in Amherst.
Seventeen wineries are on the trail now and more are under development. The money to pay for additional signage on an expanded trail system has already been earmarked through a 2011 Regional Economic Development Council Award. The expansion imposes no new costs to taxpayers.
The governor also signed legislation for three other wine trails, giving the state 16 such trails.
The state expanded the “Shawangunk East Wine Trail” in Ulster County. New York established the “Adirondack Coast Wine Trail” that runs from the Town of Peru into the Town of Plattsburgh. The “Chautauqua Wine Trail” will be renamed the “Lake Erie Wine Country Trail.” The route will remain unchanged.
The state also approved new legislation allowing New York wineries to sell wine from roadside farm markets if the product was made within 20 miles of the roadside farm market.
File photo by Tom Rivers – Tom Roster, manager of the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, stands outside the new visitor center and administration building on Casey Road in Basom in this file photo from April. The refuge closed today because of the government shutdown.
BASOM – Want to go see the birds or go for a nature walk at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge? Too bad. The refuge is closed as part of the impasse in Congress over a new budget.
Farmers and landowners also can’t access the staff at the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which both have offices in Albion.
A new federal fiscal year started at midnight without a budget in place. Many federal employees have been furloughed.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is very much aware that any lapse in appropriations imposes hardships on those we serve,” the government agency stated. “Due to this event, the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge will be closed to the public.”
Refuge staff will respond to emergencies regarding human life or property, but public access to the 10,808-acre refuge is prohibited and fish and wildlife management activities and public programs will be cancelled during the government shutdown. This includes all recreational activities like hunting, fishing, bird watching and hiking. The refuge is in the towns of Shelby and Alabama.
