File photo by Tom Rivers: Village officials worry about pedestrian safety along Maple Ridge Road, which has seen several new businesses open in recent years.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 September 2017 at 9:05 pm
MEDINA – Village officials believed they made a compelling case a year ago for the state to approve a grant for sidewalks and a pedestrian bridge over Oak Orchard Creek on Maple Ridge Road.
Medina submitted a grant application last year for the funding, but was denied. (The Village of Holley was approved for a $1.78 million TAP grant.) The TAP – Transportation Alternatives Grant – is 80 percent federally funded with a 20 percent local share. The funding is from the federal government, but awarded by the state.
To improve its chances for the next time funding is available, Medina is going to develop a plan for sidewalks on Maple Ridge Ridge. These won’t be sidewalk replacements, but new walkways for what has become a busy commercial strip with many residences nearby.
The Village Board agreed on Monday to work with a consultant from Wendel to develop a plan for the sidewalk grant. Adam Tabelski, a former Medina mayor, will work with the village on the project. Wendel has offered to do the planning work for free, Mayor Mike Sidari said.
“We want to have a plan in place for when funding comes up again,” the mayor said today.
The state a year ago welcomed proposals from municipalities for $98.7 million to support bicycle, pedestrian, multi-use path and transportation-related programs as well as projects that reduce congestion and help to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
Medina wanted some of those funds to make a busy thoroughfare safer for pedestrians. There are sidewalks near the Route 63 intersection on Maple Ridge Road, but most of the road lacks sidewalks from Bates Road to the former Ames plaza.
Sidari said many people walk along Maple Ridge Road or use motorized wheelchairs. He said the sidewalks would improve safety for many local residents.
The village worked with Labella Associates in Rochester to put together a grant application a year ago. The initial cost estimates were about $1.3 million to extend sidewalks from Bates Road to the Ames plaza. That included a pedestrian bridge over the Oak Orchard Creek by the Mariachi De Oro restaurant.
Sidari said Maple Ridge has become busier with GCC, manufacturing plants, chain stores and a residential community. The Orleans Economic Development Agency also is working to develop a hotel on Maple Ridge next to the Pride Pak vegetable processing plant.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 September 2017 at 2:19 pm
MEDINA – The Village of Medina and Town of Shelby are making a trade that officials say will help both municipalities by saving them from purchasing equipment.
Shelby is giving Medina a lawn mower that Mayor Mike Sidari said is worth about $4,000 to $5,000. It will be used to mow some of the playing fields in village parks.
The village is giving Shelby a generator from the water tank. That generator isn’t being used.
Sidari said the trade is an example of the two municipalities working together.
In other action during Monday’s Village Board meeting:
• Approved a project by local Boy Scout Travis Gotts. He wants to repair two signs that say “The Medina Area Association of Churches Welcomes You.” He also will be putting up for new signs for the MAAC at the intersection of East Center Street and Bates Road, West Center Street and Salt Works Road, Ricky Place on Maple Ridge Road, and possibly one on Main Street by Orleans Ford. The wooden signs will be painted. Gotts is doing the project to earn his Life Scout rank.
• Mayor Mike Sidari named members of a Wastewater Committee to study the capacity and future needs at the sewer plant. Sidari will serve on the committee along with former DPW Superintendent Peter Houseknecht, Jim Whipple from the Orleans Economic Development Agency and an alternate, Gabrielle Barone of the Orleans EDA.
• The board set 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. as the trick or treating hours on Halloween, which is Oct. 31.
• The board agreed to have the police department help with traffic control during Beggar’s Night in downtown Medina from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 27.
• Approved hiring Brett Goheen to work as a sewage treatment plant operator.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 September 2017 at 10:45 am
Photo by Tom Rivers: Medina firefighters were part of a mass casualty drill on Sept. 16 in Barre.
MEDINA – The Medina Fire Department is adding four firefighter positions that will be mostly paid for with a federal grant.
The new recruits will go to the firefighter training academy in February and are expected to be working full-time in Medina in May, said Fire Chief Tom Lupo.
Medina on Aug. 31 was approved for a $530,661 to boost the staffing for the department that handles about 3,000 calls a year. The new firefighters will reduce overtime costs in the department, and also allow Medina to improve service, especially when ambulances and staff are occupied with transports, taken patients from Medina to hospitals in Buffalo or Rochester, Lupo said.
“There has been a huge increase in call volume,” he said. We also have longer travel times to Rochester and Buffalo hospitals. This will really take care of some of the overtime.”
The grant pays 100 percent of the training and equipment for the four new firefighters, and covers 65 percent of the salaries the first year. That percentage will decrease over three years. The fourth year, the village will have to pay 100 percent of the cost.
However, Lupo said Medina isn’t obligated to keep the four firefighters after the grant expires in three years.
The department currently has 16 firefighters and will go to 20. Lupo said Medina is vulnerable to losing some of its staff to larger departments. Three firefighters have left recently, with two going to Batavia and one to Lockport.
U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced the grant for Medina on Aug. 31.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER), established by FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security, was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities.
The four new firefighters in Medina will support the department’s “Fast Team,” who are responsible not only for fires in Medina but also address fires outside of their district within Orleans County. The funding will also help Medina staff engines with more than two people.
The Fire Department will have its annual open house this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with games focusing on fire prevention, a food truck from Mariachi De Oro and a visit from the Mercy Flight. The community will also have a chance to meet the Medina firefighters.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 September 2017 at 7:28 am
‘We are rapidly getting to the point where there is no space left.’ – Marty Busch, Medina code enforcement officer
MEDINA – The downtown business district on Main and Center streets has enjoyed a renaissance the past decade, with many new businesses opening in the village’s historic commercial buildings.
“We are rapidly getting to the point where there is no space left,” Marty Busch, the Medina code enforcement officer, told the Village Board on Monday.
Medina held a public hearing on creating a Business Overlay District. The board followed the Planning Board’s recommendation to put the overlay on West Avenue, from the Walsh Hotel near the railroad tracks to Lee Place, an alley next to St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
This new option will allow businesses to set up on West Avenue without spot zoning. Busch said the overlay district would allow offices, frame shops, physician and dentist offices, and other businesses that are not considered high impact in a residential area.
The businesses would be required to have some screening by neighboring residential properties. The businesses also will have to go before the Planning Board for certificates of appropriateness for any signs and exterior building alterations.
Village officials favored West Avenue over other spots for the overlay district because it’s so close to the downtown district. That makes it contiguous and easily walkable, Busch said.
The overlay district gives businesses a new option right by the central business district. Without the overlay district, village officials were concerned some new businesses might start popping up all over the village, making the businesses appear to be haphazardly located.
“This helps to focus the central business district,” Busch said.
Photos by Tom Rivers: The old Medina High School on Catherine Street now has a zoning option to be redeveloped for residential use. The school is currently used by the Calvary Tabernacle Church, Orleans County Christian School and for a clothing depot run by the Medina Area Association of Churches.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2017 at 3:03 pm
MEDINA – The Village Board approved zoning on Monday that would allow for residential redevelopment of the old Medina High School on Catherine Street and the Sacred Heart church complex on Ann Street.
The new “Planned Residential Development” zoning allows for adaptive reuse of larger structures located within a residential area. The new zoning is a “floating zoning classification” for the two sites, which means the zoning wouldn’t be designated unless a project to repurpose the large buildings becomes a reality.
Code Enforcement Officer Marty Busch said prospective developers have looked at both sites. But without the planned residential development zoning, the buildings couldn’t be converted into apartments or condos, Busch said.
“Without (the zoning), they are going to sit, sit, sit,” Busch said about the two sites. “It will be hard to sell them.”
There have been potential buyers for the Sacred Heart site, “but they walked away because of the zoning,” he said.
The Sacred Heart church complex on Ann Street also is included in the “Planned Residential Development” zoning for Medina.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Craig Lacy, vice president and treasurer of the Medina Historical Society, is pictured with a school bell from the Medina Academy. The bell was made in 1850 in Buffalo. The Medina Academy opened in 1851.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2017 at 1:27 pm
MEDINA – A bell from 1850 that rang to welcome school children and also to send them home likely will be returning to the school district to be displayed prominently.
The 700-pound bell was donated to the Medina Historical Society last month by Carl Petronio of Albion. He kept the bell for 50 years after he and his father found it in the basement of a burnt-out school building in Medina. Carl Petronio Construction Company was hired in 1967 to clear out the debris from the badly damaged school building.
Petronio last month donated the bell to the Historical Society. He would like it to be displayed prominently in the community.
This image shows the Medina Free Academy, which opened in 1851 with the average attendance of about 300 to 400 students. The bell tower is at top.
Craig Lacy, vice president and treasurer of the Historical Society, thinks the bell should be set up at the current school district, perhaps in the high school or outside in an enclosed display.
He met with the Board of Education last week, and the board was receptive to having the bell come home to the district. Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent, said Medina is considering how to best display it.
Putting it in the vestibule by the high school auditorium would protect it from the elements and vandals, and also have it in a spot where it would be seen by many people, Kruzynski said. That is one possibility for the bell’s location.
Lacy didn’t know the bell still existed until last month. Right now, it’s in the basement of Lacy’s NAPA Auto Parts store in Medina. He was happy to show the bell today to a news reporter, and even rang the bell.
“It’s a great artifact,” he said. “There are a lot of great possibility for this for this bell because it still does work.”
He thinks it rests on its original wooden carriage. He imagines the bell could be rung during commencement or the first day of school.
The cast bronze bell was made in Buffalo in 1850.
The bell has power symbolically for the community. When the Medina Academy opened in 1851, it was only the third school to offer free education for students. Most academies then were tuition-based, Lacy said.
“It really stands for something, this bell,” he said.
The State Legislature in 1849 made a special act to allow for the incorporation of the Medina Free Academy. The Legislature empowered Medina to tax residents to support the school and also to form a Board of Education to govern the school.
“This bell is an amazing acquisition for the community,” Lacy said. “It is a real, tangible artifact representing not only the roots of modern education in Medina, but also for all of Western New York as it sat atop only the third school in New York State to offer free secondary education to its residents.”
Provided photo: Medina High School Student Association members are excited for this Friday’s Food Truck Carnival.
Press Release, Medina Central School
MEDINA – Medina High School Student Association will be holding their Food Truck Carnival this Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. It is a community event and all are welcome to attend.
The event will be held, rain or shine, at the Clifford Wise Middle School by the pool entrance and will be featuring food trucks from Bad Ash BBQ, Buffalo’s Original Fried Dough, Barton’s Parkside Hots and Lugia’s Ice Cream.
There will also be carnival games to be played for 50 cents per ticket where you might have a chance of winning a prize. The games are sponsored by different student groups at the high school such as FFA and the Yearbook Club.
It should be a great night to enjoy with your family and friends and stick around to watch Medina’s own Mustangs take on the Barker/Roy-Hart team at 7:30 p.m. for the big homecoming game.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Some of the Rosario family members who work at Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill include, front row, from left: Leonel, Dolores, Isabel and Gladys. Back row: Sergio, Kevin and Donato.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 September 2017 at 9:24 am
Chamber names popular restaurant ‘Business of the Year’
MEDINA – Six years ago the Rosario family opened Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill on Maple Ridge Road, following nearly a year of renovations.
Six brothers – Francisco, Sergio, Martin, Pablo, Donato and Leonel – plus their sister Elba transformed the site. They rebuilt and expanded the kitchen and gave the dining area and grounds a new look. The restaurant showcases their Mexican culture.
The family members had all worked for years at local farms. They wanted to try their own business. Mariachi has been a stunning success, Orleans County Chamber of Commerce officials said in naming Mariachi its “Business of the Year.” The Rosarios and other Chamber award winners will be celebrated Friday during an awards banquet at the White Birth in Lyndonville.
The business has grown since it opened on Sept. 9, 2011, putting on an addition for a bar and bathrooms, an outdoor patio, and continued additions to the menu. Mariachi is waiting for its outdoor liquor license to cater to customers on the patio. Mariachi hired artists for Mexican-themed murals inside the restaurant, and has a mariachi band perform monthly.
Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill is located at 11417 Maple Ridge Rd.
The restaurant draws many out-of-county visitors to Medina for the authentic Mexican cuisine. Mariachi has been featured in very positive reviews from The Buffalo News and Buffalo Spree.
“Everything is fresh, that is our secret,” said Leonel Rosario, co-owner of the restaurant and the head cook and manager.
Mariachi has Mexican staples – burritos, tacos, fajitas – and much more, from seafood, to steak and pork dinners. They make their own fresh tortillas. Many of the spices used in the kitchen are imported from Mexico. Leonel uses many of his family’s recipes from the state of Oaxaca.
“When people ask me about Mariachi, I tell them we are a Mexican restaurant, but we are more than a Mexican restaurant,” said Leonel, 35, the youngest of the brothers.
Some of the family continues to work in local agriculture. The family also runs Monte Alban, a Mexican grocery and clothing store that opened about a decade ago on Route 31 in Medina. There is also a taco stand behind Monte Alban’s.
Leonel is a steady presence at mariachi. He is often joined by his wife Dolores and their children, Leonel Jr., 16; and Galilea, 15.
He was interviewed on Tuesday after the lunch rush.
Question: Are you surprised by the Chamber award?
Answer: Yes. When I found out I was really happy and excited. In the first year that we opened and I was back there cooking, sometimes we didn’t have any customers for a couple hours. You feel like, ‘What’s the point being back there?’ And then you keep pushing more, and doing more things and you start seeing more customers. You get better at things. When you see these kind of achievements happen, it makes you feel really proud and thankful. It gives you more energy to do things that you’ve already been thinking about.
For me it was like a payoff for 80-hour weeks. I’m used to being inside the kitchen.
Leonel Rosario is pictured at Mariachi De Oro with the main dining room behind him.
Question: Eighty hours a week for six years?
Answer: Yes. You get time off here and there. But like any other business owner you can never leave your place.
Question: You and your family are really quite a success story. I am impressed with the Rosarios. You guys seem to get along well, too.
Answer: For us it hasn’t been uphill all of the time. We have always run businesses together. We have respect for the older siblings. That’s a main reason why we’re able to work so well together. And also because we lived together as brothers and sisters with no parents.
There is plenty of Mariachi merchandise available at the restaurant.
Question: You mentioned you were working on an outdoor liquor license. How much more can you do here?
Answer: I want to have Mariachi del Oro be a place where you can have a real authentic Mexican meal plus have an awesome experience with what’s happening. I want us to have more than food. I want to bring my culture and our traditions into the place and share it with everybody.
We’re bringing in a mariachi band and let people come in and learn about other cultures. The mariachi band comes every month. I want to do more music. I want to do more events just so people can have fun.
Question: I noticed you do many public events, with dancing and food, despite a busy schedule.
Answer: That was always one of things that helped me to get out of my self zone and achieve more because I studied my dancing and the sharing of the Oaxaca and Mexican culture. Anytime they ask, I always go for it. It’s one of the things I also enjoy a lot. Dancing will always be one of my biggest hobbies.
Leonel and Dolores Rosario perform a Mexican folk dance in March 2016 at the “The Colonnade.” That site is the former Masonic Temple now used a cultural center by the World Life Institute.
Question: It’s pretty high energy dancing. You got to be in good shape to do that.
Answer: Yes. Before I could dance like it was nothing, but now that I’m 35, I’m started to feel it a little more. Me and my wife we have always loved dancing.
Question: Why has Medina worked for you, especially at this site?
Answer: I think Medina is the type of community where everybody is starting to think and bring so many more ideas that it is helping the town to bring people in from miles away. They are doing a lot of events, which I think is really nice for all of the business owners in the community. The MBA (Medina Business Association) comes up with all of these ideas.
With us, we wanted to join them and share with them what we can offer to help bring people into Medina.
Kevin Rosario cooks a big pot of pork on Tuesday for the dinner crowd at Mariachi’s. His cousin Sergio is in back working as the grill cook.
Question: It seems like this location by creek has also worked out well for you?
Answer: Yes. We found this place. We saw it and we liked it. We went for it. I think it’s a beautiful spot. We get people from the city.
Question: The name Mariachi De Oro, what does that mean?
Answer: The Golden Mariachi. That’s what it means. When we were thinking about what to name it, some us love mariachi music. I love mariachi music. We wanted to always bring a mariachi band to play. So that’s why it’s Mariachi De Oro.
The bar stools have saddles to sit on at Mariachi Del Oro.
MEDINA – Jalin Cooper leads the Mustangs onto the field Friday night in the first game played at the newly renovated Vets Park, which featured new turf and a large scoreboard.
The combined Medina/Lyndonville football team lost 34-6 to Newfane. (Click here to see highlights of the game and other local high school sports.)
The new scoreboard is much bigger and brighter the the former one at Vets Park.
Newfane sends the opening kickoff to the Mustangs.
A good-size crowd turned out for the game in Medina. The Mustangs will host Lackawanna on Sept. 22 and Roy-Hart/Barker on Sept. 29.
Courtesy of Village Planning Board: This shows how an addition to Takeform will look on the back of the current manufacturing site.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 September 2017 at 10:21 am
New pizzeria also proposed for former K & K Food Mart in Medina
MEDINA – The Village of Medina Planning Board gave its final OK to a 15,500-square-foot expansion for Takeform Architectural Graphics at 11601 Maple Ridge Rd.
The company is expanding its Maple Ridge Road manufacturing site. During a public hearing for the project, there was no opposition. Jim Whipple, chief executive officer for the Orleans Economic Development Agency, said the agency supports the project and the type of development sought for the Medina Business Park.
“We are fully supportive of Takeform’s project,” Whipple said.
Takeform moved to the former Trek building in Medina as part of an expansion about four years ago at 11601 Maple Ridge Rd. The company continues to grow and is looking to add 50 jobs over the next three years, village officials said.
Takeform specializes in signage design and architectural graphics, including wayfinding design and interior & exterior signage for healthcare, offices, educational institutions and other customers.
As part of the new expansion, Takeform will add 40 parking spaces. It will also plant 10 trees.
• Planners on Tuesday also accepted the site plan application for a pizzeria at 11360 Maple Ridge Rd., the former K & K Food Mart and gas station.
Marc Massaro and James Bitsas are working to establish Cusimano’s Pizzeria at the site, which is owned by Reid Petroleum at the intersection of West Avenue Extension.
Massaro and Bitsas are proposing to add an awning to the building that has been vacant for several years.
The project goes to the Orleans County Planning Board for review and is back to the Village Planning Board on Oct. 3, which includes a public hearing at 7:05 p.m. at City Hall.
• The Planning Board also approved a certificate of appropriateness for a vinyl window sign for Donna and Clark Bryant’s business, the Goddess Muse, on Main Street. The business will be an alternative healing boutique with gifts.
Courtesy Medina Planning Board: The proposed 58-room hotel in Medina will look similar to this Cobblestone Suites hotel in Pennsylvania.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 September 2017 at 9:26 am
Cobblestone Suites proposes 58 rooms on Maple Ridge Road
MEDINA – The Village Planning Board has received the initial application for a new Cobblestone Inn and Suites hotel on Maple Ridge Road, next to Pride Pak and almost across the street from Genesee Community College.
The 3-story hotel includes 58 rooms with a 10,557-square-foot building. This will be Cobblestone’s first project in New York.
“This will be more of a hotel than we expected,” said Chris Busch, chairman of the Village Planning Board.
The board accepted the application as complete during its meeting on Tuesday. But the project needs a review from the Orleans County Planning Board. It also needs a height variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The village code limits buildings to 35 feet in height in the industrial district. The Cobblestone hotel peaks at 55 feet.
The Medina Planning Board set a public hearing for the site plan for 7:10 p.m. on Oct. 3 at City Hall on Main Street.
Cobblestone Inn and Suites has built about 80 hotels with most of them in small towns, typically working with investors in the host community. An investor from Pennsylvania is leading the effort to build the project in Medina.
The proposal includes 65 parking spaces, an outdoor patio, sidewalks and a dumpster enclosure.
“We’re at the first stages for what we’ve all been waiting for,” Michael Sidari, Medina mayor, said after Tuesday’s meeting.
The new hotel should keep visitors in the community longer, helping local businesses, he said. Many visitors currently just make day trips for events such as Thomas the Train, Wine About Winter and other activities. Overnight stays will make it easier for visitors to check out more sites in the community, Sidari said.
The Orleans Economic Development Agency has been working on enticing a developer to the county for several years.
The hotel would be built on land owned by the EDA. The EDA hired a consultant in 2014 to study the market for a hotel in Medina. Interim Hospitality Consultants concluded that a small hotel with 41 to 49 rooms would be profitable in the community.
That study was critical in convincing Cobblestone to come to Medina, said Janice Tata, vice president of development for BriMark Builders, which oversees construction of the Cobblestone hotels.
Photo by Tom Rivers: Stuart Sell, president of construction for BriMark Builders, goes over the site plan during Tuesday’s Village of Medina Planning Board meeting. He is joined by Janice Tata, vice president of development for BriMark.
BriMark also sees the activity in Medina, with a bustling downtown business district and other thriving manufacturing sites in the community. (Takeform Architectural Graphics, for example, is working on a 15,000-square-foot expansion on Maple Ridge. Pride Pak also opened its new facility a year ago.)
“There is so much going on in the community,” Tata said.
BriMark and Cobblestone also were welcomed by Medina and county leaders, she said. Sidari and EDA officials attended a grand opening celebration in Pennsylvania a year ago for the Cobblestone hotel.
Gabrielle Barone, the EDA’s vice president of business development, also has attended Cobblestone conferences, trying to connect with a developer for a project in Orleans County.
The Orleans EDA has wanted a chain-style hotel in the community. It’s something business leaders notice when they visit the community, Barone said.
“It’s been a disadvantage not having one,” she said.
Having a new hotel should result in visitors spending more money in the community, boosting revenues for businesses, and sales and bed taxes for the county.
The study for the hotel also identified potential customers as people visiting the area for weddings, reunions, and family events, as well as people working in sales and working short term for some local companies.
Stuart Sell, president of construction for BriMark Builders, discussed the site plan with the Planning Board. Sell said BriMark wants to work with local suppliers and contractors on the project.
He expects it will take seven to eight months to construct the hotel, once construction starts.
Speaking with a reporter after the meeting, Sell didn’t want to put out a construction time frame publicly, for when the project could start and be done. BriMark and Cobblestone need to secure the local approvals for the project.
“It comes down to the weather,” Sell told the village planners. “We can work through the winter once the foundation is in.”
MEDINA – U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $530,661 in federal funding for the Village of Medina Fire Department in Orleans County.
The money was allocated through the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program.
This funding will allow the Medina Fire Department to hire 4 new firefighters, and support the department’s “Fast Team,” who are responsible not only for fires in Medina but also address fires outside of their district within Orleans County. The funding will also help Medina staff engines with more than two people.
The Fire Department has 14 full-time firefighters as well as some call men who respond to about 3,000 calls a year. Medina is the primary ambulance provider for western Orleans (Shelby, Ridgeway, Yates, Medina and Lyndonville) but is seeing more mutual aid calls outside that area.
“The addition of these positions will add to our operational readiness, enhancing our ability to provide Fire and Emergency medical response to the Village of Medina and the Greater Orleans County area,” said Fire Chief Tom Lupo. “The SAFER grant program has a direct effect on public safety and is the kind of bi-partisan program that reach everyday people on a personal level.”
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER), established by FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security, was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities.
“Whether it’s a fire, flood, car accident, or when disaster strikes, we depend on these local heroes to keep us safe, and they depend on us to give them the resources they need to do their jobs effectively,” said Senator Schumer. “This funding will allow the Village of Medina Fire Department to grow its ranks and will help ensure that the Village of Medina Fire Department can respond to any situation quickly and efficiently. I’m proud to announce this grant and will continue working to make sure New York’s first responders have what they need.”
The goal of SAFER is to enhance the local fire departments’ abilities to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards established by the National Fire Protection Association and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“These federal funds will allow the Village of Medina Fire Department to hire additional firefighters, which will improve response time and help keep our communities safe,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Every day our first responders risk their lives to protect us, and I will always fight in the Senate to make sure our local fire departments have the support they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 31 August 2017 at 11:45 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – The Calvary Tabernacle Assembly of God has provided 48 backpacks for Medina students for the second year in a row. KeyBank in Medina is filling the backpacks with school supplies.
School leaders are pictured this morning with representatives from the bank and church. From left include: Dan Doctor, community outreach liaison for the school district; Julie Webber, Oak Orchard Elementary School principal; Jacky Organisciak, personal banker at KeyBank; Leanna Ohol, KeyBank manager in Medina; and Vince Iorio, Calvary’s pastor.
Doctor said the school will reach out to families who need the backpacks with supplies.
The first day of school for Medina is Wednesday.
“It’s very helpful,” Webber said about the donations. “There are a lot of students and families in need.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 August 2017 at 6:44 pm
MEDINA – The Medina Police Department announced today the village has hired two police officers.
Officer Trevor Jones was recently hired and completed his Phase II Police Academy in Niagara County. Jones is currently working on completing the Field Training Program. He will be riding with a Training Officer until near the end of the year, the Medina Police Department said on its Facebook page.
Officer Ricky Messmer will be riding along on the day shift until he begins the Police Academy next month in Niagara County. He will graduate in February and then come back to Medina for his Field Training.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Brandon Johnson is pictured with some of his dance students who are practicing for a performance in October at Disney.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2017 at 5:02 pm
Brandon Johnson opened the studio 15 years ago
MEDINA – Brandon Johnson, 34, was 19 when he opened his own dance studio in Medina. A decade ago he bought a building at 425 Main Street, and Dance Theater has been a fixture in the downtown, a part of the business district’s renaissance. (Many of the parents will go to restaurants and shops on Main Street while their kids take classes.)
Johnson works with about 130 children, including 25 in a competitive dance group. Those 25 will be going to Orlando, Fla. in October for the Disney Performing Arts Program. The Dance Theater group will perform in three age levels: minis are 7 to 9 years old, while juniors are 9 to 12, and seniors, 13 to 17.
(Some of his dancers have competed at national events at Atlantic City; Hershey, Pa; and Wildwood, NJ. They have brought home national titles through StarQuest and DanceXplosion.)
Johnson sat down for an interview recently before a high-energy rehearsal with his dancers, who are getting ready for Disney.
Question: I wonder how you got into dance and were you thinking this would be your career?
Answer: I started performing at the age of 8. I got serious about performing in my junior year of high school. I was actually going to go to college to be an art teacher but that changed a few weeks before classes started and I decided I wanted to be a dance major. So I auditioned and was accepted into the dance program at SUNY Brockport. The opportunity came to open a studio here because a couple of studios had closed. So I jumped in and opened it. When I opened it, I didn’t imagine I’d be where I am today.
Question: Did you get your degree at Brockport?
Answer: Yes.
Question: You juggled that while doing this business as a 19-year-old?
Answer: Yes. Looking back I’m not sure how I did it, but I somehow did it and was able to graduate.
Question: You graduated in 4 years?
Answer: I did.
Brandon Johnson leads a dance class at the Dance Theater, which he opened when he was 19.
Question: I know you are also the talent show chairman at the Orleans County 4-H Fair.
Answer: Yes, and I am the entertainment coordinator overall for the fair so I book all of the entertainment on the grounds, so it’s not just the talent showcase – the miniature horse show, the magic show, all of the bands.
Question: Why are you willing to do that? Were you in 4-H as a kid?
Answer: I was in 4-H when I was younger. And then the opportunity came to join the Fair Board and I kind of just fell into the entertainment chairperson’s spot. It’s different from running a dance studio and I enjoy it, but it’s still the same realm of entertainment.
Question: How long have you been doing that?
Answer: I think this is year 8 or 9.
Question: What do you like about that role?
Answer: It’s meeting a lot of entertainers from across the U.S. who have similar interests in the entertainment industry, and hearing their stories.
Provided photo: Dance Theater students are shown performing at Disney World in July 2014.
Question: Are you the teacher/choreographer at your studio?
Answer: Here I would call myself the studio director, and I do choreograph some dances, but I have staff because I am not Superman. There is no way I can teach and choreograph classes six days a week for two studios. We have two rooms running here. There is no way I could choreograph that many dances on my own. I do have a staff that works under me to help me out.
Question: Were you a one-man show when you first opened?
Answer: For a while I was. When I opened I was very, very small, but as the years grew, my reputation grew and I am where I am today I feel because of that reputation I have. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own so I hired staff. They staff I have now I’ve had for four or five years now.
Question: How many people do you have on staff?
Answer: I have six people on staff, including myself.
Question: Why do you think you’re successful?
Answer: It’s a passion. With a passion it’s something you enjoy doing, and you put your all into it. Performance is something I’ve always done.
Question: I notice there are some studios that really push for excellence and want to win competitions, including at the State Fair.
Answer: I think it’s a matter of preference. Some kids may go to dance for fun. Some kids may come to dance for fun, but they want a little extra, so that’s why I have recreational classes and competition classes. Those competition classes are for kids that want a little extra and want to push a little harder, and strive for a little but more.
To be on the competition team isn’t mandatory for anybody, but the kids on the competition team want to be there, they want to work towards that extra step towards perfection.
Question: How does the competition season work?
Answer: Each competition season kicks off in February-March. We do three regional competitions that we keep local, usually Buffalo-Rochester-Niagara Falls-Syracuse. We also do a Nationals competition every summer and this year we did Lake George. But we’ve done other Nationals in Wildwood, New Jersey; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Ohio; it just depends where we travel.
Brandon Johnson gives tips to his dancers who are working on a lift, one of the many moves for their competitive dance program.
Question: How many on the competition team?
Answer: The competition team is 25.
Question: I think you’re unusual being a man who owns a dance studio. Maybe I’m wrong about that.
Answer: I would say I’m one of very few. I think you see it more often today than 15 years ago. But I would say I’m one of very few in the area who is a male studio director.
Question: It seems like 95 percent of the kids in dance are girls.
Answer: That is correct. To find a male dancer is very rare. A lot of male dancers you find at ages 4 or 5 because mom and dad wanted them to try something different. And then as they get older that kind of dwindles out because dancing for boys isn’t as popular as baseball, soccer or football. But when you think about it agility-wise, if you take a dance class and pair that with sports, the coordination you get with dance would definitely help your agility with other sports you’re playing. I don’t think a lot of people realize that and that is something to think about.
Question: I’ve heard that from other athletes, who said dance helped them to be better in sports.
Answer: It helps with flexibility and coordination, muscle movement and muscle memory. You get a little bit better recognition of your body and the way your body works and moves. It can definitely help you on the field and with whatever sport you’re playing.
Question: I wonder how you got into it as a kid?
Answer: I had a couple friends who were males who got into dancing. I decided I wanted to dance, too. So I joined a dance class. They dwindled out and I stuck with it.
Question: Why did you keep going?
Answer: I think it was the artistic portion of it. I’ve always been an artistic kid who was interested in art. When I was in high school I took a lot of art classes. I think dance is one way to express yourself in an artistic fashion. That is one reason why I stuck with it because I’ve always been an artistic person.
Brandon Johnson bought the building at 425 Main St. a decade ago.
Question: Did you get any flak or pushback for being a trailblazer locally?
Answer: I got some flak but dance was something I enjoyed doing and I wasn’t going to give that up based on something someone else said. If it was something I didn’t enjoy, I wouldn’t be doing it and I wouldn’t be doing it today. It’s something that brought me to where I am today. I really don’t regret any decisions I’ve made in the past to bring me where I am today.
Question: Were you tempted to work in a city as an artistic person?
Answer: That very well could have happened, but I opened here and the opportunity to teach was here for me so I didn’t need to go anywhere else. You can only be at one place at one time especially with running a studio and keeping things running smooth here. There’s not a lot of room for you to be in two places at once.
I do judge for two national talent competitions across the East Coast right now but that’s because I have a great staff behind me here. So when those opportunities come up for me to go judge for one weekend, I have a staff here who can take care of the business for those two or three days that I’m gone.
Question: What makes a dance team good? What are you looking for as a judge?
Answer: Technique – good dance technique. Great training. And just entertainment on stage. You can tell when you’re watching a dance number on stage and there’s a group of dancers that just love what they’re doing, and when there’s a group of dancers up there because they have to dance. There’s a huge difference between that.
The kids that compete really, really love what they’re doing, and they go up on stage every time and give a great performance. You can tell that’s what they enjoy.
That’s not to say our recreational kids don’t enjoy what they’re doing, but they just want to come and dance and not be pushed as hard as the team kids are pushed.
I will admit my teams kids are here two to three times a week in classes for four, five, six, seven hours at a time, learning extra choreography, and technique, and jumps and turns to make sure when they go out on stage they are showing the judges they are getting a very good dance education.
Question: What about all these trophies in here?
Answer: They’re from all the different competitions we’ve been in. And we have a display window in front as well.
Question: Looks like you guys do pretty well.
Answer: We’ve won some pretty big awards. I train them but they go out and win the awards. I give them the passion I have. I’m giving them what I enjoy doing: performing. Growing up I performed and I competed, and I’m just passing that on to them.
Question: Is this a tough business?
Answer: Yeah, I think so because every town has a dance studio or dance studios. There are several dance studios here in Medina. There are several in Albion. There are studios all over. People have a choice with where they want to go, just like with the airlines – they have a choice. I think my reputation speaks for itself and people come here for a reason. I have a huge following of students who come back year after year and I’m grateful and humble for that. I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and what I enjoy doing, with the hope to keep it going another 15 years.
