By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 August 2022 at 3:09 pm
ALBION – Several members of the Albion Fire Department gave the Village Board an emphatic no when it came to posting the firefighters’ training records on the village website.
Members of the department said they heard some members of the board thought it would be a good way to show the levels of training by the volunteers.
But the several firefighters said that would only bring unwanted attention and some community members would try to rank the importance of each firefighter.
“We all put in a lot of training,” said Austin Zobel, vice president of the Albion FD. “None of us are consenting to our names being posted.”
The Albion firefighters all have their basic training, and others have specialties, which could be as interior firefighters, emergency medical services or traffic control, as well as other areas.
“Everybody has a niche,” he said.
The firefighters do most of their training at the Orleans County Emergency Management Office on West Countyhouse Road, working with firefighters from other departments.
Fire Chief Rob Conner said the issue rankled many of the firefighters, who saw the possible posting of the information as an unnecessary intrusion.
“I’m proud of the work they do,” Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley said in response to a question about the making the training records public. “People should know we’re working with quality and we do things right.”
But after the response from the fire department, Riley said she would back off her support for posting the training records.
She said she appreciates the volunteer service from the firefighters and only wanted to recognize that effort.
Village Trustee Chris Barry said Riley should have handled the issue differently, rather than causing angst among the firefighters.
“The board is very appreciative of the volunteer fire department,” Barry said. “This village needs you.”
Riley said she would have welcomed a phone call from a member of the fire department, explaining the concerns about the issue.
In other action at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting:
• The board amended the cost for a Hometown Hero banner from $185 to $200 with the increase covering a hike in shipping the banners. Village Clerk-Treasurer Tracy VanSkiver said the village manages the program at cost with no money made by the village.
• Voted to hire Alana Piccirilli as a part-time clerk at $15 per hour.
• Made Jeff Gifaldi permanent as a part-time code enforcement officer at $25 per hour, not to exceed 1,040 hours in a year.
• Appointed Ian Mowatt to the Village’s Historic Preservation Commission. Mowatt is the Albion town historian.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office is planning two child car seat safety checks.
The first will be on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, 13925 Route 31 in Knowlesville.
Another one will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 at Lyndonville Central School parking lot at 25 Housel Ave.
According to data, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ranging from ages 1 to 13, Sheriff Chris Bourke said.
Preventative measures, such as proper installation of car seats, boosters and seat belts can lower many deaths and injuries. Informing and instructing parents and caregivers on child safety and proper installation of car seats is critical to saving young lives, Bourke said.
The Sheriff’s Office will have certified child passenger safety technicians available to inspect car/booster seats to assure they are the correct seat for size and age.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 August 2022 at 11:34 am
Photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from Aug. 14, 2016 shows people on a tour of Mount Albion Cemetery, near the chapel that was built in 1875 with a slate roof. The building and its roof could use repairs.
ALBION – The Albion Village Board wants to hear from its department heads on how the village should best spend about $150,000 remaining in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The village was approved for $585,812 in federal funding through ARPA. The board has given department heads until next month to submit proposals for the remaining money.
Some ideas from village officials already have been submitted, including slate roof repairs at the chapel at Mount Albion Cemetery, a new pump at the sewer plant, new picnic tables and a pavilion at Bullard Park, a panic button and handicapped accessible door at the Village Office, a utility box on an pickup truck used by the Albion Fire Department (to carry EMS supplies).
The village also will be doing a new building by its water plant to store fluoride. The village was approved for a $305,000 grant towards the building, but the low bid for the project is $388,000. Village officials are checking to see if the ARPA funds could go towards the $83,000 that isn’t covered by the grant.
Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley urged all of the departments to submit their proposals with estimated costs so the board can prioritize how to spend the money.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 August 2022 at 10:41 am
ALBION – The Albion Village Board has scheduled two community forums next month for residents, merchants and building owners to share concerns about the upcoming bridge closure on Main Street. The board also wants to hear ideas for utilizing space in the downtown while the bridge is closed for about 18 months.
The forums will start at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 and 6 p.m. on Sept. 14 at the Village Hall. The board is looking to form a committee to connect with the village and state Department of Transportation, and also to help coordinate projects on Main Street.
The Main Street lift bridge will close to traffic on Oct. 17 and not reopen until the spring of 2024. The bridge from 1914 will get an extensive rehabilitation.
It is part of a $28.3 million project that includes the Main Street lift bridge in Brockport. The bridge in Brockport is expected to close in April 2023 and reopen in the spring 2024.
Crane-Hogan Structural Systems in Spencerport ins the general contractor on the two bridges. Crane-Hogan did the rehab work on seven canal bridges in Orleans County from 2018 to 2021. That was a $10.8 million project for the work on the single-lane truss bridges.
Karen Sawicz, owner of Lake Country Media, and Michael Bonafede, owner of three buildings in the downtown, addressed the Village Board on Wednesday and urged the group to advocate for better sign postings in the village and nearby state roads to help drivers move around in the Albion area.
Bonafede said the board has more clout than residents in advocating for the community, to try to minimize the negative impacts of having the bridge closed for so long.
“This is going to be two years,” Bonafede said. “It could make or break us.”
Bonafede said the bridge overhaul is needed, and he said the community should appreciate the investment from the state. But the Village Board needs to be active in the process to mitigate the impact as much as possible.
“It’s going to be very disruptive to the downtown,” Bonafede said. “It is really going to change life down there for two years.”
Bonafede suggested the village encourage the contractors and DOT staff to try to avoid using public parking spaces in the downtown and to barricade off parts of the street as little as possible when there is construction.
Sawicz said traffic will shift to the Ingersoll Street lift bridge. She suggested the village put in a temporary stop sign at Ingersoll and State Street when the Main Street bridge is closed.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 August 2022 at 9:49 am
Photo by Tom Rivers: Dr. Arthur Mruczek, an ophthalmologist and member of the Orleans County Medical Scholarship Board, shares with the County Legislature on Wednesday that the Lyndonville Area Foundation has matched the county’s $72,000 commitment for a medical scholarship. He said the $144,000 total is one of the biggest medical scholarships available in the state. He is joined by Russ Martino, left, of the Lyndonville Area Foundation.
ALBION – Orleans County has a new incentive to bring doctors to serve the community: one of the most lucrative scholarships available in the state.
Orleans County can now offer a medical scholarship for $144,000 over four years. The County Legislature in December 2021 voted to increase the size of scholarship from $36,000 to $72,000. The Lyndonville Area Foundation has since voted to match that amount, bringing the total to $144,000.
“We’re in desperate need of doctors,” said Lynne Johnson, the County Legislature chairwoman and a member of the board of directors for both Orleans Community health and the Lyndonville Area Foundation.
Dr. Arthur Mruczek, an ophthalmologist and member of the Orleans County Medical Scholarship Board, said the $144,000 is one of the largest medical scholarships available in the state. The $36,000 annually for four years would cover about 60 percent of the $60,000 annually to be in medical school, Mruczek said.
The county needs to promote the scholarship locally and at medical schools, he said. Mruczek believes the scholarship would get medical students’ attention, and should result in doctors making a commitment to serve in Orleans County after they graduate.
They would need to commit five years to the county to get the scholarship. Mruczek believes many would stay more than five years once they stay and get connected to the community. He said Orleans County residents in medical school would be given preference for the scholarship.
Mruczek,a Corfu native, was the first recipient of the medical scholarship in Orleans County back in 1969. He received $18,000 in the scholarship and went on to work in a long career as an ophthalmologist in Medina.
Other scholarships recipients who served in Orleans include Frank Cutson, Joseph Misiti, Deborah Preishel (White), Eric Johnson and Celeste Stahl Balaban.
Others were approved for the scholarship but they decided not to practice in Orleans County and paid back the scholarship.
“I’m passionate about bringing doctors here because you gave me an opportunity that was beyond my expectations,” Mruczek told county legislators on Wednesday.
He said the big scholarship is “an incredible product” that should bring medical talent to the rural community, where the pay is typically much less than in the suburban and city hospitals and healthcare facilities.
“It’s a nice opportunity to get fresh blood in Orleans County,” he said.
For information about the scholarship, contact the County Legislature office at 585-589-7053.
GOW Opioid Task Force seeks to reduce stigma of addiction
By Mike Pettinella, GCASA Publicist
Provided photos: Jarett LoCicero, who is in his fourth year of recovery, speaks at an Overdose Awareness Day observance at Austin Park on Wednesday. He is now a case manager for GCASA.
BATAVIA – “My name is Jarett LoCicero and you can find me at the GCASA recovery center, helping out with services for those looking to be themselves, feel better and maybe even live their dreams.”
That’s the way LoCicero, a Batavia resident, in his fourth year of recovery, ended his six-minute talk this afternoon at the annual Overdose Awareness Day hosted by the GOW Opioid Task Force at Austin Park. He was able to pack a powerful message into his speech – reflecting the event’s theme of reducing the stigma attached to addiction and letting people know that help is right around the corner.
Now a case manager at The Recovery Station operated by Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, LoCicero shared that changing the perception of himself was key to his road to recovery.
“Today, we’re speaking vaguely from a person’s point of view that’s been afflicted with the disease of addiction, and their capacity to change that perspective,” he said. “Ultimately, what stops the person from this change? And, maybe when someone is scratching at the fronts of their eyes to see themselves follow through with the decision, a change or a commitment, they fall short again, and again, ultimately not feeling as if they could succeed despite the best and most pure of intentions?”
He talked about the agony felt by the person caught up in substance use and for their families. As a result, he said, that person “can die for this or die for change, a desire to feel different — the very nature of an overdose or instant gratification, and why many of us have gathered here today.”
Upon realization that someone has a problem, LoCicero said it then becomes a matter of perspective – and the change in that perspective can be accelerated by the encouragement from those who care.
“Once perspective may be supported by ‘I’ statements, such as I am, I can’t, I won’t, I come from this, I’m cut from that cloth, this is my culture, stay in your lane. This will never happen or workout for me,” he said. “But, despite all of that, a person will say to themselves if I just had X, Y and Z, I could do this. If the light could just shine down on me. I could do this and make a difference in my life.”
Rochester Regional Health staff attended the event.
Love and support are vital
“Because it’s my life. What X, Y and Z boil down to being mostly in every case is our common and essential needs – love and care support, personal needs that allow one the opportunity to self-actualize and become their dream.”
LoCicero said that once he saw his life through a different filter – “and put in some effort” – his perspective changed and his life changed “nearly instantly.”
He said his breakthrough to believing in himself has led to a desire to help others do the same thing.
“It’s what we can do for folks, (show that) we care about suffering with the disease of addiction, a disease of a lifestyle, and we can contribute to optimal conditions necessary for growth and opportunity by making folks aware of our want and commitment to help, most importantly, proving to them that it’s possible,” he said.
LoCicero said those in attendance representing human services and health agencies want nothing more but to reach out to those struggling with addiction and “have you join the community – your community – or at least to reduce your potential for harm.”
In closing, he shared a three-step approach that pulled him out of bondage.
“If you can put yourself in front of God, you will find a miracle. If you work hard enough and grind hard enough, you may find your cure. If you be yourself, that’s the only way you can find change and find happiness. If you do all three of these things, and if you ask for help, undoubtedly you will recover.”
Pettit: Preventing deaths are a priority
Paul Pettit, public health director in Genesee and Orleans counties, said 21 people died of overdoses in the two counties in 2020.
Paul Pettit, public health director for Genesee and Orleans counties, applauded the work of the GOW Opioid Task Force, the three-county partnership of agencies that has been is place for the past five years.
“Preventing opioid overdose deaths … is one of the priority goals of the GOW Community Health Improvement Plan,” Pettit said, mentioning that drug overdose is the leading cause of injury mortality in the United States. “The opioid epidemic is an urgent and serious public health and public safety issue.”
Nationally, more than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses last year, and worldwide, the number approached 600,000. And, after trending down in 2018 and 2019, the numbers are increasing once again, he said.
“In Genesee County, there were 15 fatal opioid overdoses in 2020 – 15 too many,” Pettit said, “with six in Orleans County and seven in Wyoming County.”
He cited the rise in fentanyl and synthetic opioids and in concurrent stimulant use, especially cocaine.
“The takeaway from this is that people are dying of fentanyl overdoses when they only mean to take cocaine or another stimulant, and might not know they are at risk of an overdose at all,” he said.
The Groove band played music at the park during the awareness day.
Bennett: Open access to treatment
GCASA Executive Director John Bennett shared that the Overdose Awareness Day initiative, which was started in Australia in 2001, now is celebrated internationally, with 367 events in the U.S. and around 600 outside of America’s borders.
The Rev. Vern Saile, pastor of Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia, offers an invocation.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to present this to our community,” he said. “As I go to the different booths here today, I am hearing people having good conversations with community members. It’s all about reducing the stigma of people with addiction. It’s about giving people who’ve lost loved ones a place to talk about– without stigma, without shame and without guilt — in a really kind, positive and friendly zone.”
Bennett pointed the agency’s recently-opened Detox Center on East Main Street as a place “that is already saving lives.”
“We offer open access; you can just walk in and we’ll see you. Just last Thursday, I think we have seven admissions,” he said. “Doing events like this in the community brings awareness. So, my advice is if you need help, there’s open access centers all around Western New York. Go to one of them, and they’ll get you where you need to be. Or call me. My number is 585-815-1850 and I’ll find you a place.”
Other speakers were Christopher Budzinack, a residential counselor at GCASA’s Atwater Community Residence, who spoke about his recovery from addiction and jail time, and Niki Lang, who read a letter and poem written by her son, Jason, who died in 2017 due to substance use disorder.
More than a dozen agencies had booths at the event, including Mental Health Association of Genesee and Orleans counties, Genesee County Office for the Aging, Batavia Community Schools, Genesee County Mental Health, Genesee Justice, National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, Job Corps, Rochester Regional Health, CORE, Restore, Genesee County Health Department, Oak Orchard Health, Suicide Prevention Coalition, Care-A-Van Ministries, Horizon, Fidelis Care, Molina Healthcare and WNY Heroes (for veterans).
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 25 August 2022 at 8:19 am
MEDINA – Medina’s weekly summer cruise-ins came to a conclusion with Super Cruise on Main Street Wednesday night.
A warm sunny night, new entertainment and hundreds of vintage vehicles brought out crowds of people who spent the evening walking among the vehicles, chatting with fellow cruisers, listening to the band Crash Cadillac or enjoying a hamburger and beverage at the Boy Scout Troop 35 booth.
Cruise-ins in Medina have been a popular Friday night activity in the canal basin for 25 years, having been started by Donna Bushover and Donna Mruczek. David Green has been involved almost since the second year and continues to organize the events, which begin in June and continue on Friday nights until the conclusion with Super Cruise the last Wednesday of August.
This 1955 Ford Crown Victoria was a showpiece, along with various sports cars lined up on Medina’s Main Street. Vehicle owners also filled the streets, visiting with fellow cruisers and visitors.
Main Street is closed down for Super Cruise from East and West Center streets to Prospect Street. The 220 cars which arrived Wednesday filled both sides and the center of the street to Pearl Street and both sides of North Main all the way to Prospect.
Vehicles came in all makes and models, including hot rods, pickup trucks, sports cars, vans and luxury cars.
Bob and Mary Lou Blount of Medina are avid car enthusiasts who never miss a Super Cruise. They brought their 1952 Olds Wednesday night. After walking down the street to talk with friends and see all the vehicles, they parked their lawn chairs where they could listen to the band, which played from 6 to 8 p.m.
Brad Shelp of Albion stands next to his 1947 Cadillac, which he brought to Super Cruise in Medina on Wednesday night.
Art Hill said he always enjoys Super Cruise. He owns 10 restored vehicles. He brought a 1966 Chevrolet C10 Double 409, which he said was his favorite. He also has a 1956 modified Ford pickup with a 1992 Corvette engine.
Brad Shelp of Albion has been in the car business all his life and loves antique automobiles. He brought his 1947 Cadillac, which he took in trade when he owned his own used car dealership. He did a lot of the mechanical work on it himself, he said.
Medina’s cruise-ins are sponsored by United Way of Orleans County. A 50-50 drawing at each event benefits United Way, and the winner and United Way each got $468 Wednesday night, Green said.
This was the first Super Cruise in Medina since 2019.
Dave Green, organizer of Medina’s weekly cruise-ins, shades himself from the sun in the middle of the street during the Super Cruise Wednesday night. Cars and people filled the northside of Main Street for Wednesday’s Super Cruise.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 August 2022 at 10:10 pm
President Joe Biden today announced a plan to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt and up to $20,000 of student loan debt if the borrowers received a Pell grant. Individual borrowers making less than $125,000 a year are eligible.
Student loan payments also will continued to be paused with repayments to start in January.
“For the national movement of millions of Americans who came together to tirelessly demand justice on student debt for years: This victory belongs to you,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer tweeted today. “For decades, borrowers looking to pursue the American Dream have been held back by a predatory student loan system that turned their dreams into debt—while banks and collectors profited. Today, @POTUS helped right this wrong and helped restore a pathway to the middle class.”
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand issued this statement in support of the Biden announcement: “Democrats have been delivering for middle-class families struggling with inflation in this economy, and today, President Biden is delivering yet again in alleviating at least $10,000 in student loan debt for those who need the relief most. This policy is supported by a bipartisan majority of Americans and will help create jobs, increase home ownership and spur new small businesses.”
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney issued this statement, critical of the Biden announcement:
“Pressured by far-left special interests, President Biden has caved once again. Joe Biden’s announcement that he will try to ‘cancel’ federal student loan debt for high earners not only bypasses Congress, it is a blatantly partisan effort to appease his far-left critics amid his record-low poll numbers. It is not only bad policy, it is wholly illegal and if the rule of law still matters in America the decision should be stopped by the Courts. President Biden and his Department of Education have both said previously that the President does not have the authority to take this misguided step, and nothing has changed aside from his falling poll numbers.
“‘Canceling debt that individuals willingly chose to take on sets a terrible precedent for our country. Those who paid off their college or who simply chose not to attend will now be stuck footing the bill for the 10% of Americans who still have debt outstanding. With an estimated cost of $300 billion, this disastrous policy is sure to fuel more inflation while catering to higher earners. Lastly, colleges and universities will have even less incentive now to lower skyrocketing tuition costs, kicking the can down the road and leaving future generations with the exact same problem.”
WILSON – The Niagara County Sheriff’s office has released the name of the 19-year-old man killed on Tuesday night in a motor vehicle accident in Wilson.
David J. Freatman of Ransomville was driving a 2016 Kawasaki dirt bike when he collided with a tree trimming truck on Youngstown-Lockport Road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The truck with attached aerial boom was towing a tree chipper west bound on Youngstown-Lockport Road near Andrews Road. The driver – Ryan J. Lindke, 30, of Lockport – was transported by ambulance to ECMC for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
An investigation by the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Accident Investigation Unit into the incident is continuing.
CARLTON – On Tuesday at approximately 1:35 a.m., Orleans County Dispatch received a call for a motor vehicle accident that occurred at the end of a fire lane in the Town of Carlton. Orleans County Sheriff’s deputies responded, along with the Carlton Fire Department.
Deputy Stornelli arrived on scene first, followed by Deputy Ashbery and Deputy Martek. Upon arrival, Deputy Ashbery located the vehicle down an embankment, submerged in water. Deputies Ashbery, Martek and Stornelli, along with an individual from Carlton Fire Department, climbed down the embankment and entered the water to approach the vehicle, approximately 100 yards from shore.
Deputy Stornelli made contact with the driver through the front passenger side window, while deputies Ashbery and Martek worked to get the driver door open. Once the driver door was opened, all three deputies were able to successfully remove the driver from the vehicle. Once the driver was out of the vehicle, deputies on scene assisted Carlton Fire Department in getting the driver to shore, where the driver began receiving medical treatment before being transported to the hospital by COVA.
Sheriff Bourke is proud of the quick thinking actions of the deputies on scene, as well as the good work of the Carlton Fire Department. This is one example of the great work the men and women of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office does on a daily basis, as well as volunteer members of fire departments throughout the county.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 August 2022 at 3:47 pm
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Ray Smith, an employee with the Albion Department of Public Works, puts a coat of paint on a steel frame holding a new scoreboard at Bullard Park. The DPW put in concrete footers for the frame and installed an electric line for the new scoreboard.
The scoreboard was donated by Mark Cammilleri, owner of the local Burger King.
The youth football and cheerleading program also raised money for the scoreboard through many fundraisers.
The Albion DPW is working to have the scoreboard ready for this Saturday’s slate of football games at the park on Route 31. Albion has been the only team in the youth football league without a scoreboard.
Not having the scoreboard also is challenging for spectators, players and coaches who often aren’t sure of the score and how much time is left on the clock.
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney released the following statement on her victory in last night’s Republican Primary for New York’s 24th Congressional District. The district includes about 12 counties, including about half of Orleans County.
“Thank you to the voters of New York’s 24th Congressional District for their overwhelming support in yesterday’s Republican Primary. It is because of your hard work and dedication to preserving and protecting freedom and our way of life in America, that we were victorious,” Tenney said. “From Western New York and the Finger Lakes Region to Central New York and the North Country, this campaign started as a grassroots movement of passionate New Yorkers fighting for change in Washington and this is exactly how it will continue.
“We will build on this massive momentum as we head toward the general election in November, more committed than ever to bringing principled leadership back to Congress and keeping up our courageous fight to defend our Upstate values.
“Unlike authoritarians like Kathy Hochul, who believe only Democrats belong in our great state, our campaign is for every New Yorker who wants to end the disastrous one-party rule in Washington and Albany. Our campaign is about supporting our nation’s veterans, the Second Amendment, law enforcement, America’s energy independence, and a secure border. It is about safer streets, lower costs, and greater opportunity.
“Public opinion has never been more united: Conservatives, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats have all had it with the direction of our country,” Tenney concluded. “If you want to return America to the self-governing Constitutional Republic it was intended to be, this is your campaign.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 August 2022 at 2:43 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers: The Holley Hotel at the corner of Route 31 and Thomas Street was cleared out today of the 28 residents after the building was declared unsafe and unsanitary on Aug. 3 by village code enforcement officer Mylynda Kuba.
HOLLEY – The Holley Hotel has been ordered to close today, forcing 28 residents to find other shelter.
The building on Aug. 3 was deemed to be unsafe and unsanitary by Mylynda Kuba, the village code enforcement officer. She set today as the evacuation day.
Many of the residents have been assisted by the Department of Social Services. About 15 or 16 are staying at a Batavia motel in the short term. Others are staying with friends and family.
DSS and other agencies in the county are trying to help the displaced residents. Community Action had a table with clothes, shoes and other supplies set up by the firehall this morning and past noon.
Kathy Blackburn, the building owner, said the three-story building will be exhaustively cleaned and then an exterminator will focus on ridding the site of insects and rodents.
“This gives me an opportunity to clean up and get everything out,” Blackburn said. “Everything is being cleaned.”
Blackburn said residents have filled five dumpsters so far as the building is emptied for a massive cleaning.
She hoping she can resolve the issues and have residents back soon. She said she is concerned for the residents who have had their lives disrupted.
The Holley Hotel is known as a place for registered sex offenders, people on parole and others who are difficult to place in housing. Blackburn said the residents look out for each other and for the most part are kind. They have a Thanksgiving dinner in the hallway and many celebrate Christmas together.
She took over the building following the death of her longtime companion Gordon Tooley, who died in a car accident on Oct. 5, 2019. Blackburn said a new roof and windows were recently put in Holley Hotel. She acknowledged there are issues and she wants to resolve them.
Near the front entrance is a stairwell that leads to the second and third floors. The Holley Hotel has about 40 units. The site is being emptied and cleaned.
Kuba, in a notice posted on the front door, said the building is infested with cockroaches, bed bugs and rodents. She also said the back fire escape isn’t structurally sound and needs to be fixed. She also said the building needs plumbing and electrical upgrades to be brought up to code. She wants a regular report on the smoke alarm system.
“Right now it’s an overall hazard to everyone involved,” Kuba said today.
She did an annual fire inspection of the building in February and said she notified Blackburn of several issues.
Some of the residents at the Holley Hotel have complained to village officials about the cockroaches and bed bugs, an issue that is difficult to resolve in such a large building with so many residents.
“We’re empathetic to the people who live there,” Mayor Mark Bower said. “But this is a public health hazard. We’re concerned for the residents who live there, and also other residents and businesses who are put at risk.”
The Holley Hotel residents may have spread bed bugs and cockroaches to other businesses and sites in the community, Bower said. Other businesses have shared their concerns with the village officials, Bower said.
“It’s sad for the residents but most of the residents tell us they are happy because their living conditions were intolerable,” Bower said.
The village and Kuba, the code officer, are adhering to the uniform building code, and the violations need to be addressed, Bower said.
“I can’t predict what the situation will end up being,” he said. “It’s in the hands of the building owner at this point.”
One of the hotel residents sent the Orleans Hub a message that the bed bugs and cockroaches were a concern for all residents. This resident said she and her boyfriend were denied housing assistance by DSS and another local agency. They plan to pay for a hotel for two days and then might have to live in their car.
“We have been left homeless for whatever time it’s shut down,” she said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 August 2022 at 11:26 am
Photos by Tom Rivers: Doug Egling of Albion performs a solo on his saxophone during a performance on June 27, 2019 in Albion’s Canal Concert Series. Egling and the band Cold Fusion Arts play blues, jazz/rock fusion with a pinch of funk.
ALBION – The Village of Albion is extending its summer concert series by one more week with the performance shifting from by the canal to the amphitheater stage at Bullard Park.
The band Cold Fusion Arts will perform from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at the amphitheater. The band includes Grayson Krol on basses, Mike Putnam on guitars and guitar synths, Paul Goodwin on kit and percussion, Kate Egling on vocals, and Doug Egling on saxes, flutes and wind synth.
Village officials wanted to have one more concert to cap off the summer series and try it at the amphitheater, where a new stage debuted last year. Food trucks are expected for the concert. Admission is free for the music.
Albion closed out the concert series by the canal last Thursday with a performance by the Who Dats. About a 100 attended the event. There canal spot hosted six concerts on Thursday evenings from July 14 to Aug. 18.
The amphitheater hosted the Rock the Park music festival on Aug. 6 with seven bands, including Nerds Gone Wild to cap the event.
