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Ithaca-based Park Foundation doesn’t care if drilling saves family farms

Reported May 3, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

What has been missed in the debate about the Ithaca-based Park Foundation’s advocacy against natural gas development is the object of their opposition. The true targets of the Park Foundation are the people in Marcellus Shale communities of upstate New York.

In March 2011, we met with Park Foundation leadership. We were on the hunt for foundations to support the important work of the Joint Landowners Coalition to identify best practices in natural gas development and arm landowners with the information they need to protect themselves and their land.

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Local hiker impressed by ‘Inukshuk’ he found on Finger Lakes Trail, south of Syracuse

Reported May 1, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

Local hiker Ray Kozloski, sent me these two pictures with the following note:

“David, this is something I have never seen before in this part of the country.

“Its an “Inukshuk”. I have seen them along the QEW all across Canada on the sides of the road. I have seen them in Alaska, in Washington State as well as Oregon but it’s the first time in NY. Basically they are a cairn that marks the trail.

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You Know the Drill: Fracking in the Finger Lakes

Reported March 2, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

Dryden, NY, is a small town located between Ithaca and Cortland, just south of the easternmost of the Finger Lakes. This part of New York State is a popular summer tourist destination, not least of which is due to the New York Wine Trail. (Some New York State wines, in this writer’s opinion, rival those of Napa and Sonoma.) There are also many other scenic attractions (“Ithaca is Gorges” is an oft-seen bumper sticker up around this way) in Central New York and the Southern Tier. There is also a not-unsubstantial amount of farmland in this part of the state.

This part of the state is also becoming Ground Zero in the hydrofracking debate. The New York Times’ Green blog takes up the story:

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Don’t let frackers take our property

Reported February 15, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

Some members of our Western New York and Finger Lakes community are weary of hearing about hydrofracking issues. Now, a new concern has come to light, and it is a major concern.

An Associated Press article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Feb. 5) points out that in Northern Pennsylvania, residents of the Laporte area have been given take-it-or-leave-it offers for portions of their land needed for a gas company pipeline. The company, Central New York Oil and Gas Company, has been given the “right” to use the principle of eminent domain to acquire land against the wishes of landowners. The hydrofracking company needs to gather and transport natural gas to large storage areas.

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Rotating committee chairs not the best way to govern Tompkins County

Reported January 17, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

The county’s charter specifies that the legislature chair appoints the committee leaders and members (almost the only power given to the chair, who is considered a “first among equals”). In the two years that I’ve served as chair with Vice Chair Dooley Kiefer, she and I met jointly with each of our colleagues and asked their interests and preferences. Together we developed a committee list, circulated it, and revised it based on legislators’ feedback. Among the factors we’ve considered were interest, expertise and the upcoming issues for each committee. We have always sought a balance between giving someone a chance to learn the job and giving others a chance to try different leadership positions.

We made these choices based on who was best for each position at that particular time, considering the many factors involved. An arbitrary number of years served has never been part of my own calculations. I think rotation for the sake of rotation — whether for committee chairs or for leadership of the full legislature — is an oversimplification of more complicated choices and does not serve the people or county government well. I would ask “Who is the best person for this job at this time?” rather than “Whose turn is it?”

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Remembering why we live here in the Finger Lakes and New York

Reported January 5, 2012    |   Leave a Comment

Despite the high taxes, cold weather in the winters, concerns about whether to “hydrofrack” or not, or population losses to warmer areas of the country, New York State and the Finger Lakes area in particular is still a highly desirable place to live.

We locals may complain about various and sundry issues affecting our little corners of the universe, but by and large our lives remain pretty static with few worries about tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or other large-scale disaster situations that in recent times seem to be inundating many of our countrymen. This does not imply that serious things could not happen to our area but rather that we are quite blessed, and that perhaps instead of focusing on perceived negative aspects, we should take a closer look at the area around us and savor what we do have in the way of positives and more fully appreciate the aspects of our environment that we often seem to take for granted.

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Cuomo should refocus on government consolidations

Reported December 21, 2011    |   Leave a Comment

The new partnership between WXXI and The Little Theatre is the latest local recognition of the wisdom of combining forces to reduce costs.

Meantime, a new Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency report provides ample evidence of huge savings from mergers and collaborations.

What is it going to take to persuade government layers, of which there are far too many in Monroe County and New York state, to put aside self interests and work harder on behalf of their funders — taxpayers? So far tough economic times that prompted nonprofits like WXXI and The Little to merge forces haven’t similarly persuaded government to think differently. By pooling their resources, the public broadcasting station and the well-known independent film house both strengthened their ability to serve the Rochester community.

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Hydrofracking in the Finger Lakes comes with too great a cost

Reported December 15, 2011    |   Leave a Comment

We are some of the luckiest people on the face of the globe, to live here in New York State, in an area that has an abundance of freshwater from all the streams, creeks, rivers, Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes, we can enjoy sport fishing, swimming, all sorts of water sports and recreation in fresh water. Other parts of this country are so envious of all this bountiful, fresh water, they have tried to buy into it and have water from the Great Lakes piped to the arid western states. We don’t suffer from wildfires, floods tornados or hurricanes, only snowstorms and an occasional blizzard, which is not a bad thing because the melting replenishes the aquifers and the freshwater resources we rely on and enjoy.

Agriculture (such as crop and dairy farms, grape growers, winemakers, apple growers, etc.) tourism and recreation are some of our sources of economy builders, and all rely on our fresh waters.

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‘Occupiers’ stand for our interests, not corporations

Reported December 9, 2011    |   Leave a Comment

The Occupy Wall Street/ Ithaca movement is a legitimate wakeup call to all Americans regarding the systematic theft of our futures — the 99 percent. I want to discuss my area of highest concern.

I’m a veteran, part of the Veterans Administration system, who knows that the war I participated in was about controlling natural resources of another country, trying out new weapons systems and shifting public funds to the amoral leadership in the “war industries.” We are doing it again in Iraq. Our selected man, Saddam Hussein, nationalized Iraqi oil just like the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh did in Iran, just like we knew Ho Chi Minh would nationalize Vietnam’s natural resources. Oil companies are drawing oil out of the South China Sea. We have allowed our corporate-run government to kill thousands of our young soldiers in these wars and millions of civilians in other countries.

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The Age-Worthy Taste Of Serendipity, Finger Lakes Style

Reported December 8, 2011    |   Leave a Comment

Last Friday, Mrs. Dudette was whipping up an Indian dish, and I was fiddling around with my long-overdue foray into the ownership of a “proper” camera (modest attempts at lowish-light photog are inset here and below… be gentle, please!), when I was tasked with raiding the basement’s ever-expanding world of cardboard shipping boxes to come up with a suitable wine match.

And that’s how I first met Keuka Lake Vineyards. Which turned out to be pretty lucky for me (and for Mrs. Dudette).

In this case, serendipity tastes not sweet but bone-friggin-dry – and while the KLV selection did a fantastic job with my wife’s Tandoori Chicken, that’s not why it’s being featured here this week…

So what made me so happy about this random selection from the sample pool? This wine is one of the most complete Rieslings I’ve yet to taste coming out of the Finger Lakes.

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