batavia

We received the following letter from Batavia City Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian:

(SMSI) shared municipal services

(CGR) center for govermental research

(AIM) Aid Incentives Municipalitys

Our obligation is to our city and our taxes payers. AIM revenues would be approximately $650,000 In the first year and that would reduce the combined property tax levy of the city and town by 15% per year.  Only if the city and town are consolidated. That’s a win-win situation.

The cities growth is down -7% and the towns growth is up + 26.2% giving these figures that the burden is on mostly city taxpayers for Ambulance, police and fire services. The city and town both have recognized boundaries to be shifted for growth. We are faced with fiscal challenges all the time and now is the time to step up and make the necessary changes to be a viable one municipality.

We have been successful with water, city dispatch consolidation and economic efforts. Now is the time to move forward for shared services and consolidation of the ambulance, fire and police departments.  I can foresee other shared services in the future to engage fiscal responsibilities like town and city highway departments  and the animal control officer.

My goal is to create joint shared services with economic growth for a fiscal responsibility for all. Giving the State of the economy we must protect our communities with shared services to create a fordable standard of living.

                            Councilwoman
                            Rose Mary Christian

(shown in the photo is Batavia's Jaycee Shirk (left), Pavilion's Maddy Griep, O-A's Dani Sage and Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli)

The Batavia girls basketball Rotary Club Tournament is set for Jan. 5 and 7 at Genesee Community College.

The annual action-packed tournament features Batavia, Notre Dame, Oakfield-Alabama and Pavilion. 

Batavia opens up with Oakfield-Alabama at 6 p.m. in the opening round with Pavilion and Notre Dame following at about 7:45 p.m. The consolation and finals are at the same time on the 7th.

Batavia captured the title last year after dropping two games the previous season. The Blue Devils toppled O-A in the finals last year, 44-31, as Annie Palermo and Alyssa Tretter were the dominant players on the floor.

But we did see an emergence of current Batavia stars Jaycee Shirk and Brittany Mazurkiewiecz in the tournament, with Mazurkiewiecz scoring nine and Shirk adding eight.

This is the 20th year the Rotary Club Girls Basketball Tournament has been held.

Thirty-five-year-old Batavia resident Angela Rogers teaches at Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Gates. Earlier this week, Rogers was surprised with a teach award from McDonald's Family Restaurants. From the Democrat & Chronicle:

Rogers was awarded a plaque that the fast-food chain gives to honor one teacher locally in the six-county region each week.

At the school gathering, (Principal LeRoy) Greer said Rogers is a valuable teacher who he is happy to have in the district. She received the award in only her second year with the Gates Chili Central School District.

Rogers began her career teaching kindergarten in Buffalo, but eventually moved back to Genesee County "to be closer to family." Check out the complete article for more details, photos and to hear from Rogers about the honor of receiving the award.

Hot Shots Coffee on Harvester Avenue has some great news for live music fans in Genesee County. From the release:

There is new hope for entertainment in Batavia. Other than at bars, there are not many concerts to speak of in our small city. Especially in the winter. On Saturday,January 24th, 6:30pm HOT SHOTS COFFEE at 56 Harvester ave. will be host to an alcohol free concert open to all ages. The Headlining band responsible for setting up the show, is Batavia's own RADIO RELAPSE, a modern rock coverband made up of the cream of Batavia's young talent. By young I mean mid 20's. There will also be an opening act t.b.a. RADIO RELAPSE is in support of seeing the local music scene flourish.  Entertainment is the spice of any city.

We stopped by a few businesses in Batavia earlier today to see how they've been holding up amidst the brutal storms over the weekend and today. Whiteouts and incessant snow may have deterred a few shoppers, but for the most part, business has found its way here. That's especially the case at Stan's Harley Davidson, where the three employees who were able to make it in to work today—several were called and told they didn't have to come in—could barely keep up with the swell of shoppers cycling through. We would love to hear from other businesses around town. How did you fare?

I was snowblowing my driveway this morning and my wife took a picture of me.  I was very chilled by the cold air and wind that was whipping through the area.

Then when I finished.  I went around town taking some pictures of different places:

Main Street

I drove down Bank St. here shown above, the street was really narrowed by the snow.

Pictured here is a guy snowblowing his driveway on North Street.

Along side a neighbors house was a tree that was weighed down by the heavy snow.  Total I believe we got approx 2 feet but difficult to tell with the blowing and drifting.  More to come.

I personally love this house on Highland Pk. The lights all around are cool, but check out the hockey player. I has a Sabres logo on his chest, but the blue lights make it look like a Batavia High player.

We received the following press release from the city of Batavia:

The City of Batavia and the Town of Batavia today reported the results of a joint public meeting between the City Council and the Town Board held on December 17.  The joint meeting was held to receive a report and recommendations prepared by the Center for Governmental Research (CGR).  CGR has been engaged to conduct a City and Town Consolidation Study under a Shared Municipal Services Incentive (SMSI) grant funded jointly by the City, the Town, and New York State.

The joint City/Town Consolidation Study Committee supports CGR’s report and recommendation to proceed to develop and present a draft consolidation plan to the City Council and Town Board by July, 2009.  If the plan is approved by the two elected bodies, the plan could be presented to the voters of the City and Town in the November, 2009 general election.

CGR and the Committee made a presentation to the joint meeting of elected officials to discuss the initial recommendation.  The Study Committee will begin to develop the plan starting in January, and agreed to update the joint boards every few months, to ensure that the process is open and transparent.  At the end of the presentation, the joint boards applauded the Study Committee for its work to date, and endorsed moving forward as discussed.

Charles Zettek Jr., CGR’s project Director, noted that there are several key factors that are aligning in favor of consolidating the City and the Town at this time.  These factors include:  1. the severe fiscal crisis that is going to drive changes to keep costs as low as possible, 2. new financial incentives from the State to consolidate local governments, 3. strong support by the City Council President and the Town Supervisor, and 4. recent events that have shown that consolidation works and benefits the greater community.

“There is no question that if the City and Town of Batavia become a single new government, this will put Batavia in the national spotlight” Zettek said.  “Everyone recognizes that fragmented local governments in New York and across the northeast and Midwest are inefficient. Communities across the country will look to Batavia as being the best example of how to consolidate a city and town to create an efficient government designed for the 21’st century” Zettek said.

City Council President Charlie Mallow summarized the consensus of the two boards by saying “Both boards want to develop a detailed consolidation plan that can be presented to the voters next fall.”   “We both realize that consolidating the City and Town will provide significant cost savings that will reduce taxes” Mallow said. “The plan will spell out specifically how services will be provided, how much will be saved and other efficiencies.”

Town Supervisor Greg Post stated, “If you look at the master plan that was done 40 years ago, it viewed the Town and City as one community.  Now we have the opportunity to make that vision a reality.”

City Manager Jason Molino told the joint boards that the Committee is going to have an incredibly busy six months, reviewing all the operations and coming up with a plan to present to City Council and the Town Board.”  “However, the end result will be a definite plan so that the voters will have the facts and options they need to decide if they want to create a new consolidated government”.

It was the first time in the history of New York State basketball that two coaches with over 500 career victories guided teams against each other.

Notre Dame's Mike Rapone earned career victory 513 while Prattsburgh's Jim Burke was held at 502 as the Fighting Irish picked up a 60-53 win.

The evening started off with Notre Dame's court being dedicated to Rapone and girls volleyball coach Rhonda DiCasolo. Rapone followed it by presenting Burke with a plaque in honor of his 500th victory, which happened in Prattsburgh's first game of the season.

Then, the teams that play a pair of non league games with each other every year, took the court. The Fighting Irish took an early lead.

Kevin Francis had a steal and basket, Tommy Rapone had a basket with an and-1 and Kevin Schildwaster scored to give ND a quick 7-0 lead.

But Francis picked up a second foul midway through the first quarter and had to go to the bench, which allowed the Vikings to creep back in the game.

Ryan Caron scored nine points in a three minute stretch, with the only Fighting Irish basket coming on a 3-pointer by Matt Thompson.

Brandon Bulley scored the final basket of the opening period and Notre Dame had a very slim 18-16 lead.

Prattsburgh took the lead right away when Patrick Wightman drained a 3-pointer to open the second period.

It was back-and-forth for the second quarter until the end when Francis, Nick Wetherwax and Schildwaster had baskets to give the Fighting Irish a 32-28 halftime lead.

Notre Dame opened up a 12-point lead when Vinny Zambito and Thompson hit consecutive 3-pointers, but the third quarter ended with ND leading 51-41.

The fourth quarter was a series of free throw attempts that dragged on, but Notre Dame held on for the win and improves to 4-0.

Francis had 18 points with 10 assists and Thompson hit four 3-pointers to score 14 points.

Rapone and Zambito had eight points each.

Caron had 18 points and Garrett Parker added 17 for Prattsburgh (4-3).

VIDEO + INTERVIEWS FROM THE GAME

GREAT VIDEO OF THE COURT PRESENTATION AND RAPONE HONORING BURKE

Today's example is on Walnut St. and a great example of color and variety. 

 I am surprised that in my 4-5 hours of driving I didn't find any cars off the road. But I did manage to find somebody that parked on Main St. Batavia that is probably going to have a difficult time getting out.

UPDATE (by Howard): Interesting, the Daily picked up on the same shot.

Nothing stops the United States postal service.

Even with massive amounts of snow, the mail is still on its way. I would guess that some carriers might be a little behind schedule because of the conditions, but they are out there.

We received the following notice of closures at the United Memorial Medical Center:

"Due to today’s severe winter weather the following outpatient services of United Memorial will be closed today:

• Batavia Family Care

• Tountas Family Care

• Tonawanda Seneca Family Care

• Byron Family Care

• The Corporate Health Center

• All services at the Jerome Center including laboratory and medical imaging

• Pembroke Diagnostic Center

• LeRoy Diagnostic Center

• Cardiac Rehab Services, EKG, Echo and Stress Testing"