Ithaca Minute from 14850 Magazine

Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for July 6th.

A statement from the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office says one driver died at the scene of a two-car crash in the Town of Ulysses on Monday evening. Deputies responded at about 6:16pm on Monday, July 5th, to the reported crash.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, an investigation “determined that a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling north on Jacksonville Road when a 2004 Volkswagen, traveling west on Agard Road, failed to stop at the stop sign, colliding into the Chevrolet Silverado.”

Tuesday morning’s statement from the Sheriff’s Office says 86-year-old Joyce H. Oltz of Trumansburg, who was driving the Volkswagen, was pronounced dead at the scene, as was her dog, who was with her in the vehicle. The occupants of the Chevrolet Silverado sustained minor injuries.

And the City of Ithaca says there’s no parking for the next few weeks on Cornell Walk, a residential dead-end street on Ithaca’s east hill. Crews will be removing old asphalt and repaving the road.

No detours have been planned for the street, off Valley Road and Cornell Street near the Belle Sherman Elementary School.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for July 4th.

“The Executive Order that established the Local State of Emergency in March 2020 expires on July 3, 2021 and will not be renewed,” according to a statement from the Tompkins County Health Department on Friday. “This closely follows the end of the State of Emergency declared by Governor Cuomo last week.”

The Health Department also says beginning the week of July 5th, they’ll be updating their COVID-19 daily data table once a week on Wednesdays, instead of daily. They’ll continue updating the spreadsheet with the raw information on a daily basis.

14850 Today has already paused its daily update articles with daily numbers so low through the month of June.

As of the 4th of July, 75% of Tompkins County residents age 18 and up have been vaccinated, according to the Tompkins County Health Department. Sunday’s data table shows just three active cases, the lowest number in 360 days, nearly an entire year.

And Ithaca’s waterfront Stewart Park has been closed for over a week due to damage sustained in last Monday’s storms, and despite cleanup efforts, additional storm damage this week means the park remains closed and the Friends of Stewart Park has postponed this weekend’s 100th Birthday Bash to July 11th.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for May 29th.

Memorial Day means there’s no recycling or trash pickup in Tompkins County on Monday, and pickup will be delayed one day for the rest of the week. TCAT buses aren’t running on Monday.

The City of Ithaca says municipal offices will be closed, and in addition to trash collection, yard waste collection will be delayed one day for the rest of the week.

TCAT starts their summer bus service schedule on Sunday, May 30. The TCAT summer schedule is available on their website.

Schools and government offices are closed for Memorial Day, and some stores and restaurants will be closed or have shorter hours.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for March 28th.

The City of Ithaca is beginning its annual schedule of street cleaning on Monday, March 29, and asks residents to move their cars when their street is scheduled. Signs will go up 24 hours ahead of a street closing, and residents can be notified via Swift911.

Cars may be towed as street cleaning begins in City of Ithaca

City crews will post “no parking” signs 24 hours ahead of time throughout the next few weeks, so keep an eye on where your car is parked and be prepared to move it. Notifications are also available from the Swift911 system available in Ithaca and Tompkins County, which can text or call or email when there’s an update.

Cleaning crews start with lower South Hill and lower Collegetown neighborhoods on Monday, with streets listed at 14850.com. The schedule continues with the rest of Collegetown, streets along Six Mile Creek, and other areas near the Cornell campus the first week.

Vehicles that aren’t removed from streets marked as closed by 7am are subject to being ticketed and towed. The standard fee for towing in the City of Ithaca is $200 plus sales tax, not counting daily storage fees.

And the 30th anniversary GrassRoots Festival will be postponed until 2022.

30th GrassRoots will be postponed to 2022, organizers announce

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The owners of Collegetown Bagels and Ithaca Bakery announced several changes to their businesses on Monday in response to a series of concerns expressed by employees in a petition last week. As the most immediate step, the company is closing indoor dining at all of their cafes effective Tuesday, December 15th.

Read more: CTB and Ithaca Bakery will close indoor dining, hike wages, focus on employee safety in response to staff concerns

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Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 12th.

St. James AME Zion Church wants to make back-to-school easier for Ithaca families, and they’re offering free hair styles, free haircuts, and free school supplies to K-12 city youth at the church this Sunday afternoon. Hair must be washed before kids come, and masks must be worn for this first come, first served event. Only basic cuts and styles are available. The St. James AME Zion “1st Annual Back to School Event” is Sunday, September 13 from 1-4pm at 116 Cleveland Ave. in Ithaca.

Walter J. Wiggins, a Cornell Law School alum who retired from his law career at the age of 90 and founded some of Ithaca’s most iconic hotels and restaurants, passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 95, according to his family. “Wally” and his partners and family opened La Tourelle and the adjacent L’Auberge du Cochon Rouge and John Thomas Steakhouse restaurants, and the Ramada Inn, now Hotel Ithaca, that was downtown Ithaca’s first high-rise hotel.

And WVBR's Bound for Glory this Sunday night features a rebroadcast of a 2018 performance by Michael Jerling with Tony Markelis.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 10th.

Daily flights between the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport ended this week, according to an announcement from airport officials. American Airlines is eliminating the regional flights, which have operated for decades, and adding a single daily flight to and from Charlotte to replace the previous weekly flight. The service change eliminates the last air service to the northeast region from Ithaca, which also once had daily flights to Newark, New York’s LaGuardia, Pittsburgh, and Boston. United switched its Ithaca to Newark service to Washington Dulles International Airport in 2018, and increased service last year, before dropping the service this year, temporarily, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. “There’s an opportunity to go back to three flights daily at Charlotte, Detroit, and Dulles,” airport director Mike Hall tells us.

The Tompkins County Health Department and SPCA of Tompkins County are teaming up to offer a free rabies vaccination clinic on Saturday, September 19, at the TCAT bus garage at 737 Willow Avenue. If your pet is due for a rabies vaccination, or if you’re not sure, this is a good opportunity to get up to date at no cost. Bring proof of prior vaccination with you or town license renewal if you’d like to receive a three-year certification. Pre-register at the Tompkins County Health Department web site.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 8th. Firefighters responded early Sunday morning for a reported porch fire on Delaware Ave. in a Collegetown neighborhood after a neighbor called 911 to report the porch across the street was on fire. According to the Ithaca Fire Department, the occupant of 212 Delaware woke up and tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out. Fire investigators believe “the cause of the fire, which caused significant damage to the outer porch, appeared to be discarded smoking material.” They urge community members to always have working smoke detectors and to use safe means for disposing of cigars and cigarettes, never flower planters and mulch. And rescuers were dispatched to Buttermilk Falls State Park on Sunday afternoon for a report of “a man who had fallen down an approximately 30-foot bank” along the trail, according to the Ithaca Fire Department. IFD says firefighters and Bangs Ambulance personnel worked with New York State Park Police and park staff to “access the victim and stabilize his injuries,” while other firefighters set up a rope system for an extrication. The man was lifted out of the gorge, carried to a State Parks pickup truck, and transferred to [...]

Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 5th. The City of Ithaca made on-street parking and the first three hours in city-owned garages free this March, and resumed charging parking fees at reduced rates in June. Next Tuesday, September 8, the City says they’re returning to standard on-street parking rates and eliminating the temporary free first hour of parking in City-owned garages. The hourly parking rate is $1.50 for parking at paystations or the remaining coin-only “lollipop” style parking meters in a few parts of town. Parking in the City-owned garages costs $1 per hour, with a daily maximum of $10 at downtown garages and $15 in Collegetown. Each spring, students and others leaving town leave behind tons of items they don’t need, and volunteers collect it for resale every August to raise money for local charities and keep reusable items out of the waste stream. Most years, Cornell hosts an annual Dump & Run Sale in August, but this year due to COVID concerns, the sale is being handled off campus by Finger Lakes ReUse. The sale is Friday through Sunday, September 4-6, at the former GreenStar classroom building at 700 West Buffalo Street. And two Ithaca [...]

Live music and bars were two early casualties of this year's pandemic, and we've talked with the people bringing both back to the Finger Lakes Wine Trail this summer.