Ithaca Minute from 14850 Magazine

Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for February 18th.

The Ithaca Fire Department says just cleaning the lint trap isn’t enough: A lint buildup in a Summerhill Drive apartment building’s vent is a likely cause of a fire that brought firefighters to the east hill complex on Saturday. Tom Basher credits the building’s working fire alarm system for notifying occupants of the fire, and a sprinkler system in the utility room for helping contain the fire until firefighters were on scene.

Municipal offices are closed Monday for the Presidents Day federal holiday, and public schools are on February break, but curbside recycling pickup will take place as scheduled this Monday in Tompkins County.

The Ithaca Festival Parade has returned to Thursday evening of Festival weekend, and applications are open for groups who want to participate in the parade. The parade is from 6-8pm on Thursday, May 30.

And Cornell senior Marlene Boissonault allowed just one goal all weekend as Big Red women’s hockey swept Brown and Yale for Senior Weekend. Cornell will have home-ice advantage for the ECAC quarterfinals in two weeks.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for February 12th.

A suitcase left behind by a student during an event at Sage Chapel raised concerns, but the suspicious bag was “determined not to pose a threat,” according to the Cornell Police Department. The incident occurred during Cornell’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative lecture, featuring human rights activist Bree Newsome as a guest speaker. Officers were called just before 7:30 Monday “for a report of a male subject who walked in with suitcase and sat down to listen to the speaker and then left without the suitcase.” Officers quickly determined the bag belonged to a student who was located nearby. According to CUPD, “the student told officers that he needed to use the restroom and left the bag because he didn’t want to create a disturbance.”

Odd-even parking is in effect in the City of Ithaca until further notice with Tuesday’s snowy forecast. Most area school districts are closed for the day, along with TC3, Corning Community College, and Wells.

And the 21st annual Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off brought over 40 vendors with meaty and vegetarian chili offerings, beer and wine, and spicy treats to the Ithaca Commons on Saturday. The official winners have been announced, and we have our own prizes to award.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for February 11th.

City of Ithaca officials say the new sets of traffic signals that are part of the West End Corridor Enhancement Project will be activated Tuesday, February 12th at the intersection of West State Street, Floral Avenue, and Hector Street. Stop signs that were set up at the intersection will be removed. City of Ithaca director of engineering services Tim Logue tells us crews are planning to activate the lights and remove the stop signs after rush hour. The signals being activated on Tuesday should make it easier for Route 79 traffic to keep flowing most of the time, with brief stops to allow vehicles to turn from or onto Floral Avenue, also known as Route 13A.

And the Ithaca League of Junior Rollers hit the road and came back from Philadelphia with a big roller derby win. The ILJR Level 2 team beat Philly’s girls 201-150 last weekend. “Both teams played well and with great sportsmanship, smiling even when they were hit out of bounds,” Ithaca coach Laura Hobbs, aka Coach Sleekit, told us. (Like roller derby players, coaches adopt derby nicknames.) The next junior bout in Ithaca will be on June 1st at Cass Park, Coach Sleekit tells us.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for November 19th.

The Dwyer Dam Bridge at the Route 366 entrance to the Cornell University campus will be closed during work hours 7am-5pm this Monday through Wednesday, for sealant joint repair. The bridge connects Hoy Road to Dryden Road, or Route 366, at the southern edge of campus near Cornell’s parking garage. At least one pedestrian sidewalk will be kept open throughout the project. Cornell says Hoy Road will be open from Campus Road to the entrance to the parking garage, so anyone entering or leaving the parking garage can take that route. Drivers coming to campus via Route 366 will be detoured to Tower Road or Judd Falls Road.

The City of Ithaca says Home Dairy Alley will be closed during business hours this Monday through Wednesday to install stormwater infrastructure for the new Harold’s Square Building project. During business hours, when Center Ithaca is open, pedestrians will be able to get between Green Street and the Commons by walking through the indoor mall. When Center Ithaca is closed at night, crews will provide steel plating in the alley to ensure a safe passage.

And don’t miss 14850 Dining’s annual listing of who’s open and closed for Thanksgiving weekend, including Thanksgiving feasts and free meals on Thursday.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for November 7th.

Preliminary results from the Tompkins County Board of Elections show Democratic challenger Derek Osborne winning the race for County Sheriff with just over 2/3 of the vote. He defeats incumbent Ken Lansing and challenger Josh Brokaw, who took 5% of the vote.

Challenger Tracy Mitrano had over 75% of the Tompkins County vote, but fell to incumbent Tom Reed for New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat by a ten percent margin.

Tom O’Mara was re-elected to the 58th State Senate district seat with about 60% of the vote, despite a strong showing by Amanda Kirchgessner in Tompkins County.

The old Tompkins County Public Library building on the corner of Court and Cayuga Streets is slated for demolition, but structural concerns and the need for asbestos removal have complicated the process. The City of Ithaca is hosting a public meeting on Thursday so community members can get an update from City staff and the development team.

Due to the building’s condition, developer Travis Hyde plans to have crews perform a “controlled demolition,” removing the asbestos along with the rest of the building materials, using “an ultra-high-reach demolition excavator” and continuously spraying the site “with a large mister” for dust suppression purposes.

The public meeting is scheduled for 5pm on Thursday, November 8th in Common Council chambers on the 3rd floor of City Hall at 108 East Green Street.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for October 30th.

New York State law entitles you to time off to vote on Election Day, but you do have to ask for it in advance. Employers must give employees up to two hours off to vote, with pay, if there isn’t a block of four consecutive hours either between the time polls open and the start of your shift, or between the end of your shift and the time the polls close. You have to request that time off from your employer in advance — during the stretch from ten working days to two working days before the election. Or, you can apply for an absentee ballot at the Tompkins County Board of Elections website, or in person no later than 5pm the day before election day, i.e. 5pm on Monday, November 5.

Gadabout, who provides accessible paratransit rides to Ithaca area residents, is offering free rides to and from polling places for any Tompkins County resident. They ask that residents reserve a time slot by 4:30pm this Friday, November 2nd. Lime is offering free bike rentals in the area, as well.

And our favorite locally focused shop in Downtown Ithaca, Sunny Days, is looking forward to celebrating its fifth anniversary in a new location this spring, with the new store opening this past weekend as a pop-up shop in the Rothschild’s building. The original store at the corner of Green and Cayuga remains open through the end of the year.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for October 29th.

The New York State Police say a Lansing man was sent to Tompkins County Jail on “felony level” animal cruelty charges last week after being accused of killing a woman’s pet rabbit. The woman told troopers that 24-year-old Seth C. Decker “was angry after an argument, and allegedly told the victim he would put her pet rabbit inside the microwave at a residence on Lockerby Hill Road.”

Another person at the residence observed Decker placing the rabbit in the microwave and turning it on, and then threatening the witness before leaving. Troopers arrested Decker Thursday in Locke, and he was arraigned in Town of Lansing Court and remanded to Tompkins County Jail.

Larry Sharpe is the Libertarian candidate for governor in New York, and he and lieutenant governor candidate Andrew Hollister will be in Central New York this coming week to meet voters. Hollister will be at the Groton Public Library on Tuesday at 5:30pm, and both candidates will be speaking in Binghamton on Saturday, at a rally from 2-4pm.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 15th.

Derek Osborne and Amanda Kirchgessner won their races in preliminary primary election results for Ithaca and Tompkins County on Thursday night. Challenger Derek Osborne topped incumbent Ken Lansing for the Democratic Party nomination for Tompkins County Sheriff. Osborne will face independent candidate Josh Brokaw, a local journalist who filed his candidacy petitions last month. Lansing is also running on the Independence Party line, and will still appear on the ballot in November.

Amanda Kirchgessner led Michael Lausell for the Democratic Party nomination for State Senate in the 58th District. She will face incumbent Republican candidate Tom O’Mara in November, and Lausell will remain on the ballot on the Working Families Party line.

The Ellis Hollow Community Center swimming pool is closed for the season for humans, but it’s open one last time this weekend — for dogs! Friendly dogs are welcome this Sunday from 12-2pm.

The 1-1 Ithaca High School varsity football team has the second game of a three-game homestand this weekend, and it’s a rare Saturday night game. The Little Red will face Corning-Painted Post at 6pm at Joe Moresco Stadium.

And City of Ithaca officials say the current bus terminal will remain at its longtime west end location until the end of September, and “plans are progressing for the downtown bus station” on East Green Street.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for September 5th.

The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office says an arrest warrant for a female subject led to the arrest of four people from the Ithaca area. A release on Tuesday says deputies had gone to an Elmira Road motel to serve the warrant last Monday, August 27. The four people found in the motel room were found to be “in possession of a large quantity of heroin, cocaine, LSD, prescription pills, and marijuana,” as well as an electronic stun gun and an undisclosed amount of cash.

City of Ithaca officials say the current bus terminal will remain at its longtime west end location until the end of September, and “plans are progressing for the downtown bus station.” City of Ithaca chief of staff Dan Cogan told us in late July “The permanent solution we are exploring is to bring the buses downtown to Green Street.” The City of Ithaca’s Director of Planning and Development, JoAnn Cornish, tells us “We had a successful meeting last week” to talk about moving the bus station downtown.

The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office says a Freeville woman was arrested following a reported burglary at the SPCA of Tompkins County over the Labor Day weekend. Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Ithaca animal shelter on Hanshaw Road at about 6:51pm on Saturday and then arrested 27-year-old Freeville resident Amy K. Lanclos for the crime.

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