Saturday, March 29, 2008

Town Board Meeting 3/27/08

You can listen to or download an audio file of the meeting,

here

(see post below from 3/5/08 for technical info)

* it begins with a discussion of the new contract with Chris Austen (from Covert) to replace the SPCA as the town's dog control officer. I feel this is a mistake. I feel that the town should continue to use the SPCA for this.

6:30 - they revisit the illegal closure of the last meeting on 3/11/08 when the pro wd5 forces left in a huff after their resolution was tabled

8:15 - they discuss expanding high speed internet access. They are apparently unclear about the
differences between dsl and fiber optics and cable

15:30 Sue Poelvorde joins discussion about upcoming public Comp Plan meetings and how to best get the word out.

24:00 Tom Schlee - new Town Justice who is replacing the late Christine Springer discusses the need for a court clerk.

50:00 amusing discussion - who the hell works for this town? what the hell are they doing? why the hell don't we know?

1:00 Lucia Tyler discusses the new resolution for wd6
1:14 Lucia reads the resolution, then they discuss Unique Natural Areas, and can the planning board do some groundwork now, to prepare for new zoning laws, once the Comp Plan is finished?

1:31 Doug Austic quote about wd5 - "I'm not going to be in favor of moving ahead before the Comprehensive Plan" (You heard it hear first, folks) This is good news. Those of us who prefer not to be rushed into 10 - 15 million dollar infrastructure projects without proper study should participate in the upcoming Comp Plan public meetings Thursday, April 10th 6:30 p.m. - Franziska Racker Center cafeteria, 3226 Wilkins Rd
Saturday, April 12th 9:00 a.m. – Trumansburg High School cafeteria, Whig St

Thomas, Howarth, Carstensen, and Filiberto's writings on wd5 can be found on this blog below

they discuss the timing, and the process of drafting changes to the zoning laws

1:44 Village sidewalks grant application - the village requested a letter of support from the town. Rod Ferrintino blows hot and cold. Doesn't look good for getting the letter.  Individuals who want to support this grant application can send letters to clerk@trumansburg-ny.gov   Apparently, some on the Town Board feel that the Village was irresponsible for spending too much on the Main Street Project, and don't want to encourage further irresponsible behavior.  (hmm......  brings to mind irresponsible water infra.......  oh, never mind)

Liz Thomas recorded this meeting for me with my recorder, I was not there.  Thank you Liz.  I hope that someone on the Village Board will record their proceedings when I am not there, so that we maintain the accessibility and transparency provided here.  This should be done by the Town and the Village, and posted on their websites, but for now, all are welcome to get it here.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Informing Ulysses, by Liz Thomas

Informing Ulysses
March 11, 2008

On and off the record, from Liz Thomas, your Town of Ulysses Representative


The root of this information: When elected, one of my goals was to make sure official Town Board activities are open and available to residents who may be impacted by Board decisions. In this spirit, I hope to provide periodic short synopses of main topics of interest. These are my own personal notes, derived from the official (although not yet approved) town minutes and my own scribbles and understandings of activities at the Ulysses Town Board. Where opinions are expressed, they are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the understanding or attitude of the entire Board. Approved minutes of the Town can be found at http://www.ulysses.ny.us/town-offices.html. There are also several blogs that provide useful and interesting information about happenings in the Town of Ulysses and Village of Trumansburg. I encourage you to take a look at Finding Ulysses http://www.findingulysses.com/, and the newly created Ulysses Democrats at http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/.

Comprehensive Planning:
Do you want to help shape the future of the Town of Ulysses? The Comprehensive Planning Committee established two dates for the public to give input into this important plan. Mark your calendar to participate and have your voice heard:
Thursday, April 10th 6:30 p.m. - Franziska Racker Center cafeteria, 3226 Wilkins Rd
Saturday, April 12th 9:00 a.m. – Trumansburg High School cafeteria, Whig St

Dog Control:
The Town appointed Chris Austen from the Town of Covert as Dog Control Officer to pick up stray dogs and transport them to the SPCA. The SPCA, Mr. Austen, and the Town Board believe this will be a more cost effective means to provide dog control. The new plan will be in effect for the rest of this year and will be reviewed at the end of 2008.

Ulysses Town Justice:
Three well-qualified candidates stepped forward offering to fill the remainder of Christine Springer’s term. Tom Schlee was appointed to fill the position and plans to hold court in the evenings to complement the day court now held by Roger Rector. See page 15 of the Town minutes.

Miniature Golf:
Mike and Melinda Cirri will move ahead after being granted approval to create a family entertainment business on Route 96 between Halseyville and Cold Springs Roads. The first phase of development involves building a miniature golf course followed by a batting cage and electric go-cart track.

Official meeting times and dates:
The regular Town Board meeting is the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30. In response to requests to hold evening meetings, the second Town Board meeting of the month has been re-scheduled to the fourth Thursday of the month from 7:00 to 9:00pm.



Progress on Providing Municipal Water:
The “Town of Ulysses Water Needs Committee” has been formed, and is in the process of creating a town-wide survey to help determine which areas of the town have the most pressing water issues. At the March 11 regular Town Board meeting, Rod Ferrentino presented a resolution to proceed with a greatly modified version of the original Water District 5, which now, due to the loss of Auble’s Mobile Home Park, must run nearly 25 miles and is extended to include Route 89 from Taughannock Park to the Town of Ithaca. Mr. Ferrentino’s resolution was tabled (see page 15 of the official town notes). Lucia Tyler intended to introduce a resolution to provide municipal water to residents through a process that includes considering the results of the Water Needs Committee, the updated Comprehensive Plan, and agreement with the Town of Ithaca, Taughannock Park, and the Village of Trumansburg, but due to Supervisor Austic’s enforcement of the rule that resolutions must be presented to the entire board six days prior to the official meeting date, Lucia’s resolution was not allowed to be presented. The resolution to appoint the dog control officer was created at the meeting, not six days in advance.

Bizarre Adjournment:
It seems likely that the Town Board illegally adjourned the March 11 meeting, since the motion to adjourn made by Doug Austic, and seconded by Rod Ferrentino, was never voted on. After hearing the second to his motion to adjourn, Supervisor Austic, along with Trustee Ferrentino and clerk Marcia Georgia left the premises. While it is true that a motion to adjourn is not debatable, it does require a majority vote of the Town Board. To be continued!

Let’s hear your thoughts:
If you have questions or comments about Town business, please feel free to contact me at Liz.Graeper.Thomas@gmail.com or call me at 387-8170. And if you’d rather not hear the scintillating tales from the Town, just say the word and I’ll remove you from this list.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Back to Democracy Peace March in Trumansburg


We gathered in front of the schools and marched down to the peoples park across from the post office to commemorate the end of the fifth year of our illegal occupation of Iraq. We dedicated our march to the memory of Frank Carver, who passed March 4th after many years of working for peace and justice.



You can see all of the pictures here.

Ithaca Journal Saturday 3/15 - "T-burg, Ulysses continue water fight"

The Ithaca Journal printed a piece "T-burg, Ulysses continue water fight" Saturday morning. It's a disappointing piece of journalism. The headline makes it sound as if the village is fighting the town, which is not the case. The conflict is between those that want to rush ahead with ill conceived plans, and those who resist.

Then there is this,

"Carstensen said he's not in favor or strongly opposed to water district five, and said he thinks it's a decision to be made by the planing board and the zoning board."

They got this totally wrong. I am strongly opposed to water district five - as presently described (25 miles of pipe and 10 - 15 million dollars) I did not say that it is a decision for the planning and zoning boards. The author is confusing what I said about the Byrne Dairy project (where I can see both sides) with what I said about wd5.

The author also failed to mention a critical piece of information, which I feel voters need, in-order to make their decision. Back to Democracy, a local group of grassroots volunteers, held a candidate forum last Saturday. Debbie Nottke refused to attend, saying that BTD was a "political advocacy group". BTD advocates for participatory democracy, with the aims of peace, social justice, sustainability, and liberation from corporate control. They do not advocate for one political party over another. I asked for their endorsement, and they refused, in-order to maintain this neutral status. This is the third candidate forum that BTD has hosted between candidates for Trumansburg and Ulysses offices. This is a valuable service to the community, and I hope that all candidates will participate in the future.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Letter to the editor of the Trumansburg Free Press by Jules Burgevin

Below, is a letter submitted to the editor of the Trumansburg Free Press by Jules Burgevin, more than two weeks ago. The editor printed 3 letters in support of my opponent, Debbie Nottke, why did he not print this one?



Dear Friends:

We don't want to lose our sense of villageness. The sense of community. The sense of being able to bond in friendship with our neighbors. We really want to keep the integrity, the beauty, the uniqueness that exists in this lovely village of Trumansburg.

We want to be able to treasure and protect and keep in balanced harmony what was passed to us and what we will pass to the next generation coming into this village: the green spaces, the Smith woods, the creek, the pathways, the open Natural spaces that are inside and around where we live. Trying to preserve and enjoy what we have.

My sense is that Allen Carstensen has a keen political awareness of what is going on in this village, and has a profound interest and knowledge of how village government works. He is responsive and responsible and experienced. And he has a determination --- he displays a genuine zeal --- in his efforts to have us focus on the issues of the environment, and other matters of village concern for all of us.

The heart of this village now --- is the beautiful library. In a way, it is the center. And in the new village library is a reading room. Open, with a gas burning fire place. And all the intricate red oak trimmed woodwork was done by Allen Carstensen, as part of the volunteer building effort. Solid. Beautiful. Carefully made. Strong.

In these times we really need Democrats in offices where we know we can depend on them because of their experience in crafting a solid, dependable future for all of us.

Most Sincerely, Jules Burgevin 387-6253



This is my part of the volunteer building effort at the Ulysses Philomathic Library, that Jules refers to above.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Town Board 3/11/08 sound file

I wasn't at this meeting.
I'll post some comments later.
Again, the sound quality is better if you download it to your computer and listen with a program that will allow you to boost the treble and cut the bass.  
Here's the link.
3:50 Sue - comprehensive plan update
6:40 Chris Austin - potential dog control officer
23:00 Jim Dennis - County Legislature update
28:00 question for Sue about Ag District Survey
highway dept. report
39:40  Marsha Georgia treasury
44:00 Rt.96 corridor update - fly over - planning - 
46:00 Motion to hire Chris Austin - passed by all
47:40 Shall we get a second justice - Liz Thomas resolution 
Austic "I really don't think we need a second justice now"
54:00 Passed a motion about second justice
I need clarification here
54:57  Share Municipal Services Grant to study sharing services between 
Ulysses, Caroline, and Newfield  (storm water runoff)
59:50  Motion to accept SEQR
1:09   motion for new time for town meetings
clarification please
1:10   discussion about handing over road maintenance of annexed property 
on west seneca, the town wants clarification from the village.
Chris Thomas is on it. 
1:20    ?????? papers are passed out  - proposed changes to - ??????
1:25:30  Resolution - Michael and Melissa Series?  is this the minigolf project
passed by all 
1:33:30  I think what's happening here is Lucia, Dave, and Liz try to bring a resolution
forward and Doug and Rod, kill it on the basis of it not having been submitted
in writing 6 days prior to the meeting.
1:34:00  Rod  Ferintino reads a resolution to go forward with Map, Plan, and Report.
Doug Austic seconds
Dave Kerness moves to table the resolution. He gets a second. It's tabled
Doug moves to adjourn, and it sounds like he then leaves
Liz, asks for a public comment period  ?????
Roxanne objects to the way proceedures are followed.
1:39:50  Shall we read the resolution in spite of members walking out?
Lucia reads the resolution.
Can I post the text?
The jist of it, is to not consider wd5 or MPR in such a rush.






Monday, March 10, 2008

Village Board Meeting 3/10 Sound File

Sound from meeting here.
0-4:50 roll call, public comment period
4:50-10:00 Carstensen and Hrubos on wd5
10:00-15:00 Filiberto on carbon tax, reports from dept. heads
15:00-22:00 Police report
22:00 treasurer and clerk
24:00 Chris Thomas on sidewalks
29:45 Jim Dennis - County Legislature report
33:10 Chris Thomas on EMS
38:50 Marty Petrovic on old business
45:50 Carstensen and Hrubos on wd5
51:00 Jim Dennis on wd5
56:00 Bob Brown on wd5
The Town Board meets tomorrow night. There might be resolutions brought forth about wd5
(read the technical stuff in the previous post.)

Friday, March 7, 2008

3/5/08 Budget Meeting Sound File

As an experiment, I recorded most of the last budget meeting with an Ipod + microphone. I turned that into a compressed mp3 file and uploaded it to my website. You can listen to it here.
Depending on your browser, there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. In the future (if elected) I intend to post these files along with a few notes that refer you to points on the timeline where I will tell you who is speaking, and perhaps comment on what was being said. The sound quality isn't great, but I can actually make out some of the conversation better than I could during the live version (perhaps because my hearing isn't great, and perhaps because I can adjust the sound with the equalizer and volume controls) I would like to offer sound files that are crisp and clear. If anyone has expertise in this and can offer advice, please contact me.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Bio and Position Paper


I’m Allen Carstensen, the Democratic candidate for the trustee spot on the Village Board. I was born in Philadelphia in ‘52, moved to Maryland, then Rochester in 1960 where my father was a professor of biophysics at the University of Rochester. I graduated high school in 1970 and spent 2 years studying photography at Ohio University, but I was drawn to a career in building. I built my parents a vacation home on Kueka Lake, and have been in the building trades ever since. My wife and I bought an old church in Enfield, in 1984 which now serves as my cabinet shop. My wife, our 3 children and I moved here from Enfield, in 1996, and bought an old house on Strowbridge St. My wife, Christine, is an Architect at Cornell, and she designed, and I built a 2 story addition to the house, and I'm still trying to find the time and money to renovate the rest of it. Chris also designed, and I built, the fireplace at the Ulysses Philomathic Library as part of the volunteer building effort, a few years ago.

I managed a crew of carpenters building houses, additions and remodeling from 1985 - 1995. Since Chris began full time at Cornell I have been working alone, so that I have more flexibility to help with the kids and the house.

My family and I moved here from Enfield because we loved the feeling of villageness in Tremendousburg. I want to work with the board to maintain that feeling. We have excellent schools, a skilled volunteer Fire Department, a friendly police force, a dedicated ambulance/ems service, beautiful, historic architecture and a fabulous new library. We need progressive Democrats on the Village Board in-order to safeguard the aspects of Trumansburg that we cherish as we move forward and face the challenges ahead.

I was invited to join the steering committee of Back to Democracy, and I was instrumental in bringing Les Roberts, and Eric Massa, to Trumansburg to address gatherings of our group. Back to Democracy is a group of progressive grassroots volunteers who promote participatory democracy, with the aims of peace, social justice, sustainability, and liberation from corporate control. I have attended every village board meeting since last summer, because I have become concerned about some of the issues before the board.

I have also been a member of New Yorkers for Verified Voting (Bo Lipari executive director) We have had considerable success, in recent weeks, in our struggle for secure, reliable, and verifiable voting systems.

I was dismayed to hear that the Village Board was investigating the possibility of partially privatizing our ambulance and ems service. What we have now, is a fully taxpayer funded ambulance/ems which is as it should be. All health care and emergency services in our country should be taxpayer funded. We have taxpayer funded police and fire departments, and every industrialized country in the world except ours, has moved to some form of taxpayer funded health care while we in this village, are considering a move in the opposite direction. When your house is on fire, or you need the police, our fire department and police department are focused completely on helping you. They are not worrying about the bottom line, they are worrying about how best to put out the fire. Polls show that a strong majority of the country is in favor of universal single payer health care. We have a portion of that right here, and now, but the board is
considering hiring a private, for profit billing service to bill the recipients, and their private for profit health insurance companies. Movements in Washington are gaining strength that may result in major reforms to our crazy system of health care. Let's stand on principle and resist the temptation to collect money from corporations that care much more about their bottom line than the health of their customers. The board is looking at this, in an attempt to save taxpayer money, which should always be high on their priorities, but taxes are the the entrance fee to a civilized society. The tax dollars that we spend to support our excellent ambulance service, are well spent. I would prefer to save money by taking a hard look at, say for instance, overly expensive water infrastructure projects.

The Town Board is considering privatizing our dogcatcher. The Tompkins County SPCA was the first no-kill shelter in the country. They are a quasi governmental agency that bills most of the towns in our area for dog control. They had a manager that, while he did a great job in many ways, apparently didn't watch the books closely enough, and didn't bill enough to keep the operation afloat. They now have a new manager, and she has doubled their rates, which would bring them inline with national averages. Many of the towns have balked and are considering switching to private, for profit dogcatchers without the sterling credentials of the SPCA. There is a potential savings of less than $5/household here. I think that we as residents of the town and the members of the Village Board, should ask the Town Board to continue our relationship with the SPCA.

I've read everything I can find about Water District 5 . This is a complicated issue and it's difficult to find complete information on all the aspects of it, but it seems clear that the process could have been more open. One of the arguments made by proponents of WD5 is that it is necessary because the well water at Taughannock Park has been condemned by the DOH. It hasn't actually been condemned but the DOH did report that the well was "under the influence of ground water". Dr. Robert Howarth, a geobiochemist and an aquatic systems scientist at Cornell, has concluded that there is no imminent public health threat to any user of the Park's water system. I could be in favor of a inter-municipal water project, if it was developed openly with close cooperation between all parties involved, with everyone informed every step along the way. The Town Board has been called into special sessions twice in the last two weeks, because the Supervisor feels an urgent need to move forward with his plans. The majority of the current Village Board members have wisely taken a cautious and skeptical view of WD5, as it was last described. I would like to join them in searching for a better solution to the problem caused by the Department of Health putting a moratorium on extending our pipelines to new construction.

When I first became curious about our local government, I found it very difficult to find information about what was going on. The Clerk posts the minutes online, usually late, and they only consist of the agenda and the votes on various resolutions, none of the discussions. I've asked for audio CD's of meetings but they won't play. The Free Press usually has a reporter there, but they don't seem to write about the things that I have found interesting, since I've been attending. If elected I will try to have improvements made to the website, and I will begin a blog where I will report from a progressive perspective, what I consider important at the meetings, and I will invite all members of the Town and Village boards (past and present) to participate.

I have recently read the newest version of the Comprehensive Plan. We owe many thanks to the great work of David Filiberto, everyone on the committee and the Tompkins County Planning Department. The plan was adopted by the board at the February meeting. Now we are able to move forward with updating the Zoning Laws, which have not been updated since 1971. David has recommended several firms that could do this work quickly and efficiently. I look forward to seeing this done so that the village might have more to say the next time some one wants to build an ugly Movie Gallery next to an ugly Dollar Store on Main Street.

I was instrumental in getting the Village Board to hold a special meeting last September, to consider passage of a resolution to encourage our representatives in Washington and Albany to hold hearings into the impeachable offenses of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. We didn’t get the resolution passed, but I feel that it was successful in that we had the largest turnout for a Village meeting ever, and that these issues should be discussed more than they are. It cost the village virtually nothing. I realize that local issues must take priority over national issues and I want to alleviate any fears that if elected I would tie up the board with constant arguing for passage of the resolution.


You are invited to a Candidate Forum sponsored by Back To Democracy (backtodemocracy.org) at the Village Hall at 10 am Saturday March 8th. Marty Petrovic and I will speak and answer your questions. My opponent, Debbie Nottke has refused to participate.

My cell phone number is 273-2186
My e-mail address is whwoods@lightlink.com
Please feel free to contact me.

Thank You,
Allen Carstensen

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Thursday 2/28 Village Board Meeting - WD5

Last Thursday 2/28/08, the Village Board held a special meeting to discuss, inform, and vote, on WD5. I have been, until now, in agreement with the Board, in that they have resisted pressure from the Town Supervisor to cooperate and support his ill conceived plans. I am disappointed that they have now passed a resolution which states that the Village is willing to pay $500,000 for any connection to any pipe that can provide 250,000 gallons of water per day to the village. Lucia Tyler (Town Council person) was present and stated that she had a letter from the Town of Ithaca that essentially says that this amount of water from Bolton Point is impossible at this time. The vote on this resolution was unanimous, but David Filiberto was not present. The Village Board's position is now proactive. They have reservations about WD5, but they claim that their resolution is not tied to any infrastructure project in particular. This seems odd. We are not operating in a vacuum here. We know who's system we are discussing, and we know that there are many drawbacks.

David Filiberto (the Village Trustee for whose spot I am a candidate) wrote a letter prior to the meeting and sent it to the Board and Finding Ulysses. Someone should have read it at the meeting. Here it is,


After review of the newly proposed WD5 which plans to lay 25 miles of water infrastructure around the Village of Trumansburg and up Route 89, similar concerns exist as with the previous incarnation of the plan: there has been little regard to the impact such a project would have on the Village, Town and surrounding environs notably Cayuga Lake, Trumansburg Creek, agriculture districts, now and into the future.
In any large public development project all relevant costs and benefits should be ascertained in order to decide if a project is feasible and beneficial.
Points that have not been adequately considered now or previously include:
The estimated capital cost has risen from $4.9 million to $9.8 million according to the engineering firm Barton and Loguidice. The Ithaca Journal has quoted the Town of Ulysses Supervisor placing the cost at $14 million. The annual estimated cost borne by an EDU (a user in the district) has risen from $570 to $613. The estimated contribution from the Village for this plan has risen from $330,000 to $500,000. If these numbers are accurate, how can municipal officials expect residents in the proposed water district to afford such an increase and why would the Village which rejected the previous plan pay more for this plan?


As importantly the long term economic and environmental impacts from such a development project have yet to be ascertained. The newly proposed project runs through agricultural lands to the north and west, runs by a unique natural area (Taughannock Creek) and runs up Route 89 a potentially desirable place to develop housing because of the proximity to Cayuga Lake and its view shed. What impact will an increase in housing, commercial farming and other business lured by water infrastructure have on the area? If developed appropriately the impact would be positive, haphazardly potentially disastrous.
This new plan requires support from the Village of Trumansburg and from Taughannock State Park. The Village would only get an emergency source of water from this plan, not the desirable second source it seeks, and depending on who is the judge, is mandated to have. Furthermore, an independent study by Dr. Robert Howarth of the situation at Taughannock State Park finds that the influence of groundwater contamination is most likely due to a local source (proximity of park rest rooms to well) rather than from its shallow well near the lake.
The Village has just passed a Comprehensive Plan which advocates careful and thoughtful planning for the Village. The Town of Ulysses has a Comprehensive Plan Committee hard at work considering the best options for future growth in the Town. Recently the Town appointed a new Water Committee to take a closer look at future water needs and options. In spite of this the Village is asked to lend its support for this newly proposed project. Support from the Village for this project at this time would not only discredit and de-legitimize these efforts it would go against the will of previous decisions voted by each Board not to pursue a similar plan. Unfortunately, I cannot attend the February 28th meeting in person but I encourage the Village Board and residents of the Town and Village to reaffirm previous votes and reject support for this project or any incarnation of it until the necessary costs and benefits are ascertained correctly.
David Filiberto, Village of Trumansburg Trustee