The Dryden Renewable Energy Workgroup (DREW) kicks off this evening at the Dryden Community Center Cafe (1 West Main Street in the village of Dryden) at 7pm. Come listen, learn, and contribute to the discussion on energy usage, energy problems, and energy solutions.
Tuesday night, the Dryden Conservation Board opted to hike around the O.D. Von Engeln Preserve at Malloryville (in Dryden, near McLean). Bob Beck, a conservation board member who lives nearby and was instrumental in working with the Nature Conservancy to protect the land, was our tour guide.
The preserve includes a bog (measured to be some 30 feet deep when core samples were done), eskers, kames, swamps, marshes, and a pond.
The Pink Lady Slipper (or Mocassian Flower) and the Pitcher Plant were in bloom. It is amazing to see such a wide variety of plants and animals and natural landscapes all in a small number of acres and all just a twenty minute drive from my corner of Dryden to the other corner of Dryden.
The reserve is located on both sides of Malloryville Road with a parking lot on the north side of the road. To find it, take Fall Creek road north / north east out of the village of Freeville. Turn left on West Malloryville Road, follow about .5 miles to the large white preserve sign and parking area on the right.
My photos from the evening are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157605557531025/
The Nature Conservancy page is here:
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/preserves/art11831.html
Explore what Dryden has to offer!
Although I don't live in the Village of Dryden, I do represent people that live in the village at the town level. I am encouraging registered Democrats that live in the village to take part in the party caucus on Tuesday, January 29th. Here's the information from the notice:
NOTICE OF CAUCUS
There will be a caucus of the Democratic Party of the Village of Dryden on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 8:00 P.M. at the Dryden Village Hall, 16 South Street.
The purpose of the caucus is to nominate candidates for offices to be filled at the Village Election to be held on March 18, 2008 as follows:
- Trustee (2 years)
- Trustee (2 years)
All registered members of the Democratic Party who reside in the Village of Dryden are invited to attend, participate, and vote. Please come.
Dryden Democratic Committee
Local elections are important - water and sewer, long range planning, zoning, construction look and feel guidelines, lighting, and local law enforcement - are all decisions and projects implemented at the town or village level. Get involved on Tuesday, January 29th.
I wanted to give a quick shout out to local Dryden/Etna/Ithaca blogger Gary from Potter's Blog. Gary's been blogging for probably just about a year and a half now (since a little after he moved to Dryden - must be the water). He's posted thousands of posts, and usually posts 4 or 5 times a day.
I try to check in on him a couple of times a week to see what new wonders he's bringing to the world. From pigs to worms to fine art, he's building and creating every day.
Check out his pottery, his music selections, his dogs and cats, and his life at:
http://grpottersblog.blogspot.com/
Two of my supporters (and first time parents) sent me this picture this morning. I then spent the day going door-to-door in Bethel Grove, Etna, Freeville, Peruville Road, Freeville (again) and Varna.
The election is just 9 days away. Here's a letter to the editor I wrote on my own behalf:
Dear Editor,
I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel across this great country and see many places beyond the small town in which I was raised. While I’ve lived in a small town and a big city, neither seemed like home, until I came to Dryden.
My passion for this special place inspired me to run for Dryden Town Board last year. I wanted to contribute to this community that has so much going for it -- and so much potential! I campaigned to enhance our community centers, advance economic development, and improve our communication infrastructure. These remain my focus and I am eager to continue to fight for them. I am grateful and humbled to be elected to serve Dryden and honestly, I enjoy the work immensely.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of Dryden residents who opened their doors to me over the last three months, welcomed me, told me their own Dryden story, and explained their hopes for Dryden’s future. I also thank all the people who came to our "meet the candidate" forums, and all the people who helped me get to know Dryden’s issues.
I hope in the next four years we can continue to make Dryden a leader – in economic development, in handling climate change, and in improvement to our communities, our communication, and our democracy. How we act, react, and interact is important for all the people in Dryden. Please support my re-election on Tuesday, November 6th.
Dave Makar
Town of Dryden
If you'd like to know more about the campaign please see http://www.davidmakar.com or http://drydendems.org
Saturday afternoon I visited the Lew-Lin farm in Dryden for Farm City Day 2007. Farm City Day is a county wide program that helps to spread the word of farming and agriculture to people who live in less rural environments (cities perhaps). I went because I had never been and I wanted to see another dairy farm in Dryden. Last summer I toured the Jerry Dell farm operated by Dryden's Sherman family.
Soon after I arrived I found fellow town councilperson Mary Ann Sumner and her daughter Maggie. I ran into former Dryden Village Mayor Mike Lane and his mother. After walking around a short while Mary Ann dared me to try my hand at the hay bale toss. I was just settling down for some chicken BBQ, so I told her I had to wait a few minutes.
The chicken BBQ was sponsored by a church in McLean and featued corn and salt potatoes as well as home made cookies. When I finished lunch we search for the hay bale tossing people, but all the hay bales had fallen apart by then.
Mike, Maggie, Mary Ann and I walked around the farm and walked over to the cow pens to take some pictures. I've posted a bunch to flickr.
I went on a short hayride around the Lew-Lin property and won a pendant and necklace in the silent auction. It was the perfect gift for Arjan so I made sure to put in a good bid.
On the way home I stopped at the Book Barn of the Fingerlakes (189 North Road in Dryden) and Toad's 2 (in Freeville) for a few books and some ice cream.
It was a beautiful day as I hope some of the pictures show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157601468066499/
Last Sunday afternoon Arjan and I walked around Monkey Run Nature Preserve. We parked at the corner of Hanshaw, Hanshaw and Lower Creek in Dryden and hiked into the woods.
Not too far into our walk this giant old tree peered down on us silently howling. We continued south and found ourselves at the top of a high embankment overlooking Fall Creek. We continued our tour to the riverbed and then back into the woods to the old Monkey Run bridge.
I climbed up onto the bridge that I'd heard so much about. I know of people who have climbed across it and who have walked all around it and swam. To me it was the only part of our hike where the smell of the swamp was too great to stay there. I couldn't identify the smell, I just knew we had to move on.
We followed the trail downstream, climbed a big hill and then looped back to the road trail we had started on. A few feet back to the car we saw the Cornell Plantations Nature Preserve sign and followed an orange beacon trail almost all the way out to Hanshaw and Freese Roads.
We ended up cutting across a few Cornell fields after seeing a woman walking her dog through the same fields. We landed back on Hanshaw near the SPCA, headed back to the car and then to Ludgates for a snack (Cookies from Ovid).
Next time we hike over there, we'll try the south side (Varna side) of the preserve. I posted a set of pictures on flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157601312153226/
The Tompkins County Highway Division held a Public Pre-Construction Meeting this evening (August 8th) at 5:30pm at the bridge on Ringwood Road in Dryden that is slated for replacement starting on Monday, August 13th.
John Lampman, from Tompkins County Highway led the meeting with introductions, involved parties and a project overview.
The work hours are 7am to 3:30pm, Monday to Friday. NYSEG has been contacted and it is very unlikely that there will be any outage during construction. There will be no pedestrian crossing during the three weeks of construction. The creek will be modified at most within 30-40 feet of the bridge upstream and downstream. Fire and Rescue services have been notified and have developed a plan for coverage and routes to the hospital.
More Details of the project are here:
http://www.co.tompkins.ny.us/highway/bridgeupdt.html#Section2
Ringwood Road Bridge over Cascadilla Creek Tributary, Town of Dryden.
This project will replace a 31-foot span, 70-year old bridge over Cascadilla Creek, in the Town of Dryden. Serious girder section loss led to posting the bridge with a 19-ton weight limit in 1998. Bridge and approach railings are substandard, deteriorated, and ineffective, leading to safety flags in recent years. The new bridge will bring the crossing to standard design width and capacity, as well as upgrade railings and approaches.
Funding: 80% Federal; 15% NY State; 5% Tompkins County.
Budgeted County Share: $22,550
Status: A construction contract has been awarded to G. DeVincentis & Sons Construction of Binghamton, NY.
Schedule: A public pre-construction meeting will be held at the bridge site on Wednesday, August 8th, at 5:30 p.m. The bridge will be closed for construction beginning on Monday, August 13th.
It is an approximately $450,000 bridge project of which the county is only paying 5%. The bridge will be closed for about 3 weeks and then will have sporatic two lane to one lane travel until around October 1st, 2007.
For more details, contact John Lampman, the project manager at 274-0307 or jlampman@tompkins-co.org
The Ithaca Journal used their Daily Opinion column from their editor to comment on government meetings - Dryden government meetings to be exact. Some highlights (read the entire editorial):
-About a week ago, we saw a rare occurrence in Tompkins County. A town board — in this case Dryden — broke from its routine and held a regularly-scheduled meeting away from Dryden Town Hall.
-Last Wednesday, Dryden met at the Varna Volunteer Fire Company. It was the first of at least a few meetings the board will have in different parts of the town (the largest town in Tompkins County). In April, David Makar proposed that the town board should meet at one of the town's four community centers or four fire stations every other month.
-Hopefully, the Dryden Town Board is successful in its pursuit, and other boards — school boards included — follow. It may increase interest in government affairs and allow more community members access to their elected officials.
One of the Varna Volunteer Fire Company members that attended told me later that he had to step outside during part of the meeting - he was number 57 in a room that had the legal fire capacity of 56. He was keeping track and stepped out as others came in.
I was really happy to see a good turn out from the local media, not for me personally, but so that people that couldn't attend the meeting could find out about it from other sources. The Ithaca Journal, Tompkins Weekly, The Dryden Courier and WHCU all had reporters listening and staying late to ask questions after the meeting. There were public hearings, department reports, committee reports and resolution review and passing. I felt good having public participation and it reminded me of the annual town meetings that are held each spring in Berlin, Massachusetts where I grew up. These meetings become informative and educational, but also social and community building. Perhaps the more we understand about actions, the better we can respond to those actions.
I hope that we can continue these public meetings in community centers and fire departments in 2008.
Hi Mom,
Today is an exciting day in Dryden. This morning over breakfast I read an article on the cover of the local section of the Ithaca Journal with the title, "Dryden Town Board to offer insight to local government". The article goes on to mention tonight's July town board meeting at the Varna Volunteer Fire Station. Some details of the article include:
-David Makar, a member of the Dryden Town Board and a resident of Bethel Grove, was concerned his neighbors and other town members did not understand the interworkings of their town government.
-Makar proposed a resolution to the board in April to meet at one of the town's four community centers or four fire stations every other month. Varna, Etna, Freeville and the Village of Dryden have fire stations, while Bethel Grove, Varna, Etna and Ellis Hollow have community centers.
Varna was chosen for the July meeting specifically because of the tensions that exist between the western parts of the town and the rest of the town. Residents of the western hamlets of Varna, Etna, Ellis Hollow and Bethel Grove, among other areas, frequently feel isolated from the town government, Makar said.
-Many residents in that part of town have addresses in the Ithaca ZIP code, Makar said. Their children go to school in the Ithaca City School District, and, by car, they're 14 miles from the Village of Dryden.
If you or dad want to read the full article, you can visit their website and see the article here. The meeting is at 7pm tonight with a tour at 6:30 of the fire station. There has been light rain this afternoon and hopefully that will cool off the building - they don't have air conditioning - so I'll be bringing some water to the meeting. Funny though I guess - - bringing water to a fire station!
In other news, Arjan is having a good time in Turkey - she's been emailing me almost every day. The garden is exploding with peppers, the kitty cat still isn't sleeping through the night (waking me at about 4:30am), and my trip to see you and dad is still on.
Have a good rest of the week, see you soon!
Dave
