Dryden Is Home

WHCU Interview

I was on the radio this morning at crazy:15* talking with WHCU's Dave Vieser. He called me at the end of his workday yesterday (2pm EST) inquiring about doing the interview. I accepted. When I was last on the radio, I had the 6:15am time slot, the crazy:15* was much better!

We touched on 3 subjects in the six minutes we talked. Quick re-cap now, longer re-cap later (perhaps):

1. iPhone & AT&T tower and cell service at TC3, featuring prior town board member Marty Christofferson. TC3 is going to work with AT&T to put up a cell phone tower to improve communication with their students, faculty and staff. The primary services are emergency, security, and academic/educational. This all started just 2 weeks ago (the talks with AT&T), but the technology of messaging has been an award winning program at TC3 for years. Class cancelled? Snow emergency? Security incident? - all will be communicated via text messaging, for instant information delivery. Also GPS! Because of the location - - we can hope for much increased cell phone coverage (AT&T initially) for the village of Dryden, Lee Road, and parts of the Town of Dryden.

2. Trail from TC3 to the village of Dryden (Neptune Drive - near Dunkin' Donuts). Initial talks to put in a nature trail to connect students (and their money?) to the businesses of Dryden Village (Clarke's grocery, Dryden Community Center Cafe, Todi's, Dryden Hotel, Dunkin' Donuts, and more!) and to connect village residents to TC3 (classes, athletic facility, special events) to bridge the town and village to the college. It looks to be a great trail project that may also lead to a spur to the Town Hall. Encouraging the TC3 students to spend money in the village helps local businesses, county sales tax revenue, and walking lowers the number of cars on Rt. 13 which helps with traffic, polution, and use of non-renewable energy resources. Making a better connection to TC3 from the town hall and village can make better use of the asset that is TC3. Perhaps with the trail Dean Marty Christofferson could walk across the street to the town hall from his house and then use trails to walk to his job at the TC3 campus.

3. Brief discussion on SPCA. The ad hoc SPCA committee (Town Supervisor Sumner, Town Clerk Hollenbeck) discussed the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) request for proposal (RFP) for countywide dog control services. The SPCA contract for the town of Dryden for 2007 was about $18,000. The projected cost for 2009 is between $45,000 and $65,000. While it is important for the SPCA to be stable and balance their books, a 100% to 200% increase in any contract has to be looked at closely. We are required by state mandate to have "dog control" and then are limited by the state for how much we can charge for a dog license (fees would only cover about 50% or $20K). We like the SPCA and are happy to have them in Dryden, but we would be doing the tax payers a disservice if we didn't seek out other solutions to see if the cost is reasonable and to protect ourselves from future 100% to 200% increases. The SPCA topic came up last year and we had guests from the SPCA, volunteers, and staff come before the town board. We are very supportive of the job they do, but if we allowed every part of the budget to increase at their rate - we would be out of business as a municipality very quickly.

As I said, I hope to recap both the entire meeting in full, as well as the key points that if I had more than 6 minutes I would have told the radio audience about.

*crazy:15 = 7:15am - which isn't too bad for most people, but last night's town board meeting ended at 11:25pm, I talked to Supervisor Sumner for a few minutes and arrived back at my house around 12:10am, and then talked with Arjan for about 25 minutes doing a recap of the day and the meeting. So I slept from about 12:45 to 6:30 or so, then recapped the meeting in my head, on paper in my office, and then quickly on the phone with Dave Vieser . Dave V. gets up at "insane o'clock", which I believe is 3am, 5 days a week (ouch!).

Wireless Broadband Internet in Dryden

Last Tuesday morning I was fortunate to hear that Dryden was selected by the state of New York to move ahead with a program that could bring broadband internet, via wireless towers, to up to 95% of the houses in the town of Dryden.

The grant awards $430,000 to the public-private partnership of Clarity Connect (of Cayuga Heights), The Town of Dryden, and Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). The grant is then matched by the public-private partnership at a ratio of $1 of grant money to every $1.59 of public-private partnership funds. These funds can and are mostly planned to be in-kind goods and services. This means that there is no out-of-pocket or cash expense to the Town of Dryden to be a partner. Chuck Bartosch, from Clarity Connect, Jason Leifer, from the town board, and Dryden Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner played key roles in writing the grant application and developing creative in-kind donations for all three partners. They worked nights and days in the short period of time from the grant announcement to the due date getting the application together and ready for show. I believe I heard there were over 100 applicants, and we were picked for almost 20% of the $2.5M grant fund. A fortunate day for the people of Dryden, who found some people who were willing to give a little bit extra time to find a great return on.

While there is a lot to do and there is no launch date for going live with the first tower, we do have forward progress. I was quoted in the Ithaca Journal article announcing the grant, including:

David Makar, Town of Dryden deputy supervisor, said Bartosch presented the Dryden Technology Committee with the possibility of the grant after he made bringing better Internet and cell phone infrastructure one of the cornerstones of his 2006 campaign for town board. He said the committee has been trying to bring infrastructure for wireless for some time, but that upfront costs were the biggest barrier. Jason Leifer, a town board member, helped Bartosch draft the grant proposal.

“The grant provides a way to build some of that infrastructure with lower out-of-pocket expenses,” Makar said. “The primary reason we wanted to make sure we had broadband Internet access was to help encourage people to do more economic development, whether you are working from home on the weekend or you telecommute. Telecommuting jobs just don't exist if there's no broadband access.”

Makar also noted that access to high-speed Internet will improve education as students currently have limited access in many areas. He said some school assignments require high-speed Internet or picking up assignments online.

He also said that high-speed access will improve the housing market.

The full article from the Ithaca Journal is online here:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/NEWS01/803200337/1002

Good News

Kathy and the votes
Originally uploaded by dmakar

Last night I was re-elected to a seat on the Dryden Town Board. A full four year term in office. A chance to carry forward the work I've started and to continue to represent all the people in Dryden from my neighbors in Besemer Flats to McLean and everyone in our 94 square mile community.

Joe Solomon was also elected to join me on the board for the next four years.

And Mary Ann Sumner made history in Dryden by being elected to be the first female town supervisor in our town's history.

Pictures and posts from all around here:
Simon reports in: http://livingindryden.org/2007/11/democrats_win_town_board_claus.html
Kathy's take: http://drydendailykaz.blogspot.com/2007/11/wow.html
Board of Elections: http://www.co.tompkins.ny.us/boe/2007/Results_Index_GE07.htm
My election day pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157602975472616/

Vote Makar 2007

Vote Makar 2007
Originally uploaded by dmakar

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

Helping Out

Reviewing who has voted and who to call
Originally uploaded by dmakar

I need your help. From today, until election day (November 6th, 2007) there is work to do on the campaign. Can you help out at all? Here are some things that would help to contribute to my re-election, as well as help fellow candidates Mary Ann Sumner (supervisor), Joe Solomon (the other open town board seat), and Jason Liefer (town justice).

-Put a sign up in your yard. Let me know where you live and I'll drop off a sign for you.
-Drive door-to-door with me or one of the other candidates to keep us company and to see parts of Dryden that you might have otherwise not had a chance to visit
-Host a meet the candidate(s) party, BBQ or garden tour. You bring the neighbors and we'll show up to answer questions.
-Join us on election day for phone banking to help get out the vote.
-If you live in Dryden, make a donation to the Dryden Democratic Party.
-If you live outside of Dryden, make a donation to the Dryden Democratic Party or the Tompkins County Democratic Party.
-Invite me or the other candidates to speak at your work during lunch or breaktime.
-Volunteer to help with our postcard campaign.
-Add the Dryden Democrats website to your blog roll.
-Tell your friends about the campaign, hand out flyers.
-Vote on November 6th

Call or email me if you want to start helping out today, there is a lot to do and I can't do it without your help.

dave@davidmakar.com

The Next Four Years

Fall Creek through Monkey Run
Originally uploaded by dmakar

When I looked back over the first six months of 2007 and thought about what I had been able to do and what I wanted to do about a reelection I realized that still had a lot more work that I wanted to do for the town of Dryden. I thought a lot about why I would want to be re-elected and why I would want to continue to serve. On the day of the democratic caucus in July I had put together the framework of notes of a plan. Here's my first public look at where I'd like to see Dryden in four years.

I would like to help make Dryden a leader. A leader in Tompkins County, a leader in the Fingerlakes region, and a leader in upstate New York. Specifically, I would like to use our skills as a town to show others around us that we can implement economic development plans, handle climate change and building the local community all with the help of a strong local democracy.

Economic Development
The commercial and industrial tax base, both property tax and sales tax, will need to maintain a steady growth to keep residential property tax from an increase. The town board can't do anything to directly impact the local school taxes, however we can work to improve the economic landscape for new businesses. These new businesses can provide a larger assessed base for all property taxes and keep our tax rates from climbing.

We will be a leader in showing towns how to develop new businesses in upstate New York.
-A grants and microlending program for small business (1 to 25 employees) of $500 - $2500. This money will be drawn from HUD economic developments funds already on hand - reprogrammed to help small business.
-A larger business loan program through Tompkins County Area Development that allows larger employers in Dryden to make use of low interest loans. This money will also be drawn from HUD economic developments funds (primarily from the Cayuga Press HUD Loan)
-Complete Broadband and cell phone coverage will allow businesses to be operated from all parts of town from homes and then as these businesses grow, they could move into the town's commerical zones or office parks. Work with private businesses to make use of new and existing technology that will provide access.
-Sewer plant replacement coordinated with the villages to serve the needs of new development properties in town. A large project with the cooperation of multiple municipalities.
-Economic Development staff position in the Town of Dryden to help businesses (new and existing) with development and growth in the town.

Climate Change
I want to protect our environment. I want to make sure the land in and around Dryden is as good in 50 years as it is today. In early August, Arjan and I hiked around Monkey Run for over an hour. We were close to rt. 13 and rt. 366 and Hanshaw, but within the protected environment we could have been anywhere in upstate New York. I would like Dryden to be a leader in protecting what exists and in tracking what we are doing to the environment, as well as making smart, economical changes that serve both nature and the bottom line.
-Tracking and measuring "Town of Dryden" municipal carbon footprint each year for the next decade. How much is the municipal government effecting the environment through energy usage. What can we do about it?
-Continue Conservation: insulation, lighting, power saving
-Start responsible transition to alternatives fuels: biodiesel, vegetable diesel for town vehicles
-Clean, money saving power generation on town property for town buildings including solar or wind (funded by a NYSERDA grant or by donations to the town). The town of Caroline is already a leader in this, let's see what they are doing with regards to climate change and see if any of it translates north to Dryden. Can the town be energy independent? Can we work on that? Together we can.
-Use the town's examples to educate the people of Dryden on how they can do the same.
-Work with the planning, conservation and zoning boards to protect open space and to develop a plan for zoning to follow the comprehensive plan.
-Spend our time wisely in the next four years to prepare Dryden for the next century.

Finally, I would like to continue the work of making the large town of Dryden (94 square miles and over 13,400 residents) a community that understands thier local government and their local neighborhood. Our communities have been changing, I think we need to and can help build community and local democracy. In the next four years:
-We will have a plan to financially support our local community centers
-We will have created and started to implement a recreation master plan that serves all members of the Dryden community
-We will have more town hall style meetings in the town’s community centers and fire departments. My proposal is for 4 to 6 of these meetings each year.
-We will have an updated town website for day to day news and events. This is a must have to help communicate what is going on in our town and how we can meet, eat, interact, work and play together.
-We will publish a bi-monthly or quarterly town newsletter with month to month news and events, perhaps funded by advertising to keep the costs down.
-We will distribute a town annual report with financial report of the previous year and the plan for the next year, along with reports from all town departments. I grew up in a town where we were able to see the town budget each year, not by downloading a copy or by going to the town hall, but by walking to our mailbox. Once a year we had a complete public accounting of the town's finances. This helped people understand where their taxes were going as well as what other revenues the town collects each year (state aid, sales tax, interest income, etc.)

There is a lot of work to do, but in doing so we can provide an environment for growing the local economy, for handling climate change, and for growing our town as a community. We can be a leader, Dryden can be looked at as a place where ideas come into fruition. Join me in this exciting journey.

Status report on the first 8 months

Sunset in Dryden
Originally uploaded by dmakar

I took this picture on January 3rd, about 10 minutes before I was sworn into office. I'll try to list all of the accomplishments and projects I've been working on since I've been representing you on the Dryden Town Board.

-Brought forth a resolution backed by town community centers and fire departments to hold the monthly town board meetings in locations throughout the town of Dryden. The town held its July meeting on Wednesday, July 11th at the Varna Volunteer Fire Company on Turkey Hill Road. The estimated number of attendees was 60. Some people were able to bike and were within walking distance that attended. I hope that the 2008 town board moves forward with more of these meetings around town.

-Worked with the four local fire companies to better understand their operations and more importantly their budget needs. Attended board meetings, cheifs meetings, a banquet in Freeville, and took part in facility tours. I think the budget process we are planning should allow for contracts to be sent to departments soon after the budget is approved and can be in place much closer to January 1st, 2008. Often the contracts and payments have been delayed.

-Wrote Community Center Funding policy for usage of 2006 funds. Last year the money was there ($25,000), but there was no process for community associations to request the funds. The Ellis Hollow Community Center applied for and was approved for a PA System that was used throughout the summer (at "Music in the Hollow") and at the Ellis Hollow Fair (last weekend) from the 2006 funds.

-Wrote a more extensive Community Center Funding policy for the 2007 funds ($25,000) that allows community associations to have funding for "Capacity Development" - programming, infrastructure and maintenance to help grow their groups with activities, newsletters and small purchases and another grant process for funding "Infrastructure Assistance" - a fund for larger projects that the town can support.

-Worked with the town bookkeeper and Steve Stelick to review the town's HUD (Housing and Urban Development) funds. The funds are split between housing and economic development (The Cayuga Press Loan repayments). I've been working with Tompkins County Area Development (TCAD) to forge a relationship between the town of Dryden and TCAD. This should ensure usage of the funds in a format that allows them to be recycled again and again into the Dryden Community.

-Pushed for implementation of a Town of Dryden recreation master plan to be used along side our comprehensive plan to develop recreation throughout the town for the next generation. This plan will be developed with the united help of Thoma Consulting of Cortland, the town's Recreation Commission, the new town Recreation Coordinator and members of the town board.

-Attended monthly (and bi-monthly sometimes) meetings of the Ithaca Area Waste Water Treatment Plant (IAWWTP) of which Dryden is a part owner with the Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca. Through this responsibility I've been able to meet and work with representatives of the town of Ithaca and city of Ithaca as well as get a better understanding of the sewer issues that sewer plants have and their impact on development - commercial, industrial and residential.

-Walked with the Town Environmental Planner, Dan Kwasnowski, along the proposed Dryden-Freeville Trail to get a better understanding of this natural link between the two villages within our town. Having my feet on the ground helped me to understand the size, width, and length of the trail as well as an understanding of the trails neighbors.

-Had perfect attendence at monthly board meetings and all special board meetings in between. I'm proud to have been selected to represent the town and I feel it is my duty to attend all of these meetings.

I've tried to make each decision based on the facts that were before me and to look in detail at the costs (short term and long term) and the impacts on all of the people that live in our town. I look forward to working on these and other projects in the next term.

Morning in Dryden

House Pic - September 12th, 2007
Originally uploaded by dmakar

This morning I went out to get the paper and made sure to get a photo of the house for the season. I've been taking house pictures from about the same place since I moved to Dryden. This one is the first of the 2007 election season.

Monday night, before Arjan got home, I put out about 25 signs from the 2006 campaign. I'll be using these throughout Dryden, but mostly I'll be using the new signs that we have for 2007 focusing on the complete democratic ticket. Simon posted a picture of the new signs on his blog. The signs feature Town Supervisor candidate Mary Ann Sumner (current town board member), Joe Solomon (candidate for town board - 4 year seat) and me (candidate for a full four year term on the board).

Last year I ran for the final year of a four year term - in a seat that was vacated. This year I'm up for re-election to keep the seat for the next four years. The election is Tuesday, November 6th and I'm asking for your support to continue the work I started on January 3rd when I was sworn in.

Three things to look to:
-What I've been working on and accomplished in the first 8 months
-What I'd like to do as your board representative for the next 4 years
-How you can support me if you are interested in making Dryden a better place to live

This is a town where...we hold meetings in public!

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.

Town Board Meeting

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