Finding Ulysses

There’s no need to hurry a revision of Trumansburg’s zoning ordinance. It would be nice if people had some time to consider the changes gradually, making sure that they understand what’s being proposed before they rush to an opinion.

The privatizers are back.
The Village Board met tonight to discuss the “crisis” with the EMS budget. Chris Thomas explained that because of decreasing volunteerism, the EMS budget would have to see an increase of 25% next year. The likely figure for next year will be $425,000. I’m guessing there are about 8000 people served by [...]

On the official web site of the Trumansburg Village Board of Trustees, there hasn’t been anything listed on the Village calendar of “events and meetings” since May 9. Meeting minutes have not been posted online since November of 2007.

A summary of the report on the Village Board meeting given by Trustee Deborah Nottke.

Compared to 2004, there is a surprising lack of presidential campaign activism in Trumansburg and neighboring communities. What’s to account for the inactivity?

I’d like to know what the Village plans to do about the underinsured. Our community is not just divided up into insured and uninsured. There are a lot of self-employed people in Trumansburg and Ulysses, and we tend to have pretty bad medical insurance, because we don’t belong to the big employment pools that can negotiate special rates. What’s the Village willing to do for the underinsured, when it comes to ambulance service?

Residents of the Trumansburg Fire District (which includes the Village of Trumansburg, Town of Ulysses and parts of the Towns of Covert and Hector) have recently received or should shortly receive a mailing from the Village of Trumansburg regarding an important upcoming public hearing to discuss the possibility of billing for EMS services on a per [...]

Trumansburg Village elections were held today. The unsurprising result was that Marty Petrovic won re-election as Mayor, having run on both the Democratic and Republican lines. More surprising is that Allen Carstensen, in spite of the Democratic majority in Trumansburg, lost to Republican Deborah Notke. The unofficial results at this hour are [...]

recent error of this nature allowed the addition of strip mall-style construction at the north end of town near the post office, resulting very quickly in the loss of one locally owned business and the demise of a corporate video store, leaving a blank, empty storefront now staring across a sterile swath of blacktop. Let’s not make the same kind of mistake at the southern entrance to our village. Instead, let’s continue to be a thinking community. Let’s take steps to protect our distinctive village, including its fragile, independent downtown and its commercial entities, especially the local ones.

We need someone on the Village Board who is willing to ask inconvenient questions, and to think about issues that aren’t being considered by others on the Board. We need a trustee who will operate in a very different way from the trustees who are already on the Board. Allen Carstensen can serve as that sort of trustee, giving a critical eye to give projects a second going over when others approve at first glance.