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Week of May 25, 2022 Home of The Molchanoff Fmaily
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North Syracuse Family Fest returns this Saturday By Ashley M. Casey Associate Editor After being sidelined by COVID for two years, the North Syracuse Family Festival is back and is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a new location: Centerville Place, near the North Syracuse Community Center. “If we’re going to make changes, now’s the time to try them,” said Tony Burkinshaw, director of parks and recreation for the village of North Syracuse. Centerville Place — a small cutthrough street between South Bay Road and Main Street — seemed like the logical choice for relocation. Previously, the festival took place at Lonergan Park and even spent a couple of years at The Gathering Place “Centerville Place is in the heart of the village. We’re trying to promote more walkability for village residents,” Burkinshaw. Accessible parking will be available for those with disabilities, but residents are encouraged to use the network of sidewalks in the village. Over the last several years, North Syracuse has made many improvements to sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. Burkinshaw said he hopes the festival will generate foot traffic for local businesses as well. “We’re going to provide picnic tables for people to sit and get off their feet,” he added. Festivalgoers will be able to browse wares from more than 30 vendors and feast on offerings from five food vendors. The festival also will feature raffles, door prizes, a classic car show and live music by
File photos: Herm Card, 2016
The North Syracuse Family Festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at Centerville Place. See page 3 for a festival map.
Just Joe. “His style of music and his variety of music will hit pretty much everybody we’re trying to target,” Burkinshaw said. While admission to the festival remains free, a $5 wristband for the little ones will grant access to
the kids’ zone. Wristbands include a snow cone, a turn in the bounce house, caricatures and face painting. Families with five or more members pay a maximum of $15. If all goes well at Centerville Place this weekend, the village could host other events there in the future,
Burkinshaw said. The North Syracuse Family Festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at Centerville Place. For more information, visit facebook.com/NorthSyracuseFamilyFestival.
Liverpool, North Syracuse voters approve school budgets Voters in the Liverpool and North Syracuse school districts approved their respective districts’ 2022-23 budgets and elected four members to the Board of Education in the May 17 election. In Liverpool, preliminary results showed 1,625 ballots in favor of the roughly $173.5 million general fund budget; 522 no votes were cast. Also
approved were the bus proposition (1,639 yes votes, 515 no votes) and the capital reserve proposition (1,637 yes votes, 500 no votes). As for the North Syracuse Central School District, the $188.4 million budget passed with 1,298 yes votes and 466 no votes. Voters also approved the chiller replacement at North Syracuse Junior High School and the energy performance contract.
BOE results
In Liverpool, eight candidates
vied for three 3-year terms and one 1-year term on the school board. The top three vote-getters — Nicholas Blaney (1,414 votes), Hayley Downs (1,357 votes) and Kimberly Martin (1,230 votes) — have been elected to threeyear terms. Craig Dailey has been elected to the one-year term with 916 votes. In North Syracuse, the top three vote-getters were Robert Crabtree (1,424 votes), Matthew Hermann
(1,256 votes) and Amanda Sugrue (1,180 votes). They were elected to three-year terms. Nicole Planty, who received 857 votes, was not elected.
Library propositions pass
The Liverpool Public Library’s 2022-23 budget proposition passed as well, receiving 1,740 yes votes and 409 no votes. The Salina Library proposition passed in the NSCSD with 59 yes votes and 10 no votes.
Liverpool Public Library thanks voters, gears up for summer By Mark Bialczak LPL Communications Specialist
The Liverpool Public Library is grateful to community members who voiced their support at the ballot box on Tuesday, May 17, passing the 2022-23 budget by a count of 1,740 to 409. “I would like to thank the Liverpool community for their continued support of the Liverpool Public Library,” said LPL Director Glenna Wisniewski. “As author John Vincent stated in The Role of Libraries in Times of Crisis: ‘Libraries support their communities in many different ways.
Judge aims to collect $160k in traffic fines By Russ Tarby Contributing Writer
See list of vendors on page 3
By Ashley M. Casey Associate Editor
Village of Liverpool
Whether through times of humanitarian or political crisis, civil unrest or even the personal crises that affect all of us, libraries can be places of comfort, safety, reconciliation, and hope.’ “You can count on the daily commitment of our staff and trustees to provide the services and materials to help all our users manage their way,” Wisniewski said. Also on May 17, Yvette Hewitt, Mary Schapley and Dennis McLaughlin were reelected to five-year terms to the LPL Board of Trustees. They’ll be sworn in for the new term at the July meeting. The trustees and Wis-
niewski’s management team worked for months, with long discussions about the state of the economy, before setting and approving the 2022-23 budget with a 2.49% tax impact. Find details of the budget at LPL.org/budget. Mark your calendars. Staff members are well on the way to making this a summer to remember for the Liverpool community. The kickoff for this year’s Let’s Read, Liverpool! Oceans of Possibility comes with two sessions of fun, activities and registration for the children’s, teen and adult reading clubs. Readers of all ages are invited to the Dinosaur Gar-
During the pandemic, New York State changed regulations which previously allowed local courts to suspend the driver’s licenses of defendants who failed to pay their fines. “The state has disarmed our courts’ enforcement mechanism,” according to Liverpool Village Justice Anthony LaValle. “On top of this the state now requires that we lift past suspensions placed on a driver’s license for their failure to pay fines, once they simply appear in court.” As a result, the judge said, “New York State emboldened defendants to not pay their fines and surcharges, knowing there are no consequences for their failure to pay.” LaValle estimates that unpaid fines here total at least $160,000, but he and his staff have devised a plan to collect it. At the May 16 meeting of the Village of Liverpool Board of Trustees, the board unanimously approved LaValle’s request to increase the hours of his deputy court clerk, Lynda Kianka, so she can devote some serious time and effort to assemble the paperwork to convert hundreds of unpaid fines to civil judgments. “We’ll file the judgments with the county clerk’s office and sooner or later the judgment debtors will apply for a credit card, loan or inherit funds by estate, or perhaps hit the lottery, and the debt will have to be paid, plus interest,” the judge stated in a letter he sent to the trustees. The board — Mayor Gary White and trustees Matt Devendorf, Christina Fadden, Dennis Hebert and Michael LaMontagne — increased Kianka’s hours to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. four days each week. Kianka works alongside Court Clerk Kristen Marshall, who will also contribute to the project. LaValle hopes to continue that work schedule each month until all the unpaid fines can be fully processed.
Ten accidents in April
Submitted photo
The Liverpool Public Library is looking forward to more connections in the year to come, such as this great moment for our Holi Festival of Colors event with patrons collaborating on the mural that has been displayed in the library lobby. den lawn from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 25, and Monday, June 27.
Find our events for the rest of May, June and beyond at LPL.org/events.
On May 16, Police Chief Jerry Unger reported via memo to trustees that Liverpool Police made 256 traffic stops in April, and officers issued 204 citations for violations of the state’s vehicle and traffic laws. Ten traffic accidents were investigated last month, and one driver was arrested for DWI. Officers made 69 residential checks and 163 business checks last month while responding to a total of 673 incidents and calls for service. The LPD arrested 39 individuals in April on 49 criminal charges.
Volume 130, Number 21 The Star-Review is published weekly by Eagle News. Office of Publication: 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse, NY 13206. Periodical Postage Paid at Syracuse, NY 13220, USPS 316060. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Star-Review, 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse, NY 13206.
pet of the week: Igor wants to be your lovely assistant.
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sports news: C-NS baseball charges into Class AA playoffs.
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Calendar ������������������ 15 death notices ����������� 4 Editorial ��������������������� 6 history ������������������������ 2
letters ������������������������ 6 Obituaries ������������������ 5 PennySaver ���������������� 8 Sports ����������������������� 15
