February 3, 2021

F R E E F e b r u a r y 3 , 2 0 2 1 / Vo lume X L I , N umb e r 24 / O u r 47 t h Ye a r

Online @ ITH ACA .COM

They’re Back

Students return for the spring semester PAGE 8

COVID

ABOUT

FAMILY

Town Hall answers vaccine questions

ICSD superintendent not going anywhere

Lam sisters open up new restaurant

PAGE 3

PAGE 6

PAGE 11

UPDATE

FACE

AFFAIR

FRESH FIRST

2 0 2 1 BUSI N ESS

New cafe focuses H O N O R On local ingredients ROL L in si d e PAGE 13

FOODS & PRODUCTS

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Newsline

VOL.XLI / NO. 24 / February 3, 2021 Serving 47,125 readers week ly

They’re Back ������������������������������������ 8 Students from CU and IC return to town

VACCINES

D

istrict 125’s new Assemblyperson Anna Kelles hosted a town hall on Jan. 27 with local experts to shed some light on the latest vaccine news.

The state released new guidelines about distribution, so Tompkins County Public Health Director Frank Kruppa was on hand to clarify what exactly that means for residents. He explained that right now the county health department is vaccinating phase 1B essential workers, pharmacies are vaccinating people ages 65+, and the hospitals are vaccinating the healthcare workers in phase 1A. He also acknowledged that the scarcity of supply right now has caused a lot of frustration.

“Phase 1B is a lot of people, and the federal government and state did not narrow that down,” he said. “So 1,800 slots disappeared in 20 minutes when we posted it.”

Kelles, relaying questions from the community, asked him why there isn’t a waiting list, as some older folks may be less adept at using the technology for registration.

“We’ve gotten a lot of questions about waiting lists,” Kruppa said. “But if we did that, there’d be 10,000 people on it in a day or two, so at that point it’s not really a list anymore.”

He clarified that anyone who is eligible can be vaccinated at the state sites, but that those sites are booking out into the future. Localities are not able to book until they have the doses in hand. Tompkins County has continued to be one of the highest performing counties in the state, a point made on numerous occasions

by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but as more state sites have popped up, fewer doses have been made available to local health departments.

“In the first couple weeks in January we vaccinated over 5,000 people,” Kruppa said.

“We were really fortunate to do that very quickly. But obviously

Business Times ������������������������������� 11

Kelles holds COVID town hall

Assemblyperson Anna Kelles

after those two weeks everyone started to catch up. The supply for the state didn’t increase, but state mass vaccination sites were set up […] There’s a little bit of chaos in this and we know that, we’re trying to provide structure.”

Kelles acknowledged that most of the chaos and confusion comes solely from not having enough vaccines.

Kruppa agreed, and said his department is trying to do the best it can to manage the situation and make it as easy as possible for people.

“Our allocation went way down when the state sites

opened […] It’s frustrating, we know that. It’s frustrating for us. We just ask folks to continue to be patient,” he said.

A community member asked about mobile vaccination units, but Kruppa said, again, it came down to supply.

“If we had enough vaccine, we would already be rolling out those plans,” he said.

“We’re trying to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, and right now the best way is a large-scale site. The goal is herd immunity, and I’m committed to getting a vaccine to anyone who wants one in Tompkins County. We will hit

T a k e

▶ Snow Angels - The city of Ithaca announced Ithaca Snow Angels, a new web app intended to connect willing snow shovelers with snowed-in corners that present obstacles to people’s mobility. The app also incorporates gamification to make snow shoveling fun and promote prosocial behavior.

If you live, work, play, or just

NE W S & OPINION a point where supply will meet demand.”

There were also a few medical experts on hand to answer questions about the science behind the vaccine. Dr. Douglas MacQueen, an infectious disease specialist at Cayuga Medical Center, said that while it’s still not clear whether or not you can still transmit the disease if you’re vaccinated, the vaccine will protect you from illness.

“If you’re infected with the coronavirus you would not become ill from it,” he said.

“That’s the goal of this vaccine.

And the idea that we’re passing it on to other people while we’re infected may be less significant […] The short answer is yes, it will protect you from becoming sick if you get the infection.”

He also clarified that even with the emergence of new variants, it’s still important to be vaccinated.

“It’s possible the vaccine won’t give us the same level of protection against future variants, but it will give some protection,” he said. “And we’re talking about maybe a couple percent less effective. Most of the information suggests the change is in how contagious it is and how quickly it spreads.”

Kruppa urged anyone with more vaccine questions to call 2-1-1, and to keep an eye on the Health Department’s website (https://tompkinscountyny. gov/health) for all the latest information.

-Ta n n e r H a r d i n g

N o t e

pass through the city, you can participate. Click the link to go to the app, and you can help your community by reporting snowed-in corners and curb cuts, and/or you can lift a shovel to help clear the way. The app flags reported corners as in need of “Snow Angels,” which you or others can clear to earn points and recognition.

Head to the Ithaca Snow Angels page (cityofithaca. org/703/Ithaca-Snow-Angels) to find out more about the program and how you can participate. If you have questions about the Ithaca Snow Angels app, the city encourages you to reach out.

F e br ua ry

3 – 9 ,

Newsline ��������������������������������������������������3-7 Sports �������������������������������������������������������� 24

ART S & E N T E RTAINME N T Books ��������������������������������������������������������� 21 TV ���������������������������������������������������������������� 22 Film ������������������������������������������������������������� 23 TimesTable ����������������������������������������������� 25 Classifieds ������������������������������������������26-28 Cover: Students returning to Cornell for Spring semester. Photo: Jason Koski, Cornell University, Design: Marshall Hopkins

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l a r r y@ I t h a c aTi m e s . c o m F r e e l a n c e r s : Barbara Adams, Rick Blaisell, Steve Burke, Deirdre Cunningham, Jane Dieckmann, Amber Donofrio, Karen Gadiel, Charley Githler, Linda B. Glaser, Warren Greenwood, Ross Haarstad, Peggy Haine, Gay Huddle, Austin Lamb, Steve Lawrence, Marjorie Olds, Lori Sonken, Henry Stark, Dave Sit, Bryan VanCampen, and Arthur Whitman

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2 0 2 1

/ T h e

It h ac a T im e s 3

INQUIRING

N e w s l i n e

Police

PHOTOGRAPHER District judge rejects IPD officer's claims of discrimination

By C a se y Mar tin

IF YOU WON A FREE ONEMINUTE COMMERCIAL DURING THE SUPER BOWL, WHAT WOULD YOU PROMOTE OR ADVERTISE?

“Spiced Chai with Tumeric. It’s good for your immunity!”

-Urvashi & Aditya J.

T

his week, U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino rejected Officer Sarah Crews’ allegations that the city of Ithaca discriminated against her based on sexual orientation or retaliated against her for complaining of the alleged discrimination by seeking the termination of her employment. Judge D’Agostino fully dismissed Officer Sarah Crews’ lawsuit against the City and its current and retired chiefs of police.

Crews filed the $5 million lawsuit against the city in 2017, when she claimed the biggest

issue is the police department's default policy to have her search female suspects more than her male counterparts.

She said this puts her at risk because as a non-gender-conforming lesbian, some female arrestees have threatened her with false sexual abuse allegations. Crews claimed that after she expressed her concerns to supervisors, she was retaliated against.

Judge D’Agostino’s decision documents Crews’ misconduct in great detail, including yelling and swearing at superior officers on numerous

Police

Police chief retiring after ‘relentess’ 2020

“Fake News.”

-Shannon B.

“Karl Gregory” -Karl G.

“Easily accessible vaccines for all of our parents, please!”

-Jil L.

Ithaca Police Chief Dennis Nayor “Since it’s my ‘Gotcha’ week, I’d promote The Tompkins County SPCA!” -Wrigley

4 T

h e

Ithac a Times

A

/February

fter a difficult 2020 and 25 years in law enforcement, Ithaca Police

3– 9 ,

2 0 2 1

Chief Dennis Nayor is ready for a break.

“2020 was such a relent-

occasions; unlawfully arresting a minor; numerous citizen complaints of rudeness and unnecessary confrontations; rudeness with county dispatch personnel; passing a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and demeaning the crossing guard who complained about it; failing to render assistance to fellow officers, including in a life threatening situation; telling a female prisoner she was about to search that she (Crews) is a bull dyke; and repeatedly making threatening comments to officers and supervisors.

The court noted that nearly all of the misconduct is admitted to by Crews, summarizing that "Plaintiff admits to much, if not all, of the underlying conduct" and "[t]he conduct to which Plaintiff admits certainly violated the Department's

rules and regulations." Judge D'Agostino additionally states that "[a]lthough an individual certainly has the right to object to treatment he or she believes to be discriminatory, those objections do not entirely insulate that individual from discipline when they repeatedly violate the rules and regulations of the employer."

Crews remains now — as she has been for nearly 18 months — suspended by Chief Dennis Nayor pending an arbitration of the city’s intent to terminate her employment for severe misconduct on the job. As required by the police union’s labor contract, she has received over $166,000 (and counting) in salary and benefits throughout this suspension.

less pace,” he said. “We were dealing with major issues — managing the response to the pandemic, civic unrest — it’s just completely all consuming.

You don’t get to choose the pace, you just have to keep up with it.”

With a retirement slated for spring 2021, Nayor said he wanted a little bit more time to see a few projects through to the end and to help make sure the transition to new leadership at the department goes smoothly. Specifically, he mentioned wanting to see the reimagining public safety project through, as well as help bring on LEAD, which is a “harm reduction program that diverts people from the criminal justice system to some other means that might be more applicable,” he said.

Nayor said that while the decisions regarding his replacement are up to the city, he would be willing to help if they wanted his assistance in any way. He added that Deputy Chief John Joly meets the requirements for the chief position and has expressed interest in it, but that the city would likely bring in outside candidates as well to exhaust all options.

As for what’s next for Nayor, he’s not quite sure yet.

“I’m going to sit back and evaluate,” he said. “I’ve done this at a high level for a very long time. I have my master’s, so I might pursue teaching or consulting […] or I might want

to switch and do something not related that I don’t even know what it is. But I do look forward to disconnecting for a while.”

Nayor was named police chief in 2019 following the retirement of former chief Pete Tyler. Tyler had handpicked Nayor to serve as his deputy chief the year prior to his retirement; Nayor was formerly a police chief at the Oneonta police department before coming to Ithaca.

Though short, Nayor said he’s enjoyed his time serving the city of Ithaca, especially as he’s led the department through some of its most tumultuous times, including weekly protests against police, the pandemic and a couple controversies surrounding misconduct by officers. He’s also taken a lead role in the reimagining police process.

“It was extremely busy and extremely meaningful,” Nayor said of his time in Ithaca. “I’ve gotten to be part of a lot of major events and changes, and helped shape the trajectory of the department … and I will still keep doing that as I work through the reimagining of policing. I want to get the department on the best track possible […] I’ve got a great team here, and it was together that we’ve accomplished a lot.”

-Ta n n e r H a r d i n g

-Ta n n e r H a r d i n g

N e w s l i n e

Police

City wants to demote, suspend police sergeant without pay

Caption

I

thaca Police Sgt. Kevin Slattery has been suspended without pay for 30 days and demoted to the officer position, which will be reflected in his salary, for at least two years.

He has 10 days to either accept the discipline or demand an arbitration hearing. The action comes after he was put under internal investigation for comments caught on his body camera, in which he was caught talking about mistreating a suspect and joking about mishandling DNA evidence.

Mayor Svante Myrick issued

a statement that the city was seeking “serious discipline for this serious breach of responsibility.”

“Sgt. Slattery’s comments raise serious concerns regarding respect for evidentiary integrity, respect for the public and above all, the imperative to avoid — and counsel the avoidance of — use of force whenever possible.”

Earl Redding, an attorney who provided outside counsel to the city and has background in police disciplinary issues, added that he advised the IPD

that the level of discipline fit the available precedents in other agencies.

“On the one hand, this situation involved serious misconduct by a supervisor in the presence of the subordinate.

On the other hand, there is no evidence that Sgt. Slattery actually engaged in the acts that he described, and he has shown contrition and cooperation in the aftermath of his deeply unfortunate comments,” he said.

“As a result, termination from IPD would be both disproportionate and unavailable as an outcome in the upcoming disciplinary arbitration.”

In Nayor’s notification of discipline, he said Slattery violated sections 4.1 and 6.2 in the Ithaca Police Department General Orders Rules and Regulations. Section 4.1 requires officers to “conduct themselves in both their private and professional lives as to avoid bringing discredit upon the department,” while section 6.2 requires employees who are in a supervisory position to “provide a good example in both conduct and appearance, have a thorough understanding of the rules and procedures of the department, and shall assist and instruct subordinates in the proper performance of their duties.”

Nayor also wrote that because Jovon Monk, the suspect involved in the matter, is a defendant in an active case, the body camera statements are considered evidentiary in value, and the full recording is subject to discovery and must be provided to Monk and his counsel. This could compromise Slattery, and other officers in the department, as a credible witness in court.

“The District Attorney’s Office also believed that it would need to provide notice of your statements captured on the body worn camera in any future case you are a witness in, and that you may have to answer questions as to your statements as part of any future testimony you give.”

Monk's attorney, Kevin Kelly, disagreed with the conclusion that there's no evidence Slattery actually engaged in the acts he described, particularly with the way he treated Monk in a prior arrest. According to Kelly, Monk confirmed to police Slattery’s account that Monk was handcuffed while

Slattery and another officer grabbed him by the legs and “bounced him all the way down the stairs,” as Slattery said. "[It] ignores both Mr. Monk's interview with IPD in my presence and Slattery's own unintentionally recorded statement," he said. "That would be like if someone admitted they hit you on tape, and you confirmed you were hit, then your police department says 'well there's no evidence that you were actually hit.' It is puzzling what they would consider evidence since body cameras were not worn by IPD at the time of this arrest from what I can tell. Mr. Monk has no reason to make it up since the statute of limitations for a lawsuit has expired. If IPD and the Mayor’s Office agree that there is ‘no evidence’ now, after Slattery recorded himself describing it, imagine how they would have treated a complaint from Mr. Monk back then.

Body cams are helping bring police misconduct to light.

However, the City's handling of this investigation is a sweep under the rug."

The Police Benevolent Association, however, believes the punishment is too harsh, and focuses too much on sending a message.

"The harsh sanctions that the City Administration seeks to impose upon Sergeant Slattery reflects that the Administration has placed politics over good government," the PBA statement said. "As the City has acknowledged, Sergeant Slattery made bad jokes while wearing a body camera and reported himself for having done so."

The PBA added that the punishment was setting a bad precedent.

"If not for Sergeant Slattery reporting his error to his superiors, no one would have known of his comments," the statement said. "Sergeant Slattery chose transparency and honesty over self-interest and the Administration has sent a clear message to all other City employees that honesty and transparency are not valued in City government."

Slattery has been a member of the Ithaca Police Department since 2006 and was promoted to sergeant in 2016.

-Ta n n e r H a r d i n g

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UPS&DOWNS

New Byrne Dairy The new Byrne Dairy is open for business on Meadow St. There are Shelby’s Donuts pastries inside and a gas special for members going on through the end of the month.

Groundhog Day During what is one of America’s more bizarre traditions, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, meaning six more weeks of winter. Looking out the window right now, that seems pretty easy to believe.

HEARD&SEEN Bullet Holes After residents heard two sets of gunshots late on Jan. 29, police found a house had been hit numerous times with bullets. Fortunately, no victims have been located and the occupants of the house were unharmed.

Winter Thief Police followed a burglary suspect’s footprints in fresh snow back to the houses he robbed, which helped aid them in his capture. Looks like that snow is good for something.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What is the best Ithaca Winter pastime?

N ext Week ’s Q uestion :

Does Punxsutawney Phil have any credibility?

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Visit ithaca.com to submit your response.

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SURROUNDED BY REALITY

2020 Nostalgia H

By C h a r l ey G i t h l e r ow come you don't know you're living in the Good Old Days until they're gone? 2020 already seems like it was a long time ago, and maybe it's not too soon to bask in the warm glow of reminiscence. Gather 'round, kids, and I'll tell you about the positive side of a year with an unfortunate reputation...

It was a simpler time. Why, I remember when there was only one variant of COVID. In many ways it was just a different world. We knew who the superintendent of the Ithaca City School District was from one day to the next. The Office was on Netflix. Gamestop stock was selling for four dollars a share. Presidents were impeached only once a term. Jobs at IC seemed secure. It's all true, I swear.

Sanity reigned in 2020. Back then, nobody thought that playing high-risk youth sports during a pandemic surge was a good idea. ShortStop was literally open on Sundays. You could stop paying rent without fear of eviction.

In those days, the Capitol building had never been invaded by drooling dipwads, Ted Cruz was only the second biggest asshole in the Senate and nobody outside the Ozarks had heard of Josh Hawley.

There were gritty, heartwarming

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stories of real people beating the odds. A plucky red-headed orphan girl overcame every obstacle and dominated the international chess scene. Pretty sure that happened in 2020. Things got a little fuzzy by autumn, perhaps because last year cocktail hour moved from 6:00 PM to 10:00 AM. You probably heard that things shut down for a spell. Sure, we were confined to quarters, but nobody talks about the silver linings to being in quarantine. Dogs and some cats were delighted to have company 24/7. And we had the leisure to give a rat's rear end when Harry and Meghan gave up the sweetest gig in the UK and moved to a California McMansion and a life of grubbing for millions like garden-variety street celebrities.

At the same time, the pace of life was fast. The COVID vaccines went from zero to needles in arms in eight short months, and Amy Coney Barrett was doing spins in the office chair of RBG's chambers before the seat cushions were cold.

Remember that time Joe Biden told Donald Trump to shut up on national television and then took his job and his house? I do. It was awesome.

The word "robust" became everybody's

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favorite adjective. We heard about robust vaccine rollouts, robust school curricula, robust public radio programming.

It wasn't annoying at all. And speaking of words, we learned to pronounce new ones, like "Ghislaine" and "hydroxychloroquine.”

2020 was a good year for Phil Spector.

Definitely better than 2021. He used to make people's flesh crawl, but last year brought Rudy Giuliani in Borat 2, totally recalibrating the meaning of creepy. After that, Spector seemed like a misunderstood record producer, songwriter and convicted murderer.

Also a good year for local biodiversity, as we welcomed Emerald Ash Borers and Spotted Lanternflies into the bosom of

our community.

The economy took a hit, but some businesses boomed in 2020. It was a breakout year for Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

I tried to hire them for some yard work this spring, but it seems their bookings have become much more robust since last November and I'm on a waiting list, hoping for a cancellation.

And, folks came to appreciate some of the things we had been taking for granted.

Trick-or-treaters. A simple industrial pallet of toilet paper. The sweet tang of other people's exhaled air. The stark, graceful lines of a generic n95 mask. Grubhub.

Ah, 2020. Will we ever see its likes again? Good Lord, let's hope not.

ICSD

About face: Luvelle Brown will remain with ICSD

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t an Ithaca school board meeting on Jan. 26 marked by tension between what is private and what is public, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Luvelle Brown announced that he would not formally resign his position. This reverses an announcement he made at the Jan. 12 board meeting, where he said he was to become the head of equity, diversity and inclusion for Discovery Education, a global education company.

Before Brown made his new announcement during his superintendent’s report, two student representatives from Ithaca High School had already asked the board or Brown to explain the rumors that were circulating about Brown at the school and in the community.

Emma Zanen, an Ithaca High School student representative, asked someone to explain what the district was doing in response to the allegations about Brown that had been made public.

Instead of making a response, the board proceeded to speak about the possible restarting of athletic programs and the difficulties of evaluating student academic performance during the pandemic. Student representative Adam Saar interrupted the meeting to request that someone address Zanen’s questions. Board President Rob Ainslie promised they would be answered during the superintendent’s report after the board discussed and voted on their consent agenda.

In his remarks during his report, Brown gave a partial answer. He said he had planned to “transition in February, but that’s not going to happen. I will stay in the community and continue the work.”

Ainslie followed up by explaining that, according to state law, to resign a superintendent must send a letter to the board president. “That never happened,” he said.

“After a series of talks, we gave him the opportunity to change his mind, and he did.”

Addressing Brown directly, Ainslie said, “You have a contract and we’re going to hold you to it.” Ainslie said he was open to talk about anything “as long as it has to do with the school district.”

The board then plunged into a presentation by the district’s chief operations officer Amanda Verba about the recent release by the governor of preliminary budget runs. Board member Ann Reichlin then spoke about the possibilities offered by the many waivers of state policies during the pandemic. In the future, when the district proposed something innovative that ran counter to a state policy, they could point to having continued to function well in its absence.

With the elephant still in the room, board members Erin Croyle and Nicole LaFave both reminded their fellow board members that the students’ concerns had not been fully addressed.

“There are still unanswered questions,” Zanen said. “How do we move on from that?”

“I don’t want to get into a personal matter in public,” Ainslie said, before he gave a summary of the district’s response to the allegations against Brown, which had included longstanding and grossly inappropriate use of public office and authority, but also accusations regarding his treatment of his now ex-wife, Anjanette Brown.

Ainslie said that he had met with a community member in September 2020 who brought the issues to his attention.

“The private items are not our place to get into,” he said. A 200 page document was delivered to him around Thanksgiving, and he asked the school district’s attorney to read it. By Christmas, the attorney had gone through the documents and given his evaluation to Ainslie. The attorney found that there was no justification for the allegations and that there was no impact to the district.

“There are things, Emma,” Ainslie said to the student representative, “that are private and within a family, and we have no wish to go there.” Ainslie said he refused to address anything that was circulating on social media.

Zanen said with some hesitation that she was satisfied with his response.

-Bill Chaisson

YOUR LETTERS Open Letter to the ICSD Board of Education, and the ICSD Community-at-Large

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Snow depth in Danby as of noon on Tuesday (Photo: Casey Martin)

Planning

Planning Board approves, critiques housing projects

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he Planning Board unanimously approved two site plans at their virtual meeting last week, including the Northside Apartments redevelopment and rebuilding the porte cochere at Cornell University’s Statler Hotel. Board members also expressed support for the proposed State Street Apartments at 401 E. State St. and student housing at 121 Oak Ave. The Ithaca Housing Authority received final approval from the board to demolish and reconstruct the low-to-moderate income housing complex on the Northside of Ithaca with a condition from the county requesting to keep outdoor lighting temperatures under 2,700 K. The 60-yearold apartments will be replaced with 82 dwelling units, parking, a community building, and playground. Construction on Northside Apartments is expected to begin once the applicants secure building permits and affordable housing grants to fund the $42.7 million project.

“It’s a great project,” Deputy Director of Planning Lisa Nicholas said.

Chair Rob Lewis agreed, saying the reconstruction is “sorely needed.”

The meeting kicked off with a unanimous vote, however, the planning board could not reach a consensus on the State Street Apartments proposal.

McKinley Development updated the board on the State Street apartments site plans with several revisions to the 340,000 square-foot residential space along Six Mile Creek. The project team added a new pedestrian accessway from State Street to the creek, as well as a rooftop terrace for tenants.

“It’s a dense, big project, but at the same time I think it’s the kind of development that we really need in Ithaca,” board member Mitch Glass said. “I think cities should be looking at denser projects like this, closer to downtown where people can walk to amenities and be close to other

things.”

Despite widening the buffer between the proposed six-story building and the creek, board member Elisabete Godden said that her major concern has not been addressed.

“I still feel that there is not enough room back there and that the site is congested,” Godden said.

While Godden had hoped to see more significant improvements, most board members agreed that the design plans are beginning to complement the natural and urban environments surrounding the site.

“I can recognize that this is a difficult site — there are a lot of geographical constraints,” board member Garrick Blalock said. “What I’ve always liked about it is there’s the potential here to put a rather large building in a very strategic location downtown using the natural geography to hide some of the density of the mass of the building because it just falls below the cliff there.”

The McKinley Development team hopes that the incremental changes will continue to gain enough support for the project’s approval this spring.

The student housing development project at 121 Oak Ave. also made progress toward becoming approved by the Planning Board this spring. Student housing developer Josh Lower plans on constructing a four-story apartment building with approximately 30 efficiencies and five two-bedroom units. In response to the board’s concerns, Lower agreed to add more landscaping and install vibration monitors in the nearby St. Luke Church during construction. The project moves into parts two and three of environmental review next month.

-E m i ly S n y der

s ICSD community members, we would like to confirm that the Board of Education ("BOE") of the ICSD conducted an appropriately independent, neutral, and diligent review of the workplace-related claims raised in the Urgent Appeal for NYS Education Department Intervention for Accountability, Justice and Fairness in the Matter of Brown, Brown & the Board of Education, Ithaca City School District, dated January 5, 2021, as filed by Peyi Soyinka-Airewele et al. with the New York State Commissioner of Education, on or about January 5, 2021 (the "Appeal”).

We have reviewed related press coverage of the Appeal, including the article, "Allegations Against ICSD Superintendent Emerge After Resignation," by Tanner Harding, in the Ithaca Times, published January 13, 2021, and accessed electronically on Ithaca.com on January 14, 2021 (hereafter, the "Bradwell Interview"), and "Complaints, Letter of Allegations Emerge in Wake of ICSD Superintendent Brown's Resignation," by Matt Butler, in the Ithaca Voice, published January 13, 2021, and accessed electronically on ithacavoice. com on January 14, 2021, both of which contain statements by the ICSD Board of Education ("BOE”) stating that the BOE has “thoroughly reviewed" the Appeal and "found many of the claims to be without merit and others to be outside of the purview of school district business...." (see Bradwell Interview).

There is a material difference between a "review" and an "investigation.” We respectfully request that the BOE provide more transparency about the methods/processes they used in conducting their "thorough review," and we request increased transparency regarding the BOE's decision making process and the specific grounds on which each claim was deemed either meritless, or outside the purview of ICSD business.

We understand that personnel issues frequently are, and should remain, confidential. If the BOE cites confidentiality in declining to provide the specific grounds on which the below claims were either deemed without merit or outside their purview, we request information about how the investigative process was conducted.

• Was an actual investigation into the specific claim below undertaken by the BOE? How was the investigation conducted - did the BOE engage an external investigator? Was the investigation led by a committee of independent directors?

• Who did the investigator or committee interview (by title or area of expertise, not by name)?

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• What "best practices" were followed during this investigation?

We aim to ensure that the stated "thorough review" did, in fact, include an actual investigation, conducted in accordance with best practices.

The letter goes on to detail specific allegations the group wants addressed. To read the letter in full, visit Ithaca.com.

-Signed by more than 100 members of the ICSD community, including teachers, parents and taxpayers (list can be viewed online)

THE TALK AT

Re: County Legislature names new Poet Laureate Congratulations Dr. Kitano!! What an honor, and we are very pleased to learn about this great recognition for Dr. Kitano from all of us! We miss you so much here in California! I shall spread the word to all your followers here and abroad!

-Jennifer Chai, via Ithaca.com

Re: About face: Luvelle Brown will remain with ICSD I think there are many who were glad to see him resign, and who were really looking forward to Lily Talcott's leadership.

The fact that Brown has changed his mind and expects the public to just deal with that is disappointing, and is even more evidence that he shouldn't hold this position any longer.

-Richard Ballantyne, via Ithaca.com

Write to us!

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To the Editor, Ithaca Times, 109 N Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY 14850

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They’re back Students from Cornell and Ithaca College return to town for the spring semester

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By Ta n n e r H a r di ng

he students are back — or they’re making their way at least. There hasn’t been much normalcy to speak of for nearly the past year, but Cornell University and Ithaca College are doing everything in their power to give students as close to a typical college semester as possible. With, of course, many safety precautions as well as students prepare to re-enter the Ithaca community and economy.

After the success of the fall semester, Joel Malina, Cornell vice president for university relations, said that they made some minor tweaks just to continue to improve their safety strategies.

“Our approach is that we want to continually analyze, see where there could be 8 T

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adjustments,” he said. “Any one case of COVID is one case too many, so we did look to see what we could do differently.”

The university engages in pretty aggressive surveillance testing already, or regular testing of students, faculty and staff to catch positive COVID cases as soon as possible.

Undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty are tested twice a week, while other staff is tested once a week, and staff that’s on campus less often is tested every two weeks.

This semester, there are two main tweaks to the testing strategy. The first is that the university brought on more staff to decrease turnaround for test results. Last

semester it took between 24 and 48 hours for results to come in, while this semester it will be down to 12-18 hours.

The other adjustment is that students who spend more time in groups, such as athletes or Greek life members, will be tested three times a week. Last semester, there were a couple clusters attributed to those groups, so this is the university’s attempt to eliminate that.

Malina said the university is also adding testing dates on weekends to discourage students traveling out of town.

“There was a significantly greater prevalence in those who traveled during the fall semester,” Malina said. “They’d leave Itha-

St u den ts r et u r n (P hotos Jason Kosk i, Cor n el l Un i v ersit y )

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ca and then come back and bring it with them.”

Cornell is expecting a little over 19,000 students to return for the full in-person semester, down from 23,000 pre-COVID. Students will be taking classes either in person, virtually, or in a hybrid mix; Malina estimates about a third of classes are in-person.

He added that last semester there was no evidence of classroom-based transmission. He said the school “turned a lot of what hadn’t been classroom space into classroom space” to ensure students could keep at least six feet away from one another. And, of course, all students and teachers must be masked in the classroom.

These precautions are in line with the behavioral compact that every student was

required to sign — Malina said students were not allowed to register for classes or be on campus until they signed it.

“It’s very strict in terms of mask wearing and physical distancing,” he said. “It’s an important element. If you’re following those requirements you should be able to engage with the community.”

Malina said the school was quite pleased with the level of students safely engaging with Collegetown and the downtown core last semester.

“We know businesses are struggling, so we want to encourage them to be as engaged in the community as possible.”

As students arrive, they’re participating in arrival testing on days one and five on campus. So far, results are pretty much as expected.

“We’ve been seeing some prevalence, but relatively low prevalence,” Malina said.

“It’s about 2.5%, which is exactly where our optimistic models anticipated it. So long as we can keep those models in line, we should absolutely be able to have a successful semester.”

He noted that there would definitely be cases, there’s no way to avoid it completely, but that the goal is to isolate individuals and minimize the ways it can be transmitted to other people.

“We’ve been working in close coordination with the Tompkins County Health Department and Cayuga Health Systems,” he said. “All analysis is done with consideration of how the broader community is doing.”

Students remain in a quarantine until they get their second negative test on day five. For students living on campus in a single accommodation, they can stay there.

But the school is also renting out a significant number of hotel rooms for that purpose as well.

“We have dedicated hotel space for those individuals who are positive and recovering,” Malina said.

Malina said Cornell anticipates it’ll be months still before the majority of students on its campus are eligible for the vaccine, but the school has applied to the state to be a distribution center if need be.

“We would be in a position to help ease the burden on the Health Department and hospital,” he said.

Regardless of all the precautions and limitations in place, Malina said students can still look forward to the same level of community.

“It’ll be a semester of academic engagement, of social interactions and making friends and expanding horizons,” he said.

“The first stage of the semester will probably see a little less in-person socializing than the second half, but students, faculty and staff can look forward to the same level of dynamic community engagement.”

If Cornell is making tweaks to its fall semester, Ithaca College’s changes are titanic in comparison. Last semester there was a small group of about 150-200 students on campus who were only there because they had in-person classes that were not able to be done virtually.

Bonnie Prunty, dean of students, said this semester there will be about 2,600 students on campus, plus an off-campus population as well.

Ithaca College is utilizing saliva tests during its staggered move in. Students check in to their residence hall, take the test and then quarantine until they find out it’s negative. If students have a roommate, whichever roommate arrives first will quarantine in the dorm room while the other will spend the night in a hotel while awaiting test results.

Throughout the semester, much like Cornell, Ithaca College students will be tested twice a week. For any students who test positive or who are a close contact of someone who tests positive, they will isolate in Emerson Hall, which was taken offline this year to serve as the isolation and quarantine building.

Ithaca College students also signed a community agreement that outlines expectations in regards to wearing face coverings, maintaining six feet of distance, having good hand hygiene and limiting travel.

“Our expectation is that when students arrive this spring, they don’t travel outside of Tompkins County,” Prunty said.

Students are required to keep their masks on any time they’re outside of their bedrooms, including in common rooms and hallways in their residence buildings.

They’re also not allowed to hang out in each others’ rooms or visit friends in other residence halls.

However, Prunty said she’s still hoping students will find a way to engage with the broader Ithaca community while they’re back in town.

“I’m fully expecting they will travel off campus for grocery shopping, for takeout,” she said. “There are no restrictions on

that as long as they’re following appropriate guidance. We don’t want them traveling outside the county and bringing it back to the local community.”

Prunty acknowledged that this semester was going to be unlike anything the students had experienced before, as they didn’t return to campus for the fall.

“They understand it will be different,” she said. “It won’t be the same as in the past, but it’s better than having to be home and fully remote for the semester.”

Prunty noted that the mostly remote fall semester had given the college time to learn and adapt, and they were ready to bring some fun, safe events to students so they can still get the college experience. In addition to things like student organizations happening virtually, the school has some in-person plans too. This winter they’re going to host small, outdoor gatherings around fire pits where students can enjoy s’mores and hot chocolate in small groups.

They’re also going to put together an outdoor ice skating event, but everything will be registration-only to make sure numbers are kept at a safe level.

“We’re hoping that slowly we can begin to add some of the things for students to have face-toface interactions,” she said.

“I think the semester is going to be a combination of both [in-person and virtual].”

Ithaca College has also applied to be a vaccination center in case the county needs them to serve in that capacity. However, Prunty doubts they will be needed.

“Given the limited supply of vaccines, I don’t know if we’re ever going to be in the position this spring where they’re going to want or need us to do that,” she said. “We’re monitoring the situation and have gone through the steps to be able to do that if that’s what the community needs us to do.”

As the students from both colleges return to Ithaca, you can watch the life come back to town — restaurants that were closed for weeks in January are reopening their doors, and there’s more activity on the Commons and downtown. It’s no secret that the colleges, and Cornell in particular, play an important role in the success of Ithaca’s economy.

“Obviously, we are an education-driven economy,” Gary Ferguson, executive director of Downtown Ithaca Alliance, said.

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“Having both students and faculty in full swing is really important to a lot of different parts of the economy, especially in downtown and Collegetown. Certainly our food and beverage operations benefit immensely, as well as retail and entertainment businesses as well.”

Last spring semester things came to an abrupt halt in March when the world went on lockdown. However, Ferguson points out that people have had plenty of time to adjust to the new normal, so he was much more hopeful for this year.

“We’re still working through things but we’ve figured out how to navigate through a pandemic — how to shop, how to act,” he said. “Things will not be normal, but they will be better than they were.”

He added that it’s not just the students’ return to campus that benefits local businesses, but having faculty and staff back on campus as well.

“Having everyone in place, having people be on campus, having activities and classes take place on campus […] it all feeds into our local economy.”

According to a 2014 report from Cornell’s Division of Budget and Planning, nearly one in five jobs in Tompkins County comes from Cornell, and the university generated $3.2 billion in economic activity statewide and nearly $1.2 billion in Tompkins County alone.

And that’s to say nothing of the restaurants and stores that rely on the robust student population and their visiting families. Local development company NovarrMackesey introduced the Collegetown Innovation District late last fall and despite some residents dismay over the many height variances requested for the massive project, many business owners came out in support of the project, solely because right now Collegetown business rely purely on students to stay afloat.

At a meeting in November, Collegetown business owner Marty Johnson said he was excited about the project because “getting a year-round economy has always been the goal.” Business owner Costa Lambrou agreed, stating that adding different industries in Collegetown would add a degree of stability for small business owners, especially as they’ve struggled throughout the pandemic.

But for now, hopefully business owners in Ithaca can breathe a little easier knowing that more than 20,000 students will be returning to town, ready to mask up and patronize their stores.

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BusinessTimes

New Greenhouse Cafe Offers Fresh Fare New Hospicare Executive Director

Hound and Mare

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LAM FAMILY DEEPENS ROOTS IN ITHACA WITH HOUND AND MARE RESTAURANT OPENING

By Rhiannon Colema

am and Christine Lam, daughters of the beloved owners of Saigon Kitchen on West State Street in downtown Ithaca, have opened their own cafe on Restaurant Row. Taking over the space left behind by Mediterranean restaurant Sahara, which closed in 2018, Hound and Mare is a deviation from the Vietnamese roots of its owners. Christine just recently returned from L.A., where she spent the past four years. Hound and Mare, an idea she had had for years, finally came to fruition in the form of an L.A.-inspired restaurant that specializes in breakfast sandwiches, coffee and bakery items.

“I wanted to do something a little bit different,” Christine explains. “It’s a little bit hard working with family sometimes.

I’m very opinionated and I know what I like and I know what I want, so I kind of wanted to separate myself from my parents a little bit.”

The name Hound and Mare comes from the Chinese zodiac animals of the two sisters, “Hound” for Tam and “Mare” for Christine. Tam handles the marketing of the business while simultaneously being the vice president of Warren Real Estate, and Christine runs the day-to-day of the restaurant.

“Originally it was supposed to be a lunch concept,” Christine explains. “When I first got back from L.A., I just felt like there wasn’t anywhere you could get a quick lunch that wasn’t super heavy.”

Taking inspiration from L.A.’s food scene, which is dominated by fresh veggie dishes and light meals, the original menu for Hound and Mare was meant to be a step away from standard Ithaca dining.

“But then when we started construction,” Christine explains, “it ended up taking a lot longer than expected. We had

Christine Lam (Photo Casey Martin)

planned to open up at the end of summer, but we didn’t make that benchmark. We were going into fall, and I just didn’t feel like people were going to be into salads and stuff for winter, so we pivoted to breakfast sandwiches.”

Despite the shift from the original idea for the Hound and Mare menu, there is still an homage to L.A. in the form of the names of each kind of breakfast sandwich offered on the menu, which are named after streets in Los Angeles.

While some new arrivals to the restaurant industry may spend years trying to perfect their menu, Hound and Mare stands out in its intent to continually change its menu and excite its customers in new ways.

“February is a bit of a heavy month for us because we have the Super Bowl,

Valentine’s Day, and Chinese New Year,” Christine said.

For the Super Bowl, Hound and Mare will begin to offer “burger boxes” that can be shared between friends and family. The restaurant will also be recruiting a close friend of Christine’s to offer Valentine’s Day fudge cakes featuring a floating champagne glass. Lastly, in time for Chinese New Year, the staff of Hound and Mare will compile their own messages for each customer, serving them inside of “headsized” fortune cookies.

“Especially in the pandemic, people are always looking for any reason to celebrate and get excited” Christine said.

Opening a business in the middle of a pandemic is difficult to say the least, and while the established network of their parents has helped greatly in the success of

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Hound and Mare, the restaurant is another example of the long-standing relationship and trust between local businesses and the Ithaca community.

“I will say that growing up in Ithaca, I was like, ‘I can’t wait to get out,’” Christine confessed. “But then I went away, and I saw all these other communities and I realized I was so fortunate to have grown up here for so many different reasons, but for sure because of the community.” Tam and Christine’s parents first imigrated to the United States in the 1970s after the Vietnam War. “My parents obviously didn’t speak English when they first got here. But they would have people who helped them and never charged them or asked for anything in return. There have been so many people who have gone out of their way to help my parents, from helping them learn English or learn how to use a computer. Students who are here get a taste of that kind of community and then pay it forward. During graduation weekend, students will bring their parents to the restaurant just to meet my parents and be like ‘Oh, this is Mr. and Mrs. Lam. They’ve taken care of me all four years,’ and it’s very, very cute.”

It can be said that Hound and Mare is a symbol of duality on Restaurant Row; it is not one thing over another. It straddles the lines between its Ithacan roots and its L.A. inspiration, between its original conception and current execution, between its familial support and its deviation from tradition. There is no ideal customer that Tam and Christine envisioned and perhaps no final vision to strive for either. It is a business that is only possible through those who pay forward what has been given to them; an English lesson, a familiar face in their corner, a second home.

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B usiness T imes

BizBriefs Hangar Theatre brings on new managing director The Hangar Theatre is pleased to announce that R.J. Lavine (she/her/hers) has been named managing director, effective Jan. 11. Lavine is an Ithaca native who returned to the area nine years ago with her husband, Daniel Graham, and children, Wesley and Kestrel Graham-Lavine.

Since 1996, she has served as a co-director for Helping Hands Summer Camp in Windsor, New York. Helping Hands is an overnight nature camp for neuro-atypical adults with developmental and ambulatory disabilities. Most recently, she has served as the Director of Development and Communications for the Kitchen Theatre Company since 2018. She was promoted from her prior role as the Manager of Growth and Giving this past July.

Lavine has also served as Volunteer Coordinator at the Ulysses Philomathic Library in Trumansburg, and has served on the Boards of Trumansburg Joint Youth Commission and Trumansburg Community Nursery School. She has also volunteered with the Multicultural Resource

Center and co-founded the Affordable Housing Alliance in Trumansburg. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from American University, has studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute through a SOS grant from Community Arts Partnership, and is a graduate of the Actors Workshop of Ithaca.

Lavine states, “Upon returning to Ithaca, I’ve worked as a performer and producer, forging several collaborative partnerships. As an administrator at the Kitchen Theatre Company for over two years, I have expanded my social network (locally and nationally) to include hundreds of artists, patrons, funders, organizations and businesses. Myriad experiences spanning 25 years in non-profit direct service, retail, living and working abroad, and attending an international boarding school have prepared me for the exciting and rewarding work of the Managing Director position”.

Lavine played an FBI agent in the 2019 Hangar Theatre production of "You Can’t Take it With You" by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, part of the Hangar’s 2019 Big Play Festival!. Other select local acting credits include R.C. in "Bug" (House of Ithaqua) and Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz" (Encore Players).

She was selected by a search committee made up of Hangar staff and board members after an extensive search spanning from August to December of 2020.

She is succeeding MaryBeth Bunge, who served as Managing Director from 201720, and retired in April of 2020. Alfred Butler served as the Interim Managing Director throughout the search, co-leading the organization with Interim Artistic Director Shirley Serotsky. “R.J. brings incredible skill, intelligence, thoughtfulness and life experience to this role,” said Serotsky.

“I’m so excited to work side by side with her, creating art and building community, as we navigate the twists and turns of these unprecedented times.”

The Hangar Theatre is currently planning a full summer Mainstage season with one virtual experience and four live outdoor productions. Patrons can help support the Hangar with a 2021 subscription at www.hangartheatre.org/subscriptions.

Bailey Place welcomes Chris Roscoe Bailey Place is proud to announce the addition of Chris Roscoe to their team. As an Ithaca native, Chris knows our community and the unique exposures our businesses and families can face. Chris will join the team as an Account Executive, working with Tompkins County businesses to address their insurance and risk management needs. He is a licensed property and casualty insurance broker with experience running his own local family business. Bailey Place insurance has offices in Ithaca, Dryden, Cortland and Rochester, and conducts business through-

Chris Roscoe

out New York state. To contact Chris at Bailey Place, you can call 607-844-8626, or croscoe@baileyplace.com.

Tompkins Financial Corporation reports record fourth quarter earnings Tompkins Financial Corporation reported diluted earnings per share of $1.61 for the fourth quarter of 2020, up 15.0% compared to $1.40 reported in the fourth continued on page 13

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B usiness T imes

New cafe takes root GREENHOUSE CAFE OFFERS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED FARE NEAR THE COMMONS

By Arleigh Rodgers

W

Tim Gammons (Photo: Casey Martin)

hen Tim Gammons, owner of the newly opened Greenhouse Cafe & Cocktail Lounge, set out to open a restaurant in Ithaca, he knew he had to highlight two qualities on the menu: locally sourced and plant-forward ingredients.

The Greenhouse Cafe & Cocktail Lounge is located at 320 E. State St. and opened Jan. 7. Gammons said the shape of the Greenhouse Cafe came together after

the restaurant received its liquor license on Dec. 24, allowing him and co-owner Jacky Falkenberg to launch quickly after.

Gammons has worked at other restaurants in Ithaca, like Coltivare and Luna Inspired Street Food, but this is his first restaurant in Ithaca of which he is the owner. He also owns The Lansing Deli in Lansing, New York, which he opened approximately two years ago. “[The Lansing Deli] gave me a small taste of what it's like to have small business

BIZ BRIEFS

which were up from the fourth quarter of 2019. Despite the positive earnings trends for the quarter, our results for the full year were negatively impacted by the pandemic and related economic restrictions, which have continued to negatively impact customers. We continue to support our customers through our loan payment deferral program and funding of loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. At year end, we believe that we had adequately reserved for potential credit losses in the loan portfolio, though a great deal of uncertainty remains.”

Contin u ed From Page 12

quarter of 2019. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $24.0 million, a $2.9 million increase over net income reported for the same period in 2019.

For the fiscal year that ended on Dec. 31, 2020, diluted earnings per share were $5.20, down 3.2% from 2019. 2020 net income was $77.6 million, down from $81.7 million, for 2019. Results for 2020 were negatively impacted by economic stress resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to the $16.3 million provision for credit losses recognized during the first quarter of 2020.

President and CEOStephen Romaine commented, "2020 was a challenging year on many fronts, which makes it particularly rewarding that earnings for the fourth quarter reflect the best fourth quarter results in our company's history. Favorable results were largely driven by improved net interest income, insurance commissions and wealth management fees, all of

Five teachers honored by Tompkins Trust Company Tompkins Trust Company and the Legacy Foundation announced that five Tompkins County teachers were recognized with certificates and monetary awards for their efforts to improve education in their districts. This year’s Raymond Van Houtte Teacher Awards recipients

ownership and to be able to make some of the changes you want to make based off of your principles and not necessarily guidelines of people who are already working,” Gammons said.

The Greenhouse Cafe’s current menu features starters, main courses and desserts, many of which are marked by a “VG” for vegan, “V” for vegetarian and “GF” for gluten free. The menu also spotlights cocktails like “Matcha Made in Heaven” — vodka, matcha, ginger beer and lime — as well as wines from New York, France and Italy.

Gammons said that although the Greenhouse Cafe’s meals are largely plantbased, he didn’t want to alienate meateaters from dining at the restaurant.

“I think what we’re going to do is remind people of good, homeschool cooking and some lighter fare too,” he said. “We eat too much meat as it is, and I am a meat person myself. So one of the things to remind people of is, we're not saying cut [meat] out of your diet completely. … But it's important to remember that you can be filled up with vegetables and with some stuff that you wouldn't normally have on a day-to-day basis.”

For Gammons, curating a menu of local, plant-forward meals was based on two influences. He said he wants all dishes at the Greenhouse Cafe to source from farms within New York, adjusting or shifting the menu through the seasons as different ingredients become available. He said that seeing Coltivare’s farm-to-bistro approach to dining while he worked there partly inspired his ideology for the Greenhouse Cafe.

Gammons also said he wished to incorporate the plant-based ideals Jacky Falkenberg — former owner of Nikki Green, which was located in the same space the Greenhouse Cafe now occupies — brought to Nikki Green. Falkenberg is a co-owner of the Greenhouse Cafe, and

she and Gammons are currently the sole workers at the restaurant.

Nikki Green was named after Falkenberg’s sister, whom Falkenberg said was a big meat eater that shied away from vegan meals. Falkenberg said her menu at Nikki Green was therefore inspired by her desire to convince her sister that plant-based meals were viable, tasty options even for people who weren’t vegan.

“I really cared about the philosophy [of eating plant-based], but I felt like a lot of people that were coming into the restaurant felt ostracized because they weren't vegan,” she said. “[The Greenhouse Cafe] was a twist on that, where everything on the menu, we wanted it to be as plantforward as possible and to always have different kinds of alternatives, to either add meat or have it be an add-on.”

Gammons said that in the future, he hopes the restaurant will highlight more farms around the Finger Lakes region, starting by visiting the farms this summer so he can learn the background of each ingredient and the farmers that grow them.

“One of our eventual goals is to physically work with the farmers themselves … to actually speak with the farmers, look at the crops, look at what they're doing and … get to know more of the story,” he said.

“I think sometimes we need to be reminded of how beautiful upstate New York is and how much the bounty has to offer and utilize it as much as we can.”

are Jamie McCaffrey of Newfield School District, Josh Antoine of Cayuga Heights Elementary School, Meggie New of Ithaca High School, Josh Chase of Ithaca High School and Jamie Zervos of Ithaca High School.

Jamie McCaffrey was honored for 17 years of education service and a variety of contributions to the students, faculty and staff of Newfield School District. At the high school level, she was instrumental in bringing the Sources of Strength program, which cultivates student leadership, to the student body. At the elementary school level, McCaffrey has coordinated the Red Paw Program, an initiative that awards students who consistently show exemplary behaviors and an alignment with the school’s code of conduct. McCaffrey also partnered with Cornell Hockey players who volunteered in the school district, which allowed the students to develop quality connections with admirable young adults.

FingerLakesFountain.com

continued on page 18

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BIZ BRIEFS Contin u ed From Page 13

Josh Antoine was honored for fully immersing himself in the Cayuga Heights Elementary School community in a variety of ways. As a physical education teacher and modified wrestling coach, he has a strong desire and commitment to increasing the diversity within the school’s athletic programming. He also recognizes the value of young people participating in athletics and actively encourages them to do so. Of note is Antoine’s outstanding work with a group of youth who were struggling academically. Because of his incredible support, by the end of the season, all of these athletes were academically eligible.

Meggie New was honored for her commitment to supporting the students at Ithaca High School and has been described as the epitome of what it means to “lead with love.” She instills the values of commitment, accountability and compassion in all of her students who know that her support goes beyond the classroom.

New continuously works on connecting with her students with the ultimate goal of connecting the students with their school community. She is the Link Crew Coordinator and oversees a program that provides mentorship to rising 8th graders,

Josh Chase

Jaime Zervos

and is also the coordinator of and teacher in AVID Programming, a program aimed at providing critical skills to college-bound students from underrepresented groups.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she has worked consistently to connect with students to ensure their basic needs are being met.

Josh Chase was honored for his outstanding service to the Ithaca City School District. In his role as the Director of Physical Education for the entire district, Chase has been instrumental in the addi-

tion of Unified PE classes to the district’s programming. This class offers a more inclusive approach to PE and provides students of all abilities the opportunity to work together to achieve their health and PE goals. He works tirelessly to provide options to students, especially those who have not been historically engaged in their PE classes. In addition to his district role, Chase is also the PE teacher and PE Department Leader at Ithaca High School, as well as a youth baseball coach.

Jamie Zervos was honored for her

dedication to providing healthy and nutritional options for all Ithaca High School students. Additionally, she supports student athletes by providing fundraising opportunities and healthy team travel meals, as well as provides nutritious meals and snacks to other school programs.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Zervos and her team have prepared and delivered 1,600 meals for students.

Tompkins Trust Company established the Raymond Van Houtte Teacher Award in 1989 to honor the late Raymond Van Houtte, retired president of the Trust Company. The Trust Company honored him by creating a $25,000 endowment, with earnings on the endowment to be used to fund awards recognizing educators who have shown exceptional ability, effort and results in improving primary and secondary education in Tompkins County.

Since 1991, 101 educators have been recognized with certificates and monetary awards totaling over $75,000. Educators are nominated by individuals, principals or district superintendents.

Typically, the recipients would be honored with a visit from Tompkins Trust Company to their schools; however, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the winners will be celebrated virtually on the Trust Company’s social media pages.

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hen Nicole Pagano describes what it was like to run Green Street Pharmacy, you can tell that she’s talking about more than owning a store. She’s talking about what it’s like to form a community. “[The pharmacy] was part of people’s day,” Pagano said. “It was a place where people who felt like they didn’t belong in other places felt like they belonged.”

It is these familiar faces that Pagano will miss most. On Facebook on Dec. 21, Pagano announced that Green Street Pharmacy will be closing down. Patients who still have refill prescriptions with Green Street Pharmacy have had their records moved to the local Walgreens on South Meadow Street, where they can pick up their remaining medications.

Pagano said that while she and her husband tried everything to keep the store open — selling bus tickets, opening an old-fashioned soda fountain, even taking out loans on her and her husband’s 401(k) — the pharmacy had not been profitable for years.

“A pharmacy is different from other businesses where I don’t get to set my own prices,” Pagano explained. “If you come in with a prescription that costs $500, your insurance company might only pay $400 for it, so immediately we lose $100. The busier we became the more money the pharmacy lost.”

However, not providing people with the prescriptions they needed, whatever the cost, was not an option for her. “I became a pharmacist to help people,” Pagano said.

At the same time, Pagano recognized her role as a pharmacist as being far more than someone who provided people with medications. In her eyes, treatment was also through conversations and connections.

She recounted a story of a man who had been addicted to drugs since a young age and came into the store looking very agitated, paranoid and scared. When he asked Pagano, who he had come to know, if she could help him, she immediately reached out to local organizations that were able to get him the help and support he needed.

“A year or two later I saw him on the street, and he looked so great,” Pagano said. “He was out there waiting for a bus

BUSINESS TIMES

executive director of Hospicare & Palliative Care Services.

A new challenge Joe Sammons prepares to take over at Hospicare

By Emily Snyder Joe Sammons will continue serving residents of Tompkins and Cortland Counties as the eighth

Sammons, who succeeds Kimberly De Rosa, is scheduled to join Hospicare Feb. 15. Former County Administrator Joe Mareane stepped

and he said, ‘Do you know this is the first time in my adult life not on probation?’

He had been substance-free for almost two years.”

Karen Gonta, who was a caseworker for several years at Tompkins County Mental Health Services, stated that “it is not an exaggeration to say that [Pagano] saved lives.”

“She noticed when one of my clients in her store was struggling or being victimized, and always did everything she could that was appropriate and legal to help them,” Gonta said. “[Pagano] also spent hours and hours advocating with insurance companies on behalf of her patients.

No other pharmacist that I have ever worked with or gone to has done this.”

In the future, Pagano stated that she is looking for other job opportunities in Ithaca and hopes to continue to find ways to help support those who are most vulnerable. “I don’t know what’s going to happen yet,” she said. “But I know it’s going to be incredible.”

Through the comments on Pagano’s Facebook post, you can tell how many people she’s touched. Alongside a professional connection with the pharmacy, Gonta mentioned how Pagano also hired her daughter for her first job. She thanked Pagano for serving as a valuable mentor for young women and for helping give her daughter confidence.

“Its closing is such a loss,” Gonta said.

“No corporate retail pharmacy, or even

any other business that I know of in Ithaca, can come close to providing the kind of experience and mentorship that [Pagano] made it a priority to provide in her pharmacy.”

Philippa Chun, a local resident, noted how she also enjoyed supporting the pharmacy as both an independent and womanowned business, as well as it’s convenience.

“I didn’t have a car for years and it was the only pharmacy downtown within walking distance,” Chun stated.

“It did really feel like a community place, like someplace you’d go to see people you know, or where you’d be recognized by the staff there,” said Chun. “I can’t think of anywhere else in Ithaca where the staff welcome you by name. It was a very special place.”

Pagano was blown away by all the support and messages she’s gotten and says that “the love they felt from me was just me giving back the love I had already received from them.” Getting emotional, she says she hasn’t found the right words to respond to all the comments on her post yet, but wanted to thank everyone for supporting her and the pharmacy these past eleven years.

“They changed me and made me better, and I am so appreciative they trusted me for their most personal moments in life,” she said. “I just feel truly lucky for having experienced that.”

Joe Sammons (Photo: Casey Martin)

in as interim executive director after De Rosa left the nonprofit in September 2020.

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I t h a c a T i m e s 19

THE ITHACA BUSINESS INDEX

December 2020 E l i a K ac a py r

T

he Ithaca Business Index inched upward by 0.3 percent in December to a level of 164.69 from a revised mark of 164.18 in November. Gains in employment, the labor force, and hours worked drove the index higher. Retail sales volume, home sales, and help wanted advertising fell slightly. Compared to December 2019 economic activity was down 5.5 percent.

The number of jobs in the Ithaca metro area increased by 100 in December to 61,200. All the figures in this report are seasonally adjusted so that any month can be compared to any other without regard to seasonal factors. Rising from a low of 53,900 in April, the number of jobs is almost 75 percent back to pre-COVID-19 levels. Ithaca’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in December, compared to 3.8 percent a year ago.

The size of Ithaca’s labor force increased by 100 persons to a level of 48,600. Anyone residing in Ithaca with a part-time or full-time job is in the labor force. In addition, anyone residing in

Ithaca without a job, but actively seeking employment, is also included in the labor force. Ithaca’s labor force has declined during the pandemic.

Retail sales volume in Ithaca fell back by 1.8 percent in December to $142 million. The volume of retail sales was down 11.2 percent from a year ago. Employment in Ithaca’s retail sector was 800 jobs less than normal.

The average work week in Ithaca shortened 1.0 percent to 33.9 hours from 33.6 hours in November. This figure is indeed an average that includes both full and parttime employees in the private sector.

Compared to December 2019, average weekly hours worked was up 4.0 percent.

Home sales in Ithaca gave back 4.4 percent in December after making huge gains earlier in the year. In fact, December’s sales were 24.4 percent higher than a year ago. The market for homes is red hot due to low mortgage rates. Buyers can borrow more with the low rates and then offer higher bids for homes. The median

home’s price appreciated to $250,000 from $233,500 in December 2019.

Help wanted advertising decreased by 3.5 percent in December and was 47.1 percent lower than a year ago. Changes in help wanted advertising may foretell actual changes in employment in the months ahead.

Ithaca’s economy staged a remarkable rebound from the shutdown lows experienced in April 2020. Economic activity increased in seven out of the eight months since then. In December, Ithaca’s economy ran at 95 percent of last year’s level, or about eight percent below what would be expected without the interruption in growth caused by the pandemic.

Retailing and the hospitality industry are hurting more than other sectors. Total employment has some ground to make up as well. Only home sales, along with home prices, are doing well.

In January 1985, the Ithaca Business Index stood at 100.00. In December 2020, the Index reads 164.69. This means that the Tompkins County economy has grown 64.69 percent in those 432 months.

From 1985 until 1988, the Ithaca metro region grew at a rapid clip. The average annual growth rate was 6.0 percent. The

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Ithaca Business Index reached a peak of 129.25 in April 1989. A recession brought the Index down to a level of 111.32 in February 1992. This 34-month slide was much longer and more severe than the national recession which lasted only 8 months. Since then, the County economy has recovered, but annual growth rates of 1.5 percent are more typical these days.

There was a less severe version of the Great Recession here in Ithaca that started in April 2008 and ended in July 2009. The most recent recession began in April 2014 and ended in March 2015. There was no national recession during this time, but economic activity in Ithaca stalled in the latter half of 2014 and fell 1.5 percent in 2015.

Ithaca’s economy had been expanding since the summer of 2015 with growth rates of 3.7 percent in 2017, 0.6 percent in 2018, and 2.2 percent in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic has curtailed economic activity throughout the world and in Ithaca. Currently, Ithaca’s economy is operating at about 5 percent below normal. The all-time high for the Ithaca Business Index is 177.30, its reading in April 2019.

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Roald Hoffmann reflects on his childhood during the Holocaust Local author publishes latest book

By D av id Bura k

R

oald Hoffmann is a Nobel Prize winning chemist, a Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor, Emeritus at Cornell University, and a Holocaust survivor. Renowned for his knowledge in the chemistry field, his writing talents sometimes take a back seat.

However, a few local writers came together to celebrate Hoffmann’s latest publication, “Constants of the Motion.” The writing below is from Cornell graduate and longtime activist David Burak, with input from writers Nancy Vieira Cuoto and Roger Gilbert. ● ● ●

Let me present a brief discussion of some key elements of Roald Hoffmann's writing, particularly regarding the connectivity between his poem "Crows over Sobibor" and his basically autobiographical play, “Something That Belongs to You.” "Crows over Sobibor," which will be in Hoffmann's next collection of poetry, addresses us, the readers, in the voice of an, at times, frenetic youngster who describes an ominous scene in which Nazis have crammed Jews onto a train and told them they're being transported to a worksite.

However, the poem's child narrator senses a more diabolical plan — one which will end with a stop at the Sobibor extermination camp. So, the boy and a few of his cohorts pull

some already broken pieces out of the boxcar wall, then jump through the hole, and, in a manner of speaking, hit the ground running.

The young narrator doesn't stop until hunger compels him to do so. An empathetic reader can feel the exhaustion and excitement of the boy as he strives to explain that his perception of the death-camp destination was conveyed by the birds or through an "old man."

Hoffmann offers a commentary to his readers: “My poems of the War and the Holocaust are part memories, part constructions, imagining how things were or were thought about. This poem is in the latter category, not experienced directly by me, but imagined.”

One learns from Hoffmann's dialogue with his mother's character (Frieda, in the above-mentioned play) that only one man was known to have escaped from the train to the Sobibor slave labor camp. It is also worth noting that the Nazis executed Hoffmann's father for trying to organize an escape from this camp in Poland along the Ukraine border.

Eventually, the child, Hoffmann, as well as his mother and several other relatives, fled from the barn loft where a Ukrainian teacher and his wife had hidden them. In thinking about this Ukrainian family, the Dyuks, the poet reflects: “Imagine finding food for four adults and one child for a year and a half. That took willful action, planning.” There were some

“Crows over Sobibor” You don’t believe me. That they’re killing us.

No, I wasn’t in the camp, no one comes back, I jumped from the train. The black birds told me.

You don’t believe me, you say. Because they make you buy a third class ticket, like to Vienna, half price for children. Umsiedlung, that’s all, to a factory, to make uniforms and gas masks -in a clean train. Just 12 hours, they told us, but we stopped for every troop train. One toilet bucket, a hundred people; first we were civilized, made a partition for the women, from a sheet.

Then we had to empty it, through the window, up high, barbed wire across it. People died, fighting for the piroshky. Two guys and I found a crack, a rotten board. We pried it open, another. Black birds.

We jumped, I don’t know what happened to them I ran until I was hungry. Then I broke into a hut, and a flock of crows flew out, in two or three bunches.

Maybe they got in there in the winter. I couldn’t move, I had a fever. They told me, the birds; they came back.

Or maybe the old man. What old man? A Polak; he works near there. He said trains come, then soon they start up a big engine. No-one comes out. But I think those black birds, the crows, told me.

They could fly in. I walked back, to tell you.

There is no Vienna. You’re crazy, you tell me, Because I listen to birds. It could not be true.

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Arts&Entertainment

BOOKS

slats in a vent in that loft, through which the young Hoffmann would furtively watch other children playing. He would also see Nazi soldiers on patrol in the village.

Writer Nancy Vieira Cuoto notes, “Roald’s poems are always full of surprises, whether he’s describing the natural landscape with a scientist’s precision, or reaching into personal memories of the Holocaust. Even his darkest poems are entertaining; he approaches every subject — history, natural history, personal experience, received mythologies — with the heart of a conversationalist philosopher.”

Another writer, Roger Gilbert, agrees, and praises Hoffmann’s latest work.

“Roald Hoffmann’s new book, “Constants of the Motion,” is a kind of atlas of art, memory, and natural wonder. Beloved places and landscapes that have fed the author’s imagination are evoked with stunning tangibility: southern France, western North Carolina, the California mountains, Japan, each offering its own natural and cultural bounty for poetic harvesting and distillation,” he said. “Another place haunts these poems as well, the Poland where Hoffmann was born and where his family endured the horrors of war and genocide. And the placeless dimension of science, residence of the DNA molecule and quantum physics, also becomes a site of recurrent pilgrimage over the course of the book.”

I t h a c a T i m e s 21

TV

Surviving in the Age of Coronavirus

By Kr i s te n Re id

I

have a confession to make. Despite deadlines coming and going, scores of unread texts suffocating my phone and an overflowing inbox of emails, I keep indulging in a vice I know has more impact than I’d ever admit beyond the confines of my locked Twitter profile.

Reader, there’s no other word for it: I am addicted to “Survivor”.

At least I find solace in knowing I’m not alone. When Netflix added two seasons of “Survivor” to their catalog in early November, it kicked off a massive resurgence in popularity for the 40-seasonstrong reality show. Eleven months into a global pandemic, the escapism inherent in “Survivor” is helping it find a new niche in this post-lockdown, pre-vaccine world.

Twenty years ago, CBS posed a few questions: What would happen if you put 16 strangers on a deserted island and

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made them work together in order to survive? What if they voted each other out, one by one, until only a Sole Survivor remained? With $1 million on the line, castaways turned to ruthless, conniving social strategies in order to ensure they were the last one standing. Audiences were immediately hooked.

In the 20 years and 40 seasons since, “Survivor’s” popularity has varied, sometimes getting lost in the ever-growing market of reality television. Now, however, audiences are flocking to watch “Survivor” through a different lens, one hardened and jaded by the pandemic and social isolation.

Dropped onto a remote island, tribes seem to be foolproof pods. Who can betray the trust central to a happy and healthy pod if there’s literally no one else on an island with you? There’s no need

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for hand sanitizer or social distancing or masks because COVID simply doesn’t exist in the world of “Survivor.” Free from the clutches and constrictions of health and safety regulations, the bare-bones lifestyle of the castaways seems idyllic.

There’s something darkly comforting about “Survivor’s” popularity right now.

2020 has been steeped in so much loneliness and despair that bearing extreme tropical elements and eating nothing but plain white rice and scavenged coconuts for over a month looks like paradise.

We are so mourning the loss of any new experiences and new relationships that the incredibly intense game of “Survivor” seems like a dream getaway from the “Groundhog Day”-esque humdrum of Zoom-based life.

Perhaps the most poignant moments of the season nowadays are the family visit episodes. Typically a reward for the final six or seven, there comes a time when castaways have to compete against each other for the chance to hug a loved one.

Already isolated on the beach for a month, just seeing the faces of their family members sends even the toughest competitors into hysterics. While the winner of the challenge is treated to a day of luxury with their loved ones, the losers are forced to wave from a distance, without even a hug goodbye.

Even before the age of COVID, these episodes were emotional. The castaways are starving, dirty, exhausted — and still trying to prove to the others they’re the strongest one left. But now we know the pain of the losers all too well. For months, we’ve been ordered not to hug or touch anyone we don’t live with. Better yet, stand six feet away from them, too. The isolation is crippling — especially when, like the losing castaways, we see our loved ones at a distance, knowing that coming any closer is prohibited. Watching those emaciated castaways sob, we can’t help but sob too, thinking about all the family we didn’t hug when we could.

Like everything else in the past year, “Survivor” has been impacted by the pandemic. It found a new audience — one that’s stuck at home and ready to binge the 15-hour seasons in just a few sittings.

But despite the exotic escapism central to the show’s popularity, the real world still creeps in. Season 40 began airing in February 2020, the last few weeks of the Before Times. As the weeks went on and we spent more and more time in lockdown, this season of “Survivor” morphed into a symbol of everything we were missing. That COVID-free facade came crashing down in the end, however, as we watched the finale over Zoom, broadcast from inside host-and-overall-dreamboat

FILM

(Non) Ithaca Celebrity Quarantine Film Festival #9: Danny Peary

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MSNBC, B-Movies with Bela Lugosi and Hitchcock

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Danny Peary (Photo: Barbara Lassen)

W

ith the world on lockdown, what are we all watching? I posed that question to film critic Danny Peary. Peary is the author of “Cult Movies 1-3,” “Guide for the Film Fanatic” and “Alternate Oscars.”

Ithaca Times: I remember borrowing “Cult Movies” from the San Jose Public Library in 1984. The “Cult Movies” books and “Guide for the Film Fanatic” definitely sent me on the path that I’m on.

Danny Peary: Well, that’s nice to hear.

It’s nice to be remembered, and I appreciate it, so thank you. San Jose’s a wonderful place.

IT: I miss it. Are there any reviews from the “Cult Movies” series or “Guide for the Film Fanatic” that you’d like to rewrite?

DP: Would I like to rewrite any? No. It’s actually one of the surprising things that I found over the years; when I watch a film that I wrote about years ago, I’ll watch the film and then come up with ideas, and then I’ll read my essays, and they’re almost identical, so… The only things I would change, looking back at my writing, is my book “Alternate Oscars,” where I pick what should have won Best Picture, Actor and Actress for every year. And then I would also include award-worthy people. Over the years I’ve seen movies and say “Oh,

I hope I included this actor or actress as one of the award-worthy people.” And sometimes, I didn’t. So that’s about all I’d change.

IT: “Alternate Oscars” cuts off several years ago. Can you give me a more recent one?

DP: I don’t think about what films would receive my Alternate Oscars. But if it helps, my favorite film of the last few years is “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018).

IT: What are you and your wife watching these days?

DP: We watch MSNBC. If we watch movies, it’s usually between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and what’s different is, because it’s the two of us, I have to take into consideration that I have to program for two. We sort of have to agree on what to watch.

She goes to bed earlier than I do, and the bizarre movies, the crazy movies, I’ll watch late at night. I think over these 11 months, we’ve basically watched a lot of movies that are under 90 minutes, and many B movies that are 60 minutes in length. The B movies were the second movies in the ‘30s and ‘40s, and a lot of them we never heard of.

All of these films blend together, and many of them have Bela Lugosi in them. We watched a lot of Alfred Hitchcock because he’s very easy to watch, even though she says she hasn’t seen some of them. I don’t believe her, but we’ve seen ‘em again, all the [Hitchcock] movies from the ‘30s [and ‘40s]: “Sabotage,” “Secret Agent,” “Saboteur,” “Foreign Correspondent,” “The 39 Steps,” “The Lady Vanishes,” that kind of thing. Even the later ones: “To Catch a Thief,” which I haven’t seen in many years; “North By Northwest,” I realized I hadn’t seen in maybe 10 years.

I’m over 70 now. I don’t remember movies I saw 50 years ago or more. You know, the plots vanish, so I don’t remember who did what, so I catch up with a lot of that. Part of my popularity was that I liked movies of all kinds, and I’m very eclectic with my tastes. I watch movies from every genre, big-budget movies, lowbudget movies, and I’m curious. It’s still always great to discover films you haven’t seen.

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Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Third-party marks are the property of their respective owners. License information available at www.ADT.com or by calling 800.ADT.ASAP. CA ACO7155, 974443, PPO120288; FL EF0001121; LA F1639, F1640, F1643, F1654, F1655; MA 172C; NC Licensed by the Alarm Systems Licensing Board of the State of North Carolina, 7535P2, 7561P2, 7562P10, 7563P7, 7565P1, 7566P9, 7564P4; NY 12000305615; PA 090797 DF-CD-NP-Q121

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I t h a c a T i m e s 23

Sports

Farewell, Joey

ALS Takes One of the Best Ste ve L aw re nc e

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very “girl dad” out there can relate to emotions I experienced when my daughter called me — sounding very stressed — and told me that a guy had come into the dorm in which she was an R.A., pushed his girlfriend around and threatened my daughter when she told him to leave.

I was pissed, getting ready to make the half hour drive, and she called back — sounding much more relaxed — and she actually laughed a little and said, “It’s all good. Joey is here, and it’s taken care of.” I relaxed too. I knew Joey, I knew what “it’s taken care of ” meant, and I knew that if the belligerent student was smart enough to get into college, he would be smart enough to stay away from the dorm going forward. He was.

Joey Jerome was about 50 at that time, he was a cop at TC3, and we had a long and rich history. His brother, Gabe, was my best pal, and I was jealous when he got another little brother in 1960, when we were 4. Gabe, Johnny and Joey went to Dryden High School, and longtime coach

Gary Foote wrote, “I had the pleasure and privilege to have coached Gabe and Joe back in the 1970’s, and they were - pound for pound - two of the toughest guys you would ever meet! I coached them in football and wrestling, and they participated with an intense interest in winning.

Extremely coachable, they competed at a high level and we never had to worry about them giving less than 100 percent.”

Joe graduated in 1978 and would go on to wrestle

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The AARP Automobile Insurance Program from The Hartford is underwritten by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its affiliates, One Hartford Plaza, Hartford, CT 06155. It is underwritten in CA by Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company; in WA, by Hartford Casualty Insurance Company; in MN, by Sentinel Insurance Company; and in MA, MI and PA, by Trumbull Insurance Company. Auto is currently unavailable in Canada and U.S. Territories or possessions. Specific features, credits and discounts may vary and may not be available in all states in accordance with state filings and applicable law. Applicants are individually underwritten and some may not qualify.

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006131

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/February

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Gabe, Joey and John Jerome

at TC3. He worked in various capacities in law enforcement, and as an employee in facilities for some of the toughest and most dangerous incarcerated youth, he found himself in many situations where “talking it out” was not an option. We played softball together, I would see him periodically, and it was not uncommon to see him looking like he had been in a scrap. I’d ask him about it, and he’d shrug and say that it was part of the job. He did, however, clean up nicely, and I was pleased to get an invitation to his wedding in 1986.

Joey and I spent some intense time together in 1998, as he was having a very difficult time dealing with the fact that Gabe had been blinded — and nearly killed — when he was shot in a turkey hunting accident. The brothers had spent thousands of hours hunting and fishing together — they were professional guides in both capacities — and Joe’s empathy for and connection with his brother was so deep that he was having a very rough time coming to terms with Gabe’s new reality. Ultimately, he came to realize that Gabe’s disability would not translate to inability, and the two went on to hunt and fish throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Joe would stay connected to wrestling as a coach, and his son, Anthony, would compete at the Division 1 level at Binghamton University.

Those lessons about perseverance and adjusting to a new normal would serve Joey well in his 5-year battle with ALS. As the disease progressed, Joe said goodbye to various pieces of what made him who

he was. He could no longer drive, he took early retirement, he had increasing difficulty speaking and holding his guns or his fishing rods, and it was very difficult for his friends and loved ones to watch the toughest guy they knew in such a state of decline.

Enter Sandra Jerome, Joey’s wife. I celebrated with them in 1986, and when we all heard her say “For better or for worse, in sickness or in health,” nobody could have guessed how heroically she would step up to manifest that promise. For the first several years after Joe’s diagnosis, Sandra was more like a second set of hands. In the middle stages, she was helping him in more ways, and in the past few months she was getting him in and out of bed, in and out of their car and boat, driving to Florida, holding and aiming his gun and fishing rod, shivering with him in the woods, using a hydraulic lift to get him where he needed to be and giving her all to help him squeeze every drop out this gift we call life.

Last week, on the evening before Joey passed, the new grandparents were together (their daughter, Tania, recently gifted them with little Aiden), with Sandra reading from the book Gabe released in his honor last May. I helped out with that book, so hearing that it helped Joey move along made me cry a little more.

I don’t know if there are deer or fish or turkeys in the Afterlife, but if there are, them sonsabitches had better watch out…

Virtual Music Concerts/Recitals

Symphoria Kids Virtual Concerts: The Science of Sound | 10:30 AM, 2/6 Saturday | Virtual concert, Virtual, Virtual | What do music and science have in common?

EVERYTHING!†† The Symphoria percussion section explores how we perceive sound, and how instruments make sound. | Adults $15, Seniors $10, Kids $0

Stage Virtual Syracuse Stage: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 | All Day 2/4 Thursday | By Anna Deavere Smith. Using more than 300 interviews, Smith creates a mosaic of four dozen characters to ruthlessly probe issues of race and class that set Los Angeles ablaze almost 30 years ago and continue to plague our nation today. Available on demand Feb. 3 - 14. Syracusestage.com

Art “Light, Color, Shadow” | 12:00 PM, 2/4 Thursday | State of the Art Gallery Ithaca, 120 W. State Street, Ithaca | Features seven Ithaca artists from the State of the Art Gallery: Mary Ann Bowman, Stan Bowman, Ed Brothers, Eva Capobianco, Jane Dennis, Patricia Hunsinger, and Connie Zehr. They will show paintings, photographs, mixed media and sculpture.† “Topography of Light,” by Brian Keeler | 11:00 AM, 2/5 Friday | North Star Art Gallery, 743 Snyder Hill Road, Ithaca | Fridays thru Sundays until 2/28/21.

First Saturday - Greater Ithaca Art Trail | 11:00 AM, 2/6 Saturday | Three studios open.† No appointment necessary. Visitors and Artists must wear masks and maintain

social distancing. Map, portfolios, artist websites, and more at ArtTrail. com.

archive shed light on the music and the generation that embraced it. | 72 hour rental available for $12

Letís Draw Together (Virtual Event) | 12:00 PM, 2/9 Tuesday | Tompkins County Public Library, 101 E Green St, Ithaca | Makerspace Librarian Cady will lead the group in fun drawing exercises, games, and activities. Teens and adults at all levels of expertise and ability are welcome. Attendees will need simple art supplies. Patrons can register at†https://www.tcpl.org/ events/lets-draw-together-virtualart-meet-1†to receive updates and the Zoom meeting link.†

Virtual Cinemapolis: Two of Us | All Day 2/5 Friday | Two retired women have been secretly in love for decades. They come and go between their two apartments, enjoying the affection and pleasures of daily life together, until an unforeseen event turns their relationship upside down. | 3 day rental available for $12

Film Cornell (Virtual) Cinema: Chungking Express | All Day 2/5 Friday | Thru 2/18. Tells two stories, both set in contemporary Hong Kong, of young policemen trying to get over bad relationships and having crazy encounters with other women. Subtitled. Cosponsored with the East Asia Program.†cinema.cornell.edu Cornell (Virtual) Cinema: The 21st Annual Animation Show of Shows | All Day 2/5 Friday | Thru 2/18. A curated selection of the “best of the best” animated short films created by students and professionals around the world. Suitable for ages 8+. Subtitled.†cinema. cornell.edu | $10 Virtual Cinemapolis: Leona | All Day 2/5 Friday | A young Jewish woman from Mexico City finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love with a nonJewish man. | 3 day rental available for $12 Virtual Cinemapolis: The Story of Lover’s Rock | All Day 2/5 Friday | Lovers Rock, often dubbed ëromantic reggaeí is a uniquely black British sound that developed in the late 70s and 80s against a backdrop of riots, racial tension and sound systems. Live performance, comedy sketches, dance, interviews and

Noonanís directorial debut; a darkly humorous take on dating dread.† | 3 day rental available for $7

He meets Katya while on the Black Tulip mission dedicated to exhuming the past.† | 3 day rental available for $12

Virtual Cinemapolis: 76 Days | All Day 2/6 Saturday | Ends Feb. 6.

On January 23rd, 2020, China locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to combat the emerging COVID-19 outbreak. Set deep inside the frontlines of the crisis in four hospitals, 76 DAYS tells indelible human stories at the center of this pandemic. | 3 day rental available for $12 Virtual Cinemapolis: Atlantis | All Day 2/6 Saturday | Eastern Ukraine, 2025. A desert unsuitable for human habitation. A Wall is being build-up on the border.

Sergiy, a former soldier, is having trouble adapting to his new reality.

Virtual Cinemapolis: My Little Sister | All Day 2/6 Saturday | Lisa has bid goodbye to her ambitions as a playwright and the Berlin arts scene and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, who runs an international school. When her twin brother falls ill, she returns to Berlin. | 3 day rental available for $12

Books Running Around the Writer’s Block | 6:30 PM, 2/4 Thursday | Experienced writer or novice, we all get stuck at some point. In this workshop, Elisabeth Nonas and participants will explore ways to write even when we’re not inspired.

Register at SpringWrites.org

Kids

Virtual Cinemapolis: Softie | All Day 2/6 Saturday | SOFTIE is the portrait of a committed activist, but itís also about politics, family and what it means to be Kenyan.

Director Sam Soko followed Softie for five years, as Softieís activism tests his marriage and his ability to be present for his kids. | 3 day rental available for $12

Virtual Baby Storytime | 10:30 AM, 2/5 Friday | Caregivers and their babies can join Cassie online anytime for music, rhymes, movement and books.† Check back each Friday for a new addition and watch anytime!†www.tcpl.org/events/ DIY Pet Care for the Family | 7:00 PM, 2/5 Friday | Seneca Falls Library (Virtual Online) , 47 Cayuga Street, Seneca Falls | Join us on the Zoom app to create a heart-healthy treat for your pet and a paw print valentine.† All materials are provided but must be picked up at the Seneca Falls Library.† Fun for the whole family.† Free.† Register by emailing shostersfl@gmail.com.

Virtual Cinemapolis: Some Kind of Heaven | All Day 2/6 Saturday | First-time feature director Lance Oppenheim cracks the manicured facade of The Villages, Americaís largest retirement community ñ a massive, self-contained utopia located in Central Florida. | 3 day rental available for $12 Virtual Cinemapolis: What Happened Was... | All Day 2/6 Saturday | Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Screenwriting Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, WHAT HAPPENED WASÖ is Tom

Teen Card Making | 7:00 PM, 2/9 Tuesday | Seneca Falls Library (Virtual Online), 47 Cayuga Street, Seneca Falls | Teens - Let’s get crafty together!† Make your friends or

loved ones a Valentine card with Miss Suzanne via Zoom.† Materials are provided but must be picked up at the Seneca Falls Library.† Register by emailing smathewson@ senecafallslibrary.org or call (315) 568-8265 x2.† Free.

Notices Virtual ESL Talk Time | 3:45 PM, 2/3 Wednesday | The group is open to English learners hoping to improve their conversation skills.

Visit tcpl.org for the Zoom link.

Live in Ithaca: Welcome Home Wednesdays VIRTUAL | 5:00 PM, 2/3 Wednesday | New residents are encouraged to drop in anytime during the event. Learn about services, programs, and volunteer opportunities in the area. Visit Tompkins Chamber website for more info and Zoom login.

Virtual Homebuyer Class | 6:30 PM, 2/3 Wednesday | Join INHS’s homebuyer class to learn how to become a successful and happy homeowner.†http://www. ithacanhs.org/hbe Senior Troupe of Lifelong | 2:00 PM, 2/4 Thursday | Virtual meeting is open to all ages for fun improv, and to read the stories from our lives that we create during the week before the class meets.To register call Lifelong at 273-1511 or email info@CloseToHomeProductions.com

Giving has a wonderful ROI TOMPKINS FINANCIAL WINS 2O2O

Corporate Philanthropist of the year

Fe br ua ry

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Town & Country

Classifieds In Print

|

On Line |

10 Newspapers

277-7000 Phone: Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm Fax: 277-1012 (24 Hrs Daily)

COMMUNITY Bible Study

Bible teacher iso others in Ithaca interested in studying Bible. Call/text 607.319.3040.

| 59,200 Readers

Internet: www.ithaca.com Mail: Ithaca Times Classified Dept

PO Box 27 Ithaca NY 14850 In Person: Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm

109 North Cayuga Street

400/Employment

100/Automotive

AUTOMOTIVE

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MEDICAID MANAGED CARE LIAISON SUPERVISOR: The William George Agency is a residential treatment center licensed by OCFS which has a 29I medical clinic on our campus. We are looking for a Medicaid Managed Carbe Supervisor to oversee our contracts as well as the billing process with managed care organizations. Candidates should have proficiency in medical billing experience in a medical setting, with exceptional

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tor who has a dual role of performing

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as a training function for system users.

CONNECTIONS is a web-based system which houses child welfare case information. We are looking for a candidate with a Human Services undergraduate degree and both child welfare and computer software skills.

MEDICAL OFFICE ASSISTANT: A Part-Time position, working with adolescents in a residential treatment facility.

Evening (4pm-12:30am) and overnight (12:30am-9:00am) weekend shifts. Supports the daily operations of the medical clinic by assisting residents, documenting and filing pertinent medical information, documenting medical information in the CONNECTIONS medical tab, and assisting the Office Manager in general administrative duties.

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PIANOS

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Custodial Worker I (Substitute) OCM BOCES has the need for a part-time substitute Custodial Worker I, available at multiple locations within Cortland County.

Responsible for routine building cleaning tasks, cleaning ceiling vents, changing lights, washing windows, toilets, fixtures, collecting trash, minor maintenance and repair on equipment, and maintaining inventory of supplies and equipment. Send letter of interest and resume to: OCM BOCES, Personnel Department/ Recruitment Office, PO Box 4754, Syracuse, NY 13221. For more information, visit our website at: www.ocmboces.org EOE

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BackPage

toni@ithactimes.com

277-7000 p h o n e 277-1012 f a x

REAL LIFE

A Vibrant, Active Community Center

CEREMONIES

For Learning, Activities, Social Groups And More! For Adults 50+

For rates and information contact Toni Crouch at

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Steve Lawrence, Celebrant

119 West Court St., Ithaca

THANK YOU!

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ITHACA NEWS

Engaging, Inclusive Officiating...

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who has passed on, and a Forever Gift to loved

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$19.99

Call Larry at 607-277-7000 ext 214

Macintosh Consulting

607-272-0114

Includes oil & filter

Complete Rebuilding Services

Brakes feeling spongy?

www.peacefulspiritacupuncture.com

Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County

607-564-7149

tclifelong.org

(607) 280-4729

Oil Change

Looking to Boost your 2021 Business?

607-273-1511

AAM ALL ABOUT MACS

LOCAL FUNDRAISER

ones and friends.

No Health Insurance? No Problem!

Ithaca Free Clinic (607)330-1254 521 West Seneca Street |www.ithacahealth.org

No job too big or too small

(607) 272-6547

950 Danby Rd, Suite 26 South Hill Business Campus, Ithaca

REDUCE YOUR HEATING BILL A FULL LINE OF VINYL REPLACEMENT WINDOWS. Call for Free Estimate & Professional Installation Custom made & Manufactured by

SOUTH SENECA VINYL Romulus, NY 315-585-6050 or 866-585-6050 www.SouthSenecaWindows.com YOUR CBD STORE The only dedicated retail store for all things CBD 308 E. Seneca Street * Ithaca 845-244-0868

Your Go-To Oil Change Stop Most Trusted Oil Change in Ithaca Oil & Filter Change Everyday low Price includes up to 5 gls conventional oil

Bruces Pit-Stop 334 Elmira Rd. 607-882-6816

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