PDDG calls for discussion of FOIL, process issues
Posted March 6, 2008 Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo has written a letter to the Geneseo Town Planning Board asking that discussion of two requests be put on the agenda for next Monday night’s meeting. The requests concern expediting the release of public documents under FOIL and opening a public comment period on new material submitted by Newman Development [...]

Sparks fly over Gateway planning Posted Feb. 29, 2008 The Geneseo Town Board was the scene of a testy exchange Thursday night over the Gateway District Master Plan when the board was discussing goals for the year. Board member Mike Tenalio announced that Ken Book had agreed to head up a new committee to study economic development in the Gateway, however, Tenalio indicated that [...]

Clarion News Blog has 20,000th visitor! Posted Feb. 21, 2008 The Clarion News Blog reached another milestone some time Monday evening, when it recorded its 20,000th visitor according to Wordpress.com blog statistics. The blog was started in March of last year, when The Lake & Valley Clarion newspaper was discontinued, but was not moved to Wordpress until May. [...]

Lawyer sees shadow, predicts 6 more weeks of FEIS study
Posted Feb. 12, 2008 Ground Hog Day came a little late for the Geneseo Planning Board yesterday, when attorney Joe Picciotti extended his estimate of the time needed to respond to Newman Development’s recent draft FEIS submission to “5 to 6 weeks.” Picciotti had previously told the board it would take “at least a month after submittal.” The draft [...]

PDDG asks for additional public comment period on FEIS  
Posted Feb. 11, 2008 After reviewing a copy of the proposed Final EIS drafted by Newman Development received pursuant to a FOIL request last week, Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) has written to the Town of Geneseo Planning Board requesting that an additional comment period be opened for the public to respond to supplemental material added since the Draft EIS was submitted last fall [...]

Clinton and McCain carry county and state  Posted Feb. 6, 2008  Hillary Clinton and John McCain cruised to easy victories in Livingston County and across New York State in party primaries Tuesday. Clinton beat Barack Obama 62 to 35 per cent in the county, with John Edwards polling 2 per cent. That was better than her statewide margin of 57 to 40 per cent. McCain defeated Mitt Romney in the county by 43 to 32 per cent with Mike Huckabee taking 15 per cent. [...]

Clarion Poll shows tight race in Democratic Primary Posted Feb. 1, 2008 With New York State voters set to go to the polls Tuesday, Hillary Clinton held a slight lead over Barack Obama among Democrats responding to the Clarion News Blog Presidential Poll, 50% to 35%. However the two candidates were tied among all voters, each earning about 23% each. [...]

Planning Board asks for more info on traffic, precedent
Posted on Jan. 25, 2008 After completing its initial review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) submitted by Newman Development Group last July, the Town Planning Board has determined that it is inadequate in a number of important respects and has issued guidelines for Newman to follow in revising and supplementing its DEIS. [...]

A quick note on poll technique Posted on Jan. 18, 2008 I originally posted a link to the Clarion Presidential Poll directly from the home page, but after receiving some comments on the fairness of the poll, I decided to move the link here to a blog page so that people can post public comments. A number of Democrats seemed to think the poll is somehow unfair to their candidates [...]

Dismissal of planning board member creates controversy in Greene County
Posted on Jan. 17, 2008 In a case with great similarity to recent developments in Geneseo, a controversy has erupted in the Town of New Baltimore (Greene County, NY) over the failure of the town board to re-appointed a member of the town planning board who spoke out against a proposed major development.

Planning Board sets Jan. 28 workshop meeting on Lowe’s  Posted on Jan. 15, 2008  The Geneseo Town Planning Board meeting on Monday night included only a brief update of the status of its ongoing review of Newman’s proposed Big Box Lowe’s. It was announced that the Planning Board has provided Newman final instructions on the information needed for the completion of the Environmental Impact Statement.

Planning Board to resume work on EIS Monday Posted on Jan. 11, 2008 After slowing done for the holidays, the Geneseo Planning Board will resume work on the environmental review of the application of Newman Development for the Lowe's PDD Monday night. The board will have a new face, as Lowe's supporter Hank Latorella attends his first official meeting since being appointed to take John Zmich's place at the town's organizational meeting last week. [...]

State says no to closing Rt. 63 bypass Posted on Jan. 9, 2008  The NYS Department of Transportation has issued an executive summary of its study of the Rt. 63 bypass in Geneseo which shows no basis for closing it. The closing was requested by officials at SUNY Geneseo who have been concerned with the safety of pedestrians crossing to and from the South campus. [...]

Zmich replaced by pro-Lowe’s advocate Posted on Jan. 3, 2008  The Geneseo Town Board declined to re-appoint former Planning Board Chairman John Zmich to a new 7-year term at its organizational meeting Thursday afternoon. Instead they followed the recommendation of new Supervisor Will Wadsworth to appoint pro-Lowe’ advocate Hank Latorella. Latorella, a retired SUNY Geneseo biology professor, who lives on Barber Hill Road in the town, [...]

Lowe’s poll reveals polarized community, with some room for compromise 
Posted on Dec. 31, 2007 The Clarion News Blog Online Community Poll on Lowe’s concluded Sunday with a total of 60 participants. An invitation to participate in the poll was sent by e-mail to  over 300 Geneseo residents. The poll was also available online to be taken by regular visitors to the Clarion New Blog. [...]

Kennison proposes $2K raise for new Supe Posted on Dec. 29, 2007 At his final official meeting as Town Supervisor on Thursday, Wes Kennison attempted to deliver a belated Christmas present to incoming Supervisor Will Wadsworth.  Kennison proposed raising the town supervisor’s salary by $2,000. [...]

Year-end Blogosphere Poll on Lowe’s issue Posted on Dec. 25, 2007 As we approach the end of a very contentious year in Geneseo, the Clarion News Blog is sponsoring a Community Poll on the Lowe’s issue. You can take the poll by clicking on the link at the end of this article, but first a few ground rules: [...]

Town of Geneseo accused of spot zoning Posted on Dec. 15, 2007 One of the highlights of Thursday night’s four-hour Geneseo Town Board meeting was a public hearing on the proposed re-zoning of three residential parcels near the top of Morganview Drive owned by Peter Bruckel to allow for professional office use. The proposal which has been wending its way through the town and county planning boards [...]

Geneseo Planning Board creeps forward on FEIS Posted on Dec. 11, 2007 The Geneseo Planning Board spent two and a half hours Monday night trying to find some consensus on what needs to be done to turn the Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by Newman Development into a final one. The board spent most of the time working through a long memo prepared by the town’s consultants. [...]

Bill is back and ready to rumble! Posted on Dec. 7, 2007 For members of our blogosphere who have missed Bill Lofquist’s weekly columns recently, he is back today with a new column. In it, Bill explains that he took a month off after the election to focus on his real job and also because the ball is now in the Planning Board’s court after extensive public comments were filed[...]

Weather K.O.s Planning Board meeting Posted on Dec. 4, 2007  Inclement weather forced the cancellation of Monday’s night’s Geneseo Planning Board meeting. The board will attempt to catch up with work on the Final EIS for the Newman PDD proposal at its regularly scheduled meeting next Monday night.

Geneseo Planning Board schedules workshop Monday Posted on Dec. 1, 2007  The Town of Geneseo Planning Board has scheduled an extra meeting this coming Monday presumably to get to work on the Final Environmental Impact Statement(FEIS) for the Newman Development PDD proposal. This workshop meeting will commence at 6 p.m. at the town offices on Millennium Drive. [...]

Clarion News Blog files FOIL request Posted on Nov. 19, 2007 The Clarion News Blog has filed a request under the NYS Freedom of Information Law with Geneseo Planning Board Chairman Dwight Folts for all correspondence between Newman Development and/or its agents and the Town of Geneseo and/or its agents since the public hearing of Oct. 29. [...]

Planning Board discusses FEIS procedure Posted on Nov. 13, 2007 On Monday night, the Geneseo Town Planning Board discussed how to convert the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Gateway Town Centre submitted by Newman Development and the public comments received both at the Oct. 29 hearing and in written form, into a Final EIS.  [...]

Update: Planning Board to take up DEIS tonight Posted on Nov. 12, 2007 The Town of Geneseo Planning Board will be meeting tonight at 7 pm at the town offices on Millennium Drive to continue work on the Newman PDD application Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Members had a busy weekend reading all the written comments on the Newman DEIS received by last Thursday’s deadline. [...]

Clarion News Blog is hotspot for post-election debate  Posted on Nov. 8, 2007  Two days after the Geneseo Town elections, the Clarion News Blog continues to be the place for online debate and analysis. Yesterday the news blog set an all-time record with over 350 readers. As of Thursday morning 13 comments had been posted about the election [...]

Wadsworth elected supervisor; Dwyer and Hop win Posted on Nov. 7, 2007 Will Wadsworth cruised to victory in the Geneseo supervisor’s race with 35.7 per cent of the vote in a four-way race. Incumbent Wes Kennison came in second with 25.7 per cent on the Conservative and Common Sense lines. Democrat Bob Wilcox finished third with 21. 8 per cent of the vote, with Corrin Strong garnering 16 .8 per cent [...]

Comments on DEIS due by Thursday Posted on Nov. 6, 2007 With all the excitement over the Geneseo Town elections today, those interested in the SEQR review of the Newman PDD application should remember that the deadline for submitting written comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is this Thursday at 4:30 p.m. [...]

Supervisor race profiled in D & C Posted on Nov. 2, 2007 The four-way race for Geneseo town supervisor was the subject of an article by Erica Bryant in today’s issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. [...]

Newman hearing runs 4 1/2 hours Posted on Oct. 30, 2007The crowd of over 200 had dwindled to around 50 by the time the Newman PDD hearing ground to a halt around 10:30 p.m. Monday night at the Geneseo Central School. A majority of speakers spoke against the project raising concerns about traffic and impact on Geneseo’s small-town character. [...]

Planning Board abandons segmented hearing idea Posted on Oct. 29, 2007In a letter to Planning Board members over the weekend, Chairman Dwight Folts has indicated that tonight’s public hearing will not be broken up into five segments as originally suggested. Instead members of the public will be able to address any Newman PDD related topic at any point during the hearing. [...]

Little light shed on public hearing procedure at Town Board meeting Posted on Oct. 26, 2007Last night’s Geneseo Town Board meeting did not shed much light on the procedures to be used at next Monday’s public hearing on the Newman Development PDD application. Supervisor Wes Kennison said that he and Planning Board Chair Dwight Folts are still discussing whether citizens will be allowed 3 or 5 minutes each. [...]

Good turn-out for Town Meeting Posted on Oct. 23, 2007 About 60 local citizens attended the town meeting on the Newman PDD application last night at St. Mary’s Parish Center. Although the crowd was mainly anti-Lowe’s it included a few people who spoke in favor of the project, including Hank Latorella and Bob Ricotta. [...]

Town Meeting is tonight! Posted on Oct. 22, 2007The Town Meeting on the Newman PDD proposal sponsored by Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo will be tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Mary’s Parish Center on North Street. Citizens of all points of view have been invite to participate in large ads that ran in both the Pennysaver and the LC News. [...]

PDDG challenges legality of public hearing Posted on Oct. 17, 2007 Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo’s Bill Lofquist has written to Town Supervisor Wes Kennison and Town Planning Board Chair Dwight Folts, and the board’s respective attorneys, challenging the legality of the public hearing scheduled for October 29 on the Newman PDD application. [...]

PDDG to sponsor ‘Town Meeting’ on PDD Newman Posted on Oct. 12, 2007,  Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) will sponsor a Town Meeting on the Newman PDD application Monday, October 22 at 7 P.M. at St. Mary’s Parish Center on North Street. The meeting, which is exactly one week before the official public hearing on the proposal, will be moderated by Mark Lattime, Rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church [...]

Lowes public hearing set for October 29 Posted on October 9, 2007, A public hearing on the application of Newman Development Group for a Planned Development District (PDD) will be held on Monday October 29 at the Geneseo Central School from 6 to 11 p.m. The hearing will be held jointly by both the Town Planning Board and the Town Board. [...]

New special prosecutor vows to continue Petitiongate investigation Posted on October 3, 2007  Attorney Karl Salzar of Rochester has been appointed as the new Special Prosecutor to look into allegations of illegal conduct in the witnessing of Conservative Party petitions in the Geneseo Town Board race. Salzar replaces attorney Dale Worrall of the Rochester firm of Harris, Beach who had to withdraw because of a conflict of interest. [...]

PDDG invites KGVG to talk it over Posted Sept. 28, 2007  Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) has invited the new pro-Lowes group, Keep Geneseo Vibrant and Growing (KGVG), to talk things over. In a full page Genesee Valley Pennysaver ad to be published this weekend, PDDG welcomes spokesperson Ted Universal to the debate. [...]

Planning board declares DEIS complete Sept. 25, 2007 On a 5-2 vote, the Geneseo Town Planning Board finally approved the DEIS submitted by Newman Development as complete Monday night. This action sets the stage for a public comment period to be followed by a public hearing, although the board did not immediately set a date for the hearing. [...]

Newman offers to supply missing documents Posted Sept. 19, 2007 Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo FOIL Director Bill Lofquist has revealed that Newman Development has offered to supply the missing documents that were the subject of an Article 78 lawsuit against the town earlier this year. The offer is conditioned on the town requesting the developer to release the documents. [...]

Weekend round-up Posted Sept. 16, 2007 With all the excitement at the Geneseo Planning Board this week, a number of other stories slipped under the radar. Monday was also the night of the Geneseo Village Board meeting and here are a few items that came out there: 1. Village passes Master Plan [...]

Correction to a story you probably haven’t read yet Posted Sept. 12, 2007 (By Corrin Strong) The LC News is out today with their report on Monday’s Planning Board meeting by Howard Appell. In it Howard reports that I interrupted a site plan matter to make my protest about FOIL. This makes a good story, one that I’m sure my political opponents will enjoy spreading, it just doesn't happen to be true [...]

Planning board gets two more weeks to decide completeness of DEIS Posted Sept. 11, 2007 The Geneseo Planning Board was unable to come to a decision on whether the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), as supplemented with additional materials submitted last week, was complete at its meeting Monday night. The board split 3-3 with one abstention on two motions first to declare the DEIS incomplete and then a second motion to declare it complete. [...]

Addendum to DEIS not available for public review Posted Sept. 10, 2007  Editorial Comment By Corrin Strong It seems like the whole Town of Geneseo needs a remedial course in the Freedom of Information Law. They just don’t get it! [...]

Special prosecutor appointed in Petitiongate Posted Sept. 5, 2007 Patricia Marks, Supervising Judge for the Criminal Courts in the 7th Judicial District, has appointed attorney Dale Worrall of the Rochester law firm of Harris Beach as Special Prosecutor to look into the allegations surrounding alleged irregularities in the witnessing of Conservative Party nominating petitions in the Town of Geneseo. [...]

Lima Citizens take Republican caucus Posted Sept. 5, 2007 Cathy Gardner and Dan Marcellus of the Lima Citizens for Responsible Development won the nominations for Town Board at the Lima Republican caucus Tuesday night. They defeated incumbent Harold Harris and long-time Republican Committee member Bill Carey. [...]

FOIL request partially granted; Town Planning Board releases Newman’s rebuttal to PDDG memo
Posted Sept. 1, 2007 After initially taking the position that both the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and written comments submitted by Newman Development to the Town Planning Board and town consultants were private communications, the Town Planning Board has apparently reversed course and provided public access to at least some of the documents. [...]

PDDG blasts Newman attorney; demands time on agenda Posted August 30, 2007In a strongly-worded letter to Geneseo Planning Board Chairman Dwight Folts, Corrin Strong and Bill Lofquist of Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo have protested comments made by Newman Development Attorney Tom Greiner at Monday’s Planning Board meeting and questioned the neutrality of Chairman Folts handling of the Lowes PDD application. [...]

Planning Board defers decision on DEIS completeness Posted August 28, 2007 The Geneseo Town Planning Board and Newman Development reached an agreement Monday night to extend the September 3 deadline for the board to decide whether the 900-page Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) submitted by the developer is complete. [...]

Geneseo Planning Board to review Newman DEIS Monday Posted August 25, 2007 The Geneseo Town Planning Board has scheduled a special work meeting for Monday, August 27, at 7 p.m. In anticipation of a big crowd, the meeting has been scheduled for the courtroom of the Geneseo Building, 119 Main St, rather than at the new Town offices on 20A. [...]

Independent petitions filed in town races Posted August 22, 2007 With Tuesday the deadline for filing independent petitions, a flurry of last-minute filings came in this week from five towns. Geneseo led with three independent petitions in the hotly contested races for Supervisor and town board. One petition each were filed for the town races in Lima, Groveland, Leicester and Springwater.  [...]

Town of Geneseo rejects new FOIL request Posted August 16, 2007  The Town of Geneseo has again claimed it can not find records of communications with representatives of Newman Development pertaining to the drafting of the Planned Development District law in 2005 [...]

Planning Board defers action on DEIS Posted August 14, 2007  The Geneseo Town Planning Board took no action on the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) submitted by Newman Development for the Geneseo Town Center project at its meeting Monday night. Instead, the board set an extra meeting on August 27 to take the matter up. [...]

Kennison blames loss on PDDG Posted August 10, 2007  In an article published in this morning’s Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Supervisor Wes Kennison blamed his loss at Wednesday night’s Democratic caucus on the take over of the party by Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo. “”Over the past two years, I’ve had an increasing level of discomfort with the way the PDDG has been gradually taking over the party [...]

Dems dump incumbents Posted August 9, 2007 Incumbent Geneseo Town Supervisor Wes Kennison and Town Board member Hop Manapol were denied renomination at the Democrat caucus Wednesday night. Village Trustee Bob Wilcox defeated Kennison 93-59. Manpol ran third in a three-way contest.
Former Planning Board Chair John Zmich led the town board race with 102 votes. Sally Wood edged out Manapol for the second spot [...]

State Police to investigate Petitiongate Posted August 7, 2007  Livingston County District Attorney Tom Moran has confirmed that the New York State Police will be conducting a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the witnessing of the Conservative Party petitions filed by Geneseo Supervisor Wes Kennison last month. [...]

Wilcox enters Geneseo Supervisor’s race Posted August 6, 2007  In an e-mail sent to three potential Supervisor candidates Sunday, Village Trustee Bob Wilcox announced that his name will be placed in nomination at the Geneseo Democrat Caucus Wednesday. He will apparently be challenging incumbent Wes Kennison for that nomination. In his e-mail sent to Wes, Will Wadsworth and Corrin Strong, Wilcox said that,”[...]

D & C reports from the front of the Big Box War Posted August 5, 2007  Today’s issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle includes a feature story by Erica Bryant on the Big Box War in the greater Rochester area. Substantial coverage is given to both the Lima and Geneseo battles. The story includes quotes on the Geneseo battle from PDDG’s Bill Lofquist and Premium Development’s Dawn Aprile. [...]

Wadsworth captures Republican caucus Posted August 4, 2007 Will Wadsworth was nominated for Geneseo Supervisor in a three-way race at the Republican Caucus Saturday. He received a total of 119 votes out of 260 cast. Corrin Strong trailed by 21 votes with 98, while Patti Lavigne received 43. [...]

PDDG finds DEIS wanting Posted August 3, 2007 Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) has completed its preliminary analysis of the 800+ page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) submitted by Newman Development two weeks ago. In a report (available here as a pdf) sent to the Geneseo Town Planning Board today, PDDG concluded that the DEIS fails to follow the instructions issued by the board [...]

Big problems with Conservative petitions Posted July 30, 2007  Detailed objections filed by attorney Mary Conway Calabrese Monday with the Livingston County Board of Elections allege serious problems with the Conservative Party designating petitions filed by the Geneseo incumbents recently. According to affidavits filed with the objections, some of the signatures were not actually witnessed by Jane Dulmage, even though she signed a sworn statement that she had [...]

A first look at the Newman DEIS Posted July 23, 2007 Newman Development filed its long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Statement late Friday afternoon. The 800-page document, which is in two large binders, is available for inspection at the town offices. A quick look indicates that at least half of the material is not new, but rather copies of previous documents already submitted in the matter. [...]

Geneseo incumbents seek Conservative line Posted July 20, 2007  In a move certain to further roil party lines in Geneseo, incumbent Democrat Supervisor Wes Kennison has joined with incumbent board members Hop Manapol and David Dwyer in filing petitions for a position on the Conservative Party line for this fall’s town elections. Manapol is a Democrat and Dwyer is a Republican. [...]

Lofquist files new FOIL request, to appeal PDDG decision Posted July 17, 2007 Bill Lofquist of Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) has filed an extensive new Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Town of Geneseo. This came as a result of published statements made by Town Attorney Jim Coniglio, in which he acknowledged that Newman had made suggestions for changing the PDD law before it was adopted [...]

Not through my neighborhood! Posted July12, 2007 Wednesday night’s public hearing on the proposed Rt. 20A Corridor Access Management Plan brought out a new variation of the old NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) philosophy: Not Through My Neighborhood!  [...]

A busy summer festival week Posted July 9, 2007 This coming weekend Geneseo will be at its best with the annual Summer Festival kicking off Thursday. Before then, however, there are two important meetings that residents concerned about the future of our town might consider attending. [...]

Lowes getting $3.5 million a year in Empire Zone benefits Posted July 5, 2007 The names of some familiar Big Box retailers have shown up on a list of Empire Zone beneficiaries after a Syracuse newspaper won a Freedom of Information lawsuit against New York State recently. [...]

PDDG may appeal decision in FOIL case, calls on Newman to withdraw PDD application Posted June 26, 2007 Judge Mary Ann Taddeo issued a decision in the Article 78 lawsuit of PDDG vs. Kennison Friday, dismissing the petition and abruptly canceling a court date set for Thursday of this week. [...]

Maine becomes first state to require economic impact studies on all Big Box proposals Posted June 22, 2007 The Maine State Legislature has passed a bill requiring economic impact studies be done on on any Big Box proposal of over 75,000 square feet according to The Hometown Advantage web site. [...]

Lawyers dominate master plan hearing Posted June 20, 2007  What was supposed to be a public hearing on the village's proposed master plan last night turned into an evening of not-so-veiled threats by attorneys representing interests of two large commercial developers. [...]

Public hearing on village master plan Tuesday Posted June 18, 2007  In the wake of the County Planning Board’s failure to reconsider its disapproval of the Village of Geneseo Master Plan last week (See previous post below), the village will hold a public hearing on the plan Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in the Geneseo Building. [...]

County meeting sheds much heat, little light Posted June 15, 2007 The Livingston County Planning Board revisited the issue of the Village of Geneseo’s proposed new Master Plan Thursday night, without shedding much light on their earlier decision to disapprove the plan. [...]

Newman EIS delayed Posted June 11, 2007  In a surprise announcement at the end of Monday evening’s Geneseo Town Planning Board meeting, Chair Dwight Folts stated that Newman Development Group’s long awaited Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has been further delayed. Newman was not able to meet its self-imposed submission deadline of last Friday, [...]

Big Box battle heats up: Lofquist responds to Supervisor’s comments Posted June 11, 2007 Breaking from his regular once-a-week column schedule, Clarion Call columnist Bill Lofquist has written a special column today responding to comments by Geneseo Supervisor Wes Kennison quoted in a Rochester Democrat & Chronicle article published yesterday. [...]

Lima appoints Wal-mart engineer to Planning Board Posted June 10, 2007  Mark Petroski, an engineer with Bergmann Associates, the firm that represented Wal-Mart in its ill-fated proposal to locate in Lima last year, was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Lima Town Board Thursday. The appointment, which was opposed by the Never in Lima citizens group passed 3-2  [...]

Corrin and Bill's excellent adventure Posted June 7, 2007 On Tuesday Corrin Strong and Bill Lofquist took a road trip to the City of Oneida, in Madison County, N.Y. That community was identified as a good test case to be studied for the Newman Development Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), because it is of similar size to Geneseo (about 10,000 pop.) and it has a Super Wal-Mart and a Lowes. [...]

Hot fun in the summertime Posted June 5, 2007 Even without the Newman Development Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)  for the Lowes project, which is expected any day now, the summer meeting schedule is already filling up with important meetings for those who care about the future of Geneseo. [...]

Putting the fun in dysfunctional! Posted May 30, 2007 As the Town of Geneseo prepares to move out of the space it has shared with the Village for over 100 years this weekend, the bickering continues like a scene from the movie “The War of the Roses,” the bitter 1989 dark comedy about divorce. It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad. [...]

And the race is on! Posted May 24, 2007  Clarioncall.com publisher Corrin Strong and Geneseo Town Planning Board member Patti Lavigne have both announced that they will be seeking the Republican nomination for Geneseo Town Supervisor at a caucus to be scheduled this summer. [...]

Village of Geneseo asks county for clarification Posted May 22, 2007 The Village of Geneseo seems perplexed by the recent action of the County Planning Board in disapproving its proposed new Master Plan. At its board meeting Monday night, Mayor Richard Hatheway reported that he had sent a letter to County Planning Director David Woods asking for clarification. In the letter the mayor said he was troubled that, “Informed reports suggest the discussion preceding the vote lacked verifiable and factual content, [...]

Does Underberg & Kessler follow its own advice? Posted May 19, 2007 The key issue in the Article 78 proceed brought by Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) against the Town of Geneseo is the claim of the town’s attorneys at Underberg & Kessler LLC that they can not locate certain correspondence that are referenced in bills they submitted to the town. These communications, mainly between Newman Development and UK Attorney Jim Coniglio, are admitted to be public records that should be subject to disclosure under the New York State Freedom of Information Law, however,[...]

Judge meets with PDDG litigants Posted May 16, 2007- Supreme Court Justice Anne Marie Taddeo met with parties in the Article 78 FOIL lawsuit filed by Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo against Supervisor Wes Kennison and the Town of Geneseo this morning in her chambers in Geneseo. The town was represented by attorney Ron Hull of Underberg and Kessler and PDDG was represented by petitioners Bill Lofquist and Corrin Strong [...]

The Paper War Posted May 14, 2007-With a key conference before Judge Ann Marie Taddeo in PDDG’s Article 78 lawsuit against Supervisor Wes Kennison and the Town of Geneseo set for this Wednesday, the parties have been busy trying to bury each other in a last-minute blizzard of paperwork. On Friday, PDDG litigants Bill Lofquist and Corrin Strong received a package [...]

County Planning Board disses Geneseo Master Plan Posted May 11, 2007-The Livingston County Planning Board voted 14-2 to disapprove the proposed Village of Geneseo Master Plan at its monthly meeting on Thursday, May 10. Opposition to the plan was led by Dennis Witte of Conesus who serves as a member at large, and Livonia representative Don Richards. (See Bill Lofquist’s report on the meeting in this week's column [...]

Lima meeting on Master Plan tonight Posted May 10, 2007 This just in from Cathy Gardner of the Lima Citizens for Responsible Development: Lima’s Town and Village Boards will conduct a joint public hearing regarding Lima’s draft comprehensive plan on Thursday, May 10, at Town Hall at 7 pm. Please attend if at all possible. It is vitally important that our elected representatives see firsthand that [...]

DOT looking at closing Mary Jemison bypass - Posted May 9, 2007 - Those who are concerned about traffic conditions in the Village Geneseo should pay close attention to the fate of a request by SUNY Geneseo to close the Mary Jemison bypass. The road which connects Rt. 63 to Rt. 20A by bisecting the campus is the source of pedestrian safety concerns at the college. College officials requested [...]

Indigestion? - Posted May 3, 2007 - Despite a delightful meal served to combatants at the Peace Banquet Monday night, Supervisor Wes Kennison wasted no time in launching a vitriolic attack on PDDG's Bill Lofquist on Wednesday. (See Bill's column) In the process of responding to Bill's appeal of his latest FOIL request, Supervisor Kennison took the opportunity to charges that Bill's “repetitious [...]

Town ducks new FOIL request - Posted April 19, 2007 - A Freedom of Information Law request filed by Bill Lofquist on March 12, 2007 is now under appeal after the Town of Geneseo failed to provide a number of requested items. In reviewing the town attorneys' billing records, Lofquist found additional items of interest not covered by his previous FOIL requests. The town had 20 days [...]

PDDG case to be heard May 16 - Posted April 11, 2007 - The case of Please Don't Destroy Geneseo vs. Weston Kennison will commence on May 16 before Supreme Court Justice Ann Marie Taddeo. Judge Taddeo, who is from Rochester, was assigned the case after the two Livingston County Court Judges, Dennis Cohen and Robert Wiggins, as expected, declined to take the politically charged case. Judge Taddeo [...]

PDDG sues Kennison over FOILs - Posted April 1, 2007 - Please Don't Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) has filed a Article 78 petition against Geneseo Supervisor Wes Kennison and the Town of Geneseo over the town's alleged failure to comply with the NYS Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) The papers were served on Supervisor Kennison Friday and the case, PDDG vs. Kennison, is expected to be [...]

This is not a newspaper! - Posted March 26, 2007 - Welcome to the all new Clarion Call blog! Are you ready for something completely different? After 18 years, I recently retired as editor and publisher of The Lake & Valley Clarion, a weekly newspaper serving northern Livingston County. Under the non-compete agreement I signed with Johnson Newspaper Corporation, I am not allowed to engage in the [...]