November 2004 news
- Renaissance
Square proposals sought -
Elected officials are ready to seek proposals for some design aspects of the
downtown Renaissance Square project. A news conference is scheduled this
morning to announce that proposals will soon be solicited for the project. In
particular, the proposals will seek bids for architectural and engineering
services. (November
1, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Democrat
& Chronicle: Designers sought for Renaissance Square
A national search is on to find experts to design
the largest public project in Monroe County's history. Local officials
announced Monday that they're now seeking five firms to serve as the chief
consultants for the $230 million Renaissance Square downtown project. The
firms would oversee design and architecture, as well as mechanical and
electrical engineering. (November 03, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- DEC
looks to privatize waste-site monitoring - Critics say watchdogs hired by
landfill and incinerator operators would be compromised - ALBANY -- New York
environmental officials are proposing to replace their waste-site monitors
with private-sector workers, despite complaints the switch would compromise
pollution-fighting policies. The state Department of Environmental
Conservation wants to change rules that require agency employees to monitor
certain hazardous waste sites, such as landfills and incinerators. The agency
says allowing a switch to monitors hired by facility operators would save
money and allow them to broaden monitoring statewide. (November 4, 2004)
Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com
- Mendon
panel offers deer solutions -
(November 7, 2004) MENDON After six months of work, a citizens task force
that has been exploring ways of controlling Mendon's deer population is
scheduled to report to the Town Board on Monday night. The task force will
recommend short-, medium- and long-term solutions, said Brian Mulligan, chair
of the nine-member group. (November
07, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Sen.
Clinton asks EPA to expand Diaz probe -
HOLLEY U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton has asked
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to expand its investigation into
lingering contamination left in the village after the closure last year of the
Diaz Chemical Corp. plant on Jackson Street. In a letter sent last month,
Clinton, D-N.Y., lauded the agency for its decision to purchase eight homes
that residents fled following a January 2002 chemical spill. (November 8,
2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Tree-planting
efforts take root - Rochester benefiting from renewed focus on urban
forestry. Once a week, Jim Rhody and a few friends all volunteer
"community foresters" head into the woods at Durand-Eastman Park. They cut
back weeds and otherwise care for the unique trees that range over the park's
1,000 acres. (November 9, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Xerox
posts gains on environment - WEBSTER Copiers, printers and
presses made by Xerox Corp. use half the energy they did a decade ago.
Worldwide, the copier giant uses less water and energy; its copiers give off
less dust and ozone; and its workplace injury rates are down. (November 11,
2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Buffalo
News - Radioactive waste status is made public SPRINGVILLE - Large
quantities of low-level radioactive waste are being shipped out of the West
Valley Demonstration Project site by truck and rail while other highly
radioactive items are being packaged and stored in shielded areas at the
former commercial nuclear fuels reprocessing facility in Ashford. A group of
federal and state agency officials, along with representatives of West Valley
Nuclear Services Co., the contractor working at the facility, presented an
update of site activities and the status of work and discussed a mishap
involving equipment removal during a quarterly report on the project.
(November 14, 2004) The
Buffalo News
- Democrat
& Chronicle: Rising temps a local worry Cornell researcher says global
warming will affect area's crops. (November 15, 2004) To David W.
Wolfe, a crop biologist at Cornell University, global warming is not only very
real, its effects are local. In the Northeast, where he and other scientists
have been studying the likely regional effects of global warming for a decade,
the average annual temperature has already jumped 1.8 degrees in the last
century. (November15, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Kodak
emissions cited in new report - A statewide environmental group issued a
report Thursday claiming Kodak Park violated state guidelines for emissions of
the solvent methylene chloride for 13 years. Citizens Environmental
Coalition, along with the Kandid Coalition, a Rochester group, said
environmental consultant Wilma Subra analyzed Eastman Kodak Co.s
air-monitoring data in Rochester and found it violated guidelines. --
(November 11, 2004) Rochester Business Journal
- Recycling
efforts gaining steam - On national day of celebration, Monroe shows off
sorting center. Monday was America Recycles Day, a national
celebration of curbside blue boxes. Locally, the celebration took a financial
turn. Regulators and lawmakers cut a ribbon at the Monroe County Recycling
Center, where over the last two years a $1.6 million state grant paid to
replace or refurbish aging sorting equipment. -
(November 16, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Energizing
decision: Local residents asked to make electricity choice Its
time to make some choices about the electricity you buy. For NYSEG customers,
who were asked to make the same decisions in 2002, this should be nothing new.
But, then again, apathy reigned two years ago, when NYSEG first rolled out
Voice Your Choice a program that lets consumers both pick their electricity
supplier and their pricing options. Most people 685,000 of NYSEGs 835,000
customers chose by default, by doing nothing.
Finger Lakes Times Geneva, NY
- Won't
sign Great Lakes water deal, Ontario says - The Ontario government
has refused to sign draft agreements that seek to preserve the Great Lakes,
insisting the proposed deals were not strong enough to protect water from
being siphoned out. As Canadian and U.S. negotiators were sitting down in
Chicago yesterday, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay announced that the
province would not sign the current drafts of the Great Lakes Charter Annex
after they met with a cool reception with environmentalists and First Nations
groups during public consultations over the past three months.
globeandmail.com - Canada's best
source for news continuously updated from The Globe and Mail
- Possible
bidders eye Renaissance Sq. plan - Close to 200 people,
representing firms across New York State, descended on downtown Rochester this
morning to learn more about the future of the Renaissance Square project. The
crowd ranged from architects to acoustical experts, all considering whether
they should bid to become part of the team that would design the $230 million
project. (November 18, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
-
35
cats recovering from horrific conditions - Thirty-five cats living
in horrific conditions in a city home have been confiscated by the Humane
Society at Lollypop Farms. Animal cruelty investigators said they found
squalid conditions inside the house and many of the cats near starvation. The
conditions were so bad the home might be demolished. (November 18, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- EPA
helps group tackle environment concerns - Four regional officials
from the Environmental Protection Agency visited Rochester on Wednesday, part
of a study prompted by the area's high pollution levels, industrial density,
poverty rates and lead levels in children's blood. Monroe County pollution
rates in the federal Toxic Release Inventory "are the highest in (EPA) Region
2 with or without (Eastman) Kodak," said EPA spokesman Berry Shore. Region 2
covers New York, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands. (November 18, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- City
to boost awareness of aid for ending lead hazards - Advertising aims to
increase participation in $16M program. The city program, simply called
"Lead," has received $8 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development, and the city has pledged $8.5 million. The goal
is to make a minimum of 600 housing units lead-safe. (November
18, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Cleanup
done in cold drizzle -ore
than 50 people braved a chilly drizzle Saturday to help
spruce up two city parks. Volunteers cut down old trees,
planted new ones, thinned underbrush and cleaned up
garbage at Sebastian Park on Planet Street and Jones
Square Park on Saratoga Street. (November 21, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
-
Flu
Arrives In Monroe County - At least two
confirmed cases of the flu have shown up in Monroe County.
Sources in the local medical community say they received a
letter from the County Health Department today telling
them that the flu is here. (November 23,
2004) WOKR-TV 13
|| ROCHESTER
- Deer
aren't the only ones threatened - The thrill of the
chase can put a strain on out-of-shape hunters' hearts.
With the average age of deer hunters getting higher, and
more people living sedentary lifestyles, the risk of
having a heart attack during an afternoon hunting in the
woods has become a legitimate threat. (November 23,
2004) Messenger Post
Newspapers
- Renaissance
Square funds in flux - Questions abound on federal aid
for $230M multiuse project. Monroe County
officials are basking in the aftermath of last week's
announcement that they could receive the largest infusion
of federal cash ever for the Renaissance Square project.
The $12.1 million for the biggest construction project in
Rochester's history moves Renaissance Square backers
closer to their ultimate goal of securing $230 million in
public and private funds. (November 25, 2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- Holidays
inspire recycling spirit - One million extra tons of
solid waste is generated each week in the United States
between Thanksgiving and New Year's. That includes 38,000
miles of discarded gift ribbon more than enough to tie
around the Earth at the equator. (November 28,
2004)
Democrat and Chronicle
- EPA
Plans To Name Sites For Sludge Dredging -
FORT EDWARD -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
plans to announce next month where up to three processing
plants will be built to handle sludge dredged from the
Hudson River. The dredging is meant to remove PCB's
discharged into the river at Fort Edward and Hudson Falls
by General Electric factories until 1977. (November 29,
2004)
WUHF
- DEC
Calls Hunting Tactic Dangerous - Six hundred
thousand people head to the woods to hunt in New York
State each year. Some don't make it home. Hunting season
just started a week and a half ago and already there have
been three hunting accidents in Western New York. One of
them was fatal. (November 29,
2004)
R News: As It Happens,
Where It Happens
- The
Globe and Mail: Liberals hedging on promise to shut
coal-fired power plants The Ontario government says it
is considering keeping some of its coal-fired generating
plants in reserve and ready to be fired up despite its
pledge to shut them down by the end of 2007.