THE FLX TED PODCAST - CHRIS LAJEWSKI, MONTEZUMA AUDUBON CENTER

Bald eagles, photo by Greg Craybas

 

In this episode:

• A recent bald eagle census in the Montezuma wetlands showed one of the highest populations ever, including what appears to be a breeding pair near the Montezuma Audubon Center in Savannah.
• We got some winter bird feeding tips, including a reminder to keep our feeders clean.
• Our species spotlight this month was the American Black Duck. 
• A second Onondaga Lake bald eagle and birding excursion has been set for this Saturday, January 21st.
• Montezuma Audubon Center has been partnering with the NY State Canal Corp. for snowshoeing (or walking if there's not enough snow) excursions along the canal. Sign up right away, because many of the trips have already sold out.

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here.

 

 

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RANDOM THOUGHTS ON SUPER WILD CARD WEEKEND

Photo courtesy of piviso.com

 

I'm glad it was Super Wild Card weekend. If it were ordinary Wild Card weekend, I might not have watched.

There are 11 defensive players. There are a maximum of five eligible receivers. With 2.2 defensive players for every receiver, why is at least one receiver running wide open on every play?

Why is that receiver very often a guy who had 192 catches for 3,000 yards for the year?

Was there a pass play in any of the three games yesterday on which pass interference did not occur, more often than not on the part of both the defender and the receiver?

When you keep nobody in to help the offensive line on a pass play, it only takes one guy to miss his block for the play to blow up. 

If you're a defender looking into the backfield trying to guess where the QB is going to throw the ball, the answer is always "to the guy you just let run 20 yards behind you."

When I was 12 and playing in the backyard and a fast kid beat me for a TD, never once did I say I was expecting safety help over the top.

Also, never once did I hurtle out of bounds at the three, tap the point of the football on the pylon and declare "TOUCHDOWN!" Of course, the pylon was a tree. It might have been dangerous.

Call me crazy, but Cover Zero doesn't sound like a very good way to stop a team from passing. I would cover at least one.

End the "coach running off the field at halftime" interviews forever. "What are you going to tell the team at halftime, coach? "I'm going to tell them I would have been there 30 seconds earlier if I didn't have to stop and talk to you."

"What are you going to do to stop the turnovers, coach?" "Well, because we play 17 games, my $20 million starting QB is hurt. I'm playing my backup and his backup was a FedEx driver last week, so not much."

End the post-game sideline reporter interviews. You've had three hours to come up with a question or two and it's "how does it feel?" or "what does this mean to you guys?" "It feels great and it means we get to play next week."

Coming to NBC Thursday, Chicago Rock, Paper and Scissors.

I'm going to buy a pickup truck. The next time I go to Wegmans to get chips, dip and beer, if the Wegmans is on top of a mountain with unpaved roads covered in two feet of snow, I'll be good to go. I can even pull my house there if I want.

Admit it, you've always wanted to take your hands off the wheel and clap to "We Will Rock You" while your truck is passing another vehicle.

Think we might have seen the last of the "reach out with the ball and try to break the plane" play?

Give Trevor Lawrence some credit. His big playoff debut, he's absolutely sucking, he gets his thumb stepped on, they duct tape it back on and he just keeps on coming back for more. Then he went to Waffle House with his wife after the game. Seriously, he did.

Why all the Kirk Cousins hate? He completed 79% of his passes for two TDs and no turnovers, while a certain local "elite" QB turned it over three times and cost his team 18 points. Also, in the five years they've been in the league together, Cousins has had a better passer rating than Elite Hero three times.

Is anyone actually going on the "Jesus gets us" website?

Do I really need to set up a retirement plan to go kayaking?

Before you criticize your team's play caller, give it a try. The play ends. In 40 seconds, you have to identify down and distance, the other team's personnel, get your personnel into the game, noting anyone who just got banged up and can't go, pick a play and radio it into your QB with 70,000 people screaming. All while covering your mouth in case the other team hired Marlee Matlin as an assistant coach.

Coach Harbaugh, we desperately need to score, time is running out and we have two timeouts left. Shouldn't we take one? Nope, we're good. Oh, the clock stopped. Now we'll take one.

On the other hand, I forget which game it was, but a trailing coach took a timeout while on defense with about 3:30 left in the game. Good clock management.

Don't blame the refs on roughing the QB. They're only calling the rule the way the league tells them to.

Does Fox think its NFL viewers are all 11 years old?

The play clock is running down, can they get the play off? 3,2,1,0, -1, -2, -3. I guess they can.

Don't go for two before the fourth quarter. There's too much football left to be played and those points you don't get can make a big difference at crunch time.

Any player making the first down sign or a "where's the flag" sign should be penalized. However, choreographed TD celebrations are cool.

Is there a correlation between a DB doing the "not in my house" thing and that same DB giving up an 82 yard bomb a few minutes later?

Let the kickoff go into the end zone, get the ball at the 25. Try to run it out of the end zone, get tackled at the 12 and look really stupid. Just saying.

If you weighed 265 pounds and just ran 98 yards, you'd be looking for the oxygen mask, too.

I can't wait for that new movie, the one with the explosions and car crashes. Or maybe that was NCIS: Everywhere.

Is a flag football Pro Bowl dumb? No dumber than the way they've been doing it.

Young Rock?

If this is Super Wild Card Weekend, are we going to have Super Super Bowl Week?

Game on.

 

PLANS FOR AUBURN BUILDING COULD INCLUDE MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Manowar from Facebook

 

Auburn heavy metal band Manowar might not make it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but they could become Hall of Famers nonetheless. 

Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason says plans for the first floor of the former bank building at 120 Genesee St. could include a local music Hall of Fame.

 

The California couple that owns the building is seeking $2 million through the Restore NY program to redevelop the property with a period facade, retail space downstairs and apartments upstairs. The City Council held a public hearing on the grant application at its meeting Thursday.

The city also plans to apply for Restore NY funding for the former Bombardier rail car plant at 151 Orchard St. A French company that also makes rail cars has purchased Bombardier's transportation division. Alsum has not yet said what their plans are for the building.

By the way, if you want to see Manowar, you'll need a plane ticket. The band begins a European tour next week in Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

You can listen to my full Flx Ted Podcast with Chuck Mason below.

THE FLX TED PODCAST - AUBURN CITY CLERK CHUCK MASON

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

In our latest weekly conversation:

• There was a public hearing at this week's City Council meeting on the Restore NY grant application for work at the former bank building at 120 Genesee St. and the former Bombardier rail car plant at 151 Orchard St.
• Mayor Quill issued a Dr. Martin Luther King Day proclamation, calling for a day of service. There will be an MLK church service Sunday at 3PM at the Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, 103 Fitch Ave.
• The council discussed issuing a resolution calling on the state to take action on proposed regulations for the Owasco Lake watershed.
• The new State Senator representing Auburn, Rachel May, will attend next week's council meeting.

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here.

 

 

 

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THE FLX TED PODCAST - RACHEL WILLIAMS, SENECA CO COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

  

In this edition:

• Seneca Co. Cooperative Extension is seeking new office space.
• Volunteers are being sought to lead workshops and to judge annual contests.
• Each month, CCE offers a Give it a Go Thursday workshop. Tonight, it's Alpaca Fiber Art. As of when we recorded, there were still spaces available. Call (315) 539-9251.
• There will be a 4-H Produced in NY State Food Demonstration Contest, in which youth will prepare recipes featuring NY-grown foods.
• February 17-19 is Outdoor Adventure Weekend at Amboy 4-H Education Center in Oswego County.
• The annual day-old pheasant chick program is underway. You can order the chicks, raise them and release them on public land.
• 4-H Shooting Sports training takes place in February in partnership with the Seneca Falls chapter of Ducks Unlimited. We talked about how you can support shooting sports and Ducks Unlimited.
• There is now a NY State E-Spots program.
• NY State virtual Livestock Summits are taking place over the next three months to introduce youth to raising animals for show.
• Next month, there will be a Zoom series called "Zooming into Wildlife" on using trail cameras.

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here. 

 

You can subscribe to my podcasts on Google Podcasts, Anchor and Spotify.

THE FLX TED PODCAST - GENEVA TOWN SUPERVISOR MARK VENUTI

Used under a Creative Commons license

  

In this episode, we discussed:

• The Town Board passing a resolution opposing Seneca Meadows' plan to stay open beyond the 2025 deadline set by the town of Seneca Falls in its Local Law 3.
• The town awarded three contracts for work on its multi-town water project to increase capacity.
• The town has joined the NYClass program, which allows communities to pool their funds to get a higher rate of return.
• There was no comment at a public hearing on the awarding of federal Community Development Block Grants to CCMI and Real Eats.
• The Supervisor explained why it's necessary to pass a tax cap override, even though the town doesn't charge a local tax.
• He attributed the progress the town has made in the past year to a good Town Board and engaged residents.

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here.

 

You can subscribe to my podcasts on Google Podcasts, Anchor and Spotify.

THE FLX TED PODCAST - YATES COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR NONIE FLYNN

Image is in the public domain

 

In our monthly visit, we discussed:

• Her goals between now and May, when she retires.
• The groundbreaking for the next phase of the countywide broadband rollout.
• The over $100,000 the county has saved by installing software that tracks those who aren't collecting and paying the county's four percent occupancy tax.
• The county's Bicentennial celebration in 2023 and plans for kickoff event February 6th.
• Events for veterans this month.
• An upcoming study on the use of state roads by horse-drawn buggies. 

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here.  

 

You can subscribe to my podcasts on Google Podcasts, Anchor and Spotify.

SENECA LAKE PURE WATERS ASSOCIATION PARTNERS ON RUNOFF CONTROL PROGRAMS

The Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association has recently completed a pair of runoff control projects with the Schuyler and Seneca County Soil and Water Conservation Districts. 

Association Director Kaitlin Fello says the Sediment, Nutrient, and Pollution Reduction program (SNPR) was established in 2021 with an eye toward making a noticeable improvement in the water quality of the lake.

Sediment and nutrients in water running into the lake are believed to be one of the causes of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).

Common stormwater management techniques include:

Diversion away from polluted areas with culverts and stabilized ditches, vegetated and dry swales, bioretention and settling ponds, and more.

Erosion control measures include:

Cover crops and crop rotation, conservation tillage, stream bank plantings, vegetated strip plantings, riparian buffers, to name just a few.

Implementing stormwater management practices and sediment and erosion controls allow pollutants to beneficially settle, and soil to stay in place and out of the water that sustains us and our way of living.

You can listen to my full Flx Ted Podcast with Kaitlin Fello below.

BOMBARDIER OWNERS HAVE PLANS FOR FORMER AUBURN RAIL CAR PLANT

Former Bombardier plant from the north, courtesy city of Auburn

An Auburn factory building that hasn't produced anything in over 15 years may get a new life.

The Auburn City Council has scheduled a public hearing for this week's meeting on the city's plans to apply for Restore NY grant funding for two properties.

The first is the former Bombardier rail car plant at 151 Orchard St. The city hopes to get $10 million to renovate the plant. Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason says Alstom, a French rail car maker, has been in contact with city officials about plans for using the building.

 

Alstom acquired the Canadian company's transportation division in 2021.

The city also wants to apply for a two million dollar grant to renovate a former bank building at 120 Genesee St. The California couple that owns the building wants to put retail and/or office space on the ground floor and apartments upstairs. Plans also call for restoring the building's crumbling facade to a period look.

The hearing will be Thursday at 5PM before the regularly scheduled council meeting.

You can listen to my full Flx Ted Podcast with Chuck Mason below.

THE FLX TED PODCAST - UNITED WAY OF SENECA COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RHONDA JASPER

 

In this visit with the Executive Director:

• The Value of the Month for January is respect/equality and social justice.
• United Way has combined its Suicide Prevention, Substance Abuse and Problem Gambling Coalitions into a single Coalition:United group.
• We were introduced to the concept of ALICE, Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. 
• We're into the second year of the "Don't be a 'D' student" campaign. The D's are Drunk, Drugged, Drowsy and Distracted Driving. It's also the second year of the red ribbon campaign in the middle schools to raise substance abuse awareness.
• An update on the annual campaign and how you can give.
• A date and theme for the annual Taste of Spring fundraiser. It will be at Del Lago on May 18th with a "Friends" theme.
  

ALICE by Ted Baker on Scribd

 

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here. 

 

You can subscribe to my podcasts on Google Podcasts, Anchor and Spotify.

AUBURN ISSUES NOTICE TO WATER CUSTOMERS

Photo: Jenny Downing. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

 

The city of Auburn has issued a public notice to its water customers after testing showed the presence of a contaminant at one part per billion more than the allowable level.

Testing at the 33 York St. location last month showed the locational running annual average (LRAA) for total trihalomethanes (TTHM), a group of disinfection byproducts, is calculated to be 81 parts per billion (ppb). This exceeds the standard set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of 80 parts per billion (ppb) for this contaminant. 

Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason says the notice is required by law, that there's no public health emergency, and that water customers don't need to take any action.

 

The city will flush hydrants in the affected area, and expects to get the TTHM level down to an acceptable amount within the next 90 days.

You can listen to my full Flx Ted Podcast with Chuck Mason below.

THE FLX TED PODCAST - AUBURN CITY CLERK CHUCK MASON

Photo: Former Bombardier plant, courtesy City of Auburn

 

In our first weekly visit of the New Year:

• The city has issued a public notice to water users. Testing has detected the presence of a contaminant, total trihalomethanes, a group of disinfection byproducts, at a level of 81 parts per billion, one part per billion more than the allowed level. There is no public health risk, and no action is needed by water users, but the notice is required by federal law.
• The state has notified the city that it will receive $11,049,500 from the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation for a project that will prevent water from the city's storm sewer system from getting into the Owasco River during high rain events. 

• The Council will hold a public hearing at next Thursday's meeting on Restore NY grants. One is for the former bank building at 120 Genesee St. to turn it into a mixed-use retail and residential property. The other is for the former Bombardier plant at 151 Orchard St.

Our theme music is "Sugar Zone" by Silent Partner. You can find their music and other copyright-free music here.

 

You can subscribe to my podcasts on Google Podcasts, Anchor and Spotify.

TOWN OF GENEVA UPDATES ZONING CODE FOR MEDICAL FACILITIES

Creative Commons 3 - CC BY-SA 3.0 Attribution: Alpha Stock Images - http://alphastockimages.com/ Original Author: Nick Youngson, http://www.nyphotographic.com/

At its December meeting, the Geneva Town Board voted to update the town's zoning code to account for the number of new medical facilities that have been built in the past few years. 

Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Venuti says it started when the Finger Lakes Surgery Center came to the town seeking permission to expand its facility on County Road 6. Although the plan was later abandoned, Venuti says the town noticed medical offices weren't directly addressed in the code.

 

In recent years, several medical office buildings have been built or expanded on both sides of Routes 5 & 20, near the intersection with Pre-Emption Road.

You can hear my full Flx Ted Podcast with Mark Venuti below. 

YOU CAN ADD LAKE-FRIENDLY LIVING TO YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

 

As you begin observing your New Year's resolutions, don't forget to add lake-friendly living to your list. 

The Lake Friendly Living Coalition of the Finger Lakes has published a list of monthly things you can do to preserve the health of the Finger Lakes. The resolution for January is to be lake-friendly in your snow and ice removal.

Resolutions by Ted Baker on Scribd

Kaitlin Fello of the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association says the coalition was formed a few years ago by members of several lake associations. 

 

The group now includes members from nine watershed organizations. You can hear my full Flx Ted Podcast with Kaitlin Fello below.

ONONDAGA LAKE CONSERVATION CORPS HOLDING BIRDING EXCURSION

Bald Eagle soaring over Onondaga Lake. Photo: Greg Craybas

SYRACUSE, NY (December 30, 2022) – Join the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps on Saturday, January 21, 2023 from 10 AM – 12 PM for a half-mile excursion along the shore of Onondaga Lake to explore newly restored habitats that attract thousands of waterfowl, dozens of Bald Eagles, and other wildlife during the winter months. Participants will learn from Montezuma Audubon Center and Onondaga Audubon staff and volunteers about birds, wildlife and the importance of wetlands in supporting the Onondaga Lake watershed.

Onondaga Lake is an Audubon Important Bird Area that provides habitat, food and water sources that many bird species depend upon for survival during the cold winter months. Some of the most abundant bird species that rely on Onondaga Lake are the Bald Eagle, Common Merganser, American Black Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Mallard, Redhead, and Ring-necked Duck.

“Onondaga Lake is home to the largest Bald Eagle roost in New York,” said Chris Lajewski, director of the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps and Montezuma Audubon Center. “The resurgence of the Bald Eagle and Onondaga Lake as a community asset is a testament to conservation efforts that have restored habitats for birds, other wildlife and people in Central New York.”

The walk will be along a flat, paved trail that might be snow covered. Binoculars, spotting scopes and field guides will be provided.

The event will begin at the Onondaga Creekwalk trail under Hiawatha Blvd. near Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY. Space is limited and registration is required. Register at https://act.audubon.org/a/onondaga-lake-conservation-corps-bald-eagle-program-january-21-2023. Call 315.365.3588 or email montezuma@audubon.org with questions.

The event fee is $10/person, $30/family.

________________________________________________________

 

The Corps is an expanding organization of community volunteers who are contributing to restoration projects that are creating, improving, and monitoring wildlife habitat in the Onondaga Lake watershed and sustaining its value as an Audubon Important Bird Area.

The Corps was founded in 2012 by Honeywell in partnership with Montezuma Audubon Center and Onondaga Audubon and is now an Audubon New York program. Additional Corps supporters include Parsons, Anchor QEA, RES, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Central New York Community Foundation and Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation.

To learn more about the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps or participate in future activities, please contact montezuma@audubon.org, visit http://ny.audubon.org/OLCC, www.instagram.com/onondagalakecc, www.youtube.com/onondagalakecc, or call 315-365-3588.