batavia

Last week, we asked readers to consider what one project Batavia should pursue if the funding were in the bag, no strings attached. Batavia's City Council President Charlie Mallow called for the resurrection of the city's old plans for reconstruction of the Masse-Harvester industrial complex downtown. We were curious to hear more of these plans, so we sought further information. Here's what we've found out so far.

Let's start with the graphic, shall we...

This swank boulevard would be the view from the ground in the midst of the "Industrial Powerhouse Square," otherwise known as the "Swan Masse Village" in Batavia's Central Corridor between Harvester and Swann streets downtown.

From the original project proposal:

Overall, the goal in this project area was to rejuvenate the Swan Masse Village, as it once was a renowned downtown industrial hub and “business incubator.” The plan introduces separate structures of mixed-use light industrial, commercial and housing with an urban appeal and vibrancy that consists of lighting, pavement enhancements, pedestrian pathways, open space and streetscape amenities. Central to the development was keeping the powerhouse intact for two important reasons: 1) to keep costs down by retaining the boiler system for the nearby structures that rely upon it, and 2) to strengthen the image as an industrial center as well as maintain the historical integrity and sense of place.

This "downtown hub" of mixed-use structures, tree-lined avenues and "streetscape amenities" would rise from the ashes—or in this case the demolished rubble—of some 40 acres of vacant land and crumbling infrastructure. It would look something like this:

We've been informed that the Genesee County Economic Development Corp. is looking into potential state grants totalling some $2.7 million that would be used for the city's Central Corridor. Other grant opportunities are being researched by the city, as well. Whether or not anything like this plan for the Swan Masse Village would be part of those plans remains to be seen.

What do you think? Would this be a wise way to remake the city's Central Corridor? Would it provide the spark to send Batavia into its renaissance? Do we need more? Less?

Click here to download the plans.

Last month, the state Department of Transportation came to the Batavia City Council with a proposal to transform Oak Street from four lanes to three and use the center lane for turns only, according to the Daily News. At least one Oak Street resident, Carol Grasso, plans to oppose that proposal because it would mean that vehicles would no longer be able to park on the street. (Parking is currently allowed, save between the hours of 7:00 to 9:00am and 4:00 to 6:00pm.) Grasso will voice her disapproval of the project at this evening's Council meeting.

In other news, this year's Toys for Tots campaign has kicked off for the season. Wal-Mart in Batavia will host a collection this Saturday and Sunday. Other barrels will be out for collection at the Genesee County Career Center, the Batavia City Fire Department, HSBC Bank and Hospital Heart Rehab Center. Call Ed Weiss at (585) 343-8279 if you would like to donate or to find out how your business can host a collection barrel.

Crossroads House will remain closed temporarily for construction and to allow the home to potentially locate a new full-time director and better organize its internal management. Crossroads, a "comfort home for the terminally ill," is funded almost exclusively by public donations. The group hopes to be back open soon.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

No cause has yet been determined in the fire that tore through several barns at My T Acres on Lewiston Road in Batavia last week. Tim Yaeger, Genesee County Emergency Management coordinator, told us that he was still working to determine what led to the blaze, along with members of the fire department and several provate investigators.

"We haven't yet ruled anything out," said Yaeger. "It doesn't look suspicious. It was an accidental fire. But we don't have anything yet. We continue to work at it."

The following photos were submitted by Molly Riner, a member of the family that co-owns the farm. The first shows the view inside the main barn shortly after the fire broke out. Below that is the interior of the "gym" that sustained some damage in the blaze. Lastly, we see the main barn after it had become completely engulfed.

Most viewed posts for November:

• State says: Pontillo's Pizza in Batavia owes more than $112k in back taxes, by Philip Anselmo

• Democrats take control in Albany, by Philip Anselmo

• Genesee County Sheriff to Hunters: Be wary of straying on Indian land, by Philip Anselmo

• Pontillo's brothers may head to court, by Philip Anselmo

• A sad loss for the Section 5 football family, by Brian Hillabush

• The Little Mall of Horrors, by Daniel Jones

• Something huge on Main Street, by Philip Anselmo

• Batavia Daily News for Friday: Sam Pontillo tells his side, by Brian Hillabush

• Graham Corp. stocks take a hit, by Philip Anselmo

• Still no answers from Victorian Manor..., by Philip Anselmo

If you have a "favorite" post that maybe wasn't one of our most viewed for October, please add it in the comments section. This is a great way for folks to go back and check out what they may have missed. I was particularly proud of our coverage of Election Day.

 When Michelle Jordan found the ball in her hands in overtime at the Elba Tournament at Genesee Community College, instinct had to take over.

Had the junior forward thought about the importance of the shot she was about to take who knows what could have happened.

Instead, she let her natural basketball ability take over and banked it into the hoop, giving Batavia a 41-40 advantage with four seconds left to go in the extra session. The Blue Devils held on to the lead and won a fourth consecutive game, claiming the championship in front of an enthusiastic crowd at GCC.

The basket, which is captured on video below, was a once in a lifetime bounce and opportunity that Jordan capitalized on.

It was a back and forth battle through regulation that saw both teams use strong pressure defense to try and take control of the contest.

The Blue Devils had a 6-4 lead after one period of defensive play.

The Lancers got four points from Katie Newton in the second quarter and led 17-13 at the half.

The lead kept changing hands in the second half with Elba taking a two point lead on a Rachael Cook basket midway through the fourth quarter.

Batavia and Elba kept trading leads when the Lancers took a two point lead with just after a minute left on a Newton foul shot.

Brittany Mazurkiewicz tied the game at 33 with a pair of free throws with 18 seconds remaining.

Jaycee Shirk blocked a shot at the other end, Batavia turned the ball over, Elba missed a jumper and the Blue Devils missed a half court heave at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.

Cassie Engle gave the Lancers a lead with a bucket early in overtime and Shirk gave Batavia a one point lead with a basket and foul shot a little over a minute late.

Kristen Klein - who had another big game with eight points - made it a three point contest with a basket with 1:42 left in overtime.

Missy Call hit a free throw and Engle tied things up with a basket, with just under a minute left.

Mazurkiewicz hit one of two free throws before the Lancers took the lead back on a pair of Newton free throws. There was 18 seconds left in overtime at that point.

Mazurkiewicz missed a shot, that was tipped towards out of bounds on a rebound attempt by Elba's Sarah Schwartzmeyer. But Schwartzmeyer saved it before going out of bounds and tossed it back into the middle of the paint, where she hoped either Julie Marshall or Cook would grab it.

The pass went right into the hands of Jordan, just a few feet from the basket, and she put it right in to give Batavia a 41-40 lead with under five seconds left. The Lancers missed a shot at the buzzer, giving the Blue Devils their second straight tournament title early on in the season.

Chelsie Pangrazio (12 points) and Newton (8) joined Albion's Page Golden and Batavia's Shirk (9 points, 3 blocks) and Jordan (6 points) on the all-tournament team.

Mazurkiewicz scored 10 points and handed out five assists to earn her second straight tournament MVP award.

Elba is 1-1 and will host Kendall on Wednesday. Batavia is now 4-0 and will host Monroe County League powerhouse Pittsford Mendon on Tuesday.

With the holiday fast approaching, I have found myself a total stranger in a new city.

I had the opportunity to attend Christmas in the City Friday night. The sidewalks were filled with shoppers, carolers and lots and lots of teens running around having a grand time. I was busy with Care-A-Van Ministries handing out delicioius brownies and hot chocolate. It was a fun filled evening.

I must say it was not easy finding the public restrooms in the mall among the crowd. Thank goodness for good ole reliable JC Penneys! I came home exhausted and chilled from standing on the streets.

This morning I got up and got ready to go to another event in the city. It was the Christmas gathering of the local  Aglow Women's chapter.

What is Aglow you ask?

The biggest question mark for the Batavia basketball team coming into the season was basically who would take care of the scoring duties that were held by Bryan Anderson and Mike Hoy last season.

Those questions were answered this weekend as the Blue Devils captured the title at the Olean Tournament, defeating two defending state champions in the process.

 Andrew Hoy scored 21 points in Saturday's 68-42 over defending Class B champion Olean, giving him 41 in the tournament. He was named the tourney MVP for his efforts.

"He needed to fill that role and he got off to a nice start this weekend," coach Buddy Brasky said. "He shot the ball well and I'm very pleased with that."

It was a solid defensive effort by Batavia as they held Olean's offense in check and led to points for the Blue Devil offense.

"We didn't play real well yesterday," Brasky said. "We watched film this morning and I showed them the film this morning and their mistakes. Our defense really sparked our offense today, that's what I'm most pleased about."

Point guard Marcus Hoy led the defensive effort and Brasky believes he could have been the MVP as easily as Andrew. Marcus had 10 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in the game, making the all-tournament team.

 Dakota Irvin had a huge opening tournament for Batavia and proved to be another scoring option and made the all-tournament team. He hit three 3-pointers in the first game to score nine points, then followed it up with three more trifectas and 11 points with five rebounds.

"He's important to us," Brasky said. "He gives us some length in there. He has long arms and is 6-foot-2ish. He gives us another scoring option."

Joe Schlossel had eight points with Robert Hoy and Josh Budlong pitching in seven apiece.

Batavia (2-0) will be at Mendon on Wednesday and will host Victor.

For more photos from Christmas in the city, look here.

This dog was spotted at Christmas in the City. Does anybody know who he belongs to?

There has been several reports of a lost dog recently, but this one doesn't match the description. 

From the Batavia Police Department:

The Batavia Police Department is informing citizens that the phone numbers listed in the ‘The Talking Phone Book’, 2009-2010 for the Batavia Police Department are not accurate.

The proper numbers are as follows:

Emergencies: 911
Dispatch: 345-6350
Police Personnel: 345-6444
Confidential Tip Line: 345-6370

The Police Department suggests you clip this article from the newspaper or write the proper numbers down and  attach them to your copy of ‘The Talking Phone Book’ 2009-2010. Also refrigerator magnets are available at the Police Department 10 W. Main St. Batavia NY.

As one legend has it, Satan, the Lord of Darkness, had somehow escaped from the underworld and was wreaking havoc upon the earth, surely committing dastardly acts of temptation and damnation and otherwise maligning the terrestrial souls of the time. Fortunately for us, "a patrol of angels nabbed him" and chained him to a massive rock a mile or two outside Batavia on what is now Route 5. Not to be done in, the Devil ran in circles around the rock, using the friction of the chain to break his bonds, which he did. For proof, one need only look at the rock which is worn down around its middle where the chain is supposed to have dug through the mineral. Once free of his bonds, the Devil escaped and, to our knowledge, has not been seen in these parts since.

Genesee County Historian Sue Conklin compiled information on this legend and others about the since-dubbed, Devil's Rock, from a pair of Daily News articles dating back to 1919 and 1950. This mysterious rock can still be seen, along with its mythic chain, about a hundred feet from the department of transportation site in Stafford. Both articles are in her book Supernatural Genesee, which can be purchased at the Holland Land Office Museum.

More scientific and less credulous minds explain the rock's shape as resulting from geological causes. A fascinating letter to the editor of the Daily News from 1919—included in Conklin's book—does just that. Its author, John Gillard, tells us that we need to "go back hundreds of thousands of years ago, to the Tertiary Era." Gillard then explains the rock as the result of glacial shifts at that time.

Yet another theory attributes the rock's origins to a fallen meteor.

What have you heard? Where do you think it came from?

The high school basketball season really gets into swing this weekend as area teams are playing in tournaments and against non-league opponents.

The biggest event of all is taking place all the way in Olean at the Olean Tip-off Tournament.

The Batavia boys will be taking on defending New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C champion Maple Grove in the opening round tonight. The Red Dragons beat Mechanicville 71-46 in the state finals last year and ended up with a 25-2 final record in winning the title.

Maple Grove is led by junior guard Chris Secky, who has already scored over 1,000 points in his varsity career.

If Batavia can get past Maple Grove, they will get the winner of the Olean/Hornell game in the finals tomorrow.

Hornell went 17-5 last season and lost to Freddie Thomas in the Section 5 Class BB semifinals last year. The Red Raiders are led by Kyle Murphy and Joe Mauro, who return after being reserves last season. All five starters from a year ago graduated.

Olean is the defending Class B state champion.

The Huskies beat Malverne 63-53 in those finals and return just one starter,  point guard Joe Palumbo. Olean finished 25-3 last season.

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There is also a nice set of non-league contests to be played Friday night as Holley hosts Greece Odyssey, Albion is at Elba and Le Roy is at York.

The Olean finals aren't the only big ones this weekend. 

Oakfield-Alabama will be playing Barker in the championship game at the Barker Tournament. The Hornets kicked off their season with a 60-51 win over Holland last night.

Lyndonville, which lost to Barker in the opening round, will be playing Barker in the consolation game.

The other game Saturday is Genesee Valley at Alexander as the Trojans look to get win No. 1 on the season.

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The Oakfield-Alabama girls will be playing in the Geneseo Tournament this weekend, with a game against the host squad tonight. 

Pembroke will be playing in the Alden Tournament this weekend.

The finals for both of those games will be Saturday night.

Le Roy will be hosting York, Holley is at Medina, Byron-Bergen is at Churchville-Chili and Warsaw is at Wheatland-Chili tonight in non-league games Friday night.

The big game of the weekend will take place Saturday night at Genesee Community College as Elba and Batavia will play in the finals of the Elba/GCC Tournament. Batavia beat Albion 39-29 and Elba downed Attica 56-23 in opening round games last night.

We received a press release this morning from the town of Batavia Fire Department with further details on yesterday's massive barn fire at My T Acres on Lewiston Road in Batavia. The Batavia crew reports that the fire, which started in the main barn of a three-barn complex, completely destroyed "the main barn and numerous pieces of farm equipment," which were stored inside. Both of the additional attached barns "received substantial heat, smoke and water damage."

We reported yesterday that only one firefighter sustained a minor injury, but he did not seek medical assistance. No livestock or other animals were housed in the farm complex. No one else was injured as a result of the fire.

Investigators are already on scene today looking to establish a cause and origin of the fire. No estimated dollar value of loss has yet been determined. The Batavian left a message this morning with the property owner, Nate Call, who was on scene with the insurance representative.

Mutual-aid fire departments were requested from the City of Batavia, Alexander, Elba, LeRoy, Oakfield and East Pembroke Fire Departments. Additional Fire units from Stafford, Albion, Attica, Indian Falls, Alabama, Barre and Corfu fire departments provided stand-by assistance.

The Town of Batavia Fire Department was also assisted at the scene by the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management, New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Genesee County Health Department, Genesee County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police and the Wyoming County Correctional Facility.

The following photographs of the wreckage were submitted by Steve Ognibene.

OH HOLY NIGHT

Oh holy night, the bus lights are brightly shining…

Yes it truly was a holy night on the Care-A-Van Ministry bus this evening.

A chilly night but such a holy blessed night was enjoyed by all. We were very blessed by the Cooperative Extension office this evening. Mary Jo brought a crock pot of homemade chicken soup which warmed many souls tonight.

The bus was truly glimmering all decked out in its holiday trim. The gang had gotten together last week-end to decorate the bus. We were at one of the local apartment complexes. As the bus filled up, not a seat could be found.

As I stepped out into the windy chilly night, I observed two young boys looking through all the treasures on the tables. They were having a great time. Someone had donated a box of toys. I watched as they gleefully dug through the box. Shawn, one of our volunteers had picked up a stuffed Bob the Builder doll. He pushed the button and put it up to his ear to here what Bob had to say. I snuck over and enjoyed listening. We put it back in the box. Bob was not happy! He wanted a new home. I am happy to report that Bob did find a new home tonight. After I helped one of the women to her apartment with her groceries, I climbed back onto the bus. Guess who was sitting on one of the seats? Yep, you got it, Bob the Builder! His head was peeking out of bag that sat next to one of the young boys. I chatted with the young fellow. He told me that he was taking Bob home for his brother. How sweet is that!

Isn’t it amazing what joy can be brought to a young ones’ heart? During this holiday season many young children are busy filling out their Christmas wish lists. Some of them include the famous Wi’s, X box, stereo systems, the newest cell phone and the list goes on and on. But Christmas came early for these two young boys. You would have thought someone gave them a million dollars when they found Bob and the plastic soldier men.

Why is it that the world has become so commercialized and the true meaning of Christmas gets lost?

The entertainment tonight was the video of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I had never seen it. At the end, this young runaway girl ends up going home on Christmas. As she enters the door, her father is standing at the tree and her mom is there too. She runs into her father’s arms. He hugs and hugs her.

Christmas day is only 21 days away. It is a special day where we celebrate our Lord’s birth. May we all remember the true reason for the season. Just as the runaway went back home and ran into her father’s arms, we too on this Christmas day can come back home.

Our Jesus is there waiting for us with his arms wide open. Now if that is not the perfect Christmas gift, I don’t know what is. Praises to our Lord for the gift of his son!

May you all have a blessed joyous Christmas  

God Bless  Robin 

Thomas Wommack submitted this photo. He said he shot the scene Galloway Road.

Our previous posts:

• Video: My T Acres barn fire (Details)
• Batavia: My T Acres barns engulfed in flames

We continue to welcome reader pictures of this fire (or anything interesting you've photographed).  The best way to submit photos is to create a new blog post and upload your photos. Here's a tutorial to help.

UPDATE: Here's a satallite photo via Google Maps of the farm.  The barn that was destroyed is the large one to the right of the photo. The gymnasium forms the lower part of the T, pointing toward Lewiston Road.

The fire has also become a topic of discussion in the Ag-Talk Forum.

Deputy Chief Paul Barrett, of the town of Batavia Fire Department, gives us a summation of the days events following the barn fire earlier today at My T Acres on Lewiston Road in Batavia. Please note: we spoke with Barrett shortly after 1:30pm, three hours after the fire broke out. At that time, they expected to be on scene extinguishing a handful of smaller fires for another few hours.