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A follow-up on some good deeds

17 Oct

Students from Rochester City School 52 helped Randy Henderson unload books from a 2013 Ford Escape.

A quick follow-up today on a blog I posted a few months ago about a local business’ effort to help city schools.

Throughout the month of August, Henderson Ford held their annual Fill a Ford Book Drive.  New and used books for children ages 6-12 were collected at the dealership and several local businesses.  The Henderson folks report that it was a very successful effort; 1,203 books were collected and donated to students at Rochester City School Number 52, Frank Fowler Dow Elementary School.

The press release did not indicate whether that was enough books to actually fill a Ford.

Henderson Ford President Randy Henderson and Business Development Director Aki Henderson personally delivered the books to School 52 in a 2013 Ford Escape on September 11. The students welcomed them at an assembly where Randy Henderson spoke about the importance of reading.

Randy Henderson talked with students at School 52 about the importance of reading after dropping donated books off at the school.

* * *

I also wanted to recognize State Road School on a terrific accomplishment I heard about yesterday from the school district.

Last week the American Heart Association announced that State Road Elementary School came in first place for Division 2 New York State schools in the annual Jump Rope for Heart/Hoops for Heart event.  State Road students raised more than $10,200 in the event, held last March.

Plank Road South also has something to cheer about — they came in third place, by raising more than $16,400.  Congratulations to the students at both schools for a tremendous accomplishment and dedication to a good cause.

A student at State Road Elementary School jumps for the record in March.


What’s going on behind the library?

16 Oct

A few readers have asked me that question recently, which means that many other people are almost certainly wondering the same.

This graphic accompanied the blog I wrote about the land swap back in March 2011. It shows the plaza and Van Ingen Drive before construction.

The short answer is that the owners of Webster Plaza are creating some new parking behind Savers.  The project involves re-routing Van Ingen Drive — the road which allows Town Hall access from Hard Road — and has required taking down some trees.  The work should be completed by the end of the month. Next year the Town plans to work with the Friends of Webster Trails to create some trails in the remaining parkland.

The project has been in the works for more than a year, when the plaza owners first asked the Town Board to rescind the easement rights the Town had been granted, so that more parking could be put in for the proposed Savers store.

This is where the story gets a little complicated.  The Town proposed a land swap involving property at Yankee Stadium on Boulter Parkway (apparently a new parking lot was needed there as well), the whole thing went up for public comment, and a deal was struck. Supervisor Ron Nesbitt detailed the process for me in a recent email. I’ve posted it on my blog Facebook page.  Click here if you’d like to read that and get the long story.

Bottom line is, a new Van Ingen Drive will be created, which will now be a dedicated Town access road.  Trees are coming down and a parking lot is going up.  The amount of parkland back there is now smaller.  But it’s not the end of the world as we know it.

Frankly, before this project began, I never even realized there was a park back there, despite all the times I have taken that shortcut behind the plaza.  The way I see it, this little park is getting reborn. Once the Friends of Webster Trails get their hands on it and create some new hiking trails, it will finally get the appreciation it deserves.

 

All the most important phone numbers in one place

13 Sep

Do you remember in the movie The Jerk, the scene where Steve Martin jumps around with great excitement, exclaiming, “The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!”  Well, that’s how I feel whenever that little local Webster phone book appears in my mailbox, as it did yesterday.

I just love this little phone book. Not only is it a much easier size to manage, the listings don’t bother including anybody I don’t want to call anyway.  It saves me a lot of time when I want to look up someone or some business here in Webster, without having to sift through  a thousand pages and hundreds of thousands of names.  Cute and to-the-point.

It’s also nice to have a Webster/Penfield pull-out map at my fingertips, and the directories of municipal phone numbers and school information are very convenient.

I mean, let’s face it. Webster is the center of our universe. This is a great publication to use when you need to find you way around. If you didn’t get one, they’re usually available at several local businesses, so keep an eye out for them.

Tuesday in the village: Mobs and memories

11 Sep

R.J. Short did billboard duty, trying to attract cash mobbers.

I had the pleasure of attending two very worthwhile events in the village last night.

The first was the inaugural Webster Cash Mob, an event which was meant to encourage shoppers to descend en masse on one local business during one very short window of time, therein giving that small business owner an economic boost.  The target of this first cash mob was Yesterday’s Muse Bookstore on West Main Street.

Unfortunately, the number of people who actually “descended” on Yesterday’s Muse was far less than a mass. It was more like 15-20. I think the mob organizer, Renee Short, was a little disappointed by the turnout, but undeterred.  She was already planning a second mob for sometime in October.

When that one happens, I challenge this village to overwhelm the place.

My next stop was Veterans Park, where the village held its annual 9/11 memorial ceremony. While this year’s event paled somewhat to last year’s tenth-anniversary observance, it was still moving.

The 30-minute ceremony featured speeches by Mayor Peter Elder, Senator Michael Nozzolio and Assemblyman Mark Johns, and some beautiful music by the Chorus of the Genesee and village piper Jack Jacob Jarosinski.  It concluded with Taps, beautifully performed from the hilltop by a lone bugler.  Always makes me want to cry.

Webster is only one of a handful of Rochester-area towns still commemorating the events of 9/11/01.  I asked Mayor Elder about that, to which he responded, “If we don’t remember the heroes of 9/11, we’ll forget the sacrifices they made. We need to keep those memories alive.”

And how many more years does he expect Webster to continue the tradition?

“As long as we possibly can. It’s very important.”

Click here or on the photo to redirect to a small gallery of photos from the ceremony.

 

Food Truck Rodeo will help Bay View Family YMCA rebuild the climbing tower

8 Sep

Have you heard yet about the Trucks for the Tower Food Truck Rodeo planned for this coming Friday evening? If not, you haven’t been reading my blog lately.  This is an event that is near and dear to my heart, and I’m on the committee that’s pulling it together. So basically, today’s blog is an ad for the rodeo. You can stop reading here and check out all the cute photos of kittens on Facebook, or read on and find out more about this great family event that benefits a great cause — rebuilding the Bay View YMCA climbing wall.

Here’s the background:

On June 24, the day before summer camp began, the 45-foot climbing tower at the Bay View Family YMCA was set on fire by arsonists. The entire tower was destroyed, including much of the climbing equipment and zip line. It was a devastating blow to the YMCA community. (If you’d like more information, check out my previous blog here.)

The YMCA has pledged to replace the tower before summer camp begins next year, which is pretty exciting. But even more exciting is that the new “climbing complex” will include two zip lines (so a parent and child could zip at the same time, for example), a bouldering wall, and I think they mentioned a high-ropes component as well. And even MORE exciting? Everything will be handicap-accessible.

The YMCA has taken a two-pronged approach to raising the $100,000 necessary to fund this ambitious plan. The first is to solicit larger businesses for corporate donations. This has been pretty successful so far; a recent email from Bay View YMCA Executive Director Mike Stevens announced that those efforts have already raised almost $25,000.

But there are a lot of Bay View YMCA friends out there who would like to help out on a smaller scale.  That’s where the Trucks for the Tower Food Truck Rodeo comes in. If you’ve never heard about these things (I hadn’t), a Food Truck Rodeo is when a whole bunch of food trucks descend on one place at one time. It’s kind of like a mini State Fair, with all kinds of great dinner and dessert items at your fingertips.

But we’ll also have live music, kids’ activities (like a bounce house, gaga court, dunk tank and face painting), and lots of raffle prizes (scroll down for photos of a few of them).

These are the trucks who have confirmed their participation so far (more to come):

The Dough Boys * Tuscan Pizza * Frozen Delights * Marty’s Meat * Chowder UP Seafood * Wraps on Wheels * Caspers Street Dogs * Cheesed & Confused * Fett Svin BBQ * Snow Daze

Plus, we’ve got more than 50 raffle prizes donated from about 30 Webster and Greater Rochester merchants, including wine, two Kodak pocket video cameras, a Sabres jersey, a Thirty-one tote bag, and lots and lots of restaurant and retail store gift certificates. (We’re still collecting raffle prizes if your business would like to donate. Email me!)

Here are the details:

Trucks for the Tower Food Truck Rodeo and Family Festival

Friday, September 14, 5-9 pm
Damascus Shrine Center, 979 Bay Road, Webster, NY
Lots of food, desserts and beverages; live music by Webster-based Irish duo Barry’s Crossing; kids’ activities; raffles

Check out the event’s Facebook page for more details and updates as the event approaches.

Bay Bridge is closed — and other news of note

7 Sep

For the third time this summer, half of the Bay Bridge will be closed to traffic this weekend.

Beginning tonight (Friday) at 8 pm, all EASTBOUND lanes over the bridge will be closed, and will not reopen until Sunday around noon.

Detour signs will be posted, directing eastbound traffic south on 590, onto Empire Blvd. to Bay, then north on Bay Rd. back to Rt.104 east.  It will probably be a really good idea to avoid Empire Blvd. entirely this weekend and try to get around via Browncroft/Atlantic  or Blossom Road. Even these routes will probably be busy, so plan ahead.

Going westbound over the bridge won’t be much easier; that will also be reduced to two lanes during the same period.

* * *

As I was driving through the village recently, I noticed with some sadness that Barker’s Dozen Gourmet Dog Treats has closed up its North Avenue shop. The little bakery only opened up a year ago April.  I always thought it was a clever idea and knew a lot of people who were big fans (including 499 of them who “like” the Facebook page).  But perhaps store owner Gabriella Martinez … ummm … bit off more than she could chew when she tried to move her home-based business to a storefront.

On her Facebook page, Gabriella does explain to her fans that, “We are just switching it back to an online storefront so I can focus more of my time on Pup Culture.”  This, apparently, is a digital magazine about dogs, “focused on furthering our human-dog relationship.”  Check out the Pup Culture website here.

* * *

You may have seen a mention in my blog a little while ago that a local “cash mob” was in the works. In a cash mob, a large group of people gather at a local business at a specified time and spend money — generally around $10-$20 —  giving that business an economic jolt. What a great way to support small businesses.

Well, the details have been finalized. The very first Webster cash mob will take this coming Tuesday September 11, from 5-7 pm at Yesterday’s Muse Books on Main Street in the village.  To participate, just show up and buy some books! Afterwards, the mob will be meeting across the street at Hatter’s Pub (another local business worth supporting) for a post-mob celebration.

The Webster Cash Mob folks plan to pick a new local business each month to mob. So this is just the beginning. You can follow the group’s Facebook page to stay updated.

* * *

You might also consider stopping by Veteran’s Park after the mob, where the Village will hold its annual 9/11 Memorial Service, beginning at 7 pm.  The gathering pays tribute to the thousands of fire fighters, policemen, EMT’s, and airline personnel, and private citizens who were killed in the line of duty on that awful day.

Last year’s ceremony was very moving and very meaningful. Definitely worth taking the time to attend.

 

 

Immediate Care not so immediate — but still convenient

3 Sep

Due to an unfortunate meeting between my left foot and my son’s elbow during an impromptu sparring match Saturday evening, I found myself in the (relatively) new Immediate Care office on Ridge Road (across from Target).  I specifically chose that facility because I knew they offered x-rays on site, and I suspected I would need one. Having never been there before, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity give it the once over and “review” it for my blog.

The first thing that struck me when I hobbled in was how much the waiting room looked like the lobby of an upscale hotel. It was very nicely appointed, with at least one large screen TV, even a waterfall.  Plus there was an area set aside for kids, complete with lots of toys and its own television, tuned to Nickelodeon.  This was one of the nicest doctor’s office I’d ever seen, and I’ve been in a lot of doctor’s offices.

Patients are asked to sign in on a touch screen computer when they arrive. It wasn’t much of a problem for me, but I imagine it might be a little more difficult for elderly patients or anyone in significant distress.  It was a short wait before I was called up to one of the two receptionists to do paperwork.  Then I went back to sit down again, for what turned out to be a much longer wait to be treated.

But this was when I discovered the second thing I liked about this place:  free Keurig one-cup-at-a-time fresh coffee and tea.  And French Vanilla creamers. I happily settled in.  It wasn’t until about 45 minutes later that I was called back to the examining rooms.

The actual nursing/clinician area through the doors was almost as nice as the lobby — as lobby-like as a nursing station can be, that is.  It was open and airy, with the examining rooms all right off the main area.  I was shown into a room, the nurse did what nurses do, then left me to wait for the doctor. Fortunately, she also left me a TV remote.  Yup, each examining room has its own TV.  Thing #3 that I really liked about this place.

To make a long story short, it was another 90 minutes before the doctor saw me, I got the x-rays and the official diagnosis, and finally went clumping back to my car, a fashionable new hard-soled sandal on my foot and a CD gallery of x-rays under my arm.

The whole visit took about two and a half hours in all.  You might think that’s excessive. I did, too.  But I rationalize that you take your chances when you visit one of these drop-in clinics with regards to how busy or not busy they are. It just so happened that pretty much all of Webster decided to injure themselves earlier that morning.  If I had arrived an hour earlier or two hours later, my wait might have been much shorter.

So despite how long it took to get treated, my experience at Immediate Care exceeded my expectations.  The office is pleasant, the treatment professionally administered and the people very nice (three separate people knocked on my door to check in during my wait and apologize for the delay. One even brought me more coffee).  And more to the point, they were open on a Sunday (my doctor isn’t), it was right around the corner from my house, and I didn’t have to drive to a hospital.  I will definitely go back again if the need arises.

(Obviously they think it will — they gave me a Loyalty Club card.)

Prime Steakhouse is under new ownership

1 Sep

I picked up another interesting bit of Webster business news in my travels around town yesterday. Prime Steakhouse on East Main Street has been sold.

This may not be news to you, since it actually closed its doors a few weeks ago. But I just found out yesterday, and was a bit surprised by the news. Last I heard from owner Neil Bauman, despite the troubles his other properties were  having with receiverships and such, The Prime was on solid ground.

Perhaps the economy finally did it in. Or perhaps it was the $28 steaks. Or maybe both.

In any case, I had the good luck to chat for a few minutes with the new chef, who told me the new owner hopes to open for business soon, maybe even as early as next week.  Various sources have informed me they’ll be keeping the name the same, but lowering the prices.

Stay tuned.

 

Checking in with some awesome local businesses

31 Aug

I spent much of the day yesterday traveling around town lining up raffle prizes for the Trucks for the Tower Food Rodeo benefit in which I’m involved. And with every stop, I was reminded how generous and community-minded our local businesspeople are.

Almost without fail, every time I walked into a business, I walked out with a prize in hand, or promise of one to come.  Many of the business owners had heard about the event which sparked this benefit — the arson fire which destroyed the Bay View YMCA climbing tower earlier this summer — and more than pleased to do something to help the cause. But even if they hadn’t heard about it, they were still willing to help out.

I just love this town.

As an added benefit to my tours around town, I’ve reconnected with many business owners I haven’t seen in a long time. And in a few cases, I found out about some exciting changes in their businesses.

Take BayTowne Liquor, for example, in BayTowne Plaza. When I walked into their shop yesterday, I was taken aback at how airy and wide open things looked, much less crowded than I remembered from earlier visits.  It turns out that BayTowne has recently undergone a major renovation.

I spoke with Erin Pries, VP of Marketing, who told me that plans for the renovations have been in the works since the store changed ownership two years ago. When the time was right, those plans were put in motion and the place was “remodeled top to bottom,” including new flooring, walls and brickwork.  Plus, they expanded into the adjacent vitamin store, giving them more space to add products, and introduce special events like their Friday and Saturday afternoon wine tastings.

BayTowne Liquor had their official grand opening in March, but the place still looks brand spanking new. Check it out for yourself.  You’ll find them in BayTowne Plaza between Premier Fitness and WalMart.

Local business helps city school

31 Aug

I love helping to promote events where local people are going out of their way to help others.  This item fits the bill perfectly.

The folks at Henderson Ford in Webster are sponsoring a book drive to benefit City of Rochester School #52. People are encouraged to donate new or gently used books, for children ages 6-12 (grades 1-6). The books can be dropped off through September 1 in one of four boxes located around the Henderson Ford dealership, 810 Ridge Road in Webster, or at one of these other locations throughout the Rochester area:

Edge Advertising Group, 6 N. Main Street, Fairport
Dixon Schwabl, 1595 Moseley Road, Victor
A Different Point of View, 2920 Monroe Avenue, Rochester
Omero’s Clothes, 274 Silver Fox Circle, Rochester

You’ll often hear about book drives throughout the school year, but I love the timing of this one because it lands just before the school year begins. I can just imagine how excited the kids are when they get to choose a brand new book just as school starts.

According to Megan, my contact at Henderson Ford, this is the second year the dealership has sponsored the book drive. But “we’ve upped the ante this year,” she reported. Last year they collected almost 1,000 books, almost enough to fill new Ford Escape. This year they’re aiming to fill a new Ford Focus.

Wow. A car filled with books. What a great goal.  Please help them reach it.

 

 

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