Pub full of new Webster friends help the Barrys celebrate

22 May

Hubby and and I had a terrific time Sunday afternoon at a surprise baby shower for Jessica Barry of Barry’s Old School Irish at Webster’s four corners. She and her husband Danny are expecting their first child in July, so naturally, friends and family had to throw her a shower.

Jessica was taken completely by surprise, which made the event a whole lot more fun. She thought she was going out to dinner at Sticky Lips with Danny and some other family members. But first, they stopped by the pub. It’s normally closed at that time of day, so she was a bit confused by the balloons and patio table decorations. She caught on pretty fast, though, when they pulled up in front and she saw family and friends spilling out the door to greet her.

Jessica and Danny Barry with a few of their gifts.

Baby showers are always fun affairs, but this one was particularly neat for one main reason: It was less than a year ago that Danny and Jessica Barry came to town to open up their new business.  Nobody knew who they were, just a couple of kids trying to start up another bar. One with a bakery attached, no less. (Go figure.)

Now, a mere nine months later, their little place was overflowing with Webster people who have come to know and love them.

Just a small sampling of the Barrys’ new friends who came out to celebrate.

The Wednesday afternoon gang was there, the Friday night regulars, and the Saturday night crowd. Debbie and Pat Bush from Webster Hots brought a whole tray of Jessica’s favorite chocolate chip brownies, and Mike Broikou from the Goodie Shop brought one of his incredible five-layer ice cream cakes.

It’s not often you see this kind of affection shown to pub owners by their patrons and fellow business owners. But that’s the kind of place Barry’s is, and that’s the kind of people the Barrys are. These kids aren’t just pub owners — they’re family.

P.S.  It seems like ages ago, but do you remember how ugly and embarrassing that southwest village corner was for years? Then Barry’s Old School Irish moved in and immediately improved it with a nice iron fence and patio seating. This summer Danny and Jessica have added some very nice gardens. Now it’s a corner Webster can be proud of.

Before. Ugly.

And now. Beautiful.

Village of Webster works to reclaim Main Street cemetery

22 May

A nice article in the Democrat and Chronicle a few days ago shed some light on a little-known piece of Webster history:  hidden along a busy stretch of East Main Street lies a pioneer cemetery.

You can see the parking lot the neighboring homeowners installed over the cemetery in this image from Google Maps.

It’s known as the Robb Cemetery, and the article does a good job of tracing its history, which stretches back as far as the early 1800s.  It’s even possible, the article says, that there are people buried there who fought in the Revolutionary War.

But what the article doesn’t tell us is exactly where the cemetery is.  That would be between 242 and 256 East Main Street, spitting distance from the gas station on the corner of Phillips Road.  And while it does mention that the property is abandoned — meaning no one has title to it — the neighboring homeowners decided a while ago to simply lay claim to it and pave it over for a parking lot.

I am very pleased to see the village taking steps to reclaim the land, remove the parking lot, and give those buried there the respect they deserve.

Read the D&C article about the Robb Cemetery here.

 

They’re baaaack!

21 May

Some of the almost 30 flyers we found littering the neighborhood last time this company came through.

Apparently the littering run one local driveway sealer company made through our neighborhood last month wasn’t profitable enough.

The same company which littered our neighborhood with almost 30 marketing flyers in early April was back at it again this week. When my husband and I took our 1-1/2 mile walk Friday night after dinner, I counted seven flyers in yards and drainage ditches, which had escaped the confines of the newspaper boxes where they were stuffed.

The same company. The same litter.  You have to wonder, if they’re so sloppy about distributing their flyers, what does that say about the quality of their work?

*Update*

Funny thing about the two flyers we received in our newspaper box. The one we got a month ago quoted a price of $65. The one we got two days ago quoted $119. Did my driveway double in length in that time? Did they lowball us last time or are they trying to gouge us this time?

Webster odds ‘n’ ends

21 May

Every once in a while, several little blog ideas pile up, none of which seems appropriate for a whole posting unto itself. And so you have this edition of Odds ‘n’ Ends:

A Channel 8 cameraman catches the action as Webster Thomas counselor Sue Stacy chats with a student.

Congratulations to Webster Thomas School High School counselor Susan Stacy, who was awarded the Golden Apple Award last week from WROC Channel 8. The station presents the award about once a week to recognize the positive things teachers (and in this case, counselors) do for students. Mrs. Stacy was nominated by 2010 graduate Antonio Garzone, who credits Mrs. Stacy’s guidance and encouragement with making it possible for him to go to college.

Channel 8 sent a reporter and cameraman to film the award presentation. The piece will air tomorrow, May 22 at 5:30 pm on Channel 8 and at 10 pm on Fox.

* * *

I had the real pleasure of meeting Pat and Debbie Bush a few weeks ago, the new owners of Webster Hots on East Main Street. I’d heard that the restaurant had changed ownership in January, but never followed up on the news, so I took the opportunity to pump Pat and Debbie for information, and invite them to email me anything else they wanted to let people know.

What I got from Debbie does a nice job of summing up the new and old, so allow me to quote from the email:

We have made a few changes to the place, things like changing the staff, cleaning things up and really focusing on customer service. The menu has stayed, for the most part, the same other than a few things. We are now serving a Guinness Beer Battered Fish Fry on Fridays. I started it last week and the customer have all said that it is fantastic.

Some other things that we have that is not the “norm” would be the Zinnger Plate, mmmmm…it is soooo good (the former owner came up with it). It is phili steak, chicken fingers, peppers, onions and Mozzs cheese all slathered in buffalo wing sauce and placed on two sides (usually mac and home fries) We also do a battered deep fried hot dog that many customers have become addicted to. For those with a sweet tooth we have deep fried apple pies, brownies and fresh baked cookies. The hot sauce and mac salad are homemade. With the nice weather people have been taking advantage of the outside deck to eat.

I am having fun and have really enjoyed getting to know the village and our customers.

* * *

Back in February I wrote that the Maplewood Nursing Home’s website was up for an award from the Rochester Business Journal. Well, turns out they didn’t get that award. But the folks there recently informed me that their website designers DID just win a different award – or to be more accurate, two awards.

The occasion was the 2012 Summit Creative Award® competition, and Maplewood’s website designers Bob Wright Creative were recognized with a Gold Award in the Consumer Service Website category, and a Silver Award in the Health/Medicine Website category.

All entries were judged in 23 major categories, in which judges look for innovative and creative concepts, strong executions and the ability to communicate and persuade.

Check out The Maplewood’s award-winning website for yourself by clicking on the picture above.

Webster Cadettes earn silver

21 May

Congratulations to these young ladies from Webster Cadette Troop 60434, who received their prestigious Girl Scout Silver Award on Friday, May 4th.  They’re all sixth graders at Spry Middle School.  (Thanks to Deb Hill for passing along the news!)

(L-R) Hannah Ippolito, Ryan Morency, Rachel Hill, Annika Schouten, Kaylee Gibb, Meaghan Gartland, and Alyssa Zaft

Follow updates on Bay Bridge closures through Twitter

18 May

This note came across my email box yesterday, courtesy Webster Chamber of Commerce president Barry Howard:

Many of you may have heard already, or you will be reading about it soon, that a major NYS Department of Transportation project to replace the expansion joints on the Bay Bridge will be taking place over the next few months.

This project will require significant lane reductions and that the bridge be closed periodically, sometimes overnight during the week and at least 4 times this summer for a whole weekend (9:00PM on a Friday until 9:00PM on a Sunday). When the bridge is closed it will be in one direction or the other; either westbound (Webster to Irondequoit) will be closed OR eastbound (Irondequoit to Webster) will be closed. Provisions are being made for emergencies and for some critical emergency traffic.

This project does not allow for a fixed timeline so it is NOT POSSIBLE to tell you what the entire schedule will look like for the next few months – we do not know exactly which days lanes will be closed and /or which nights or weekends the bridge will be closed. The schedule will be driven by work completion and the DOT will provide as much notice as possible for lane reductions and closures.

Because we don’t have a fixed schedule, the Webster Chamber has started a Twitter account for you to follow what is happening on the bridge. The Twitter account is @104Bridge and you can sign up for a twitter account that will notify you via email or text message by going to http://www.twitter.com.

The Chamber will tweet information provided to us from NYS DOT and we will re-tweet on each of the days with affected lane reductions or closures to remind you and keep you informed of bridge plans.

The detour for times when the bridge is closed will be Bay Road and Empire Blvd – to be used during closures in either direction. Westbound traffic will exit at Bay Road and travel south on Bay Road and then west on Empire Blvd to the 590 on ramps. It is already clear that putting that much traffic onto those roads in even smaller peak travel times will result in huge delays and gridlock. It is suggested you avoid the whole area if possible by going further south to roads such as Route 286 or Route 441 before heading westbound.

I will also try to re-tweet announcements when I notice them. But to follow the Bay Bridge update Twitter feed directly, click here.

New Ridge Road shop not for everyone

17 May

Last week a friend of mine fed me some local news.  She told me it looked like another business was moving into the old Play it Again Sports storefront in that little strip plaza across from Towne Center (the Target plaza). She had looked in the window and saw what appeared to be some very fancy lamps. Perhaps it was a lamp store? So I stopped by there yesterday and checked it out for myself.

Those weren’t lamps. They were hookahs.

For those of you unfamiliar with the word (like I was):

 hook·ah/ˈho͝okə/   Noun: An oriental tobacco pipe with a long, flexible tube that draws the smoke through water contained in a bowl. 

The new store is called “Look Ah Hookah Smoke Shop.”  The signs in the window advertise cigars, water pipes and pipes.  They exhort patrons to “Honk if you hookah.” Their tag line is “We’ll smoke you up.”

Not a place I’ll be visiting very often, that’s for sure.

Webster’s on a wild goose chase

15 May

Baby geese are cute and fuzzy, but eventually grow into messy, aggressive adult geese.

A few days ago, as I was driving along Empire Blvd. near Abbott’s, I almost rear-ended a car which had come to a dead stop in front of me. After letting loose a few … um, highly complimentary … adjectives to describe said driver, I looked more closely and saw why he had stopped.

Two adult Canada geese and half a dozen fuzzy goslings were slowly waddling their way across the busy road.

My near-accident was a perfect illustration of the big problem Webster is having right now with geese. A recent survey of the local geese population counted about 200 resident geese in the area – those are the ones which nest locally and don’t migrate very far. Plus, this spring you can add about 50 new goslings to that number as well.

So basically we now have about 250 geese making their way around town, befouling walkways and ponds with their droppings, damaging lawns, spreading disease, and causing automobile accidents.

The survey identified several areas where the problem is particularly bothersome:

* North Ponds Park
* R.L. Thomas High School
* Willink Middle School
* Calvary Automation (Publisher’s Parkway)
* Mirrorshow Management (corner of Hard Rd. and Publisher’s Parkway)
* Webster Parks and Recreation building
* Empire Park
* Webster Park
* Webster Golf Course
* Webster Schroeder High School

North Ponds Park has a large number of resident geese.

All sorts of eradication strategies have been tried already, with limited success. The Rec Center installed decoy coyotes on their property last August, which scared the geese for a while – and some residents, for that matter. But eventually the geese caught on. More recently, the Mirrorshow Management folks strung fishing wire and tinfoil around their ponds. That worked for about two weeks. So far, nothing seems to be working for very long.

Last week, representatives from the Parks and Recreation Department brought the issue to the Town Board to see what could be done. Several possible solutions were presented, including hiring a border collie to scare away the geese (Brighton has had some success with this), putting stones around ponds (geese like a grassy habitat) and addling the eggs (spraying them with corn oil so they never hatch).

All of these plans would cost the town a lot of money. One idea, however, received a lot of support from the board members: a capture and euthanize program. With the help of strategically placed snow fencing, human sheep dogs herd geese into holding pens from which they’re collected, shipped out of town and euthanized. And the best part? Federal grant money will pay for it.

So right now, that’s the plan. Sometime in the next few months the town will conduct a catch and euthanize program at North Ponds Park. Then, once the local geese population is at a manageable level, the Rec Department will use its bag of tricks — and maybe some budget money from the town — to keep it there.

TWO markets to market in Webster this summer

14 May

You may remember a blog I posted last week about how this summer’s village farm market will be located on Main Street instead of the parking lot behind the fire hall. When I wrote that blog, I assumed that the Joe Obbie Farm Market which we have enjoyed for years was simply moving its location, perhaps to get better exposure. I have since found out that I was only half right.

The Joe Obbie Farm Market is indeed moving this year, but it’s going outside the village, to Webster Towne Plaza on Holt Road (the Target plaza). The new location will offer a lot more space and better parking. It will open for business on Saturday June 9 and run from 9 am to 12:30 pm every Saturday.

The village has answered that move by establishing a second, totally separate, farm market, which will set up on Main Street from 8 am to 12:30 pm every Saturday, also beginning June 9.

So now Webster has two farm markets. It will be interesting to see if there’s enough business – and vendors — to support both markets. I like the idea of having a market right on Main Street, which will draw more people into the village, but I wonder what the parking will be like, given that the vendors will be setting up in the parking spaces.

Stay tuned.

Annual school budget vote is Tuesday

13 May

I’d be willing to bet that’s not news to you. It seems you can’t turn around lately without seeing a sign advertising the school budget vote. You’ve seen it in school newsletters, in the local papers, and every Webster School District household received a slick brochure in the mail.

But just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, here’s what you’ve missed:

The annual school budget vote and Board of Education election will be held on Tuesday, May 15. Polls will be open between 6 am and 9 pm in the Webster Schroeder High School gymnasium, 875 Ridge Road.

The 2012-13 budget proposal of $143,574,945 reflects a 2.13% increase over the current spending plan and continues to fund a comprehensive academic program for WCSD’s nearly 9,000 K-12 students.

Tax rates are estimated to increase by approximately 1.92%. For a Webster home that is assessed at $150,000 and has the Basic STAR exemption, property taxes would increase by $54 a year, or $4.50 a month. This increase is based on estimated assessed values and 2011-12 equalization rates. Final tax rates will be set in August and are subject to change pending final assessments and 2012-13 equalization rates. WCSD’s tax levy increase of 2.67% is below the 2.76% allowable tax levy limit. Property tax limits are based on a state approved 8-step formula with results that vary from district to district.

In addition to the budget, a school bus proposition of $1,220,000 will go before voters to purchase ten 65-passenger buses and three 29-passenger buses.

Voters will also see two candidates for two board of education seats on the ballot: Frederick “Fritz” Killian and Suzanne Casey. Killian was appointed to the board in February to replace Chris Inzinga, who resigned suddenly. Casey’s been a board member for 15 years.

You’ll find a lot more detail about the budget and the school board candidates on the Webster School District website. Or you can go straight to a .pdf of the slick brochure by clicking here.

 

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