Informational Meeting for Fire Service Awards Next Week

Bring your questions about the Chaffee Sardinia Fire Service Awards program to an public information meeting on February 5 at 7 p.m. at the Community Center.

The CSFire web site has a link on their site for emailing questions: danny.hein@verizon.net. I'd encourage everyone to email their questions before the informational meeting in the hopes that they will have answers for the community there. I hope to come up with some questions in the next day or two, and I will post them and any answers I receive here. If you have questions and get some answers beforehand, post them in the comments!

A second informational meeting is scheduled for February 7 at 10 a.m., but to my knowledge the insurance representatives will not be there.

The Boston Hotel Devastated by Fire

WKBW and other sources are reporting on the Boston Hotel fire yesterday. Firegeezer (what an odd name for a web site) has the news, too.

It's outside the town of Sardinia, but anyone who drives north on 240 knows where it is. Such a sad and devastating story.

One Month until the Relay for Life Kick Off

In one month, Springville's Relay for Life Committee is planning a Kick Off/Awards Night.

On February 26, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church on Main Street in the 'Ville, the Kick Off will gear volunteers and participants up for the main event, the Relay for Life, to be held June 19-20 at the Springville-Griffith Institute High School.

Join the Relay for Life Facebook Group!

Be there.

Fire Service Award - New Poll

One of the comments suggested a poll about the use of paper ballots vs. voting machines for the referendum on the Sardinia-Chaffee Fire Service Award on February 24. I hadn't heard anything about that, and honestly, if the majority of the Town Board decides that paper ballots are the way to go, there's nothing to be done. Instead, I added a very simple poll that would reflect on the actual vote on February 24: vote yes, vote no, or vote "no, go back to the drawing board and come back to the voters with the least expensive option."

I think you can guess which one I chose, and will choose. I'm astounded that four people who look to be reasonable, thinking human beings (Balus, Uhteg, Phelps and Kenyon) would reject a financial option that is substantially less for this town's taxpayers and put in place one that shows that in Sardinia, fiscal responsibility is less important than political expedience.

Not surprisingly, the Fire Department has a page on their web site devoted to the Fire Service Award. Read it in conjunction with the letter to the Arcade Herald by Mr. Robert Church (who I don't think I've ever met, but maybe he reads this site?), and get out to those informational sessions to see what the facts are on February 5 (7 p.m.) and February 7 (10 a.m.) at the Sardinia Community Center.

Trees and Shrubs, Oh My!

The Erie County Soil and Water Conversation District has its annual tree and shrub seedling program order form available.

Order deciduous and evergreen seedlings, shrubs, transplants and wildlife-attracting seedling packs (at quite reasonable prices).

The ECSWCD web site has descriptions of each tree and shrub along with planting instructions.

Countdown to Pancakes: Two Months!

The Kiwanis / Fire Co. Annual Pancake breakfast with real maple syrup will take place on Sunday, March 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Sardinia Fire Co. Training Hall on West Schutt Road, Sardinia. All proceeds benefit the Chaffee-Sardinia Fire company. 

Would you like to volunteer to help (busing tables etc.)? Contact any Kiwanian or respond through our website - www.cskiwanis.org.

(People who eat their pancakes with Mrs. Butterworth and the like are truly missing out).

A New Poll?

Any suggestions for a new poll (look to the right of this page --> )?

National News about Food Banks

According to CNN, food banks nationally are reporting a 30% increase in demand.

I have the number the food bank coordinator at the Sardinia-Chaffee Baptist Church (I don't know as if she'd want her name and phone number on the Internets), and the Trading Post in Springville can be reached at 592-4455.

Raising Chickens?

Does anyone have recommenndations for good chicken breeds for the Southern Erie County climate? I'm considering getting some from a hatchery to raise for eggs and eventually dinner. No vegetarians in my house.

And for those of you who follow national politics

The CQPolitics web site has a list of cabinet nominees.

Though all the cabinet-level attention has been going towards SecState (Hillary Clinton) and the Treasury (Timothy Geithner), I'll be keeping my eye on what Tom Daschle is able to do as the Health and Human Services Secretary.

Inauguration Day

Regardless of your political affiliation, tomorrow's Inauguration of President Obama is an historic occasion. And if the tv coverage is any indication, this is the most-hyped event in the past few months!

I may be making red white and blue rice krispie treats for the occasion.

Being Green

Does anyone else use reusable shopping bags for groceries and other errands?

I try to, but half the time I forget them in the car.

Kick Off for the Relay for Life in Springville

The Relay for Life Kick Off Event is scheduled for February 26 - that's a Thursday - at the First Methodist Church in the 'Ville. With a birthday party theme, delicious snacks and lively entertainment, it's going to be a great evening!

Want to learn more about the Relay? Visit the Relay site.

Want to start your own team for Relay in June? Sign up!

Are you on Facebook? Join the Relay for Life / Springville Group.

Softball Signups for SYI

The sign-ups for Springville Youth Incorporated Soccer and Baseball also includes Softball.

The dates are as follows:

Saturday, February 7th: 9:00 - 12:00

Wedneday, February 11th: 6:00 - 8:00

Saturday, February 14th: 9:00 - 12:00

Saturday, February 28th: 9:00 - 12:00 (late sign-up date)

Baseball and Soccer Registration for Springville Youth Incorporated

Baseball and soccer registration will be at the Springville Town Hall on the following dates:

Saturday, February 7th - 9:00 - 12:00

Wednesday, February 11th - 6:00 - 8:00

Saturday, February 14th - 9:00 - 12:00

Late Sign - Up Date: Saturday, February 28th - 9:00 - 12:00

Play ball!

Food Bankin' Bins

Two plastic bins will be available before Wednesday's Board Meeting with signs for the Trading Post in Springville and the Chaffee Baptist Church up in Chaffee.

Food items - canned goods, canned or boxed juices, pasta and meals-in-a-box - are needed for the Church's pantry.

Food and children's items, including baby formula - are apprecitaed for the Trading Post.

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Community Service Math

2008's election saw 1400 go to the polls in Sardinia.

The average American watches 4 hours of television per week.

If each Sardinian of voting age volunteered four of those television watching hours to community efforts each month - in a school, with a neighbor in need, at a library, at local food pantries, local non-profits - that would equal 67200 hours in a year (4 hours per month x 12 months x 1400 people).

Say there's about 50 full work-weeks in a calendar year: that's 1344 hours/week, and at 40 hours/week, that would be the equivalent of nearly 34 volunteers working full-time to better the town of Sardinia and the surrounding area.

I don't like math, but I do like those numbers. 

Is anyone else willing to commit to 4 hours/month? I'm sure there are many people in Sardinia who already contribute much more than 4 hours, but some of us need to start slow.

Lead is bad but federal regulations are worse

After February 10, 2009, any consumer item intended for use by children under the age of 12 must be tested for lead. Read the latest news on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) at Google News, or see the CPSIA regulation for yourself.

That sounds like a good thing, until you think of all the items that will be effected.

Handmade toys, clothing and books.

Hand-me-down toys, clothing and books.

Thrift store toys, clothing and books.

Donations to thrift stores and "community closets."

Items sold on Ebay/half.com/Amazon/craigslist.

Items sold at garage sales.

Large manufacturers won't have a problem with this regulation. Economies of scale will allow them to do testing and labelling en masse and they'll just pass the cost on to consumers. Small manufacters and small business will have a problem with this - CPSIA is one more nail in the coffin for entrepreneurs.

Many of the children's clothing pieces that have made their way through my house got minimal use - this regulation means that I'd be violating the law if I buy a hand-knitted sweater on etsy.com, or sold some gently-used books to a consignment shop. My grandma will be breaking the law when she knits caps for newborns in local hospitals, or sews small quilts for use by kids in domestic violence shelters. 

I want to protect kids from the dangerous health effects of lead exposure, but COME ON! The set of never-used onesies that I want to give to the Salvation Army shouldn't make me a criminal. 

I'm steamed. And I plan on regularly breaking this law. I emailed my local Congressional representative to ask what he is doing to protect local businesses and non-profit outreach from this POS regulation. (I didn't phrase it that way, though). Those in Mr. Higgins' district can do the same through his web site.

Update: a Florida newspaper has an early word on clarification of the regulation from the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission),  which sales consignment and thrift stores are not effected.

Thank goodness!

ZBA and Planning Board Openings

Per advertisements in the Springville Pennysaver (among other places?):

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and Planning Board are accepting applications for open positions. Send resumes to the Town Hall, 12320 Savage Road, Sardinia, New York 14134.

Sardinia Event Calendar

I've added a Google Calendar for Town of Sardinia Events and Board Meetings - it's available in the sidebar of this site, and at its own web page.

I'll add any event that's sent to me by email - please include the who, what, where, when, and a little bit of how and why.

Freepeats for Buffalo

I'm subscribed to a few parent-oriented web sites, most of which focus on time- and money-saving tips. One of them clued me in earlier this week to a site called freepeats.org, where you can register to give and receive "baby, kid and maternity stuff." 

A new "chapter" has opened up for Buffalo, and you can join for free until January 15, 2009. If you're a parent or grandparent who has some gently-used kid stuff, coupons or formula samples to unload, or who wants to pick up some extra gear, this is another opportunity.

Freepeats looks like a discussion-board version of other services like freecycle (which is email-based). Once it establishes a larger user base I think it will turn into a very useful site for parents, grandparents and parents-to-be.

Site Stats, December 2008

Just for some general statistics about the use of this site - I use a service called Google Analytics which tells me how many people have visited townofsardinia.blogspot.com and some other basic information about the site's usage. 

The site had:

• 333 visits and 168 unique visitors. Given that Sardinia had about 1500 voters in the 2008 election, if I were to assume that even half of the visitors live in the Town of Sardinia -  I've reached about 5% of the town's resident voters. Sweet.
• The average time a person spent on the site was 4 minutes.
• More than half the site's visitors used Internet Explorer, with the rest split between Firefox and Google Chrome, and a tiny handful of Mac users.
• The site had 821 page views.
• The most popular posts were Next Town Board Meeting, Chaffee-Sardinia Kiwanis Club, and Food at Town Board Meetings.

I wonder what January 2009 will bring!

Welcome to 2009!

I'm interested to hear what Sardinians are looking forward to in 2009, and what they hope to see locally! 

There's a technology/culture site I like to read called boingboing, and it has a list of 2009 predictions on a more global scale that I enjoyed reading through. Is that our future?