Morning on Main Street Meetings

If you picked up a copy of our "Communications Pathways" sheet then you know about the proposed "Morning on Main Street" meetings.

The MSP is happy to announce our first "Morning on Main Street" meeting scheduled for Tuesday August 8th at 8am on the Village Office porch. These meeting will continue throughout the month of August, every Tuesday at the same time and place. If there is public interest then the MSP will continue these meeting for the duration of the project, but in the meantime make sure to mark your calendar for August 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th.

These short (30 minutes to an hour) meetings will let members of the Trumansburg community and commuters along 96 North the chance to stop by and chat with members of the MSP, Village, and Economy Paving. There will, hopefully, be complimentary coffee and doughnuts at the meeting to energize folks! Hope to see you there!

Heat Wave and Consturction

Due to the expected extreme heat throughout this week, Economy Paving crews will begin to work at 6:00am and end work at 2:30pm on Tuesday August 1st and Wednesday August 2nd. This is opposed to their standard work schedule of 7:00am to 4:30pm. The MSP and Economy Pacing apologize for any incovenience this might cause but reminds everyone that this is for the safety of work crews and only a temporary change based on the weather. Until then hope to, actually, not see you on Main Street as you should be somewhere nice and cool!

Water Loss Report

As many residents, business owner, and visitors/patrons must have noticed, many parts of the Village lost water service yesterday (Thursday July 27th) from about 10am to 2pm.

At 10am Economy Paving crews planned to hook up the new water main to the existing old water main at the Main Street/Union Street intersection. Water was to be shut off at this location only and the only businesses expected to lose water service were the Napa Auto Parts store and the offices of the Trumansburg Telephone Company. However, due to faulty cut-off switches, water could not just be shut off at these locations. Both Economy Paving and Village DPW crews went to the next subsequent cut off to find that it too was not operating properly! The only way to connect the old and new mains required using a cut off valve that would shut down water from farther away from that intersection. While this shut off water to the location it also shut off water to most of the streets behind Old Main Street and most of the Main Street business.

The MSP and Economy Paving apologize for this delay and any inconvenience generated by it. There are no more expected water losses in the upcoming future. Any questions/comments should be brought to the MSP at 607-387-4471 or tburgmainst@fltg.net.

Construction Update Meeting #2 Synopsis

Yesterday (Thursday August 27th 2006) members of the MSP, Village, C & S Engineers, and representatives from some of Economy Paving's subcontractors meet in the Village meeting hall to discuss the progress of construction along Main St. A reporter from the Trumansburg Free Press was also there to chronicle the meeting.

Water Works

• The large digger you see at the Union St./Main St. intersection is part of the water main work along west Main Street. The digger allows the crews to quickly reach the water main after completing the open cuts along that edge of the road. The open cuts have saved the project lots of time because excavation has discovered several pieces of construction material/detritus that were not in the plans. Crews discovered a 30 foot concrete slab that would have stopped any boring device.
• The MSP and Village still await to hear back from the NY State DOT about using the open-cut technique at the Washington St./Main St. intersection.
  
• Even with the delays brought on by the rain, Grassroots, and DOT decision, the water main refurbishing along Main St is complete except for the wet tap connections at Union St. and Washington St. Water main crews will now begin to work on the storm water sewers.

Sidewalks

• Sidewalk crews plan to begin work on the sidewalks by the Village Fairgrounds on Monday. They will dig up the sod and grass along the side of the road and then backfill the cuts with some loose gravel that then acts as the base for the cement/brick sidewalks.
• If you are a property owner along the south side of Main Street (the side with the Ulysses Philomathic Library, the Trumansburg Central School, and Falls Tavern) and want to know/be reminded of how your property will be impacted then please contact the project ASAP!
  

Streetlights

• The streetlight/electrical subcontractor, Advanced High Voltage Electric, has begun to install the streetlight footers in downtown Trumansburg. So far, 9 out of 42 footers are in the ground and more will come once curbing work by Geneva Curbing is done.

Pleas remember to contact the MSP with any questions/comments you have about construction and the project!

Even more bricks

As previously mentioned on our blog, website, and in yesterday's (08/26/06) Trumansburg FRee Press, the payment for the commemorative bricks went out on July 18th. Brick Markers USA, our engraving company, received the payment and has begun to engrave the 702 bricks we ordered.

The MSP is aware that some folks are still interested in bricks, but could not turn in the order forms on time. If you are still interested in getting an engraved brick on Main St (and do not mind waiting a bit for the second wave of construction) then please contact the MSP Office (607-387-4471 or tburgmainst@fltg.net) to have a volunteer get your information for our brick wait list. You can also contact us with any questions you have about this or anything Main Street related.

Opportunities to Volunteer

The MSP has always been lucky to benefit from the copious amounts of community and civic support from the Village of Trumansburg. Volunteers make up the entire advisory committee and volunteers also run the events that the aforementioned committee plans. With only a handful of paid staff, the MSP always needs volunteer time to keep on with its mission to improve Main Street. While the MSP welcomes any interested individuals and will find tasks tailored to each individual's interests and skills, we can suggest one way to volunteer.

Village resident Bill Kappel is interested in preserving the bricks underneath the pavement on Main St. Currently he leads a small intiative to recover and refurbish these bricks so they can go back onto Main St. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty then he could use some help in recovering bricks from the dump site next to the Village Fairgrounds. If you rather do some indoor work with bricks then you could help us find more volunteers or contact local businesses to donate brick cleaning supplies. If you have any leftover/extra/un-used eye goggles, wire brushes, chisels, hammers, and/or workbenches that you wouldn't mind donating then the project can use them in the brick refurbishing. You can contact Bill directly at wkappel@usgs.gov
If you lack e-mail access then you can contact the MSP at 607-387-4471 and ask to have your interest/questions relayed to Bill Kappel.

This is just one of the ways to get involved and the upcoming Main Street Project Advisory Committee (scheduled for some time in early August) will have the final word on some additional ways to volunteer. Hope to hear from you soon!

Fuel Pocket Information and Grassroots Update

Two updates for this post...

• While the grand majority of Economy Paving crews have left due to the expected increased traffic brought by the Grassroots festival, some electrical crews still remain. This activity will focus on east Main Street. The MSP aplogizes for the lateness of this addendum to the previous update on Grassroots' impact on construction.
  

• On Wednesday July 19th, the water main crews of Economy Paving hit a pocket of a fuel-water mixture on west Main Street close to Word of Mouth catering. Crews were unaware of the pocket which appeared to be left over from when a gas station used to reside on Main Street. This discovery accounted for the strong smell of gasoline that lingered above the area on the morning of July 19th. Crews immediately stopped digging and pumped out about 3 gallons of the fuel-water mixture into temporary storage barrels. The MSP Field Representative, Ward Hungerford, contacted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) about an hour after the spill was discovered. With DEC guidance crews properly stored and isolated the mixture. The barrels currently sit on the Village DPW lot and await the arrival of a DEC represetative to advise the project as to how to properly dispose of them. The DEC representative is expected to arrive sometime early next week. Look to our website next week to see a full report on this matter. The MSP apologizes for the negative impact that the gasoline odors had on any residents, commuters, and business owners.
  

Temporary Construction Hiatus

In light of the upcoming Grassroots festival, Economy Paving decided to temporarily halt construction along Main Street for the duration of the festival. Economy Paving crews originally planned to work unhindered throughout the festival, but changed their minds after hearing just how many people come up to Trumansburg for the festival. Expecting long delays because of the increased foot and vehicle traffic, Economy Paving crews will begin to pull out on Thursday July 20th and will return on Monday July 24th.

Please note that this is not a permanent stop in construction and that Economy will return in full force come Monday July 24th. "No Parking" signs will go up along Main St. on the evening of Sunday July 23rd in preparation for the crew's work on Monday. Please be on the look out for these signs.

Brick Order In

This post brings both good and bad news.

The Good News
After nearly 4 years of waiting the engraved brick have been ordered and the check is in the mail! Together, supporters of the MSP wanting a permanent mark on Main Stret bought 702 bricks and helped fundraise over $24,000 for the MSP. Thanks to everyone that bought a brick whether it was four years ago or just last week!

The Bad News
If you wanted to get a brick for this order and for installation on Main Street this summer then you missed the deadline. However, the MSP still has a lot of Main Street to rejuvenate and there are already conversations about how to include future bricks along Main Street. So keep your eyes on this blog and the rest of the MSP communication pathways to see how you can catch the second wave of bricks.

Construction Update Coming

Tomorrow (July 13th), C&S Engineers and Economy Paving will hold a construction update meeting for MSP committee members and certain village employees. At the meeting, members from the contractor and engineering firm will inform the MSP/Village personnel about what is happening in construction. Any information coming out from this meeting will then be featured through all the MSP communications "pathways." Expect a construction update as soon as Friday morning on our website and you can always call the office (387-4471) if you want to hear it yourself.

Groundbreaking Ceremony Success!

The July 8th groundbreaking ceremony was a great success! We had 22 participants for the Sketch Crawl and that means 22 images of Main St before construction. MSP volunteers displayed the sketches along the wall of the Tompkins Trust Company bank during the event and will scan them so that the images can be used for future displays. All sketches will be returned to their respective artists.

The groundbreaking itself attracted about 30-40 people and fetured Greg Fehrman, Rose Hilbert, Marty Luster, Barbara Lifton, Tracy Vanderzee, and Paula Horrigan as speakers. Scott Sears acted as the event emcee. There was free ice cream from Cayuga Creamery, bottled water from Kinney Drugs, and MSP memorabilia! Music was provided by The Stringbusters and Heather Christ. Look for full coverage of the event in the Trumansburg Free Press.

The MSP wants to thank all the people and businesses that helped make the event possible.

Thank to:
Gimme! Coffee
Bruce Vann
Trumansburg Police Department
Cayuga Creamery
Kinney Drugs
Tompkins Trust Company Bank
Big M
Ron Don's
Greg Fehrman
C & S Engineers
Rose Hilbert
David Filiberto
Joel Podkaminer
Bill Chaisson
Heather Christ
Barbara Lifton
Marty Luster
Tracy Vanderzee
Adelaide Rice
WHCU
The Ithaca Journal
The Ithaca Times
The Trumansburg Free Press

Also special thanks to all the MSP volunteers that helped plan this all out!

Q Cassetti
Rob Cassetti
Paula Horrigan
Scott Sears
Fran Maguire
Don Ellis
Dolores Higareda
Douglas Land
John Ullberg
Martha Ullberg
Ben Guthrie
Don Schlather

Music at Main Street's Groundbreaking

Wanted to put up a quick post and announce that The Stringbusters will provide free live music for all those in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow! Remember to mark down the time and place...3pm and in front of the Tompkins Trust Company Bank. There will be free ice cream starting at 4pm, if the music and sheer historical importance of the event are not enough to convince you to come! Hope to see you on Main Street!

One last chance for bricks

Because of popular demand and the upcoming groundbreaking festivities on July 8th, the MSP has decided to extend the brick order deadline to Monday July 10th. You can pick up brick order forms on the Village Office Porch on July 8th or come to the MSP office earlier in the week and ask for one. You can also print them off from our main website. In any case please have your brick form, inscription, and payment (cash or check) to the Village Office by 4pm on Monday July 10th!

Bricks are $35 each (special deal of 3 for $100) and can contain up to 20 characters (spaces and punctuation included) if there is no logo. Logos do not cost any extra, but do change the amount of spacing from 20 to 12~14 depending on where the logo is placed. The three logo choices are the MSP House logo, the Trumansburg Central School Alumnus logo, and the Grassroots logo. All these options are explained on the order form and you can contact the MSP with any questions.

Remember...4pm on July 10th!