Word on the Street About the Bricks

Word on the street is that while the deadline for second wave bricks is January 31st 2006, that you can still get your orders in during the first few days of January 2007. This is certainly correct as the Village Office will be closed for the New Year's Holiday and the MSP volunteers, like any other Trumansburg resident, will be out celebrating the coming of the new year. However, the MSP does strongly encourage brick buyers to have the order forms in by December 31st 2006! The MSP and Village want to help folks get as many bricks possible, but will have to cut-off orders in order to expedite the engraving process.

MSP Pictures #10

You see! I see! We all see! The pictures that is!

(Below) Water main work on the southside of East Main Street in the Upper Village. July 2006. Photo by Ward Hungerford.


(Below) Cement truck on site. August 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny.


(Below) Installing sidewalks by Trumansburg Creek. September 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny.

MSP Pictures #9

Oh, you'll get pictures alright...

(Above) Volunteer effort to build a retaining wall by the trimmed red-bud tree on the far end of East Main Street. August 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.

(Below) Installing curbing on the southside of East Main Street. September 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.


(Below) New curbs and pavement installation at the corners of Elm and Main Street. Photo by Bill McAneny. October 2006.

Construction End For The Season

With the installation of the stone seats by the bank complete, Economy Paving and all subcontractors have completely left the work site and will not return until late spring/early summer 2007. At that time, crews will return to install the landscaping and finish the street striping. They will also install other Main Street additions (light poles, benches, blue stone engravings, etc.), including the second wave bricks.

The summer 2007 work will also include a separate independent effort done by the New York State Department of Transportation that involves slurry-sealing all of Main Street.

As construction work has formally ended, the blog will be having less activity on it until crews return. Do please keep checking it from time to time for the latest updates and Main Street pictures.

MSP Pictures #8

More pictures for you!

(Below) Main Street bricks removed from below the pavement. Local resident Bill Kappel leads a volunteer effort to rescue and refurbish these historical bricks so that they can end up back on Main Street. August 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.

(Below) Removing sidewalks from the northside of East Main Street (50-block). September 2006. Photo by John Ullberg

(Below) Preparing road shouder for sidewalk installation on the far end of East Main Street. August 2006. Photo by Andres Perez-Charneco.

MSP Pictures #7

Another round of pictures for the Trumanburg blog-o-sphere!

(Left) First Wave engraved bricks installed by the bank plaza. Syrstone arrived on site to install the bricks in mid-December. December 2006. Photo by Andres Perez-Charneco

(Below) Dekatherm teams fill in utility trenches in an autumn drizzle. October 2006. Photo by John Ullberg

(Below) Residents enjoy the works of sketch crawl artists at the MSP Groundbreaking ceremony. July 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny.

Stone Seats on Site

The arched stone seats for the bank plaza arrived today, along with a small crew to install them. The stones will create a curved stone bench for the bank plaza. This is in hopes to further welcome people to the plaza as a place of community gathering.

Low Content Mode for A While

The main poster to the MSP blog will be out of town from Wednesday November 13th 2006 to Friday November 15th 2006. This same hiatus also applies to the MSP e-mail account. Please do keep turning to the blog, however, as other members of the MSP do have access to it and can post items at their discretion.

Feel free to call the MSP phone line during this brief lull as volunteers do check the voicemail from off-site on a daily basis. The number is 607-387-4471. Concerns can also be forwarded to the Village Office at 387-6501.

Thank you for your patience.

Syrstone on the 13th?

Late reports to the MSP on Tuesday November 12th 2006 said that Syrstone planned to return on site on Wednesday November 13th 2006 to begin installing the engraved bricks from the first wave order!

Look for Syrstone on site on the 13th, weather pertaining.

Some work today

A team of workers from Schissler Electric is on site today repairing electrical connections to the building where the Little Venice restaurant is located. While the work they are doing is realted to the MSP, Schissler is NOT and Economy Paving subcontractor and was contracted by the Village seperately.

MSP Pictures #6

More pictures for one and all!

(Below) Shaping up on Main Street. September 2006. Photo by Ward Hungerford.


(Below) Local kids helping decorate the site of the MSP Groundbreaking Ceremony. July 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.


(Below) Preparing grounds for new storm drain installation. August 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny.

Mention in Tompkins Weekly

Many know that former MSP Project Assistant and current volunteer Sue Henninger is the Trumansburg/Ulysses beat reporter for the new county-wide alternative newspaper, Tompkins Weekly. If you didn't, well, now you do.

If you haven't picked up your copy of this week's edition of Tompkins Weekly then you are missing out on an article about the future of the MSP by Sue herself! You can view the article on-line or find a print edition. The paper is available, for free, at such Trumansburg locations like Gimme! Coffee, Kinney Drugs, and the ShurSave supermarket.

Look for our regular column in the Trumansburg Free Press tomorrow December 13th 2006.

MSP Pictures #5

Another trio of picutres for everyone in the Trumansburg blog-o-sphere.

(Below) Work by the Tompkins County Trust Company bank in downtown Trumansburg. September 2006. Photo by Ward Hungerford.

(Below) Final sidewalk installation on the northside of East Main Street. October 2006. Photo by Andres Perez-Charneco

(Below) Work on Main Street. September 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny.

MSP Pictures #4

Another batch of MSP pictures to get you though the overcast weather.

(Below) Preparing utility conduit by NAPA. September 2006. Photo by John Ullberg

(Below) Celebrating the MSP Groundbreaking. July 2006. Photo by John Ullberg

(Below) Restoring the driveway at the far end of Masonic Temple. October 2006. Photo by Andres Perez-Charneco.

MSP Pictures #3

Another trio of pictures showing what happened along Main Street this past summer/fall. Hope you like.

(Above) Layers of Main Street below existing pavement. Contrary to popular belief, no yellow bricks are under Main Street. October 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.

(Above) Main Street Construction: View from the Top. October 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny

(Above) Installing sidewalks on the southside of West Main Street. October 2006. Photo by John Ullberg.

MSP Pictures #2

Here are some more pictures documenting the recent work on Main Street.

(Below) MSP Groundbreaking on July 8th 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny

(Below) Construction equipment and machinery stored at DPW lot. July 2006. Photo by Bill McAneny


(Below) Unicyclist on Main Street. October 2006. Photo by John Ullberg

Main Street Photos

The combined effects of winter weather and low construction activity creates little daily news for the MSP to report. However, as both a treat to all our loyal readers and a courtesy to our volunteer photographers, the MSP blog will feature construction photos from various photographers.

The MSP eventually hopes to show these pictures on a grander scale with proposed displays around Main Street. Also, look for a full on-line gallery on our website sometime in the future.

Please do keep turning to the blog for updates as they will posted immediately. However, for now, please enjoy the photos!

All photos by MSP Volunter Bill McAneny

(Left) Dekatherm and NYSEG crews working on the north side of East Main Street, installing new utility lines. October 2006.

(Right) School kids on Main Street. October 2006








(Above) Work in front of Village Offices. August 2006.

Syrstone?

The heavy snows today prevented Syrstone from returning. While the crews finished the arch by the Rongo and installed the heavy duty pavers by the bank's parking driveway, they still have to finish the driveway arch by the Masonic Temple. This area also needs heavy duty bricks.

Syrstone would also like to begin swapping out blank bricks for engraved bricks from our first wave order, but cannot in this weather.

Syrstone has not provided any comment as to when they will return, but do keep posted to the blog for updates.

Winter is here!

With the first heavy snowfall of the season on the ground, the MSP reminds all Main Street propety owners to please us a moderate layer of rock salt as their de-icer of choice this winter. This will help protect the new sidewalks from weathering and chipping during their first winter. By next winter, property owners will be free to use whatever product/method they wish.

Street Light Covers

Below is an image of one of the traffic cones installed as a temporary cover for the exposed streetlight footers. Readers of the blog will now that the streetlights were not a part of the bidding process and that the Village/MSP always intended to complete this part of the projec through fundraising. The fundraising committee of the MSP remains hard at work trying to raise the money necessary to purchase all the streetlights. Their hope is to have these streetlights in by next summer. In the meantime, the Village DPW has installed these orange cones to protect the footers from the elements and vandalism. The cones have been bolted to the light's concrete bases for added security and stability. The cones will also delineate where the footers are during heavy snow. This will help prevent plows and other vehicles from hitting the footers.

DPW Work

Syrstone was not on site today. They will return to compelte the drivewaybrick arch by the Masonic Temple, but have not provided a time table as of yet.

However, there was some work on Main Street today as crews from the Village's Department of Public Works placed stepping stones to those stores with tresholds higher than the existing sidewalk grades. These stores (New York Pizzeria, Reflections, etc.) were those with temporary wooden blocks in front of them for the past few weeks. The aforementioned stones, from the Finger Lakes Quarry, are the permanent replacement for those wooden blocks. The stones will make it easier for customers to get in and out of the affected stores.

Construction Site Vandalism

Constructions crews from both Syrstone and Economy Paving have reported that over this past weekend (December 1st-3rd) two pallets of blank bricks were stolen from one of the construction storage sites behind the NAPA auto parts store. Also, crews reported that one of the stone seats in the incomplete arc by the Rongo was tipped over onto its side.

If you see any instances of vandalism within Trumansburg, whether related to construction or not, please call the Village Police immediately! Please help protect the recent investments into Trumansburg by making sure they stay there for future residents!

Syrstone On Site

Crews from brick laying subcontractor, Syrstone are one site installing the heavy duty driveway pavers across the driveways leading towards the parking lot by the bank. Syrstone is giving these areas first priority. Once done with these driveways they will complete the brick arch by the Rongo. Then, if the weather is good, they can continue with swapping out blank bricks for the engraved brick stored at the Village DPW site.

Bricks Tomorrow?

While the weather report for Monday December 4th 2006 does not look too good for brick installation, the engraved bricks are sorted and ready to be placed. MSP volunteers spent this past weekend sorting the bricks and specifying the locations where Syrstone crews will place the bricks.

Here you can see some pictures of the bricks and MSP volunteers Sue Henninger and John
Ullberg working at sorting them.



The bricks are currently stored at the Village DPW site and will remain there until Syrstone comes on site to install them. The plan is still to install as many engraved bricks as possible this year, starting with the incomplete arch by the Rongo. Stay tuned to this blog or just keep your eyes on Main Street for any future updates on when bricks will be placed.

Correction in Main Street Report

As the author of the Main Street Report article in the Trumansburg Free Press, I wish to self-correct an error in the article that appeared in the November 29th 2006 edition of the paper. In the article I addressed the supposed costs of the stone seats along Main Street and wrote that they each cost somewhere between $2,300~$2,500, depending on their size. I must apologize for my gross error as, only after submitting the article, did I learn this information was untrue.

The grand total cost for ALL the stone seats along Main Street is a mere $2037.50. Each stone costs about $125.00 and the price also includes a $750 shipping fee. I misread the documents that Economy Paving provided and included the incorrect numbers in the article.

My personal apologies for this error. Please look for a formal correction and a letter to the editor further explaining the situation in the December 6th 2006 edition of the Free Press.

-Andres Perez-Charneco

Brick Installation this Monday 12/04

The MSP and Village learned yesterday (11/30/06) that brick laying subcontractor Syrstone will arrive on site at 7am on Monday December 4th 2006. Syrtsone will begin to install the bricks in the in-complete arch by the Rongo. They will also begin to install engraved bricks in the existing arches. MSP representatives continue to sort the pallets of engraved bricks down at the DPW lot in order to expedite this process.