Parma’s Got A Brand New Blog
And it’s pretty darn good. There’s a apparently a lot more going on in Parma than I thought, what with the pre-election, $250k open space bribe from the county, to Larsen phonebanks being shut down, to, of course, the recent elections:
this year Yolevich got the shock of his political life when challenger Todd Dunn nearly ousted him on Election day. Dunn, whose family owns Dunn furniture store in Brockport and has been in this area for four generations lost the election by only 183 votes (unofficial). The final tally showed Dunn with 49% of the vote and Yolevich with 51%. That’s not much of a margin of victory for a 1 term incumbent who sits comfortably in a 2 to 1 Republican district.
Check it out at ChangingParma.wordpress.com.
Well, that song’s stuck in my head for the weekend. Thanks.
That’s a great looking blog, and good content, too! Cool! Go Parma, get busy, it’s your birthday.
What’s the open space bribe?
The open space bribe is the article below from the 10-27 D&C:
Monroe County contributes $250,000 to preserve Parma’s farmland
Meaghan M. McDermott
Staff writer
(October 27, 2007)  Monroe County will kick in $250,000 to help the town of Parma preserve farmland.
County Executive Maggie Brooks announced Friday that the county has committed funding from its Green Space Initiative to support Parma’s effort to save open space. The initiative set aside $2 million for open space projects from tobacco settlement money received in 2000. About $925,000 remains in the fund.
Parma “has taken a proactive stance in preserving open space in its community and its successful efforts will serve as a model for other municipalities throughout our region and our state,” she said.
The funding came at the behest of County Legislator Richard Yolevich, who represents the 1st District, which includes Parma, on the county’s west side.
“Open space preservation is an important issue in the town of Parma,” he said.
In a survey conducted in late summer by the Parma Open Space Preservation Committee, town residents overwhelmingly said preserving the area’s rural character is a high priority. About one-fifth of the town’s 42 square miles is developed, but town Supervisor Rick Lemcke said pressure is growing to sell their lands to developers.
“We only have about six family farms left,” he said. “This is really going to help us help them.”
The town has hired a consultant to work with the Open Space committee to inventory and prioritize open space parcels. The town would likely purchase development rights to identified parcels. If a property’s rights are sold, the owner cannot sell the land to builders.
“Now is the time for us to consider purchasing these rights because the land is relatively cheap,” said Lemcke. “And with this money, we will be able to make our first purchases of development rights with no additional cost to taxpayers.”
The County Legislature will vote on the funding request once Parma has finalized its Farmland Preservation and Open Space Acquisition Plan.
MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com
“The County Legislature will vote on the funding request once Parma has finalized its Farmland Preservation and Open Space Acquisition Plan.”
And that’s the key sentence in the whole article - this is money that is dependent on a plan comeing forth from Parma’s board. They have already reaped the benefits of the announcement by remaining in control of the board so now it doesn’t matter as much if they never come up with a plan that secures the funding - but the headline of the articles reads as if the money is on its way.
Westside represent!
Timing is everything, eh?