Tonight (2019-04-15) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
For a regular Village meeting, this one was surprisingly long. The length came from a large number of items, two of which also generated lengthy discussion. So it was, of course, coincidental that the regular clerk was on vacation.
The first of the long discussions was on killing deer in the village. In particular, culling the herd, as it has long since become a pest. I have no objections to this, as ‘killing’ is what should be done with ‘vermin’. You don’t invite the pest to share the labors of your work, if it won’t leave on it’s own you end it. That being my opinion, there were some interesting things said by others at the meeting.
It was said that we (village? government? someone else?) ‘have to be in control’. Which is ironic, as it is the states ‘ownership’ of the deer and ‘control’ of the situation that has allowed things to reach their current point. Absent that, property owners likely would have taken steps to protect what is theirs.
At least one farmer is no longer willing to farm certain fields in the village because the deer eat his profit. Again the irony. There is apparently a ‘right to farm‘ but not a ‘right to protect’.
Trumansburg was mentioned for how they cull their herd. I found that interesting as I have been through that area many a times. Mostly because my parents live near there. It’s a small world.
In the end, after much discussion, the Board decided to setup a committee to sort through potential solutions. I wish them well in this endeavor.
The other long discussion was on speed humps for Hyde Park. I believe this is, at the core, the same issue as the deer. There is a problem (speeding/deer), that everyone wants stopped. But we are hesitant to take steps that would actually stop the problem (tickets/killing). I found the contrast between the difference and similarities of the two issues to be striking.
Besides those two discussions, there were a few interesting shorter tidbits.
Festival on the Green will be happening as a music festival, or something similar. My sense of it is more music then before, but less organization. Time will tell, as it always does.
There is apparently an ‘app’ for code enforcement.
Easter morning (this Sunday) there will be a sunrise service in Harry Allen Park, at 6AM. If you’re up and about, well you can’t go wrong with worship.
May 11th, at noon, there will be some sort of ceremony at the cemetery for a civil war soldier that is buried there. I suspect more details will become available as the date gets closer.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the April 15, 2019 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.