| Lawn to Farm: Suburbia’s Silver Lining
I look at the empty countryside around our farm and can't help but wish it were as thick with people as when my grandparents made a living here. Until recently, though, the kindest name the rest of the world had for this wish was "nostalgia." Back then, leaving the farm made sense. The economy was growing on an energy-dense broth of cheap fossil fuels. The energy in those fuels replaced that from the muscles of farm people and their animals. Today one person can grow food for more than a hundred. A century ago, almost 40 percent of the United States population worked on farms. But with industrialization, millions of farm folk, their labor cheapened, headed to the city for better wages. That tide continued until fewer than 2 million farmers — less than 1 percent of the country's population — remain today.
Milroy conversion gets OK from city council
At least one city councillor said it was the hardest decision they've made as a group. Faced by several rows of worried senior citizens in the public gallery, a majority of city councillors nevertheless agreed Monday night to approve a local developer's application to convert the Milroy Apartments, a downtown highrise, into condominiums. "It's caused me some sleepless nights," Coun. Gord Wyant said before voting to approve the application. Four councillors - Charlie Clark, Bob Pringle, Pat Lorje and Darren Hill - voted to turn it down. .
District gives more answers on $25.8M proposal
Wellsville Central School District officials heard two years ago about $1 million in EXCEL (Expanding our Children's Education and Learning) Aid from the state and started looking into a capital project proposal. Through a building conditions survey, tours of facilities and many meetings with the Community Advisory Committee and the input of staff, architect and construction manager, the project grew into a $25.8 million proposal. It includes state building aid of 93 percent (for about 95 percent of the project) and the district can use $746,327 in EXCEL Aid. The local share will be about $2,269,509. The average annual tax impact from the 15 years of the project debt retirement on a $40,000 home would be $38 per year for a homeowner without a STAR exemption, $9 per year for someone with a STAR Program exemption and $0 per year for someone with a Senior STAR exemption.
BroadVision profit down in Q4, up for year
BroadVision Inc. reported a drop in profit in the fourth quarter, compared with last year. But its profit for 2007 rose. The Redwood City software company (OTCBB: BVSN) earned a profit of $5.9 million in the fourth quarter, down from a profit of $7 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. Sales fell to $11.2 million in the fourth quarter, down from sales of $13 million a year ago in the fourth quarter. In 2007, BroadVision made a profit of $17.3 million on sales of $50 million, compared with a profit of $15 million on sales of $52 million in 2006. Pehong Chen is BroadVision's president and CEO. .
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