Volume 39 No. 186 Subscribe 800-253-5343 $3.50 QEAJAB-00701s PRESSCONNECTS.COM TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2024 BINGHAMTON, N.Y. PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Subscriber-only eNewspaper The eNewspaper is an electronic copy of your print newspaper. Enjoy every page by going to pressconnects.com/enewspaper or scan this code on your mobile device. You will also find late news and sports in the bonus sections.
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According to mem- bers of Broome Planning and Economic Development Department, however, they can much more than that they can become linchpins for entire com- munities. Grippen Park Boat Launch in Endicott PROVIDED BY BROOME COUNTY Waterfront Revitalization presented in Broome County Riccardo Monico Binghamton Press Sun Bulletin USA TODAY NETWORK See WATERWAYS, Page 2A Practical and BEAUTIFUL we try to do during the planning process is to look holistically at our water resources throughout the county so that we can best out where we have assets we want to enhance or promote. This is the step where we are trying to say, are projects that are a good idea, and will make best use of our Beth Lucas Director of the Planning and Economic Development Department annual Apple Festival has been canceled in light of ongoing work on the Washington Ave- nue. Construction has started for the re- vitalization of the street. The current phase is estimated to last four weeks.
The Apple Festival was scheduled to be held Saturday, Sept. 21 on Wash- ington Avenue. Event organizers met with local government, police and to search for an alternative lo- cation for the 2024 festival, but park- ing, landscape, necessary road clo- sures, access to electricity and public safety concerns meant the move would not be feasible. In a Facebook post, they announced the festival would be postponed until 2025. the positive side we will be back next year on the new revitalized Wash- ington Ave and will be bigger and bet- ter then read the post.
you all for your The work that goes into the Apple Festival behind the scenes takes about nine months of preparation, said Mon- ica Jordan, one of the event organiz- ers. Last year, 150 vendors came to event with over 5000 people in atten- dance, she said. all felt it was the right thing we needed to do for one year in order to keep the event the way it she said. Renovations on Wash- ington Avenue, funded by a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative Endicott Apple Festival canceled for 2024 Kalyn Grant Binghamton Press Sun Bulletin USA TODAY NETWORK See FESTIVAL, Page 2A New York is taking steps to curb a lingering pitfall of its transition to cashless tolling: drivers racked with big debts for unpaid toll bills they may nev- er have seen. State lawmakers have pitched policy changes for six years to help those toll payers, only for two governors Andrew Cuomo and then Kathy Hochul to veto their bills three times.
But their push led to a compromise in last state budget: new collection rules that at least aim to make sure drivers know about their charges and how to dispute them if they were improperly billed. The rules only drivers who for- go E-ZPass. Those who have the elec- tronic devices in their vehicles are auto- matically charged for tolls when they cross bridges and tunnels or travel the Thruway. But those who are billed by mail after cameras take pictures of their license plates. where problems have cropped up since the state began removing manned toll booths to speed around 2016.
Tales emerged of drivers facing thousands of dollars in debt for piles of tolls and late fees, with some claiming they never saw the original bills. In one case reported by The Journal in 2018, a Rockland County mother was shocked to learn she owed $12,000 for trips across the Tappan Zee Bridge (and the Governor Mario M. Cuo- mo Bridge that replaced it). She only learned of her alleged debt when police stopped and impounded her car in the Bronx as she was driving home from the airport with her two children and 79- year-old mother. It took months and cost thousands for her to and retrieve her car and resolve the charges.
Under the rules enacted last month in NY sets new rules on mailed tolls to keep down debt Chris McKenna New York State Team USA TODAY NETWORK See TOLLS, Page 2A 10 NFL draft steals that could provide best value SPORTS, 1B.
