Devasting fire

[NY 986]

Yesterday in my area there was a fire in a small village (Ovid, NY) that impacted a full block including a few businesses. This village is a hub for the people that live within a dozen miles of it. A grocery store which quite a few people depend on was completely lost. Due to the uniqueness of the buildings which dated back to the 19th Century there were well over a dozen apartments above the commercial space below. These apartments are no longer habitable if they remain at all. While I am sure somebody will provide short term lodging these people will have to start looking for long term housing. Most renters are in a situation where they barely scrape by so moving several miles or more away will be a hardship for a lot of them. Quite a few older people who do not drive far, old order Mennonites, and Amish in the area depend on that store for groceries. The alternatives are the better part of 15 miles or more away with poor weather to have to find transportation to get basics such as bread, milk, and meat. It can be hard to imagine how much a fire that happens dozens of miles away or hundreds of miles away can affect people we do not know or have never heard of.

 

[farmersamm]

Fire is a terrible thing. In most cases...........all you can do, is stand there, and watch.

 

[tomturkey]

With multi million dollars homes burned in California, Poor little Ovid, NY will probably not even receive any press time whatsoever. But the consequences are just as bad, maybe worse. Hopefully the shared love of their community will create the rebound effect that will help the townspeople come back with an all encompassing plan for housing and business. My heart goes out to them as most probably lost all that they owned. May God bless each and everyone affected. gobble

 

[NY 986]

With multi million dollars homes burned in California, Poor little Ovid, NY will probably not even receive any press time whatsoever. But the consequences are just as bad, maybe worse. Hopefully the shared love of their community will create the rebound effect that will help the townspeople come back with an all encompassing plan for housing and business. My heart goes out to them as most probably lost all that they owned. May God bless each and everyone affected. gobble

It made the regional television news in Rochester and Syracuse. The problem is grocery stores are typically high volume and low profit margin so from a private enterprise standpoint I don't know what the incentive is to rebuild even if fully insured given the area is not overly prosperous. Hopefully, there is a way forward in this. One that I am not seeing because I am not right on top of what is going on.

 

[Brownie450]

In our area [Eastern Iowa] there are food pantries in two
local towns. Are there no local pantries in that area?
Jim

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

It made the regional television news in Rochester and Syracuse. The problem is grocery stores are typically high volume and low profit margin so from a private enterprise standpoint I don't know what the incentive is to rebuild even if fully insured given the area is not overly prosperous. Hopefully, there is a way forward in this. One that I am not seeing because I am not right on top of what is going on.

They're not completely devoid of groceries. There is a Dollar General less than 1/2 mile away on North St. If the people can get to the Big M, they can get to Dollar General, and probably do already. Say what you will about Dollar General, but they're better than nothing in this situation.

Hopefully the manager of the store takes measures to ensure that they keep the basics stocked up.

 

[Brownie450]

Just thinking about this---yes fires are bad. Tornadoes
are bad also, but wreckage is usually strung out over
a large area & is a huge undertaking to clean up.
Neither case is good.
Jim

 

[Bob Bancroft]

They're not completely devoid of groceries. There is a Dollar General less than 1/2 mile away on North St. If the people can get to the Big M, they can get to Dollar General, and probably do already. Say what you will about Dollar General, but they're better than nothing in this situation.

Hopefully the manager of the store takes measures to ensure that they keep the basics stocked up.

Looks like there's a good sized grocery store down in Trumansburg also. On this side of the lake Union Springs is our go to village. It is very similar to Ovid. We use the little, local grocery store for many items. And, likewise, there's now a Dollar General down the street which has some items for much less money.

 

[Dave in NY]

Fires are a horrible thing to have happen. There was recently a fire in a small town near us that destroyed an apartment building. No fatalities but several families were left with basically just the clothes they were wearing. The wife and I are going to basket raffle, charity event at that towns American Legion this Saturday afternoon to help the unfortunate people effected by it.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Looks like there's a good sized grocery store down in Trumansburg also. On this side of the lake Union Springs is our go to village. It is very similar to Ovid. We use the little, local grocery store for many items. And, likewise, there's now a Dollar General down the street which has some items for much less money.

Trumansburg is roughly 15 miles away, and if you're going to travel that far, you may as well go to Waterloo, where there are multiple grocery stores plus a Walmart Supercenter. It's only a couple of miles further.

Doesn't help the people that can't, or won't, travel.

 

[NY 986]

Looks like there's a good sized grocery store down in Trumansburg also. On this side of the lake Union Springs is our go to village. It is very similar to Ovid. We use the little, local grocery store for many items. And, likewise, there's now a Dollar General down the street which has some items for much less money.

An Amish family or old order Mennonite who can't beg a ride with an English neighbor is going to have a long trip in winter weather from Romulus or Ovid to T Burg or Waterloo. Also, not everybody in the village has access to a car. Further, a Dollar General is not going to have close to the selection that a full service grocery store offers. At some point people are going to need more than a loaf of bread to feed themselves. And that area is not prosperous so most people can't afford to pay 4-5 dollars per loaf at Byrne Dairy for very long. I know that the Mennonites and Amish shop at grocery stores such as Wegmans as I see them in there and their carts are full of things such as bread, vegetables, and meat.

 

[NY 986]

Trumansburg is roughly 15 miles away, and if you're going to travel that far, you may as well go to Waterloo, where there are multiple grocery stores plus a Walmart Supercenter. It's only a couple of miles further.

Doesn't help the people that can't, or won't, travel.

It's a matter of some people can't travel or have insufficient means. Pretty hard to run the horse and buggy to Waterloo or T Burg in 10 degree weather for an hour one way. Also, in every community there are older people who due to physical or otherwise conditions who cannot drive anymore. Easy to beg a 5 minute ride to the store in the village. Not so easy to get someone to give a couple hours of their time to run 20 miles, sit in the parking lot while their rider shops, and then drive back to Romulus, Ovid, or Lodi. Also. it gets expensive to play taxi when all you get is 10 bucks which only covers the gas used. I'd love to help but it would get expensive in a hurry. I can't afford to eat costs such as tires and brakes trying to be a full service but not for profit taxi. I'm sure there are people right in Ovid who would love to help but have to look at the long term expense and will get tired of doing it long before the store gets rebuilt (if it does).

 

[cjunrau]

An Amish family or old order Mennonite who can't beg a ride with an English neighbor is going to have a long trip in winter weather from Romulus or Ovid to T Burg or Waterloo. Also, not everybody in the village has access to a car. Further, a Dollar General is not going to have close to the selection that a full service grocery store offers. At some point people are going to need more than a loaf of bread to feed themselves. And that area is not prosperous so most people can't afford to pay 4-5 dollars per loaf at Byrne Dairy for very long. I know that the Mennonites and Amish shop at grocery stores such as Wegmans as I see them in there and their carts are full of things such as bread, vegetables, and meat.

Amish and old order around here have no issue hiring vans to drive 1-1,5 hrs away to go shopping. Pay is good as there taxi driver. Insurance pays to rebuild so I assume most will get rebuilt. I know here if you build they pay if you don't build you get a fraction of what you get otherwise. Depends on how you are insured I guess as well. I know short term is bad but most works itself out in time. Sometimes a disaster actually is good for a community as it brings them back together. I know looking at it from a Christian point of view is shows you very quickly who is what. Those that preach how good they are to those who act on there goodness.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

It's a matter of some people can't travel or have insufficient means. Pretty hard to run the horse and buggy to Waterloo or T Burg in 10 degree weather for an hour one way. Also, in every community there are older people who due to physical or otherwise conditions who cannot drive anymore. Easy to beg a 5 minute ride to the store in the village. Not so easy to get someone to give a couple hours of their time to run 20 miles, sit in the parking lot while their rider shops, and then drive back to Romulus, Ovid, or Lodi. Also. it gets expensive to play taxi when all you get is 10 bucks which only covers the gas used. I'd love to help but it would get expensive in a hurry. I can't afford to eat costs such as tires and brakes trying to be a full service but not for profit taxi. I'm sure there are people right in Ovid who would love to help but have to look at the long term expense and will get tired of doing it long before the store gets rebuilt (if it does).

Wyoming County offers a free bus service. You call and they come pick you up and take you to Walmart or wherever. They have something like that out there?

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Amish and old order around here have no issue hiring vans to drive 1-1,5 hrs away to go shopping. Pay is good as there taxi driver. Insurance pays to rebuild so I assume most will get rebuilt. I know here if you build they pay if you don't build you get a fraction of what you get otherwise. Depends on how you are insured I guess as well. I know short term is bad but most works itself out in time. Sometimes a disaster actually is good for a community as it brings them back together. I know looking at it from a Christian point of view is shows you very quickly who is what. Those that preach how good they are to those who act on there goodness.

Insurance only pays to rebuild if you have that kind of insurance, and that kind of insurance is expensive, especially on an old 19th century tinderbox like the one that burned here. Most likely they only had the legal minimum, as that was all they could afford.

 

[NY 986]

Wyoming County offers a free bus service. You call and they come pick you up and take you to Walmart or wherever. They have something like that out there?

I know there is a regional transportation service which runs in Geneva. There probably is something available in Seneca County but probably is insufficient for a very sharp increase in demand. Not yelling at anybody here but just trying to pass along some news and hope people reflect on while they may have had a bad day there is somebody out there having a worse day.

 

[Crazy Horse]

With multi million dollars homes burned in California, Poor little Ovid, NY will probably not even receive any press time whatsoever. But the consequences are just as bad, maybe worse. Hopefully the shared love of their community will create the rebound effect that will help the townspeople come back with an all encompassing plan for housing and business. My heart goes out to them as most probably lost all that they owned. May God bless each and everyone affected. gobble

Tom: As usual, somebody has to poke Californians in a negative way unfortunately. I fail to get it to be honest and it happens here at YT far too often in my opinion. I feel sympathy and sadness for folks living in all places that suffer these catastrophes.

 

[NY 986]

Looks like there's a good sized grocery store down in Trumansburg also. On this side of the lake Union Springs is our go to village. It is very similar to Ovid. We use the little, local grocery store for many items. And, likewise, there's now a Dollar General down the street which has some items for much less money.

I've been in the store at Union Springs. Pretty good selection for the size. The bottom line for any of these out of the way stores is they struggle to survive as profitability has diminshed over the years. Tops closed in Geneva a few years ago.

 

[Tim in New York]

Yesterday in my area there was a fire in a small village (Ovid, NY) that impacted a full block including a few businesses. This village is a hub for the people that live within a dozen miles of it. A grocery store which quite a few people depend on was completely lost. Due to the uniqueness of the buildings which dated back to the 19th Century there were well over a dozen apartments above the commercial space below. These apartments are no longer habitable if they remain at all. While I am sure somebody will provide short term lodging these people will have to start looking for long term housing. Most renters are in a situation where they barely scrape by so moving several miles or more away will be a hardship for a lot of them. Quite a few older people who do not drive far, old order Mennonites, and Amish in the area depend on that store for groceries. The alternatives are the better part of 15 miles or more away with poor weather to have to find transportation to get basics such as bread, milk, and meat. It can be hard to imagine how much a fire that happens dozens of miles away or hundreds of miles away can affect people we do not know or have never heard of.

Saw that one the Binghamton news and feel for Ovid. We have a small grocery in our little town that many people use. We are there 2 or 3 times a week. Don't know what we would do without out it. Hopefully the owners had insurance and can rebuild and maybe have a more efficient store. Tough on the homes that were lost too. Rental housing is scarce in these small towns.

 

[NY 986]

Saw that one the Binghamton news and feel for Ovid. We have a small grocery in our little town that many people use. We are there 2 or 3 times a week. Don't know what we would do without out it. Hopefully the owners had insurance and can rebuild and maybe have a more efficient store. Tough on the homes that were lost too. Rental housing is scarce in these small towns.

I don't know much about Big M groceries. If franchised it is up to the means and desire of the franchise holder to want to rebuild. All too often an owner is near or at retirement age so such an event often triggers an exit by that person. If corporate then the accountants take a look a feasibility and profitability as to whether to start over. Like I said the area is not the most prosperous when you look at the big picture and better times are decades into the past. Most grocery stores do not face a trigger type event to close. Profit erodes to the point where such a business closes and patrons have to find alternatives. The facilities there were ancient telling me there was not much money to use to modernize the location or build a new building.