Island Dispatch, 2007-04-20

              ILAND Dispatch Niagara Frontier Publications - •■ • For Home Delivery of the Island Dispatch Call 773-7676 proud publishers of Island Dispatch Lewiston-Porter Sentinel Grand Island Penny Saver Niagara-Wheatfield Tribune www.wnypapers.com V01.63 No. 5 April 20, 2007 36 Pages Plus a 4-Page Chamber Puttout 773-7676 $1.00 Fire Cadets in Action page 5 An Intern's View page 16 Islettes Earn Miss Majorette page 23 Relay is raring to go and set for success by Karen Keefe The Relay For Life is a little more than two months away, but Co-chairman Mary Dunbar-Daluisio is already in high gear, excited about the prospects for what she calls "the second-biggest event on Grand Island after the Fourth of July Parade." The Relay is a celebration of hope, embracing the American Mary Dunbar-Daluisio, in her office at Fuccillo Chevrolet, is surrounded by photos from the Relay For Life, (photo by Karen Keefe) Cancer Society's lofty goal to eliminate the disease of cancer by the year 2015. On Friday, June 8, Islanders of all ages will gather at the track behind Grand Island High School to show their support for cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones. Survivors' Lap Sets Tone Daluisio, a cancer survivor herself, has received some very good news recently. Her doctor says she is tumor-free, after being diagnosed in 2005. She understands in a very personal way how families are touched by this disease. "We do this because we want to eliminate the suffering that cancer patients and their families go through. So it is so much our fight to take up," she explains. 'This is a personal invitation to any survivor to please come and celebrate this with us on that first lap on Friday night." She says "survivors will gain strength from that support" Opening ceremonies begin at 7 p.m. This year's honorary survivor is Beth Dommer, a bus driver Art inspired by nature by Kathy Duff The great outdoors is her studio. This is where Grand Island resident and retired teacher Kath Schifano uses oils and pastels to put nature to canvas and paper in the tradition of a discipline called "Plein Aire" (literally "in the open air") painting. Retired for two years from the Niagara Falls school district where she taught art to elementary students, high school and advanced placement students, Schifano has now filled her home and studio on Huth Road with familiar scenes from Grand Island and from other beauty spots in Western New York. In addition, two of her "Rose Series" paintings, done in pastels on paper, hang in the Member's Gallery at the Albright- Knox Art Gallery. Love of Nature Tm using things I've heard myself say as a teacher," she says."I spent all these years helping kids with their pictures." Now she really feels that she is truly an artist and is diligently pursuing her love of natural settings for her work. She creates at a remarkable painting-per-week rate, packing up box and easel most Thursdays to join the Niagara Frontier Plein Aire painters for "paint outs" in locations such as Buckhorn State Park, Forest Lawn Cemetery and Buffalo's waterfront "Plein Aire" painters follow in the footsteps of greats such Grand Island's Kath Schifano upholds the 'Plein Aire' tradition Kath Schifano's oil painting of the lighthouse at Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo. Town Center: From concept to reality by Karen Keefe The Town of Grand Island is on the verge of a giant step - the creation of a real Town Center. Plans for that reality were approved on Wednesday and will soon be up for review by the Town Board. When you look down Grand Island Boulevard, from bridge to bridge, what you now see is a collection of businesses that seems to lack cohesion. A smile with missing teeth. Although there are many thriving businesses of different varieties, you don't get the same feel that you get in, say, Williamsville, Kenmore, Lewiston or Niagara-on-the-Lake. In those places, most would agree, a town or village personality expresses itself in themed architecture, signage and well-planned routes of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Geography, Aesthetics and Zoning In Grand Island, some would say, there's no "there" there. The cohesion has been stymied by geography. Surrounded by the Niagara River and connected to the mainland by concrete spans, a commercial "spine" stretches from bridge to bridge. Jim Sharpe says Grand Island's business strip lacks a "commercial core" and the residential support to provide a "critical mass." He aims to change that As chair of the town's Long Range Planning Committee, he and his fellow members plan to create conditions that will enable a commercial core to develop. Sharpe, in charge of all electronic systems for the Sweet Home School District, is a former town councilman, former president of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce and an Islander for 40 years. Ironically, it was Sharpe who chaired the effort to adopt the town's Comprehensive Master Plan in 1994. Ten years later, he found himself heading the Long Range Planning Committee, the group tasked with reviewing and updating the 1994 plan. "It was a shock to me to be put in charge of a document you created." The newer committee's mission is allow business to flourish in the Town Center while making a unique aesthetic statement for Grand Island. The proposal is an update of the 1994 plan and is consistent with the zoning code, updated and adopted in 2004. The Town Board will review two major portions of the Town Center plan at its May 7 meeting. 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