Tag: In Focus

In last week's column, I wrote about the people showing up at the Harmony Food Pantry in Waterloo. Five years ago, the pantry served 19 families during the entire month of August. Now, … more: IN FOCUS: The math doesn’t work anymore for New York families

In this episode of In Focus, Josh Durso speaks with Therese Daly, president and CEO of United Way of New York State and 211 New York Inc., about what the latest ALICE … more: IN FOCUS: United Way of New York State CEO Therese Daly (podcast)

In this episode of In Focus, Josh Durso sits down with Tompkins County Housing and Community Development Director David West for a wide-ranging conversation about why communities across the Finger Lakes and … more: IN FOCUS: The rules are making housing harder to build (podcast)

Whether we’re talking about employees or housing, that question points to a fundamental problem that warrants more than the “Well, we just have to make do with less” attitude that surfaces nearly … more: IN FOCUS: What happens when your city, town, or county can’t afford market rate?

Last week we took a look at school enrollment across the Finger Lakes and Upstate New York. This week we ask a simple question: What has to happen to stop schools from … more: IN FOCUS: How do you avoid closing schools?

Environmental activist Yvonne Taylor joins Josh Durso on this episode of In Focus for a conversation about advocacy, persistence and what it takes to turn concern into action. https://youtu.be/3w7NMHNphj8 Taylor launched Gas … more: IN FOCUS: Turning talk into action (podcast)

This week on In Focus Ally Berry joins Josh Durso to discuss the growing demand for credible environmental science communication and why water quality has become one of the defining public … more: IN FOCUS: Separating fact from fiction on the environment (podcast)

Small communities talk a lot about what they want. They talk less about what they can actually support. That’s the hard part of the story about a longtime, hometown grocery store in … more: IN FOCUS: Here’s why Wolcott didn’t just lose a grocery store

In this episode of In Focus, Josh Durso sits down with Grace Rice, the 19-year-old former manager of the Wolcott grocery store that recently closed after serving the community for decades. She talks … more: IN FOCUS: Why did Wolcott’s grocery store shut down? (podcast)

Can a community stay the same and still thrive? That is the question sitting underneath almost every local debate in Upstate New York right now. People want full downtowns. They want coffee shops, … more: IN FOCUS: Can a community stay exactly the same and survive?

Can a community stay exactly the same and still thrive? In this episode of In Focus, Josh Durso sits down with two leading voices in community planning and development to explore one … more: IN FOCUS: Why communities need to resist staying the same (podcast)

For years, housing has dominated conversations about growth across the Finger Lakes. But what happens when communities are finally ready to build and discover they don't have enough power to support … more: IN FOCUS: Housing, power, and economic development (podcast)

In the debut episode of In Focus, FingerLakes1.com Vice President and columnist Josh Durso sits down with Seneca County Community Services Director Margaret Morse for a wide-ranging conversation about mental health and … more: IN FOCUS: A conversation with Margaret Morse (podcast)

Seneca Falls deserves better. Before I go any further, I have to start here: The town I grew up in has a lot going for it. There are a lot good people. … more: An open letter to Seneca Falls

Enrollment across the Finger Lakes isn’t just declining — it’s accelerating, and that shift is starting to reshape what school districts can realistically sustain. Dozens of districts are already operating at enrollment levels … more: COLUMN: Finger Lakes schools keep shrinking and that’s a huge problem

I sat down with urban planner and former mayor Bill Fulton for a wide-ranging conversation on In Focus, and one thing came through clearly: A lot of communities are behind the curve on … more: IN FOCUS: Making Upstate communities stronger will require tradeoffs (podcast)