" And have a good look at the www.aurorany.org photos of yesterday's Webb House Flood! CJ's moving equipment broke the storm sewer / stream culvert running through the old Lake House lot, and then the rains fell... "

" People posting material here copied from the Aurora Coalition's website should give the url, so people can read the material in context. Please see www.aurorany.org , in particular the Feedback and Guestbook pages, as well as the links to background information on Webb, Lake, and Lyon Houses. "

" Thanks SIA! My similar comments to the same effect yesterday were not posted by whomever screens these posts. At the very least let's be clear that plenty of people who live in the immediate surrounding area are just as deeply concerned about the corruption, mismanagement and destruction in Aurora, but have no option to be elected. Local government and official at Wells College, all too often one and the same people, do just as they please and do not worry themselves about laws or regulation or ordinances -- that they tear things down without following correct legal procedures is not the worst of it, nor is it a surprise for anyone around here. How about the Old Mill? By the time the authorities got there to force them to stop it was too late -- they got what they wanted de facto. Same thing could happen here in a heartbeat -- local officials (Wells or Aurora) have no compunction about laws -- do it and tell them too bad, it's done afterwards. "

" To "another local": you show a little of your bias by two remarks which need correcting. One, it will NOT take "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to restore Lyon. It may take $100k or at the very most $200k but certainly nowhere near that simply to make it liveable and presentable again. In fact my guess would be closer to the lower figure and perhaps even a good deal less. Let's not go inflating this, buying into the already prevalent myth that Lyon is too far gone for all but the richest buyer to save. Furthermore, I want to take you to task for your offhanded "amusement" over the deep frustration that many people in our village have expressed regarding the "underhanded" dealings and motives of Wells College and the Aurora authorities. It's very convenient to chuckle away and tell people, smugly, to "get yourself elected" and "talk to the trustees." It's that kind of buck-passing, ignore-the-obvious muddled thinking and sanctimonious attitude that's got us into this position in the first place. Yes, "local", it may come as a surprise to you, but sometimes local governments and businesses--even a college--are corrupt and act unethically. Whatever you may think people should DO about it, the last thing I'd EVER be is "amused" because people are tired of it and vent their frustration about it. It's not amusing to me or to anyone I know in Aurora. So please, no more of the "get yourself elected" rhetoric. Any fool who can look up and see the world around them knows what goes on in small towns and how hard it is to change encrusted and entrenched local governments. I certainly agree--we should try to change this through the electoral process. But to pretend that can just work as easily as it's said is childish thinking. Worse still, your assertion that Wells College is a "business" under no obligation to make anyone happy begs the question then: can all businesses simply do what the want? After all, they're under no obligation to make anyone happy, are they? (except their stockholders and one would assume, their customers). But no, we don't allow businesses to run rampant. Neither should we allow it of Wells College. Wells College has a responsibility to the village of Aurora and its citizens, (this is especially true of a college more than any other kind of "business") and to not recognize that fact displays an insular kind of ignorance and self-centeredness that gets communities regularly IN to trouble, not out of it. "

" Webb House was illegally moved, and hazardously and illegally allowed to sit on stilts. For THREE years, Village officials did nothing about it, never held anyone responsible, never enforced anything. What good is any law if people are allowed to ignore it with no consequences? They stuck their collective heads in the sand and pretended they saw no laws broken. Dugan is right about one thing- village officials have set bad precedents that will someday come back to bite them. "

" Wells College re Lyon House: Malevolent neglect. They must have ulterior motives. What's behind it? "

" K. A. HINDENLANG, 11/12/06 AURORA [Other potential buyers] For what it's worth, several outside observers contacted the Aurora Coalition over the years asking for advice on who to contact about purchasing Lyon (or Webb) House. We have no idea if the post below is from one of these folks, but GED's story seems consistent with that of the one couple we heard back from after making our standard recommendation that they contact Wells VP&Treas Diane Hutchinson. This couple -- who sounded like experienced preservationists -- said they got "the brush off," that Hutchinsons said Lyon was not for sale and would not take their name and number in case the college changed its mind. They were terribly disappointed, and said they had "tackled houses in much worse shape" and really had hoped to save this one. "

" Threatened with arrest for asking about the status of a property??? --------------------------------------- G DE, 11/11/06 UPSTATE NY [Sad...potential buyer spurned] My partner and I were interested in buying the Lyon House back in 2004. We had already restored another victorian home near Elmira NY and were looking for another home we could help. We were told to call the college since they recently had purchased the house. We were told that the house wasnt for sale and not to trespass on the property or we would be arrested. Here it is three years later and nothing is being done. We were told that no one would want the house because it was so badly damaged. That was a lie, although time has not been good to the once majestic house, its nothing that money and love could'nt replace. So here we are now on another NY lake in a perfectly restored home, completed in under 1 and a half years, sadly watching a truely magnificent home continue to fall, because selfish people wouldn't sell a house. Truely hard to believe. Aurora Coalition you are doing good things, keep up the hard work, whenever we talk to anybody about Aurora we make sure to let them know what you are having to deal with, it's sad to see a Historic town become a Pleasant Tourist Attraction. "

" Actually, Lyon House has been rotting away for many years--long before Wells bought it back from the private owner. Regardless, the college should do something with it, preferably sell it to someone who can afford to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to stabilize it, and get it back on the tax rolls. It does need to be saved, and soon. As a side note...I'm endlessly amused by people ascribing underhanded motives to the college--and local authorities. If you don't like how your local government works, get yourself elected and change it. If you don't like how the college works, talk to the trustees. Keep in mind that Wells is a business, however, and not obligated to make anyone happy (the quality of its financial management notwithstanding). "

" No one notes that they also tore up and destroyed gorgeous generations-old rose bushes and hydrangea -- they used to be right where that big ugly yellow machine is sitting in the photo. And also, let's not forget how Wells College has stalled, refused to discuss and otherwise put off any potential buyers for the historically significant and once beautiful Lyon House, adjacent to Lake House, which the College is allowing to rot, unmended and unprotected, while cutting off its lake view, paving nearly all its yard and in every other way making it less and less desireable for purchase. You must ask yourself WHY??!? For a college perpetually strapped for cash (the few new male students have not made up for the expenses and losses from going co-ed, particularly the steep drop in alumnae giving, which was formerly what kept the place afloat), why would they not want to sell? Lyons House is the cornerstone building which got all of Aurora on the National Historic Register, the first whole community to be placed on the Register. It is built with different wood in every room and is exquisite inside -- if the college's WILFUL neglect has not now pushed it past practical saving. It was DEFINITELY in fair enough shape to save when they started their game of stalling and refusing to talk to buyers while neglecting to undertake even the most basic repairs to prevent further deterioration. It is clear they WANT Lyon House to beceome decrepit. You should be asking yourself WHY once again. And Bill, seriously, you can't be surprised that authorities in Aurora don't bother to follow sensible planning -- they have always done just as they please, even when it isn't legal -- they have gotten away with it time and again in the past and continue to do so. Living right in the middle of the Village as you do, and with your former role in local government, none of this is news to you. "