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Brown’s Plumbing and Heating transitions ownership in Lowville
LOWVILLE — A long time Lowville business transitioned into two different businesses to begin 2025. Brown’s Plumbing and Heating — a family business founded by William C. Brown in 1915 — officially closed its doors at the end of December, Naturally Lewis said in a Jan. 22 announcement. Brown’s Plumbing and Heating has now transformed […]
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LOWVILLE — A long time Lowville business transitioned into two different businesses to begin 2025.
Brown’s Plumbing and Heating — a family business founded by William C. Brown in 1915 — officially closed its doors at the end of December, Naturally Lewis said in a Jan. 22 announcement.
Brown’s Plumbing and Heating has now transformed into two businesses. They include Howland Pump and Supply and Lowville Appliance and Air Conditioning.
“It is our hope that you will find in our successors the same qualities and traits that led to this company’s longevity and reputation,” Arel and Barbara Brown, owners of Brown’s Plumbing and Heating, said in the announcement.
Howland Pump and Supply, a business with its own century-old history, bought the Browns’ store in Forest Avenue, Naturally Lewis said. As of Jan 2, the store started operating as Howland Pump’s newest branch offering an expanded product line and “continuing its tradition of quality services with familiar faces” including Bill Stevens, Merle Roes, and Chris Murdie.
Simultaneously, the appliance division of Brown’s Heating and Plumbing will rebrand as Lowville Appliance and Air Conditioning under the ownership of Brad and Megan Moser, long-time employees of Brown’s Heating and Plumbing. The Mosers started 2025 continuing to offer appliance sales, installation, and repair from their Shady Avenue location, with plans to expand services in the future.
Naturally Lewis, Inc. assisted in facilitating the ownership transition of Brown’s Plumbing and Heating through its Center for Businesses in Transition (CBIT) program. The CBIT program connects retiring business owners with aspiring entrepreneurs to preserve and grow local businesses.
“The average business ownership transition takes five years. Naturally Lewis began working with Arel and Barbara Brown in 2019, showing their dedication to their business and community,” Jenna Lauraine, programs and partnerships director at Naturally Lewis, Inc., said in the announcement. “CBIT is an important facet of our work because it retains businesses, services, and jobs in our community. Supporting transitioning businesses like this ensures our local economy remains vibrant and our communities continue to thrive.”
The Mosers are excited to build upon the legacy of Brown’s Plumbing and Heating while bringing “new energy to their operations,” Naturally Lewis said.
“We are excited to continue with the family-run business model upon which Brown’s was built,” Brad Moser said in the announcement. “Arel took a chance on me fresh out of technical school, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their guidance and support.”
This business transition is a “testament to the enduring spirit” of local businesses and the “resilience of our community,” Naturally Lewis said.
Most LLC subsidiaries of nonprofits exempt from New York’s LLC Transparency Act
But exemption is not automatic Quick overview: The New York LLC Transparency Act (NYLTA) is a new law requiring limited liability companies (LLCs) to annually disclose detailed information about their owners to the Department of State. Most LLCs that are wholly owned by nonprofits are exempt from NYLTA reporting based on a statutory definition which
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Quick overview: The New York LLC Transparency Act (NYLTA) is a new law requiring limited liability companies (LLCs) to annually disclose detailed information about their owners to the Department of State. Most LLCs that are wholly owned by nonprofits are exempt from NYLTA reporting based on a statutory definition which incorporates by reference the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) exemptions for 501(c)(3)s and other federally tax-exempt organizations (you can read about the exemptions at: https://www.bsk.com/news-events-videos/corporate-transparency-act-exempts-most-but-not-all-nonprofits-ndash-the-60-second-download). However, an initial exemption filing, followed by ongoing annual filings, must be made to take advantage of the exemption. This burden, which is not required under the CTA, significantly undermines the value of the exemption. That being said, the CTA has been subject to multiple injunctions so the future of its enforcement, and the consequences for the NYLTA, remain uncertain at the time of this writing.
A closer look: Following in the footsteps of the CTA, in December 2023, New York State passed the NYLTA, its own transparency law applicable to LLCs organized or doing business in the state. In March 2024, the legislature passed a chapter amendment which, among other things, extended NYLTA’s effective date to Jan. 1, 2026 (one year later than the initial proposed effective date). NYLTA aims to prevent illicit and fraudulent activities perpetrated or aided by anonymously owned LLCs by requiring “reporting companies” to disclose the identities of their beneficial owners to the Department of State.
Exemptions: Under NYLTA, an “exempt company” is any domestic or foreign LLC that meets any of the 23 conditions for exemption enumerated in the CTA. Wholly owned LLC subsidiaries of nonprofits are exempt from NYLTA reporting requirements under the “subsidiary exemption”— a CTA exemption that applies to entities whose ownership interests are controlled or wholly owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more entities that themselves qualify for certain exemptions. As nonprofit organizations generally qualify for at least one of several enumerated CTA exemptions, the subsidiary exemption in turn exempts their wholly owned or controlled LLC affiliates from NYLTA.
The following CTA exemptions are those that commonly apply to nonprofits and which, via the CTA’s subsidiary exemption, consequently exempt any of their wholly owned LLC subsidiaries from NYLTA:
• 501(c) organizations: Organizations described in Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) are all exempt. This includes the largest and most common group — 501(c)(3) charitable, educational, religious, etc. organizations — as well as other less common types of organizations that are tax exempt under 501(c) such as social-welfare organizations, certain types of homeowner’s associations, business leagues, and social clubs.
• Political organization: Political organizations, as defined in Code Section 527(e)(1), that are exempt from tax under Code Section 527(a).
• Charitable trusts: Charitable trusts and split-interest trusts (i.e., charitable lead and remainder trusts).
Nonprofits and their wholly owned LLC subsidiaries should also be aware of the following less-common situations that will create reporting requirements:
• Mixed ownership joint ventures. LLCs owned or controlled by a combination of (a) one or more 501(c) exempt entities and (b) even one non-exempt entity are not exempt from NYLTA.
• Homeowners’ associations (HOA). LLCs owned or controlled by HOAs exempt from taxation under Code Section 501(c)(4) are exempt from NYLTA reporting. However, LLCs owned or controlled by HOAs (including condominium management associations, residential real estate management associations and timeshare associations) exempt under Code Section 528 are not exempt from NYLTA reporting.
• Organizations that have had their 501(c) exemption revoked: Under the CTA, if an organization has its tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS, it has 180 days from the date of revocation to comply with the reporting requirements. Similarly, wholly owned LLC subsidiaries of 501(c) organizations are required to comply with NYLTA reporting if such exemption is not reinstated by the end of the CTA grace period.
Filing requirements for exempt companies: A major difference between the CTA and NYLTA is that NYLTA requires exempt companies to electronically file a sworn statement of exemption attesting to (among other things), “the specific exemption claimed and the facts on which the exemption is based.” Exempt companies are also required to file annual statements confirming their exempt status.
• For LLCs in existence prior to Jan. 1, 2026, the first report or exemption attestation is due on or before Jan. 1, 2027.
• For LLCs formed after Jan. 1, 2026, the first report or exemption attestation is due within 30 days of formation.
The foregoing is a summary of some of the major NYLTA considerations for nonprofits and wholly owned LLC subsidiaries and is not intended as legal advice. The consequences of violating NYLTA are serious — including both civil penalties and the possibility of dissolution of the LLC — and thus all organizations should be acting now to confirm whether they are subject to NYLTA reporting requirements.
Thomas W. Simcoe is a member, Delaney M. R. Knapp is an associate, and Emily A. Ahlqvist is an associate in the Albany office of the Syracuse–based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. This article is drawn and edited from a Jan. 29 posting on Bond’s website.
N.Y. soybean production rose more than 7 percent in 2024
Farms in New York state produced more than 18.6 million bushels of soybeans last year, up almost 7.4 percent from more than 17.3 million bushels in 2023. That’s according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) crop-production report issued on Jan. 10. The total soybean yield per acre in New York state averaged 51
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Farms in New York state produced more than 18.6 million bushels of soybeans last year, up almost 7.4 percent from more than 17.3 million bushels in 2023. That’s according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) crop-production report issued on Jan. 10.
The total soybean yield per acre in New York state averaged 51 bushels per acre in 2024, unchanged from the prior year, the USDA NASS said. Area harvested for soybeans totaled 370,000 acres last year, up 5.7 percent from 350,000 acres in 2023.
U.S. soybean production rose nearly 5 percent to almost 4.37 billion bushels in 2024 from 4.16 billion bushels the previous year, the USDA reported.
VIEWPOINT: Landing Pages 101: Devising a Strategy For Takeoff
You’ve just spent weeks defining the social posts, the digital ads, and the copy for all the platforms for your latest campaign. The FizzBuzz 3000 (recently updated from the 2000, which is so 2000) is about to hit the market, and so is your campaign. Then your media coordinator asks: “Where are we going to
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You’ve just spent weeks defining the social posts, the digital ads, and the copy for all the platforms for your latest campaign. The FizzBuzz 3000 (recently updated from the 2000, which is so 2000) is about to hit the market, and so is your campaign. Then your media coordinator asks: “Where are we going to send them?”
Then it hits you: you need a landing page. You need to refresh the website. You need to make sure the tracking is set up. Oh no.
Yeah, you could just send them to your company home page. There will be a highlight carousel there, or a featured post or, well, something to tell the user why they just clicked on your ad, your email, your post. Right?
How about a landing page?
When your customers do decide they’re going to click the link, they want to end up on a page that has meaning and value to them. Because up until they spend money with you, the most valuable thing a prospect can give you is time and attention. We can’t squander that. Let’s think about a great user experience for our audience.
The content of your site’s home page is often more about defining your brand, and helping users navigate to the content they’re seeking. Most businesses have multiple audiences they’re delivering content to — existing customers, prospective customers, employees, and job-seekers, just to name a few. There are likely segments within each of those broad categories that are all looking for something different. Unless your company is narrowly focused, your home page probably isn’t the best landing page for a specific campaign.
Instead, think about your campaign’s strategy and goals. Are you creating brand or product awareness? Are you educating on the problem that your offering solves? Or are you trying to get the potential customers that are about to buy clicking a “buy now” button?
Each of those phases of the buying cycle comes with its own content strategy. Knowing that your campaign is targeting a focused segment will help you realize conversions more efficiently, because you will be speaking to that segment, rather than trying to catch-all.
Embedded in your content should be a relevant call-to-action. There are many actions that your prospect might take, and again, which you are looking for is highly dependent on what phase of the buying cycle they are in.
Brand awareness? Sign up for our newsletter. List-building is a great way to help early-stage prospects get to know you, start engaging with your brand, and be receptive to your message. The call-to-action is going to offer a simple (read: one box, one button) newsletter sign-up form. Consider that a conversion for the purposes of tracking as well. List-building might not have direct monetary value, but it does increase your company’s potential energy — a sign the campaign is working.
Getting them to buy now? Well, the call-to-action here is going to be an “Add to Cart” button, ideally. For a service, it might look more like signing up for that free trial.
It’s not going to make sense, though, for the brand-awareness campaign to land on a free-trial pitch. That customer isn’t ready, and actually, might just look at that as being pushy.
Similarly, the customers who ready to buy aren’t here to sign up for your newsletter (and if you want them to sign up, you can always add it to the checkout screen).
Nailing the call-to-action based on the group you’re targeting shows your prospects that you know what they’re looking for, and you’re putting it right in front of them.
Social media is predominantly experienced on a mobile device. If you’re posting on social or placing ads on social platforms, a mobile-friendly, responsive design is needed to accommodate those users.
The design methodology that works best is mobile-first. Starting from a narrow, phone-sized mobile design will really test your content and call-to-action regarding what’s most important. What message will users see first, and how far will they interact before they get to the call-to-action? How much content do you really need to place before users can move ahead?
As you expand to tablet and desktop sizes, you can always shift the content and layout to make use of all the space available. If you start with a desktop layout, you may find yourself making unsatisfying decisions on where to stash the content as the screen size shrinks.
It’s folly to design for an experience that less than a majority of your customers will have. Design for the phone first, and expand it to the desktop second.
You’ve got solid content, you have a great call-to-action, the design is beautiful — now let’s get just a little technical.
In public speaking, they say you have 7 minutes to get your audience’s attention. On the web, you’ve got more like 30 seconds. So, it’s critical that your page loads quickly to get your prospects content while they still have interest and before they swipe away to another site or app.
Google recommends 2.5 seconds to the Largest Contentful Paint — the time it takes the largest image, text block, or video to become visible before the user scrolls the page. It strongly correlates with the user’s perception that the site has loaded (even if it’s not yet fully loaded).
There are many ways to help your site load faster, with various caching solutions, content-delivery networks, and improved image or video compression to deliver the site’s contents more quickly. A tool like Google Lighthouse can assess your landing page load time. It will produce a report with technical recommendations for improving everything from server-response time to image optimization.
Ideally, you should set up a recurring scan using a tool like Lighthouse, so that as you make adjustments and changes to the landing page over time, you don’t accidentally introduce slowness. How fast your page is isn’t just about the speed of the server or the code; it’s also about how heavy the content itself is. Be judicious with the use of large assets like videos. They are certainly compelling, but keep them short and compress them well, or your audience will just move on before they get your story.
Even before your landing page goes live, have a clearly defined campaign strategy and goals. A campaign strategy informs everything else in a campaign. Who are we targeting? What part of the buyer cycle are they in? Where are we going to find them? How are we going to reach them? And once we do reach them, what do we want them to do?
Starting with campaign strategy is the most important part of the process. Without it, you’ll waste time and money. You’ll end up with worse than expected results, and you won’t necessarily be able to build a plan of attack to make an improvement. Your goals aren’t well-defined to make an informed correction.
Paul DeLeeuw is a tech lead at ddm marketing + communications, a marketing agency for highly complex and highly regulated industries.
OPINION: Pump the Brakes on the Electric School Bus Mandate
The disastrous New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which, so far, has amounted to little more than a list of unworkable mandates with an unlimited price tag, continues to stretch the laws of math and physics. As a result of the CLCPA, the 2023 state budget included a provision demanding that school
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The disastrous New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which, so far, has amounted to little more than a list of unworkable mandates with an unlimited price tag, continues to stretch the laws of math and physics.
As a result of the CLCPA, the 2023 state budget included a provision demanding that school districts begin purchasing zero-emission buses by 2027, and by 2035, districts will be expected to convert their entire fleet to electric vehicles. One analysis estimates the total cost of the mandate, excluding infrastructure and facility upgrades, ranges between $8 billion and $15.25 billion.
The idea that rural school districts outside New York City can even begin to find funding for these vehicles is laughable. Residents, taxpayers, and voters have expressed serious concerns about the idea, and school officials have indicated these purchases are unlikely to pass when residents vote on their school-district budgets; numerous school districts [including Onondaga Central School District] recently voted down new bus purchases outside this expensive mandate.
As such, the Assembly Minority Conference has consistently called for a repeal of this mandate and for a full financial analysis of the CLCPA. Last year, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C–Corning) introduced bill A.8447 to delay the mandate until 2045 or until all state agencies have converted their own fleets. It raises the obvious question, why are the state’s school districts required to be the guinea pigs and undertake this transition before the state does?
Additionally, Assemblyman Robert Smullen (R,C–Mohawk Valley and the Adirondacks) introduced a separate piece of legislation alongside Sen. Joseph A. Griffo (A.2005/S.3328) allowing districts to submit an opt-out waiver to the New York State Education Department. Not every district will opt out, but this would be a huge help to those that cannot feasibly make this transition so soon. Both pieces of legislation speak to the same problem: the astronomical cost of this electrification is callous and entirely unreasonable.
Energy policy can be complicated, but there’s a budget reality that’s very clear: When school budgets increase, property tax hikes are never far behind. Forcing New York schools to pay $15 billion to subsidize the green dreams of left-wing policymakers will come at a steep price for every taxpayer.
We all want a better environment. This mandate, though, is asking far too much of our rural districts, especially considering there are major concerns about the safety, reliability, repair costs, and infrastructure needed to electrify the state’s bus fleet. One need only look at a recent bus fire in Massachusetts to see disaster on the horizon. And what about districts whose students live further than a given bus’s battery life? It is abundantly clear the CLCPA is not rooted in any real form of economics or common sense, and the sooner the law is repealed the less time, energy, and money will be wasted trying to satisfy its unrealistic demands.
William (Will) A. Barclay, 56, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses all of Oswego County, as well as parts of Jefferson and Cayuga counties.
OPINION: Our democracy isn’t perfect, but we can improve it
Is the United States a model democracy? Not that long ago, I suspect, most Americans would have answered with a resounding yes. But times have changed. We’ve lost confidence in our own system of government. And it’s not just Americans who question our democracy. Both here and around the world, many people say U.S. democracy
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Is the United States a model democracy? Not that long ago, I suspect, most Americans would have answered with a resounding yes. But times have changed. We’ve lost confidence in our own system of government.
And it’s not just Americans who question our democracy. Both here and around the world, many people say U.S. democracy used to be a model but no longer is such.
The evidence comes from a recent Pew Research Center survey, which found that only one in five Americans think U.S. democracy is a good example for other countries. Fully 72 percent said it used to be a good example, but hasn’t been for several years.
Those are bleak findings. The survey doesn’t tell us why Americans have lost faith in our democracy as a model, but we can guess. For one thing, it has been through a difficult time. Some of its essential principles — respect for the rule of law and for others’ rights, confidence in free and fair elections, etc. — have been under attack.
Some of the survey results may reflect the extreme political polarization that our country is experiencing. With Joe Biden in the White House, Democrats were a little more likely than Republicans to say U.S. democracy was a good model. It won’t be surprising if the numbers flip with Donald Trump as president and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress.
But the fact remains that many Americans, regardless of party, don’t think the system is working for them. Income inequality, inflation, high housing costs and other factors have taken a toll. For the past decade or so, trust in government has been at its lowest point in generations. In 1964, when I was first elected to Congress, almost 80 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing. Now only about 20 percent do.
In 34 other countries where Pew conducted the same survey, a plurality of respondents agreed that that U.S. democracy used to be a good model, but it no longer is. In some of those countries, a significant number said U.S. democracy has never been a good example.
Other research produces similar findings. A Gallup poll from early 2024 found that only 28 percent of Americans were satisfied with how democracy was working, down from 61 percent in 1984. In another poll, more than half said the U.S. is a “poorly functioning democracy.” Even more worrisome, one survey found nearly one-third of Americans would prefer to have a strong leader who could act without interference from other branches of government.
There are plenty of reasons to critique our democracy. Some flaws are part of its design: for example, the lack of equal representation in the Senate. While our elections are generally free and fair, money has had a corrupting influence. Gerrymandering means that many elections are not competitive. The Electoral College concentrates presidential competition in a handful of battleground states. Trump has worsened matters by refusing to accept the result of the 2020 election, threatening to use his appointments to punish political adversaries, and ceding influence to Elon Musk, the world’s richest person.
It’s understandable that Americans are discouraged about our democracy, but I believe its fundamentals are sound. Our system of checks and balances, the balance of power between the three branches, and the concern for individual liberties embedded in the Bill of Rights have served us well for 250 years.
Winston Churchill famously said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the other forms that have been tried. Yes, it can be disappointing, and ours has never been perfect. But our history has been a story of strengthening democracy, expanding rights and making government more responsive. If we’re disappointed with democracy, the answer is to reform it, not abandon it.
Lee Hamilton, 93, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south-central Indiana.
Developer plans to start work on Onondaga Hotel this summer
SYRACUSE — The developer of the proposed 240-room Onondaga Hotel in downtown Suyracuse says the plan is to begin demolition work this summer and that construction work should take about two years to complete. “So let’s say mid-2027 for an opening date,” Suraj Patel, president of Sun Development and Management said in his remarks at
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SYRACUSE — The developer of the proposed 240-room Onondaga Hotel in downtown Suyracuse says the plan is to begin demolition work this summer and that construction work should take about two years to complete.
“So let’s say mid-2027 for an opening date,” Suraj Patel, president of Sun Development and Management said in his remarks at the Jan. 24 project announcement.
The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) has selected Sun Development and Management Companies, one of the largest Hilton hotel developers in the nation, to build the upcoming hotel at the corner of East Fayette Street and South Warren Street. M. Lemp Park currently occupies the site, which is just north of the South Warren Street parking garage.
“We’ve had a lot of housing development, which we know we need, but with some of the housing development, we’ve seen some hotel rooms come offline and that’s presented us with some challenges,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said to open his remarks at the Jan. 24 project announcement. The mayor was among the officials who discussed project details in the City of Syracuse’s office space in One Park Place at 300 S. State St. in downtown Syracuse.
Sun Companies has applied to SIDA to support the project, including sales and use tax, mortgage-recording tax, and property taxes, according to the City of Syracuse announcement.
In total, the project will result in about 330 construction jobs, 52 permanent jobs, and $87 million in new investment for downtown Syracuse, according to the city’s announcement.
The newly constructed nine-story, Onondaga Hotel will be a part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, a high-end boutique brand that focuses on specialty, unique designs rooted in history and local culture. Hotel amenities, including the lobby lounge, restaurant, bar, ballroom, and break-out rooms for conferences and meetings will all be located on the top level, providing a roof-top view of the city and community space for residents and visitors.
The City of Syracuse had partnered with SIDA, which issued a request for proposals for the site that it owns at the corner of East Fayette Street and South Warren Street
Crews will build the hotel property on both the SIDA property and additional land currently occupied by the “structurally compromised Warren Street Garage right next door,” Walsh said.
As a part of the project, Sun Companies will also acquire and demolish the privately-owned Warren Street Garage, per the city. To support the demolition of the parking garage, Syracuse will provide a $400,000 Restore New York grant, Walsh noted in his remarks.
“By repurposing this publicly owned land, working closely with our partners, we’re not only meeting the growing demand for hotel rooms and hospitality services in our city, but we’re activating a new, vibrant space in the heart of downtown,” the mayor said.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon used his remarks to announce a $500,000 grant from the county’s hotel initiative, representing the largest grant the county has awarded from the program.
“I want to congratulate the City, specifically, for having the vision to go out and look at your real estate and look at how that real estate can perform as we as a community strive to become the hub for memory-technology manufacturing in North America,” McMahon told the gathering in the Burnett Executive Conference Room at One Park Place.
Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc., added, “The Onondaga Hotel will fulfill a critical need in the local tourism and convention sectors, support additional tourism activity, and create a new third space for our downtown residents and businesses.”
Utica native opens studio for creatives
UTICA — A little over a year after opening his first business in Utica, Nazaria (Nazzy) Deloach has opened a second business, providing even more space for creatives to do their thing. 4K Creative Studios, LLC, located at 9898 River Road, expands upon what Deloach started when he opened Dreamer Studios, LLC in June 2023.
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UTICA — A little over a year after opening his first business in Utica, Nazaria (Nazzy) Deloach has opened a second business, providing even more space for creatives to do their thing.
4K Creative Studios, LLC, located at 9898 River Road, expands upon what Deloach started when he opened Dreamer Studios, LLC in June 2023.
“I wouldn’t say it was an evolution of Dreamers, but what I wanted Dreamers to be from the start,” he says of his new business venture. “What 4K really is, is a shared creative space. I want it to be the shared creative hub of Central New York.”
While Dreamer Studios focuses on sound recording, 4K Creative has something for every creative type, Deloach explains.
From sports media to photo shoots of all types, 4K offers it all — either with its own team of professionals or just as a space for lease where people do their own work.
4K Creative Studios has two photographers, a videographer, a graphic designer, and Deloach as creative director available to clients. The 1,500-square-foot space is divided into five bays that can be used for photography, podcasting, videography, and more. The studio even offers a green screen, RGB lights, an easel, and a variety of photo backdrops. Those renting the space can also bring in their own props and equipment.
“Even if you have your own photographer or videographer, you can still come in and use the space,” Deloach says. That even includes bouncing ideas off the staff.
It’s all part of Deloach’s vision of a space that gives creatives without a voice a space to have one and a place where creatives meet and form connections with other creatives. “It’s all about unity for me,” he says.
Deloach is hoping the studio will benefit small businesses in the greater Utica area that may have creative ideas but lacked a way to bring them to fruition before.
“I want to be that company for Utica that shows and sheds light on all the other companies,” he says.
Another area Deloach is hoping to really tap into is sports media with local school districts and athletes.
“I know how huge it is to have media days,” he says, adding he’d like to participate in such events with local schools. “In today’s world, sports and showing off your school is huge in social media.”
His studio can give schools or even individual athletes the media they need to show off with products like highlight reels and photos.
Deloach is working to get the word out about his new space through social media, an email campaign, attending Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce events, and more.
He thinks the space itself plus having a creative team on hand helps set his studio apart from the competition.
“We understand what people are coming for,” he says. “It’s a creative space built by creatives. Who wants to go to a baseball stadium built by soccer players?”
4K Creative Studios (www.4kcreativestudios.com) celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 17 via a ribbon-cutting event with the Greater Utica Chamber.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY names new board officer, three new board members
SYRACUSE — Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York (RMHC of CNY) has announced the appointment of a new officer and three new members to its board of directors for 2025. Ron Tascarella, first VP and chief lending officer at Pathfinder Bank, has been named treasurer of the board of directors. The charitable organization
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SYRACUSE — Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York (RMHC of CNY) has announced the appointment of a new officer and three new members to its board of directors for 2025.
Ron Tascarella, first VP and chief lending officer at Pathfinder Bank, has been named treasurer of the board of directors.
The charitable organization additionally announced that Jenny Dickinson, director of special children services at the Onondaga County Health Department; Ben Greene, chief financial officer at KPH Healthcare Services, Inc.; and Geoffrey Henderson, managing director and financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual, have been appointed to the RMHC of CNY board for 2025.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York says it operates the CNY Ronald McDonald House — located at 1100 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse — 24 hours a day, year-round, at no cost for families whose children are receiving inpatient or outpatient medical treatment at Syracuse–area hospitals and affiliated clinics.
Oneida County to contribute $150,000 to B-52 restoration project
ROME, N.Y. — The B-52 bomber displaced and damaged during last July’s tornado in Rome is one step closer to being put back into place.
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