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PENNY SAVER: CNY’S BEST BUSINESS SERVICE DIRECTORY INSIDE!
Coming full-circle Ophelia’s Place founder to retire
N. Syracuse mulls change to village center zoning By Ashley M. Casey Associate Editor
The Village of North Syracuse Board of Trustees is considering the addition of automotive repair shops as an allowed use in the C-3 Village Center zoning district. The board discussed the issue at its Nov. 10 meeting. There are two auto repair shops — Mercury Speed and Garry’s Auto Repair — on North Main Street. Mayor Gary Butterfield said Garry’s is closing and the building has sold, and the owner of Mercury Speed wants to sell that business as well. Patrick Barry, owner of Mercury Speed, had secured a variance for his service station, but the variance is not transferrable to a new owner. Currently, C-3 allows establishments such as retail stores, offices, places of worship, schools and multi-family housing. Special permits under C-3 allow restaurants, hotels/motels and recreation centers. Butterfield said he and Village Attorney Robert Germain discussed the possibility of allowing auto repair shops in C-3. “I’d rather have another auto repair than two more smoke shops,” he said. “Or Dollar Generals,” Trustee Christopher Strong added. The village board will hold a public hearing on the issue at 6:29 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8.
By Ashley M. Casey Associate Editor MaryEllen Clausen first announced her retirement from Ophelia’s Place more than 10 years ago — on the cover of the first-anniversary issue of Syracuse Woman Magazine, no less — but she found herself unable to step away from the Liverpool-based nonprofit she founded. Now, a decade later, she is calling it quits for good. “I feel like I’ve cried ‘wolf ’ too many times,” she said. Clausen is stepping down at the end of the year from Ophelia’s Place, which offers resources to those struggling with eating disorders and promotes a healthier culture around body image. Her daughter, Holli Zehring, is taking her place as CEO. If a recent email to Ophelia’s Place supporters announcing the changing of the guard is any indication, Clausen seems to prefer the word “transition” to “retirement.” “I don’t feel like I’m ready to retire. I’m always going to want to do meaningful, purposeful work, but the organization is ready for me to retire and pass it onto Holli,” Clausen said. Previously, Zehring was the director of Ophelia’s Place West, located in Gilbert, Arizona — just outside of Phoenix — where she resides with her family. As teenagers, Zehring and her sister, Nicole, were both struggling with eating disorders. Frustrated at the difficulty their family encountered accessing mental health services, Zehring and Clausen founded Ophelia’s Place in 2002. Clausen opened Café at 407 in 2009 to provide a funding stream for the nonprofit organization. As she withdraws from day-to-day operations at Ophelia’s Place and the café, Clausen is writing a book about her experience with both enterprises. “A Café with a Cause” will offer nonprofit leaders an inside look at how to generate revenue. “I think more and more nonprofits have to be thinking about sustainability from that perspective,” she said. “It’s so hard — it takes so much energy to fundraise. It often takes you away from the mission of the organization.” Clausen said her daughter has a great vision for Ophelia’s Place and is “more than ready to take over the organization.” Zehring said her short-term goals for the nonprofit are to continue
WORK BUY SELL TRADE GET IT DONE
‘Park at Dark’ a success
Kim Lane, president of The Bville Connection, presented at the Nov. 10 meeting about the nonprofit events committee’s Park at Dark event, which took place Oct. 1 at Heritage Park. North Syracuse Parks and Recreation Director Tony Burkinshaw had worked with Lane and The Bville Connection when he worked for the town of Lysander’s parks and recreation department. Lane said Park at Dark drew more than 500 visitors and featured 40-plus vendors from Baldwinsville, Camillus, North Syracuse and beyond. “That’s what The Bville Connection is about: we like to connect people and resources, whether it’s in Baldwinsville or inviting Baldwinsville people to other places that we know are really great and have good things to offer.” Park at Dark featured trick-or-treating, crafts, games and a “Trail or Treat” to encourage kids to be physically active. Volunteers from the CanTeen center in Cicero supervised the creation of luminaries for the Trail or Treat. Lane presented the village of North Syracuse with a $500 donation. “We hope that you can earmark this for a scholarship for somebody to go to summer camp,” she said. Other proceeds from the event benefited the CanTeen and Purpose Farm, a farm sanctuary in Lysander that connects at-risk youth with rescue animals.
Alice G. Patterson
MaryEllen Clausen, founder of Ophelia’s Place, is retiring from the organization. raising awareness of eating disorders, identifying the gaps in resources, and relaunching the organization’s digital course, which focuses on the relationship between eating disorders and the greater culture. The course can help people in their recovery process as well as mental health professionals trying to gain a better understanding of the topic. Looking back, Clausen said Ophelia’s Place not only helped her family persevere through Holli and Nicole’s own eating disorders, but it helped Clausen cope with her own anxiety. Over time, the nonprofit’s mission has expanded to address the stigma of other mental health conditions and push back against diet culture and shame. “I’m grateful to the community for believing in the work,” she said. “I think we definitely have evolved over the years and hopefully we’ve shed a light on the stigma of mental illness.” Clausen said she is grateful for everyone who has passed through the doors of 407 Tulip St., from customers and clients to employees and community supporters. “They’ve all kind of left a piece of
Christin Leah Photography
Holli Zehring is taking over as CEO of Ophelia’s Place. Her mother, MaryEllen Clausen, founded the nonprofit.
themselves in the café,” Clausen said. Clausen’s best bit of advice for Zehring and the next generation of the nonprofit’s leaders? “Look at failure from a different lens.” “We failed a lot over the years and tried things that didn’t work, but also those were my greatest opportunities for learning and resilience,” Clausen said. “It’s hard especially in the nonprofit world because you feel like, ‘I can’t fail — we have to keep our doors open.’” One of those “failures,” Clausen Clausen
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Troublesome tree
A resident on Herman Drive has asked the village to look into trimming or removing a tree. While village officials said they were not sure if the tree is in the right-of-way, Strong said multiple homeowners have complained about property damage from Spectrum moving around the tree to access utilities. Strong asked if the village could mediate between an affected homeowner and Spectrum to see what the cable company can do to address the issue. Trustee Fred Wilmer said the village should find out for sure if the tree is in the right-of-way before taking action.
Codes officer needed
As the village’s search for a new codes enforcement officer continues, the trustees discussed appointing Sheila Weed as interim codes enforcement officer. Weed previously served in this role after the resignation of David Barnhart in 2017. Brian Johnstone served as codes enforcement officer from 2017 to October 2022. The village’s need for a codes officer is urgent as a developer has fallen behind on its weekly reports for a new development. The village issued a stop-work order for the project. Weed is scheduled to inspect the property soon. Butterfield said the village will find out Weed’s hourly rate.
NSCSD families and staff asked to participate in focus groups Members of the North Syracuse Central School District community are invited to provide feedback on district communications through focus groups during the month of November. The focus groups are part of the district’s voluntary communications audit, which began earlier this school year. Through the communications audit, communication specialists from Capital Region BOCES are reviewing the district’s communication processes and practices and will provide recommendations for improvement. The audit process includes a review of print
and online communications, interviews with key employees and focus groups with various stakeholders.
Community Focus Groups
Three community focus groups are scheduled. The first community focus group meeting will take place in-person on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 5:30 p.m. The in-person meeting will be held at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building Additional virtual community focus group meetings are taking place on Nov. 28 at 11 a.m. and Nov. 29 at 6 p.m.
Staff Focus Groups
Two virtual faculty/staff focus sessions
are scheduled. They will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 2:15 p.m. and on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 3:15 p.m. Focus groups will be facilitated by staff from Capital Region BOCES. Responses will be anonymous so participants are encouraged to be open and honest with their feedback. District leaders anticipate that the results of the communications audit will provide them with information about what the district does well, identify areas for improvement and outline steps district employees can take to better com-
municate with the entire school community. Employees interested in participating in one of the staff focus groups should RSVP by Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. Community members interested in participating in one of the community groups should RSVP by Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. Information on how to register can be found at nscsd.org. If employees cannot participate in one of the virtual employee groups, they are invited to attend a community session provided they also live in the district.
Volume 130, Number 46 The Star-Review is published weekly by Eagle News. Office of Publication: 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse, NY 13206. Periodical Postage Paid at Syracuse, NY 13220, USPS 316060. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Star-Review, 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse, NY 13206.
SPORTS: C-NS wins sectional title.
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schools: LCSD students receive Junior High Area All-State Honors.
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Calendar �������������������� 3 death notices ����������� 5 Editorial ��������������������� 6 letters ������������������������ 6
Obituaries ������������������ 5 PennySaver ���������������� 8 Sports ������������������ 12-13