TCAT has called Ithaca Hours, after a meeting between our Boards last month, to say they would like to start accepting Ithaca Hours for bus fares.

Details are unformed, but we imagine that at first, Hours will be accepted in partial payment for passes, rather than in the fare box.

The Hours board is happy and excited about this partnership. The collaboration between a local currency and a governmental entity is an important development.

Please check back with us here for details of developments as they occur.

Paul Strebel, the newest member of the Ithaca Hours Board, was featured in the April 2009 edition of "Senior Market Advisor" magazine, a trade publication for the finance professions.

"Paul Strebel Puts the Recession in Perspective," says the cover article.

Paul runs the Strebel Planning Group in Ithaca, established in 1984 to provide financial services for businesses and individuals. He is a certified public accountant, certified financial planner, and a lecturer at Cornell.

Paul's message in the magazine article includes the idea that, in these difficult economic times, people "want to know how they're protected and what control they have." He notes the importance of "nurturing the client," and promoting confidence through competence and clarity.

The magazine notes that "Strebel Planning Group regularly advocates giving back to the community it serves, and regularly encourages others to do the same."

We at Hours feel lucky having Paul doing that with us. Thanks, Paul, and congratulations on the well-deserved recognition.

A few weeks ago, Ithaca Hours took on a virtual face, we guess, as a member of Facebook.

The posting was done by David Makar, who also designed the Hours.org web site.

Dave is quite a hand for such things, which he does professionally at 544 Productions, an Ithaca Hours member business, highly recommended.

On the Facebook page, you can sign on as a fan of Ithaca Hours, and be cool. At the moment, there are 84.

We post things there that don't necessarily make their way here, so by all means, have a look.

Ithaca Blog today featured a quick, local reaction to an article in today's NY Times about Vauban, a suburban town in Germany designed around pedestrians, bicyclists, and trams, rather than cars.

70 % of families of Vauban don't own cars. With visionary but goal-oriented planning, they have built a safe, clean community free of the expense and problems of widespread car ownership.

For those occasional errands and trips when a car is handy, Vauban has car-sharing programs. This is a step we have taken in Ithaca, too, with Ithaca Carshare.

You can learn about Carshare's programs at www.ithacacarshare.org. Note that Carshare accepts Ithaca Hours.

The Ithaca Blog article includes a brief message from Jennifer Dotson, executive director of Ithaca Carshare, to Ithaca Blog readers and Ithaca Hours users.