What’s He Talking About?

Yeah, New York is falling apart at the seams, it seems. . . . So Mr. Schumer is proposing to send more federal funds our way.

Great! We’ll take all the help we can get! . . . . But . . .

“We just had a terrible situation where Lowe’s wanted to put one of its major warehouses in Oneida County. And they couldn’t come because there was no water or sewer and there was no money for water or sewer to build what was necessary. To build this major warehouse that would have employed eight hundred to a thousand people,” said Schumer.”

Now where does that story come from? Rome has plenty of water, sewer and space . . . so there should have been no problems in locating in Oneida County.

If the Loews planned to use the Sauquoit Creek Sewer Line of the O.C. Part County Sewer District, or MVWA water outside of MVWA’s current service area . . . there might be problems. But those would have nothing to do with the lack of funds and everything to do with local incompetence and mismanagement.

Who is feeding Mr. Schumer such a tale?

Better Late Than Never . . .

Griffo: Stop Thruway toll increase.

Calling on the Governor to stop the increase is a step in the right direction. But how about supporting Mr. Valesky’s proposed legislation that will require the Thruway Authority to get legislative approval before any increases?

Is it too much to ask that you cooperate with the other party to accomplish something for your constituents?

“Thank yous” will be reserved pending success.

Mr. Griffo and Airline Passengers

Mr. Griffo is co-sponsoring a law to protect fliers stranded on planes in New York.

This is an interesting display of priorities when Oneida County (and, therefore, his Senate District) has NO scheduled airline passenger service, having lost it three or four years ago.

Mr. Griffo, if you want to do something meaningful for your constituents, why don’t you co-sponsor Mr. Valesky’s legislation to require the Thruway Authority to get legislative approval before every toll hike? Or is party loyalty more important?

Open Republican Caucus . . .

The Republicans are opening their county caucus to the public. . . . a baby step in the right direction. But this does not mean that we will hear any actual debate on issues or understand the rationale of their decisions. In days of cell phones and e-mail, there are alternative ways of communicating on issues outside the public view.

We will wait and see if this is a meaningful change . . . or mere window dressing.

The Wrong Approach

Joel Giambra is the County Executive in Erie County. For many years he watched the once great city of Buffalo decline, eventually taking its entire region down with it. To Giambra, who studied what other regions had done, consolidation of local governments appeared to be key to his region’s renaissance. The City of Greater Buffalo would be the result.

Unfortunately he achieved little success. Now both Buffalo and Erie County are run by State Control Boards, their financial houses in disarray.

Per last Friday’s Buffalo News, lame duck Giambra has called upon Governor Spitzer to use the state control boards to act “as tools to achieve a firm new state policy on consolidation and government efficiency.”

To be sure, changes in state policy are needed. And Mr. Giambra is on the right track. But ramming consolidation down people’s throats doesn’t seem right — not that we’re not used to government ramming junk down our throats anyway. But government, particularly New York State government, has shown an uncanny ability to do the wrong thing, especially where Upstate interests are concerned.

No, Albany government ramming consolidation down our throats is not the answer, because whatever Albany does, it does not work. That is the wrong approach.

The right approach is for consolidation to come from the people themselves. Consolidation will come, and come in the proper form, when people see that it gives them more, not less, control over their government . . . and when people have a hand in designing it.

But this will not occur until after the impediments to consolidation are removed.

The biggest impediment to consolidation are our politicians and the denizens of local governments, many of whom would be out of their jobs if it were to take place. They will refuse to make the hard decisions needed for consolidation. The same can be said for any other government reform because people learn to live off the current system, what ever that may be.

People must be given the power to make change more directly.

Initiative, referendum and recall maybe the only way New York will be able to reform itself because it gets around the vested interests. But people in New York have been denied these tools, though we’ve been promised them by various politicians at various times.

We’re sick of ineffective government. Albany, at least give us these tools so we can make needed changes ourselves.

The Voters Have Spoken!

The Voters Have Spoken! For those of us hoping for change it was a mixed bag. At the county executive and district attorney levels, people are content with what we already have — or are at least comfortable enough with what we have to not risk things with new leaders. In Utica, however, the discomfort level motivated enough people to make a change. It will be interesting to see what happens next. The Oneida County Legislature will be getting some new blood, too, and that will be welcome. Hopefully new ideas and new attitudes will follow.

One thing about this election that I think we can agree upon: most races gave the public some real choices this time. The public is getting the government that it wants.

And that is a good thing.

Comfort vs Taking a Chance

Election day is almost here. We must decide who we think is better able to govern.

Do we pull the lever for the new guy? That will thrust us into the scary unknown. We simply don’t know what damage some of these people will be capable of if given the chance.

OR

Do we pull the lever for the incumbent, or the appointed successor? That will give us the comfort of predictability. We know we will get more of the same.

Is more of the same what we want? If it is, we can expect more things like:

• violation of environmental laws, followed by approval of a Consent Order with no deliberation, followed by hiring of engineers by an “inside group” of wrongdoers also with no deliberation.
• trashing public sensibilities while public officials surround themselves with opulence.
• closing streets for the convenience of government officials.
• an economic development agency advertising a site as ‘shovel ready’ when it lacked an essential permit, and blowing the opportunity of our lifetimes.
• the promised “world-class” research facility, Griffiss Institute, that produced no research, but made one very highly paid official before it was turned into an incubator.
• a lease of prime economic-development land to the State for a Homeland Security Training Center with little deliberation, NO benchmarks for State performance, no real State financial commitment, and almost no activity.
• the promised Center for Brownfield Studies in Downtown Utica that turned out to be smoke and mirrors.
• the promised State Data Center that never came.
• abandoning an airport that was perfectly maintained and sized for this area and squandering federal funds to duplicate what we already had.
• losing scheduled air passenger service while smaller metro areas (Binghamton, Elmira, Ithaca) manage to retain theirs.
• Urban Sprawl.
• Storm water problems . . . traffic congestion.
• closed door meetings, 7AM meetings, secret meetings.
• an unheard of 18 year deal, sky high salary, bending the rules, and unusual circumstances surrounding the hiring of a local police chief.
• burying rubble in public parks with little or no public discussion.
• carving up public parks with fences for special interest groups without neighborhood input.
• conviction of an innocent man.
• loss of a long-enjoyed summer festival.
• loss of Utica’s greatest asset and giving it to people who have not paid for it.
• Countless lost manufacturing jobs.
• Lost professional hockey, lost professional baseball … loss of a NASCAR Opportunity.
• Loss of 85,000 people . . . your children, your friends, your neighbors . . . and no end in sight

If you knew 20 years ago what this region would look like today, would you have stayed?

Are you comfortable with more of the same? . . . or are you ready to take a chance?

Left Out . . .

Mr. Picente is complaining that he was not invited to Gov. Spitzer’s announcement on Hinckley.

“It’s really upsetting,” Picente said, adding of the Spitzer announcements, “I don’t know what it’s about.” . . .
“This is an issue I stuck my neck out on,” Picente said.

While the governor displayed poor etiquette in snubbing Mr. Picente, what makes Mr. Picente feel he is more worthy of being invited than representatives from Herkimer County who were also left out . . . and might even be cut out of the discussions on what to do with the Reservoir? Herkimer County is only the home of the reservoir and the West Canada Creek, and many Herkimer County businesses and residents will be affected by what is done.

Mr. Picente was left out . . . Now he knows how we, the public, felt when, with no warning or opportunity for discussion, he:

• Signed a Consent Order obliging us to pay for a $66 million project caused by County and Town misfeasance.
• Hired engineers that were handpicked by the very municipalities responsible for the sewer problem.
• Announced plans to close Park Avenue and turn it into a County parking lot.
• Pushed through the State Homeland Security deal that will tie up prime developable land in Whitestown for years and years with no guarantees from the State on what it will actually do with the land.

Not a very good track record for someone not even in office for a year. It looks like someone has forgotten who is paying his salary and who he is supposed to serve.

Mr. Picente was left out . . . too bad.

Credibility . . .

Credibility — “the quality or power of inspiring belief“

How do you know if someone is telling the truth? You don’t. You have to take what you hear, weigh it against what you already know, and see if it logically fits. When things fit together seamlessly, what is said is credible.

When you do not know a lot about a subject, things can seem to fit together more easily — like the early stages of a jigsaw puzzle. When you do not know a lot about a subject, you tend to trust the other person if that person is thought to have higher knowledge — is an “expert,” or if that person has been given a position of trust. It is assumed that the person is being truthful.

Sometimes trust can be used to mislead.

That is the issue raised by Assemblyman Townsend last week in a press release on “Why we need an independent study of our water supply.” He cites several reasons to question whether or not the public is getting a true picture from the Mohawk Valley Water Authority, and reason to question Mr. Becher’s assertions in particular.

For some reason the major media outlets in Utica-Rome have not sought to print this press release. Perhaps they think it not polite to openly question the credibility of a public official.

But Mr. Townsend seems to think there is good reason to.

Here is some reading on the subject.

• NO ONE KNEW HOW MUCH WAS IN THE TILL – HOW SYRACUSE CITY HALL LOST TRACK OF YOUR MONEY
• HOW SYRACUSE CITY HALL LOST TRACK OF YOUR MONEY – TALE BEGINS WITH BLANK LEDGERS
• FORMER CITY BUDGET DIRECTOR: “I FACED ENORMOUS ADVERSITY’

Now you decide for yourself whether you want to believe what you hear from the MVWA . . . or not.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

It seems that some people in New Hartford are never satisfied. An expanded court facility was rejected by the voters, so now there is movement afoot to demolish an historical structure to create more parking for the current court facility. Is this to “get even?”

Town Fathers constantly want Bigger and Better . . . more, More, MORE . . . . BUT THE POPULATION IS STAGNANT, so why does Town Government need MORE? Town Officialdom has an Edifice Complex… whether for its own buildings or those of developers that will justify growing more government. Personal ambitions drive the Town . . . and the Town — to which most people moved to get away from the city — has become like a city with all the problems of a city. The needs of the RESIDENTS have been lost in all the maneuvering. So the people will be forced to pay more in Taxes and lost Quality of Life so a certain few can play their game.

Let’s think about Court Facilities . . .

Town Court operates at night . . . meanwhile

City Court operates during the day . . .

One is 6 miles from the other . . . and the Utica City Court now has a new parking lot with plenty of spaces. One would think that with one court at night and the other during the day it would make sense for the two to share the same facilities . . .

But there is that pesky municipal Boundary separating New Hartford from Utica. So I guess that is what we are really paying for . . . . the line on a map — and the egos hiding behind it.