Hayseeds No. 263

Monday, June 23, 2008

Albany Contenplates Fewer Voting Machines. It looks like to save money and ensure compliance with HAVA, they are discussing reducing polling places from 72 to 43. P'Link

Obama, Hillary Clinton to Campaign Together On Friday. They want to ease tensions from the past primary season. P'Link

George Carlin Mourned As Counterculture Hero. He passed away during the past weekend.

Those words of course are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cock-sucker, motherfucker, and tits. All things that all of us humans do with some regularness, even if we don't want to admit it. P'Link

Exhibit Sheds Light On Early Albany Slum. TU looks at Sheridan Hollow's distant history and how it's always been the slum of Albany. P'Link

Lawmakers Scramble to Pass Late Bills. The TU runs down the last minute legislation that is likely to pass today. P'Link

State Workers Swapped Silence for Severance. Several NY Power Authority workers have signed nondisclosure agreements to get pay perks upon their resignations. P'Link

Paterson, Bruno, Silver to Talk With Press. Expect a press conference at 3:15 PM to announce new deals being reached on legislation.

You can watch it live here:

P'Link

Preservationists Discover Value in the Recent Past. Apparently some people are starting to wake up to the historic virtues of Brutalism and International-style buildings and why it's important to preserve them.

[In the 1960s] the brownstones weren’t seen as significant enough to save. And now, some buildings from the Empire State Plaza’s era are in the same boat — preservationists point out their historical merit while the general public considers them ugly.

The “recent past” preservation movement was born in 1995, when the National Park Service published a book on 20th century building materials and held a conference on preserving those structures, thrusting linoleum and Sheetrock into the same circle as stone, brick and wood building materials.

Besides the Empire State Plaza, the University at Albany campus and the Schenectady County Public Library’s Central Branch are also examples of public landmarks built in the recent past.

“Look at the difference between the [Capitol building] and the Empire State Plaza,” said Kimberly Konrad Alvarez, a local preservationist. “That was just different thinking in two different centuries of what was monumental.” Tobin is watching to see whether renovations to the library in Schenectady will preserve the building’s original style.

“This is really the junction point for that building,” she said.

I don't see how anybody can argue that Brutalism or International Style is any uglier or beautiful then the Brownstones and brick buildings built 60 or 100 years ago. Indeed, I think it's great that people are waking up to the fact that the Empire Plaza is as historic if not more historic then some of the buildings demolished to build it.

Remember, we demolished non-historic brick buildings of the 1910s and 1920s without thinking as they where considered not particularly an asset to our communities. Now we are in the 2000s, and we have to make a decision about many of the older buildings of the 1950s and 1960s, and decide which ones are worth keeping. P'Link

Aubertine Offered NYPA Job By Paterson? That's what been flying around the rumor mills this day, fueled by a denial by the governor and a press release by Aubertine. P'Link

Joe Bruno Not Going to Run for Election. That's what the The Daily Politics Blog is reporting.

P'Link

Bruno Won't Seek Reelection. This breaking story on the TU is one to give a little bit of pause to tonight.

Bruno's decision will end a more than three-decade career that led him to become one of the most powerful men in state government, and the defacto leader of the state Republican Party.

Insiders say Assemblyman Roy McDonald, R-Wilton, is Bruno's preferred replacement for his Senate seat, although Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino is said to be interested, too.

It also means a seat that had been considered a safe one for Republicans will not necessarily be a sure thing this fall. With all New York lawmakers' two-year terms ending in December, Republicans are defending their narrow 32-30 majority in the Senate, the party's last stronghold in state government. Democrats now hold the governor's post and dominate the Assembly by a 106-42 margin.

Should Bruno, 79, be followed by other older senators into retirement, the GOP would lose the power of incumbency in even more districts, further threatening the party's control of the chamber.

It should be very interesting to see what happens next. P'Link

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Region Losing Its Advocate. Joe Bruno will be remembered for all the pork he brought to the Capital Region including the sprawling North Greenbush Tech Park, the supposed AMD Malta tech park, and the delusions of grandeur of tech valley. P'Link

Obama Campaign Retires Altered Presidential Seal. This so stupid that people are making a big deal about this symbol. P'Link

What’s Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer. This article is quite interesting as it looks at how the law is catching up with the net. P'Link

Small Fire in Corning Tower Quickly Extinguished. Apparently an elevator motor caught on fire at 7:30 this morning but quickly was put out on one of the top floors of the building. P'Link

Lure of Big Paycheck Tugs at Graduates Considering Public Service. Fewer ivy league graduates are choosing to go into public service. P'Link

Road to Growth Not in the City. Not surpisingly most development took place outside of the city in the suburbs, due to a lack of available land in our cities. P'Link

Sources: Bruno to Step Down Immediately As Senate Leader. Senator Dean Skelos will be elected by Senate Republicans to take his place reports the Daily Gazette. P'Link

Goodbye Senator Joe Bruno. I have to say I am still quite shocked to hear about the Senate Majority Leader's announcement that he will not seek re-election and his replacement by Senator Dean Skelos of Long Island. He has served the state well for the past 32 years as a State Senator and the past 14 years as Senate Majority Leader.

I certainly did not agree with him at all times, but evidence is that he served his conference well throughout the years. He was a forceful advocate for both his district and the members he served as the leader of the Senate Republicans. His leadership remained steady throughout the many rough spots the Senate has faced over the years.

I don't know if the Senate Republicans will continue to have control of the chamber or if the math and contemporary trends are moving so strongly against them that there is no hope for their preservation. That is too bad as the Senate Majority has always served as an important check against the State Assembly and the Governor.

Looking back I'm sure people will find cracks in his leadership over the years. They'll question his business dealings, and whether or not he was too friendly to big business or big labor interests. He's probably to a certain degree guilty to all of those things. Yet, he still was a good man. P'Link

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

State Takes No Action On Colonie Tax. The Senate left town earlier today (actually Tuesday !) and did not take up the bill effectively killing it, unless it's addressed in a later special session. P'Link

Assembly Near On Harriman Tax Deal. It looks like the City of Albany will be getting between $5.5 and $11 million in PILOT payments for the Harriman campus lands. P'Link

Who To Blame for the Death of the Tax Cap? That's what the New York Sun looks at. P'Link

Bruno Resigned from Majority Leader After FBI Siezed Files. That's what the NY Post reports. P'Link

Citizens Bank Waves Goodbye to the Adirondacks. So if your planning to bring you ATM card there to pickup some cash, forget it as your bank won't be there anymore. P'Link

Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape. They said if the child doesn't die you can't kill the perpetrator. P'Link

Lieberman Cites Reasons for Supporting McCain. I got to give Lieberman for being, well himself. This NPR Interview looks at why Lieberman is supporting McCain. P'Link

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Skelos Thinks Bruno Won't Finish Term. That would leave the Senate Chamber 31-30 with Republican still having the majority, but should they come back they would have to gain at least one democrat support to pass any legislation to have officially half the chamber to pass a bill (it takes 32 votes to pass legislation in the Senate). P'Link

Poll: Tonko Ahead in the 21st CD. He's the only candidate with name recongition at this point, and got about 41% of the picks by people asked about him. P'Link

Supreme Court Rejects Millionaire's Amendment. Apparently candidates that oppose self-financed candidates can't increase their donation limits to make up for their competitive disadvantage under today's Supreme Court ruling. P'Link

Friday, June 27, 2008

WTF License Plate To Be Replaced For Free? Apparently the North Carolina DMV didn't realize that WTF is probably not a good way to start off a plate number. P'Link