The Hayseeds blog, No. 235 for the week starting December 15, 2007.
December 1, 2007
Hayseeds No. 234
December 15, 2007
Hayseeds No. 235
December 22, 2007
Hayseeds No. 235
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Why not? It's political popular to do so. The latest impact that's being discussed is the impact on local businesses and tourism, with former tourism chair Joe Morelle on the record opposing the hikes.
State Assemblyman Joe Morelle (D) said any change in travel could mean less revenues for businesses along the Thruway, and even less money for the region.
The Thruway Authority Board said it's losing money, because there aren't as many drivers using the Thruway anymore. They say fewer cars on their roads means less money for repairs, and in the end, jeopardizing the safety and service drivers see on the Thruway.
Yet some drivers are already planning alternate routes to their destinations, if tolls eventually increase.
The impact on tourism is an interesting one. Will it discourage tourism, or make more people take the blue highways and support more local businesses, rather then the big chains on the Thruway? In some ways, I hope for a toll hike not just for safety, but also to promote more tourism along the rural highways and byways in the state.
It looks like the Spitzer administration is releasing more parolees from prison, reversing the practice of the Pataki administration that didn't release many violent offenders.
Hopefully, the new system is more fairer and ensuring that people who aren't as bad are getting a chance to rebuild their lives outside of jail. We will have to wait and see, and watch the impact on crime on our communities.
There is an interesting article about SUNY's Chief Lobbyist and all around good guy in today's Times Union.
He's a Plattsburgh State graduate, and a true success story, coming from truly modest means. You have to respect him for what he has done in the past, and how he has been an effective voice for SUNY at the Capitol.
The State Office Campus uptown in largely a series of vacant buildings plus a few state agencies in buildings that are very much showing their age. With great promise from state officals, there was the hope that high tech businesses would come to the area.
It looks like now that the state is considering moving it data center to the state office campus along with some SUNY offices to make use of all the vacant space they have. This will make more room for more offices in the overpacked SUNY Campus, and move some people out of the largely state-rented Executive Tower next to Stuyvesant Plaza.
For RoAnn's sake, it looks like the state will be sending some bacon her way for the Marcy site. Maybe not AMD or the state data center, but something that's yet to be announced.
It says something about your legacy when your award ceremony gets about 20 protestors to attend it, and only about 100 elite people attending his award ceremony including the organizers.
That's Commitment, Vision, and Leadership.
"It's an honor to be recognized by the University community with such a distinguished award," Jennings said. "I am proud to have graduated from this university, and I have been privileged to partner with UAlbany for the betterment of the city."
...Protesters cited an increase in crime since the 1990s. The federal Unified Crime Reporting Program said the city's violent crime rate was about 135 per 10,000 people in 2005, while the national rate was about 47 per 10,000.
"Giving this award to the mayor is at odds with how the people in the city of Albany are living," said Anton Konev, who ran unsuccessfully for Albany County Legislature last month.
To say nothing of the fact the city has been essentially bankrupted in the Jennings administration that doesn't know how to say no to spending or how to lay-off people and wealthy contractors that are wasting city money. They've pursued the landfill as their biggest source of revenue without thinking of the consequences. From reading the article, you'd think all Albany has is a crime problem—it's far more then that.
Only time will tell how Jennings is viewed in the future, but I think he will be remember eventually by being the reformer who became the establishment, and did worst then nothing, wasting a lot of city taxpayer money.
It looks like that county is trying to take a number of steps to help out people who can't afford an apartment or house, have been booted out, or forced out because of code problems.
Not only is it Christmas time now, but it's also getting colder out and more difficult to live on the streets. You have to feel particularly sorry for those who work, and work hard, but are unable to get decent housing for their wages, or our too mentally ill to do better.
While last year we got to learn a lot about how Pataki wanted to mold these 300 acres in suburban Albany into something beyond an aging state office campus, today we will hear Spitzer's version of the plans for the campus.
The version proposed by Pataki looked fantastic on paper, but who knows what it look like in reality. The previous plan called for the redevelopment to last up to 30 years, and for several of the state offices like tax and finance to remain housed in there for another decade and a half.
The reality is there isn't much of a use for that land except what the state is using it for. Still, it's good to see it be heading back on the city tax rolls, and to see it being developed in a compact fashion. Moving state offices back downtown, has really helped the vitality of the city downtown.
It looks like there won't be session until next year and the NYRA franchise won't be renewed or replaced until next year, as the legislature could come up with no deals or agreements on how to run racing in New York State.
The Senate did pass pay raises for judges, giving them the pay hike that they are threatening to sue about.
Without thinking the Troy City Council, on their way out, wants to approve another Rite Aid in the middle of several historic properties without serious consideration of the impact on the community.
New York City Schools are explicitly banning nativity, claiming that they are only allowing secular displays for the holidays.
They are do allow many things:
The Department of Education allows holiday decorations as long as they are "secular." In that category it includes menorahs, Christmas trees, and the Islamic Star and Crescent — but not the nativity scene, or crèche.
So Jews get to have their display, but not Christians. That doesn't seen particularly fair, nor does forcing kids to only celebrate the secular aspects of the holidays. Everybody knows that the main holiday people are celebrating in Christmas, the celebration of Christ's birth. We are after all, a largely Christian nation.
That doesn't mean that people who want to have menorahs should be prohibited, or any other religious celebration. Unlike the secular traditions, Christian, Jewish, and African tradition don't encourage consumerism, but all are related to a celebration of the winter season and respect for our natural world around us.
The activists will cite a recent court decision they say leaves a door open to adding the crèche to the city's approved decorations list.
The Catholic League's communications director, Kiera McCaffrey, said activists would also argue that eliminating nativity scenes is discriminatory.
"A menorah is certainly a religious symbol, as is the Star and Crescent, as is the crèche," Ms. McCaffrey said. "If other religions get religious symbols, Christianity should as well."
Although I have to say it sounds like on paper the city's policy is pretty reasonable:
City policy also requires that all holiday displays be temporary, and that they be posted in groups, with each symbol representing one belief being matched by another representing a different one.
"The primary purpose of all displays should be to promote the goal of fostering understanding and respect for the rights of all individuals regarding their beliefs, values and customs," it says.
This is an important issue that deserves more public attention.
The Buffalo News pointed out something that is obvious to most people who have traveled parts of our state, that every city needs to be viewed for it's strengths and solutions built to best suit each city.
One of my concerns has been how under Pataki administration, Main Street revitalization funds where used to rebuild Main Streets with the same cookie-cutter design, whether you are in Windham or Fairport (outside Rochester). Spitzer seems more considerate of local communities.
A teenager at Shaker High School decided to take his life by jumping off the flyover ramp over I-90, hitting I-787 some 120 feet below at 8:45 AM this morning.
I know co-workers who saw the kid, in his gray sweater, walking back and forth trying to deciding whether or not he should jump and take his life. Another one, saw him covered in a sheet by the state police, as they drove past.
According to the Times Union, many people stopped and tried to suggest to him that there where alternatives to jumping. Unfortunately, they could not persuade him and he chose to take his life. It has to be terrible to be one of those people or even one who just drove by, and always be wondering if there was something that could have been done to save this person's life.
I don't have any idea who this kid was besides what is described in the newspaper or what I've heard from second hand accounts. Yet, it's a tragedy not just to the family, friends, and school community, but to all of us as a society which must wonder why we failed somebody so badly, particularly in the holiday season.
Why must our holiday season be so much about reinforcing consumeristic values? Why can't it be more about celebrating life, and the birth of our savior—the man who will ultimately save us if we follow his lead to a better place both in heaven and on earth?
Responding to the concerns of many environmentalists and residents about the unnecessary demolitions of existing buildings in the state office campus as it supposedly transitions into a multi-model high-tech campus.
Spitzer says we should keep the existing buildings and make them more green, tearing up massive parking lots and replacing them with other tall-private sector buildings and parking garages.
Spitzer's predecessor, Gov. George Pataki, also had offered a grand design for the campus, but it called for demolishing state offices and relocating workers. Spitzer calls for keeping everything and everyone in place while marketing four unoccupied buildings and dozens of undeveloped acres to buyers, builders and tenants.
Envisioned are large new private-sector buildings, bigger than the existing state offices.
It's all about creating new jobs, he said, and turning "an underutilized state asset into a center for technological innovation."
This plan is far more realistic then the Pataki plan, that if implemented would have taken decades, and cost far more money then a far more integrated model. Plus, it seems likely that any business that would move in there, would want to be around state offices, and be working with that kind of business.
It also seems that Spitzer really understands how to develop our cities in a green fashion that is grounded in reality and not grandiose statements.
A picture from the Times Union from the conference shows Spitzer at his shining best:
To which they said, you gotta be kidding and promised to stay for their full three or six year terms.
The Thruway Authority is designed to be independent and free from political influence, by having terms that are not consecutive to that of the governor or the legislature. They're job is to maintain the highway, at the best cost to people who choose to drive on it.
If they believe that it's neccessary to raise tolls to pay for the level of maintenance they see neccessary, then so be it. That's their independent decision, derived what they believe to be right for New York Thruway drivers.
In contrast, politicans are just pandering to voters. Of course, they're against any thing that would make things more expensive for consumers.
Thanks to our friends at DailyKOs, we now know that federal government is spending way more money on shredding then they ever did in the past under the Clinton administration.
As the people at Daily Kos wonder—what exactly are they spending so much shredding on?
