The Hayseeds blog, No. 162 for the week starting June 18, 2006.
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Hayseeds No. 162
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Not in 2006, but it looks like David Patterson is pushing for him to run in 2008 should mental health parity not get passed by that point.
The skinny but tan and aging man with the grey suit that sits back in the back of the county legislature and sometimes mumbles about manure management and how the city is screwing the Hilltowns, is proposing that the county set up an agency to study partnering with NYSERDA to promote renewable energy. It would be based on an old public authority:
Nearly 60 years ago, the state Legislature approved the Albany County Heat, Light and Power Authority, but it never came to fruition, Gordon said.
Now it's time to revive the plan and rename it the Albany County Renewable Energy Power Authority, he said. It would operate like the Albany County Airport Authority with directors appointed by the county executive and the legislature.
The obvious reason that's he's interested in this is that it's possiblity for him to make more money on his farm. He's basically retired now and has a county pension, plus the income he makes from selling hay and the few steers he has. Add the ability to make willow or corn into ethanol that could be really good for him and his farming friends.
Yet, it seems beyond that he's interested in hydro-electric possibly from the city's resivours or windmills on high hills like in Rensellearville or even Knox (again more money for farmers :). He notes most of the industry (like grist mills) in the hilltowns used hydro as renewable energy a century ago.
It's a really good proposal for everybody in the county, be it the farmers or consumers of energy. I can just see a vibrant farm economy powered by enathol, once we figure out this whole ethanol thing.
Besides Sandy Gordon, we now have the now-Republican Comptroller Mike Conners supporting his proposal along with a plan to actively investigate oil wholesalers at the Port of Albany to ensure neither the station nor the wholesaler is ripping people off for the their fuel. He says that the county charter limits his supoena power, but he's doing what he can.
The EPF game continues on with Pataki trying to steal funds from it to fund his pet projects, while muncipalities and projects that get monies are increasingly worried that they will be left without these essential monies.
After all, Gov. George Pataki, the Republican-led Senate and the Democrat-led Assembly agree that $200 million of this year's $112-billion state budget should go toward the fund, which doles out money for everything from municipal recycling to the South Shore Estuary Reserve.
But one week before the end of the legislative session, the money remains unallocated and environmental advocates say the fund is being held hostage while the legislature tries to pry more money out of the lame-duck governor for unrelated budget items. And they fear that the funds may not go through at all, leaving local efforts that depend on state money in limbo.
"All of these things will either stop or take a political setback," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
They are down to 5 more days, including today. They will leave tonight not to come back until Monday, the last week of session. Yet, despite the lack of time, Pataki simply won't let this not get passed at it would look horrible for him. And Shelly probably doesn't want to be an anti-environmentalist either. It's so little money, boys, let's git-r-done.
Apparently this morning the DOT about 5 gallons of paint on the road, leading to several cars getting paint all over them. That will most likely cost us taxpayers a couple of bucks, though I suspect the damage to cars is relatively little.
The ultra-partisan blog (unlike NYC whose only ideology is my own :) for national Democrats has an interesting series called the Libertarian Democrats. It's an interesting read, even if you don't really agree with much.
If you go anywhere near the Schoharie Valley you see big "Flood Evacuation Route" signs every mile or so on almost every road. It seems that the city has plans to move people all over should the Schoharie Valley get destroyed by the dam failing up above. I can see why people are scared, very scared.
Maybe failed would be a better word, with the Pine Bush Commission basically saying that new test wells couldn't be built, at least until the city can come up with a better solution to their taking of some preium Pine Bush acrage:
Before the session, commission Stewardship Director Joel Hecht told commission members that the "proposed landfill expansion would take an irreplaceable piece of the best" part of the dunes and scrub pine in the Pine Bush.
That and city really pissed off the Pine Bush commission by running a big bulldozer path in to put the wells in, tearing down any scrub pines that got in the way. To put those wells in, they needed little more then four-wheeler access path or maybe a skid-loader path. At any rate, they blame it on Riffenberg, but it seems unlikely that the DGS and ultimately the mayor didn't know first.
Mayor Jennings and poor Bill Bruce whose getting bossed aroud claim that it's going to cause some serious problems for the city:
Environmentalists say giving up part of the 3,000-acre preserve to the dump sets a dangerous precedent, but the city warns of a looming garbage crisis unless something is ready before the current dump is full by 2009. The dump serves Albany and 12 other municipalities and private haulers.
Umm... You mean fisical crisis there, Mr. Mayor, right? At any rate, we live in the world of free-market garbage these days, where people regularly haul garbage wherever it's cheapest to dump. Already, thanks to flow control being struck down, lots of garbage misses the ANSWERS system and is either shipped out of state.
The Times Union keeps perputating the myth that the city is serious about Coeymans:
A proposal to build a new regional landfill on 363 acres in Coeymans also appears stalled amid local opposition and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers findings this year that part of the site contains wetlands.
This among the the hundreds of other landfill sitting processes in our state that have all failed since 1990 except for 2 new ones (all in WNY) and 17 expansions of existing dumps including path Rapp Road expansions. Of course, we all still must remain vigelent because we are dealing with the city of Albany, and they've been known to go for proposals that the economics really stink on.
I've been keeping a close eye on any new bills that relate to the taking of Pine Bush back for landfill. Right now I've not seen anything, but I will keep looking—though it's hard as things move so fast in the legislature these final days, and LRS is infrequently updated.
If you find out anything, please drop me a line: andy@nycowboy.org and it probably wouldn't hurt give Lynne Jackson pinebush@aol.com an email too.
It looks like the Adirondack Porn Agency now is losing another member from the Adirondacks meaning that 3 out of 11 seats are empty with two of them being Adirondack residents.
There is a real push by some get things done now, particularly with Republicans with Pataki connections that hope to steamroll proposals through the Park Agency before Spitzer's people start enforcing the law.
There is an incentive for Pataki to appoint new commissoners so that they would last into the Spitzer administration, but it seem very unlikely that will happen as there is only 4 more session days left, and APA commissoners have never been a real priority for us.
And that his beliefs generated though racial experience caused him to see things then some of the machine people? Those questions are given a nice look in Upstream.
The NYT Blog tell us something most of us already know, that Clinton is going to do all In the final hours of the session, Shelly has come up with a one-house bill that the Senate doesn't like to reform lobbying in New York. Sounds promising, eh?
It's a tad bit offensive, but great. You can see it at the TU blog.
It looks like Noble Power up in Churubusco (Windmill people in Franklin County) is looking for locals who are electricians and the alike to service their windmills when they finally go into operation in Altona, Clinton and Ellenburg (all Northern Clinton County—about 25 miles North West of Plattsburgh). It's very exciting to see things going to the next step.
For the first time, the state legislature has past a law that gives cities the power to float bonds to fix up historical buildings that are privately owned but are falling apart with the owner refusing to pay for repairs.
It's not clear from the story who picks up the tab for the bonds when the owner continues to refuse to pay for the cost. Yet, it does buy time and allow muncipalities to fix up buildings first and then collect later for things that should have paid by the owners in the first place.
Lynne Jackson sent out an action alert encouraging city of Albany residents (or those wishing to pretend to be city residents on the voting rolls :), are asked to go to a Public Hearing on Monday at 7 PM in City Hall on a resolution that would...
The Albany Common Council will vote on June 19 to ask the NYS Legislature to remove 10 acres from the Pine Bush Preserve for the landfill expansion.
As she goes on to note, this may be the only time you can tell the machine-hacks at City Hall about your feelings on the issue. It is ensured that you'll have to walk in front of lots of grubby union garbagemen who'd rather have your head then let you testify, so it will be fun. It's very important as...
The Common Council is sneaking this legislation through at the last minute so that there is not enough time to raise objections. It is extremely important that as many people as possible attend and speak on June 19 and/or contact their Common Council member. The City needs to know how the citizen feel about the Pine Bush.
Also besides attending the hearing, don't forget to contact your city legislator at 434-5090 or the one who you think should be your legislator, and tell them that it's a truly bad idea.
Yesterday, there was a fascinating letter in the TU suggesting a solution to the County's problems would be to disovle the County Legislator, the hulking 39-member body that currently represents many different areas in the county.
The LtE is right insofar as it notes that Albany County's legislature is big, and ridden with patronage people. The prior is questionable compared to other counties on an legislator-per-resident ratio (Clinton County is one to every 8,700—Albany is about 7,800). The later is true in every county, as almost nobody knows who the hell is their county legislators.
We could probably shave our county legislature somewhat, and cut out the massive mess that goes on debating relatively meaningless policy decisions, except that would cut representation. In the hilltowns, that would mean we would only have one legislator or depending how small we make the body, we might even be sharing one with suburbia.
Maybe I'll put it more bluntly: if we merge Chuck Houghtaling and Sandy Gordon's district, who would end up getting it? I would hope the later, but it would make legislative districts massive. Sandy Gordon's district already is roughly 250 square miles, not exactly small. Then again, that's biggest county legislative district as ones in the city are less then a square mile. I never understood one person one vote that well. :)
That sounds purty disappointing, until one realizes that 2/3 of people have never heard of Gillibrand, and most that learn about who she is are pretty positive. It's going to be a tough race it looks like.
Yet, I think we can do it. It's essential we win back the house this year, and this might be a seat that we can win. Kirsten is a truly impressive person, and it seems that she has a vision of a truly progressive area across the vast expanses of her district.
Also be cynical of the source:
A poll commissioned by Saratoga County Republicans shows incumbent U.S. Rep. John Sweeney with a wide lead in the 20th Congressional District race, but capturing only slightly over half the vote...
...The poll by Zogby International shows Sweeney leading Gillibrand 51 percent to 27 percent. A little over 22 percent were undecided. The poll of 401 likely voters, done June 6-7 across the vast 20th Congressional District, had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. The largest chunk—32 percent—came from Sweeney's home base in Saratoga County...
...Sweeney had a favorable rating of 63 percent; about 25 percent havd an unfavorable view of him. Gillibrand's favorable-unfavorable rating was 22 percent to 8 percent, while most—69 percent—said they were unfamiliar with her.
We will have to wait and see.
It looks like the following will happen according to Lynne Jackson:
So make sure to let your Senator and Assemblymember know ASAP. Soon we should hopefully have an e-form for doing that.
Jack McEneny as noted on Saturday has finally crafted a bill that would alienate land from the Pine Bush in promise for twice as many acres of equal or superior environmental value (actually 30 acres for the 12.61 that the city wants to dump trash on). It's a plan that Erastus Corning would be proud of from his grave.
There is a bunch of nice previsions in the legislation. It would:
While it sounds really good, there are some problems with the plan. Jack McEneny seems to think that there is a lot of free undeveloped high quality Pine Bush ("I'm not worried; they'll find it") that can reach the requirements of his bill AB 11936:
acquire a minimum of thirty (30) acres of undeveloped pine barrens land and shall dedicate such land to the Albany pine bush preserve, provided, however, that prior to such dedication the commissioner of environmental conservation shall first certify that the replacement acreage to be acquired by the city has equal or greater ecological value and substantially greater fair market value than the fair market value of the parklands authorized to be alienated pursuant to this act;
That sounds good, except there is no requirement to make the land contigous with existing parcels. Not to mention the chunk of land the city wants is in the best part of the Pine Bush, the East Barriens. So much of the rest of the Pine Bush is in purty bad shape, and while it's better undeveloped, it's not good habitat for things like the Karner Blue Butterfly.
And as Chris Hawver notes, we really don't know what kind of land we are condemning with this bill as nobody has ever done an environmental review. We have a suspecion that it would be a very bad thing to break up some of the best land in the preserve.
Christopher Hawver, executive director of the Albany Pine Bush Commission, said it is impossible to support the bill.
"It's premature to put in legislation before there's an environmental review that says this is the best alternative," he said.
The bill has problems and it seems to push the dump process on the Pine Bush with little pratical review compared to what is law currently but poorly enforced. The bill seems on the other hand to be somewhat of a compromise, and if it's provisions are vigrously enforced against the city, it might actually work, if the problems are overcome.
I can understand why the city needs this bill passed now as it must be passed by two subsiquent legislature (consitutionally required to alienate parkland), this one and the next one formed after the elections this November. Yet, it seems like need to know more then we pass it—as it's a bit of a blank check for the city despite all the provisions to the contrary.
While AB 11936 is not on LRS (hopefully today!), we have the bill text on the Cowdung Bill Tracker thanks to Lynne Jackson. Read that bill carefully then:
Hope to see y'all there tonight. Should be fun rubbing elbows with tough union garbage men of the city who want their expansion come hell or high water.
As we know there are two sides of Niagara Falls and Spitzer has chosen to feature the Candian side on his latest commerical. You can see that commerical over at Spitzer2006.com.
He has an interesting article about how one Congressman learned to hate the war, despite being a big supporter at first. It's an interesting read about how some of his consituents told him that the war was a bad idear from the start, but the evidence he got from Washington told him it was a good idea.
There are two different quotes from McNulty, one in 2002 and one in 2006:
There are 135,000 American service personnel within the range of Saddam's missiles right now. And what is most disturbing of all, Mr. Speaker, is Saddam's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. Most of the experts up until recently have been saying that he is 2 to 5 years away from a nuclear capability. Now several are saying it is less than a year.
...Mr. Speaker, this is the bottom line. Saddam Hussein can never be allowed to possess a nuclear capability. This bipartisan resolution emphasizes international cooperation, working with the United Nations, and exhausting all other options before we go to a military option. It ensures that military force will be used only as a last resort....
...Rep. Michael McNulty (D-N.Y.), one of the six who have joined the Out of Iraq Caucus, called the situation in Iraq a “colossal failure” and expressed disgust that thousands of troops were killed or wounded “going after a guy who did not attack us while the one who did is alive, free and planning additional attacks.
“I know the pain of war. My brother was killed in Vietnam. I know what it’s like to sit at the kitchen table and have the military inform you that your loved one is dead."
That's very interesting, yet I think it reflects many of our opinions on the war on Iraq. I remember back that I was purty critical of our invasion into Afganistan, suggesting that we don't need any more killing after September 11th.
Then slightly after that, I was impressed by with the work we did in Afganistan and the limited damage of that war, and I felt we had to do something to deal terrorists. We got largely out of Afganistan and let the government do it's thing there, except for the fact we never did find Mr. Bin Laden or most of his close associates.
So went into Iraq. They noted Saddam was a purty bad guy, had lots of dangerous toys, and all the bad things he did in the past. All of that was true, yet that was four years ago. We should have gotten the job done right away, and moved onto more pressing priorities on the homefront.
I might be a flip-flopper, but I'd prefer to be seen as a git-'r-done Democrat who thinks the best solution to our problems is quick and direct. We all want Iraq to turn out the right way, and we should aid the Iraq government, but we shouldn't be using our troops to run things, much less harass the Iraqi people.
It looks like Joe Bruno is desprately trying to get the state to borrow and give out tax breaks to tune of $1.2 billion to hand over to the massive corporation of AMD microprocessors to lure them to build a chip fab in Luther Forest, after it's been largely deforested.
This is for the project that's expected to generate possibly 1,000 jobs or so with many of them coming out of state at a cost of $1.2 million per job. Or in other words, the futher yuppie-fication of Saratoga County with few jobs for locals. I keep referring back to Saratoga County Assemblyman Bill McDonald's bumpersticker: "Local Jobs for Local People".
If kind of ironically, the Times Union has been doing their republishing of old articles, today featured Wylie Gates, the horrible killer out in Columbia County of about two decades ago. How that relates, is that he was a computer geek—it seems to be profile of a lot of killers these days. Psychopaths are so fascinating it would seem.
So we want more psychopaths in our area, more toxic chemicals in the air (that's probably causing the sociopathic behavior), along with a few more jobs. I guess I'm not fair to the proposal, as I sit here listening to my Dixie Chick's Mp3 of Cowboy Take Me Away.
It looks like by spreading lies or have truths through their editorial pages and elsewheres, they have basically ensured that bill be killed. Other usual Albany entrenched interests who were afraid of the precident the bill might set (expanding to small businesses, farms, or manufacturers) also made sure it was dead.
The people over at Working Families still wants people to push their Senators, particularly in Republican districts, as a last ditch effort. If it doesn't happen this week, then the efforts of the last 2-years have largely been a waste.
It looks like they are still fighting over how to divy up the monies from the EPF. The Senate is determined to gain more legislative control over things, as they don't Spitzer getting to choose where al the money goes. The Assembly also wants control of the EPF, but they have destinctively different idears of where all the money should go.
Don't believe me, look at all bills lying all over the floor of the Assembly, along with grease and rotting pizza from the late night parties that the majority is distributing.
At any rate, it would seem that session is finally winding down. We didn't get much done this year, and this year was particularly bad. In two years, we did little more then pass a budget, and make some pretend gestures at reform.
That's what the Sienna Polling Insitute says, after the convention dust has settled. Even upstate, Spitzer the preferred candidate 61% to 21%. There simply is no real base for people running against Spitzer except die hard ideological conservatives.
He's now about 21% ahead of Jeane Pirro (62%-41%), not an unsurmountable challenge, but shows despite that he's a very winnable candidate despite the bad feelings some of us having bad feelings about Andy Cuomo.
Mark Green now running as an outsider seems to be getting yet another backing for his long uphill battle through the primary. It's hard to see him winning as he has such an uphill battle to fight, but it seems that being an outsider might help him out.
It looks like the Champlain Fire company is pretty upset with certain individuals who repeatly set their own backyards on fire and then call the fire department.
"I don't feel it's proper to blame everybody for a few stupid people," she said.
Burn barrels are notorious for starting bigger blazes, said Filion, for the wind can so easily take a flaming bit of cardboard that ignites a dry field.
The Fire Department, said Southwick, got called out more than once this spring for a fire that reignited in the same spot.
"I understand what you're saying," said Councilor Craig Hicks. "It's a big expense to roll those trucks."
See the people just the other on the lake don't have that problem as Vermont bans burn barrels. Champlain has a transfer station that takes people's trash and recycables for free, but that's not as much fun, produces less stinky and toxic smoke, and takes up more landfill space that's quickly being eaten up by Castella's privatization of the Morrisville dump.
At any rate, people can be more careful. Yes, embers from a burn barrel can smolder up to about 3 days and paper embers can start fires purty easily, but commonsense things from the Texas A&M Farm-A-Syst fact sheets (paraphrased from memory) can be done to avoid burning down your backyard:
It's been a hell of a wet spring as anybody who farms or with a garden knows. So why people are setting their backyards on fire, seems so stupid. See it's idiots like that why we are losing more and more of our freedoms.
The budget that was struck down by voters, largely in protest to an increase in property taxes, one of the highest in the state at roughly 13%, will be up for a revote, with things cut below contingency budget levels, but protecting funding for important after school programs.
Sweeney may be riding high right now, but wait until Kirsten Gillibrand's television spot get shown and people get to learn a little bit about Gillibrand. It looks really nice, though I can't hear it on the state's computers as they lack sound cards.
It's offical with a vote of 11-4 by Common Council members after public comments that were 19-1 against the taking land from the Pine Bush suppostly-forever wild preserve to make it into a garbage dump.
It was pretty tense in there, although we all knew how things were going to go. After all, this is Albany and not a democracy in the standard sense of the word. Jennings had worked his men pretty hard already, and Mike O'Brian was the unlikely leader of the coalition to get the land undedicated.
Listening to Jack McEneny after the meeting in the hall discuss the bill, he said he would hold it until Thursday the last day of the legislature, and might withdraw it should it be shown the SERQA process on the dump expansion can proceed without the city having alienation rights to the land to put a dump on it. Save the Pine Bush is working quickly behind the secenes to make that happen if that's possible.
Other then that, it seems pretty clear that alienating the land without knowing what we are giving to the city is a pretty bad thing from Chris Hauver on up. This is pretty nice Pine Bush that the city wants to make Pine Bush. Yet, should the city get this right, then we will have to work vigrously to ensure the provisions of the AB 11934 and SB 8369 are fully enforced, that we get all the protections that SERQA and ultimatley the Part 360 permitting processes affords.
If all that goes through, then I guess it's for the best and we will have to happy with it all. Certainly as Mike O'Brian points out, the city controlling it's own dumping grounds is probably preferable to some private mega-corporation that hauls are waste away (along with our money) to some far away place. Yet, we have a significant chance to steer things before then, and we must hope that more then 20 people will get involved in the process.
That's the so-called horse trade that Bruno is trying to make with Assembly Democrats, though at the same time it looks like Bruno may be trying to block a proposal for the new convention center downtown.
It looks like Morris Guller is taking a trip to Afganistan and Iraq right before the primaries, hopefully not on money he stole from stockholders, to show that he knows where both of those countries are and that he's a pro at foreign relations.
I'm sure Kirsten wouldn't mind if he just went there and never came back, not that he's caused much of a rukus so far in the Democratic primary for the CD 20. Maybe Guller will end up going to prison for being a felon and not getting permission first from the Iraqi embassy. That ends my mean streak for the day.
In other words, he wants more big donations from the likes of Walmart. He's claiming that mega-retailers and other large businesses of more then 100 employees that don't involve things like chasing cows on 4-wheelers or building shit in big factories.
Spitzer claims it would be bad for the Upstate economy, though certainly the lack of affordable health insurance also is bad for the economy, and all the taxes we pay for things like Medicaid. It's another example of Spitzer either selling out to special interests or at least having an interest of his own beyond progressive politics.
It's okay to tear down Spitzer a bit nowadays. He's flying too high at 50 points above his opponent, and he can be a bit arrogent and out of touch with average New Yorkers. Then being the richest governor in New York since Nelson Rockefeller can do that to you.
It looks like the Assembly is pushing for their version of the DNA bill that the governor insists be passed this year, that would specifically exclude offenses like drunk driving and other relatively minor scofflaws that many African American youth (in particular—getting into the racist Republican mindset, here) get into. Yup, it's a posion pill bill.
It's not surpising that they would exclude things like drunk driving, as a lot of legislators probably are over the limit from time to time. People really shouldn't drink and drive, as people die when 2-tons of steel goes barreling down the road with little concentration by the driver, but people do that unfortunately.
Most people plead it DWI down to driving with ability impaired, pay a thousand in legal fees along with a $250 fine to court, pay a little more insurance, and have their license suspended should the fail to go to a victim impact panel. Not good, but certainly not the orginal intent that people like MADD would have wanted orginally. And certainly no DNA collection for those people—rigth now only violent felons have to give up DNA. Then again, how many drunks become killers except with their trucks?
They also created and will most likely pass into law the offense of aggegravated drunk driving, namely driving with a BAC over 0.18 or in other words basically 99% unconscious. The new statue mandates a sentence of having a breathlizer in your truck, along with up to a $2,500 fine rather then the standard $1,000 maximum, assuming it's not plead down to just regular DWI.
As some of you that were lucky enough to go out to Las Vegas two weeks ago, the Young Democrats Rural Caucus had a very interesting discussion on gun control, our party's position or non-position, and how it relates to Rural America:
We had a great discussion, lead by John J. Cahill, Chair of the Nevada Outdoor Democratic Caucus (NODC), a gun rights, outdoor sportsperson group within the Nevada Democratic Party.
The discussion focused on guns, the Democratic Party’s attitudes towards guns, how the issue is framed by both Democrats and Republicans, voters in rural vs. suburban/urban areas and the media.
John raised the point that folks in rural America tend to be much more libertarian in how they view their rights and favor a “hands off” government approach. When it comes to gun registration, there is a real fear in rural America that the government will seize your guns if they know which kinds you own and how many.
John argued that the phrase “gun control” originated on the East and West coasts. Gun control advocates view guns negatively and equate the gun with the law breaker. In terms of a crime committed, they don’t view the gun as a tool, used by someone with an evil intention. The gun is just as guilty and evil as the law breaker.
John advocates framing this issue away from “gun control” to “gun rights”. Separate the person from the tool, much like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) separates the car from the driver. During MADD’s advocacy campaign apex of the 1980s, they separated the drunk driver from the car, thus, they did not advocate against cars or their manufacturers, but advocated for tougher drunk driving laws. It was the drunk drivers’ choice to get behind the wheel and drive drunk. It wasn’t the car that killed or hurt the victim, but the driver.
John suggests using this same argument when it comes to guns. Separate the offender from the tool.
Not everyone in the meeting agreed with this. Some felt it was too simplistic and argument and doesn’t address other factors such as the availability of automatic weapons or “loophole laws” in the states which make the trafficking of guns more prevalent in some states.
We moved into a brief discussion of how the Rural Caucus would approach the issue in terms of our caucus’ platform. John pointed out that in August of 2005, YDA adopted the following in our 2005-2007 platform:
“We support…the legal right of every law-abiding citizen to own and possess firearms. We support strict background checks prior to any firearm purchase, including purchases at gun shows and Internet purchases.”
Very interesting. Maybe not the conclusions I would have reached, but still it's great to see this being discussed in the context of Rural America.
Their bill memorandum on AB 11981 and SB 6356 makes it pretty clear why expanding the dumping of trash on the is a non-starter:
The Nature Conservancy opposes this and any bill which if enacted would prematurely and inappropriately authorize the repeal of the City of Albany’s dedication of 12.6 acres of high quality pine barrens in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and expand the 120+ acre Albany Landfill complex to accommodate a landfill expansion.
We view all lands that are dedicated to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve as permanently protected and we oppose on principle any action allowing for designation to be repealed on Preserve land.
It is premature for the Legislature to take action. It will take the City of Albany and NYSDEC two to three years to complete the environmental review and permit review process. No environmental review has yet been undertaken, nor has the City completed the required identification and analysis of alternatives. The Legislature should not consider alienation legislation until it has the benefit of receiving and reviewing the results of this review.
The City does not need Parkland alienation legislation to initiate the SEQRA process.
The Nature Conservancy, State of New York, Towns of Guilderland and Colonie, Albany County and private partners have together with the City of Albany invested millions in protecting, restoring and managing lands that each owner dedicates to the Preserve. The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is ecologically rare parkland, a remarkable asset for the citizens of Albany, the Capital District and the State. It is the best remaining example of an inland pine barrens in the world and is rich in environmentally significant plants and a host of wildlife that includes the signature species, the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.
For this important public asset to be effectively protected, its overall ecological continuity must remain intact, and the Preserve should be expanded, not divided or chipped away, particularly on behalf of a landfill expansion.
Any action that would compromise the integrity of the Pine Bush Preserve, and lessen the protection of this special place, should only be undertaken in the most unusual of circumstances.
Enabling the City of Albany to expand a highly profitable commercial landfill operation that accepts significant waste from outside the region, when it has been envisioned that the landfill would close on numerous previous occasions, is not such a circumstance. Consideration of such an option by the legislature should only proceed, if at all, after completion by the City and NYS DEC of the appropriate SEQRA review of all alternatives, and a conclusion that there is no other viable option.
So make sure to contact your legislators:
Also you may want to go to the open to public Pine Bush commission meeting tommorow at 10:00 AM, where they will take up the Temporary Revokable Permit on the subject of drilling on the parcel to put in test wells for the expansion. The city's go it alone without the Commission certainly won't make it a lot of friends there, but they will ultimately most likely get it and move on to the next step.
Basically, the city to get a Part 360 permit, they must put in test wells to show the depth of the Ground Water. The state kind of prefers to have ground water more then a couple of feet from where the garbage and it's letachate is to reduce the likelyhood that the aquafer under the dump and the sandy soil is too seriously contaiminated.
It's purty nice with resources like sample Letters to the Editor (that you should NOT use except as talking points), a poster, and other information on AB 8069 (Cahill) and SB 1265 (LaValle) that would:
Certainly in Kenneth LaValle and Kevin Cahill's neighboors are getting taxed off their land, but things aren't that much better upstate, and the average upstater is far poorer then people living downstate in places like Orange, Ulster, Sullivan, Rockland counties (anything south of Catskill is downstate).
What's about the worst thing a governor can do to punish a legislature during an election year? Call them back to Albany instead of spending time out in their districts campaigning for re-election. That's a serious violation of an unspoken law of politics.
That's the threat if the Assembly and Senate can't agree on an expanded DNA registry bill that Pataki desprately wants so he can appear to be tough on crime when he runs for President. Will they do it? Yes, probably because they are scared of being forced back into session before the election in November.
That's what Shelly Silver is saying according to Capitol Confidential:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, today confirmed that Luther Forest Technology Campus in Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s district is the preferred choice of a high-tech company planning a multibillion-dollar investment in a new computer chip manufacturing plant.
Silver told reporters he had met with officials from Advanced Micro Devices and learned that Luther Forest is the top choice for the plant they want to build. The Town of Marcy, near Utica, is the backup site if water, energy and wetlands issues can’t be resolved at the Saratoga County tech park, Silver said.
That is very interesting. As the $900 million the State Senate is directly giving to AMD along with another $300 million in other benifits. Understandably, getting a new manufacturer to move in your state is very competitive, but when does it come down to basically bribery to big companies?
There is a great book out there called Power Steering whose author's name escapes me, about smoke stack chasing down south in Applachia. Certainly economic development is good, but we just have to be careful how we do it and at what costs.
It also cites Friends of Van Cortlandt Park v. City of New York an important case that notes alienation of land need not occur and should not occur until an environmental review has happened:
Save the Pine Bush vigorously opposes this bill, which would alienate 12.6 acres of high-quality Pine Bush habitat and set a dangerous precedent by which land, already dedicated to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, can be alienated from park purposes and destroyed. Furthermore, this bill, rather than enable or advance the SEQRA process, will effectively foreclose an honest and comprehensive environmental review of the City of Albany's options with respect to its existing landfill.
SEQRA review of the project can proceed without a bill alienating parkland.
The proposed landfill expansion is an "action" under SEQRA, requiring approval by the city of Albany, and the issuance of permits, including a part 360 landfill permit, by the New York State Department of environmental conservation. An environmental review under SEQRA should be performed “[a]s early as possible in the formulation of a proposal for an action”. ECL 8-0109 (4). Such a review can and should be undertaken immediately, and there is no basis, either in law, or in the public policies underlying SEQRA, why this review cannot be undertaken before the City seeks Legislative action.
The proposed bill will affect the alternatives and mitigation measures that must be considered as part of a SEQRA review.
The proposed landfill expansion will destroy a critical portion of the remaining Pine Bush habitat. Before such an action can pass a SEQRA review, all reasonable alternatives and possible mitigation measures must be considered. Alternatives include the use of other land, not presently part of the Pine Bush Preserve. Enacting legislation, in advance of the SEQRA process, authorizing the alienation of certain land that is presently protected, forecloses other alternatives. Furthermore, the Legislative authorization of taking of a precious ecological resource, without the development of an adequate factual record through the SEQRA process, will constitute a justification for the city and the Department of Environmental Conservation to conclude that the state has determined that the Pine Bush parcel at stake is not worthy of protection.
Friends of Van Cortlandt Park v. City of New York demonstrates the value of an environmental review before enacting a bill that alienates parkland.
Five years ago, the New York State Court of Appeals, in Friends of Van Cortlandt Park v. City of New York, 95 N.Y.2d 623, provided an advisory opinion to the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that legislative action was necessary before a water treatment plant could be sited in a city park. In making this determination, the court relied upon the environmental impact statement that had already been prepared, which demonstrated the adverse impacts on the project.
While this case demonstrates that legislative action is necessary, it also graphically illustrates the dangers of legislative action before any environmental review is conducted. If the City of New York had sought legislative approval, without conducting the environmental review, the determination to alienate the land from park purposes would have already been made before any review had been conducted.
This makes some purty good points. we are giving away something to the city that nobody really knows what the impact would be. It also puts conditions on any future permit decisions, essentially limiting what the DEC can do and setting the baseline relatively low.
Let's hope McEneny and Breslin read this memorandum very carefully and think before they act on this legislation. It seems that there is no reason to force this bill through in the last hours of session tommorow, and that we can find out what we are alienating tommorow.
While Western New York has suffered significant population losses the previous decade (19,000), this is another big drop suggesting that depopulation in that region of the state is greater then in the past.
At the same time, Buffalo has become more and more sprawling, with subdivisions chopping up farmland and forests (which people can't afford to own and aren't getting paid the fair value for their products). Inner-city neighboors rot and breed criminals, while suburbs grow.
Dan Weaver whose critical eye on the black-oppression-system is always refreshing, has this report on how things really work for people accused of child abuse. The case described is emblamatic:
I was not accused of abuse. Instead the county brought a petition of neglect against me based on the nebulous charges of “inadequate guardianship” and “emotional neglect.” My daughter was in Ellis Hospital at the time and a staff member at the hospital called the state hotline and made several incredible statements including one that said, “If the child is sent home instead [of placing her elsewhere] her safety cannot be ensured due to the restrictive demands of the father to do family chores.” I don’t understand what the phrase restrictive demands means, but I don’t thinking keeping your room clean, helping to take care of your own horse, and emptying the dishwasher once a day qualify as restrictive demands.
Some states are reforming things, but not New York:
In a report on Child Protective Services reform, prepared by Walter R. McDonald & Associates for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in 2001, several states had initiated reforms of CPS that resulted in earlier detection and prevention of child abuse and a decrease in the number of families subjected to unnecessary and painful investigations. Unfortunately, New York State is one of the few states that has not initiated any reform efforts. It’s time the state did.
Figures. Whose fault would this be—Joe or Shelly's?
I think government officals should be responsible for their offical actions, and agencies that repeatly betray the public trust should pay for the damage that the cause, and ultimatley be shut down. Right now the only thing governing most of government is legislators, as government is exempted from civil liability in many cases.
While that seems like a good explaination on why it's taken that long to rebuild the towers, it seems at least at least one contractor has certified mob ties. Then again, this is New York City.
That stuff that makes it hard for asthametics to breathe on hot days might not only be caused by the nitrous oxide produced by your truck and not totally burnt by the catalytic convertor, but also your swimming pool. Some scientists are saying that cholorine that evaporates with water isn't breaking down as fast as you might think.
Citizen Action continues their attack on Tom Suozzi, this time for his campaign contributors tending to be big time Nassau County contractors. No surpises there, though that generally is the case with people in high office.
That's the question that the Daily Gotham Blog asks about the most powerful governor since Rockefeller who recently shot down the Fair Care for Healthcare on grounds that it would raise costs for mega-businesses.
At any rate, Spitzer is Spitzer with his own ideology, but certainly it seems like his ability to stick it to special interests has been dimished now that he's running for governor. He's going to be very to watch.
