The Hayseeds blog, No. 163 for the week starting June 25, 2006.
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Hayseeds No. 162
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Hayseeds No. 163
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Hayseeds No. 163
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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.
It looks like under the threat of the governor who wants to look tough on crime, a variety of people convicted of crimes will now have to submit DNA samples upon conviction with some notable exceptions like drunk driving, harrassment, and obstructing governmental administration. Petit larsony (stealing shit) was including in the DNA database, on grounds that most career criminals start by stealing food from McDonalds and the alike—yes, that parts is silly.
They also extended the statue of limitations on civil procecution of rape cases to five years, and elimated it on criminal cases, slightly protecting rape victims though not as much as many of us would have hoped. They also made failure to stop for a police a misodemanor and a felony upon injury of a pig when in a motor vechicle.
Read the Assembly Press Release on this topic.
Over at EcoBlog last month, they asked that question, worrying that the decline in Brook Trout is not only bad news for us fishermen but also for all people concerned about water quality.
Of course the governor doesn't have much of a say and the Plattsburgh City Council, controlled by Democrats will be the king maker. Does that put Kevin Duniho very much in line for being Mayor? Probably.
They will debate Dan Stewart's replacement tonight, though don't expect a replacement until after September 23rd, the last day that if there is a vacancy as special election must be called. Whoever is appointed wants a full year to govern before having to face election.
The council is expected to discuss the situation at tonight's meeting, which begins with a work session at 5 p.m. at City Hall and continues with the regular meeting at 6 p.m.. Both meetings are open to the public.
It should be interesting to see how things play out. Dan Stewart has a lot of respect even from the Democrats, and they will probably listen to whatever the mayor says. Still, I suspect the next mayor of Plattsburgh will be a Democrat whoever it might be.
While fewer and fewer people come to Pataki fundraisers, it looks like many still come to here ol' Mario speak.
So it would seem with McEneny saying he's going to star the bill and not persue it anymore. Jack McEneny promised on Monday that he would withdraw his support of the bill if it could be shown that the SERQA could proceed without the city owning the land.
Save the Pine Bush and the Nature Conservancy proved that by getting two legal opinions that proved that to be the case—actually if you read the memos I posted yesterday, you'll see the Court of Appeals basically said you should not alienate park land until you know that alienation is the best alternative. The Nature Conservancy opinion was literally written by the lawyer who wrote the 'book' on SERQA used by environmental lawyers across our state.
The reality is the city wanted the alienation as law now, particularly if this parcel is actually forever wild parkland requiring two legislatures to undedicate it as it initally appears under the mid-nineties dedication passed by the city then the forever wild designation of the preserve under McEneny's bill of last year.
This now means that the soonest they can start developing the new dump on this parcel will be January 2009 if it is approved by the DEC and the to consectutive legislatures approve it. It also would limit and influence the SERQA and part 360 permitting process in ways even the best and brightest can't say for sure.
At any rate, with all the mayor's pressure on McEneny, Common Council, and others seemed not to be strong enough to push back the anger of the public at dumping garbage on forever wild land. The battle is only just starting, but it will be very interesting to follow.
Brilliant Bloomberg's latest idear is to greate an Office of Sustainablity that can look at how the mega-City can cut down on their use of resources.
While I stated that the Assembly and Senate passed a bill criminalizing failure to stop at a traffice stop, the Syracuse Post-Journal (scroll down) states it only applies to high speed chases where sirens and lights are on:
To try to reduce high-speed pursuits. Motorists traveling 25 mph over the speed limit who refuse to stop for a police car with its siren on and lights flashing would face a misdemeanor. If someone is injured in the chase, the motorist would face a felony and if someone dies, the motorist would face a higher felony.
Interesting. I thought it was already a misdemeanor in New York to flee police on foot, but I guess that doesn't apply to driving a car. At any rate, fleeing police probably isn't a good idear—calling your party friends at the PBA is a better to fix little tickets.
How does New York address worker strikes and prevent them from happening? Give public unions something that so they will never want to strike. That tatic worked perfectly for Rockefeller during the NYC Sanatation Workers Strike of 1968, and it seems to be smart politics in an election year, as least for those getting re-elected.
The deal for unions is purty sweet. Taylor law fines are cut, and if the state fails bargain "in good faith", unions employees can force the state to pay them 1% right up front and another .5% each 3 months after that point. Who doesn't want that deal.
TWA Local 200 is probably celebrating. Pataki will likely veto this bill as Pataki is not a Rockefeller Republican. The newspapers across the state will denounce this as sucking up to the unions and bankrupting the state. And the legislature will come back and over-ride and we all will be happy except us few New York taxpayers.
Our governor in his infinate wisdom and wanting to keep as many of his men around for the next governor to deal with is re-appointing people who don't have expired terms.
Depending on who you ask in Albany, these re-appointments mean that the new positions start as soon as they are re-appointed, on January 1, 2006 at 12:00 PM (not 12:01 PM when Spitzer is governor), or when they expire. I really suspect it's the first on the list, basically with appointees resigning upon re-appointment so they can full terms well into the next governor. The last two are probably the most controversal and if that's Pataki's interpretation will be litigated for a long time.
At any rate, this is democracy at it's finest. The Senate (re-) approved 300 Pataki appointies yesterday, really improving the governor's legacy in the new sense of the word. Not all of them are products of this game, as Pataki created a lot of new positions through his regulatory fiefdom to ensure good jobs for all.
We got quads. Another story from the 8055 coalition talks about the importance of riding in rural America, and how many kids start out young riding around the woods with four wheelers. It's an important cultural thing, but also it means that kids are getting out and seeing the natural world.
There has been a lot of talk on net neuatrality these days, and while I'm far from an expert on the subject, fresspress covers the issue and looks at both sides of the issue as it relates to rural people. I suspect you won't be seeing New York Cowboy on any these super high speed connections anytime soon.
Though none of us are really surpised, the city got a stern warning and a permit to drill test wells in Pine Bush to find out groundwell in the conditions:
As they voted, several commission members stated that their "yes" votes were not an endorsement of the city's bid. They said they supported the testing permit only to learn more about the state of groundwater in the area.
Commission Chairman Steve Schassler said the body "in no way" backs the landfill expansion and, in fact, "reserves all rights to challenge or oppose" the city's proposal.
Quite interesting was the difference between that story and an earlier story that appeared on the TU article particularly the headline and how it presents it (as geting a stern warning versus getting a go ahead on the landfill). Lynne Jackson was nice enough to post copies of it online once the TU gets embarassed and takes it down.
The USDA reassured people when their human resources computers were broke in, that this ain't the policy that they will guard livestock information when NAIS finally happens (assuming Congress doesn't catch on it's stupidity first). There is something creepy about people knowing that exact linage of all your animals, although I guess you could say at least the number of animals owned is already publicly avaliable through FOILing CAFO permits (lots of accromyns).
Pataki's ol' campaign committee has blurred the limits between lobbying and campaigning with the website, stoptheoverrides.com that wants constituents to tell their legislators not to override the governor's vetos. Now that sessions is over, that's largely a moot point for legislature this year, but the issue is a big one.
From the TU Capitol Insider blog:
David Grandeau, the commission’s executive director, noted “there’s no exception in the statute for a campaign committee,'’ regarding lobbying.
“The question is at what point does it become lobbying?'’ asked Grandeau, who also has his eye on the Working Families Party, which has lobbied for numerous bills over the years, including a minimum wage increase (successful) and the so-called “Wal-Mart” bill (failure).
The implications could be enormous.
If campaign committees are deemed to be lobbyists, they would be subject to the limits on size and kinds of gifts they can give to lawmakers.
The annual $75 limit, for example, would certainly change the campaign finance scene, albeit in ways no one can really predict at this point.
Grandeau's specific mention of the whole Working Families Fair Share for Health Care issue is even more interesting. Where is the line between lobbying and having a political plank? Is a website partisan or issue orriented?
With fusion candidates in New York State, it gets even more confusing as people can be running on multiple lines, and ideology is often directly linked to parties like the Working Families Party or the Conservative Party.
At any rate, ultimately it looks like Campaign Committees raising state issues or running for state office will just have to file one extra report with Ethics Commission.
First admendment activites can't be really limited, and I doubt parties do much wining and dining. Political contributions are totally seperate from the ethics law, so despite the TU's questioning of that, it seems unlikely that there will be any real impact of applying the law except to report lobbying expenses.
It looks like Gillibrand wants to debate Sweeney, who doesn't really want to debate and the other trolling candidates are claiming everybody's ignoring them. It will be particularly interesting to watch if Gillibrand and Sweeney debate the war, as Gillibrand is suggesting that they do.
After Spitzer's crusades against meaningful reforms like Fair Share for Health Care and the right to organize for daycare workers, the Post thinks Spitzer is their man to figth against Albany (or at least liberal) interests.
Not surpisingly at all the Newsday had an editorial cussing out the legislature for passing bills that clearly were an attempt to appease labor interests in New York.
What makes this editorial so great is the start of it:
The middle of the night isn't just a scary time for children. When Albany is rushing to close its session, and the leaders are shooting bills to the floor with little or no public scrutiny, taxpayers should be afraid, too.
Make that very afraid—especially when powerful special interests demand something back for their political support.
This is called politics, particularly New York Politics. Did any of us seriously expect that the result of the TWU 200 strike not equal more protections for labor? When has New York not caved into the (often justifable) demands of organized labor?
While the boys in the Senate where suppost to be going home to tell the folks back home why they should be re-elected, it looks like they are going down to overtime and try to git those tax checks sent out.
While it seems the DEC legal department hasn't had much luck cracking the nut of Exxon's mess in Brooklyn caused by a 30 year old oil spill, it looks like the Attorney General might just get it done now.
Jerry Jenning this morning on WROW was pretty pissed at McEneny for killing his landfill expansion bill. He clearly was ranting and raving about how McEneny stopped the dump and without the alienation they can not proceed with the SERQA process, which they can as the man who wrote the book on SERQA stated in citing the Court of Appeals.
The paper noted that Jennings is not planning on primarying McEneny for his Assembly sit by running some candidate, though he's still fighting over the State Democratic Committee seat. McEneny has no reason to capiculate to Jennings, as the public is purty happy from andotal evidence in opposing dumping garbage in the Pine Bush. There simply is not public support for dumping garbage in the Pine Bush.
Jack McEneny is a savvy politican and he clearly sees that Jerry is falling out of popularity—and a few more rantings on the radio and at press conferences—they'll see him as little more then a ranting lunatic. The thing is Jerry is pretty darn afraid of losing this battle, and he is quick to admit that it might not happen. Jerry is clearly looking for an out in the Spitzer administration, and it's not clear how much of the landfill fight is because he wants to do right for the city and protect his reputation.
The suburbs are the power house of the city. Suburban people are often amazingly liberal compared to the old Albany political hacks, but they also are as much pragmatic if not more pragmatic. The New Democrats from the suburbs will ultimately come to dominate Albany politics, with the city further and further marginalized. The New Democrats aren't perfect, and sometimes we need to fight them and push them to progress, but they are better then what we currently have in city hall. In 20 years, I predict we will be pushing them more often to do the right thing then the problems we currently have with city hall.
