Why I Voted for the Budget

Sorry this is late; the budget vote was on December 5, and I've been pretty busy since then.

As Inigo Montoya has said: To sum up:

We went into the Board meeting with the OFA position and the Public Defender position cut. Most of us didn't want to keep it that way, but we had spent a lot of time and effort finding equivalent cuts elsewhere in the budget, with no success.

Kay Stuligross made the recommendation that we give the Management and Confidential workers (mostly, non-union county workers) a raise. They haven't had on in five years, and during that time we've cut their departments and made their jobs harder each year. To do that, she moved that we exceed the 2% tax cap. I seconded the motion.

In the discussion that followed, I tried to make it clear that the motion would only begin the process for choosing to exceed the tax cap. It wouldn't commit us to it, and it wouldn't even commit us to using the money for the raises – we could use it, instead (or in addition), to reinstate the two positions, or anything else we thought was important.

Exceeding the tax cap requires a local law, and that requires public notice and a public hearing. So if Kay's motion had passed, we would have ceased debate on the budget, scheduled a public hearing, and voted on it at the mid-month meeting. If it passed there, we would continue debate on the budget, but with the opportunity to spend over the 2% cap.

The motion gained the votes of the majority of Board members, but in a result reminicent of the 2000 Presidential election, the weighted votes of the minority won out and the motion failed.

So we were back to the budget we had started the morning with. After a bit more debate, the budget passed – not unanimously, but comfortably.

I voted for the budget even though it cut a position I feel strongly should be continued. Voting against the budget would not have re-instated that position. My vote was, for the most part, an acknowledgement of Rich Murphy and his Budget Committee, and Treasurer Dan Crowell. They worked tirelessly to create a budget we could live with and, despite the massive hole that the Manor subsidy started them out in, did an excellent job.

Now – anyone have a holocaust cloak?

By the way – the mid-month meeting (the first, I think, since January) is on Monday, December 17, at 1:30 in the Board chambers.

Stop It

Stop it.  Just stop it.  I'm so sick I could cry.  Did cry. 

Make it stop.

I don't care any more about your rights, gun owning members of the NRA, and I don't care about all the excuses you give me for having deadly weapons littering the landscape.  I don't care about your false sense of protection, or your target practice, or your collections, or your gun shows, or even your right to hunt.  I don't care.  None of that is protected in the Constitution.  None of it.  Look it up.  None of it is remotely connected to “a well regulated Militia.”  So stop all of it.

I actually don't care if you have guns or not.  You can have all the comforting armament you want.  I do care that you have, through organizations large and small, and most specifically the NRA, throughout American history, terrorized the political landscape to the extent that the conversation that would have saved all those five-year-olds could never happen.  I'm sorry, but it's your fault.  We can't talk about keeping guns out of the hands of psychotics because that might lead to black helicopters swooping in one night to confiscate those oversized handguns in our night tables that we don't even know how to use.  Geez.  Talk about drinking the kool-aid.

So stop, folks.  Just stop about “freedom”, stop about “rights”, stop about the second amendment (you're not in the National Guard, you know), stop about “a strong America.”  I don't care about that.  I care about Kindergarteners, and apparently we can't have both.  I choose the kids.

Every time this has happened we have mourned and we have shaken our heads and we have gone on and done nothing about it.  And therefore we have guaranteed that it will happen again.  The deaths in Connecticut are directly attributable to all the political activity designed to manage this kind of thing that didn't happen because the NRA made sure it didn't happen. 

So stop.  Stop sending money to the NRA.  Stop making excuses.  Stop keeping silent.  Start acting like we are all responsible for all our kids and nothing – certainly not the right for anyone to have as many guns as they want – is more important. 

Whose kids are next?  
  

Clear Heads and Detailed Data

At today's Board meeting, there was a discussion about Manor finances and the impact of the swiftly-changing regulatory and reimbursement landscape affecting nursing homes in New York State.

Finances first – the tax kind of finances. County Treasurer Dan Crowell laid out the cost to the taxpayer of retaining the Manor as a County facility: a 30% increase in the property tax for every Otsego County property-owner, over two years. And certainly increasing after that. If we wanted to raise the sales tax to give property-owners a little relief, each increase of 1/4 % in the sales tax would reduce the property tax increase by 10%. So, if we raised the sales tax by 1/2%, property taxes would only have to go up 10%. Dan cautioned us about the long regulatory road trip facing a county petitioning the State to raise its sales tax.

So, regardless of how you do the math, everyone in Otsego County will have to share the substantial cost of keeping the Manor in County hands.

Ed Marchi, Manor administrator, was at the meeting as well, and a number of Board members asked him to explain why it costs so much more for the County to run the Manor than it would for a private company. Some of the major points:

• Manor employees are represented by the CSEA, the public employees union, and they have negotiated a very strong salary and benefit package. Compared to private nursing home employees, their salaries are higher, and the opportunity for overtime is greater; they get time and a half for each of the nine County holidays, plus another day off sometime else.
• The County must contribute to the NYS public employee's retirement system; right now, that contribution is 20% of salary. A private company would not, of course, have this expense at all.
• Medicaid rates are set based on costs in our region; most nursing homes in this region are privately owned, with lower costs, so our reimbursement is lower than the actual costs, while for the private facilities, the reimbusement is much closer to, or at, their cost.

Beth Rosenthal, Represesentative for the northeast corner of the county, asked Ed what the nursing home environment would look like in five years. In a lengthy, eloquent, passionate but grim accounting, Ed laid out a picture that, as it turns out, will be the same whether the Manor is sold or not.

Briefly, the State is moving nursing homes toward a home-care model, a decentralized system which moves healthier residents to much smaller community-based residences. The nursing home facilities themselves will be used for only the most fragile residents. “When you walk into the Manor, you'll see IV drips everywhere.” The neighborhood system will not survive this evolution.

“We love the Manor. We've built something that is beautiful. But that beautiful thing will not last.”

Ed was clearly unhappy about this future, and so are we – all of us on the Board. But we need to meet this future with clear heads and detailed data. We'll continue to pursue this as we move forward.

A Question About the Manor

Can I ask a question about the Manor?

I have to admit, I'm a little bewildered by the strong feelings regarding keeping the Manor in County hands.  I understand that Countryside in Delaware County is a cautionary tale, but that's really apples and oranges.  And I understand that private companies have been making unpopular decisions regarding their nursing homes for financial reasons.

So here's my question:  Under the massive annual financial pressures created by the costs of the Manor, what will keep the County, in the future, from making unpopular decisions as well?

We've spent nearly two months now trying to trim over $5 million from next year's budget.  We've tried really hard not to kick too many cans down the road, but some cans had to be kicked.  Ancillary supports to servcies have fallen by the dozens, many never to return.  Next year, when the job starts again, where do we cut?  And the year after?  As long as the Manor is costing Otsego County $4+ million a year over revenues, and assuming that the taxpayers of Otsego County are not willing to endure the 30+ % tax increase required to pay for it outright, the level of care at the Manor will have to be on the table.  As long as very existence of the Sheriff's patrol and senior meals is on the table, as long as the quality of road maintenance and the caseload of Social Service caseworkers are on the table, the quality of care at the Manor will have to be on the table, as well.  And until the management and confidential staff throughout the county get a raise (it's been five years, and counting), everything's on the table.

I think the opponents of privatization have created a false dichotomy:  it's not a case of greedy private operators vs. a rosy, unaltered future with the County.  Both will be struggling with finances, and with paying for an expensive, complex institution in an unpredictable funding environment.  Each entity may respond differently, but neither can guarantee anything.

 

Democracy at Foothills

 An enormous number of us came out to have fun on Wednesday night - the Foothills main stage auditorium seats over 600, and they were bringing in more chairs by the dozen. 

I spoke early, and then left to attend the Schreibman/Gibson debate at SUCO (which is a different story), so I can't tell you how it went after that .  The Star has summarized things.  Here's my testimony:

Good evening.  My name is Gary Koutnik, and I am a member of the Otsego County Board of Representatives.  I represent the 11th District, just a stone's throw from here, and I would like to thank you for scheduling a hearing here in Otsego County.

I represent an urban, residential area - the First and Second Wards in the City of Oneonta.  We're unlikely to have a pipeline routed through our district, and we're unlikely to find a drilling pad appear in someone's backyard.  But last fall, when I visited every house in my district and spoke withmany of my constituents, I found a large majority who had grave concerns about the methane industry coming to Otsego County.  And as a County Representative, I must act in the best interests of the County as a whole, as well.

This is a hearing about the Constitution Pipeline, I know, not about fracking per se.  However, it would be dangerous to dismiss the argument that they are closely linked.  You need look no further than a Williams press release, dated March of the year, in which Alan Armstrong, the CEO, said this about the pipeline:

Our goal is to be the leading gathering, processing and transportation solution provider for producers in the Marcellus Shale.

We're putting together the kind of infrastructure that makes drilling in the Marcellus even more desirable for producers because we provide large-scale infrastructure solutions that connect producers' natural gas and natural gas liquids to the best markets.

We cannot separate the pipeline and fracking in the Southern Tier and the northern Catskills.  Others have spoken, and will speak, about this natural connection, in more detail.  However, throughout it all, please remember the freely-expressed, public intent of the pipeline company, when you listen to those who tell us there is no connection.  The evidence suggests that this position is either naive or disingenuous. 

Thank you again for scheduling a hearing in Otsego County.

So democracy progresses.  It was loud, messy, uncomfortable and exuberant - and that was just while I was there.  It was we the people, doing our best to act in the best interests of everyone.  It was wonderful to be a part of it.  And FERC now has a very clear idea of what is on the minds of the folks in this part of the country.

One More Fun Thing To Do Next Week

By now, just about everyone has heard about the controversy surrounding the Constitution Pipeline, and alternate Route M, which will send the pipeline through Otsego County, essentially along or near I-88.  At its last meeting, the Board of Representatives - after a three-hour public comment period - approved a resolution encouraging the use of Route M.  The vote was not unanimous:  four of us voted against it (and one was absent).  My concern was focused on the use of the pipeline as transport infrastructure for local fracking operations sometime in the future.  My concerns were roused by the fact that the CEO of the pipeline company pretty much said that that was its purpose.  You can read, and decide for yourself, here.  

None of the hearings conducted by the Federal regulatory agency regarding the pipline were held in Otsego County, and the comment period was, initially, closed on October 9 (thus the hasty Board vote).  One of the nice developments after the Board vote was that the comment period was extended, and a hearing in Otsego County was scheduled for Wednesday, October 24, at 7PM at Foothills.  This is an important issue and essential, I think, in the fight against hydrofracking.  Come and show your concern, speak if you'd like, or bring a written comment.  Let me know if you need more information.

Two Fun Things To Do Next Week

Well, it depends on your definition of 'fun.'   As I mentioned here last week, budget time is among us, and we have to trim down the requests by a whole lot to get to 'balanced.'  Most of the committees have done most of their detailed investigation and cutting by now.  One of my committees - Health and Education - spend a good deal of time talking about the senior meals program through the Office for the Aging.  It's not a mandated program - the law doesn't require that it continue - and, overall, it costs abvout $800,000. The law does prohibit charging or means-testing participants, regardless of ability to pay.  There are center meals, provided in public places (Nader Towers and Elm Park Church in the southern part of the county), and there are home-delivered meals.  More frozen meals are being delivered to outlying sections of the county, in order to reduce the number of trips per week, so that savings has already been accomplished.  So how do we address this?  Should it be eliminated entirely? Close one or more centers?  Freeze more - or all - meals and deliver only once a week?  This is just one program in one Department; these kinds of discussions are going on all over the County.

The Two Fun Things To Do involve observing this process yourself.  The Administration Committee, renamed the Budget Committee for this process, takes the Budget as it stands after the Commmittees have done their best, and interviews Department heads, looking for more cuts.  The Budget Committee will meet at 9:15 AM at the County Office Building on Monday, October 22, and Wednesday, October 24.  The meetings are open to the public but, like Board meetings, the public can observe but not participate in the process.  I don't know for sure which Departments are scheduled for which day, but if you are interested, you can call the Clerk of the Board's office and ask.  I'll be there Monday, observing as well.  I think it's important that we all know what goes into this sausage of a Budget.

Budget Time

It's budget time - my first experience of this process - and so far it hasn't been any fun.  We have about $5 million and change to cut from the combined departmental budgets, and it seems that most, perhaps all, of the fat has been cut in the previous three or four years of the recession.  Departments have been reorganizing and streamlining, and committees have been pretty vigilant regarding new or unnecessary spending.

The recovery has been slow, but it is a recovery, and economy-dependent revenues are increasing slowly.  Our fund balance (sort of a complex savings account) is strong, relative to many other similar counties, and within generally accepted guidelines.  And in a couple of years, the Manor's annual deficit - coincidentally, about the same as the amount we have to cut right now - may be resolved.

But right now, we have to cut a lot of spending (and maybe project a little higher revenue), enough that most programs will be closely scrutinized and we will be asking, "Should Otsego County be in the business of doing this particular thing?" all over the budget.  I'm in the midst of going through the two-inch-thick budget proposal line by line, preparing a report for the Chair regarding anything I've found that might be reduced or eliminated.  The other 13 Reps are in the midst of the same thing.

Any ideas you might have, let me know.

Last DNC Post

...more chaotic than I thought.  No sign of the notes.

But they were just a list of the themes of the convention speeches, which you could deduce pretty easily, even if you only listened to a few.  Forward, not back.  Better together.  The list of accomplishments from the last three and a half years, which is rather long.  That kind of thing.

And I'm still really tired.  Long hours of intense focus, a significant shift in sleep cycle, lots of walking and uncertainty, two days of driving (and I worked all day today).  I need to go to sleep.

So - thanks for following the great DNC adventure.  Would I do it again?  I don't know.  The fact that it's largely - almost entirely - a spectator sport was disappointing.  But the electricity in the arena, the sense of presence and completeness, the energy and excitement and noise and passion which didn't come through on the television - that was pretty great.  Being part of history:  priceless.  So we'll see.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Otsego11 weblog posts, which will resume shortly.

Eating and partying

It's nice to be home.

The storms that swept through the northeast yesterday delayed me, and made the last 80 miles or so of the trip a grueling challenge, so I haven't gotten re-organized yet.  The notes are still in the suitcase.

In talking with Abbey, a few interesting non-political aspects of the convention experience came up.

I had heard about the non-stop partying that goes on at conventions, and I was curious to see whether that was true.  Not so I could attend; for me, a party is a noisy place where you wander around for a while not being able to hear anybody, and then you leave.  But - is this true at all?  Is party networking the whole point of conventions?

Not that I could determine.  Or maybe it is, for the cognoscenti, but not for the average delegate. I received notice of two parties, the reception I wrote about on the first night, and another one on Wednesday night, hosted by the mid-Atlantic state delegations, after the general session.  "After the general session" on Wednesday meant after 1AM, as that was the night of the roll call vote.  No thanks.

So - I'm sure there were other get-togethers, but I didn't hear about them, before or after.  Evenings were pretty full.

When I arrived in Charlotte, I had no idea of where I would eat throughout the week.  However, I had heard enough about the endless food and drink at conventions that I thought I 'd try to get through the week without paying for any meal.  It worked, but not really well.

My hotel had a hot breakfast, so that was a start.  As it turned out, there was a sit-down, good-china breakfast each day in that tent I described earlier, at another of the NY delegation hotels.  So far so good.  There was a hospitality room at that same hotel, with hot food and drink all afternoon and evening.  But that didn't help much, because I was at the caucuses and general sessions in the afternoon and evenings.

So lunch/dinner resembled our family's traditional traveling lunches:  a bagel or two wrapped up from breakfast, stashed in the backpack.  There weren't many places to get something to eat in downtown Charlotte; in 'the bubble,' where vehicles were prohibited, many stores and restaurants were closed.  There was a small food court in the Convention Center, and that was it.  Where did everyone else eat?

More soon, I promise.

Saturday morning thoughts

Almost home.

I wanted to lay out the themes of the convention - which were very evident, repeated in nearly every speech - but my notes are, apparently, in the suitcase which, by now, is pure chaos.  So I'll do that tonight.

Meanwhile:  I wrote about political hierarchy, and the more I looked, the more I saw it.  Thursday night's speech was moved to a much smaller venue, for good reason:  I got soaked late in the afternoon and it rained later on, too.  I know that politics can be the art of distraction and misdirection, but there were no hidden agendas regarding the move:   it rained every day in Charlotte this week, including Thursday.

But the move meant that a seat at the event became a very rare and valuable thing.  When I got to the arena that night, I discovered those "reserved" signs on most of the chairs in the NY section.  They were for all the NY Democratic dignitaries (mostly non-delegates) who had come down to see the speech.  We lower ranking not-so-dignified delegates ended up sitting in the Alabama section next door, where I sat next to a journalist from Virgina.  Go figure.

There was also a hierarchy of dress, at least among men (women's fashion is way beyond me).  You start with the guys with Hawaiian shirts, or polo shirts, and khakis or shorts (hardly any jeans at all).  Then you might add movement or issue t-shirts, mostly involving unions.  Then the button down shirts without ties, and then my category, the button-down shirts with ties.

Then there were the suits - black, or so dark you can't tell the difference.  It was hot in Charlotte, and it rained.  Wearing a dark suit with a jacket meant your were going to be uncomfortable.  I wore a sports jacket (with my Otsego County pin!) the first night, and it was a mistake I did not repeat.  So those suits were important symbols to the wearers, who were willing to make certain sacrifices to be seen in them.  The suit guys were in three categories:  young guys, who I thought were probably interns; older guys, who were aides and functionaries, and even older guys, who were the luminaries (Congressmen, Senators, House Speakers, Governor, etc.).  I wonder if it's worth it?

Anyway, one of the themes of the convention, which I'll lay out later, was "We're all in this together," or, as was posted on the stage backdrop, "Better Together."  Here's an interesting essay about this.

See you soon.

Friday morning

Well, it's over.

I figure I've listened to nearly 100 speeches over nearly 20 hours. On TV this morning, there were videos of workers removing the miles of barriers, and cars driving down avenues that had been blocked off and heavily guarded as late as last night.  The big NY delegation tent is already down.  We're in casual clothes this morning (except for a Sikh delegate from NYC who is, as usual, impeccable in a well-tailored suit).  The conversation is about flight times; we're already pointed at the rest of our lives.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the President's speech last night.  It seemed to be boilerplate; he seemed to be phoning it in.  He's comfortable with wonky analysis, and that's what we got.   We'd heard each point a dozen times, sometimes with a more compelling presentation.  There wasn't really anything new or exciting for us to take home with us.  But (speaking of wonky analysis) he may have been speaking to the TV audience, most of whom have tuned in to their only (or one of their three or four) speeches of the convention, and haven't heard it all before.  

Luckily, Vice President Joe Biden did give an exceptional speech.  He was able to speak eloquently and personally about the President, drawing us in with quiet, authentic emotion.  It was compelling and affecting, and most important, I felt I had an intimate understanding of how the President has faced the last four difficult years.

Also memorable were former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Representative John Lewis, one of the original Freedom Riders, whose profound moral authority was a highlight of the night for me.  John Kerry got some revenge for the shameful way his service was treated in 2004.  And Gabby Giffords led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  She could have read the phone book and brought the house down.

Speaking of moral authority, I think that's what this convention was about.  Do what's right, play fair, work hard, support each other, share the American dream.  That was the message.  Also, the notion that the other side has little to offer in this realm.  You can buy that or not, but that's what happened this week.

I've got to get home.  Two days of driving through some gorgeous county.  In the next couple of days I'll be posting about convention odds and ends that I wasn't able to find time for during the hectic and uncertain schedule this week.  So check back, and talk back in Comments.

See you on the road.

Remember the big tent I described the other day?  Here we are.  Long line, big breakfast, Bruce Springsteen on the sound system.  There's a clear hierarchy in politics, of course, and New York State is no exception.  A first-term county rep from upstate does not even appear on the chart.  Last night's program ended with a polling of the delegations - the activity that actually declared Barack Obama the official nominee, the cameras zoomed in on each delegation as they voted, the leader speaking from a small podium with a microphone under the state sign.  When I got to the arena last night, the seats near the podium had signs on them, with the names of those who would be sitting in those seats - and therefore get camera time as the leader extolled the state of NY and reported the result of the delegation's vote.

This morning, with the governor scheduled to speak, all the tables near the podium have a "Reserved" sign on them.  I'm out in the cheap seats, but near a big screen.  It's noisy; I can barely distinguish which Springsteen song is playing.

While I'm waiting (unlike the Convention, which was on time and crisp, the NY show is late), some thoughts on the Charlotte/Convention experience.

There are thousands of staff and volunteers all over the place.  They've got navy blue polo shirts and big smiles.  Some have signs that say, "Ask me."  When you do ask them, they have the answer, or they get it.  I go past probably twenty of them each time I enter the Convention Center and the Arena, and every one of them cheerfully checks my credentials.  My Delegate credentials get me in everywhere and, except on the way to the evening Convention floor, I can bypass searches.  Everyone's searched on the way to the Arena - just like at the airport, or at the County Office Building, but with the addition of an obligatory arms-out wand search, front and back.

Back to the NYS tent:  I sat next to a Sally Minard, of Manhattan, who has spent the last few years spearheading an effort to create a memorial to FDR on the south end of Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens.  It'll be a private-Statge collaborative effort (eventually becoming a State Park), so of course I told her all about Hyde Hall.

Cuomo's speech to the NYS Delegation was, in Ms. Minard's word, a "stemwinder,"  and I agree.  His theme was everyone working together to get important things done - a clear response to the criticisms of the "you didn't build that" comment.  Of course "you" didn't build that.  Nothing happens in a vacuum of one.  And - to find out what President Obama really said - look here (WARNING - this is a Fox link, of all things!).  I think I've said it before:  the mantra in our house, till everyone was sick of it, is "working together for the common good."  That's what we should be looking to do every day.  That's why the campaign theme "Better Together" resounds so well with me.

Gotta go again, this time to the Rural Council.  See you tomorrow.

Thursday night

What kind of country do you want to live in?

Bill Clinton's speech last night, if it did nothing more, made it clear to a primetime audience just what the difference is between the two competing visions of America.  You may or may not like it; you may or may not subscribe to the Democratic vision, but you can't say you don't know the difference.  That's the job of a keynote convention speaker (as well as extolling the virtues of the candidate), and the Big Dog delivered.  He was elder statesman and teacher, exhorter and entertainer.  He gave a long speech that seemed to be over in a flash, even at the end of a long evening.

But you probably saw the speech, and you're probably not coming here to find out about what I thought about it.  I do think you should check out St. Louis Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's speech for a peek into a large and vibrant - and often overlooked - region of the Democratic experience.  And just for the benefit of the luminous smile, check out Sister Simone Campbell.

The delegates seemed tired last night.  I know that I was tired.  It was well into the morning hours before I got to sleep either night.  They seem to have the bus situation close to handled, although there are still some glitches (some delegates waited over an hour for their route bus, while eight or ten buses came for the route next to them).  My bus driver last night was from Mobile, Alabama.

Yesterday, at one of the caucuses, I met the woman who is responsible for the portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which allows children to remain on their parent's health insurance until they reach 26 years of age.  Right after that, she was defeated by the Tea Party; it was her only term in Congress.  That's what kind of country we live in right now.  I shook her hand and thanked her, and told her my boys thank her, too.

I don't have much time this morning, and I've spent a bunch of it talking to other delegates (imagine that!).  The truth is, except for signing the ballot yesterday morning, if I hadn't shown up, no one would have noticed.  It's nice to have lots of other folks around who have a lot to say and are as interested in the nuts and bolts of politics as I am.

I'll be back; got to get the bus to hear Governor Cuomo (and when I type that, I notice that I do really wish I meant Mario). 

Tuesday night

So where do I start?

I wanted to start with the continuing story of the great transportation disaster (three bus rides from hell in three and a half days), but even that tends to fade into the background against the experience of being on the convention floor last night.

Michelle Obama looked like she was born to do what she did last night.  She was strong and focused, clear and personal, compelling, compassionate and she made sense.  She spoke about character, which always makes me sit up and take notice:  I want, perhaps more than anything, a president with character.  She talked about her fears of what the Presidential experience would do to her children.  "Being president doesn't change who you are; it reveals who you are."  She is happy about what was revealed.  So am I.

There were - oh, I don't know, I didn't count - thirty or so speeches last night.  It was a mixed bag, and it took six hours.  I saw them all, and I think it's a new ball game.  The months of gloomy analysis about the lack of enthusiasm for the ticket and the re-election effort are over.  There was nothing but enthusiasm and - OK, I'll say it - hope, in the house last night.

So far, I'd give the "Barack Obama 2004 Convention Speech Award" to Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, but many of the pundits seem to be giving it to Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts.  I was disappointed that he didn't spend much time on Romneycare.  I liked Ted Strickland, former Governor of Ohio; the word on him seems to be that he was trying to ignite a class war.  I believe that we have been engaged in class warfare for half a century, at least, and that the rich have pretty much won.  And the notion that we should avoid anything that resembles fighting back is of great use to those who hold the advantage.

I'm in the breakfast room of the hotel right now, dividing my time between writing and joining in the conversation.  For a while the conversation focused on Michelle's dress, nails and work-out musculature.  I got a lot of writing done (I didn't remember what color her dress was, and when shown a picture, I still don't know...).  But we moved to another subject that the opposition is trying to convince us is impolite to mention:  race.  A black woman from the City spoke about her daughter, in college, who is trying to develop her own political identity. She can't get by the 'dog-whistle' issues - the phrases and issues which signal to those in the know how the speaker feels about racial issues.  "Do they think we're stupid?" her daughter asked.  "Maybe in grandma's day, when they didn't have the educational opportunities, but now... it's horrible."

The mayor of Hornell is sitting next to me, and we're talking (along with a former Town Supervisor from LI and the former Sheriff of Fulton County) about town/city merger vs. annexation of part of the town; Hizonner has sent Oneonta some information about this process, since Hornell is the only city in the state, according to him, which has successfully annexed contiguous land.  Everybody won.

It's rained here every day (I just missed getting wet yesterday), and the forecast is the same.  President Obama's speech venue has been changed, from the very big open sports stadium it was originally scheduled for, to the arena that the rest of the Convention has been held in.  Lots of folks won't be able to attend; there are 'watch parties' scheduled all over town.

On the way - the long way - to find the bus last night, I happened to be standing at an intersection when what I assume was Michelle Obama's convoy sped by.  Six or eight motorcycle policemen, with lights and sirens; then three or four Sheriffs' cars, four or five black SUVs, then three more police cars.  The were all going very fast.  At the intersection, there were about a dozen heavily-armed soldiers who were, as everyone in uniform as been, pleasant and vigilant.  Later, I found out that all traffic in town stopped until the convoy got out of town.

I did go to the Rural Council yesterday.  It was mostly about agriculture, and I took a lot of notes.  The Farm Bill - which includes the SNAP (Food Stamps) program, has been held up, unsurprisingly, in the House.  Fourteen cents of every SNAP dollar goes to American farmers.  Go figure.

Hey - I got my shoes shined!  Now they're (supposedly) very water resistant, and it's going to rain hard when I need to be walking outside.  See you later.

Tuesday morning

I've got some time before the Rural Council, and the general session - on the convention floor! - starts right after that.

Since this is the first day of the general session, it was the first day our credentials said "Floor Delegate."  I know all about how conventions have become less about doing the work of the party and more about campaigning, with the delegates relegated, for the most part, to the role of audience.  I don't care.  Putting that badge in my credential holder today was a profoundly moving experience.  I was here, in the wheels of democracy, personally part of over two hundred years of history.  I was participating, in an intense and  formal way, in America.  It was the same feeling, and for the same reason, that I had when I was sworn in as a County Representative in January.

On the bus back from downtown (actually, they call it 'uptown') yesterday, I sat next to Mike, a financial analyst who works for San Bernadino County in California, east of LA.  He spoke with a south Asian accent, and had a great sense of humor:  he showed me pictures he had had taken of himself at the podium of the caucus he attended just as it was breaking up; he pretended he was speaking.  He said, "A picture doesn't lie, does it?  I spoke at the convention!"  Anyway, Mike said he had had a conversation with a journalist who  attended the Republican convention as well.  The journalist was amazed at the diversity at the convention here in Charlotte.  "In Tampa," he said, "everyone was white.  And there were no families."  Here in Charlotte, it's like America.  Given that Caucasians will cease being in the majority in America soon (in demographic time), I'm glad I'm here and not in Tampa.

Mike also told me that the County Supervisors in his county make over $200,000 a year in salaries and benefits.  I looked it up, and it's true.  Kind of puts things in perspective.

I mentioned that the bus drivers were from all over (Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia), and that's also true of the police, who are everywhere, often in large groups, often on motorcycles or bicycles.  All very friendly, and very vigilant.  I saw uniformed officers from Chicago, Louisville KY, Virginia, and other places I can't remember.  I also saw a Secret Service agent; I knew that because his Kevlar vest said "Secret Service" on it, and he had one of those ear things.  Helicopters hover high above the city.  And the President isn't even here yet.

Michelle Obama, among others, will be speaking tonight.  I don't think I'm going to comment much about the main floor speeches, since everyone will have the opportunity to see them, but who knows.  I've got to go finish drying out everything I had on or with me yesterday.  See you tomorrow.

The Rest of Monday

The Charlotte Convention Center is about the size of, say, Oneonta.  The city, not the town.  For all it's voluminous size, it's easy to get around and easy to find the room you're looking for.  I was looking for Room 203, where the Faith Council was to meet.

Back in the day, delegates to party conventions had a hand in creating the party's platform (as well as, in many cases, actually choosing which aspirant would be the party's presidential candidate).  Today, that's all done well before the convention.  Now we meet in interest groups, and listen to the folks from the national party, who have been working on the issue for a long time, speak with intelligence and passion about the importance of the issue to the party, the campaign and the country.

Well, I don't know if that's the case all the time, but it was the case at the Faith Council.  About a dozen speakers filled two hours with insight into the faith foundations of the Democratic Party.  The speakers often came back to the strange and unfortunate habit of the media, the public, and Democrats themselves to cede the faith issues to the other side.  "Since when is faith only about abortion and homosexuality?" asked one speaker.  "Why isn't the faith conversation about homelessness and injustice?"  Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver of Missouri talked about the difference between "nine months" and "cradle to grave," and suggested that there was those who would choose those first nine months and then lose interest after that.  As a Democrat who feels strongly that abortion is the wrong choice most of the time, I worry much more about our lack of commitment to children once they are born.

There were a number of really good five minute sermons at the Faith Council, and a couple of stories of personal experience of Barack Obama not only knowing and speaking intelligently about Scripture, but acting with the grace and compassion that Scripture requires of us. 

I have always believed that if Jesus' teaching were translated into political terms, he would be a progressive Democrat.  I was thrilled to hear speaker after speaker reflecting and magnifying that belief.  From immigration to healthcare to voter suppression to racism, the preachers and rabbis and political professionals made it clear that they stood where they stood because of their faith.

Or, in at least one case, because of their faith but in spite of their religion.  Congressman Cleaver drew our attention to a letter sent by the Catholic church to his Catholic constituents saying, in effect, that anyone who voted Democratic would go to hell.   Robert Johnson, a black Catholic campaign worker, reminded us that Paul Ryan, whose budget plans are the centerpiece of the Republican economic plan, is a Catholic - and that the Catholic bishops have called the Ryan budget "immoral" because of the detrimental effect is has on God's people.

Johnson also reminded us of something St. Augustine wrote:  "Charity is no substitute for justice not served."  I think I'll just leave it there.

After the Faith Council, I went over to Wild Buffalo Wings, where NY delegates will be eating for free all week.  They had a small buffet set up for us - wings, sliders, fries.  Really tasty, unhealthy food.  Then it was off to Carolina Fest, a downtown street fair (which was strangely reminiscent of a county fair) set out just for DNC delegates.  At the center of town, I watched Jeff Bridges and his band and, after a rain delay, James Taylor.  Then back to the bus, soaking wet, and the bus ride from hell.  But I'm not going to talk about that.

Tomorrow the general sessions begin.  The real work.  See you soon.

Breakfast Monday (happy Labor Day!)

Just got back from the NY Dems breakfast meeting.  Imagine a tent longer than a football field, and about a third as wide.  Podium along one of the long sides; professional lighting, sound; half-a-dozen big screens for people who aren't up close.  The rest of the space is dining tables.  Breakfast was good, not great (no bacon!).

There were over a dozen speakers, most there to fire up the crowd.  It's Labor Day today, so NY labor leaders led off, followed by NYS Assemblymen, mayors, and NYDC officials.  The mayor of Syracuse introduced the mayor of Minneapolis, who introduced the mayor of Charlotte, Anthony Fox - an African-American lawyer (NYU |Law School) who is the first Democratic mayor in 22 years.

A couple of things stood out for me.  The Co-Chair of the NYSDC noted that "...because we are Democrats, we believe that a recovery is not a recovery until everybody does better."  I've always felt the same way about government:  we're all in it together, and nobody is collateral damage.  I think this serves as one of the more striking differences between the parties.

The President of NYS United Teachers (a leading teachers' union) related the story of a coalition of labor, civil rights and religious leaders he met with yesterday, elsewhere in North Carolina.  They're working on a law that would allow public employees the right to bargain collectively.  Imagine that.  One of the ministers who spoke at that meeting called NC a "right-to-work-for-less-money" state.

Anyway.  Transportation seems to be organized a lot better this morning, although a few of us just walked back to the hotel from the breakfast, because the bus driver hadn't gotten clear instructions about where to take us.  He was from Atlanta.

I'm off to the Carolina Fest, downtown, and one of the caucuses I'll participate in - the Faith Council (the other one is the Rural Council, which meets tomorrow).

DNC Reception

Just got back from the DNC reception in downtown Charlotte.  I was ready for the bus, at the hotel lobby, at 4PM; I got home at 9:30, and spent only two hours during that time at the reception.  If you do the math, you will realize how far the organizers are from having a functioning transportation system.  Lots of time waiting (and getting to know fellow NY delegates), lots of time crawling toward Charlotte in a non-air-conditioned bus, and finally a 13 block walk to the reception, because the bus driver couldn't figure out how to get to the site.  In his defense, much of downtown Charlotte is closed to all traffic, and most of the ubiquitouos emergency services personnel he asked didn't know how to help.

But  we got there eventually, and the Democrats seem to be a very diverse group.  Lots of people of all colors (except, now that I think of it, Asians), a blind man, two in wheelchairs, and one person with dwarfism.  A large number of labor folks (to judge by the t-shirts), which is nice to see, given that the convention is being held in a right-to-work state and because of that, major labor groups are passing it up.

The reception was given in Discovery Place, the downtown science discovery center, two stories of colorful, mazelike, interesting science stuff.  If it were my place, I would have had a little more hands-on experiences, but it was great anyway.  Lots of us wandered around and played with the exhibits, but most talked in small groups and ate the Carolina specialty food (Carolina caviar on pimento dip was my favorite) and an open bar, which is apparently standard at conventions.  Lots of music; three stages on two floors - cool jazz, acoustic guitar/mandolin, Latin (but not ska, sorry Randall), and a group of black kids in colorful sweaters who sang and danced an energetic, athletic, irresistible set, including a sweet, touching version of "God Bless America" with everyone singing along.

There was nothing particularly political about the gathering (except for the Democrat/Obama sale table at one end), but there were a lot of conversations among people from all regions and backgrounds.  I met a lot of NYers - a State Assemblyman from LI, a bunch of retired teachers from upstate, the Mayor of Albany, an English teacher who is active in the teachers union statewide, and a recent college graduate from Manhattan who's a campaign volunteer.  Democrats took pictures of each other under the grizzly bear; they designed houses on computers in the design section; they laid on a metal bed where thousands of nails came up from thousands of holes to demonstrate the distribution of weight; they danced to Latin and some other kind of music that came from a DJ working a computer and that my sons would know the name of but I don't.

On the way home, we swapped stories with our bus driver, who is from Mississippi (highly skilled, but out-of-town bus drivers don't help the transport situation).  He lives near the home of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, which was damaged by Hurricane Camille in 1969 - and was restored largely using donations from New Yorkers.  It's a strange world.

Sunday

After a nice visit with relatives outside Lancaster, PA, last night, I was on the road at 0:dark:30, heading south.  If you have to spend a day in the car, you can't do much better than I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia, and then I-77 south across North Carolina.  Coming down out of the mountains onto the piedmont this afternoon, I drove through scenery as breathtaking as any I've ever seen.

Charlotte is a new city - lots of chrome and glass in tall, modern buildings.  It's the smallest national convention venue since New Orleans in 1988; there are 'only' 15,000 hotel rooms in the metro area, and 40,000 folks are expected (just under 5,000 delegates), according to today's "Charlotte Observer."  I had looked forward to having my wife Abbey join me for the convention, but as the summer progressed, I got more and more bad news from the DNC and the NY Democratic Committee regarding how few, if any, credentials, venue space and even shuttle seats would be available to non-delegates.  It's a small town to be hosting such a huge event.

But so far so good.  There were representatives of the NY Democratic Committee and the Charlotte event planners right in the hotel lobby, with credentials, maps, and information.   I'm watching a baseball game for a while and - most important - not driving.

I had a note from a friend yesterday, remembering her experience of conventions past, when we were all much younger:

This is a ritual I remember (just watching) from a childhood where the trinity really was FDR, Adlai and Hubert.  When I see any of it I can go right back to the roasting Maryland nights we watched every last minute. Gavel to gavel quite literally.  I can feel the wallpaper peeling off from the humidity and hear the ice settle as it melted in the glasses of tea. That ritual and all that went with it all year long taught me to believe so strongly in the system, the power of the people to effect change and the truly good that we could all do together. That is why this means so much.

I have similar memories.  Ted Kennedy in 1980:  "The dream shall never die!"  Mario Cuomo in 1984:  "This country is a shining city on a hill."  The iconic 1968 DNC in Chicago:  "The whole world is watching!"  Barack Obama in 2004:

There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America... We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.  We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.  There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. 

That's something to believe in.   I listened to that one with my family, and at the end I said, "He will be the next Democratic nominee for President."  Now here I am, ready to vote on the convention floor, ready to put his name into nomination for a second term, this, the second inexperienced junior Senator from Illinois to become president.

It's been nearly 30 years since either party began their convention without a candidate who had clinched the nomination.  Many say the days of conventions as useful or relevant events are coming to a close.  We'll see.  I'm part of a history that means a great deal to me, and that's enough.

See you soon.

Charlotte bound!

As some of you may know, I'm a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC next week.  I'm representing NY's 24th Congressional District - which no longer exists.  The delegate selection was done before the re-districting, so we're all representing the map the way it used to look (Oneonta's now in the 19th CD, which roughly covers the Catskill Mountains).

I'm going to try and record my experiences at the Convention right here at Otsego11.  I say 'try' because the schedule looks pretty full, especially if you factor in getting around an unfamiliar city. Things start early and end way past my bedtime.

I'll be driving our Prius down to Charlotte, a two day trip with an overnight outside Lancaster, PA, at my wife's sister's house.  I'm looking forward to the Shenandoah Valley.

I'll do my best to keep you up to date.  It's an entirely new experience for me, and I don't know what to expect.  Leave questions in the Comments, and I'll take a shot at answering them.

East Street Parking Lot Project

Not much has changed at the corners of East St., Bugbee Rd. and Meadowbrook Lane in the last few months. What looked like construction work on the property has stopped, and the status of the land use applications is about what it was at that time.

A parking lot is not considered a proper use of this land, in the City or the Town, so Mr. Ranieri must apply for a use variance from both the the Zoning Board of Appeals, in the City, and the Town Planning Board. The ZBA has not acted, as far as I know, and the Town Planning Board considers the application incomplete, and will not act, one would assume, until all the elements of the application are presented.

I received a copy of the County Planning Board's “Notice of Recommendation” for the project last week. The Planning Board neither approved nor disapproved, since there was 'no significant county-wide or inter-community impacts;' this is consistent with their responsibility in these matters. However, the document does mention some concerns, including the impact on the community character. I talked with Karen Sullivan, Director of the Otsego County Planning Board, this morning, and she noted that Mr. Ranieri has not produced the kinds of plans necessary for the various agencies to come to a decision, so significant change up on the corner is, apparently, still in the distant future – if at all.

More Detail on the Future of the Manor

As promised, a little more detail regarding the Manor and its future.

As I noted yesterday, keeping the Manor open and functioning, unchanged, will cost Otsego County taxpayers four to six million dollars a year above and beyond the expected revenues. Given that revenues (mostly Medicaid and Medicare) are dropping every year, and expenses are increasing, that annual subsidy will increase with time.

Here are the four options for the future, as developed by the Manor Committee and Manor Director Ed Marchi:

• Option 1: No change. See above.
• Option 2: Turn in the operating certificate, and sell the building to be used as a hotel. This would get us out of the nursing home business, and leave us only with debt service (depending on purchase price) and legacy costs (retirees' health insurance, etc.), which would diminish over time. As noted yesterday, this is somewhat unattractive to a potential buyer, because current residents have the option of remaining in the building for the rest of their lives, or moving voluntarily, and the transition to a hotel could not be done until the last resident was gone. This is not an option we are likely to pursue.
• Option 3: Retain the building with reduced Skilled Nursing beds, which would be operated by the County, and find “Community Partners” to run the Medicaid Assisted Living program. This would retain most of the services currently available through the Manor, and reduce the annual subsidy somewhat, but it wouldn't eliminate it, nor would it slow down its growth. In addition, for rather technical reasons, this option would probably lose money – above and beyond the subsidy – in the range of two million dollars per year.
• Option 4: Sell the building and lease the Skilled Nursing portion of the Manor function, but reduce the number of beds. This would be economically viable (as Option 3 would not be), and would leave us only with debt service on the building (depending on purchase price) and legacy costs (retirees' health insurance, etc.), which would diminish over time.
• Option 5: Sell the building and the operating certificate to an entity which would operate the Manor, to the greatest extent possible, as it has been. This process might be costly up front, and we would need to retain staff to continue to claim outstanding reimbursements for up to a year after the sale, but it would leave us, as in Options 2 and 4, only with debt service on the building (depending on purchase price) and legacy costs (retirees' health insurance, etc.), which would diminish over time.

On Wednesday, we empowered Cathy Clarke, Board Chair, to negotiate with a well-recommended consulting company who is in the business of doing just this: helping with the transfer of health facilities.

Our first priority is still the care and comfort of our residents. Stay tuned for further develpments.

The Future of the Manor

My apologies for the long absence from this blog – life tends to get complicated. As a friend says, “So this is retirement, is it?” Yes, it is. But everything I'm up to is something I've always wanted to do.

I have some more detailed information regarding the proposed parking lot on East and Bugbee, and I've been working on a series of posts detailing some of the committee work I'm involved in. They'll be finished, and up on this blog, within a month or so. But I wanted to make sure I said a word or two about the Manor today.

At today's Board meeting, much was accomplished. We hired a new Personnel Director for the county; we set an end date for our involvement in MOSA (April 30, 2013), and took the first step toward changing the Representatives' term of office from two years to four (Public Hearing 9:30 AM, Wed. Sept. 5, in the Board Room). But most importantly, I think, we took the first step in solving what is, on one hand, an exceptionally expensive problem, and on the other hand, a crucial part of the lives of many of our friends and neighbors.

I'll be back with more details, and update them as time goes on, but the single most important number to consider when discussion the Manor is 6 million. That's how many dollars, give or take, it takes, from the County budget, to bridge the gap between the Manor's revenue and its expenses every year. This is an major burden on the Otsego County taxpayer which is unsustainable, especially since revenues (mostly Medicaid and Medicare) are being reduced each year, and expenses are increasing.

The Manor Committee and Director Ed Marchi laid out options for the full Board this morning. They ran the gamut between making no changes and selling the building, with a couple of combination sale/lease options in the middle. The Board voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with a highly qualified consultant to lead us through the process and negotiate any changes we decide on.

As I said, more details later. But here's the bottom line for most, if not all, citizens of the County:

Public Health law prohibits us from displacing any residents of the Manor against their will, ever. So if the Manor is sold to an entity intending to use it for something other than a nursing home, they can't have it until every patient is placed, by their own choice. If they choose to stay, they can stay for the rest of their life. This makes the Manor unattractive to prospective buyers who want to use it for something else, and makes that kind of sale very improbable. But regardless of what the final disposition of the Manor is, current residents get to stay as long as they choose to.

We, the Board, affirmed our commitment to patient care as our first priority, and whatever happens, the quality of care will be our first priority in choosing among alternatives. At no point will the process be out of the Board's hands, so your Representative is the point person for questions, concerns and suggestions.

We all know how important it for the folks who live at the Manor to continue to be assured that their home will not be taken from them or changed substantially. We have an obligation to provide them with that assurance for as long as they choose to live there, and the Board is committed to doing that. Today, we started the process that will lead us to that goal, without having to continue to pay the massive subsidy required for the County to own and operate the buiding.

Fracking Black Holes

Like most of us, I have been trying to maintain a steep learning curve regarding fracking, so when the time comes to make a decision in one arena or another, I'll be working with enough facts to make a knowledgeable choice. As I've been filling in the picture, two things stand out – two things that seem not to be addressed, and that seem to be central to the whole issue:

• What do people mean when they talk about finding out if fracking is 'safe?' For the most part, they mean that there is a high probability that wells will not fail and pollute the water table. That, it seems, is not the point – the 'high probability' part. 98%, for instance, is a high probability, but assurances that 98% of the wells in Otsego County, or New York State, or anywhere, will be safe, means that two of every one hundred wells will damage people's drinking water. With wells that will number in the tens of thousands, 98% isn't nearly good enough. Nothing short of a guaranteed 100% can even start the discussion.
• Pro-fracking activists are aiming in the wrong direction. If they really want to make a compelling case to the people of New York, they need to convince the guardians of the New York City and Syracuse water systems (and to NYC mayor Bloomberg) that drilling will pose no danger to their water, ever. If they can do that (and they obviously haven't), then perhaps we can start the discussion (the EPA insists that the exemption is because NYC and Syracuse use unfiltered water – but how can filtered water systems remain safe, if we don't know what's in the fluids, so we don't know what we need to filter out – or whether it's even possible to filter it all out?).

I asked the folks at the County Planning Department (Karen Sullivan and Psalm Wyckoff) about the parking lot today, and they were generous with their time and very helpful. Karen made some calls later on and filled in some blanks. It seems it's a three-part story.

(People who work with planning, zoning and code enforcement speak their own language, fluently and swiftly, and it's a language that I don't speak, yet, so some of the vocabulary may be misplaced or inaccurate.)

The land being developed for the parking lot straddles the town-city line, so the code inspectors and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in both municipalities are involved. In both the town and the city, the original application for permits was denied, but the ZBA in the City approved a use variance. The Town ZBA has deemed the application incomplete, so no decision has been made there. So at this point, the project is not approved. It's not clear whether the project can go ahead in the city section without the whole thing being approved by both municipalities.

The County gets involved if a project is within 500' of a municipal boundary, and this one fits because it's right on a municipal boundary. However, this is where it gets interesting: the project began, apparently, as a collection of townhouses, and it was sent to the County at that point, about two years ago. Now that the plans have changed, it's not clear whether the City or the town will request that the County look at the project and then make recommendations.  The County's rulings in these cases are usually focused on whether the project in one municipality will cause an undue burden on the neighboring municipality, and these rulings are only recommendations; they have no authority over the municipality's final decision.  When the County is asked to get involved (and it only gets involved when a municipality requests it), it can do one of four things: approve, disapprove, approve with modifications, or decline to rule because no significant impact has been found.

And finally, the City Code Enforcement office is asking DEC to become involved with the project; more on this as time goes on.

Overall, this project is raising a lot of questions. Apparently, the plan is to market the parking spaces to freshmen for long-term parking, although whether there is a sufficient market to make the project pay is one of those questions. The owner is hoping to get OPT to stop there – but where? It's a busy, residential corner, and for most of the project's length, East Street has a 45 mph speed limit. Not a great place for buses to stop every fifteen minutes.

Anyway, more to come. At least we can be assured that there are people in the middle of this who are asking the right questions. If you want to take more action, contact:

•  your City Councilman  
•  your Town Board member
•  the Town of Oneonta Planning Board and ZBA 

The Parking Lot

I've gotten a number of calls and e-mails regarding the planned parking lot at the top of East St., where Bugbee Rd. and Meadowbrook Lane intersect it. The vacant lots on that corner, on either side of Meadowbrook Lane, have been bulldozed and graded recently, in preparation for what the owner hopes will be a lot for long-term parking for 300+ student cars.

Everyone who contacted me had concerns about the project, concerns that I share. Many questions are unanswered: questions about foot traffic crossing East St. and traveling through neighborhoods, security, lighting, runoff (and many other environmental concerns), increased traffic, and others.

I went to City Hall to talk with Robert Chiappisi, city Code Enforcement Officer, last week. Many factors make this a complex issue. The land is part in the City, and part in the Town, which (usually but not always) means that the County gets involved. The project has been given a preliminary variance, but each step requires approval, and Mr. Chiappisi, who will be making the decisions about those approvals, has grave concerns about the project as well.

I'll be at the Meadows for a committee meeting on Friday, and I'll stop in at the County Planning Department office and see if I can learn anything more about how this all works, and what's in store for that neighborhood. I'll let you know what I learn, here at the weblog. Stay tuned.

MOSA Letter

If you were down to the Oneonta MOSA transfer station in March, you might have been handed a letter from the Executive Director of MOSA, Dennis Heaton, listing reasons why he thought Otsego County's plan to depart from MOSA was a bad idea – specifically, because it will cost Otsego County citizens a lot more to dispose of their trash: “In summary, Otsego County citizens will pay substantially more if Otsego departs MOSA.”

I don't know about you, but I don't think this was a good idea – especially since Mr. Heaton didn't inform the MOSA Board that he was going to distribute a one-sided argument on an important and complex topic to whoever showed up at the transfer station. There are better ways to get your point across, in our media-rich world. Worse, it turns out that his facts were cherry-picked and incomplete; he did not mention, in many instances, many of the MOSA expenditures which would occur even if Otsego County remained with the Authority.

Cathy Clark, the Otsego County Board Chair, wrote to Mr. Heaton, outlining the errors in his presentation, and calling his attempt to 'impugn' and 'undermine' a member county of the Authority 'regrettable.' I'd be glad to send you a copy of it if you'd like to read it, especially if you've seen Mr. Heaton's letter.

The truth is, we don't know the details of how everything is going to work out. The County Board decided to leave MOSA well before I arrived, and everything I've heard convinces me that it was a good decision. It's a decision we're going to stick with, and I think it's going to turn out well for the citizens of Otsego County.

Child Safety Zone law

I have to agree with the majority on the Public Safety Committee (a standing Committee of the County Board), who this week voted to recommend that Otsego County's Child Safety Zone law be rescinded. It seems that the law – which forbids registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of any school, school bus stop, day care center, youth center, swimming pool, or any “public or commercial recreational facility clearly designed to attract children” - is probably unconstitutional. In fact, a number of other similar laws, passed in other NY counties, have been challenged in court; the county lost every time, and no county has appealed, suggesting that their claim to constitutionality was not strong.

Regardless of whether it it's constitutional or not, it doesn't make a lot of sense, except on an emotional level. There's no research anywhere suggesting that this kind of law has any effect on recidivism; we can't prove that it keeps any children safe. Anyone can travel a thousand feet – or, for that matter, ten miles – from where they live to where children congregate.

What they can't do, given the law as it now stands, is live in most Otsego County housing. A thousand feet is nearly a quarter mile, and if you draw a circle around every school, park, daycare and (especially) school bus stop, there's not much left. Especially in small towns where housing clusters around the school. And in a rural county, where school buses stop at nearly every house, even options outside of town are limited. Just think about the geography of District 11, here in the First and Second Wards: try and picture the map, and find a house or apartment more than 1,000 feet from a park or a school, or Bugbee, or the SUCO playing fields.

Given the nature of the offense, it is appropriate for some sex offenders to incur further restrictions on their liberty after their prison sentence is over; our public safety officials assure us that this is done with energy and effectiveness. But to make it almost impossible for any of them to find adequate, stable housing seems to assume that none of them will become productive, contributing citizens, and thus can be marginalized and dismissed.

This debate brings to mind the capital punishment issue: in both cases, a draconian punishment is applied not because it will change behavior or promote anyone's safety, but because it will be emotionally satisfying to a large portions of the citizenry This aspect has its value – but it also has its consequences.

E-911 Addresses

Some folks on Forest Ave. have contacted me about letters they received from the E-911 system, informing them that they had to change their house numbers. I spoke with the Sheriff a couple of weeks ago, and he assured me that these changes have been put on indefinite hold.

As you may know, the E-911 system was moved to the Sheriff's office in November, and they are still adjusting to some of the changes that were taking place as the transition occurred. As of now, however, it's important that numbers don't change on houses, stationery, bills, databases, etc.

The Daily Star goes into this in a little more detail here.

Mandates and their Relief

My wife and I own some land in Lewis County, NY, and when we got the tax bill this year, attached to it was a one-page “Truth in Taxation Report.” Sent out in accordance with new County legislation, the report is, it says, “...designed to provide a legal mechanism to ensure that citizens receive accurate tax bill information on State Mandated Programs and the effects on County Budget. State Mandates are established by the State, with no County input, and are paid for through the property tax.”

There follows a list of eight major Lewis County programs required by NY State law, and the cost of each. The total (over 11 million dollars for a county more rural than Otsego) is provided, and then the kicker: this total accounts for 90% of the entire tax levy.

Enthusiastic capitalization notwithstanding, this is an intriguing report, and the clarity of its presentation makes a clear and cogent point. I attended an all-day workshop for new County legislators a couple of weeks ago (presented expertly by the NY State Association of Counties (NYSAC)), and heard a lot about state mandates; 90% seems pretty typical, but one of the suburban counties south of us (Rockland, I think) was up to 120%. 

 

Many programs and processes required of counties in NY are reimbursed by the state, but many are not; it's not clear whether Lewis County's 90% was made up entirely of the latter, but either way, this is an important point. In most counties, Medicaid comprises the largest of these items (by far), and the county taxpayer would be justified in scratching his/her head and asking, “But I though Medicaid was a Federal program?”

It is, but states pay up to half the bill, for reasons I don't have room to go into here. And for other reasons, even more obscure and complex, only about half of the states require Counties to pitch in. According to a National Association of Counties 2010 report, New York counties pay many times more (a total of over $6 billion) than the counties of any other state – including California, whose overall Medicaid bill is half as much again as New York's.

The Governor's budget, being negotiated right now, includes what has been touted as 'mandate relief,' but, in these tough times, the dollar amounts are relatively small. Counties won't be paying less for anything, as it stands now; however, increases in the various bills will be capped (and, in the case of Medicaid, eliminated), eventually.

All this has an impact on Otsego County's budgeting process, and eventually on the tax bill we all pay. We can't cut mandated services, whatever we think of them, and so we need to look elsewhere. “Elsewhere” is getting smaller and smaller. Saying that 90% of the tax levy is mandated services is fudging the whole truth a little bit, but overall, the impact is substantial and is a major issue for us to address in the coming years.

By the way, if you want to let your NY State legislators know how you feel about this, here's where to do it:

Governor Andrew Cuomo's website

NY State Senator Jim Seward's website

NY Assemblyman Jim Magee's website 
and/or use NYSAC's simple form letter 

Month and a Half In

It's been a fascinating time, this last month and a half. Starting with the (for me, at least) moving and exciting swearing-in (actually, I was sworn in three times; long story), our first Pledge of Allegiance (“...and liberty and justice for all!”), and the seven-ballot Chair voting (which, I think, has turned out extremely well), a lot of the work has turned out to be routine. With the exception of those Chair ballots, and the resolution supporting home rule for gas drilling regulation, the vast majority of the resolutions that have come before the Board have been passed unanimously.

Committee meetings, so far, have been routine, as well; I'm on the Human Services and Health & Education Committees, both of which I requested (thanks, Cathy!). I must compliment every Department director and commissioner for their graceful willingness to outline, for us newbies, the scope and function of their Department's work. I also had the opportunity to attend six hours of workshops designed to orient new employees (and new Board members) to the Department of Social Services. I've had a number of contacts from other Department heads, offering to do the same. Everyone's been friendly and eager to help, which I appreciate immensely.

There are some important issues that will challenge us this year: the post-MOSA world; hydrofracking home rule (however it comes out on the State level); the sex-offender housing law; next year's budget, and whatever surprises await us. I'll do my best to report on these and other county issues as they occur.

The Housing Summit

It's been a while since I last posted – there's a lot happening, and I've been out of town a lot. I'll be updating a few times in the next few days.

Yesterday morning I walked down to Center Street Elementary to take part in the Mayor's Housing Summit. The gymnasium was packed; they had to to bring out a lot more chairs. Great coffee and donuts from Foti's. We were homeowners, landlords, tenants, government officials, realtors, and everyone had a lot to say.

We addressed a handful of questions ranging from fully using the upper floors of downtown buildings to improving the living conditions of seniors. Plans were made for subgroups to go deeper into each challenging area. More to come on this.

To my ears, there was a subtext that was a little disturbing. A lot of conversation revolved around student housing and (less explicitly) low-income neighborhoods. There seemed to be an assumption that living near either group was undesirable, and that high concentrations of either group made development of owner-occupied homes more difficult. Statistics regarding property values may bear this out, and there seemed to be general agreement that they diminish the quality of life in the vicinity. Owner-occupied housing, it appeared, located a discreet distance from student and low-income housing, was the gold standard.

Not that anyone came right out and said this. So – I could be wrong. Explicit or not, this is undoubtedly a widely held approach to the housing questions in any city.

Most of you know where I live – on Center St., next to the creek. We have student houses on two sides, and one of those houses rents to baseball campers in the summer. A lot of folks in difficult circumstances live within a block or two. We're happy to have all of them as neighbors. The only noise problem we've ever had here was when the City put that pump in the creek.

We're all going to be living here in Oneonta for a long time, and it's really too small a town for robust homogenous neighborhoods. For us, that's a good thing. We like the diversity all around us. At the Summit, I talked some with a landlord who owns a lot of student housing, and he was very clear about the standard of behavior he imposes on any renter who wants to stay. It works. Most students are good neighbors, and there are ways to assure that they all are. Poor folks want to live in nice places, in good neighborhoods, just as much as everyone else; sometimes, they just need a little help – or opportunity.

So I'd like to see the work started yesterday to move toward ways of coming together and living cooperatively in the City, and not toward ways of distancing ourselves from each other. I've got some ideas along those lines, so – more to come!