MsKreed

5 hours ago, KarenK said:

Well, Kathi is posting the same post on her page, his page and his public legislative page so I give it's theirs for the taking.

Seems like the trend lately on the national level also.

When there's a significant event (or death) with celebs and public figures, their official social media page is the primary source.  Then "news" outlets treat it like a press release official statement and usually add background bio info like what the person is known for, past history, notable career highlights, etc..... to make it "their own".  

I do agree that it's lazy of the local "journalists" to not add anything beyond the FB post.  They could pretend they know something else about him -- how long he's been in office, what boards or legislation or community service he's known for. 

Former Republican Chair? Serving in his 4th term? Been giving away Fair and Arena tickets for over a decade?

Nope, : just what his FB profile states: "15th District Chemung County Legislator".

After what seemed like decades of not having them around, we actually took note a few years back that we were suddenly seeing fireflies in noticeable numbers.

There’s a lot of goldenrod in the outlying fields here, so I think they like it.

1 hour ago, JustAGuy said:

Somehow we have become trained that what was always a luxury is now necessary. Interesting how we got here. Maybe it is the boomer generation in the older years. It seemed like the generation before them was a bit more conservative on where the money went.

You’re not wrong about this.

I was going to comment about the fact that those left who were around during the Great Depression wouldn’t even recognize what is now referred to as ‘poverty’. 

By definition, “Boomers” are a result of the “baby boom” after WWII....a rise in births from 1946 to 1964.

Their parents were more frugal and self-sufficient from surviving the Depression and the War. But they also started to (and raised their boomer kids to) enjoy the post-war economic and technical “booms” that you pointed out.....like supermarkets with abundant (and prepared) food, TV, entertainment and ‘disposable income’, etc. 

Many boomers grew up taking those indulgences for granted. Some boomers were still taught to appreciate the difference between “wants and needs”.....but most really can’t imagine life without both like their parents did. And even fewer Gen X (born between 1965 & 1980) ever had to get by with just basic “needs”.

I think there’s some Greek or Roman philosopher that wrote about the historical cycle, and essentially said it take a full-on collapse that sets a society back to the “needs” phase so the whole sequence starts over. 

Oh...there's been a growing problem with lack of saving for rainy day or emergencies.....let alone retirement for years.

But her statement is problematic for a couple of reasons.  If nothing else, it shows no improvement from 2019.

And, if her characterization of "the average American" is accurate, then it's more widespread than the 27% cited foour years ago. Moreover, if that $400 now represents the verge of bankruptcy, it implies financial devastation.....not just a temporary hardship that selling or  borrowing would cover. 

• 27% of adults would need to borrow or sell something to pay for an unexpected expense of $400.

On 7/12/2023 at 11:07 AM, Chris said:

I had to read it several times before I could see beyond the "YAY! Bidenomics is working!!!" messaging. 

Nothing shouts "best economy ever" like warnings that the average American is less than a paycheck away from complete financial ruin......

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Understand that across our country, how many people cannot afford to live where they work and have to commute to work, sometimes hours at a time, driving over bridges and roads that are falling apart — what that might mean in terms of a flat tire, what that means in terms of coming out of pocket because your car insurance doesn’t cover it.  And the average American is a $400 unexpected expense away from bankruptcy.

VP Harris JULY 24, 2023,

source: White House briefing website

A very good video about this pool from a local young man was posted on here  here earlier this month

At any given time I’ve visited a Dandy Mart, they have 4-6 visible employees (2 or 3 cashiering and 2-3 making pizzas and subs.

Most are closed overnights and probably have 25-30 total employees covering days/evenings.....If you figure operating 16hrs x 7 days x 5 front end employees:  That’s 560 man hours, which is 14 employees at 40hrs, or (more likely 18 employees averaging around 30 hrs each). Plus whatever management and office staff we don’t see.  

A Truck plaza (like Pilot or Love’s at the Bath Kanona exit) runs around the clock. They aren’t just open overnight, it is often their busiest time of day when OTR truckers are on the move with less passenger car traffic in their way. They also have a lot more services than the Dandy cashiers and line cooks.

Besides lounge and shower facilities, full service truck plazas, like Loves, have tractor trailer repair with mechanics on site. Some even dispatch mobile roadside services within a certain area.

So I can realistically see a full service Truck Plaza “Travel Center” employing 50 people. But that number wouldn’t have any measurable impact on the local economy or employment situation. Even at its best, 50 jobs is less than one tenth of one percent of the county's 84,000 population (0.0595238095%).

But the true number would be even less than that since a large portion of those jobs will simply be shifted from existing business that will lose revenue (and employees) to the new Plaza. Just like we saw reduced business (and jobs) at existing locations like GCP and the Miracle Mile when Consumer Square and Walmart Plaza opened.

34 minutes ago, KarenK said:

I don't really agree with that.  I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to petition to serve.  Signing a petition does not imply support.  It implies the encouragement of the candidate to run.  This gives them the opportunity to then do what they need to do to get elected.  

Everyone should have the opportunity if they want it.

You vote in November.  Just because you signed the petition doesn't mean you have to vote for them.

In principle, I agree that anyone eligible to hold an office should be allowed to run without government impeding them.

However, the people who drafted election laws in NYS (and many other states) have decided otherwise.

As long as they have decreed that no one can run without a certain number of signatures and eligible signers are limited to only signing one petition per office.....then I agree with Chris that potential signers have a right (obligation?) to be discriminating in deciding when/if to sign a petition.  

19 minutes ago, Elizabeth Whitehouse said:

This country is supposed to be a democracy. Ha ha. As such, it is not up to you decide who is eligible to run for office.

The way New York State election law works.....a designated number of registered voters agreeing to sign a petition is a requirement for eligibility. That pretty much means, by definition, it is up to those voters being asked to sign a petition to decide who is eligible to run for office.

And I also agree that having a Mayor and City Manager is pointless.  But I have not formed any opinion on which position should be eliminated.

The Mayor's $11k salary reflects the fact that there are no requisite Business Management or Administrator CV requirements....and, accordingly, they do not have any real administrative or supervisory duties. As it is now, the Mayor isn't much more than a part time glorified council member elected "at large" rather than representing a specific district, and serving as Chair. 

I didn’t imply in my response that I think petitioning is some tit for tat based on any “promise” from the candidate.

The earlier point was “how does a candidate find out the concerns of the constituency before he gets out and talks to them?”

But on any occasion when I have been asked to sign a petition, no candidate has ever implied anything like “I have no interest in hearing what any of your concerns are, but please sign this so I can run for office”.....that approach would be tacky and insulting.

They’ve always introduced themselves and expressed (or at least feigned) sincere interest in “me” and asked questions about my concerns as a voter.

Mr. Hassell didn’t bother to stop at my house at any time during his legislative campaign, either when gathering signatures for his IND line or all the way up to November.

I do hope now that he's an Elmiran again, those voters find he has more engagement (or any at all?? LOL)

I agree that such an early debate has less weight than the one planned for October, but I wouldn’t say that we should expect either candidate to not have a good grasp on the concerns of the constituency by April when they submitted their party petitions.

Of course, that Galactic person briefly announced plans to run as a “lark” after only living here a few months and had no idea of the issues the city has faced (she was not qualified and rightly withdrew from the race).

But these two....living in the community for decades should presumably have a good idea of the matters and current events that compelled them to run. Perhaps even participation in local organizations, etc where they’ve been involved in projects and/or community issues.  Not to mention the ample opportunity they had to discuss concerns while gathering signatures since February.

4 minutes ago, Hal said:

So MsKreed , is the message here with the photo of the Racist Courthouses that they all look alike , because they do ?!

Bingo!

I figured it should be easy to pick out which ones may have some sordid history......considering how so many critics believe the general public is supposed to know when they see one in a music video.😉

14 hours ago, Elizabeth Whitehouse said:

Really? You think that people choose to be homeless?  In a city where more than a third of people live in poverty.

It's about one quarter....not "more than a third" living in poverty (US Census data)

And incidentally, she did qualify her point with "not all"......

Unfortunately, the City has continuously encountered many (see HERE) who refuse to stay in shelters where activity is monitored and illicit behavior is not acceptable. 

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The City of Elmira recently cleaned up the homeless encampment under the Clemens Center Bridge, however many people who were living there returned a short time later.

Officials offered help to the people living there but say the overwhelming majority of homeless people refused help. With winter around the corner, the city and its homeless are in a tough spot.

So, in the sense that many insist on staying in homeless encampments over supervised living arrangements (where they would be encumbered by "house rules" prohibiting drugs, weapons, etc).....they are "choosing" that environment. 

It can, of course, be debated that circumstances like addiction or mental illness which are factors in homelessness aren't a "choice", but surely no reasonable person would suggest that shelters should allow unacceptable behaviors associated with those circumstances to take place on their premises. 

The liability could be devastating if (when) someone is harmed. 

I think transparency and accountability are very important....and egregiously lacking in local government (and at all levels).

I tend to feel that there usually more issues of evasive, vague, incomplete and/or ambiguous communication with informal discussion. It doesn't help that we have fewer and fewer local journalists with the initiative to pursue "on the record" facts, names and dollar figures. 

I’d like to give Margeson the benefit of the doubt that he did not want to name the various parties in an informal conversation after a meeting in case his memory was unsure and wouldn’t want to mix or conflate names and bid amounts “off the top of his head”.

I generally try to follow up extemporaneous chats like this with a more formal communication (email/letter, etc) that directly addresses the details and requesting specific information.  

If someone followed up by emailing/contacting him directly and he still couldn't provide the names and numbers (after verifying his data), then that’s certainly a problem. And that formal communication would be a documented starting point to build upon when/if questions persist or need to be escalated.

I'm not a Country Music fanatic by any means. None of my radio pre-sets or satellite/TV “favorites” have ever included a Country music station. When I first saw this issue raised, I had to do a search as I wasn’t familiar with either the artist or the song.  

But I'll stipulate that I have enjoyed a few "cross-over" hits that fall into the Southern Rock genre....and was a real fan of "A Country Boy Can Survive" when it came out in 1982. 

It seems that critics have had to scramble to “transform” the basis for their outrage since the video’s release. 

Initially, they seized upon the lyrics (which they alleged promoted violence). That argument was largely abandoned when compared to far more violent lyrics from other music genres....along with the fact that the song had been out for months and the supposedly offensive lyrics weren’t challenged until the video release

Then detractors turned their pearl clutching toward what critics called racist imagery. That premise lacks merit, since it is largely actual news footage and the violent acts shown are certainly not limited to any one race of perpetrators.

That left one factual element to grasp at: The video features images of the Maury County Court House.

Yes. Apparently it does - and it was the site of a heinous lynching in 1927.

But seriously.....I do not for a second believe that even those most vehemently condemning that image actually recognized the building from the video (let alone knew its history). It is essentially a nonspecific depiction of any one of hundreds of public buildings across the nation that all share the same “generic” architectural design.

In the approximately 3 minute (180 second) video, the building backdrop is shown for a total of less than 15-20 seconds – with only the final clip lasting more than a whole second.

I could not even spot a split second glimpse of any writing that could identify the location. No one even knew what that building was until they were told to be outraged about it. 

Someone had to dig deep to make that connection....and now we have a bunch of keyboard “historians” who are pretending they had full awareness of what occurred there 96 years ago....and it’s something that was a readily noticeable affront.

5 minutes ago, Chris said:

Looks like this is dead in the water. It's too bad they couldn't find a better place for it, that's potentially a lot of revenue. 

I've said for a long time that the IDA/STEG need to devote some resources to derelict and vacant properties that are a blight across Chemung County.  Building on undeveloped property should wait until the majority of existing commercial property is rehabilitated.

The $672,000 sale makes it the second-most expensive Pokémon card ever sold and comes after Martinez’s card was estimated to be worth as much as $1.5 million weeks earlier.

14 minutes ago, Chris said:

Am I missing something? Because I don't see prices coming down on stuff!

Yeah....the verbiage is deceptive.

The rate of inflation is down.  So....prices are still going up, just not increasing as rapidly as previous months.

Analogy.....If I’ve gained 60 lbs in the past year (5lbs/month), and brag on social media that my rate of weight gain “slows” to 3lbs a month --- I’m not losing weight or getting any “healthier”.

30 minutes ago, JustAGuy said:

The county already owns the land anyway. Wouldn't be hard to sneak a deal in before public knowledge.

This is so sadly true.....and likely would have been approved before public knowledge if we had a couple fewer attentive legislators. If not for two (new) current legislators who spoke up at the committee meeting where this was presented, the public would have been largely unaware of this attempt, and it could/would have passed unnoticed.

Morse (1st district) very strongly supports families and rural agricultural communities and Saglibene (2nd district) represents Big Flats.  Their predecessors (Pastrick and Manchester) would have most likely kept quiet and went along with whatever the CCIDA proposed. But once these two brought it out in the open, the public comments incentivised other legislators to weigh in (rather than quietly voting 'aye').  This sort of thing helps emphasize how important it is to choose good local representatives.

On 7/5/2023 at 12:22 PM, Ann said:

Sometimes people leave liberal leaning States to go to conservative leaning States.  The problem is they sometimes  forget to leave liberal voting habits behind.

6 hours ago, Chris said:

Part of me is curious, because Twitter really is one huge flaming turd. But then I see stuff like this and think, "Nahhh..."

To me, this guy's whole demeanor is so cringy. 

16 hours ago, Chris said:

I see on Facebook an $11k raise for the county executive made it out of committee with a 3-2 vote. It will go before the entire legislature next week.

Aside from the two members of the Budget Committee (McCarthy & Morse) who voted against it, Sweet and Smith (not on the Committee) expressed their intent to vote Nay.... It will be interesting to see where the final votes land. 

I've been trying to wrap my head around how we got to this point. During his campaign for the first term (2018), Moss ran (and won) on the promises of cutting Top salaries (including his own).

Restructured salaries of officials net Chemung County $91,100 in savings:

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Chemung County Executive Christopher Moss has announced salary reductions for some high-level county officials — meaning a savings of $91,100. 

Two officials, Moss and Deputy Executive David Sheen, the former Southern town supervisor, will see their salaries shrink by 15 percent. Five other positions will see 10 percent reductions. One position, director of public information, will see a $16,339 increase in salary. 

The reductions come as no surprise and likely will not be the last cost-cutting measure implemented as the newly seated county executive looks to balance the county's budget. 

"As Chemung County's budget continues to increase incrementally each year, we need to find a way to slow the growth ... without affecting the services we're providing to the taxpayer," Moss told the Star-Gazette last month. "We need to reduce our full-time employee count as well as conduct a thorough review of single rate salaries, as the initial review indicates several should be reduced, as they are out of line with counties that share similar demographics." 

 

Since nothing in his 2018 "save the taxpayers money" campaign ever indicated it was only a temporary gesture.....I was hugely disappointed by 2021 when he gaslighted the public by suddenly whining about "wage compression" and wringing his hands over not having his salary "returned":

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The county executive and the Legislature also disagreed on pay rate increases for some county employees — specifically in the executive branch. The Legislature's budget raised the county executive’s salary to $146,985, mirroring a 4% raise for many elected and management employees. County legislators also received a 4% pay bump, their first raise of the current term.

“I personally feel that it is fair to treat the county executive and Legislature the same when handing out raises, and 4% is a very fair raise,” said 14th District Legislator Michael Smith.

Moss said his budget plan sought to remedy issues of “wage compression,” in which there is a decreased difference in pay between county employees and supervisors. Moss made 22 wage adjustments to the salaries of county officials based on wage compression concerns. The increases ranged from 4% to 31.2%, with a 13% increase for the county executive to $159,954.

Moss noted that some elected and appointed officials took a 10% to 15% pay decrease in 2019 that saved the county around $244,000 over the ensuing three years. The Budget Committee approved 19 of the 22 recommendations, but not for the positions of county executive and deputy executive.

“The Legislature, for no articulated or legitimate basis, refusing to return half of the 15% taken from the position of the County Executive and Deputy Executive in 2019, does nothing but create an additional wage compression issue whereupon now three department heads will make more than the Deputy Executive, who is their immediate supervisor,” said Moss.

 

With that said.....

While I agree that Moss expecting (demanding?) to have his salary "realigned" to something closer to what he now thinks it should be (in contradiction to his campaign platform that got him elected)......I find the reasons that Legislator Smith expressed in the Budget Meeting (here) to be wildly arrogant, self-serving and inappropriate 

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Generally, increases in salary were awarded because of performance. You had to produce. Contribution to the organization's success. And I would like to point out that there are some areas here where the County Executive has been less than cooperative with the legislature. And, in fact, has completely disregarded the wishes of the Legislature.

********

I find it very difficult to justify in my mind why this kind of work should be rewarded. To me increase in wages as a reward for good work. And I have to say that I don't see it.

 

I hope the Exec and Deputy wage increases both get voted down because it's fiscally irresponsible when few taxpayers are receiving raises of 4% followed by 7.5% within a few months. 

Or on principal because it's hypocritical for the Exec to renege on his campaign promise.

Or because there "wage compression" argument doesn't apply when other counties have Department heads earning more than administrators who oversee them.

However.....the Legislature should not be determining the salary of a co-equal elected branch based on their personal view of the "quality" of that official's work.  The Legislature is not elected to conduct evaluations of the Executive's job performance. 

9 hours ago, Adam said:

due to the margin being so tight, an automatic hand re-count has been triggered for my primary, should have results certified one way or the other by the 12th

No matter the outcome...just keep your foot on the gas going into the general, and keep talking to everyone and encouraging turnout from supporters.

It doesn’t look like Baldwin ever has big turnouts for primaries, even in the larger election years.  There was lower turnout for last years (legislator) primary:

I'm doubtful that any human is reading 6,000 tweets a day.  That's four tweets per minute -- around the clock. 

I think he may be onto something.  From the start, Musk questioned the number of twitter "users" that were bot accounts, because large numbers of AI accounts falsely inflate the "reach" for advertisers (and also create a fake sense that "people" are interacting with other "people").