MsKreed

It was refreshing to hear Buzzetti to acknowledge that limited testing toward the beginning of the pandemic resulted in undercounting, so actual current cases aren’t as alarming when we consider how many direct contacts went untested early on.

And Moss made a relevant point about vax mandates reducing staffing...resulting in fewer beds being available. I'd like to have seen numbers to support that statement.

Other than that....with each Covid update videos they host, the less of a fan I’m becoming of the County Exec and Health Director.

I think it’s an unprofessional approach to present graphs (that are difficult to read), while declining to share that data with the public on official county government platforms. Today Moss indicated that they can only fit so much information on the daily “dashboard”, so that’s all the public is entitled to. I find it hard to believe that we can't afford the cloud storage to allow a few more images on the County website.

A daily snapshot that deletes previous data is not a useful tool for the public. Clearly, they do believe that historical trends and timeline data is valuable....since they themselves feel that format is beneficial to illustrate their points. That information should be easily accessible and “no room on the dashboard” is a lame excuse to conceal data.

On 11/24/2021 at 9:09 AM, Adam said:

no public meeting to either introduce the prospective party nor announce terms of the deal(which is BS since the County taxpayers have a stake in it anyways)

On 11/24/2021 at 2:08 PM, KarenK said:

The lack up up front transparency by the IDA does concern me. Technical error perhaps or perhaps not but it does give the illusion of trying to hide something.

The more I thought about the "clerical error" that they claim caused the failure to give advance notice to the public....the more I’ve tried to research to reassure my gut that wasn’t some conspiratorial plan to sneak a deal in covertly.

But whatever I try to research makes me feel like this is less an oversight and more and more resembling intentional secrecy. That’s because advance public notice for the November 23^rd meeting is not the only thing “missing” from the situation.

This is the first (that I’ve learned about) of any CCIDA meeting not being live streamed and archived on the County website since the law requiring them to live-stream and post video recordings of their meetings took effect January 2020. Failing to provide notice of the meeting is one thing - that could be attributed to communication lapse. Deciding not to record it is a next level failure, that seems like a deliberate omission. 

This begs the question of how many other CCIDA meetings have taken place outside the camera that we don’t know about. It surely seems illogical to assume the IDA members confidently voted to accept an agreement of this magnitude during the very meeting in which it was first presented. Yet, since the lease with Can-USA expired in July, no other lease proposal has been mentioned in any other meeting...at least not any that were recorded for public access (as per the law).  

As well as the "it's was all a plot to give Robbie the shaft" crowd:

Conspiracy? Meh....probably a strong term.

But certainly, a disappointing lack of transparency. 

All those who were happy they cut the cord with Nichols will be thrilled if the new lease requires the tenants to pay actual fair market rent and upkeep instead of the false promises of economic prosperity and unicorn farts that all the previous occupants offered up as payment.

We’ll still have all the Robbie fans that are furious his lease wasn’t renewed...but if we find they negotiated another $125/month steal of a deal and taxpayers stay on the hook for keeping the white elephant alive, then I think almost everyone would be dismayed.

At least they’re gracious enough to give a week’s notice for the press conference, since their clerical error prevented the proper notice for today’s public meeting.

I sure hope they are prepared to take questions at that time....even if it seems a bit patronizing to not offer details or invite public opinion until after the ink is dry.

This doesn't seem suspicious at all:

Quote

 

The Tuesday meeting came as a surprise announcement. The IDA had not given prior notice to the meeting, as required by the   New York State “Open Meetings Law” , which says that any meeting that is scheduled at least one week in advance must be publicly announced at least three days prior, and any other meetings must be publicly announced “at a reasonable time prior”.

Roman said a clerical error was to blame for the lack of notice given for the meeting.

 

Council member says:

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“The people in his district are very frustrated,” said Leland. “They’ve been trying to reach out to him. Quite frankly, although I respect Mayor Mandell, I think he should have handled this awhile ago.”

Mayor’s office says:

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Mandell said the mayor’s office is limited in its power over the actions of city council members. As long as Kitching maintains a residence in the 5th District, he is answerable only to the voters of the 5th District when his term expires in 2023.

“The bottom line is he’s an elected official. He doesn’t have to show up to meetings, he doesn’t have to go to council meetings. There’s nothing that compels him to do that,”

The  Elmira City Charter  seems to say they both may be incorrect.....it seems to indicate that it’s not the mayor, but the council itself, that has the “power to compel attendance” and to  order the cops to haul him in.

Quote

Sec. 23. - [Rules of common council.]

The common council shall determine the rules of its own proceedings and be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members, and have power to compel the attendance of absent members from time to time by the entry of a resolution and order in the minutes, directing the chief of police, or any police officer of the city, to arrest such absent member and take him before the common council, at the meeting at which such member was absent, or the next or some subsequent meeting of the council, to answer for his neglect; to prescribe the duties of all the officers and persons elected or appointed by them to any office or place whatever, subject to the provisions of this act; and to remove all officers and persons appointed or elected by them for any neglect of duty or misconduct; and to revoke or cause to be revoked any license or permission given under this act.

Am I reading that wrong? 

9 hours ago, Chris said:

I know things are screwed up when I find myself agreeing with Bill Maher. 

I think I have you beat, albeit on a different news topic.....

Chris Cuomo just made some statements [regarding the Rittenhouse case] that I wholeheartedly agreed with! 😲

1 hour ago, TwinTiersLiving said:

Do you agree with the decision to exclude her from this event? Or, what are your thoughts otherwise? 

I think it’s dumb scary that Warner Bros would capitulate to a handful ingrates who the studio paid millions for the sole task of portraying JK’s characters.

It seems like her questioning a phrase like “people who menstruate” is more rooted in long-held science and fact than “intolerance” or “hate speech”.

I don’t know if Bill Maher has weighed in on JK’s “cancellation” specifically..... But he’s made some excellent points on the “woke” concept in general.

The following has some NSFW language, but I find the increasing acceptance of (and even demand for) distorted words that he’s pointing out much more chilling than a few curse words.

The Local DC news report that I saw says "postponed" instead of called off....evidently, they still want the money but only after giving the complainers are afforded "listening sessions".

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Duke Ellington School of the Arts has moved the date for a fundraiser scheduled for Nov. 23. The event, now slated for April 22, will raise money for a theater set to be named after the comedian.

Chappelle graduated from the school and has been an influential supporter of their efforts for decades.

However, in a recent statement, the school said his work has created opportunities for the Ellington community to engage in listening sessions with students as a result of the criticized special.

 

Now that new census is done, the assembly districts will probably change again!

Cuomo slid the new 90 day provision into the 20-21 budget and used it to close three prisons last year. 

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/gowanda-correctional-facility-to-close-in-90-days/71-54686348-3384-4961-9e21-c187598f7949

Even with a year of preparation, many displaced staff from Monterey Shock (and other facilities) were unable to transfer nearby and relocated hours away until closer job openings became available. A mere 90 days creates a huge hardship for them to find positions, housing and relocate families.

I find it baffling that the four unions that represent various NYS Correctional staff did not join forces in legal action when the ruling was passed last year to reduce the notice of prison closures from 1 year down to 90 days.

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Setting them up for future closures perhaps?

Or possibly to continue granting construction/maintenance contracts to their cronies to have perpetual work on the old places?

It's about time they hung a "condemned" sign on Willard; roofs are caved in on several building and all have crumbling asbestos issues. 

Monterey Shock was an astounding waste; they had just renovated all the windows in every building and replaced the $10 million water treatment plan (a 60 year old facility).....instead of closing the pre-Civil War Willard campus that offered inmate the same drug rehab program.

And the vacant property sit abandoned for years after these closings. Monterey is now an overgrown wildlife habitat, and Bayview sits empty on a multi-million dollar corner in Manhattan. Both closed in 2013. 

1 hour ago, TwinTiersLiving said:

“This review was based on a variety of factors, including physical infrastructure, program offerings, facility security level, specialized medical and mental health services, proximity of other facilities in the area to minimize the impact to staff, potential re-use options and areas of the state where prior closures have occurred in order to minimize the impact to communities.”

Yeah, about some of these factors they supposedly examined....... that statement leaves out the part where they are retaining some of the worst infrastructure and closing the ones that would be more cost effective to operate.

Southport was built in 1988 and recently underwent all kinds of renovations when they went from maxi-max to a "program" facility. So let's keep Elmira CF open and continue maintaining the 150 year old relic.

Exact same scenario with Downstate, which was constructed in 1979....while Fishkill across the road is a re-purposed psychiatric prison built in 1892.

This is not the first time the State has closed newer facilities while leaving decrepit nearby facilities with unsustainable infrastructure and repairs costs open. 

In 2019....Livingston CF (Mt Morris NY, off 390) was built in 1991 and shuttered in 2019. But across the street we still have Groveland operating in a facility built in 1896.

1 hour ago, KarenK said:

They say that it's no big deal because guards will be transferred and won't lose their jobs.  How many civilian employees work there?  How many families will leave the area because a spouse just got transferred to a prison across the state?   Will they bump the shorter tenure CO's to other prisons so the long tenured can transfer to ECF?

This could have drastic implications on our local economy.

I know from other closings, that displacement is a huge problem. Buy a new house, relocate spouse & kids or take on the cost of commute and/or temporary housing and leave the family here. That's a decision that a lot of staff voluntarily make to start their career (often before kids and mortgages are part of the equation), but 15, 20 years in after making roots is devastating. 

As for civilians, they have some placement/relocation options also.....but it's often dependent on where there is an opening for the job/title they are getting booted from.  As small as Monterey was, they had civilians displaced to Elmira, Southport, Willard, Five Points, Groveland/Livingston.....and one had to go to Gowanda (130 miles away) until their job description had an opening in Chemung County.  

On 11/5/2021 at 1:55 PM, Chris said:

Did clearing your cache work or have they smartened up to that?

Clearing cache changing to Edge browser and incognito browsing didn't work. But installing DuckDuckGo extension seems to have worked - will see how long that lasts 

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Hmm... Either I didn't read the entire article or somehow got passed the paywall. Either way, there's enough quoted above to get the gist of it for discussion. 

I got "You’ve reached your limit of free articles."

Apparently you haven't reached whatever the weekly or monthly NYT limit is.

Can't read the rest through the paywall..... But if the gist is to remove the work like "toppled statues"......thus preventing anyone from accessing it in future generations; whether for good or bad, for enjoyment or debate, etc? 

Nope. Don't agree with that idea for statues, or books (Huck Finn), movies (Dumbo, GWTW, et al), TV (Dukes of Hazzard, Cosby).

It's up to consumers whether or not to consume any of it, but pressure (particularly from Hollywood/media) aimed at threatening corporations to cease distribution/sponsorship for what is typically a vocal but tiny minority that does not "represent" any community on any substantial level.

That said....For all the influence and attention that the entertainment industry throws behind movements to Blacklisting and 'cancelling' careers and bodies of work...they really are sporadic and fickle when it comes to applying their pressure (and on whom).

And the Music Industry largely seems to be given the biggest pass.

Is there any doubt that there are dozens of artists who [each] took advantage of more women than Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein....giving them drugs before having their way with them [many under age]?

And even though Tom Hanks was never forced out of his career for Bosom Buddies (I guess "Philadelphia" exonerated him for that), there are plenty of stage/screen entertainers having old work removed from circulation and new work denied for being "insensitive to the LGBTQ community"

But no plans to cancel artists that went platinum being insensitive to them?

Aerosmith - Dude Looks Like Lady
The Kinks - Lola
Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
Led Zeppelin - Royal Orleans
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
 

I get that SCOTUS ruled the Census had to include non-citizens to count as population for determining district lines. And, since the US Census is THE official count recognized in the Constitution, it seems  like the part about NYS coming up with its own numbers that the "federal census fails to include", seems questionable. 

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Require that state assembly and senate district lines be based on the total population of the state, and require the state to count all residents, including non-citizens and Native Americans if the federal census fails to include them.

Unfortunately for the lawmakers drafting Proposal #1, it looks like the unreadable "wall of text" was detrimental to passing it.

It had more blank ballots than any of the other statewide proposals....and it's fair to assume a good portion of blanks votes would be due to hesitance if someone is concerned about "legaleze" and language with double-triple negatives, etc and worry they may accidentally read it backwards and vote the opposite way they wanted.

But the blanks for that proposal were more than the 10% margin it lost by.

See Results HERE

1 hour ago, Chris said:

I had a few of those concerns as well, chiefly as they pertain to agricultural matters.

Those were the first concerns for me as well -- protecting the environment seemed like the closest connection. 

I'd imagine those things as pretty much a given, but the unspecific language could allow politicians to later turn their sites on using it to dictate the "healthfulness" of more personal proximity situations.

23 minutes ago, KarenK said:

 I didn't read far enough to find out whether grandfathering or exemptions existed.  

I don't think there is any further reading you can do. 

From the text on the NYS State Board of Elections page, it seems that the entire proposal is literally just adding that single vague sentence to state ‘Bill of Rights':

So yes, it does seem like someone could easily say Right To Farm ordinances violate that...or any other capricious idea that could be framed as “unhealthful”  

How broad is the term "environment" anyway? We can probably assume it covers air land and water resources:

Restricting how many miles one may drive a gas powered car?

Regulating and requiring permits to gather rainwater?

Limiting/taxing propane/fuel oil heating?

Does "environment" extend to potentially "unhealthful" interactions in public spaces?

Placing unvaccinated people under house arrest?

What about protecting New Yorkers from an environment where they're exposed to "unhealthful" dietary selections?

Requiring meat-free school menus?

Prohibiting sugary soda pop served in 32 oz containers?

8 minutes ago, Chris said:

From what I’m seeing Proposition 2, (clean air, water “healthy environment”) passed.  

Yes....by a pretty stiff margin that really surprised me. 

When something is that vague....it seems naïve to me for anyone (let alone 60%) to think it won't be applied broadly and arbitrarily to any and all situations that could remotely be associated with "a healthful environment".  It's like a blank check for unlimited regulations, taxes and restrictions.

All tentative results are available at the NYS Board of Elections site: https://nyenr.elections.ny.gov/

I'm a little perplexed that I can't find anyplace that a schedule for his "Budget Roadshow" has been announced publicly.....somewhat annoyed to see a post after the fact that he'd just wrapped up a stop right in my Town.

 🤬

#1 - Will allow the majority party to form a committee to redraw district lines.  Currently both parties have to be represented, the new proposal leaves out the line saying both parties have to represented. Unless I get some better translation, I agree this is the crux of it, and would oppose because it seems like a clear power grab by the majority party to favor downstate and other metro areas and under-represent the rural and small towns of upstate.

#2 - "Healthful environment" is a term that could be taken a lot of different ways. Agreed. I always assume the worst when something is this vague. I can see this being used to tax anyone using non-electric vehicles and fossil fuel home energy into poverty.

#3 and #4 – Same day registration and practically unregulated mail-in voting. While I don’t want legitimate voters turned away.....I think both of these allow abuse that would remove assurances that only legitimate votes are counted.

50 minutes ago, KarenK said:

Someone on FB indicated that these repairs were landlord responsibility, not tenant

I have to wonder if that person is basing it on what might typically be landlord vs tenant responsibility for a residential lease at a fair market rental rate.....instead of the actual bargain that Nichols negotiated with the CCIDA, accepting certain responsibilities in exchange for a price far below fair market.

For comparison: About the same $125/month that CAN-USA was paying for this multi-million dollar commercial facility, the rest of us could go down the block to Centertown Garage and rent four parking spaces for $120/month.