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| Good Monday Morning, Today is Memorial Day. Last week we won a major battle against political corruption in our fair and humble county and I warned that we'd have to be vigilant, that the Legislature, currently foiled in their plans, would seek other avenues to give Paul Camarda a $3.7 million taxpayer funded handout. And sure enough in this morning's NYJN an article says just that. It's below the fold. If you want to take action to ensure this silly plan does not continue, see this and this as background and then, if you live over in Putnam Valley or Philipstown, the next time a Legislative election comes around vote for someone other than this plan's main proponent, Vinnie Tamagna.The Putnam county Republican convention this weekend was quite successful for Vinnie Leibell as skittish party members, for fear of losing their influence and access to the King, had a hard time finding anyone to second a motion to place Mary Ellen O'Dell's name on the ballot. If anyone reading in The City has an available apartment, spare bedroom or a comfy couch for me to sleep on from Thursday night (late) June 3rd through Saturday night June 5th, please let me know. Downtown is preferable but almost anywhere within the city Subway system will work just fine. See this for more information on why and then scroll down a tad. At some point yesterday (Sunday, May 30, 2010) the cost of the ongoing wars overseas crossed the $1 trillion mark and as of 6:42 this morning it was $1,000,321,850,000. This works out to around $7500 per taxpayer. Keep in mind that these are "off-budget" dollars and are in addition to the $600,000,000,000 we spend each year on defense and defense related activities. But the human cost is far greater with 4400 US soldiers killed in Iraq and 1086 killed in Afghanistan for a total of 5486. If we add in those who were wounded we have another 5725 US soldiers coming home with injuries.Right wingers are all up in a twitter about the President not laying a wreath at Arlington National Cemetary today and sending Vice President Joseph Biden instead. They might have a point if any of the last three presidents had been to Arlington on this day past. Supporters of the terrorist group Hamas, attempting to run an international sea blockade of Gaza had their asses handed to them this morning. They were stopped by the Israeli navy who during their attempt to board their ships were beaten by "unarmed civilians". Before the boarding the Navy addressed the flotilla inviting them to land at Ashdod where their supplies would be trucked to Gaza as they were last time and the time before that and the time before that. Here's a brief video of an exchange between the Israeli navy and the captain of the flotilla. Though warned for weeks that their attempt would be met with force, Greta Berlin, spokesperson for the flotilla said, "We never though there would be any violence". Bolant Yilderim, the chairman of the IHH, a Turkish based pro-Palestinian organization, said before the flotilla launched, "Israel behaves like Hitler did towards the Jews. Hitler built concentration camps in Germany, and today the Zionist entity is building concentration camps in Palestine." Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads an organization closely linked to Hamas said, "We are not the ones who eat a meal based on bread and cheese in children's blood."In other News:
And now, the News:
Tamagna wants state to help with Patterson Crossing road fixesPATTERSON — The Putnam County Legislature last week never voted on a controversial measure to reimburse developer Paul Camarda with sales-tax money for road fixes he makes near his proposed Patterson Crossing shopping center. Lawmakers on Wednesday night were expected to vote on creating a road-improvement district benefiting the shopping center. The measure would have allowed the county to reimburse Camarda up to $3.75 million for improvements he makes to Route 311 or the Interstate 84 ramps with sales-tax revenues earmarked for that purpose. But Legislature Chairman Vincent Tamagna, R-Philipstown, said the state should also step in since those are both state roads. "If we're going to pay a portion, then the state should pay a portion," said Tamagna, adding he would like to see a 50-50, county-state split.Read More Despite Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move AheadBP has stationed one oil rig above the mile-deep wellhead to siphon the leaking oil and two other rigs to drill relief wells.The records also indicate that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Asked about the permits and waivers, officials at the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service, which regulates drilling, pointed to public statements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, reiterating that the agency had no intention of stopping all new oil and gas production in the gulf. Read More Why more Americans perish as Aussies live longerSYDNEY, Australia — Universal, affordable health care may be expensive, but the world’s first comprehensive adult mortality study provides hard evidence of how well it works to preserve lives.While the risk of dying young in Australia has fallen dramatically over the past 40 years, the United States has failed dismally to improve its record, according to the University of Washington study of premature deaths in 187 countries published in the Lancet. The study, which estimated the probability that an individual who has just turned 15 will die before reaching age 60, considered premature, showed that the U.S. — despite being one of the richest countries in the world — had fallen significantly behind other countries in reducing deaths. In 1990, the U.S. ranked 34th in the world in female mortality and 41st in male mortality, but by 2010 it had dropped in the rankings to 49th for women and 45th for men, putting it behind all of western Europe and some lower-income countries such as Albania. Australia, meantime, was one of the best performers, having shot up from 36th spot for females and 44th for males in 1970 to enter the top 10 countries in adult death prevention for both genders. Health experts say one of the main factors explaining the stark contrast between Australia and the U.S., is the fact that, unlike Australia, only people with money can afford proper health care in the U.S. Read More Cleveland (Yes, Cleveland) Is Going GreenGOOD BlogYes, Cleveland’s image has changed. This was the place where the notorious Cuyahoga River became so polluted that its surface caught on fire. The waterway and its tributaries have been cleaned up to an extent, though pollution remains a concern. Cleveland’s public parks and the lakefront give the city a surprising amount of natural attractions, and it is easy for Cleveland-based travelers to explore the nearby rural parts of Ohio along the lakefront. Public art and gardens add to the green scene and give Cleveland an unexpected set of features that should earn it a spot on the map of environmentally minded tourists. Sleep green Cleveland’s Wyndham Hotel at Playhouse Square has made some impressively green steps over the past few years. A recent renovation has given the venue a boutique flair. As with other inns bearing the Wyndham name, luxury is turned up at the Playhouse Square location: There is everything from bellhops to complimentary high speed Internet. On the green side, the Wyndham boasts all the usual recycling and efficiency features. The hotel takes it a step further with its staff uniforms, which are sewn using polyester fabric made from recycled plastics. For those heading outside of the city, the resort town of Sandusky (about an hour from Cleveland) is home to the Great Wolf Lodge, a large year-round water park and resort that is seeking to complete work to be certified by the Green Seal organization. The Sandusky location is one of a dozen Great Wolf Lodges in the country that are on the way to earning the stamp of eco-approval. Read More The Net Worth of the U.S. Presidents: Washington to ObamaHaving examined the finances of all 43 presidents (yes, 43; remember, Cleveland was president twice),we calculated the net worth figures for each in 2010 dollars. Because a number of presidents, particularly in the early nineteenth century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, the number for each man is based on his net worth at its peak. We have taken into account hard assets like land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, homes, and money paid for services, which include things as diverse as their salary as collector of customs at the Port of New York to membership on Fortune 500 boards. Royalties on books have also been taken into account, along with ownership of companies and yields from family estates. The net worth of the presidents varies widely. George Washington was worth more than half a billion in today's dollars. Several presidents went bankrupt. The fortunes of American presidents are tied to the economy in the eras in which they lived. For the first 75 years after Washington's election, presidents generally made money on land, crops, and commodity speculation. A president who owned hundreds or thousands of acres could lose most or all of his property after a few years of poor crop yields. Wealthy Americans occasionally lost all of their money through land speculation--leveraging the value of one piece of land to buy additional property. Since there was no reliable national banking system and almost no liquidity in the value of private companies, land was the asset likely to provide the greatest yield, if the property yielded enough to support the costs of operating the farm or plantation. Read More |
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Monday, May 31, 2010
News That Matters - Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
News That Matters - Friday, May 28, 2010 - Things To Do Edition
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| "What I really wanted to write was a compliment to you for the service you perform with these emails. I was a resident of Patterson/Carmel for 20 years and now live out of the area. But having raised my family there, I have strong feelings for Putnam and I enjoy reading your updates. I also enjoy your wit, humor and ability to call it like it is. Nice job." - LK Good Friday Morning, Wow! Yesterday was quite a day for email and phone calls and you all kept me busier than a mother cat with a new litter. And to those of you who made donations to the cause, (PW, RR, CC and AjS) You are loved! And to those of you who have not helped out, you owe those people your gratitude. Just when you think it's safe to trust the Putnam County Legislature again....
What we need to do now is to shift our collective efforts to the State level to make absolutely certain they don't play this game. Corporate Welfare is Corporate Welfare no matter how you spin it. News That Matters may be a tad spotty over the next week as I've taken on the charge of stage managing three of Gabrielle Foxs' one-act plays at the Gene Frankel Theatre on Bond Street in NYC. The plays are being performed as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity which consists of a series of 50 plays whose proceeds will be directed toward various charities. Gabbie's three short plays will be directed by Patterson's Tony Howarth and one of them, "The Graveyard Shift", was first staged right here in Putnam County then made into a short film by Kent's Chris Casaburi. I've worked with both Tony and Gabby before but this is my first time in this capacity. In Other News:
What's Going On?
Friday, May 28
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In William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
News That Matters - Victory is Ours!
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| Folks, Apparently the Putnam County legislature thought they could hand Paul Camarda 3.7 million of your dollars without anyone knowing. Thanks to Lynne Eckardt, myself, and the dozens of you who called and wrote the Legislature about this issue it has not only been pulled from the agenda - but will probably never be placed there again. (but with these guys vigilance it the word!) A hearty Mazel Tov to all! Jeff |
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News That Matters - Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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Good Wednesday Morning,A lot of work went into the two special reports which were released by PlanPutnam and News That Matters yesterday, information you weren't going to get from any other place. If you value this information and the work done, please consider donating to help out a bit especially if you have not done so before.Corporate Welfare, Putnam Style Yesterday was a big email day around these here parts as news regarding the implosion of common sense and reason permeated our communities and people wrote wondering what the heck was going on. Well, it's Pumpkin County, as a dear friend calls it, trying once again to get over on the public and to do so without you knowing about it. But the cat is out of the bag and Paul Camarda's corporate welfare handout is about to bite the dust.Justice, Putnam Style So many of you wrote yesterday asking for more information or thanking me for the reports. More than one wrote to recommend we take legal action against Francis O'Reilly, the legal aid attorney who was too busy, or something, to adequately represent Ms. Kemp and who quit before the judge on Monday evening. Others suggested that the length of the case (almost a year), the delays and the obvious dragging of feet should be reported to those who oversee municipal judges in New York state. While all of these suggestions are valid and important it's not my place as I'm not directly involved with the case. But I do suggest that for those who are, that they seek legal redress from higher authorities in order that this abuse of justice no longer continues.In other news: (and yes, there is other news!)
And now, The News:
DEC wraps up Hudson studyHAVERSTRAW — Chris Bowser brought a cooler to the edge of the Minisceongo Creek on Monday, but he wasn't carrying beverages or food.Instead, he opened up the red and white container to reveal a foot-long adult American eel, which he promptly poured into a see-through plastic box so volunteers could get a close-up look. He spoke enthusiastically about the critter, explaining how its coloring, brownish green on top and stark white on bottom, helped provide camouflage and protection from predators, and how its nostrils were like two tubes providing an excellent sense of smell. "Eyesight isn't so helpful in the muddy, turbid Hudson River," said Bowser. "A fine sense of smell goes a really, really long way." He was joined by about a dozen volunteers on the last day of data collection for a project being conducted up and down the Hudson to learn more about the local presence of the American eel. Bowser is an estuary specialist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Estuary Program and Research Reserve, which is conducting the project. Read More After Housing Bust, Builders Dust Off the Boom MachineLaura Rauch for The New York TimesLAS VEGAS — In a plastic tent under a glorious desert sky, Richard Lee preached the gospel of the second chance. The chance to make money on the next housing boom “is like it’s never been,” Mr. Lee, a real estate promoter, assured a crowd of agents, investors and bankers. “We’re going to come back like you’ve never seen us before.” Home prices in Las Vegas are down by 60 percent from 2006 in one of the steepest descents in modern times. There are 9,517 spanking new houses sitting empty. An additional 5,600 homes were repossessed by lenders in the first three months of this year and could soon be for sale. Yet builders here are putting up 1,100 homes, and they are frantically buying lots for even more. Read More Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 YearsIt is now growing season across the Corn Belt of the United States. Seeds that have just been sown will, with the right mixture of sunshine and rain, be knee-high plants by the Fourth of July and tall stalks with ears ripe for picking by late August.Corn is much more than great summer picnic food, however. Civilization owes much to this plant, and to the early people who first cultivated it. For most of human history, our ancestors relied entirely on hunting animals and gathering seeds, fruits, nuts, tubers and other plant parts from the wild for food. It was only about 10,000 years ago that humans in many parts of the world began raising livestock and growing food through deliberate planting. These advances provided more reliable sources of food and allowed for larger, more permanent settlements. Native Americans alone domesticated nine of the most important food crops in the world, including corn, more properly called maize (Zea mays), which now provides about 21 percent of human nutrition across the globe. But despite its abundance and importance, the biological origin of maize has been a long-running mystery. The bright yellow, mouth-watering treat we know so well does not grow in the wild anywhere on the planet, so its ancestry was not at all obvious. Recently, however, the combined detective work of botanists, geneticists and archeologists has been able to identify the wild ancestor of maize, to pinpoint where the plant originated, and to determine when early people were cultivating it and using it in their diets. Read More Falwell: Measurements of Success in Ministry Are Messed UpHalf of pastors would leave the ministry tomorrow if they could. Seventy percent are fighting depression and 90 percent can't cope with the challenge of ministry.Those are the statistics Pastor Jonathan Falwell laid out to thousands of ministers who were in Lynchburg, Va., Tuesday for the "Refuel" conference. The well-known pastor stated bluntly, "Something is wrong in ministry." Citing surveys from such groups as Barna, LifeWay and Acts 29, Falwell lamented that 1,500 pastors walk away from ministry every month because of moral failure, burnout, conflict, discouragement or depression. He was also shocked to find that 80 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates will leave the ministry within their first five years. Part of the problem, he indicated, is trying to make it to the big numbers and most influential lists or aiming for the most Twitter followers. "I believe that we have self-imposed measurements of success that are skewed, that are wrong," said Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church – which is notably one of the largest churches in the country. Read More Malawi gay couple get maximum sentence of 14 yearsA judge in Malawi has imposed a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison with hard labour on a gay couple convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts.The judge said he wanted to protect the public from "people like you". Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, have been in jail since they were arrested in December after holding an engagement ceremony. The case has sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country. The British government, Malawi's largest donor, expressed its "dismay" at the sentences, but has not withdrawn aid. 'Horrendous example' The US state department, meanwhile, said the case was "a step backwards in the protection of human rights in Malawi". Read More |
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010
News That Matters - Corporate Welfare, Putnam Style
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| Good Tuesday Morning. Again, If I were a better writer and could match the skills of even the most middling of authors, life in Putnam County would make quite excellent reading. But so few publishers would believe what I had written as genuine they'd have to place my book in the fiction section of bookstores and the fantasy section of libraries. But I can assure you that what we experience here as residents is real and genuine even though it reads - and too often feels - as if we're living in a 1950's Central American Banana Republic. In only a very few other places around the world, perhaps in one of those central Asian "stans" no one can pronounce, could we write about the depths of malfeasance that passes for government in our bucolic 240 square miles. If Voltaire or Shalom Aleichem were alive today even they could not have surpassed the fantastical mysteries and ironies that abound in our every day lives. Welcome to Putnam County, New York. Tomorrow evening, Wednesday, May 26th, at 7PM in Room 318 of the County Office building, the Putnam County Legislature's Physical Services Committee will meet to discuss the creation of a "Road Improvement District" that largely incorporates properties owned by Ridgefield, CT resident Paul Camarda and his Patterson Crossing project with the intersection of New York State Route 311 and Interstate highway 84 being the focus. The district would allow Mr. C to build necessary traffic improvements to assist in minimizing the expected impact of the ~400,000 square foot mega-project with the added benefit that the county would reimburse his costs through tax credits applied to the expected sales tax revenues generated in a recovering economy. I spoke to a county legislator yesterday afternoon who prefers to remain anonymous, who said that the project was sold as repairing an immediate environmental calamity of some sort. I thought, stormwater. Okay, well, both the state and the Federal government are MS4's in their own right and according to the law must perform remediation actions on their own conveyances and that this was not the responsibility of a private developer doing so on the county's dime. Seeing the logic in that, the focus shifted to safety concerns. 'I've heard', the Legislator said, ' that this is a dangerous intersection and the state said they will not fund repairs.' Okay, I said back, then you sue the state using regular channels to have that problem resolved but it's not something that should be done by a private developer on the county dime. Do you see a recurring pattern here? Here's what the bill says, in part: From Section 1: It is hereby found and determined that residential and commercial development in the vicinity of the Route 311 and I-84 intersection, Putnam county, has resulted in such intersection being inadequate to efficiently serve the needs of the residents of the county... and decreasing the attractiveness of the surrounding parcels for development that certain improvements to the Route 311 and I-84 intersection ingress and egress ramps are essential...If you read further down this article you'll find that it is these very improvements that Patterson Crossing needs to make in order to meet the requirements set by the FEIS and his approvals for construction and that he has agreed to fund - in full. From Section 3, in part: The county of Putnam shall provide for a credit for the value of work performed or financed by a property owner within the road or highway improvement district or districts or benefited area or areas for the work as described in section one this act [sic]. Agreement for the provision of such credit shall be set forth in a written instrument of understanding between Putnam County and the property owner and documented in some other permit, approve site plan or official finding issued by Putnam County or the town of Patterson.The following parcels are affected: Patterson:A loose poll of Legislative members shows that if the committee passes a positive recommendation on to the full Legislature which will meet in special session immediately after, that there are at the very least 5 votes in favor of what amounts to millions of dollars in corporate welfare granted by a Republican Legislature who claims to be fiscally conservative and is always condemning Democrats for taxing and spending. How is this different? Well, when Republicans do it it's economic development and public safety. When Democrats do it, it's creeping socialism. The truth is that in this economy, when property taxes are breaking the backs of homeowners and the newspapers are filled with pages of foreclosure notices, that raising taxes to pay for a privately owned development is probably not the best way to go. Raising taxes? Sure! That's what's being proposed here. If the county offsets millions in expected revenues (via credits to the developer) those dollars still have to come from somewhere before they find their way into the county budget and if they're not coming from Patterson Crossing where will they come from? That's right... from your pocket. Isn't it enough that our county has the highest sales tax rate in the state? Some of the highest school tax levies in the nation? Why would the County Legislature insist that you, and not a private developer, bear that burden for highway projects that he has been mandated to complete? Why are we compensating him for this? And most important, what gets into the heads of our legislators that allows them to believe we will go along with this? What will happen is that the county will propose this law which then goes to Albany for passage where such local laws are so routinely accepted that it's hard to believe anyone even reads them. Odds are the Ballster will vote against it, riding his wave of teabaggery while Ms. Galef and Senator Leibell will pass it without a thought as being a 'local issue'. Well, let's take a quick look at Patterson Crossing and what the developer is supposed to do in order to have received his approvals... Hey! It's amazing! The developer is supposed to mediate traffic problems that just happen to fall within the geographical boundaries of this new special traffic district and he's supposed to do so on his own dime. From Camarda Development's website about the project they have this: Center will pay for the vast majority of high-cost road and stormwater improvements needed to address existing problemsI'll grant that it's in the small print and is the very last line on the page, but as of this writing (8:44AM) it's there and the language is clear. "Center will pay...." In the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the project dated July 17, 2008 and available here (PDF), we read the following: The FEIS has identified several improvements that will be completed by the Project Sponsor [emphasis, mine] to mitigate the increase in traffic resulting from the retail center including:The document then says to check out Appendix K where these issues are better spelled out. So, from Appendix K we read the following: Guide:There are other traffic and flow improvements outlined with some of those falling on the county's shoulders. I'm willing to bet we'll hear long-winded speeches from those in favor of this welfare program talking about safety and economic development and partnerships and the like but what they're really doing is couching a multi-million dollar corporate welfare scam in nice words that polls show the public salivates for. Members of the Physical Services Committee include, Mary Ellen O'Dell, Vincent Tamagna and Richard Othmer with at least two of those members already in favor and one leaning heavily in that direction. And while I have the personal emails of pretty much everyone on the Legislature, to protect their privacy it's best to write to them at their county address: putcoleg@putnamcountyny.com Please write. Then come to the meeting tomorrow night and voice your opinion. Then be prepared to work against and vote against those legislators whether at the State level of here in Pumpkin County who would support this corporate welfare plan. Corporate Welfare, Putnam Style. You've got to love it! |
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