What to do with Newberry Square

All of us want to see the broken windows of the Newberry Square building replaced, and sooner rather than later. However, the building's owner Henry Ioannou claims that he just doesn't have the money. The windows were damaged by vandals last month and have remained boarded up ever since. Meanwhile Village codes enforcement officer Mike Piccolo has stayed on Mr. Ioannou's case, trying to get him to replace the $3,000 windows.

Ioannou maintains that the broken windows are a criminal matter and that for this reason he shouldn't have to pay to replace them until an investigation is completed. He does have a point; the person who is responsible for the damage is ultimately the one who should pay. However, this can happen whether or not Mr. Ioannou fixes the windows in the meantime. Naturally, this is what he should do.

Mr. Ioannou claims that he doesn't have money to fix the windows, that he barely has money for his utlity bills. More sympathetic, I could not be. However, instead of spending his scarce resources on an attorney fee, he ought to just pay to have his windows fixed. Something he's most likely going to have to do anyway.

Furthermore, why are all the commercial units vacant in this building? One has to wonder if maybe lowering the rent or maybe taking a more hands-on approach would attract and keep more commercial tenants in the old arcade-style building.

Clearly, allowing a community asset like this to sit vacant, with boarded up windows no less, is a travesty. Rather than a long, protracted legal battle between the Village and Mr. Ioannou, maybe something better can come out of this. Aren't there any civic-minded developers or groups that might step up and engage the community to find a better use for this historic building than to sit vacant covered in plywood for the forseeable future? If Ioannou is losing money operating the building, he should have no reason not to want to sell it, right?

There are a lot of opportunities for downtown redevelopment in an old arcade-style building such as this. I'd much rather see the discussion shift from how to get an absentee landlord to maintain the building to discussing various ideas for how the community should use this building. Henry Ioannou can do this as well, it doesn't matter who does it. Someone just have to be willing to put in the time and energy, and it may require a little something more than bottom-line thinking.

Adam Werbach and the Sierra Club: Environmentalism In Search of a More Convenient Truth

The Sierra Club’s Adam Werbach came to Cobleskill this week, and despite heralding the ‘death of environmentalism’ a few years ago, he rode into town as part of a breathless campaign of speaking engagements, consulting, networking with non-profits and multinational corporations (like Wal-Mart!) and otherwise doing the work of a good post-environmentalism environmentalist. Werbach came to the fore at a time when the conventional wisdom had written off the environmentalist movement. 23 at the time he became Sierra Club president, Werbach brough a youthfulness and energy that had long been missing.

By this point, the radical movement cultures of the 60s and 70s had all but completey given way to the amorphous soup of post-modernism. Adam Werbach stands at the pinnacle of this process as it relates to the environmentalist movement. Werbach's critique of environmentalism is very much couched in the language of the post-modernists who are always declaring an end to one thing or another.

Werbach tells us that the environmentalist movement needs to broaden its appeal and become consumer friendly. He would have the movement packaged so as to promise Americans that they can have their cake and it too. He would have us believe that self-sacrifice and hard policy choices are unnecessary. True, many of the things Americans value are not mutually exclusive with environmentalism. However, Werbach’s feel-good analysis is so superficial that it doesn’t even matter.

Broadening the environmentalist movement conceptually is one thing, but watering it down to the point of meaninglessness is quite another. Doing this allows a disastrous side-step of the necessary dramatic shift in policy and consciousness that will keep us from ruining our ecosystems. To me, broadening means connecting the dots so that working people see the connection between the exploitation of their labor AND the exploitation of the environment. It means a New Deal-esque marshaling of federal and state resources to retrofit homes and buildings, invest in alternative transportation and seriously reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, foreign or otherwise. It means empowering people to take on the big corporations like Wal-Mart who trash workers rights around the world and recklessly fuel what is possibly the biggest environmental threat in the coming decades: China. Adam Werbach should be teaching people how to lead attacks against multinational companies, not how to be co-opted by them.

Environmentalism shouldn’t be a stand alone issue, it needs to be nested in other parts of our civil society. But cozying up to the multinationals is not the way to go. This only serves the status quo and allows them to blur the deeper connections between the destruction of ecosystems and the perpetuation of poverty and exploitation. It allows these connections to be replaced with a big yellow smiley face. Instead, an empowered progressive or social democratic movement needs to take up the banner and bring the cause back to the streets and out of the board rooms.

A lot has happened since Werbach became Sierra Club president (An Inconvenient Truth, Hurricane Katrina, $100 dollar a barrel oil). Yet as environmentalism is replaced with everybody’s new favorite word, sustainability, it runs the risk of becoming some thoughtless catch-all panacea for the general psychic unrest of the current zeitgeist. I get worried when everybody starts saying they want to be more sustainable. Everybody can not possibly know or agree upon what sustainability means. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are not going to prevent the next Katrina. Cars running on discarded fry fat aren’t going to bring down the price of gas or reduce dependence on oil. But as long as we nod our heads and applaud in approval at these things, we’re only going to keep on kidding ourselves.

We can’t shake ourselves of this pesky little global warming thing unless we start ripping up highways and replacing them with light rail, rapid rail and high-speed rail transit systems that will cost us BILLIONS of dollars, or without moving back into cities with corner grocery stores so we don’t have to drive two or three miles for a gallon of milk and pop-tarts.

And I know Schoharie County folks aren’t going to like this one, but we can’t do it without making real commitments to alternative energy, like wind power (as ONE example). Americans are going to have to learn to live with the inconvenience of windmill blades swooshing all the night.

Our current landscape: sprawled out, automobile-dependent and increasingly alienated is NOT sustainable, no matter how much we wish it so by applauding the use of the word sustainability. Our current landscape is not just ecologically unsustainable, it is economically and socially unsustainable as well. Proactive steps are not really needed; these problems will begin to force our hand as gas hits 5 dollars a gallon and people go broke driving to the supermarket to buy food at its inflated prices (due to fuel costs). Feedback loops will resound through our entire society, much louder than the swooshing of wind turbine blades, I’m afraid.

And what would Wal-Mart say? How about: Take those rebate checks (paid for with deficit money borrowed from China) and gas up the SUV and (with whatever you have left) pack it tight with useless junk from…Wal-Mart (useless junk manufactured in China!). Don’t think about how much extra you’re paying to ship your consumer goods all over the damn planet or to gas up a massive hunk of metal to drive all over the place or how much more sensible it would be just to live, work, and shop in the same small walkable community that we manufacture our crap in and grow our food in. That would be too utopian and it might scare people away from becoming good consumer-environmentalists. And we don't want that.

I don’t know, maybe Adam Werbach is right. Maybe if I buy some more fluorescent light bulbs I’ll feel better.

The Real Truth About Economic Development is No Mystery

Two weeks ago, a mystery company (Code name Avalon) came to town dangling 500 new jobs in exchange for a shovel-ready site, planning and zoning approvals (for what no one knows), water and sewer services (good luck!) and did I mention our virgin women! This has become the way of economic development in America’s rustbelt Hoovervilles.

Karl Marx once wrote about how the capitalist pits groups of workers against each other, relying on a reserve army of unemployed workers to keep wages down and benefits non-existent. Today, capitalists are still doing that, but they’re also relying on a reserve army of depressed rustbelt communities just like Cobleskill. It has been called the ‘race to the bottom’. The playing field has become so obscenely tilted in favor of big business, that it is now possible for companies to demand an endless string of concessions from job-desperate regions, pitting one county, city, or state against another, as they go subsidy shopping. Companies claim that they need tax breaks and other goodies, but the truth is, places like Cobleskill need jobs and economic development a hell of a lot more. Companies won’t get very far in America if they don’t exploit an advantage like that to the fullest degree. But don’t worry, they do.

This company will probably demand (and get) some kind of obscenely favorable tax deal where the County economic development agency actually owns the land on paper so the business doesn’t have to pay taxes. Instead, they’ll pay a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) for a much lesser amount and we will all find the pathetic number acceptable because they will tell us the amount spread out over something like 20 years.

Sick of lazy, shiftless welfare recipients sucking away your tax dollars? If so, I would point you not to the poor people sitting on porches along Main Street that you normally like to bitch about. Instead, look at the Wal-Mart distribution center in Sharon. The county “owns” that facility for which Wal-Mart pays no taxes. Instead Wal-Mart pays a small PILOT. Over the 20 year life of the agreement, it will save Wal-Mart almost $50 million!
Source:http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/subsidy_report.html?sub=U2FsdGVkX1/CTiGQpJnM9UFqAgVmH1Tc

Does this make any sense to you? The Waltons are among the top ten richest people in the world. Now you know how they got that way.

Lancaster Development has a similar deal for its facility in Richmondville on Podpadic Rd. Lancaster president Mark Galasso serves on the Cobleskill Village Board, before which he served as Chair of the Village planning board. Hey, it pays to know people.

Hopefully Cobleskill Village officials can stop their petty infighting and get with the program so they can join in the heaping of obscene amounts of subsidies on a company that hasn’t even revealed itself. By this of course, I mean extending water & sewer lines all the way out to Shad Point, conveniently out to the same area where every little local developer would like to get his grubby hands on a water/sewer hook-up for another strip mall or McMansion development, including Lowe’s. Won’t someone tell the “do-nothing” Village Board to stop their bickering and get that water pumping? Haven’t they been listening to the chamberpot of commerce and the four partners? Don’t they know how easy it is for this mystery company to simply go to another community and demand shovel-ready land, zoning approvals, water/sewer hook-ups, tax abatements and first-born children? I guess they are simply blind to the suffering of wealthy developers and multinational corporations as they pull the rug out from underneath our communities and dictate the terms of our economic future.

Karl Marx was right.

Water’s Edge

In 2005/2006 the newly elected Cobleskill Village Board (consisting of new members Mark Galasso, Sandy MacKay and Mayor Sellers) voted to rescind a deal to extend water and sewer lines to a Lowe’s development just outside the Village boundary. Since then, the question of how to extend to water and sewer services to developments outside the Village’s borders is one that has persistently troubled the community. Town of Cobleskill officials feel entitled to the services and take the Village’s stand as an intentional slap. County-wide, economic development proponents accuse the Village of hindering potential progress.

Yet the Village has maintained, largely at the insistence of Mayor Mike Sellers and Deputy Mayor Sandy MacKay, that developers wanting Village water and sewer services must be annexed by the Village in order to get Village services.

This is a quite sound policy for a number of reasons. First of all, the Village’s water and sewer system does not exist to subsidize development in other municipalities. Allowing developers in the Town to tap into these services will only hurt the Village in the long run. Providing these services makes it economically attractive to build outside the Village, depriving it of tax revenues. This hurts the Village by helping to drive business away from Downtown and by undermining its fiscal stability.

Therefore, the Village has said to developers: if you want Village services, become part of the Village. So far, two developments on Mineral Springs eager to tap into the Village’s water and sewer lines have gone for this. Annexation talks and procedures are more or less underway for both projects.

But now, the recent mystery company’s arrival and its demand for water and sewer hook-ups puts extra pressure on the Village’s policy. The company is interested in a 100-acre site in Shad Point, an area in the Town of Cobleskill near Crossroads Barn and the east end of Mineral Springs Rd. This area is almost two miles from the Village boundary. Who would be expected to pay for the installation of these water and sewer lines for this distance? I don’t think it will be the mystery company.

But the best part (at least for some) is that extending these lines out to Shad Point would mean bringing potential water and sewer services to all of the parcels along Route 7 and Mineral Springs Rd., the area most likely to see increased development pressure. Naturally, this would solve Lowe’s water problem. How many other developers would be waiting in the wings to start building up other parcels with strip malls and big boxes?

I wouldn’t want the Village to rule out selling water and service to this mystery company. However, I think its existing policy of requiring annexation should be upheld. Let this company apply for annexation to the Village. Then, any other property owner wishing to hook into the water and sewer lines will have that option (of annexation) as well.

Better yet, this provides the community with the ability to hold this company’s feet to the fire. Legally, the Town is not able to condition approvals and such on meeting certain ‘social requirements’ like paying a livable wage and maintaining a commitment to keep the amount of jobs promised for a fixed period of time. However, the Village could make these part of a “community benefits agreement” as a condition for extending Village water and sewer services. As the company is requesting an extra service that it is not in anyway legally entitled to, such an arrangement would be completely voluntary, a form of contract zoning.

Hopefully, the Village doesn’t bend to the temptation to throw money and favors at a company that promises jobs but offers no proof or other means of validating its intentions. The public has the right to demand fair treatment from this company and any others seeking to do business here. What is required is a Village Board with the audacity to stand up for this right. So far they have demonstrated a willingness to move in this direction. In order to keep the Village Board on track, those concerned about economic justice and fairness should continuously remind Village officials of their obligations to the community.

Local Slobs Ignore Community ‘Clean-up Day” in Cobleskill

This Earth Day, the Village of Cobleskill saw a host of events related to green activities and green awareness. One such event was a community-wide “clean-up” in Cobleskill where participants spread out and cover the Village gathering up litter and debris. Nearly every year, events like these help to foster civic pride, community awareness and an ecologically responsible lifestyle.

However, for a group who describe themselves as “cleanliness-challenged”, this Earth Day’s Clean-up was nothing but a big waste of time. One young man, who can often be seen carousing around Veterans Park bare-chested and smoking cigarettes, say’s he doesn’t care if he sees people picking up garbage; he will continue to litter anyway. Several others with stain-covered clothes and uncombed hair looked bewildered as groups of citizens of all ages stuffed litter into giant bags throughout the day. One wondered, “why would they be doing all this when they could be sitting around, watching TV, and dropping crumbs on themselves”?

Another baffled resident looked on from her apartment, where dishes were piled in the sink and personal belongings were strewn chaotically on the floor. Why bother to clean up she wondered, when its so easy just to ignore the messiness and clutter and put off cleaning up?

She offered her opinion of the motives of the people involved in the clean-up. “They’re probably a bunch of neurotic neat freaks obsessed with cleanliness and order”, she said.

Others interviewed expressed sympathy for the participants but said they didn’t have the time to get involved in such a clean-up, maintaining that eventually they would get around to it.

Most of the people interviewed confessed to being “slobs” and said that “clean-ups” weren’t really there thing. However, they all insisted that they would like to get involved in the community in other ways, as long as they didn’t conflict with their chosen lifestyle.

Cobleskill in the Midst of a Pre-Teen Crime Wave

Last Sunday, Schoharie County residents were inconvenienced by a house fire on the corner of Main and North streets in the Village of Cobleskill. Traffic was redirected and a thick choking cloud of smoke hung over the business district and other parts of Downtown. But the truly disturbing issue was not the inconvenience, but the fact that the fire was apparently deliberately started by an 11-year old girl. So young.. and already a depraved arsonist! The young girl, in a display of maniacal abandon is alleged to have caused the hellish conflagration by setting fire to a couch with a cigarette lighter. Fortunately for the other residents of Cobleskill, this pre-teen menace was arrested and charged. Hopefully, the demon child will remain in custody long enough to prevent her from doing any more damage.

If this wasn’t bad enough, a quick glance in this week’s police blotter reveals that a 12 year old male was arrested for “forcible touching”. Now the police blotter entry did not go into any more specific details, but it seems to me like we’ve got a pre-teen boy with a penchant for rape on our hands and I want to know what we’re going to do about it? According to the blotter entry, the individual was released on an appearance ticket. This means that this sexual deviant is on the loose, free to wreak havoc and mayhem on decent people everywhere.

The local law enforcement authorities may need to recalibrate their strategies to account for this new criminal element. They may need to change the way they look at pre-teen children around the ages of 10-12. When these children assemble to loiter in the Downtown business districts of our communities, we can no longer turn a blind eye. We must be on guard against potential arsonists, sexual predators, and any number of other dastardly criminals.

My sincere hope is that the system tries these children as adults. I say, no special circumstances for juvenile offenders! I see no reason why this 11-year old girl shouldn't do hard time for this. Let the little arsonist have a go at general population. And as for the "forcible toucher", how about electroshock therapy? At the very least, he should be thrown in a dark room in some prison basement somewhere until he learns some manners.

Otherwise, what kind of message are we sending to all those potential pre-teen lawbreakers out there?

Galasso Would Give Breaks to Fellow Developer

Proving why it is important to have ordinary citizens as opposed to millionaires in Village government, Trustee Mark Galasso recently questioned the need for sidewalks, lighting and open space requirements as part of the sprawling condo project being constructed along Mineral Springs Road. The project will include nearly 60 condominium units and will be among the largest developments in the Village. To the Village’s credit, they did require the property to be annexed by the Village before receiving water and sewer services.

But that seems to be where the accountability ends. Village Trustee Mark Galasso, President of Lancaster Development, a major highway contractor based in Richmondville, has questioned the need to enforce requirements for sidewalks, lighting and open space. The developer of the project, Nadeau, originally balked at putting in sidewalks but has agreed to do so. As for the streetlights, Galasso argues that it would cause the Village’s electric bill to increase. Really? Is this about saving money for the Village or for Nadeau? Then there’s Galasso’s rant against mandating open space in planned unit districts. Galasso objected, calling the practice “wrong on so many levels”.

However, if anything is wrong with the Village’s zoning ordinance, it is that it is not strong enough on developers. The sidewalks, streetlights and open space are all something to build on. However, there needs to be design guidelines as well to ensure that the project is aesthetically appropriate, pedestrian-oriented and not out of character with the rest of the Village. Compactness, density, walkability, minimum setbacks, building at the lot line, requiring tree plantings; these are all things that could make the Donats Brow project more integrated with the Village. It would make the difference between having an asset to the Village and having an eyesore.

Don’t expect Galasso to hold the developers’ feet to the fire, he’s a developer himself. This is something Village residents should think about when they consider their own levels of political and civic engagement and when they vote for Village officials. Who should be leading development in Schoharie County: citizens with a stake in the community or developers with their own agenda?

Critic of Gilboa Dam Watchdog Group Doesn’t Hold Back

Lester Hendrix, the founder of Dam Concerned Citizens, a watchdog group focused on the safety of the Gilboa Dam had no desire to hold back criticism for the current membership and leadership of that group recently. He charged them with failing to push for necessary protections (liability for damage in the event of an accident, accountability to local governments effected, and more aggressive inspections). Instead, Hendrix accuses the group’s current leadership of preferring to “play cozy with political bigwigs and parade themselves in front of TV cameras every month in Schoharie”.

Hendrix’s basic complaint is that the group has lost its edge, been tamed and bought off by State and City officials. Now, as someone who does not live near the projected flood zone in the event of a dam failure, I really don’t care much about what goes on between the DCC, the State and the City of New York.

However, as someone interested in community organizing and activism in general, it seems like Hendrix is probably right. The DCC seem to have been de-fanged by the powers that be. This is a shame because a more confrontational approach would be good for the local communities. A good fight can unite people around a common cause and build community capacity, as opposed to typical NIMBY fights which revolve around smaller self-interested groups (see Richmondville posts).

If more people would rise up and increase their demands, they would learn that doing so can have substantial benefits. The more they speak out, the more money the State and City will be willing to send up here to shut them up.

So I join with Lester Hendrix in lamenting the fact that Dam Concerned Citizens has lost its way.

Is it Time to Ban Snowmobiles Altogether?

Recently, Sharon Springs school district residents concerned for the safety of their children have decided to speak out against the gangs of marauding snowmobilers who somehow believe they should have the right to ride their vehicles on school property. Of course, the critics are right. These machines are really quite dangerous. They are free-roaming and can approach very high speeds. Allowing them on school grounds poses a significant threat to school children. One resident recently called for the resignation of Jim McFadden, a Sharon Springs school board member who has supported the idea of allowing snowmobilers to pass through the school grounds. Whether McFadden should resign or not is a separate matter. However, it seems like every winter there are issues of public safety and quality of life being raised by residents complaining of snowmobilers. There are numerous concerns. The snowmobile treading has been know to cause damage to private property and public road surfaces. The noise that can be heard at all hours of the night is a nuisance. There are also numerous safety issues posed by intersections of roads and snowmobile paths, and then there’s the potential threat to pedestrians. That’s not to mention the danger to the riders themselves. By the way, there also a monumentally stupid and unnecessary waste of fuel. Add all this up and you get one more nuisance that we just don’t need. Snowmobiling is both a nuisance and a threat to public safety. Let’s end the bickering by banning snowmobiling completely.

The Man Bill Cherry is Afraid to Talk To

The latest victim of the divisive NIMBY politics associated with Reunion Power’s bid to install an industrial wind farm in Richmondville is a proposed municipal power company for Schoharie County. County Treasurer Bill Cherry proposed creating a public power company to provide electricity to country residents at a cheaper rate than National Grid. Currently, the Town of Richmondville already has a municipal power company and provides Town residents with electricity at lower costs.

The creation of a county-wide municipal power company has real potential to lower energy costs for Schoharie County ratepayers, and as a pretty significant side benefit, it would create a few new jobs. A resolution had been presented to the County Board of Supervisors and Cherry had been exploring talks with Albany County about creating a two-county program. The discussion had been moving along, until Bill Cherry found out that Albany County Legislator Sandy Gordon (with whom he was working on the project) was involved with Reunion Power, the very same Reunion Power of Richmondville wind farm fame. After finding out about Gordon’s involvement Cherry stopped short in his talks and has since put the whole issue on hold.

Ostensibly, Cherry cited a potential conflict of interest as the reason for his refusal to work with Gordon. However, that explanation simply doesn’t pass muster. It is obvious that Bill Cherry simply doesn’t want to get pulled into the political sh*tstorm raging in Richmondville over the wind mills. One incumbent town supervisor (Bernocco) was already defeated because of it. Cherry just doesn’t want any of that taint blowing his way.

But Cherry can only be blamed so much for his political cowardice, as most politicians would probably elect to play it safe in this situation. The real blame lies with the anti-windmill activists in Richmondville, whose scorched earth campaign has driven a wedge into the community and embittered local politics.

Sandy Gordon is not the problem here. The real problem is the glorified NIMBYism in Richmondville and a lack of political will to appropriately dismiss it. Cherry made the politically smart move by distancing himself from Gordon. Meanwhile Schoharie County is still paying unnecessarily high electricity rates to an overseas company, when it could be exploring a cheaper local alternative.

Spitzer’s Crimes?

Are all crimes created equal? Certainly, few would advocate that a public official should resign for the offense of jay-walking, or talking on a cell phone while driving. Obviously, Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution ring is a little more serious. But does it rise to the level of a political capital offense? To me prostitution is not really a crime. First of all, I believe prostitution should be legalized, and in fact, it is legal in parts of the State of Nevada. Furthermore, prostitution, like other imagined crimes (drug use for example) is a product of an antiquated morality that no longer seems to make any sense in a society that is (slowly) evolving and maturing on matters of sex and recreational drug use.

In many states and countries around the world, marijuana has been essentially decriminalized, or made equivalent to a minor traffic infraction for all intents and purposes. And though the public is often scandalized by stories involving their leaders’ sexual improprieties, prostitution has similarly been essentially decriminalized, with most johns getting let off with a warning.

The bottom line here being, these are victimless crimes. They are non-crimes. These are laws that are relics from a bygone age. This does not mean that citizens or politicians can flout them with impunity. But it does mean that we should accord our politicians the same amount of leniency that we would accord the average Joe who gets little more than a slap on the wrist for being caught with a little pot or for soliciting a prostitute.

The activities in which Governor Spitzer has engaged make him fair game for criticism, especially considering the hypocritical nature of his involvement. Critics may take shots at him and they may be right. He may be a jerk and a hypocrite. But in my view, these are not compelling reasons for him to abandon his governorship.

Spitzer’s behavior while clearly a violation of the law and morally reprobate to some do not indicate an impaired fitness to serve as governor, even a great governor. What’s more, a Spitzer resignation would be a political windfall to Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (who is currently under federal investigation for serious crimes and corruption) bumping him up closer to serving as governor as a contingency. To see Spitzer go down while bolstering Bruno would be a travesty.

Anyone of us could find ourselves in the position of having made a mistake that could potentially derail our careers that we have worked so long and hard to build. In Spitzer’s situation we would be hoping for a second chance, and many of us (provided it is not a repeat offense) would probably get it.

Why shouldn’t Spitzer?

Donats Brow Development Needs Careful Site Planning

The Village of Cobleskill is in possession of a very critical piece of infrastructure (water and sewer lines) and a lot of developers want to tap into it. In my view, this gives the Village an incredible amount of bargaining power. But they don’t seem to be using it.

The Donats Brow development, consisting of a proposed 14 apartment buildings on Mineral Springs Road (across from the fmr. Guilford Mills plant) will be the largest residential project in the Village’s history. But the only reason the project is going to go ahead is because the Village and Town are (most likely) going to agree to the Village’s annexation of the land in question. The annexation means that the properties will be taxed by the Village AND that the developer gets water and sewer for the projects.

Now, I’m glad that the Village has insisted upon annexation in order to extend water and sewer lines to the development. However, the developer in this case, seems to be getting more than the Village out of the deal.

My biggest concerns have to do with the planning and zoning of this development. Have village officials taken any steps to ensure that this development is integrated with the rest of the Village? Has there been any concern for the long-term potential for development in that area?

There are two reasons to worry about this: first, what will be the negative unintended consequences of rapid development in this part of the community? Secondly, what opportunities are we missing out on by not planning this better?

To put this in perspective, let’s consider that this project calls for roughly 14 apartment buildings! This is essentially going to be a “village within a village”. What kind of open space will the project offer? Will the buildings be aesthetically well-conceived or the typical “build and run” model of apartment complexes? Why not go with a more grid-based “new Urbanist” design developing on the lot line and incorporating some commercial uses in the project? How will South Grand Street handle the increased traffic? Will their be sidewalks and bikeways connecting the project with the Village and the fairgrounds? These questions do not even take into account the potential for future growth in the area once water and sewer lines are set up. Remember as well, that this will be what travelers on I-88 see of Cobleskill.

How these questions are answered by developers depends to a large extent on how much they want access to Village infrastructure AND the degree to which Village officials are willing to hold developers’ feet to the fire.

Does Cobleskill have the capacity to both envision these changes and make them a reality? I think Mayor Sellers and Trustee MacKay have the Villages’ best interests at heart, but I don’t know if this community currently has the capacity to hold developers accountable to a deeper democratic agenda of participatory planning and sustainable development.

I think Mike Sellers, Rebecca Burgos-Thillet and co. need to begin building the “Community Matters” ballot line into a more substantial organization uniting activists in the county. Then and only then can you begin to mobilize people on issues ranging from increased apartment inspections, smart growth, downtown redevelopment and youth issues.

Until then, turn off the tap.

Stand Up and Take the Mic from the Slumlords!

So far, the discussion over increased inspections for Cobleskill Village rental properties has elicited a great deal of squawking from Village landlords. If Village officials are listening to and acting on these concerns, it is mainly because they (the landlords) have shown up at meetings and spoken out. For the most part, tenants, students and long-time homeowners have not done this.

Cobleskill’s tenants, whether they don’t know or don’t care, are being victimized by their own landlords who are trying to deprive them of the right to a safe and sanitary living space.

Village landlords protest the inspection fees and claim this will only be passed on to renters, about which they are correct. However, the real reason landlords want these increased inspections killed is because they see a slippery slope gradually leading to less and less of an ability to extract profit from poor and mostly ignorant tenants.

The difference between inspections every year and inspections every three years is quite significant for landlords. Maybe you want to put off making improvements until you sell the property in a year or so. Maybe you want to “cover up” violations of the law and would prefer to do this only once every three years instead of every year.

The main problem with the landlords protesting this law is that they are not landlords, but slumlords. They have short-term investments and profit interests in their properties and thus have no interest in maintaining them over the long term.

The victims here are many. First of all, the overall housing stock is only going to whither away because the slumlords just don’t care and will rent out space in any condition as long as they can get away with it. Then there are the tenants. Usually these are folks who are locked into their current housing situation due to poverty, lack of transportation options, dependence on institutions located in the Village, etc. As far as tenants go, this is a very pliant group of people, usually unlikely to complain about the little things that go unfixed.

Many of these tenants are students, who typically aren’t going to pay attention to the consequences of failure to provide basic maintenance. Landlords know this and thus know they can get away with not providing that basic maintenance.

I can understand that many homeowners in the Village do not care about the safety of students and poor people. But at least consider the spillover effects of deterioration of the housing stock. Is it not in your best long-term interests to protect the quality of the housing in your community?

Why is it that students, poor people and long-time homeowners are not down at local meetings speaking out in favor of this new inspections law? Obviously no one wants to take a stand publicly against their own landlord (or neighbor). However, the slumlords are going to get their way it seems because nobody else has come to Village meetings to speak up.
If this continues to be the case, I plead with the Mayor and Village trustees to hold their ground on this issue. Don’t let the big-mouthed slumlords get their way.

Puppy Mill Hysteria Sweeps Capital Region

Ironically, while slumlords fatten their wallets by jeopardizing the health and safety of tenants and the Village Board bows to their demands, Capital Region animal rights activists have focused their apparently excessive amount of free time on an alleged “puppy mill” in Schoharie County’s own hamlet of Sloansville.

A recent gotcha-style series on WRGB, a local CBS affiliate shines a spotlight on Sloansville dog breeder Dake Fu, who’s been accused of operating a “puppy mill”. A puppy mill is described as a “mass-breeding operation” with “unsanitary conditions” and “no breeding records”.

Aside from the obviously sleazy nature of the story (the reporters were acting on a complaint and based their judgment on Fu’s refusal to allow the camera crew free reign of his property), the story reveals what it means to survive in Bush’s America. Drive along any one of the rural roads in this county and you’ll notice people engaged in all kinds of “unofficial” means of generating income. In an era long-plagued by persistent job losses due to economic restructuring, rural residents are faced with an ever-shrinking array of ways to earn a livelihood and as a result many turn to collecting scrap metal, hoarding junk cars, and yes, breeding dogs for profit. The real story here is how rural communities are forced to adapt in an economic system that is completely and utterly failing them.

Instead, the PETA-types are out in force shifting the focus of attention to the condition of the animals rather than the human beings who have been thrust into the unfortunate position of having to mass breed dogs for profit. Surely these “puppy mills” are disgusting places. No sane human being would choose to operate one if he or she had something better to do, right?

Shocking photographs that purport to represent all cases of alleged puppy mills are only fueling hysteria and empowering dangerous people bent on pursuing bizarre personal crusades.

Until animal rights activists correctly realize that the current trend of puppy mill operations are a symptom of a deeply flawed economic landscape that is failing actual human beings, they will deservedly be the object of scorn and ridicule.

Especially when our local slumlords feel that their “people mills” should be exempt from regular inspections.

People need to step back, take a deep breath and put this story in perspective. Then ask yourself: do we really have nothing else to worry about?

Struggling War Profiteers Cheer Cuts to Hospitals

A recent move by President Bush to cut spending on hospitals (cutting several million dollars over several years for Cobleskill Regional Hospital) has our nation’s struggling war profiteers rejoicing that they’ve finally received some sense of fairness and justice from this administration.

War profiteers who delicately manufactured the bogus pretense for going to war in Iraq were worried that money spent on healthcare and hospitals would take away from their hard-earned war profits in the form of high taxes.

Instead, President Bush has said no to greedy hospitals who want to take your tax dollars and spend it on improving the quality of the care they provide people.

For decades, executives of companies that manufacture weapons systems and that contract with the armed services, have struggled to maintain a standard of living comparable to other wealthy individuals. However, misplaced fiscal priorities in Washington have depressed their bloated salaries through excessive taxation and regulations.

Currently, only 54% of the US budget is spent on the military. But by cutting spending on health care and hospitals, that number could easily be brought up to around 56 or 57%. This might not be felt so much by the millions of people who benefit from such spending. But it would assuredly be appreciated by the handful of wealthy war profiteers who stand to benefit handsomely.

Don’t think that just because the US has spent over two trillion dollars on the war in Iraq that war profiteers aren’t hurting. Every dollar NOT spent on war is a dollar that could be used to purchase supplies at inflated prices from military contractors, or to invade Iran, or to invest in unneeded weapons systems. Fortunately, it looks like President Bush is beginning to hear the cries of this nation’s leading war profiteers and will offer relief by first trimming down the nation’s outrageously bloated spending on hospitals.

Roundabouts: Moving us Ahead or Just Around in Circles?

Recently, State DOT officials met with local leaders at SUNY Cobleskill to discuss future plans for Route 7 stemming from the bridge replacement at the western gateway to the Village. All kinds of bold new ideas were proposed for the Route 7 corridor from the Hess Station to the bridge. However, nothing is quite as exciting as the proposed roundabout on Route 7 at the intersection near the Hess Station. Honestly, I can’t remember being this excited about DOT repairs since…well ever!

A roundabout is similar in nature to a traffic circle, but not quite the same thing. The main difference being that roundabouts force incoming traffic to yield to traffic already in the roundabout. Traffic circles typically give incoming motorists the right of way.

Though the roundabout has the potential to improve the overall efficiency of intersections, they are not without their disadvantages. Cobleskill should do a lot more research on roundabouts before building one on Route 7.

As a traffic-calming device, roundabouts are all the rage, particularly in fast-growing suburban areas where residents want to slow down traffic. In this regard, a roundabout on Route 7 would force eastbound drivers to slow down as they enter the SUNY Cobleskill area.

There are numerous other benefits as well. Roundabouts have been found to be safer for motorists, as repeated research has found a lower number of accidents at roundabout intersections than at traditional intersections. They also eliminate the need for traffic signals which can range up to $50,000 a year to operate. They also reduce unnecessary vehicle idling which decreases pollution. They also allow motorists more options. If someone misses a destination, they don’t need to turn around backing in and out of traffic; they can simply drive all the way around the roundabout.

However, a major drawback is that roundabouts have been found to be unsafe for pedestrians, particularly bicyclists. They also present problems for the visually impaired as well. These concerns should not prevent roundabouts from being used, but they should be used to weigh the concerns of the community before a roundabout is built.

If prior local issues are any indication, the community-wide debate over the roundabout should be exciting, to say the least.

Aside from the proposed roundabout, local officials and DOT representatives discussed other traffic-calming devices for Route 7 near the SUNY campus, including center medians and landscaping measures.

A major theme discussed by SUNY officials, Dr. Anne Myers in particular, was the idea of developing the area specifically as a Village gateway. Some specific ideas, such as how to design the next bridge for example, were put out there. But there’s a lot more to discuss.

For example, what can be done to make the area more student-friendly? The loss of the P&C supermarket several years ago marked the loss of a major asset for SUNY students.

What are the possibilities of using college-owned land along Route 7 for a small pedestrian-oriented commercial district catering (not exclusively) but largely to college students? There could be a small grocery store, a coffee shop or a restaurant for example. It would provide a place SUNY students could walk to for convenience purchases that would also better link the Village with the college.

These and other concerns need to be brought to bear on the discussion in a forum that includes Village residents and college students in addition to a handful of college officials and local business leaders.

When it Comes to “Discrete Adult Services”, locally grown is Better

With so much recent talk of economic development and Empire Zones, you’d think Schoharie County’s officials would be going after every local dollar being unnecessarily spent elsewhere.

But after a local man was beaten and robbed by a Schenectady man for a debt he owed to a Scotia-based escort service, it is clear that Schoharie County is missing out on a significant economic development opportunity: discrete adult services.

When I saw the story in the Times-Journal last week, I started wondering: how many Schoharie County residents are traveling to Schenectady or Albany to patronize prostitutes and escort services? The answer, I believe: too many!

What Schoharie County economic developers need to do is take out an advertisement in the adult section of Metroland telling Capital District escort services and “massage” parlors all about the benefits of doing business in Schoharie County.

They should do a survey to determine how many Schoharie County residents are currently making the 45-minute haul to the Electric City for a little discrete companionship. My guess is that the County is losing out on a lot of lucrative economic activity.

I’m not suggesting that the County seek to bring prostitutes to the area, in case that’s what you’re thinking. I’m talking about “escort services” and “massage parlors” and these are legitimate businesses, that on occasion offer unadvertised services to customers who aren’t in any way associated with law enforcement.

Think of all the gas that would be saved by not having to drive all the way out to Schenectady, and then not having pimps have to drive all the way out here to beat and rob people who don’t pay!

This could be a win-win situation. I hope Jody Zakrevsky is reading this!

No Sand for You!

Schoharie Town residents accustomed to backing up to the local municipal salt shed and appropriating a bucket or two of road salt/sand to use on their driveway or walkway, are in for a nasty surprise for the rest of this Winter.

The Town Board of Schoharie, acting on a request by the Town Highway Superintendent has adopted a policy restricting the ability of Town residents to take Town road salt for their own use.

What is the rationale behind this new restrictive policy? The Highway department cites an increase in salt costs due to the busy Winter season. However, no rationale can justify what is at heart a simply boneheaded policy. While Town officials have the right to restrict use of their Highway Department’s resources, they are wrong and reckless to do so. First of all, it is the Town taxpayers who own the salt, and it is extremely inappropriate for the Town Board to deny them access to it.

Secondly, it presents a major safety risk to people and property. How many will slip and fall because the Town denied them a cup of road salt? How many cars will slide down driveways potentially endangering people and other property?

Now that we know the Town Board and the Highway Department in Schoharie is committed to cutting costs at the expense of safety, is it fair to assume that road plows will reduce the amount of salt they use on the roads?

Schoharie Town officials need to be made aware of what a stupid and reckless policy this is. I hope they take a step back and look at the bigger picture. If they don’t, they should get sand-blasted in the next election.

An Ill Wind Blows through Richmondville

Apparently unsatisfied with bludgeoning the discussion of wind power into non-existence, Bob Neid and Don Airey, co-founders of Schoharie Valley Watch, have been on the look-out for ways to keep the controversy and friction levels high in Richmondville. Rather than slink back into relative obscurity, the ringleaders of this increasingly laughable circus, have sought to stretch out their fifteen minutes of limelight, inasmuch as weekly coverage in Cobleskill’s Times-Journal affords such limelight of course.

The actions of Bob Neid, Don Airey and other members of Schoharie Valley Watch have exemplified all of the worst aspects of small town political conflict, running the gamet from NIMBYism to divisive name-calling to proposing outlandish conspiracy theories. The result is a bitterly divided community, with a downgraded capacity to work together to find worthwhile solutions.

At meeting after meeting, windmill opponents thuggishly bullied anyone with opposing points of view, until those wanting to contribute constructively to the process were simply overwhelmed and turned off.

Rather than work with the Town Board and Planning Board to insure an equitable implementation of a viable green energy solution, Robert Neid, an individual with a respectable environmental record, chose to take the low road, sabotaging Democratic Supervisor Betsy Bernocco in his own quixotic write-in race for Supervisor. Neid’s major accomplishment? The Town of Richmondville lost a hardworking and experienced advocate in exchange for a Republican who never even claimed to take a different position than Bernocco on the wind turbine issue.

The latest controversy concerning the firing of a part-time Richmondville clerk for supposedly political motives, is a continuation of this tradition.

Neid, Airey and SVW would have you believe that Kathleen Johnson, a part-time Richmondville Clerk was the victim of some heinous attempt to silence critics of the Town’s allegedly pro-windmill policy. This would be laughable if it were not such a travesty, and if the Times-Journal didn’t pick up on it and blow wind in the story’s sails.

I’m not going to say whether this person was fired for a good reason or not. However, if we’re going to start believing in outlandish conspiracy theories, we might as well put it out there that Kathleen Johnson may have deliberately sabotaged her own employment in order to smear the Town of Richmondville.

More likely however, is the possibility that this is one more delusion of grandeur on the part of Neid and Airey, fancying themselves the targets of some corrupt conspiratorial plot.

The most laughable element of this, is the idea that there is some “cabal” or group of insiders in Richmondville capable of performing such feats of political intimidation. Consider: there have been few more vocal critics of the wind policy change than Richmondville Village mayor Kevin Neary, a Democrat.

Why doesn’t SVW ask Neary if the firing of Kathleen Johnson has caused him to fear retribution from the evil conspirators?

Is there really a conspiracy in Richmondville? No, just a bunch of loudmouths with WAY too much time on their hands. I won’t deny them their fun and games, let them have it. I just felt like it was time for a reality check.

Local Landlord Reduces Carbon Footprint by Cutting Tenant’s Heat

Editors note: In light of the new legislation being proposed by the Village of Cobleskill to increase inspection of rental apartments, we decided to shine a positive light on some of Cobleskill’s model landlords. With each new edition, Slums Along the Mohawk will showcase a Cobleskill Village landlord whose citizenship and vigilance is truly making a difference.

Mark Raymond is the owner of an apartment building on Campus Drive in the Village of Cobleskill. He’s one of the landlords who has questioned the need for increased registration and inspection in the Village of Cobleskill. Raymond has never believed in government regulation and has always felt that the free market was capable of solving problems on its own.

This Winter, Raymond decided to do something to address both the mounting challenge of global climate change and skyrocketing fuel costs. Raymond has voluntarily decided to cut back on the amount of heat his tenants use. As a landlord who pays for his tenant’s utilities including heating costs, Raymond is in a good position to reduce consumption of harmful fossil fuels on his properties. And the best part? This relies on entreprenuerialism, NOT government fiat.

However, if Village officials get their way, daring entrepreneurs willing to think outside the box, such as Raymond would be prevented from trying such new ideas. Instead of being able to make decisions about how best to manage his properties, the new law would effectively place Cobleskill Codes Enforcement officials in charge of these decisions. Raymond asks slyly, “how can I help stop global warming by depriving my tenants of heat during the wintertime with Mike Piccolo breathing down my neck? It’s like their deliberately out to stifle innovation”.

Raymond say’s he’s been watching his tenant’s fuel consumption rise in recent months and decided that their wasteful ways were directly contributing to global warming and rising oil prices. Rather than merely complain, Raymond decided to do something about it. The best part: who’d have guessed that doing what’s right for the environment and the economy would be personally profitable? Mark Raymond, that’s who.

That’s why Raymond is our “Model Landlord” for this issue. Keep up the good work!