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!

John Sweeney: The Lindsay Lohan of Upstate Politics?

As I heard the facts of the story come in on the radio (the night of drinking at a strip club and the attempt to stiff the cab driver), I thought for sure I was hearing about the latest drunken misadventures of Brittany or Paris or Lindsay Lohan. But this isn’t California, this is Upstate NY and apparently nobody is having as much wild and crazy fun around here as former Congressman John Sweeney.

Last November, Sweeney plead guilty to driving while intoxicated, blowing a .18 (more than 2x the legal limit of .08). He paid a $1000 fine and lost his drivers license for six months, hence the need for a cab ride to and from the Double Vision Strip Club in Clifton Park.

Past incidents of impropriety involving Rep. Sweeney include alleged domestic abuse, a night of drunken carousing in 2006 at a Union College fraternity house and a car accident in 2001 in which he downed a power line causing several homes to lose power including a ski resort which left a number of skiers stranded on lifts.

Now I’m not here to judge Rep. Sweeney; what he does in his own private time is his own business. If he wants to give Axl Rose, Courtney Love and Brittany Spears a run for their money as to who’s the bigger public disgrace, that’s his deal. My main concern is that this behavior will get worse and worse until someone gets Sweeney the help he’s desperately crying out for. I’m half-expecting to open up the Times-Union and see a giant naked crotch-shot of Sweeney getting out of a limo. Does he have a sex-tape floating around the web yet? Has he gone anorexic and shaved his head?

Again, it is not my intention to judge the man, but wouldn’t the roads (and Internet pornography) be a lot safer with Sweeney in a rehab program along with kindred spirits Paris, Brittany and Lindsay?

Village Officials say Nothing Can be Done to Address “Can’t-Do Attitude”

A recent Times-Journal editorial (1-9-2008) criticized the Cobleskill Village Board for its slowness in implementing the downtown improvements called for in the Hyett-Palma study. The editorial attributed the inaction to a “can’t-do attitude” on the Village Board.

In response, several Village Board members agreed with the assessment but explained after much consideration that there probably wasn’t much they could do to get rid of the “can’t-do attitude”. When asked to elaborate further, Village officials said they were unable to.

However, the Village Board later changed its tone and assured residents and the press that they were confident that they could easily engage in bickering, stonewalling and political stalemate for the foreseeable future.

Nevermind the Hyett-Palma Study, here’s the “Slums Along the Mohawk Downtown Enhancement Study” for Cobleskill

I know the Village blew something like 30 grand on the Hyett-Palma Study, but I’m willing to give them a better blueprint for action right here, right now, free of charge.

The Slums Along the Mohawk Downtown Enhancement Guide
Executive Summary

Cobleskill is a Village with assets (a great park in the center of town, a lively college student population and a lot of great Downtown businesses). However, it is not without its problems. Chief among these, are a group of developers anxious to see the Village dissolved in order to gain access to the Village’s water and sewer services and surround the Downtown area with suburban sprawl.

Here’s how the Village should respond to these threats and proceed with an economic revitalization of Downtown Cobleskill.

1. Abandon discussions about dissolving the village, instead initiate plans to incorporate as a city, the threat alone will force Town officials to the bargaining table as they will be afraid to lose Village tax revenue.

2. Create a “Downtown improvement fund” which will be used to subsidize private façade improvements and public streetscape improvements. This fund will be supported by entering into “community benefits agreements” with Town developers who want access to Village infrastructure and services. This recognizes the need for balanced economic growth on the periphery as well as Downtown.

3. Relocate Village Offices to Downtown Cobleskill. My advice would be to look into renting out or purchasing the now-vacant Advance Auto building on West Main Street. The buildings’ ample space would allow for court proceedings, board meetings and extra space for various other governmental or non-profit agencies to locate. Perhaps the Village can negotiate to have the Town locate offices there as well, in exchange for water and sewer services for some (tastefully designed and compact) residential developments in the Town.

4. Work with SUNY Cobleskill to increase awareness about Downtown Cobleskill among college students. Better advertise existing Schoharie County Public Transportation Shuttle Routes downtown, limit SUNY shuttles to Wal-Mart.

5. Create an Online Community Bulletin Board geared toward young people letting them know what Downtown has to offer (restaurants, bars, musical performances, Arts in the Park events, library events, etc.)

6. Increase # of Housing Units in Downtown Cobleskill. The Village should set as a goal, the renovation and eventual occupancy of every structurally sound residential unit in the Downtown area and pursue grants (such as Restore NY) to fund this.

7. Establish Strict Guidelines for Chain Stores in Village. Every effort should be made by Village planning personnel to ensure that future commercial developments are pedestrian friendly, architecturally compatible with the Village and do not take away from the overall image of the Village. One case in point is the proposed “Rite-Aid” on East Main Street. If this development is not going to be prevented, the Village must at least make sure it does not become an eyesore. Parking should be IN BACK. The Village should limit the setback so that there is an entrance off the sidewalk. Architecturally, the new Rite-Aids and the proposed office building should form a coherent façade rhythm with the existing auto parts store already on the block. Future developments of a similar nature should follow a similar formula.

8. The Village Should Build a Skate Park/Youth Recreation Center in Downtown. The Village should immediately begin looking for places in the Downtown area in which to locate a skate-park and youth recreation center. Such a facility could be used as an anchor to attract young people from around the county to Downtown Cobleskill. The facility could also be used as a venue for all-ages musical performances, educational workshops and other such events. While we’re on the subject of young people using Downtown, it is important that the Village view young people as potential assets, not loiterers.

9. Increase/Build Pedestrian Infrastructure. The Village should begin looking into creating a pedestrian plan for downtown that uses garden trails or bike trails to connect residential areas both to Downtown, the Fairgrounds and various natural resources near the Village such as Cobleskill and Mill Creeks.

10. Work with the Fairgrounds. The Village should establish a committee to work with the fairgrounds to increase the number of events held on the fairgrounds during the year. Currently, the fairgrounds is an extremely underutilized asset. It is used for the Schoharie County Fair for a week in August (beginning in 2009, the fair will last 2 weeks), the American Motorcycle Jamboree and a small number of other agriculture-related events. What about large concerts, renaissance fairs and other kinds of outdoor conventions of a non-agricultural nature? I’m sure I don’t need to point out that increased fairground activity would have significant spillover effects for Downtown business.

11. Clean up Side Streets. If you drive down France Lane, Railroad Avenue or Center St. (to name a few) you’ll notice plenty of abandoned structures. The Village should begin efforts to redevelop these properties, preferably using state funds (Restore NY). Buildings which can not be adaptively used should be demolished and replaced with compact, well-designed affordable housing.

12. Improve Appearance. In and around the Downtown area, there are numerous unsightly properties. Every effort should be made to make the owners of these properties aware of available subsidies to help improve their appearance. If this doesn’t work, the Village should undertake and implement a “Landscape Plan” to cover up unsightly properties, particularly the homes on East Main Street, and the sea of crumbling parking lots south of the Central Business District (on Division, Center and Railroad Streets).

While some of these action items overlap with those contained in the Hyett-Palma Study, most are my own. If I were to overthrow the Village government, I guess this would be my “12-Point Plan”.

Of course, the Village Board is free to use these recommendations without paying me $30,000. All I want is a cooler town to loiter in.