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.