From the ill-advised, shambling project that won’t die:

County Will Seek Ren Square Money from Federal Package
Rachel Ward

ROCHESTER, NY (2009-01-05) As municipalities around the country queue up for federal aid doled out under an Obama administration stimulus package, Monroe County is also outlining its request.

Noah Lebowitz, the spokesperson for the county, says local officials are working with Governor David Paterson to find federal economic stimulus package money for the Renaissance Square project.

Monroe County says its priorities for federal funding are transportation, education and other infrastructure needs - and that Renaissance Square is one of those priorities.

I’m so glad Maggie’s Fast Ferry is one of our priorities.

The accused contractors are talking to the DA’s office. About everything. News10:

So we asked Morabito the questions everyone wants answered: what private work did the union men do while on the county clock? And who told them to do it?

“So that’s why this case is going to be interesting as to where it unfolds,” Morabito said. “Who’s responsible for what?”

We know that D’Alessandro and Amati have talked with investigators and in Morabito’s words, they were forthright. That means information, like what homes they worked on, what other jobs they were ordered to and who ordered them, are in the investigator notes.

The DA’s office is still investigating. Assistant District Attorney Bill Gargan said he’s on the verge of setting up meetings with the defendant’s lawyers. The DA’s office wants to get as many of these 15 defendants to make a deal and tell them everything they know.

That has to be making some GOP electeds nervous.  Joe Robach’s connected somehow, at least through some kind of incident involving him.  The Gates GOP chair is at the center of this, and as stlo7 observed, there is a culture of using county employees (or people hired by the county) to do campaign activities for the GOP electeds.  Not to mention the pay-to-play that isn’t just for wealthy developers, but apparently also for regular working people.

Who else might be involved?  Exile over at TAP lists some rumors we’ve been hearing as well:

1.  This crew allegedly did work on (former Monroe County and NYS GOP Chair) Steve Minarik’s kitchen, (County Clerk) Cheryl DiNolfo’s sidewalks, and on the exterior of (State Senator) Joe Robach’s house.

2.  This scam has been going on for years.

3. The authorities have flipped one of the key players (Robert Morone, head of ROBUTRAD Corp).

4. The FBI may get involved with the investigation.

With the accused naming names and addresses, I’m thinking there’s a lot of sleepless nights and lawyering up going on for some of the folks that just got re-elected in November.

NY-25’s Dan Maffei got a jump on things and took a ceremonial oath of office in Syracuse Saturday, in the company of 500 local supporters, including the Syracuse mayor and Onondaga county executive . News reports don’t indicate if anybody attended from Monroe County.

From News 10’s coverage:

Maffei says that families are the central economic unit in the nation and that when families run into financial problems the entire economy goes down hill.

“Focus on the family business, the small-family unit and making sure that they’re economy- making sure they can afford what they need, and then the rest of the economy will follow,” said Maffei.

Dan Maffei and Eric Massa switched two of Monroe County’s Congressional seats from Republican to Democrat. The official swearing-in will be Tuesday in Washington.

NY Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is not totally on board with Governor Paterson’s proposed 2009 budget, but his reasons may not be the same as yours.

You probably shudder at the thought of sticking it to the poor with Medicaid cuts, nickel-and-diming the middle class with new taxes on haircuts, movie tickets and cable TV, while giving a total pass to the ultra-wealthy — who will continue paying the same tax rate as you and me on incomes over $40,000 per year. That’s your beef.

Mr. DiNapoli bases his criticism on arithmetic, not ideology. According to his just-released report, the numbers simply don’t add up.

Number One, DiNapoli says, the Governor relies too much on ideas for which the legislature hasn’t had any stomach in the past, such as collecting sales tax on clothing purchases under $110, and raising vehicle registration fees. Unlike previous years, this time we don’t have any cushion if any of the ideas are rejected again.

Number Two, DiNapoli says, the budget is “structurally” out of balance.

“Structural” is Albany talk for stuff such as obligations to employee retirement plans, and paying interest on the record-high NY Debt.

Yikes! We are in deep doo-doo. I know it probably isn’t your cup of tea, but take 15 minutes to look over the report.

Check out this guess essay from COMIDA Director Judy Seil.  Sounds like someone is feeling the heat.

Recently, the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) has faced criticism following its decision to provide financial assistance for the proposed improvement project at the Mall at Greece Ridge, in addition to its proposed assistance for a similarly significant redevelopment project at Irondequoit’s Medley Centre.

Yeah, Judy - are a lot of unanswered questions.  Unfortunately, she buys into the meme that companies won’t do these projects unless they get free money.  (my emphasis)

Moreover, as Wilmorite Management Group has pointed out, the proposed improvement project would not have been possible if not for the incentives provided through COMIDA. Bersin Properties LLC has echoed just how important COMIDA support is to the innovative redevelopment plan slated for the underutilized Medley Centre mall property in Irondequoit.

So, the ~3% difference, the tax abatement granted these companies (or what Bresin is asking for for Medley Centre) REALLY is going to make the difference in these projects?  As I’ve asked before - can’t they scale back the project and not use tax payer resources? Heck, Judy remember the Wellesley Inn?  Manish Patel and his business case didn’t make sense unless he got a COMIDA grant.has anything really changed since the Wellesley Inn?

This is where our local media needs to be vigilant and ask the right questions.

Questions like

• How do you define “new” job?  How do you account for jobs transferred from another part of the County?
• Why can’t projects be just a little less expensive or lower in scope without taxpayer involvement?

Those are my questions - what about yours?

Yesterday’s Corning Leader has a great interview with Eric Massa discussing his orientation and his priorities as he takes office this week. Seems as though, like it or not, the freshman congressman will all be hitting the ground running (no big deal for Massa who could put the Energizer Bunny to shame):

What have you been doing since the end of the campaign and how is the transition going?

“I went to Washington. I sat down in a room for freshman orientation. They came around and collected all the books and threw them away.

Our freshman orientation was during the week the automobile crisis broke. The leadership in the House said ‘Parking spaces? Office assignments, who cares?’ and they literally threw us out into meetings all relevant to the automobile bridge loan bailout and saving the domestic auto industry. It really was not business as usual.

There was a terrible sense of urgency in Washington I have never seen before, and I am not a total stranger to Washington. It was fascinating to watch from my point of view. Business as usual is not what’s going on.

[snip]

What are your legislative priorities?

“That’s easy. The new administration has made it very clear Congress will work with them closely to stimulate this economy and to stave off a great depression, which is now what all the experts are talking about.

I remember sitting at this table taking about that a year ago and people looking at me like ‘Well you’re just a candidate exaggerating the situation.’

I didn’t think I was then and now the experts certainly don’t think we are. I’ve been wearing an FDR button for three years. FDR has been on the cover of Time magazine, he just looks a lot like Barack Obama.

The model that was put forth in 1932 is in fact the model that will be followed in 2009. It’s job creation, job stimulus and infrastructure rebuilding. That’s the number one legislative priority.
The Iraqi government decided for us what our policy is going to be in Iraq. They said ‘You’re out of here in 18 months.’ They’ve made that decision. Now it’s a matter for us to responsibly implement it.

That’s not a point of debate any more. Now the debate is, how do we take that $15 billion to $25 billion a month that was being spent in Iraq and spend it in the United States, or not, to rebuild our economy and our infrastructure.

And so it goes. These are not ordinary times, this cannot be an ordinary congress.

With the PR offensive advertising a kinder, gentler County GOP last year after the iron-fisted Steve Minarik stepped down from GOP County Chair, you’d think that attitudes would have changed.

Unfortunately, it seems like he did too good of a job, and his leadership style is now “baked-in” to those he brought on board, mentored, and shaped.  Check out this observation from the City paper’s Jeremy Moule, on last month’s county budget voting at the county leg:

Debate is a good thing, Mr. Quatro

“We’re about to spend the next six hours in an exercise in futility.”

That was Majority Leader Dan Quatro’s opening salvo last night as legislators prepared to debate, and ultimately pass, the county budget. (It was approved 15 to 14, with only Republicans voting in favor of the $1.1-billion plan.)

It didn’t stop there. Quatro went on to lament the “hours of political theater” he saw coming. And then he suggested, “Let’s not stay here until midnight, wasting electricity.”

I get what he was trying to say, I really do. Each year the Democrats introduce a slew of last-minute budget amendments; some are practical while others are far-fetched. They never go anywhere, after all the Dems are the minority party. It takes up an entire evening and sometimes lasts a couple of days.

“It’s our job to review the budget as thoroughly as we can,” said Democratic Legislator Carrie Andrews.

I understand the Dems’ problem– if they propose amendments in committee, history has shown that the GOP majority votes them a quiet death, out of the sight of most media and voters.  This is one of the reasons that the GOP voted to move the budget deadline till AFTER the election, to minimize public & media scrutiny.

The only leverage the Dems have is to shame the GOP into doing the right thing, with as many witnesses as possible.  And even then, the GOP tends to do what they want anyway, but then they have a “PR problem” to deal with, get Sternly Worded Editorials from the D&C, etc.

It’s just funny to hear Quatro clearly state what a joke he thinks the open discussion/debate process is.  It’s almost like when they unfreeze Austin Powers and his internal monologue is spoken aloud in the aftermath of the thawing process.

Moule sums it up:

Political theater, maybe. But for all the back-and-forth that went on last night, it certainly was no exercise in futility. Besides, isn’t it good to talk out large plans, especially when it involves taxpayer money?

We’re talking about a BILLION dollars of OUR money being spent.  Sorry to inconvenience you, Mr. Quatro.

We mentioned this video back during the Christmas season after the trampling of a Walmart worker, now Brighton Library is hosting a video and discussion:

“The Story of Stuff “ – a Video and discussion evening, facilitated by local activist Ken Illingsworth.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009, 7:00 – 8:45 PM
Learning Center, Brighton Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Avenue, Brighton

FREE and open to the public!

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. It has been seen by over 4 million viewers in more than 25 countries since it was released a year ago. www.storyofstuff.com

Note: January 6 is the first in a yearlong series called Creating the Future, with video and discussion evenings scheduled bi-weekly. The series is being organized by an ad hoc committee and will include a variety of topics presented by local organizations and individuals.
For more information, contact Hank Stone, email address hstone@rochester.rr.com.

(H/T to AD of PIA for this email tip)

It’s been about 2 years since the towns of Greece, Gates, and Chili began trying to squeeze public access TV provider Edu-Cable out of the picture. The towns have been publicly shopping around for a new provider, and in the meantime, according to Edu-Cable President Brian Caterino, they’ve been withholding money they owe to the service. So one, way or another, the towns intend to turn out the lights at Edu-Cable.

Channel 12 viewers see public meetings (school boards, town boards, etc) canned material (Albany reports from Joe Robach, etc) video footage of school plays, public concerts, and oh yeah… anything which anybody, even a nobody like yourself, might wish to air on the channel. The service is mandated by federal communications law, which requires Time-Warner to collect money for it on your bill (“franchise fee”), turn the money over to cities and towns, who in turn pay the content providers (known as PEGs) to run the service. In Monroe County western suburbs, the PEG is Edu-Cable. The non-profit organization has provided public access service for about 25 years, and runs on a shoestring budget. Now the “string” is running out because Greece and Gates apparently haven’t paid anything to Edu-Cable in some time.

For the last 2 years Greece has been shopping around for a new provider, a messy process which began when the town of Greece tried moving public access service to the Greece School District. It’s a long and complicated story.

What’s their beef against Edu-Cable? Nobody will say. What’s their justification for not paying? Again, nobody will say.

Bottom line, the towns have the authority to award the contract to a new provider, but… the PEG should be independent…not a branch of government, and not owned by a political crony who will stifle public debate.

Note: btp here:  Check out Lee Strong’s (occasional commenter here at RT) D&C article from 2007 for more on this.

For those of you longtime RT readers who have been reading about Eric Massa since the very beginning, this day has been a long time coming. Our very first post on him was June 24, 2006, our 13th post, back in the days when we felt lucky to have a post a day (vs. these days, where we “strive for five” or something like that.)

It’s an interesting read to see what I wrote, and how people commented on the race, like all the “what Massa needs to do” and “is it really winnable” types of comments.  It seemed like a longshot in some ways, but here we are.

For those who want to celebrate, and are in D.C. (or who want to get in their cars right now and drive down), Massa’s having a reception after his swearing in:

Monday, January 5, 2009

6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Monocle

107 D Street, N.E.

Capitol Hill

RSVP: massa.reception@gmail.com

Go and tell him you liked him before he was all popular.

A City paper LTE writer adds their voice to the chorus of people who think high-speed rail would be great for upstate:

From my friend Jim: Why not have a rapid-rail service between Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse? Think of what a powerhouse these three sister cities would offer job and entertainment wise. Think how great it would be to hop on a fast train to Buffalo and be there in 45 minutes to see a concert, go shopping, or go to your job, and to have people from our sister cities coming to Rochester to do the same.

Keep the prices reasonable, and our fam would be using it many times/year for visiting the in-laws in Buffalo, or doctors’ appointments in Syracuse.  How about lowering the barriers to NYCers wanting to experience the Finger Lakes over a weekend?  You hop on, ride up, rent a car locally and drive it around.  Trade gas & stress for a  smooth, fast ride to your destination.

Link it up with a decent RGRTA bus service to get around Rochester, for extra credit.

“It’s a church!”

“No, it’s a state!”

“Stop that– you’re both right!  Greece Town is actually both a church, and a state.”  That’s right, kids, this is one of the many efficiencies that Town Supervisor John Auberger has brought to Greece*:

Pastors from more than a dozen churches led a series of prayers for politicians, civil servants and volunteers who serve Greece. They were introduced by Greece Town Supervisor John Auberger, for whom prayers were also said at the service.

“It’s a blessing, not only for myself but for our other elected and appointed officials, to have the prayers and support of the people in our community,” he said.

Nothing wrong with praying for our electeds, we’ve done that even in my flaming liberal church.  But it does seem to blur the church-state separation line, when you have the Town Super emcee-ing the ceremony.  Especially in a town which seems to have a history of combining church and state.  To the point that residents clearly recognize that it’s a ChurchState:

Dianne Polvino-Hopkins of Greece attended and said that local, state and national leaders need prayers.

“With all the problems we have we’re going to definitely need God,” Polvino-Hopkins said. “I’m pleased to live in a town that’s not afraid to combine government and God.”

Danger, Will Robinson.

* Efficiencies that include, but are not limited to, having their electeds do double duty at the county level!

Just riffing on the City Paper’s headline about David Cay Johnston’s recent talk on tax fairness.

More than 100 people crammed into the United Auto Workers 1097 office on Dewey Avenue last Thursday to listen to former New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston. The UAW audience was tailor-made for Johnston’s roil on the current tax system and its decades-long assault on the working class.

“What’s happened in our society over the last 30 years has been a massive redistribution of wealth upward,” Johnston said.

Anti-taxation (of the rich) fearmongers assert that taxing the wealthy will drive them out of the state, but the actual numbers tell a different story. Rosemary Rivera, vice chair of the Working Families Party, made this interesting insight:

“Governor Paterson is calling his budget ‘shared sacrifice,’ but it’s not shared at all,” said Rosemary Rivera, vice chair of the Working Families Party.

Rivera, who organized the meeting, said that the governor has avoided taxing wealthy New Yorkers out of concern that the tax burden will chase them out of the state.

“But what if all of us continue to leave the state?” Rivera said. “Working people are leaving the state because they can’t afford to live here.”

Good point.  It makes it seem like Patterson is fighting more for wealthy donors than for the rest of us.

With the war in the Middle East continuing to intesify, some local citizens have been rallying for peace. The vast majority of Muslims and Jews are sick of the fighting, despite the deep divisions over who is ultimately responsible for the current crisis.

R News covered the rally:

About a hundred people, mostly members of Rochester’s Islamic community, marched from outside the Federal Building to the corner of State and Main Streets to deliver a message.

“I think that we need to find peace,” said Nadia Abdallah, 21.

Abdallah’s parents are from Palestine. With family still living near Gaza, it’s a fight Abdallah is paying attention to. While this demonstration had a peaceful message, it also included signs of anger toward an American ally.

[snip]

For local supporters of Israel, the problem is Hamas.

“An organization committed to the destruction of Israel,” said Jewish Community Federation of Rochester Executive Director Larry Fine.

It brings to mind the old Ghandi saying: an eye for an eye will make the world go blind.

Although the Gov is saying, “It ain’t nothin’ till I calls it.”, the AP is calling the senator’s seat for Kennedy.

Two people close to Gov. David Paterson tell The Associated Press they believe Caroline Kennedy will be his choice, but the governor cautions he’s still looking.

(ImagefromNewsday.com)