How are you spending your New Years? m Personally, I’m heading out to dinner and show with the usual suspects.
The New Years tradition usually includes a mandatory viewing of Dinner for One and eating Berliners (the Donuts, not the people).
What are you doing?
See you tomorrow…
Took a Snow-day from work today and was rewarded by this article, on my favorite subject , waiting for me in the Elmira Star Gazette. The author of this piece explains a bit about the melamine contamination of Baby formula which stlo7 wrote about here and then takes it a bit farther:
We were appalled to hear that melamine was deliberately added to the milk used for baby formula in China. Equally shocking, however, is the fact that melamine is used in the U.S. as part of the formula manufacturing process.
In October, the federal Food and Drug Administration said that it did not know of any safe level of melamine in baby formula. On Nov. 28, without further research, the agency announced that melamine and cyanuric acid are safe in baby formula at levels up to 1 part per million.
Nobody knows whether any melamine is safe. We do know that similar concentrations of either melamine or one of its relatives in their products has been found in formula made by Abbott, Nestle, and Mead Johnson, which make almost all of the formula sold in the U.S.
Pretty scary stuff. But, that’s not all…
* On Dec. 2, the New Mexico Health Department reported that one baby died and another was hospitalized because of infections caused by different strains of the bacteria Enterobacter sakazakii. Both babies had been fed powdered formula, which the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control says has been associated with contaminated powdered formula products.
* On Nov. 25, a 5-month-old baby, weighing only 8 pounds, 6 ounces, almost died from water intoxication and malnourishment. His mother had been using water to dilute the formula she got each month through the Women, Infants and Children program. She could not afford the $16 to $18 for each of the additional five to seven cans the baby needed.
$16to $18 dollars per can of possibly contaminated baby formula. WTF? So, we give it away free in the hospitals (thank you so much Mead Johnson, Ross and Nestle) until the mother is hooked (ie-milk supply not established related to lack of stimulation to breasts) then we send her home and say, you’re on your own, when all this time she could have been providing free food for her infant by nursing and building her supply at the same time. Does anyone else see a correlation with the cocaine pusher?
The author’s suggestions:
* Offer all mothers accurate information and practical help to enable them to get breastfeeding off to a good start.
* Give teeth to the current laws protecting women’s rights to nurse in public and pump and nurse at work.
* Ensure a safe, sustainable and affordable supply of formula for mothers who cannot nurse.
So, after reading stlo7’s post about how the Medley Center developers Congel and crew are basically saying
Give us tax breaks, or we shall utterly destroy Medley Center! We shall leave no stone standing upon another stone! We shall crush each plastic clothes hanger into microscopic particles! Feel our might, and tremble before us!
I realized that they are trying to get into the next Bond movie, or maybe the next X-Men movie, as one of those arch-villains. Let’s help them. First thing, we need to help them pick a good name. I used a villain name generator site, selecting the traits of “trickery”, “Combat: Explosive/Area Effect”, and “Negative/Nemesis”. The first one it generated was
Feather Robot
Eh. Not so great. Next was.
Forgery Blast
Now we’re talking. Let’s see what we can come up with. Use the poll below to vote for your fave or create a choice.
n
I’ve been pretty hard on most things COMIDA. I’ve questioned retail subsidies repeatedly. Greece Ridge Mall, Eastview Mall (Ontario County’s version of COMDIA) and new Medley Centre.
I fundamentally believe that there is a role for government to play in encouraging business. I also believe that government should get its money’s worth and, with retail, it doesn’t.
Look, Greece Ridge Mall got a COMDIA grant to improve that amounted to about 3% of the project. Assuming the project is viable, (I mean, it has to be assumed viable because otherwise COMIDA would not have had a reason to approve it) - could they not scale back the project 3%. Could not Wilmorite have built/upgraded it on their own?
Look at Medley Centre: a $280 million dollar project. They are asking for 8.5 million dollars in COMIDA tax exemptions? Let’s see. 10% of 280 million is $28 million, 5% is 14 million. 3% is 8.4 million.
What– these guys share the same accounting firm? Reuse the same forms?
Developers don’t do these projects out of the goodness of their hearts. Ultimately they are making money. Good for them. The question that needs to be asked is, why can’t these projects be scaled back 3% and not be tax exempt?
Apparently they can’t because they say if they don’t get the tax break the developers will pull the project. What this means is they can forecast, with accuracy, within 3%. How about they use these forecasting superpowers for taxpayer good and scale back the projects 3%?
As I’m sure you have heard by now there was a public meeting at the Irondequoit Town Hall regarding tax subsidies and exemptions for a massive development project ($260 million dollars of development) at Medley Centre. I have video of the event that I will post at my next opportunity but it is end of year and I’m in Spreadsheet hell.
Anyway, there were about 50 people in attendance. About 15 people spoke and the vast majority came out concerned that this plan isn’t the ticket. Let’s be clear. No one (including me) is against development.
Everyone, however, is against tossing good money after bad and- in this case - providing public funds (tax exemptions) to a business, for a project that is not guaranteed to be successful. Yeah, I know , there is no guarantees in life, however, to get public assistance there should be a greater openness and commitment to the community than the developer has shown.
If there aren’t guarantees in life there should be no guarantees to tax subsidies.
Anyway - I have video of the speakers and developers engaging in discussion. Good stuff that will be posted with my commentary when I have a chance.
But remember when I said “This amounts to a pay “me” to save “you” offer by the Medley Centre developers.” in a post entitled “More on Medley Centre Developer Money grab”
Between Rachel Barnhart at 13Wham Blog who has this choice quote.
“This is something that’s available by law. Our competitors are doing it. You sort of need to do it as a savvy businessman in the world today. You have to take advantage of what’s available to you under the law,” said Greg Lane, Congel’s attorney.
When asked if the project would continue without the tax breaks, Lane said, “Probably not, especially in today’s economic environment. It’s a very difficult world out there in terms of access to capital.”
And the Kate Perry over at the D&C
“What the folks in Irondequoit stand to lose is if (the developers) don’t do this project. If we walk away from the property, it’s going to get leveled and then the tax (revenue) will go down,” Lane said.
Makes you wonder about the approach of the developer. Who has who over a barrel? I suspect the only barrel here is the one tax payers will be wearing after the tax exemptions are granted.
One more thing. RenSquare is a $230 million dollar project. the Medley Centre is a $260 million dollar project. Almost half a billion dollars for two projects toss in Paetec HQ, The various Mall upgrades at Eastview and Greece Ridge. Lots of development - is any of it sustainable? Regional planning?
2 weeks back I wrote about Eric Massa’s tour of th GM Plant in Honeoye Falls. He said at that time that he would like to drive a Hydrogen powered car to DC for his swearing in. Looks like that will be happening. From Buffalo 14228:
Congressman-elect Massa decided to take a Fuel Cell vehicle from the 29th Congressional District all the way to Washington to highlight the values that he will fight for in his first term.
[snip]
Earlier this month, after Senators such as Bob Corker (R-TN) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) killed the bridge loan program for our auto manufacturers, Chrysler was forced to announce that it would have to shut down and effectively lay off all of its manufacturing workers for a month - right in the middle of the holiday season. Something is very wrong when hardworking Americans have to miss a paycheck during the Christmas season because a couple of D.C. insiders have forgotten who they serve.
Congressman-elect Massa knows that we need to protect these jobs and strengthen America’s middle-class families, but we must do it intelligently. This is why Massa does not support a bailout - rather he supports bridge loans which will be paid back to the American taxpayer with interest. However these loans must come with strings attached.
Rather than only investing in oil based technology, we must work to expand programs like Fuel Cell research and development. Additionally, we must provide economic incentives for auto manufactures to keep good jobs right here in Western New York and the United States. Conversely, we must cutoff subsidies to companies that outsource their jobs to foreign countries.
I’m still mystified by our government’s willingness to hand our tax dollars over to the banking industry without blinking an eye, but the auto industry which provides employment, and therefore income to over 230,000 people-people who are trying to pay off their mortgages so they don’t have their houses foreclosed on, is put through the gauntlet and threatened with bankruptcy. These innovative technologies will form the cornerstone to our failing economy and hope for our suffering environment. They must be invested in soundly.
I applaud Eric’s stance. May his voice be joined by a chorus of other like minded congress critters as America enjoys the change which it struggled so passionately to achieve through this election cycle.
Remember those county contractors accused of stealing county money? We know that some of them appeared in a campaign ad for Joe Robach — Stlo7 already covered part of this prior to the holidays. But a sharp-eyed reader pointed out another connection to me.
Check out this story from Channel 10:
(snip)
“These defendants appear in a political ad that ran over the course of the fall, a Joe Robach ad. Are you aware of that?” this reporter asked Assistant District Attorney Bill Gargin.
“I can tell you we’re aware of that and I can tell you our interest in it stems from whether or not there was any gain on their part where in the county paid for anything relating to that,” Gargin said.
So, the District Attorney’s office has an interest in the Union Workers appearing in Robach’s ad. But look at what else the DA says:
“Aware of what?” this reporter asked.
“Their engagement in an incident that lead to an advertisement for a political candidate,” Gargin said.
That’s very interesting. The DA says (bold mine) “Their engagement in an incident that lead to an advertisement”
Oh my. What kind of incident could have led to Robach’s commercial?
Free market dead-enders have been arguing “markets uber alles”, even in the face of the worst Wall Street excesses most of us have seen. I mean, c’mon, even free market champion Alan Greenspan said “Whoops” when asked about his belief that markets can self-regulate.
But sometimes it takes a personal story to bring it home for people, and this D&C LTE does just that:
SEC can be public’s last line of protection
A Dec. 18 editorial urged the end of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This would be insane. It is the bulwark between the consumer and powerful Wall Street institutions.
While applying for Medicaid for my mother, it was discovered that stock that I didn’t know existed had to be sold to qualify her for assistance. The transfer agent was a service owned by a well-known bank. From the initial contact with the service it took more than three months to get them to sell the stock. The bank’s conduct throughout this period proved intransigent and duplicitous. It reached the point that I realized it had no intention of selling the stock as if this asset was theirs. During this time my mother’s application was denied.
Desperately, I called the SEC and spoke to an attorney and described the bank’s conduct. After I sent him relevant documents, he called the bank’s compliance department. Three weeks later my mother received a check for the stock. If the SEC didn’t exist, banks could do as they please — the public be damned.
That’s great that the SEC came through for this poor woman. (After her son had to call them up to go badger the bank.) Imagine what a fully funded & staffed SEC could do, backed by strong market regulations. Maybe then Wall Street CEOs wouldn’t have gambled away our investments, then raided the public treasury so they could buy $37 Million dollar condos on Park Ave.
But what do I know?
“Don’t get me started.” That’s what you’re likely to hear if you ask critics of the Greece Central School District to list their top issues. In the past year, GCSD found itself facing forensic audit, wrongful dismissal lawsuits, construction defects in 13 recently remodeled buildings, a likely investigation from the NY Attorney General, contract dispute with its teachers… and that’s the short list.
The School Board’s response? “Shut up.”
Meet Doug Skeet. He’s a retired Greece principal and one of GCSD’s most persistent critics. Mr Skeet is a familiar face at school board meetings and often adresses the board during the community forum segment. His pet peeve is academic performance. Greece students are underperforming and Mr Skeet wants action.
In November, when Skeet called to register as a speaker at the upcoming school board meeting, he was turned away. You see, Doug Skeet, who devoted years of his career to Greece Schools, actually doesn’t live in Greece. His Latta Road home is just over the town line, in Charlotte. Conveniently, the school board decided that — from now on — only residents of Greece should be allowed to address the board at school board meetings. Mr. Skeet was silenced.
If you think about it for a minute, it isn’t difficult to come up with numerous examples of non-residents who might have valid reasons to address the school board. Parents, teachers, vendors, taxpayers, business owners… are just some of those who might have an interest in schools, but live in another town.
The school board apparently realizes this and is reviewing the policy. I betcha anything they’ll come up with a list of types of non-residents qualified to speak… will those who match Doug Skeet’s description make the list? Stay tuned.
State Senator Ruben Diaz has written an open letter to his constituents telling them that:
“I have always been a Democrat. I am still a Democrat. And I will always be a Democrat,” Diaz wrote in the two-page letter to constituents.
He said it was being released “in response to the negative campaign some special interests have begun in my community.”
He is referring to a petition that was circulated by the WFP who are hoping to pressure Diaz, who is one of the “Gang of Three” rebel Dems in the State Senate, to vote for Malcolm Smith as majority leader. But despite his protestations to the contrary, Diaz is hardly a Democrat. He did after all ran as a Republican in this past election.
There’s a good reason for why he should want to be viewed as a Democrat, seeing as they have a huge 14 to 1 advantage over Republicans in the 32nd senate district. But I guess if you’re just another politician like Ruben Diaz, it’s important to mislead your constituents about where your loyalties really are.
At ripplesandcurrentsblogspot.com I found a piece by someone by the name of Irishfan called, Tom Reynolds-AMF , which conveniently pulls together some of his blatant faux pas, voting in direct opposition to his constituency’s best interests.
An excellent website themiddleclass.org http://www.themiddleclass.org/ tracks the voting records of all Senators and Congressmen on bills that directly effect the well being of the middle class. Although the organization will not issue final grades for 2008 until March, its pretty clear that Reynolds is on his way to his fifth consecutive grade of “F”. That’s right, five consecutive years of a voting record that is so counter to the interests of his constituents that he grades out at “F”. Reynolds has by far the worst rating in the NY delegation, whose overall record is pretty good. According to themiddleclass.org, Reynolds voted with the pro-middle class position only 46% of the time in 2008. The only NY representative that even came close to this sorry record was Randy Kuhl at 50% and the voters wisely retired Randy in November. That’s right, not only was Reynolds the most anti-middle class NY congressman, he was FAR worse than his Republican colleagues from NY, who averaged a 65% pro-middle class record in 2008.
He mentions Reynold’s NO votes on
The Auto Industry Refinancing and Restructuring Act
The Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act
The Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008
The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act
I went over to themiddleclass.org website and scrolled through Tom and Randy’s records just for shits and grins. I’m so glad that we are now looking at their backsides!
Last year I did some investigation on what electricity provider to go with, analyzing it from a progressive point of view, and presented it to RT readers in case they were still making up their minds. This is a little last-minute, but I thought I’d re-post the info, in case there were folks still making up their minds this year. I haven’t re-researched any of the data, but here’s the article from last year:
Now that local elections are over, it’s time to make a decision on who’s gonna provide your electricity to you. Chances are if you’re reading this you’re in the RG&E delivery area, meaning that no matter who produces the electricity you eventually use, RG&E gets it to your house.
But how do you make the choice on who you want to produce that energy for you?
I chose the Energy Cooperative of New York, where you can sign up for their Renewable energy plan on-line. They are a Buffalo-based, worker-owned, not-for-profit company. So their costs are less but they’re still motivated through ownership to provide a good service. They’ve never had a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau. Their variable rate for renewables is as low as 6 cents/kwh and as high as 10 during peak months (Dec/Jan, Jul/Aug).
They told me they’ve been getting 5-8 new enrollments/day.The interesting thing about our area, they said, is that typically, the RG&E area clients [who've signed up w/Energy Coop] move more towards renewable as oppsed to NYSEG (rural) and National Grid (major cities except for rochester) clients. They estimated 9 out of 10 RG&E area customers who switch to Energy Coop pick the renewable plan, folks from other areas, 2 out of 10. Gives me hope for the progressive thinking in the Rochester area.
How did I do the comparison and end up with Energy Coop? See below the fold… Read the rest of this entry »
Well - Caroline Kennedy conducted an interview in the New York Times. Read it and come to your own conclusions.
Exile over at TAP has a good summary how silly a portion of it was. Should have titled it Grey lady down.
But - for our readers enjoyment - check out Community Editorial Board blogger Petrena Hayes - can’t say she is going out out (her term expires shortly) with a whimper.
Apparently Petrena takes offense to the term “You know” that Caroline repeatedly used. But the best is the comments where poor Sarah Palin is admonished of any responsibility for losing because of Tina Fey’s SNL skit.
Wonder who the next Community Editorial bloggers will be?
Corporate capitalism has its way with our local economy:
Experts say the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs at places such as Kodak and Xerox Corp., and the lack of new jobs to replace them, has led to the falling incomes. The county’s population has declined more than 20,000 since 2000. The lost spending stemming from the lower incomes ripples through the economy, affecting the sale of homes, cars and other products and threatening even more jobs.
Jim Bertolone, president of the Rochester Labor Council, blames government policies that have encouraged companies to ship jobs overseas and increased competition with foreign businesses.
“Under these free-trade agreements, they have sold to the public that outsourcing jobs is trade and it isn’t,” he said.
The problem could be aggravated by the state’s changing demographics, said Sandy Parker, president of the Rochester Business Alliance.
“Unless we attract high-value jobs into the region the other thing we’re going to see is the population number is going to be smaller and it’s going to be significantly older,” Parker said.
How about we divert COMIDA funds into that kind of job creation as opposed to throwing it away on low-wage retail and malls?
Like that old Chinese proverb.
Joe Spector @ Gannett has a good recap of the interesting year of New York political upheaval of 2008. Client 9 to a massive Budget deficit and all points in between. It is a good read to be sure - There was A LOT going in New York Politics. Lots of Drama
Spizer, flipped Senate, key aide resignations, Assembly members indicted or accused, Gang of three, don’t forget Clinton to State Department. New York’s addiction to Wall street and Budget issues.
Looking back got to give a hat tip to Paterson (independent of the budget) he has been in office for 9 months most of which has been reaction to being propelled unexpectedly into office.
Well, at least we are not Illinois.
“When the best we say for ourselves is that things are worse in Illinois, we are in trouble,” said Gerald Benjamin, an expert on state government at the State University College at New Paltz, referring to charges against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Yeah - most dysfunctional ever and it will take a few cycles to change that.