Democracy In Albany - New York Politics || Stratton and Schenectady

Stratton and Schenectady

By DIA, Section News
Posted on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 06:08:56 AM EST

I doubt Mayor Jennings reads the paper. Too bad. Because today he would've been treated to a glimpse of what real leadership looks like. Mayor Stratton. Lowering taxes, taking on the corrupt police force. Two things Jerry Jennings is completely incapable of doing. Also why Jennings has no chance to run for congress. Stratton debating Jennings would be like a guy playing ping pong against someone with no arms.

I lowered taxes, what did you do?

I took on a corrupt police force and powerful union while you allowed cops to show up to work drunk and buy and sell illegal machine guns. Care to commment?

Etc, etc, etc. From the TU

Tuesday had Mr. Stratton making his second inaugural address, full of warnings for the sort of cops who have to grasp the message about obeying the law, much less enforcing it.

"There can be no room for rogues, cowboys and thugs," he said. "They will be fired. They will be replaced. We will rebuild and will move on." ...

Two things stood out above all when Mr. Stratton first ran for mayor, with the police union opposing him, in 2003. The city was on the verge of a fiscal disaster, and just enough cops were just enough out of control to constitute a genuine municipal embarrassment. This week, though, the mayor can talk with confidence and even pride about how the city took what he calls the tough medicine necessary to eliminate a crippling debt load, restoring its credit rating and attracting some badly needed new jobs.

And Jerry, the "tough medicine" isn't debt.

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Stratton and Schenectady | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)

Schenectady (none / 0) (#1)
by alfrednewman on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 07:31:43 AM EST

Is in a far better position to turn itself around than Albany is.

Schenectady is a two party town and Stratton can loose an election if he doesnt properly manage the city.

In Albany Jennings cant be beat no matter what. In Schenectady if you don't like how things are being done then you vote for the Republicans.

In Albany if you dont like how its being run you can leave.
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

no matter what (none / 0) (#2)
by DIA on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 08:07:20 AM EST

Jennings can't be beat. You keep singing that tune. I remember when Sweeney was unbeatable. And Clyne. And Clinton. And i recall when Tom Delay was a very powerful man and we were promised a "permanent republican majority" in America. Huckabee!

Anyone can be beat. It just takes some work and the ability to not give up before you start.

You shouldn't live in fear of those people who meet next to the fried chicken joint.

Right (none / 0) (#3)
by alfrednewman on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 08:25:09 AM EST

So what do you think the chances are that the next Mayor of Albany is going to be something other than a Democrat?

I think that is -0%-

The Democrats will win because there simply isnt another organization to chalange them.

What do you think the chances are that an Albany Democrat on the city or county level would have the balls to expose all the corruption and mismanagement that we all believe we know is going on?

That is also right around -0%- No one will rock the boat.

So much for the Public Integrety Unit, huh?
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

chances (none / 0) (#4)
by DIA on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 08:31:51 AM EST

I think it is unlikely that the next mayor will be something other than a democrat. However, I'm a democrat. If I'm elected mayor, expect change.

To say i'm disappointed by the lack of action by the DA's office in investigating KNOWN corruption in Albany's city government would be an understatement.

DIA (none / 0) (#5)
by alfrednewman on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 09:20:42 AM EST

You cant be elected unless you are a candidate and you cant be a candidate unless you come out into the blinding light of day.

I am not sure why you are surprised that NA-DA is happening. Soares is probably too busy doing more investigations that have little real effect on the citizens of Albany County.

Lets see, what else can he divert the resources of his office doing.

If he skies then Aspen would be a good choice. There is a snow warning and the slopes there can get up to 2 feet of snow.

Maybe he can find someone in Albany County that recieved some contraband from Colorado.

Hmmm, maybe internet betting. Any good vacation spots that he could "investigate?"
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

"tough medicine" isn't debt. (none / 0) (#6)
by AlfredMoisiu on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 06:32:43 PM EST

You're right - but Schenectady has been there, done that. Ever hear of the Metroplex Authority?

You cannot talk about any municipality in NY without talking about lots and lots of debt. Hell, if the people running the school districts were running the city, they would have bulldozed city hall to fix a hot water heater.

"tough medicine" isn't debt. (none / 0) (#7)
by AlfredMoisiu on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 06:33:12 PM EST

You're right - but Schenectady has been there, done that. Ever hear of the Metroplex Authority?

once again (none / 0) (#8)
by DIA on Sat Jan 05, 2008 at 06:08:26 AM EST

I'll give you credit, AM. You consistently avoid the issues at hand. Discussing the fiscal disaster that Jennings has created....blame the schools.

Hell, if the people running the school districts were running the city, they would have bulldozed city hall to fix a hot water heater.

Again, you and Jerry have no answers. All you want to do is blame other people and say there is nothing to be done, or pretend there is no problem. Meanwhile, we have a problem to fix. So, we need people very unlike you and Jerry who only have excuses and want to blame other people. We need problem solvers. Not whiny head in the sand types.

[ Parent ]

: Where do you get those blinders, anyway? (none / 0) (#9)
by AlfredMoisiu on Sat Jan 05, 2008 at 06:54:19 AM EST

In Albany, the school district just blew over $250 million on capital costs. How much have school taxes gone in in 5-6 years? 25%? 30% Your library taxes went up about 200% in the last year, since they decided to blow $30M, with another $30-40M coming in two years.
Like I've said and you consistently ignore, because it doesn't fit with your anti-Jennings crusade, Albany's problems are a reflection of upstate's problems.
From the state comptroller's report on the fiscal health of cities:
Population decline:

Outside of New York City, total city population declined by 24.4 percent from 1950 to 2000
Tax inflation:

City property tax levies experienced
average annual increases of 4.6 percent from 2001 to 2006 (4.3 percent from 2000 to 2005)— significantly higher than the average annual inflation rate of 2.5 percent for that period. This is in sharp contrast to very minimal property tax levy increases (averaging 0.5 percent per year) that occurred between 1995 and 2000. The difference was partly due to the strong economy during the earlier period, which contributed to strong sales tax and other revenue growth. Lower property taxes from 1995 to 2000 were also due to slower growth in certain
expenditures, such as health and other employee benefits, which increased much more rapidly between 2001 and 2006.
15% of New York Cities has essentially at the limit of revenue that can come from property taxes:

As of fiscal year 2006, almost 15 percent of all cities (nine in all) in the State had utilized in excess of 80 percent of their tax limits. Of these nine cities, four are within 3 percent of reaching their total tax limit and thus have very little capacity for generating additional revenue through increased property taxes (New York City, Gloversville, Lackawanna, and Niagara Falls).
And if you look at the comptrollers report on overlapping property tax levies, you'll see that not ignoring things like school costs because they have nothing to do with Jennings is pretty disingenuous.
In Albany County, $400M of the $600M or 2/3 of the property tax levies were for school taxes. In the city it's 60%. That's 6-15% higher than upstae counties with fucked up cities like Onondaga, Monroe and Erie.
So let's hear your answers. Putting new people in charge means things will change, but what do you change to fix things? The vast majority of your local taxes pay for professional employees (cops, firemen, teachers), capital costs (schools, snowplows, etc), debt service and general operations (garbage, roads, streetlights, sewers, water, etc).

[ Parent ]

answers (none / 0) (#10)
by DIA on Sat Jan 05, 2008 at 08:05:42 AM EST

We were discussing the city of Albany's finances. You have trouble staying on topic and apparently want to talk about the larger problems of the state and country. Ok.

The state of NY finances are a mess. I've pointed that out on this blog as one reason the convention center is unlikely to be funded. The school finances also are a mess and the way the funding for schools is done in Albany is a disaster as well. I've pointed this out on this blog. I've been critical of how the library board has conducted business. If you want to engage in a discussion of how the whole country is in a huge financial mess that will trickle down to Albany, we can do that. Things don't look good on ANY level when it comes to the financial picture. You seem to agree with me on that. The fact that Jennings is trying to borrow his way out of the problem doesn't seem to be a problem for you. I imagine you have some sort of personal financial stake in Jennings and the status quo or you would share my views. Or you don't live in the city of Albany so it isn't really a concern of yours.

The golf course is losing money. Calsolaro recommended raising fees for golfers including non resident golfers. The mayor called this "crazy". You have said there is no point in doing this because it won't help anything. This is a fine example of the problem. You and the mayor want the people of Albany to subsidize a golf course for non residents. You ridicule proposals to make the golfers pay for their golfing experience. We are borrowing money to subsidize golfers. Meanwhile 25% of the city lives in poverty.

Here are things that could be done to address the financial mess the city is facing.

Revamp how the city handles the dump. We currently are in the garbage collection business. It isn't something we should be doing and we are about to get stuck with a hefty bill becaue of Jerry's inability to solve a problem that has existed for his 14 years of office.
There are 75 currently vacant positions in the city. Eliminate them.
Get tough with the unions. Either the unions start to give a little or the city will fail. Time for tough medicine. Now the unions don't want to hear this but if you are a relatively new firefighter or cop I've got news for you. Either start to give some now or forget about that pension you are putting in your 20 years for. It won't be there.
If you want a convention center and hotel, find a way to pay for it that doesn't involve raising the taxes on the city of albany residents. If you can't do that, you don't get your convention center.
Stop borrowing. If you don't have the money to pay your bills, spend less.
Stop giving automatic raises to Jerry and all his top henchmen. Real wages in this country have been flat for 6 years or so. Meanwhile Jerry's salary has gone up 25%. 25% of his city's residents live in poverty. He needs to start to address this and LEAD by example. Tighten your belt, Jerry.
Enforce code, collect fines. Code enforcement should be a income generating department.
Stop the overtime abuse. It goes on in all departments and is blatant and obvious. End it.
Reduce the size of the common council. This is one area where I agree with jennings. Right now the common council does nothing as far as I can tell. They are a rubberstamp for Jennings. Reduce their size and give them more power.
Put someone in charge of the water department who has track record of success. The current leadership is a complete failure.
Open the books on the IDA money and any other grant money that the city gets.

I'm sure there are many more ways we could trim the budget but the budget info that the city gives us is so vague that all we could do is guess at the best ways to go about it. Every experience i have had with DGS or the Water Department has led me to believe that there is much room for efficiency in those departments.

Borrow and spend policies are fun until it comes time to pay the bill. That time is now. Jerry and the rest of the politicians are hoping for the state to bail out the city with more PILOT money. What if the state doesn't have that money? What is plan B? There is no plan B and we'd be foolish to expect one from a mayor who has spent $5 million on a landfill site that is protected wetlands.

As the other Alfred pointed out, the city is supposed to be there to provide services, not to provide jobs. Changing that mindset would be a good place to start.

and another thing (none / 0) (#11)
by DIA on Sat Jan 05, 2008 at 08:25:06 AM EST

we need to fix the assessment process in the city.

the politically connected do not pay their fair share of taxes. Its time for that to end.

Stratton and Schenectady | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)

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