Democracy In Albany

Thankfully, The Albany Observer immediately took action and reposted Mr. Calsolaro's letter and included my comment below. Two other blog authors replied to my request, both doubting DIA's site had been hacked. One refused outrightly and the other chose not to.

So thank you for standing in and standing up for free speech, Albany Observer. You are a credit to the Albany community.

Here's my comment, prompted by young Mr. Calsolaro's TU LTE:

I'm afraid we'll be feeling the impact of Jennings' legacy long after he's gone.

It should be clear to all that Rex and the editors of the Albany Times Union detest Albany's citizens and wish them ill fortune.

Any other newspaper, confronted with a similar scandalous history like that of the 16 year Jennings administration, would have thrown their support behind the opposition candidate.

Jerry says he loves his city, but he too must despise its people, and not so secretly, either.

He brags about bringing $6 billion in investment into Albany and I ask you "How has this helped you?" Have your taxes gone down?

Has it made you feel safer?

Do you shop on Central Avenue? No. Why?

Hasn't it been improved over the past 16 years?

Who's to blame?

You don't shop downtown, that's for sure, because there aren't any stores to shop in downtown unless you're thirsty for alcohol, so where do you shop? Westgate?

$40 million in taxpayer dollars for a friend's parking garage for patrons of his building's tenants, your money... and certainly counted by Jerry as part of the $6 billion in investment.

Could you imagine what that money would have done if had been spent in our blighted neighborhoods bringing properties back onto the tax roles?

Blighted neighborhoods ignored completely by Jerry for 12 years and only during the last mayoral campaign was anything done, and that, only two buildings in the South End and a few more in South Park at around $270k a unit, this one displacing the previous tenants forever because it was too expensive for them and many others to afford once rehabbed...

Speaking of two buildings, that was the total extent of the mayor's beautification of vacant buildings in Arbor Hill, TWO BUILDINGS. Just some more figurative and in this case literal window dressing from Jennings. Yes, Jerry cares. A very convincing effort.

And while Lenny drew a full Sergeant's salary running PAL as a "volunteer" before he retired from the force, he's now pulling down $80k in addition to his earned pension doing the same thing, all on your dime... and Jerry couldn't come up with $25k to keep the teen centers opened on weekends?? Really? Seems he's had no problem raising substantial sums for his campaign from his developer friends who are getting rich on taxpayer money. You'd think one or a few would have been glad donate back some of your money for the kids as a charitable write-off, if for no other higher moral reason.

But I guess asking for a contribution from your friends to keep the kids engaged in supervised recreational activities on weekends is oh, so much more difficult than asking them for a campaign contribution.

Sure, he cares about the kids. I've been listening to him say this throughout his 16 years in office, but haven't seen him take any action, except to change the category in the budget from which you pay Lenny's salary.

Our kids our dropping like flies, bored to violence because there are no city sponsored  activities reaching them, no jobs and Jennings offers no hope for them that things will ever change under his administration.

Machine Guns illegally purchased, possessed and sold by police and civilians... Think Jerry's got one? Why else would he have a flunky retrieve the investigation files Tuffey's worked four years on and bring them over to City Hall? Simply put, there is no good reason. But there may be a nefarious reason for doing so.

One bad cop who has shown up for work drunk whose salary you're still paying while you pay off the earlier $265k award to one of his victims in a racially motivated beating and the $1.5 million settlement to the family of the young man whose death was wrongfully caused.

Yes, a fine example of Jerry's and his Chief's leadership. Makes you proud to be a citizen of such an "All American City", doesn't it?

Tens of millions owed for a stinking landfill that will be costly long after it closes, for at least 30 years afterward, all the while further polluting our emergency water supply...

And if it and its methane ever catches fire after a lightning strike our citizens' health and that of our first responders, our firemen, will be put at greater risk than its odorous toxic fumes now present. Thanks, Jerry.

Jerry has mislead you all about the importance of the landfill and the revenue that the city derives from it. You can verify this yourself if you are so inclined to closely examine the purposefully confusing budget. When all the costs, including that of your "Free Garbage" pick-up and disposal and the landfill operational costs are figured in, the city nets just a bit less than $2 million. When you add in the annual cost for the lawyers and the consultants, the landfill revenue drops into negative figures.

The fees the consultant charged the city for just the application for the landfill expansion was $900,000, and that doesn't include the lawyers' fees.  

But if you want to believe Jerry when he says it makes $13 million a year, ask him what happened to the $78 million worth of revenue from the garbage that filled it six years early.

$10 million more for the Coeymans Wetlands with its flourishing colony of rare and endangered Karner Blues and thousands a year more in taxes for it...

Yeah, Jerry's good. Good at doubling his salary while doubling your taxes. What else has he done for you? I would love to hear.

When Jerry's retired he'll be collecting a double pension too, also paid for by you, the taxpayers of Albany.

You could do worse than elect Ellis your mayor.

You could re-elect Jerry.