ROCHESTER - Like I promised, every now and again I create curiosities for myself, or quick thoughts, that aren't exactly suited for full blown rants. This is another small offering of random thoughts:
1. Does Bush even care if we catch Osama bin Laden? I am guessing no, and I am also guessing that John McCain doesn't either.
2. Shouldn't the media be asking why we can't catch bin Laden? Oops, I forgot, the media is conservative and do all they can to protect themselves by protecting Republicans.
3. Why are people obsessed with Hillary dropping out before convention? Isn't that what conventions are for, to figure this stuff out?
4. Cheers to Rochester's Tim Redding for helping Brian Gionta, Ryan Callahan and Abby Wambach for giving us some hometown heroes to root for on the national sports scene.
5. Lastly, all my prayers go out to my hero, Senator Ted Kennedy. Looks like he is recovering well from seizures suffered over the weekend. You know he will be the first to point out that every American should get the kind of health care he received, which likely helped minimize the effects of the seizures.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
New Yorkers Need Priorities
ROCHESTER - It is expensive to live and do business in New York State. I know that and you know that. But is cracking down on Dan Gundersen's eating and meeting habits going to fix that? No. For the yet to be informed, the Democrat and Chronicle ran an article today about the 'questionable' spending habits of our Upstate Economic Czar, Dan Gundersen. He has wined and dined business leaders, local economic development leaders, and other local officials. Gosh darn it, he even paid to leave his car parked in Buffalo, not too far from his office (where presumably parking is free and doesn't put money into the economy)! We New Yorkers need to get our priorities straight. We have bigger fish to fry, but bigger fish are hard work, so, I guess, let's pick on the guppy.
I understand the underlying issue with Gundersen's use of the State credit card. If every official spent $400 to treat 10 people to dinner in Watertown, the State would be broke. Unfortunately, we are already broke, and $400 is not going to fix that. Keeping all government in the sunshine is a good thing and maybe in the future Gundersen makes the Commander at Fort Drum cover the tip because he doesn't want the entire State to know he is an overgenerous tipper (who says one man can't refuel Upstate!).
The real hypocrisy will always come from the private sector, of course. Government is always being told it would be better run as a private company. Hopefully not like Enron or GM, but whatever. Let's pretend for a second that 9 out of 10 American companies don't fail in their first year and that the private sector always runs as smoothly as an American airline (just not American Airlines because, well, you know...) and that government should copy the business practices of the private sector. It seems as if Gundersen is all over this and ahead of the curve. Or in corporate-ese he is thinking outside the box to synergize existing partnerships while making focused investments yadda yadda yadda. The three olive lunch is a staple of the corporate world. He is acting like every other businessman in the world. Shocking to see someone with a financial interest treating someone else to a meal and, gasp!, an adult beverage. What next? Will Gundersen have the nerve to talk to some CEO over some golf? I hope not because that is not how government should be run. Unless of course you think government should be run like a private company, in which case Gunersen needs to buy some wicked ugly pants and hit the links.
Let us also not forget the tax breaks we give to private companies to locate, relocate, and promise not to blackmail us already in the State. If Gundersen spent that $400 at a Maggie Brooks fundraiser, he could relocate himself to Monroe County and pay no property taxes. Both locally and on the State level we continually bribe companies with cheap power, property tax abatements, demolition efforts, etc. to keep them from leaving for greener pastures. Sometimes they are even nice enough to pretend they will create more jobs if we buy them that shiny new machine dealie that makes stuff. But since we don't actually hold them accountable for the public money they take, aren't we wasting our money anyway? And in much larger amounts?
The root of the problem is a bad economy that pits regions against each other and States against each other. Only the private companies benefit. They start bidding wars and see who will give them the most free stuff. They blackmail governments into no taxes and publicly funded improvement projects. Private companies never receive these type of benefits in the private sector. If Kodak went to Xerox and said, 'Hey, can we have some money to build a new wing at our plant? It may or may not create some new jobs but either way we won't pay you back." Xerox would likely tell Kodak to play in traffic. But since government isn't the private sector, the government lets them have the money and hope for the best.
New York State has to solve the problem of being expensive to live and do business in. Treating the symptoms never cures the disease. Tax breaks can't do it, busting Gundersen's balls won't do it, and whiny public interest groups don't do it. If we made New York a cheaper place, businesses would move here because it makes business sense, not because Gundersen bought Alan Mulally a glass of Torrey Ridge Baco Noir or because Monroe County gave them an empty building for free. As New Yorkers, we must revisit our priorities and realize that until we do the heavy lifting of true reform, who cares about the spending habits of one individual? Especially the one guy who is working hard (and fueling the economy one meal at a time) to revive Upstate.
Government can not be run as a private company, nor should it be. Running government selectively as a private company is disastrous for its citizens and unfairly benefits private companies. In tough economic times, the government should only focus on services that benefit all citizens and should not be left to the unreliable corporate world: public education, public safety, public health and public transportation. Everything else is a luxury. And at this time, luxuries we can't afford.
I understand the underlying issue with Gundersen's use of the State credit card. If every official spent $400 to treat 10 people to dinner in Watertown, the State would be broke. Unfortunately, we are already broke, and $400 is not going to fix that. Keeping all government in the sunshine is a good thing and maybe in the future Gundersen makes the Commander at Fort Drum cover the tip because he doesn't want the entire State to know he is an overgenerous tipper (who says one man can't refuel Upstate!).
The real hypocrisy will always come from the private sector, of course. Government is always being told it would be better run as a private company. Hopefully not like Enron or GM, but whatever. Let's pretend for a second that 9 out of 10 American companies don't fail in their first year and that the private sector always runs as smoothly as an American airline (just not American Airlines because, well, you know...) and that government should copy the business practices of the private sector. It seems as if Gundersen is all over this and ahead of the curve. Or in corporate-ese he is thinking outside the box to synergize existing partnerships while making focused investments yadda yadda yadda. The three olive lunch is a staple of the corporate world. He is acting like every other businessman in the world. Shocking to see someone with a financial interest treating someone else to a meal and, gasp!, an adult beverage. What next? Will Gundersen have the nerve to talk to some CEO over some golf? I hope not because that is not how government should be run. Unless of course you think government should be run like a private company, in which case Gunersen needs to buy some wicked ugly pants and hit the links.
Let us also not forget the tax breaks we give to private companies to locate, relocate, and promise not to blackmail us already in the State. If Gundersen spent that $400 at a Maggie Brooks fundraiser, he could relocate himself to Monroe County and pay no property taxes. Both locally and on the State level we continually bribe companies with cheap power, property tax abatements, demolition efforts, etc. to keep them from leaving for greener pastures. Sometimes they are even nice enough to pretend they will create more jobs if we buy them that shiny new machine dealie that makes stuff. But since we don't actually hold them accountable for the public money they take, aren't we wasting our money anyway? And in much larger amounts?
The root of the problem is a bad economy that pits regions against each other and States against each other. Only the private companies benefit. They start bidding wars and see who will give them the most free stuff. They blackmail governments into no taxes and publicly funded improvement projects. Private companies never receive these type of benefits in the private sector. If Kodak went to Xerox and said, 'Hey, can we have some money to build a new wing at our plant? It may or may not create some new jobs but either way we won't pay you back." Xerox would likely tell Kodak to play in traffic. But since government isn't the private sector, the government lets them have the money and hope for the best.
New York State has to solve the problem of being expensive to live and do business in. Treating the symptoms never cures the disease. Tax breaks can't do it, busting Gundersen's balls won't do it, and whiny public interest groups don't do it. If we made New York a cheaper place, businesses would move here because it makes business sense, not because Gundersen bought Alan Mulally a glass of Torrey Ridge Baco Noir or because Monroe County gave them an empty building for free. As New Yorkers, we must revisit our priorities and realize that until we do the heavy lifting of true reform, who cares about the spending habits of one individual? Especially the one guy who is working hard (and fueling the economy one meal at a time) to revive Upstate.
Government can not be run as a private company, nor should it be. Running government selectively as a private company is disastrous for its citizens and unfairly benefits private companies. In tough economic times, the government should only focus on services that benefit all citizens and should not be left to the unreliable corporate world: public education, public safety, public health and public transportation. Everything else is a luxury. And at this time, luxuries we can't afford.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
$4 a Gallon? Whatever
ROCHESTER - The area is bracing for gasoline prices to hit $4/gallon. I don't care. Sure, it sucks when I fill up. Lucky for me I don't suffer from any sort of over-compensation issues and I drive a small fuel efficient car. I also believe that similar outrage was voiced when we first went over a dollar a gallon, then at two dollars, etc. We deserve this. We have over consumed for too long and the chickens have come home to roost. Had we learned from the 70's we would have spent the 80's and 90's coming up with and implementing real solutions (suspending the gas tax is not a real solution!). Instead, the crisis died down, and we went back to being gas pigs. We killed public transit in favor of cars, we emptied our cities into the suburban outskirts and we made our cars even bigger than they were in the 70's.
So here we are, our arrogance, laziness and smugness have left us at the will of big oil. If you commute from Ontario County to Rochester in your Yukon or H3 I don't feel bad for you. I hope you have to pay $10/gallon. I really do. I will laugh at you as you cry poor because those are your choices. You used to look down on me for driving my small car back and forth from my small house in the city. Four dollars a gallon doesn't make me poor, and my guess is it doesn't make you poor either.
What we have here is opportunity, though. This need not turn into wasted anger. This should be a chance for us to break free of Big Oil. Somewhere John Rockefeller is making it rain and that is just wrong. Wind power, solar power, geo thermal power, and even methane gas from land fills are avenues we should be exploring instead of bowing down to Exxon/Mobil, OPEC and the others. Instead of paying to build an oasis in a far away desert, we should be creating new American companies to feed our energy needs. Even Rockefeller would appreciate that.
We should also revisit our planning for both sprawl and transit. Expressways, multi-county metro areas and distant office parks are all luxuries from a different time. We can not afford to continue to spread out and stretch our resources so thin. We have all the roads, sewers and sidewalks we need, why are we building more? Do you like high taxes? It seems that way. Transportation is crying out for attention. Just because most Americans have cars doesn't mean we have to use them every day. Wouldn't some of you like to use your car for pleasure instead of commuting? I would. Rochester buses are cutting fares to one dollar per ride. For two bucks you can go back and forth to work. Plus you can get some reading time in. Most of us in this area will tell you, however, that it is not practical to ride the bus because of where you live and where the bus actually goes. I feel your pain. Instead of dismissing the thought, though, we need to look at the routes and see if they make sense. Can they be changed to serve more people? Is there an opportunity to incorporate other modes of transit like light rail? Would it be offensive to run some rail cars down the middle of 490, 590, or 390?
Expensive gas is a disease. We always treat the symptoms. This is problematic because until we treat the disease we will always see rising prices. Sometimes we get a respite (gas tax holiday), we stop thinking about it and then, BAM!, $4 a gallon and the cycle starts all over again. So let's take this chance to get to the root of the problem while people are mad, motivated, and demanding action and before its too late. Let's not be pandered to with short term 'solutions' like gas tax holidays. We have the opportunity to make wise long term decisions that will set our area up for growth for years to come. Don't be bought out by 32 cents a gallon when our future is at stake. In reality, $4 a gallon probably won't change how we live our lives. $5 a gallon won't likely either. But can we afford to still be standing around with our energy pants down when gas hits a price per gallon no one can afford?
So here we are, our arrogance, laziness and smugness have left us at the will of big oil. If you commute from Ontario County to Rochester in your Yukon or H3 I don't feel bad for you. I hope you have to pay $10/gallon. I really do. I will laugh at you as you cry poor because those are your choices. You used to look down on me for driving my small car back and forth from my small house in the city. Four dollars a gallon doesn't make me poor, and my guess is it doesn't make you poor either.
What we have here is opportunity, though. This need not turn into wasted anger. This should be a chance for us to break free of Big Oil. Somewhere John Rockefeller is making it rain and that is just wrong. Wind power, solar power, geo thermal power, and even methane gas from land fills are avenues we should be exploring instead of bowing down to Exxon/Mobil, OPEC and the others. Instead of paying to build an oasis in a far away desert, we should be creating new American companies to feed our energy needs. Even Rockefeller would appreciate that.
We should also revisit our planning for both sprawl and transit. Expressways, multi-county metro areas and distant office parks are all luxuries from a different time. We can not afford to continue to spread out and stretch our resources so thin. We have all the roads, sewers and sidewalks we need, why are we building more? Do you like high taxes? It seems that way. Transportation is crying out for attention. Just because most Americans have cars doesn't mean we have to use them every day. Wouldn't some of you like to use your car for pleasure instead of commuting? I would. Rochester buses are cutting fares to one dollar per ride. For two bucks you can go back and forth to work. Plus you can get some reading time in. Most of us in this area will tell you, however, that it is not practical to ride the bus because of where you live and where the bus actually goes. I feel your pain. Instead of dismissing the thought, though, we need to look at the routes and see if they make sense. Can they be changed to serve more people? Is there an opportunity to incorporate other modes of transit like light rail? Would it be offensive to run some rail cars down the middle of 490, 590, or 390?
Expensive gas is a disease. We always treat the symptoms. This is problematic because until we treat the disease we will always see rising prices. Sometimes we get a respite (gas tax holiday), we stop thinking about it and then, BAM!, $4 a gallon and the cycle starts all over again. So let's take this chance to get to the root of the problem while people are mad, motivated, and demanding action and before its too late. Let's not be pandered to with short term 'solutions' like gas tax holidays. We have the opportunity to make wise long term decisions that will set our area up for growth for years to come. Don't be bought out by 32 cents a gallon when our future is at stake. In reality, $4 a gallon probably won't change how we live our lives. $5 a gallon won't likely either. But can we afford to still be standing around with our energy pants down when gas hits a price per gallon no one can afford?
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