Do we pull the lever for the new guy? That will thrust us into the scary unknown. We simply don't know what damage some of these people will be capable of if given the chance.
OR
Do we pull the lever for the incumbent, or the appointed successor? That will give us the comfort of predictability. We know we will get more of the same.
Is more of the same what we want? If it is, we can expect more things like:
- violation of environmental laws, followed by approval of a Consent Order with no deliberation, followed by hiring of engineers by an "inside group" of wrongdoers also with no deliberation.
- trashing public sensibilities while public officials surround themselves with opulence.
- closing streets for the convenience of government officials.
- an economic development agency advertising a site as 'shovel ready' when it lacked an essential permit, and blowing the opportunity of our lifetimes.
- the promised "world-class" research facility, Griffiss Institute, that produced no research, but made one very highly paid official before it was turned into an incubator.
- a lease of prime economic-development land to the State for a Homeland Security Training Center with little deliberation, NO benchmarks for State performance, no real State financial commitment, and almost no activity.
- the promised Center for Brownfield Studies in Downtown Utica that turned out to be smoke and mirrors.
- the promised State Data Center that never came.
- abandoning an airport that was perfectly maintained and sized for this area and squandering federal funds to duplicate what we already had.
- losing scheduled air passenger service while smaller metro areas (Binghamton, Elmira, Ithaca) manage to retain theirs.
- Urban Sprawl.
- Storm water problems . . . traffic congestion.
- closed door meetings, 7AM meetings, secret meetings.
- an unheard of 18 year deal, sky high salary, bending the rules, and unusual circumstances surrounding the hiring of a local police chief.
- burying rubble in public parks with little or no public discussion.
- carving up public parks with fences for special interest groups without neighborhood input.
- conviction of an innocent man.
- loss of a long-enjoyed summer festival.
- loss of Utica's greatest asset and giving it to people who have not paid for it.
- Countless lost manufacturing jobs.
- Lost professional hockey, lost professional baseball ... loss of a NASCAR Opportunity.
- Loss of 85,000 people . . . your children, your friends, your neighbors . . . and no end in sight
Are you comfortable with more of the same? . . . or are you ready to take a chance?
17 comments:
You said: If you knew 20 years ago what this region would look like today, would you have stayed?
Well, I didn't stay. I would have loved to have stayed, but I didn't because of the situation there. I'd love to come back, so please! People still there...please do what you can at the polls so that maybe I can come back. :-)
A very good summary of our state of affairs. Take a chance and make a change. You can always vote differently in the next election cycle. If Mr. Picente looses the election does he go away or does he end up in Joe Griffo's office in his next job? These people never leave the system.
Comfort vs. Taking a Chance... boy that reminds me of something....
OH YEAH!
"...accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.
"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."
Yeah. Guess what my choice is?
do you know what shovel ready means?
Or are you just blowing smoke again?
It looks like the "Shovel Ready classification is a function of ESDC's SemiNY initiatitive. Here you go slip, read this:
The cornerstone of semi-NY is our shovel-ready fab sites located across New York State.
With the semiconductor manufacturing industry in mind, New York State has facilitated the pre-permitting of industrial sites specifically for chip fabrication. Each site is a minimum of 200 acres and can handle the demanding infrastructure requirements of a fab. Moreover, each of our semi-NY sites boasts a skilled workforce, superior highway access, and in combination with New York State, an unrivaled arsenal of incentives to help offset both the up-front and on-going costs of operating these capital intensive facilities.
And your point, anonymous?
Strikeslip,
If what Koziol says is true about his wanting to run an open administration seeking all comers with expertise, I hope that you'll (if you haven't already) offer yours to him.
Common sense and informed expertise is a useful combination.
I intend to do exactly that. . . . and Thanks!
Well at least you've shown your true colors...
Trash a candidate, hoping to get a job with his opponent. Classy, strike.
Yes I am ready. I am not going to vote for a single incumbent or anybody whose been in office and is back to screw us again. I am not going to vote for anybody who was on the public payroll in the past and is running now for more of the same for himself or herself. I am also going to stay home because that leaves no levers to pull. We are finished no matter how we vote.
Who said anything about hoping to get a job? I don't need one, thank you. I just want to see things fixed so I don't have to say goodbye to any more family and friends.
I've offered to share what I know for free -- and I have already done so for those who have asked.
"Anonymous said...
Well at least you've shown your true colors...
Trash a candidate, hoping to get a job with his opponent. Classy, strike."
Sorry Strike, they just can't seem to believe someone like yourself would want to just HELP. With them, the Ususal Suspects, uts about a "job", "jealousy", or "deal".
Someone like you, just wanting to help defies their way of life and logic.
Sad...
There are a lot of people who are capable and want to help -- but they are ignored -- probably because they know too much to be manipulated.
Real leaders would tap that vast resource -- the knowledge of the public -- and assist the public in developing its own vision for the future and solutions to our problems.
I don't understand why it is that you think you know so much more than everyone else. Have you reached out to the County Executive to offer your vast knowledge?
How about your true colors anonymousey? Are you voting to protect your job? Is Picente yer sugar daddy too?
AAAnnd it looks like Picente cruises to victory. Keep up the job hunt, Strike.
The voters have spoken. Oneida County is comfortable with the status quo. Utica is ready to take a chance. In a couple years we'll know if we made the right choice.
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