News gathered and edited from many sources for Columbia County, digest of news and opinion, with wikicoco.com website by Will Pflaum. sunshineonthehudson.com for longer pieces
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
this crap happens every day
Did you read this?
This basic scheme is so simple, so corrupt, you have to wonder how it could happen. I'll you how: it's standard practice.
Open season on taxpayer money at the local level in New York State. That's why I had to file a Federal lawsuit.
Corruption is rampant and you better think that this IS in fact happening where you live.
Now, let me cross link my two blogs on sunshineonthehudson.com I have a post about an unexplained spike in traffic.
This basic scheme is so simple, so corrupt, you have to wonder how it could happen. I'll you how: it's standard practice.
Open season on taxpayer money at the local level in New York State. That's why I had to file a Federal lawsuit.
Corruption is rampant and you better think that this IS in fact happening where you live.
Now, let me cross link my two blogs on sunshineonthehudson.com I have a post about an unexplained spike in traffic.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
the anti-stimulus: taxpayer money spent to make the economy worse
Dialogue One: Family with Kids
"I know you don't want to move to suburbs but I just can't have two kids in this small apartment all the time."
"How about we get a weekend house in the country? It would be cheaper than selling our apartment and buying one with a third bedroom. Do you like the Catskills?"
"Too woodsy. I like open space, farms."
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Two: Farmer
"We are looking for 100+ flat acres and we need to be within 3 hours of the farmers market in Union Square, good schools, tractor parts in the area, and a somewhere to process frozen vegetables."
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Three: Freelancer
"Now that I only have to come into the office once a week for scheduling and review, you mean I can live anywhere as long as I can get to Midtown once a week? Have any suggestions where I can go, somewhere rural, with good schools, an active cultural scene, maybe surrounded by farmland?"
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Three: Empty Nesters
"Your retired already and I will in a few years. Why don't we get that place in the country we always wanted, sell our big house here in Westchester, get a little studio in Manhattan and some land upstate?"
"Good idea. Where would we go in the country?"
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
"I know you don't want to move to suburbs but I just can't have two kids in this small apartment all the time."
"How about we get a weekend house in the country? It would be cheaper than selling our apartment and buying one with a third bedroom. Do you like the Catskills?"
"Too woodsy. I like open space, farms."
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Two: Farmer
"We are looking for 100+ flat acres and we need to be within 3 hours of the farmers market in Union Square, good schools, tractor parts in the area, and a somewhere to process frozen vegetables."
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Three: Freelancer
"Now that I only have to come into the office once a week for scheduling and review, you mean I can live anywhere as long as I can get to Midtown once a week? Have any suggestions where I can go, somewhere rural, with good schools, an active cultural scene, maybe surrounded by farmland?"
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
Dialogue Three: Empty Nesters
"Your retired already and I will in a few years. Why don't we get that place in the country we always wanted, sell our big house here in Westchester, get a little studio in Manhattan and some land upstate?"
"Good idea. Where would we go in the country?"
"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."
"Any other ideas?"
killing jobs in the name of creating jobs
How do I know that this 2.5 million dollar government investment in the economy is counter productive? Let's consider:
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Will an A&W Root Beer Restaurant make the county more or less attractive to second home buyers from New York City?
2. What is the number one industry in Columbia County?
3. What else could you have done with 2.5 million dollars?
4. At $166,000 per job, is this a good deal even in the limited frame of the development itself?
What about an frozen food processing plant that could help local agriculture? Agriculture, unlike an A&W Root Beer Restaurant, is compatible with our main industry, second home owning.
What about preserving open space and creating more Hudson River access? While not producing jobs directly, something like that would encourage more second home owners to believe in the county long term. The home owners would then invest more than 2.5 million in the economy and create more than 15 jobs.
What about, instead of making something new and ugly, we preserve something beautiful and old, like an old factory building in Hudson? People from the city would like to see old beautiful things, not an A&W Root Beer Restaurant.
How about instead of an A&W Root Beer Restaurant we invest in education, so people not only come on the weekend but stay all week and keep their kids here? Or art: would people from the city like the area better if there were another art institution to add to the list we already have?
Why is it that our own local politicians do not understand our own economy? We are an agricultural and tourism (including second home owners) economy. Those two industries go well together. An A&W Root Beer Restaurant contributes nothing to critical mass in agriculture or open space and second home owning destination purchasing.
In fact, by spending 2.5 million in this way the county is KILLING more than 15 jobs by driving some unknown number of second home owners to SOME OTHER PLACE like Berkshire Massachusetts.
This flawed vision is a boon for the county. Only thing is, its a boon for Berkshire Massachusetts which doesn't need more boon. It's a net loss in business activity for Columbia County.
You don't have to like that second home owners are the back bone of this economy. But they are. Does Michigan hurt the auto industry? Does Los Angeles drive film companies out of town? Does Bolivia try to irradiate cocaine?
No. Your industry is your industry. You know it and you protect it. Only Columbia County tries to destroy its own economy and calls it "Open for Business."
“This will definitely turn [Greenport and the county] into a destination market,” said Harbalwant Singh, developer and owner of the property. Greenport Crossings’ first phase got underway Monday; it includes the construction of a Mobil gas station, a convenience store and an A&W Root Beer Restaurant with its own small store. The cost of this phase is $2.5 million dollars, and is expected to create 15 full-time jobs as soon as it is completed in the spring.So, an A&W Root Beer Restaurant is what Columbia County needs? We need it so badly that the government has to help it exist?
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Will an A&W Root Beer Restaurant make the county more or less attractive to second home buyers from New York City?
2. What is the number one industry in Columbia County?
3. What else could you have done with 2.5 million dollars?
4. At $166,000 per job, is this a good deal even in the limited frame of the development itself?
What about an frozen food processing plant that could help local agriculture? Agriculture, unlike an A&W Root Beer Restaurant, is compatible with our main industry, second home owning.
What about preserving open space and creating more Hudson River access? While not producing jobs directly, something like that would encourage more second home owners to believe in the county long term. The home owners would then invest more than 2.5 million in the economy and create more than 15 jobs.
What about, instead of making something new and ugly, we preserve something beautiful and old, like an old factory building in Hudson? People from the city would like to see old beautiful things, not an A&W Root Beer Restaurant.
How about instead of an A&W Root Beer Restaurant we invest in education, so people not only come on the weekend but stay all week and keep their kids here? Or art: would people from the city like the area better if there were another art institution to add to the list we already have?
Why is it that our own local politicians do not understand our own economy? We are an agricultural and tourism (including second home owners) economy. Those two industries go well together. An A&W Root Beer Restaurant contributes nothing to critical mass in agriculture or open space and second home owning destination purchasing.
In fact, by spending 2.5 million in this way the county is KILLING more than 15 jobs by driving some unknown number of second home owners to SOME OTHER PLACE like Berkshire Massachusetts.
This flawed vision is a boon for the county. Only thing is, its a boon for Berkshire Massachusetts which doesn't need more boon. It's a net loss in business activity for Columbia County.
You don't have to like that second home owners are the back bone of this economy. But they are. Does Michigan hurt the auto industry? Does Los Angeles drive film companies out of town? Does Bolivia try to irradiate cocaine?
No. Your industry is your industry. You know it and you protect it. Only Columbia County tries to destroy its own economy and calls it "Open for Business."
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
10-20-10: spending too much to create too few and the wrong kinds of jobs, more bad development, heroine, food coop, TARP theft, #occupyalbany, job in doing good
Heroine. Columbia County.
Last night: http://acrescoop.com/
Last night: http://acrescoop.com/
The next Acres Co-op Market community meeting will be 6pm (not 6:30pm)
Wednesday, October 19th
at Christ Church Episcopal Parish Hall, 431 Union Street, Hudson, NY
So the government is spending 2.5 million to create 15 jobs? That is unsustainable and unnecesssary.
Politicians doing stuff.
So the government is spending 2.5 million to create 15 jobs? That is unsustainable and unnecesssary.
Politicians doing stuff.
Tell us why you will be at Lafayette Park this Friday, we all are part of the 99% and we all have our own reasons why #OccupyAlbany #ows
Wonder what happened to that bailout money? Some was just stolen.
How crooked is the financial system? Read.
How crooked is the financial system? Read.
WGXC is live from the Catskill Community Center every Wednesday for WGXC Afternoon Show from 4-6 p.m.
Cool Nature Conservancy Job: Director of Philanthropy-Mid Atlantic Market nature.ly/nmhAsV #jobs
Current economic structures are arguably inadequate. Increasingly, communities are exploring alternatives. That's... fb.me/vYfWE9JJ
Photo: A sign warns passing motorists about exotic animals on the loose from a wildlife preserve October...tumblr.com/ZDGD9yAt8iMA
10-19-11: occupy albany: occupyalbany.org
Bullies? Youth forum to offer address on bullying: The third annual Dutchess County Youth Forum will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Salt Point campus of the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services. For more information, call Mary K. Fields at the Youth Bureau at 845-486-3660.
Egg swap.
Tumblr Columbia County. Rooster. "We had dinner at the Old Chatham Country Store on Saturday. It was an odd choice for me, because, honestly, I kind of hate the place... And the food? Delightful. Oddly enough, there is very little pretensions to the current locavore craze."
occupyalbany.org
Occupy Albany. Good idea. Better write up. Ask them to pass ethics reform. Nice photo.
Biography of Hon. Jacob W. Hoysradt, 1878. Elisha Bushnell.
I went here and learned: During his campaign, Old Kinderhook (OK) clubs from Van Buren hometown supported the President. The barnacle has the largest penis of any animal.
We're still at war.
Look, movement hijacking in progress.
Egg swap.
Tumblr Columbia County. Rooster. "We had dinner at the Old Chatham Country Store on Saturday. It was an odd choice for me, because, honestly, I kind of hate the place... And the food? Delightful. Oddly enough, there is very little pretensions to the current locavore craze."
occupyalbany.org
Occupy Albany. Good idea. Better write up. Ask them to pass ethics reform. Nice photo.
Occupation date is set for October 21st in Lafayette Park. Starting at noon our first GA will be at 5pm!! RT please! #owl #occupyalbany
Biography of Hon. Jacob W. Hoysradt, 1878. Elisha Bushnell.
occupyalbany.org
I went here and learned: During his campaign, Old Kinderhook (OK) clubs from Van Buren hometown supported the President. The barnacle has the largest penis of any animal.
We're still at war.
Look, movement hijacking in progress.
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