A Noble Agenda for Kingston

If the first test of an aspiring elected official is assembling a team, then Steve Noble has done an exceptional job of seeking out an exciting team of new faces and seasoned veterans.  Choosing Jim Noble as running-mate for Alderman at Large is a brilliant marriage of well-respected institutional knowledge and the new energy and ideals that are driving Kingston's resurgence.  The one thing you will notice about Team Noble/Noble is a group comprised of very well-educated, progressive, community-minded individuals. I say wow!  I have to wonder (enviously) about what it would be like to serve and work to make meaningful changes on the Common Council with this group of public servants.  Briefly:

Ward 1. Lynn Eckert
Lynn has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Syracuse University, and is currently Chair and a professor of the Political Science Department at Marist College.  I know her family well and am very excited that she agreed to step up.

Ward 2. Douglas Koop
Doug's career includes several CEO/President/General Manager positions with technology companies (including Philips Components in Saugerties, 400 employees) and the non-for-profit Hudson Valley Technology Development Center; teaching (ten years) at SUNY-New Paltz physics, mathematics and engineering departments, Bard College Prison Initiative; community service as Treasurer—United University Professions, Treasurer—Adirondack District Masters Swimming, Y Board, UCDC Board, Pattern Board; and active participation is local theatrical and choral groups.

*In Ward 3 - Brad Will who has served Ward 3 residents well on the Kingston Common Council the last few years. He is the founder and principal at Ashokan Architecture and Planning.  Possible primary challenge Andrew Champ-Doran.

*In Ward 4 you will find Daniel Kanter. Originally from the Washington, DC area, Daniel fell in love with and moved to Midtown Kingston two years ago. Since that time, he has worked with local members of the community on rehabbing two dilapidated homes in his ward, and feels passionately about improving the quality of life of Midtown residents. Possible primary Nina Dawson, incumbent.

*In Ward 6 you will find Alex Panagiotopoulos, a small business-minded progressive who has lived and worked in Kingston for seven years. He works as a digital healthcare marketer. A graduate of Marist College (B.S.) and SUNY Empire (Healthcare Management cert.), he serves on the Kingston Farmers' Market board. Possible primary challenge from Gary Davis (D).

*In Ward 7, we have the opportunity to welcome back Bill Reynolds, a long time alderman (18+ years) and Council Majority leader who wants to help reconnect Kingston residents to City Government, and plans to bring his skills and passion back to city hall. Possibly primary challenge Maryann Mills, incumbent.

In Ward 9, you will find Lynn Johnson who has lived in Kingston the past 12 years and who has worked in IT for many years, including the last 8 years at Capital Region Boces in Albany. Lynn is currently Vice-Chair of the Kingston Democratic Committee, active in Ulster County Democratic Women, a member of the Ulster County Human Rights Commission, and of the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council.

Not officially part of the team, but coming back are Bill Carey, Ward 5 and Steve Schabot, Ward 8 who have both done a decent job and will easily win re-election.  

I'm feeling hopeful...  More tomorrow.

Odds and Ends

 When my son was a toddler he went through a goggle phase.  Most photos of this era include goggles - even a nice one with his Abuela where they are both sporting a pair.  First it was swim goggles, but then as he got older he liked to mix it up with science goggles, construction goggles, and exotic sunglasses of all shapes and colors.  He also collects costumes and accessories, primarily superheros, but also knights, firefighters, military, you name it.  His entire bedroom is organized around legos and many dozens of costumes with various accessory bins of Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, and Batman gear (to name a few) to complete his looks.  As you can imagine this is very special to my son and I.

Now imagine that we form a board of like minded goggle wearing, costume aficionados, apply for nonprofit status, and approach the city for a neglected parcel to house our educational museum that will display our collections.  If we cannot have that parcel for $1.00, then the city can host our endeavor by providing for all utilities and maintenance on a building. 

I don't mean to be cynical, but I do have concerns that sometimes we miss the obvious.  Of course I like and appreciate the Volunteer Firefighters Museum and absolutely adore the Kingston Firefighters Union for all that they do to support and enhance our community, especially for our kids.   But No.  At his point we have multiple museums and cultural centers in formation, a boat building center, trolleys, etc., etc. etc.   Most of these projects are starving for cash and a few, like TransArt, has come to a standstill.  Simultaneous to the expansion in cultural and educational centers, we have watched the consolidation of our school system and hospitals in recognition that we must be more efficient; the workforce in Parks and DPW has been gutted; money is not there.  Our infrastructure and roads need serious attention.  Our schools need more skilled  Teachers and Teaching Assistants in the classroom to ensure that every child is getting the attention they need to thrive and develop.  What  my gut is telling me about the latest discussions to transfer ownership of the Volunteer Fireman's Museum is that it is not in our interest to proceed.  I just want us to do the really important stuff well.  I could be wrong...    

I'll have a full preview report of the City Democratic Convention by Tuesday.

The revolution is coming...

Wow! What a crazy couple of busy weeks!!  Back in one of my undergrad sociology classes Professor Harvey J. Kaye posed the question, "If the revolution came tomorrow, what side would you be on?"  It is the eternal sociology question - How did Marx screw the pooch so badly with that whole dictatorship of the proletariat?  A posse of intellectuals like Gramsci, Thompson, and others come in to salvage the theory with hegemony, contradictory consciousness, blahbady blahhh.  So that was a pretty long-winded to get to the darn point...  The revolution may just be here; steeped in almost 400 years of race relations, a uniquely American phenomenon.

Photo Credit: Washington Times

From the Orioles COO, John Angelos transcribed from Twitter on USA Today Sports:

Brett, speaking only for myself, I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy, investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.

That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importances of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.

To use a sports analogy - this is truly a home run.  Angelos nailed it.  Meanwhile, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are kicking ass for the working class, and the political powers that be are scrambling to redefine themselves as regular people are beginning to ask some uncomfortable questions about power and income inequality.  During the Great Depression, Roosevelt saved capitalism from implosion and beat back competing philosophies gaining popularity, namely fascism and socialism.  It became a kinder and gentler capitalism complete with labor laws, a semblance of a safety net, and the birth of the concept of entitlements.  Tweaked by Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" programs of the 1960's, this softer flavor of capitalism has been under attack from the right since its inception.  The writing is on the wall.  Capitalism in the early 21st Century is ready for its next great transformation.  

Closer to home two major campaigns seem to be taking flight, led by regular folks of all different political stripes.  The fight for fifteen dollars an hour and the corporate testing opt-out movement are other telling examples that change is coming.  An estimated 200,000 New York students, some forced to sit and stare, skipped the ELA portion of the standardized testing in grades 3-8 and the math portion is still being tallied.  Decried as a "terrible idea" by the Washington Post, (the general argument that the sky will rain blood if such a horror was unleashed) a national movement inspired by Seattle to increase the minimum wage has sparked peaceful demonstrations and real dialog.   NYC has already crunched the numbers regarding economic impact, showing a positive spin on the increase.  So what side are you going to be on?

"Class society is not a product of nature, considerable human effort and struggle are necessary to create and maintain a system in which some people do the work, for which others derive the benefit."      --FREDERICK STIRTON WEAVER

Odds and Ends

I have been working on a 10 week Poetry class for kids - this is week 2.  Week one was busting the cliché (excessively guilty) and now we are looking at the poetry of music.  Per our favorite chapter book heroine Junie B 1st Grader, we tried our hand at writing our own cinquain, a form of five-line poetry.  Here is what we came up with:

Ruby (1 word title)

Loyal, Snugly (2 describing words)

Running, Chewing, Barking (3 action words)

Friend who loves Ezra (4 words to express a thought/idea)

Dog (1 word synonym)

And here is mine - A tip of my hat to the Masters Thesis...

Chickens
Smelly, conformity
Clucking, pecking, fretting
Deserve to be eaten
Fowl

Now you too can have fun making your own cinquain.

Kinderland is coming down this week.  First erected in 1991 by an all-volunteer team organized by the Junior League of Kingston, the play space will be completely revamped by the ladies of the league and will nicely reflect the historical and cultural legacy of the Catskills/Hudson Valley, in addition to addressing important safety concerns and adding an age-based spatial reconfiguration. Please visit the Rebuild Kinderland site to learn more about how to volunteer during the week of April 22-26.  Jobs are broken down to reflect whatever your skill set is.  Everyone can contribute something to create a great play space.

I forgot to mention...  Kudos to Assemblyman Cahill for voting no on the April Fools budget.  That move takes courage given the recent shake-up in leadership of the Assembly.  Only a few progressives voted with their conscience to take a stand on the budget.  I am often pleasantly surprised by Assemblyman Cahill.  I recently asked one of his staff about a piece of legislation that would allow home schoolers access to extracurricular activities at their home public schools- sports, clubs, etc.  Sure enough, he is a sponsor!  

Parking Pomposity

During his first year in office Kingston's own Mayor Megalomania had new signage installed in the premier parking spot adjacent to City Hall.  This sign does not deter the occasional old timer, cripple, or disgruntled self-entitled resident from daring to park there.  Pity the uninitiated; the screams and cursing from our gentleman mayor can be heard throughout the building.  The spot is mostly empty anyway.  Chronically late, the mayor mostly parks in the "20 Minute Only" parking in front of the building - but all day.

Parking is a big deal in this city.  According to the city budget, revenue from parking violations is projected to be $403,000 in 2015, up from $231,324 in 2013.  At Monkey Joe's on Broadway before they take your order, your are encouraged to check your meter.  One Uptown business had an artistic collage made from the hunter orange parking ticket jackets of guests.  Rumor has it that during one of the snow emergencies last winter when vehicles had to be moved by 7:00am the next day, parking enforcement was called in on overtime on a Sunday to ticket first thing in the morning.  Feed the beast... 

On Wisconsin!

As a UW-Madison alumni it was exciting to see my Badgers make it all the way to the big game.  Number 2 is not a bad run. You won't see any hand wringing here. Growing up in WI, it is a state that loves its sports teams and taverns, putting aside the Brewers which nobody talks about much.  I'm not sure about other states and maybe this was just in Green Bay, but when the Packers are losing a big game a 1-800 help line number would flash across the bottom of the screen.  Bad game days are big days for domestic violence and alcohol related incidents.  I was not an active Badger fan, instead spending my college years studying or working.  I never once attended a football or basketball game, but still I'm biologically and culturally predisposed to say right on Badgers!   

Four more years of Mayor Zweben?!?

Photo Credit: Kingston Times

If it seems like the city is pursuing a policy of full employment for lawyers unless they are retained to advise the Common Council, you might be correct.  The Kingston Corporation Counsel and Mayor Gallo are involved in yet another "showdown" destined for further legal challenges, this time with a home for the disabled.  Recently I drove by and my passenger commented about the West Chestnut parcel, "Is that Chiz's old place?  It looks great! " Zweben, a West Chestnut Street resident seems to be taking the lead.  The home's owner is not going to win any humanitarian prizes, but helping to foster decent quality housing for the disabled is a necessity under the City's Fair Housing Plan, if not a moral imperative given the lack of decent accessible units in the city.  The state supreme court has issued a restraining order against the city after Junior Mayor Zweben deemed the property "uninhabitable" and sent the police to "inform residents" they were living at an illegal property; kind of intimidating, no?  A separate court case will determine if the home can continue to operate as a boarding house, as it has for the past 70 years.

The Corporation Counsel's role is solely to represent the interests of the City, not aligned to department or political party.  In my opinion, many actions of the office contradict that purpose.  Probably the most glaring example was the termination of Jeremy Blaber. Many people came away "shocked" at the potty language and angry tirade of Mayor Gallo.  Around city hall, and for anybody who knows the mayor, we just called that Tuesday.  Here is what we should be concerned about.  Corporation Counsel sat through the meeting and allowed the residents to be exposed to potential litigation.  Say what you will about Mr. Blaber's behavior, all well earned by a drug addled (former by all current accounts) existence.  It is illegal to threaten violence and an abuse of power to suggest the police perform on command.  In my opinion, as the City's attorney Andrew Zweben has a strict ethical code that was not adhered to.

But wait, there is more...  For the sake of brevity I will bullet for now and reserve the right to revisit: 

• Parks Equipment.  After the school consolidations, excess playground equipment was considered to supplement much needed upgrades at city parks, especially Hasbrouck adjacent to JFK Elementary.  It was decided that we could not expose the city to potential liability so new equipment was ordered after parents raised private funds and demanded improvements.  According to the Daily Freeman, Saugerties will be the beneficiary of Sophie Finn's playground equipment.  I'm sure the PTO members are thrilled.     

• Public Use conflict followed by fundraiser for private non-profit at City Hall.  This is so weird and convoluted it is hard to even coherently write about this.  Kingston Parks Movies Under the Stars - an all volunteer team was disbanded and replaced by the City because we were successfully presenting movies to hundreds of people each week and promoting the parks at no cost to the taxpayer (to quote, we lacked "capacity").  Primary reason?  The witch-hunt against the program was rooted in the premise that because we used city resources, it was impossible to show preference to one non-profit when others are left out.  And some of these non-profits could be religious and there is the whole separation of church and state...  No non-profit activity that utilizes city resources. Several weeks later a fundraiser was hosted at City Hall for the Deep Listening Institute.     

• BMX Park Contract.  The BMX Park was created by yet another all volunteer team looking to enhance recreational opportunities for kids in our city.  After the park was cleaned up by the BMX Parents Association and provided for years one of the cleanest well-managed recreation facilities in the city, it was discovered (Queue the ominous music - think Imperial March) operated without a valid contract.  The fact that numerous other non-profits and even a few for-profits were in similar or grossly undervalued situations utilizing public space/resources, i.e. the Knothole League at Barman Park, the Kingston Volunteer Fireman's Association, Mariner's Harbor sidewalk eatery, and most tellingly the Bank of America private parking lot granted to SAFCO for $1/year negotiated during the same time-frame, did not cause Mayor Zweben to pause and take a holistic approach to contract management.  In the end, the BMX group was required to leap through numerous hoops and a fee of $500/year.   No word yet on the status of the 2015 season.     

• Pike Plan.  Nobody can say there isn't problems with drainage at the Pike Plan.  In fact a study and anybody standing under the canopies during moderate rain already has.  So why not fund another $42,000 "visual inspection" study to identify problems with the canopies to provide further ammunition for a lawsuit on a project that has already been signed off as complete.  How about they take the $42,000 and fix the drainage? 

• Chief Saltzman/Chris Rea.  These cases are very sad because both individuals are well respected and had their reputations damaged.  The pageantry around their separation from employment was absurd, coinciding with a scathing analysis from the NYS Comptroller.  Saltzman retired, but Chris Rea has fought the charges vehemently.  Cleared by the State Supreme Court, a Civil Service Hearing officer, and the Ulster County District Attorney, Rea is looking at a substantial claim of back pay, but a ruined reputation doesn't have a price tag.

• Catskill Mountain Railroad.  Who needs to be reminded of the dump truck placed across the tracks?  Again with the all-volunteers.... 

• NYC Lawsuit to pay for Sinkhole.  Well millions have been dumped down the hole so far, why not spend $15,000 on an attorney's opinion?  One quick reference question - didn't they balk at $10,000 to obtain a second opinion on the multimillion dollar project requirements when conflicting information came out of the engineering reports, but were eager to spend $15,000 to see if they could potentially sue NYC to recover damages?  Of course we can sue!  Anybody can sue anyone at any time for any reason, that's the beauty of our legal system.  Should we sue is the pertinent question when the city has significantly altered the original tunnels built by NYC.  

So if you disagree with the administration in this city, even with an off-hand Facebook quip about a certain mayor vacationing in Aruba during a significant Kingston emergency, be prepared for Junior Mayor Zweben to find some code or rule that has been violated and soon you too can have your story splashed across the front page of the Daily Freeman; at the very least your library card will be revoked.  And get a lawyer; it is the only language this administration speaks. 

Odds and Ends

Saturday was the Junior League's annual Easter Egg Hunt.  I made these for the bake-sale to help fund our scholarships; adorable right?  Ever since I found the Sally's Baking Addiction site I have been adding sprinkles to everything.  Sally is kind of evil and needs help and if you don't want to take my word for it check out her recipe for Oreo Cookie cake.  It is like 4,000 calories just to look at, but possibly the most insanely good dessert you will ever eat.  Damned you Sally for being so darn good!

A deal has been struck on the budget.  It mostly maintains the horrifying testing regime, scraps the expansion of charter schools, but adds more money than Cuomo had initially proposed (not incidentally the $2.1 billion needed to guarantee every student a sound basic education).   Sadly the draconian educational policies that Cuomo was hoping for have not yet been tossed to the scrap heap because NYC's school system will need re-authorization which provides another opportunity to hold the legislative system hostage to pay back the big donors to his campaign.

NYSUT has come around and joined the opt-out testing movement.  While some might argue they are coming late to the game, I say  "Welcome!"

The Telegraph reports that scientists can now explain why "hipsters grow beards."  I can only hope that scientists get to work immediately on why hipsters drink expensive fancy bottles of water and $5 a cup coffee.


  

Drowning Man Parable

So I don't know why, but this morning I woke up thinking about the Drowning Man Parable.  It can be used as a benchmark to identify primary causes.  The story is of a woman standing by a fast flowing river when she sees a drowning man struggling in the rushing water.  She jumps in and pulls him to safety, but no sooner is the man secured on the banks of the river when she hears another scream for help.  Again and again she spends her day pulling victims from the river.  Finally she asks the question, "who the hell is throwing these people in the water?"   In a perfect world she and the former victims go and conquer the story's antagonist, but it sort of ends with the question, leaving the reader to decide the next move.

When I think about yesterday's post about education and apply the drowning man parable, the solution to improving education seems simple.  Every study confirms that income and social networks (family, personal contacts) are the primary indicator of educational performance.  The proposed solution to improving education has been to starve the public education system of funding by proposing various tax incentives that seem like a 1% giveaway, diverting funds to private charter schools, and testing to hold teachers "accountable" for student performance.  Applying the parable, good policy would be primarily about working to address income inequality (like the $15 dollar minimum wage campaign), job creation and training, and more supports in the classroom to grow the child's social and cultural understandings.  For several years running, Congress debated extending unemployment insurance leading to showy floor fights between the Republicans and the Democrats.  Have any of them tried to live on an unemployment check?  Keep your stinking poverty check and create real jobs with the money.  I could go on, but I'll save it for tomorrow.  Down with the jerk who keeps throwing people in the river!

   

April Fools

This week in Albany our elected officials will be finalizing the annual NYS budget.  Last week my son and I made a visit to Albany with our friends from Citizen Action and the Alliance for Quality Education to speak with our elected officials about funding schools which is a big negotiating point in this budget cycle.  Governor Cuomo, lacking a true mandate to independently tie his shoes is holding school aid hostage by adding all kinds of poison pills to the budget, like more reliance on testing, more charter schools, and tax incentives that disproportionately benefit the  wealthy, in exchange for a fraction of the funding actually needed.  It is my understanding that the Assembly and Senate have rejected most of the proposals and are collaborating on a compromise budget, but it still falls short of the $2 billion in school aid that is owed and the love affair with testing for teacher evaluations is still on the table.  If you are reading this call your representatives and complain loudly before the final product is adopted.

Damning evidence is mounting from every corner of the ideological spectrum that the only incentive that has been fostered by testing for the sake of evaluating teachers is teaching to the test and ultimately demoralizing teachers, students and parents.  I will always support quality public education, but until this failed experiment with Race to the Top, Common Core, No Child Left Behind (collectively let's call them the creative use of marketing slogans), I'm educating at home.  The impetus to turn every public service into a commodity and imbed it with economic value to measure and evaluate is a destructive trend that fails on many levels.  I get squeamish when I hear about "patients" being referred to as "clients."  College students, now turned customer, spending a fortune on classes expect to automatically pass because they paid for it.  Why not?  It is no longer education, but an investment.  Students are not uniform widgets and teachers are not the owners of the factory with one objective to fulfill.  Kids are the product of their environment and families, with a dash of genetic lottery for good measure.  And on that note, I'm getting ranty...
     

Seems Like Old Times

Yesterday was Mayor Gallo's campaign announcement held at the Kings Inn parking lot.  I couldn't hear much from the speech because there was a ton of feedback from the sound system and the traffic tended to drown out most of the speech.  I missed the announcement four years ago at Kings Inn, but was horrified by the all-in-black thug photo-spread, just shy of jackboots (had I just listened to my gut instinct then...).  This time around he was buffered in by friendly seniors and his mother.  It was chilly but the mood was much warmer.  The crowd of more than 100 was diverse; a good turnout from Midtown, good friends from labor, city employees, and anybody hoping to business with the city and stay on the mayor's good side.   

I naively assumed there was going to be some big development announcement.  Let's think about this.  In four years we have an empty parking lot in the heart of the city, albeit with some nice benches and greenery.  It is across from a mysterious "spa," empty storefronts, and around the corner from a ratty Welcome to Midtown sign flanked by a dead tree.  There is the failed abandoned Bank of America building that remains vacant just a few doors up.  To be sure, there are some bright spots along the Broadway corridor that have popped up in the past few years like the Anchor which arguably has the best burgers in town, the Art Bar, Kingston Lighting, and the new snazzy new Barber Shop on the corner of Cedar Street.  Can we say this is due in part to the mayor?  That would seem to be overly generous.   

So now we have two announced Democrats.  I'll give the advantage to Gallo in the hair department, but Steve Noble had far superior refreshments.  Maybe more people could hear what Steve had to say since it was indoors at Tony's Pizza, also in Midtown, but there were many more pauses for applause and his message was positive.  As a longtime participant and observer in politics, I really like what I saw in the audience; no shortage of community minded do-gooders and a bunch of people who I have never met.  If you are looking for change bringing fresh faces into the dialogue seems like an obvious first move.          

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog about local politics, education, motherhood and whatever else strikes my fancy.  Depending on my mood you may get a fabulous recipe for almond raspberry thumbprints or a long rant about the nonsense common core math problems that are torturing children.  As a former Alderman and unabashed political activist, you will hear a lot about politics.  It's all in fun so let's try to keep it clean.
 Animal Farm is one of my all-time favorites.  Orwell described his book as his first to fuse political with the artistic.  Power corrupts is a message that will resonate with anybody paying attention.  And who didn't love Snowball?