Hmmmmmm....

Yes, scratch your head time. I had been doing some digging after seeing some political ads because I cared about things that are going on and don't rely on so called reputable news agencies to explain or research anything. Now that the election is over I had a chuckle reading the PR article when Donny said he was glad people didn't believe the negative ads run about him. Well after digging around I realize he's glad because they are true!!!

First of all, the ads were run by 'friends of kathi4mayor' and while I originally thought it was possible to just say it was someone different and do it (me here, ironically) I later learned that you can't. Election Law stuff I don't care to know about. Anyway, one ad criticized how he was running the government. There is a ridiculously formal way of doing business in a city that involves resolutions to make expenditures or to do certain kinds of work which can be very time consuming but more importantly detailed and public. Just reading the minutes that are available you see they have broken the council into chairs for line expenditure items to save time (and disclosure) discussing items. This is great if your a councilor who wants short meetings so you can leave to go get your drink on but leaves the taxpayer befuddled as to what is actually being done in the city. Also, it was standard practice for the council to meet in a work session earlier in the week so that information from Department heads could be relayed back and forth to councilors about the different departments and necessary expenses and orders could be reviewed a few days before voting. This gave the councilor time to research things, know facts and perhaps even get taxpayer input. Some former councilors used to have public meetings between work session and council meetings so the public was up to speed with things. Well this has been gone for years. Work sessions and meetings combined have lasted a half hour these days with councilors simply stating ' I have reviewed expenses related to this line item and found them to be valid and neccessary', all in favor, approved. So much for open government! The bigger problem has been that some of these items need formal review, discussion and public response prior to voting (Charter and Municipal Law). I'm guessing it is just an oversight by the councilors.

Another ad addresses that the mayor doesn't follow Taylor Law, State Law, Contract Law and opposes unions.  Well I did deep digging into this (haha). It is entirely public knowledge that the mayor has repeatedly violated union contracts to which the unions have grieved, fought and won via state and PERB arbitrators. These violations and fights have been with EVERY CITY BARGAINING UNIT!!! Well the fact that these have happened reflect breaking Taylor Law, State Law and Contract Law. How else can one explain it. Grievances can only be won if you can show clear violation in contract language. When a discretion about allowed practices occurs it can only be fought as 'Past Practice' or 'Improper Practice' charge, NOT a grievance. While MLD, Police and AFSCME have had a half dozen or less he has been after the Fire Union over 20 times. How does spending hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting over small bits of a contract save the taxpayers money? And on that subject of saving money, how is it he claims victories in two contract negotiations that cost the city over $200k a piece annually (FOIL and excellent math) and is holding out for arbitration for the other two that cost less than $150k annually with the same concessions (inside information). My guess is the personalities involved that won't bow down to his highness.

This brings me finally, since I'm long winded, to an ad I found most disturbing. Disturbing because he dismisses it so readily and it DISGUSTS ME because of the impact it's already had. This ad brought to light the cuts that have been made to the Fire Department and what it means to the city. I have several friends in the Fire Department and know how poorly they have been reflected by the local media and the effects it has on them personally and professionally. These guys go to hell and back on a regular basis, be it on EMS or fire calls. They have repeatedly seen horrific things that people may never experience in two lifetimes and no doubt in my mind need counselling for it (especially since Ive seen them with their drink on). The staffing level has been allowed to drop as low as 6 men on duty for the city in order to save on overtime. It wasn't very long ago, perhaps 2 or 3 years that even WPTZ took a shot at them for having 'built in overtime' and contractually 'holding the city hostage'. This occurred when the budget proposed $300k in overtime for the department. The union response when the PR picked it up was 'the city has full control of the daily staffing level and in no way does the contract specify they have to use overtime'. I've also come to find out that the city Fire union wrote the mayor directly as each level of daily staffing was reduced informing him that at those levels they would be unable to provide adequate protection when they first arrive at a fire. There is an OSHA requirement for Firemen to be able to actually enter a building for any condition and its something to do with 2 at a time. My disgust comes from the fact that when the Fanning boy died in the Fire at Court St. they were working with one less man which didn't allow them a 2nd search team. The city tried to save a few hundred dollars that day, the Fire department tried to save a life that day and a family had their lives changed forever. I'm horrified for the family, one will never know if he even could have been saved but whats worse is the city CONTINUES to operate at unsafe levels sometimes even ONE MAN LESS than the day Mr. Fanning died. My understanding is that the annual overtime saved is less than $200k. The other aspect of the ad had to do with the ladder truck and praying if you live on a third floor or higher. This is true also. The city daily level used to be 8 which was so the ladder truck could always be included in a first response. Obviously when they are working sometimes at 6 its safe to say the ladder truck will not be showing up anytime soon. I'm going to write again on this entire last topic because I don't want to continue right now. Between the outcome of this election and discussing the death of Mr. Fanning I need to be done and as much as it would of been devastating to the city financially, his family should've sued the city for not caring enough to keep their son safe. My sincerest sympathies go out to the Fanning family and I apologize that we couldn't get rid of the person who did this to you to save some money......

Standing on a Ledge...

Elections are here and for me I've realized that one race in particular is going to have a large impact on life in our immediate area. I've made no bones about my dislike for the current Mayor of the City and I'm sure saying I intend to vote for Kathryn McCleery is no surprise. A friend of mine described his approach to voting in this race in a very interesting way:
      
'Imagine you are on a ledge that's crumbling and in front of you are two pools to choose from to swim to safety. In front of you is a clear pool you can see sharks and piranha in and to the side is a dark pool.'

He went further to explain that while he knew nothing about Kathryn McCleery except the brief snippets he's seen, he was certain that the current Mayor thinks he's bigger than he really is. He felt that a vote for him was to condemn the city to its destruction. He explained that it was difficult for him to decide if he should vote for McCleery or just not vote. This I found to be troubling. One should never give up their right to have a voice and while I said that out loud I caught myself and explained I meant it only as a challenge to look harder at the situation. While I wanted to say 'Don't be stupid, vote for McCleery' I instead explained I knew of her website ( http://www.kathi4mayor.com/ ) and had seen an article about her on All Points North (online PSUC magazine) and he should see if that can help him decide. Lets hope that dark pool gets clearer.

His analogy intrigued me, though.  I mentioned it to others, without mentioning politics, and you would be amazed by some of the responses. While most had the common sense to just jump into the dark pool some inquired to the length of the pools, or what would happen if they just stayed on the ledge. I consider myself lucky in regards to this analogy. Both pools are clear and the one to the side not only has no sharks or piranha but is deep enough that you can walk across and even has stairs to get out. This is simple... 3 more years of this Mayor will lead to more legal fights with the unions costing more money, necessary repairs will not get done to water and electric, more police and fire jobs will be cut and lord only knows what useless contracts will be signed to outside people for no necessary reason at all.  This is what makes it simple, we know what will happen if he is back, CUTS, CUTS and CUTS. Well this city is already going into hypovolemic shock so more cuts would just be its death sentence. The choice is as clear as a dark pool...

As far as Tuesday goes, I ask of you only one thing... use common sense. While I beg of you to do whats right for this community, its environment and the future of our children I also understand you will do whats right for you. Remember one thing... don't get caught just standing on the ledge... make sure you CHOOSE which way to jump...

Compliments

    Wow, it's not everyday I get a compliment/accusation of being a person who is corageous enough to stand up to a bully as strongly vindictive as our current Mayor. In case you are wondering what I'm refering to, it's a comment I received on a previous posting calling me Kathi. Naturally, I'm guessing, they are thinking I'm the current challenger of the Mayor, Kathi McCleery. Well they are wrong. Off by about 20yrs and gender but correct in my passion for understanding that the current administration is leading us in the wrong direction. I have had the opportunity to follow the directions of another reader and go to Mrs. McCleery's website, http://www.kathi4mayor.com/ , and am encouraged by the vision she has for this city.
    As far as myself. Well it is true. I am not a brave person. Passionate, knowledgable, but a coward. I am hiding behind a name, one that some people know but not my real name. Yep, busted, a coward but the reason why is interesting. My job, my livelyhood, my reputation, my family have been threatened. I know things. Things my job allow me to know. Things that people whose taxes pay my salary should know but are not and most likely will not know. Yes, I work for the sandbox bully himself. Well, not specificly him but since he is the Mayor and I work for the city I guess I work for him and like every other employee of the city, am terrified of what extreme he would go to with his resources (newspaper and tv station) to destroy the simple life I have carved myself. Everything I have worked for for over a decade has been verbally threatened to be taken away for discussing city workings so I have taken to a pseudonym and blogging. Is it coincidence that my blogs happen to discuss the same problems Mrs. McCleery happens to discuss and I only started blogging while this election is taking place?
     No, it isn't!!! There is an election. There is information. A chance that people can make an informed decision from reading this, even if it ends up being only one. There are glaring problems this city is facing and thank god a candidate who may be capable of taking them on. These problems are 100% known to managers, employees and elected officials. They have been asked to be addressed by the employees but the employees instead are told 'we understand your concern and are looking into this. Oh, and if you discuss this with anyone you'll be fired'. How do I know this, well it's been said to me. While I might be a coward, I atleast know I can't be fired, I have rights but seeing as how this administration is a damn the consequences, reactive managing style, I don't want to put my family through the year long grievence procedure to get my job back. Will people figure out it's me? Well, that is the reason for my hiatus. I have been asked but I have thought about it and decided they will have to prove it. Even then, what have I done? "So get ready, cuz this sh!ts about to get heavy" (eminem)
       One more last point... I will officially go on record and say " I definitly am not Kathi McCleery" and to the person who commented, thank you for what I am taking as a compliment and if the offer for information is real I would love it, too.

Blowhards...

   Short and simple tonite, I'm still trying to cool off from all the hot air at tonites council meeting. While I haven't fully decided my opinion on the topic of the schools utility tax, it was very clear from the message delivered by Patricia Bentley that it will be a long process and be openly discussed with the people before being voted on NEXT YEAR!!! However, the brilliant and important individuals who are sitting in and running for our city government couldn't resist posturing and puffing out all sorts of official things they were going to discuss and quantify and emphasize and justify and.... well you get my point. I think we understood from Mayor Kasprzaks Joe LoTemplio's article in the press republican the other day that the city didn't like the idea. Oh well, whats a few more wasted minutes from my life....

Swimming In my Sink!?

     Welcome to the world of Francis Says its So! Why a Blog Francis? Well, there has been a lot of buzz around town lately and there doesn't seem to be an outlet. The television just wants to talk about Vermont and the local paper... well let's just leave those statements for a future blog. Suffice to say they would rather waste trees glorifying a vindictive bully pretending to care about joe taxpayer (more like as long as your home is worth more than $200k taxpayer) and to readers who want to complain about church bells and BYOB parties. When a person writes to them about important things like the city barely passing its water testing this past summer, pockets of dirty bacteria laced water in the mains and the obscenely high amount of chlorine in the current tap water, they don't want to do anything about it....hmmmmm. Could it be because its too close to election time for their favorite leader of the good old boys club?
     Lets look at the timeline, a very general liberal timeline I will confess, but a timeline none the less. First off, I digress, we need mention the City of Plattsburghs water system. Wonderfully repaired, on a regular basis, by the hard working people of the DPW. So Francis, you will ask, How is that a PROBLEM??? Well, I digress again to the 'bully'  as mentioned before. I will also refer to him sometimes as the 'I ran into the ground multiple businesses being bottom-line oriented so I'll do it to the City ,too' guy.  Well since his tenure began he has used his 'Slash and Burn' style of management to cut jobs of the men and women who maintain our precious water and ignored department heads who asked for upgrades to the deteriorated lines (some over 100yrs old) via capital projects all to protect the 'outrageous' amount of money people have to pay in taxes. I mean do you realize the difference between what someone pays in taxes who has ONLY one $100k property compared to someone who owns a dozen $200k+ rental properties???? How are they going to be able to buy fuel oil to heat their beautiful house on the lake this winter while they are in Florida! OOOPS.... I've digressed too far. The timeline, right.
     Sometime this summer tests were done on the water and 'slight' levels of bacteria were found and adjustments were made to the water treatment. Since it 'passed' inspection what need would there be for a follow up test to ensure the safety of the public. I mean it 'passed', do you have any idea of what it costs to do a full spectrum test on the water? No, seriously do you, I hear its thousands of dollars since a bulk of it is biological and chemical which makes it complex. I mean if it is thousands of dollars that's just too much to consider the safety of the elderly and children, c'mon we passed! Let's just kick an extra gallon of bleach in there since another test would be like, ummmm, a half gallon of fuel oil cost for that previous mentioned example. So, next up in the timeline, pockets of mysterious brown water appearing in households throughout the city. Complaints made, nothing done or was there??? Another gallon of bleach (by the way this is fiction, the city doesn't use bleach, I hope, to treat water). Next step, have the favorite department of Mr. Pennypincher, the Fire Department, go around and run fire hydrants to clear these devious disgusting evasive pockets of water from our precious taxpayers water supply. Why not dump thousands of gallons of treated clean water down the drain, that should fix the problem, right.... Well I had the privilege to observe one of these hydrants being opened while walking my dog in the Center City and watched the water go from orange brown, to white and back to a mud brown to orange. One of the drains in the street was backed up with leaves so this dark pool was forming before me and suddenly my mind was brought back to summer growing up and having to wait alongside the pool for the recently added chemicals to dilute before swimming. I can tell you one thing, I'm sure it wasn't what who must've been the new fireman was thinking as he got sent with a shovel to clear the drain before someone saw the large lake of brown water in the road. He must've been hoping the water he had to walk through didn't stain or bleach his clothes! The water ran for over 7 minutes before it was adequate.
      Adequate.... interesting word. A good description for the 'passing' grade the city received for it's water. Not even close to a word I would use for the Grand PooBah of Plattsburgh. Adequate is a word I will use for the water... water I can use to fill my pool and not have to use chlorine but then since I don't have a pool I guess I can fill my sink......