DISSENSION IN TOWN OF RICHFIELD Electorate Spoke – Now, Work Together It was troubling to attend the Richfield Town Board’s latest meeting, on Monday, Feb. 17. The meeting room in the Town Hall on East James Street was full, which is good – citizens participating. But what followed was less so. Control of the Richfield Town Board shifted from 3-2 to 2-3 on Jan. 1, with the majority shifting from supporters of the town’s new comprehensive plan and zoning code…
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Editorial - Page 32
EDITORIAL If Not Allen Ruffles, Someone With SOME Of His Qualities The question was, “Do you think THEY will let the county administrator do the job?” They, of course, being the county Board of Representatives. But the question misunderstands how the new county administrator job is envisioned. Judging from discussions surrounding the new job’s creation, the county representatives aren’t looking for someone to tell them what to do. They’re looking for someone who will allow them to do what THEY…
EDITORIAL ‘Trusted Traveler’ Revocations Aside, ‘Green Light’ Bad Law On Sept. 11, 2001, the 19 terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, or crashed in Schwenksville, Pa., had 30 driver’s licenses among them that allowed them to gain access to and hijack the four jets. Nineteen licenses were from Florida, eight from Virginia, one each from Arizona and Maryland, plus two from California that were issued to two “watchlisted” participants. None were from our state’s DMV, but if…
EDITORIAL Good News, Jobs Aplenty; Bad News, No Housing Anyone who’s paying attention around here has come to a double conclusion: ►One, pretty much every employer, big or small, has vacancies that can’t be filled. ►Two, if new employees are hired, they often can’t find a convenient, affordable place to live. No workers. No worker housing. A double bind. If misery loves company, then economic developer Jody Zakrevsky, CEO of Otsego Now, went to a jobs forum hosted by Congressman…
EDITORIAL Are Fossil Fuels Part Of Climate-Change Answer Some of you may have heard our Adirondack neighbor Bill McKibben’s NPR interview a year or two ago. Unless all buildings in the U.S. are made energy-efficient by 2030, the war against Global Warming will be lost, he said. The interviewer asked, is that possible? No, said McKibben, who is among the nation’s foremost advocates of stemming greenhouse gases. In different words, McKibben is saying, we’re lost. • Too much of the…
EDITORIAL Both Parties Should Find Candidates Who Will Ensure Local Successor To Seward This story’s been related in this space before: Congressman Tim Holden, a Democrat from Pennsylvania’s anthracite county, used to tell campaign crowds: “I’m the only one of 435 Congressmen who gets up every morning and says to himself, ‘What can I do for Schuylkill County today?’” It’s also said that if you don’t appreciate what you have, you lose it.” • The vignette and the aphorism are…
EDITORIAL Senator Seward, Let’s Say Hasta Luego, Not Goodbye He has been Otsego County’s state senator since 1986. Many of us – most of us, perhaps – have never known another one. He is everyone’s friend. If you’ve ever observed him walk down the street. Or cross a crowded restaurant on his way to a table. Or appear at a parade or fair or other public gathering. The congenial legislator can’t make it more than a few steps without someone…
With Expertise, Even Temperament, City Manager Korthauer Cracks Code Thanks, George. Oneonta City Manager George Korthauer – Oneonta’s first successful city manager – announced Monday, Jan. 13, that he’s heading off into a well-earned retirement. He should go with all our thanks and best wishes. He proved that even the City of Oneonta – feisty, argumentative, proud of its heritage, sure of its opinions – can eventually come to terms with a professional from out of town, and benefiting from…
2ND EDITORIAL The New Decade Will Bring Pretty Much What We Expect County Rep. Meg Kennedy, in her interview on being named this newspaper’s Citizen of the Year for 2019, shared this story, which captures just the right note as we begin the new decade. A customer pulls up to a local gas station. As the owner is filling the tank, the driver asks, “I’m moving to this town. How are the people here?” “How are they where you come…
EDITORIAL 2019 Full Of Oddities, But Things Can Change GREEN LIGHT LAW, BAIL REFORM ASTOUND Many sages over the centuries have concluded: The future has not yet been written, (if it ever is). Whatever we’re going through, this too shall pass. • You may have seen the Associated Press dispatch the other day: The Government Justice Center in Albany is suing to prevent Governor Cuomo from getting a pay raise, saying Section 7, Article XIII of the state Constitution prohibits…
