In City Of The Hills, Candidate Avalanche In Oneonta, go figure.Five Common Council members retiring – not a record, Council member Dana Levinson reminded us: there were six retirements in 2016, but an exodus nonetheless.And the resulting ferment: Len Carson confirmed Thursday, Feb. 21, he was running in Ward 5, and within days, 11 more candidates emerged. Most were Democrats in that Democratic enclave, but three were Republicans, signaling party politics – missing since 2011 – may be coming back…
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Opinion - Page 295
Future Requires ALL Forms Of Energy, Including Affordable, Plentiful Natural Gas To the Editor: Dan Buttermann’s letter in your editions of Feb. 21-22 headlined, “On Energy Future, State Must Pick Right Side,” has the right title but supports the wrong side – renewables only, no new gas. Unfortunately, the state (Governor Cuomo) shares Mr. Butterman’s view. Now the consequences are beginning to show. Con Ed announced no new gas hook-ups in Westchester County. A six-acre urban renewal project in…
‘Reform Caucus’ Proving Its Worth, But Will It Survive 2019 Elections? Leading up to the 2017 election of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, the terms “Reform Caucus” and “Sensible Center” were used in this space, and they were controversial. Some of the candidates identified with that label won election or reelection. (Whether that was because of or despite of the designation is certainly fodder for debate.) Foremost among them, as it turns out, was David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield,…
Not All ‘Green New Deals’ Threaten Americans’ Personal Liberties To the Editor: There is no Green New Deal. That is to say, there is no one Green New Deal despite your newspaper columnist’s alarmist assertions last week that personal freedoms are endangered by addressing Climate Change. There are many proposals involving stimulus programs that aim to address Climate Change. Some, like House Res. 109/Senate Res. 59, sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also address economic…
EDITORIAL Congressman Emerging As Moderate, Balanced If anyone was looking for a bomb-thrower – Urban Dictionary: “A colloquial term used to describe people who stir up trouble” – Antonio Delgado isn’t he. That had to be the conclusion of any objective ear at his Feb. 18 “Town Hall” in Cooperstown Village Hall, where one speaker, opining President Trump is “mentally ill,” asked the freshman congressman if he would vote for impeachment. The reply was perfectly circumspect: “I’m going to do…
The Goal: Doing All We Can To Reduce Dependence On Fossil Fuels I was sent this article, “Until Available 24/7, Renewable Energy Not Ready For Prime Time,” from your newspaper of Feb. 21-22. “Another speaker spoke of all the things he had done to remove himself from the grid. Again, I couldn’t help but wonder how he paid for it – solar, geo-thermal and a $100,000 Tesla electric car. Would the savings ever allow him to recover those incremental…
Lower Taxes, More Broadband Would Help Keep Upstate Folks Here President Trump and Governor Cuomo were recently in a war of words again – certainly not breaking news. This time around, the back and forth centers on the Upstate economy, with President Trump advising Upstate residents to move out. The president’s actual words to people who feel things aren’t going their way, “If New York isn’t gonna treat them better, I would recommend they go to another state where they…
Something Like ‘Green New Deal’ Essential, But Impact On Personal Freedom Worrisome The Big Idea of the Green New Deal, now widely supported among Democrats, is to deal aggressively at once with the twin crises of climate justice and social justice. The Green New Deal (GND) seeks to combine the progressive goals raised by Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election (single-payer healthcare, free college tuition, taxing the rich, and breaking up big banks) with a wholesale public infrastructure program for…
From The Heart Of Ohio New Home, New History When we left Cooperstown to move to Ohio, a good friend told us in no uncertain terms that we would never know the history of our Ohio community as well as we know the history of Cooperstown and its environs. And while we would most heartily concur with this assessment, during our relatively short time in Ohio we feel we have managed to add to our knowledge of Knox County in…
County Board Committee Adjusts Policy To Affirm Public, Press Have Rights Regarding the county Board of Representatives’ policy, “Use of Photographic and Recording Devices At County Meetings,” the stated goal – “to allow meetings to be conducted in an orderly manner” – was never objectionable. Two aspects of the policy were: One, that reporters need to “sign in” (i.e., register with a local government to do their job) and, two, if failing to do so would be “excluded” from board…
