TODAY'S NEWS...not much that is new

It's going to get worse: TU 2/24/09 pA1...As long as
President Obama, and his allies in the media, keep
trumpeting this message of gloom, doom and fear
the economy will get worse.

....................................

Obama vows to reduce mounting U.S. deficit, TU
2/24.09 pA7.
Hard to believe! Obama and the Far Left
Democratically controlled Congress just added
1.5 Trillion dollars national debt with the "stimulus"
spending package which rewards supporters and
is essentially a financial plan to re-elect Democrats
to Congress in 2010 and 2012, as well as Obama in
2012.

President Obama's vow would be more believable
if he significantly trimmed the waste from the
787 billion dollar stimulus package.

In addition, please stop addressing the nation
and grabbing media face time. The campaign is
over! Get to work. Do your job.

....................................

Road crews asked to cut salt, aid environment
Tu 2/24/09 pA3, by Brian Nearing.

The Adirondack Council called for state and
local governments to wean themselves, and the
public, off excessive dependency on winter
applications of road salt because, it is harmful
to the environment.

THE WHITE DEATH, as posted on this blog
for years, harms more than the environment
of the Adirondacks.

Excessive road salt dumping destroys trans-
portation infrastructure, including roads
bridges and rail lines.

It rots our expensive vehicles and tires.
Creates air pollution, when it dries and
becomes airborne. March winds carrying
road salt debris sandblast the exteriors
of our homes and buildings necessitating
more costly painting and repairs.

Humans, and their pets, breathe the salt
contaminated air, which contributes to
growing health problems, including high
blood pressure, asthma and more.

What is the synergistic effect of road salt
and vehicle exhausts blended together and
inhaled?

We can get a clue of the answer when we
look at the declining life spans of urban
street trees.

Urban street trees are vital to urban
quality of life because trees emit oxygen
to combat air pollution, as well as serving
as windbreaks, providing air conditioning
and visual beauty.

...........................

Better uses than convention center..a letter
by Betsy Mergcogliano calling for scrapping
the convention center plan and building
"true family housing-2-,3 and 4-bedroom
housing-subsidized ".

BM is correct on the folly of spending millions
on a convention center, but she is way off base
in calling for subsidized housing for families
in downtown.

Housing is needed downtown, but it should
be upscale housing primarily for professionals
students, seniors and other singles who can
support the existing downtown entertainment
financial character.

Adjacent neighborhood family housing develop-
ment would attract state and other office workers
who want to live near their work, eliminating the
increasingly costly commute from the suburbs,

But, before that can occur, adjacent city neighbor-
hoods must be cleaned up. Rid them of blight and
crime.

The waterfront has a huge potential for upscale
housing, to attract residents, with good incomes
and job skills, from downstate, as well as retirees
from the Capital District area.

.........................

Common Council hopefuls get in line, TU 2/24/09
pB3, by Tim O'Brien.

We learn that current Common Council President
Shawn Morris is not going to run for re-election.
Instead she is going to run for mayor. Council
Majority Leader Carolyn McLaughlin, says she
will run for Council President.

Having an all female citywide ticket : Morris,
McLaughlin and Sheehan, is not a winner, even
if city males are a whipped lot.

Citizen Tim Carney wants to run for Council
President so he can eliminate the Council
President's position and cut the size of the
Council in half.

Well, Tim, you can begin by not running at
all.

The article informs us that "The council
leaders post, which pays $30,938 a year, is
largely ceremonial. The council leader runs
meetings but only votes to break a tie, a
rarity on a 15-member body."

In reality, the Common Council President's
job has much more significance. Under the
state's small cities law, the Council President
becomes mayor, and serves out the remainder
of a term, should the mayor's office become
vacant for any reason.

The Council President's job is to be a mayor
in training, a leader, who works, with, not
against, the mayor, to make Albany a better
place to live.

That does not mean the Council President
is a puppet of the mayor.

The Council President can work with the
Mayor, but also be a leader, in his or
her own right, leading the Council Members
to perform more effectively, and pointing
the way to actions that improve the
quality of life in Albany.

Shawn Morris has failed to demonstrate
that she has this ability. She doesn't
deserve re-election, let alone being elected
as mayor.

Morris lacks the experience, record, ideas
speaking ability, leadership and physical
stamina required to be mayor.

Being a Far Left and a woman are simply
not enough.

Her claim to fame is being the Spot
Zoning Queen, whose legislation led to
rezoning 3 acres of land "Highway
Commercial" on Holland Ave, a major
emergency routeway to Albany Med.
This measure was rammed through the
waning hours of a lame duck council in
December 2005.

It never would have passed if Morris
had withdrawn her sponsorship of
the resolution. She did not.

After passage, she and her successor
Kathy Fahey, duped 7th Ward residents
into contributing money to a legal
defense fund to get the rezoning
rescinded.

Is this not a scam?

Mayor Jennings is far and away the best
candidate for another term as Mayor of
Albany.

Change? Look what change has wrought
at the state and federal levels.

Think long and hard Albany voters.

The old Irish saying: "the divil ye know
is better than the one ye don't", applies
to the 2009 city election.

Current Council Members should
clean up their own wards before aspiring
to be Mayor or Common Council President.

Joe Sullivan