What do you think about the city of Glens Falls closing down the Spotlight bar in response to incidents of violence and rowdiness? Was it the right thing to do, or was it overkill> Should cities be shutting down viable businesses, or should they find other means of punishment such as fines? Will this resonate with other business owners who allow questionable behavior on their properties, or won’t it make a difference?
With estimates for a new bridge to replace the Lake Champlain Bridge pitted at more than $67 million, do you think the state should move forward with the project? While not having the bridge is an inconvenience, it still only affects a maximum of 3,500 cars and trucks a day. Given the economy and the condition of other more vital bridges and roads in the state, should we be spending that kind of money on this particular rural bridge?
Sceptical Mass Says:
Pretty grouchy comment there, Nort. Better drink a bottle of Ensure and take a nap, or watch some Oprah.
nortnort Says:
So put a lid on it, awreddy!!! We’ve beaten this bridge thing to death.
Mark Mahoney Says:
I’ve got to say, namvet, I agree with you on priorities. It won’t be based on merit, but on who has the most political clout. And that means the powerful downstate lawmakers will get dibs on any cash for their bridge repairs from money in the existing budget. So maybe there needs to be a bond act to pay for all the repairs. Not excited about the state incurring more debt, but a lot of these bridges are dangerous and have to be fixed.
namvet Says:
Mark, you have to be kidding. What can we do to prioritize? 99.8% of us said NO to the banker bailout which to date is about 23 TRILLION, BILLIONS going to foreign banks and Barnie Franks asking which banks and Bernekie refused to tell him. We have no control or say.
nortnort Says:
Army Corps of Engineers could fix the bridge! Does New Orleans ring a bell, they couldn’t fix my dental bridge!
What do you think about the trial of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno? Are you surprised by the disclosure of how business is done in Albany, or do is this just they way you expect things are done. Do you think the former senator did anything wrong in his dealings or was he just working within a broken system. What should be done to prevent a situation similar to this in the future?
nortnort Says:
I think it’s unfortunate for Joe Bruno. Little if anything is to be gained other than some form of political retribution. Those who are shocked by the flow of money through the political morass in Albany must have the Rip Van Winkle syndrome! This has been going on since Kingston was the state capitol.
Going, Going, Gone Says:
The want of money is the root of evil. Its about time they paid for wrong doing. The entire country is suffering for what the so called politicians and business leaders have done. Why give politicians a salary or extra for committee and leadership positions? They should be paid a set amount for the days they are in session..and nothing more. Minimum wage people cannot support the politians forever.
albert Says:
I don’t know if Bruno did anything “illegal”.
I do know he expended $10,000 of NYS taxpayers money [i.e. member items] to support the Mechanicville High School football team a couple of years ago.
That was criminal to me.
dennis Says:
lions 4 Christians 1
Miss Informed Says:
Bruno is just another corrupt politician who feels he’s above the law. He keeps saying “He’s done nothing wrong” and the sad part of this is….He believes it!!
Stephne, I couldn’t agree more…TERM LIMITS for all politicians!
What do you think of the new state license plates? Do you like the design? Do you think they’ll help law enforcement? What are your thoughts (please keep them clean) about having to pay for the new plates so soon after we just got the current ones (2001)?
Charles Says:
The state is in such bad shape, not becauls of us taxpayers but becauls the politicians had late budgets(for 20+years when i was a child, this was what i heard all the time)fiscial irrisponcibility, special intrest groups, and the polititians best intrests above thier responcibilities. In september I wrote to a senator explaned to her how to save between 1/2 a million to a million per year (just at Adirondak Community College) open more room for prospective students, reduce wasted money becauls of accrediation(has NO leagal backing or athority)add more educated persons to the workforce(increasing the tax revinue from income. Now think about the savings: of all the students in New york approx 10-15% have credits that becauls of accrediation(Any institute of higher learning,(in order to grant degrees in NY must have met state requirements)next take the cost of tuition at a SUNY school $19728 (taken from, full time on campus, http://www.albany.edu/financialaid/costs.shtml)and figgureing that on avg 12-32+ credits not accepted and the vast ammount of students your talking about tens, if not hundreds of millions per year in savings(just for state college benefits) but apparently these people dont care about saving us tax payers money, just lining thier pockets, and keeping the poor poor so we bust our arses to stay afloat in this economic flood.
nortnort Says:
Numbvet – where do you get this stuff!
namvet Says:
The US Supreme Court has ruled over 100 times that unless you are engaged in a commercial activity, you are not even required to need a drivers license. A driver is defined in the law as one who operates a commercial vehicle. Travel, mobility and movements are a right, not a priveledge granted by the state according to the US Sepreme Court. But this is about the license plates and not the license to drive. I’m surprised in all these years the Post Star hasn’t informed us about this. We could be saving a lot of money if we only know. Folks should do a search on the internet looking up court decisions and the Grace Commission. We wouldn’t want the source questioned and who wants to be told they’re wearing a tin foil hat?
patcher Says:
This is nothing more then a thinly disguised tax to provided the state with more money for the “general fund”…. the very same fund that our gas tax, road tax and toll money has been going for years to keep our roads and BRIDGES safe. Get the picture??
nortnort Says:
Now, now, we have to keep those smilin’ faces at the DMV busy!
What do you think of the House of Representatives’ health care plan? Is it a good compromise? Does it do what you think it should have? Is it too expensive? Are seniors taken care of adequately in the plan? What changes to you think need to be made before the bill is acceptable?
papachag Says:
This version of health-care reform is a huge win for insurance with mandatory insurance and flim flam for care benefits. Any plan that includes any form of insurance will not bring costs down or benefit anyone but the insurance industry. We need universal health-care with an option for insurance for those who want to pay those outrageous premiums. It is the only way to get a handle on cost while actually serving all Americans.
Patcher Says:
Pelosi’s gang has got to stop drinking that Kool-Aide stuff and sober up. Talk about your drunken sailors.
Sceptical Mass Says:
If he homors that promise we don’t have to worry about the house bill at all.
Anne Castle Says:
This congressman from Michigan hits the nail on the head. I think he is the only one who has read this bill from top to bottom. Murphy did the right thing and you might too if you listen to this Congressman. He is right on!
CJames Says:
Be prepared there are people of our government who want to create tension and disent in America, be careful, be smart, be free.
Know Your Enemy.
How has the recession affected the dynamics at your home? Is one spouse taking on more household duties than before? Are the kids being asked to do more around the house? Are you spending more time at home instead of going out and doing things? Are you making more meals at home instead of going out? What other changes are going on at home?
nortnort Says:
Everything is fine here, the sky isn’t falling, kids have their heads above water, and there are 2.5 million jobs available in the US!
mountain man Says:
yes hope is good,i hope we dont go broke,i hope my children dont go broke,i hope i wont lose my house,i hope i can pay my taxes,i hope i wont lose my job,i hope i hit the lottery so i wont have to hope so much,holy cow this hope thing seems like gloom and doom, life is good!
Stephne Says:
that’s a chance I’m willing to take. You’re entitled to your opinion and the same for me.
I’ll take hope over doom and gloom anyday.
Have a nice day!
Tiger Paw Says:
the word is not recession but depression. the gov’t is not telling the average folks the truth about what is happening and what is going to happen. lots of people i know have pulled their money and keeping it at hand. the market is up only because of all the mergers, plant closures ect. once the dust settles, you will see the average worker hit harder than ever. tell me, how does the union workers negotiate with no jobs left out on the market? there is no negotiations. Wages are no set by big business. no leverage no more. the only jobs available are for sweatshop wages. people are working 80 hour weeks just to survive. look at what the state did for us this year, took the star rebates away, cut spending, and now the license plate bull! thanks paterson, we’ll vote for you.
CJames Says:
stephn said
“I voted for Obama and yes, I’m satisfied. We can’t turn this economy which took “W” eight years to destroy in a matter of months.
I’d rather have my tax dollars spent on healthcare and infrastructure than on bombs.”
You are pathetic stip putting your hope in a group of liars, Obama is adding for to the deficit in one year than bush did in 8.
Your false hope may kill you one day.
What are your thoughts on the large teen drinking party that was held in Queensbury on Halloween with more than 75 kids apparently attending. Does it surprise you? Does it bother you? Can you believe such large parties are still taking place in light of all the recent publicity and legal action? Does more need to be done to stop such parties from happening and from all those kids getting alcohol? Does this reinforce the need for even stricter penalties on those who provide alcohol or host parties?
CJames Says:
you old people are dumb. You are not going to stop the youth from gettingtrashed as long as your whole generation is wasted.
Lead by example not stupid laws.
Even if people are going to get alcohol, no matter how many people you ID
josh Says:
I think that the idea of kids getting hammered at a party scares them, as it should. It isnt a good thing, just as it wasn’t back in “the good old days”. it seems worse these days because more kids are driving home drunk than walking home drunk. And it will be very hard to curb teen’s want to get intoxicated be it on booze or pot. I believe the interrest to feel different than you do every day is engrained into the human psyche. Everybody wonders, and the ones who dont act on it are people with different morals. Morals define what people do with that interest, weather they act on it or not.
Sceptical Mass Says:
The illicit will always have its attractions. Honestly, look at Pop Culture around the world. The idea of casual drug use, and alcohol IS a drug, is permeated in just about every western society, not just our own.
Enforcement is fine, the police broke up parties and arrested people all the time way back when, in “the day,” but it isn’t going to the root of the issue.
We’ve now gone and done the same thing with sexual behavior, and are paying the same price. We’ve torn down traditional values in the name of a free society with few restrictions, thoroughly imbibed as young people (in general), and then forgot to instill new values to guide our young people.
Joseph Campbell stated in “The Power of Myth” that when a society removes or renounces its own mythology (the term meaning ritual methodology of instructing the young and guiding them to adulthood, not just religion), which it formerly used to teach its own youth, that those young people, sensing a void, will substitute their own mythology, with their own rituals-like drug and alcohol useage.
When someone like John Lennon is viewed as a heroic figure, given his enormous prediliction for casual drug use, by parents, and then this fact is discovered by their children, well, what can you expect? And he’s only one of a multitude of examples from the 60’s to the present who we revere as a society. We’ve now had three presidents in a row who have admitted to casual drug use. Don’t we think children don’t take notice of the obvious? DUH, on us!
Remember Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s “Teach Your Children?” We didn’t listen very well. Double DUH!
A.U. Says:
Stricter enforcement of current laws are needed, not stricter laws that are loosely or selectively enforced. It will take many years and many tears to break old patterns of behavior.
Sceptical Mass Says:
If the truth is annoying that’s not my fault.
What do you think of the candidates for this year’s elections. Is the crop any better or worse than in past years. Will you vote in some challengers or will you support incumbents? Will you throw out incumbents, regardless of their challengers? Do you plan to vote at all, and if not, why not?
A.U. Says:
Where is all the outrage now that the local voters have spoken. Nothing really new in Warren County or city. Or was the VOTE THEM OUT sentiment just a crock? Or did we take a lesson from the north county and see though a carpetbagger and outside interference? Or was it just an off-year election and nobody really cared?
Patcher Says:
I love them apples A.U. A “nobody” from up in the sticks with no money exposes a system that’s full of corruption and one of their own state senators that “can’t make up her mind”. The lefties ready to beat on Rush and Sarah while ignoring Acorn, Biden and Polosi…might just be the beginning of the end of politics as usual.
Sceptical Mass Says:
The 23rd Congressional District was small potatoes. Look to the gubanatorial races in NJ and Virginia for the real ramifications of Tuesday.
Owens, by any reasonable measurement was a better candidate. The people, read as REPUBLICANS, understood that qualification trumps party loyalty. They are to be commended for voting the area’s best interests as trumping Mr. Hoffman ill-suited candidancy. Would the same result be achieved in a district with a Democratic plurality? One can only wonder.
Sceptical Mass Says:
The People have made their choice. This is a good thing any way you look at it. The rejection of a candidate chosen by commitee is equally good, win or lose. Regardless of local results, again, the people have let their voice be heard. The effect of the election results will be heard in coming years.
As to fear? Hate-mongering? Fear is a weapon of all political parties in America, and has been for centuries, or do you dismiss all the fear oriented sophistry coming out of the Democratic platform? I find the hateful speech from the fringe of both parties equally disturbing.
A.U. Says:
Hey Patcher…..How you like them apples? We will take a lesson from the north country Teabaggers! Rush, Glen and Sara got it wrong! You can’t fool everyone with fear and hate-mongering. Locally we threw no one out, broke no eggs and maintained the status quo. Who do we blame now? Obama?
What do you think of the governor’s proposed cuts to education – both higher education and public schools? Do you think this will hurt our children’s education by removing necessary funding. Or is it simply a correction that’s needed to trim fat budgets and won’t really harm frugal school districts? Which is more important, higher education or public education, in terms of who should receive funding priorities?
Tiger Paw Says:
The man is an idiot! He needs to go and go now. He is trying to fix what has took years to get the state in this mess. Obama was right when he asked this fool not to run. Look at the approval rate. A kangaroo could run independently and win. I only wonder if the people around him tell him how bad he is really doing? Oh, that’s right, they won’t! They still have their jobs.
the horse Says:
All our young need and deserve the right to learn to read, write, math and some history. Whie not wanting to get to far off track it is a sad sitition that exists today when teachers are not held accountable to how well they teach thier students, but more to how many degrees do I have and how much oney will they bring. Unfortunally back to the question, our govenor is facing the same problems that the Counties face and then the towns and villages, and cities, that being s–t flows down hill. Federal government withhold thier payments to the states because of money problems, note they do this any time they please, than the states have to mid term withhold their money to states programs and the counties,then the counties withhold to cities, towns and villages. Change must start at the top of the food list or in this case the money train,because if only the bottom of the food chain works with less the higher sections of the chain will withold more. The schools of K-12 must come first to at least have our people be able to survive,thus leaving the higher education to only the people who REALLY want to learn and not the people that just attend with only the intention to not work but to ocupy space and live off some one’s elses nickel.
PEDEW Says:
Anybody who is for these cuts and the states will to spend day and night figuring out ways to raise money from the people of N.Y. “Needs to go back to school” When will the leadership actually reduce the wasteful spending and put all these tax revenues to good use ? Wish they’d spend as much time figuring out how to attract jobs to the upstate area. Better yet take the raised taxes and fees on everything and put people to work ,stop the excess and share the wealth by equalizing pay for everyone. Enough of the paying people more than their worth. Lets get civilized again please. The cost of living is rediculous.
The Greater Good Says:
Cutting sports teams would be just a drop in the bucket compared to all the cuts that would need to be made. And you’ve got the sports parents and fans who make up a loud and vocal percentage of the voting public. But going, going gone is right in the sense that we would be unwilling to tell the kids, “guess what, we are going to cut out a bunch of the fun things this year. But we still expect you to achieve the same level of success” And then hold them to it. Today’s kids are a bit too soft. If they can find the slightest reason to not get an assignment done, they won’t. I think we do need to move in the direction of more students per classroom, but that will mean that students will have to be more responsible for their own progress, and they aren’t going to have a personal motivator to make sure they are getting everything completed.
mac 406 Says:
Over the years more and more extras have been added. This all costs. Some of the added may have to be erased. One thing I’m concerned about is our district is finishing a 16 million dollar project and the students in 5th are using ss and sci texts c. 1986. My kids , their parents ,used these in school. Beautiful facilities warrant quality ed. The BOE may not be aware that the texts are so old. This is a question that needs to be explored at all levels in all schools. Also, I know from experience – some special ed can be included in the regular class so we do not have to pay for so many small groups. If students are included in the regular classes they will learn with some extra help-inclusion. The schools will survive . There have been cuts many times before. Please though! each BOE must be sure instructional texts are up to date with the NYS standards and find $$$ for that. Cuts may have to be made in the non-essentials. Education first. Extras when fiscally possible.
What do you think should be done about the Lake Champlain Bridge? Should they build a temporary bridge while a permanent replacement is constructed? Should they repair the existing bridge and restore weight limits to it in the meantime? Do you feel confident enough that you’d be safe on such a bridge? Should the state subsidize ferry rides for people cut off from the bridge? Should someone be held accountable for the condition of the bridge and the failure to replace it? What are your thoughts?
Going, Going, Gone Says:
Fix this bridge, fix that one. Don’t they know that when you “fix” something thats falling apart that something else will go wrong with it. Replace it, contruction methods have advanced in the last 80 years. Just NY State thinking hasn’t.
A.U. Says:
Have Six Flags build a rope bridge at that site.
A.U. Says:
Patcher, am anxious to hear your solution! And I don’t work, HA HA!
Dazed and Confused Says:
Couldn’t the Seebees or the like military outfit create a temporary pontoon like one way bridge immediately?
I dont live right there, but I am sure if I did, I would be having a stroke over this. Rightfully so.
Can you imagine if the entire Capital Region had to drive an addition 200 miles to work tomorrow? – talk about an economic slowdown or meltdown.
This can be resolved within 3 weeks for a permanent one way for an extended period. There is a way is there a will?
Patcher Says:
Good “government” thinking A.U., and keep the same slugs employed so it happens again. You work for the government by any chance?
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November 20th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Sure thing. It’s on the opinion page, titled, Editorial: “Shutdown sends a message”
What a great blog!
November 20th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Sceptical: there are several articles posted about it and I can’t seem to find the comment you’re referring to you. Can you quote it or link to the piece in question?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Generally speaking, I’m opposed to shutting businesses down for mere ordinance violations. I don’t like the mayor’s crusade against the owners of the Madden. That being said, what happens on a far too regular basis outside Spotlight isn’t far more serious than just drunk people being annoying or loitering or peeling paint. Gang brawls are a public safety issue.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Go to the article posted online about Tarantino’s decision and read the post by GF Indian. I think it speaks to the great majority of people who truly care about Glens Falls. Read it, you won’t regret it.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Antisocial behavior should not be tolerated in any form. This “establishment” was hardly a viable business, as this business owner knew full well. Boos to that clown!!