Friday, February 25, 2011

The Rebirth of City Hall

The following appeared in the Pulse of the People, The RECORD, Feb. 24, 2011




Much has been said about the location of a new Troy City Hall. Many are very pleased it is no longer located in the old building due to the mold problems, wasted space, a Council Chamber that was designed so inadequately it was very hard to hear anything that was being said in there, and just the plain old design of it. Personally I thought it was the ugliest building I ever saw. The structure was completely out of character for a great historical City like Troy, known for it's fine architecture. Suggestions for a new City Hall have been plentiful. Some like where it is right now, the old Verizon building at 1776 Sixth Ave. That is an acceptable location with parking, though there is not a Council Chamber and use has been being made of the Christ Church on State and Fifth Aves. I have to add, I like the situation and the sound enhancement and the atmosphere. There is plenty of comfortable seating and vision is excellent.

So at this point I would like to bring a fresh consideration into play. St. Patrick's Church in Uptown/North Central has been closed. Next door to it on the North is the former convent for the nuns, the Rectory is to the south of it. How wonderful it would be for City Hall to relocate here. The Convent could be turned into individual offices and also the Rectory. The Church would make an absolute outstanding location for the Council Chamber! It would afford the same position we now have for the meetings as Christ Church provides, roomy, wonderful views for those participating in the meetings and it is AIR CONDITIONED! When the location is not being used for Chamber functions, other meetings could be booked there holding many more people than the former City Hall ever afforded. Community meetings, Department meetings, Holiday functions and whatever type of purpose the Community could need. Also the City could rent it out for other gathering and help pay for its upkeep. There is parking on the corner of Douw and Sixth, and it is between 2 Bus lines which would make it accessible to everyone. The location is less than 1/2 mile from the major highways and right off of Route 7. The Community Police Station is half a block to the North. What a wonderful re-use of a building to keep a Community active and vibrant. The building is in wonderful condition and handicapped accessible. Extra parking could be found in other locations of the buildings that are slated for demolition or abandoned in the future.

Can you imagine the Kudos our City administration and Council would receive for such a fine change of venue for this building? I envision the magnitude of Citizens speaking of the brilliance of this occupation and use for the populace of Troy and the alternate uses for the general public. It would lessen the gap between the northern and central parts of Troy which is closing everyday with the development of the River St. area just north of the Green Island Bridge and also new talk of development of the former Marshall Ray building and the former Mooradians just south of that, is also ripe for redevelopment. Next would come new small businesses, restaurants, etc. and mid level and larger businesses. What a comprehensive boost to this area with the Street/Structural grant coming in mid 2012.

If you agree, let your City Administrators and Council Representative know.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Fed Up People

Lots and lots of news out there lately, you really don't know where to start, what to believe and not to believe. But I can tell you, rest assured as I have always thought, where there is 'smoke', there is 'fire'. Maybe all the facts may not be out there yet, the course of how things happened, and ALL of whom may be involved, but the story has a pretty good foundation by the time you hear about it.

We have local issues that will knock your socks off, such as unbelievable Pensions people retire with, Voter fraud, where elections are manipulated to control you, control your City, and double dipping of our State and Federal workers. The game being, retire, take your Pension and then go right back to work, sometimes at the very same job, but maybe with a little tweaking to the job or title.

There is no bigger a story now though, then what is going on in Egypt and some other countries where the Citizens are fed up and speaking out. No surprise. What some Politicians don't realize is how very likely the same exact thing could happen here. I don't think they comprehend how much anger there is out there with the American Citizens, or maybe think, OK, they are upset, it will blow over, we just have to throw a few more lies out there, or some more BS and they will simmer down, just keep covering up. Maybe they ought to get out there in public a little more and take note of what they people are saying and feeling. More and more I hear people talking about how they just can't take anymore of the living conditions we are under. Not just a few people, but a LOT. I am a firm believer that our situation here is getting to the boiling point. I am astonished though that with all of the conversations and complaining of what is going on in our Government, Local, State and Federal, that many of these people were re-elected!!! I either have to ask myself, what is wrong with some people, are they more gullible than I ever thought, are they afraid to go against the flow, or are many more of the elections corrupt too? Talk of Computerized voting scares the dickens out of me, how easy will that be to manipulate the system?

I hear of organized efforts to change things, the Tea Party is certainly a good start and I truly believe that they have the beginnings of what is to be a very strong impact on the future elections. They are growing by leaps and bounds, all parties included. ANGRY PEOPLE! Listen all you Politicians out there ANGRY PEOPLE! The very people you represent, the ones who elected you to stand up for them, then you get in and start your own agenda, your OWN interests and then blow the people off. Now, listen again, ANGRY PEOPLE. We have over paid Politicians, under paid Citizens, benefits you receive but the voters, yes the VOTERS don't, for example, the new health plan. Yes go ahead and convince us of how wonderful it is, but not wonderful enough for the Politicians, they have their own premier golden plan, not us, out here in Serfdom. If you try to speak with your Representatives, they are too busy, blow you off, and avoid you, whatever spin you want to put on it, and they are representing us, being PAID by us, WE put them in office and they have no time for us, don't want to hear our thoughts, our problems, our dissatisfaction, what we need changed or for them to work on. We are overtaxed, double taxed, fees on this and fees on that, Foreigners come into this country and have more benefits than we do and never paid into any of it, they come and get free HOUSES, what is wrong with only providing that very generous benefit to Citizens only. They can't find any poor people here? What are they BLIND??? Our Representatives make laws to benefit themselves and not us. Just think back to the Jersey barriers surrounding the Capital, built by our money. Thank God newly elected Gov. Cuomo had the foresight to have them removed and I give him credit for that. I wonder who our previous Governors were trying to prevent from coming in, was it a fear of the 'terrorists' or of us.

The point of this BLOG is to all of our 'leaders' pay attention to what is going on around you and the world. Egypt is not that far away, it can certainly happen here, they were and are as fed up as we are. This isn't just good TV, this is reality! Watch that TV and watch it close. This is very scary. Our Country's history preceded us with some very angry people, where did the name Tea Party evolve from? The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were just not cool stories to read about in some book. Let us also note that those people did not have the communications in those days that we do now, they had to really work at getting organized, and they succeeded in making some big changes, unfortunately those who followed these leaders in Government have some very undersized memories. One of the first things that they did in Egypt was to try and break the communications. So the message is to all you Silver Spoon or wanna be Silver Spoon Politicians out there, get back to your Grade School basics and start reading again and make sure it sinks in, this is HISTORY and not some Huckleberry Finn story. And we are about to write more.

Why this BLOG today? Because 'That's the Way it is" and it better change, and for those who are still sleeping, you better wake up and SPEAK up!

Your thoughts and comments PLEASE!