cmallow's blog
Financial Crisis
Submitted by cmallow on October 11, 2008 - 11:13am
There is a lot of frustration that I see with the way this financial crisis is being handled in Washington.
Our government is taking steps to turn our country to socialism. I had thought that both Democrats and Republicans had agreed that we wanted to live in a capitalist country. What I see is a sellout from both sides of our system, for votes. These people want to make it look like they are doing something to solve the financial crisis so bad, that they are willing to do the worst things possible.
In what was our economic system, when you made a mistake, you were allowed to fail. That was the risk of success. That fear kept the system in check. There is now no downside to greed. LET THEM FAIL! It’s the American way or it was…
Is it any wonder that every Democratic county committee in the 26th District endorsed "the other guy”?
Submitted by cmallow on August 10, 2008 - 9:09am
Let me try to give the Democrats out there a taste of why Jack Davis is not a good selection in this primary. The last thing I would want to do as Genesee Democrat Party Chair is to tell you not to vote for a Democrat, but in Jack’s case, I feel a duty to do so.
Jack Davis came before the Genesee County Democratic Committee and told us his plans. Chief among them was a vow to go to Washington and fight with other Democrats. That stance might win a few votes during the general election, but you have to be a few cards shy of a full deck to say that at a Democratic Party meeting. If you’re a Democrat, would that sort of thing convince you to vote for this guy in a primary? Jack Davis is NOT a Democrat, period.
Jack Davis thinks that money can buy you anything, even a seat in Congress. During that same party meeting, Jack Davis told us that he had $3 Million dollars and that was pretty much all the help he needed. He then dispatched his hired hands to the Supreme Court to overturn the millionaire’s law, so he could limit what other people could spend to fight him. I don’t know about you but, there is just something foul about all of this to me. I have heard all the arguments from the libertarians out there, that the man has every right to spend his own money and I still find it distasteful. Jack Davis is throwing his money around to buy this election. In the latest scandal, it's being reported that Jack paid "consultant" fees to the wives of the Independence Party Chairmen in Monroe and Erie Counties. At least one of the chairmen has already been forced to resign in disgrace. These types of things are something that we Genesee County Democrats can NOT just overlook. This is just unbelievable!
As many other letter writers have shown, Jack Davis doesn’t know what issues matter to Democrats because....he doesn’t care to know them. During the last two elections, Jack didn't go out and meet anyone because he wouldn’t campaign. Jack is above all that. Jack thinks that he can just buy an election with fancy two sided color mailers. I already received five of them in the mail. Rip off musical ads and buying people off with cheap gas are more of his most recent techniques. Those things don’t constitute reasons to vote for someone. Ideology and platform do.
It would be a travesty as County Democratic Chairman for me to stand behind Jack Davis when he claims he is a Democrat. I have tried to stay on the sidelines but, supporting Jack Davis would be irresponsible and a total abdication of my responsibility as county chairman. Win or lose, I will NOT support Jack Davis or anyone like him. In my America, people don’t buy elections.
Political Parties
Submitted by cmallow on July 23, 2008 - 11:37am
Like it or not, no one paid much attention to George Washington when it came to his stand on political parties. It is one of those things that 200 plus years of hindsight helped us to understand but, it’s too late now to change. Our two party democracy is the system we have and will have because there is no going back. The only way to change it would be some type of violent revolution or a spontaneous act that goes against human nature. Forget it, humans are tribal, it’s always been US vs. THEM. As was previously alluded to in the opening post, our system has a strong dependency on the balance of power among our two parties. Our system will surely would fall apart if either party was to overwhelm the other and force it out of existence. The checks and balances that our system depends on would be gone.
I have found that the best thing to do is live in the here and now. To do this you need to figure out what you going to do to try to make things a little better where you live. It’s too lazy to just throw up your hands and say things will never get better with our current system. Once you move past local politics to the state level, it is a mess. State types only care about getting “their” boys and girls elected. It’s all about numbers and acquiring power. It doesn’t matter what a candidate ideologically stands for at all.
Local political parties DO compete in the open market for members. Anyone can say they are a Democrat or Republican but, there are very few active members. Active members are the ones who do all the heavy lifting. They are the people who raise money and stand out on street corners handing out flyers. They are the ones who go door to door in the rain with petitions so, that people have a choice come Election Day. There is no glory and no power for the worker bees of both parties. These people work because they believe they are making a difference. They are also the clean souls who believe in the pure interpretation of the ideology of their party. It is hard to get new active members and a lot of us work to find them every day. Without them in equal numbers for both parties, the house of cards our system is based on is doomed to crash and burn. Our system will eventually lack oversight and no one will be held accountable. I have found that the system is wasteful and clunky but, it does get the job of governing done.
So go join your local party, not for what it is but, what it can be. Everyone has a duty to serve their country and their local community. If there is a problem with our Democracy it is the fact that normal people don’t understand that they need to take part and personally act if they want our democracy to work. Stop blaming “those people” for what is wrong and GO FIX IT!
City Managers Review Process
Submitted by cmallow on June 17, 2008 - 8:52am
I wanted to release the fact that our City Manager's review process has been completed. The budgeted 2.75% increase in his salary will be on the next business agenda for Council to vote to release. I am not at liberty to discuss the details of this employee matter in public, due to employee confidentiality concerns.
I would like to express my thanks for the work our city manager has accomplished over the last year. We began this fiscal year with a projected tax increase over 34% and finished with an 8% increase. This year the City manager’s office helped secure well over $750,000 in grants, substantial reductions in city operating expenses, consolidated dispatch, negotiated several labor contracts beneficial to this city and reworked 7 municipal agreements for ambulance service. Increases in productivity and streamlining of city operations have effected all departments. City staff continues to excel under Jason’s leadership, all the while making due with less and still providing quality service for our residents.
I would like to express my thanks for the work our city manager has accomplished over the last year. We began this fiscal year with a projected tax increase over 34% and finished with an 8% increase. This year the City manager’s office helped secure well over $750,000 in grants, substantial reductions in city operating expenses, consolidated dispatch, negotiated several labor contracts beneficial to this city and reworked 7 municipal agreements for ambulance service. Increases in productivity and streamlining of city operations have effected all departments. City staff continues to excel under Jason’s leadership, all the while making due with less and still providing quality service for our residents.
We are looking forward to successful outcomes for the many challenges that we have placed before our City Manager for this year.
These include:
· A smooth transition to consolidated dispatch with the county.
· Determining how we can centralize booking with the county.
· Seeing tangible results with the consolidation study with the town.
· Continued improvements in the once faltering inspections department with an eye towards increasing productivity, streamlining and improving city codes.
· Strong leadership in the reconstruction efforts taking place on Ellicott and Walnut Streets this year.
· Oversight of the Ambulance service to ensure its viability.
Message to Genesee County Democrats
Submitted by cmallow on June 5, 2008 - 8:16am
Your County Democratic Committee meets and organizes for one reason only, to make sure that we can field a candidate to carry our line that represents your beliefs. It’s safe to say that as a whole Genesee County Democrats are a little more conservative in our beliefs than most state wide Democrats. We also don’t treat our county Republicans as the enemy or feel that we need to eliminate them from office at all costs either.
The politics from Erie and Monroe County are complex and sometimes the selection of candidates from those committees seems without reason. We in this county rely on doing things the old fashion way, by meeting people face to face and weighing their personal traits. We look for a candidate that won’t overlook our county because of its small size and genuinely takes and interest in us, before they are elected. Our feeling is if they don’t know there are two area codes in their election district or where exactly our county is before they get elected, why support them? We have the opportunity to select the best possible people and that’s what we attempt to do every time without “outside” interference.
Democrat Jon Powers is an Iraq war veteran and has been endorsed by all of the county committees and has our full support in his run for Congress. Genesee County was the first County to back Jon, for all the right reasons. With our selection of Jon we influenced the other counties to just do the right thing and not go with the guy who had enough cash to win for the sake of winning. Jon is being challenged by Jack Davis who has lost the two previous elections. Jack has a ton of money and intends to spend as much as it takes to buy a seat in Congress. We don’t dislike Jack, he has worked hard for this seat in the past but, he isn’t the right guy and his time has past. Kathy Konst and Alice Kryzan are also running in the primary but, have virtually no support.
The field might look crowded on the Democrat side but, if you’re a Democrat your choice is really pretty clear, vote for Jon Powers. Go to his website and read his plan http://www.powersforcongress.com. He’s not going to be able to send you three or four color flyers a week like Jack Davis but, what he has been doing is going door to door visiting Democrats in this county, EARNING your vote in the primary. Jon has a huge volunteer staff, who believes in him as a person. They are motivated and truly believe they are supporting the right person. A persons character, stand on issues and work ethic have to still account for something in this world. Those characteristics should at least count in our County Democratic Party.
County Democrat Chair
Batavians choose not to live like they do in big cities.
There have been a few postings about the state of our neighborhoods and people’s opinions of the rate of decline. From someone new to the area or familiar with big city living, some missing paint and a little litter are not anything to be concerned about. People in big cities have had to live with falling property values, absentee landlords and drug activity for years. The obvious question is, why wouldn’t the people of Batavia point to the precursors of decline and pull together to keep the quality of life we have always enjoyed?
Make no mistake the natural instinct of someone in elected office is to gloss over the obvious decline in the quality life. If you’re in public office and you want to stay there, why would any rational person draw attention to the problems? It’s not an election year.. Besides if you draw attention to the problem and you are in office, you will then be expected to do something about the problem. That is how the system has worked for years. Inaction or denial by elected representatives has been the reason for decline in all our major cities.
Batavia is a little different and so are its people. Batavians care about our quality of life and elected people who understand that there is a problem and are willing to do something about it. In this city, improving our neighborhoods is not a political issue. We are past the notion that there is a developing problem, we are on our way to looking for solutions.
Last night’s Neighborhood Improvement meeting was another small step forward. Those meetings have become gatherings for landlords, volunteer groups, public officials and regular citizens to work together and find solutions to our small problems before they get bigger. Our acting police chief reported on a new program to help landlords protect their property and help police spot drug activity. City inspections reported over 800 letters being sent out for violations in the last month, more than double what we did all of last year. They also reported that almost 80% of the violations were taken care of quickly and how most property owners accept the letters as a reminder. There was a report on the success of the “helping hands” volunteer group with their work on Thorpe and Watson Streets over the weekend. Ideas were passed on for ways to educate the public, so that they can be more aware.
With a little work and by people taking responsibility for the problems we have, Batavia will never be like Buffalo, Rochester or Chicago. Batavians choose not to live like they do in big cities.
"Helping Hands: Bringing Pride Back To Our Neighborhoods"
Submitted by cmallow on May 3, 2008 - 5:00pm
I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone that participated in this week’s clean up on Thorpe, Watson and Maple streets, it was a good step in the right diretion. We were able to make a nice improvement on those streets, giving just a few hours of our time. Deb Pappalardo wrote the following to ask the public for their help with next weeks effort. This is a very important initiative for our cities neighborhoods and I would hope all willing and able will turn out to give a little time to make Batavia a little greener and cleaner. As you may or may not know, New Hope Church was involved and provided volunteers as well. It was a terrific turn out, more than we could have hoped for. Seeing the residents of that neighborhood coming out with their children to help was reassuring. It appeared as though our efforts were appreciated and may inspire them to continue to make their neighborhood more aesthetically pleasing. This will be an ongoing effort throughout the coming months, and maybe even years to come. New Hope Church will be working with us or we with them, however you want to look at it. Since it will be executed on a strictly volunteer basis we are counting on the residents of Batavia for help. Everyone has something to offer. For those who want to be a part of this effort but really don't have a lot of time to spare, they can donate money, product or both. We have someone donating yard signs. A kind of "Helping Hands Was Here" sort of sign to be moved from place to place. We have people donating the use of trailers to haul garbage and debris away. There are those who are paying the fees to where the garbage and debris are going. Some are donating tools to rake yards and sweep streets, gloves and garbage bags to pick up and bag garbage and yard waste. For a time, Julie and I are going to bring our rolling kitchen out to prepare donated food for the volunteers. What we need the most are able bodies. We had such a great turnout on our first run but we don't want to see people burn out. And, those who donated trailers won't be able to offer them up every Saturday. If there are others who have trailers and willing to donate we certainly could use them. I have a hitch on my truck. Next week we will be working Jackson, Highland and Liberty Streets. We need volunteers. We need equipment. Rakes, brooms, yard waste and garbage bags, gloves, mowers, weed eaters, hauling trailers, anything that can be deemed yard care equipment. We need food. Hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, chips, condiments, bottled water, propane. Anything anyone wants to donate. It's a community effort and no one's donation is too great or too small. Deb Pappalardo If anyone wants to know what he or she can do to be a part of this effort please call New Hope Church at 585-343-2997 or email Barb Toal at BTCSdepot@aol.com.
