daniel.jones's blog

Well folks, we have another Mall fiasco (they just don't stop), the Mall Maiteniance Association (MMA) is creating massive shenangins over next to nothing again.  This time though, the basis of their decision is laughable.  They want to remove the City's representative, Mr. Tim Paine from the committee for being "disruptive" and "questioning the integrity of the minutes".  Excuse me while I nearly fall of my chair laughing, is this serious? 

This all must be a major joke that the MMA is playing on us via the media, I mean honestly, normally you have to have an actually legitamte reason to remove someone from a committee, such as assault or not showing up to meetings.  Truly they have creativity than this.

This action is both funny and an incredibly frightening misuse of power on behalf of Dr. Mitchell Chess, who has shown his intentions by attemtping to circumvent Jason Molino, the City Manager, in the past.   He now wants to have Tim Paine removed from the committee because he doesn't agree with them and wants accurate minutes, how on earth is this so terrible?  If the MMA had nothing to hide, then they would have no objection to the tape recordings of their meetings and if they really cared about City input, they wouldn't object to the representative from the commmittee, well, giving input. 

Mr. Paine is not the representative on behalf of those in power at the MMA, he is the City's representative, he exists in that capacity to give the input of the people, not the powerful.  He is also there to make sure that the MMA is telling the truth when it comes to its matters that involve the city.  Perhaps the MMA isn't being totally forthcoming?

The real question, to me at least, is this, what is the MMA hiding?  I have much respect for Dr. Chess, its chairman, because of his education and his running a great service for the community, but doesn't this make you wonder what exactly is really going on?  Could this be why he tried to enlist the city council to help him bypass negiotiating with Jason Molino?

Perhaps the MMA could attempt to remove him for a more credible reason, such as the color of his shirt or the brand of sneakers he wears.  I realize that no one is perfect and I don't want to sound like I'm questioning anyone's character....but I have to wonder if this group is living in the same world that the rest of us are.

The Republican Party has been taken over by a bunch of kooks"-Barry Goldwater.

Since I was a small child I remember watching with a certain awe the political audacity and committment to which Western New Yorkers, especially in my home county of Genesee, committed themselves to not only political candidates but their ideas as well. Everywhere I went growing up, whether it was in Dunkin Donuts or the grocery store everyone had an opinion around election time. No matter who you were for, you were for someone and you had an opinion on everyone.

Why then, is this predominantly Republican county now registering more Democrats than Republicans? Why are even Republicans coming in our small, rural county committee's office asking for Obama/Biden, Mesi and Kryzan signs?

Perhaps their just not falling for the same old tired talking points anymore, maybe they realize what an aged Barry Goldwater said during the rise of the Religious Right (see above quote)......

We have two major competitive races in our county, one for State Senate and one for Congress. In our State Senate race we have a 20+ year incumbent Erie County legislator, a legislator who was also the biggest proponent of the policies of the Joel Giambra administration. These policies caused a bit of a crisis because Erie County, well, see, they ran out of money. He often quips that he "never voted for a tax increase,". The record shows this is true, however, he bullied those same policies through the Erie County Legislature that caused a fiscal collapse and constituted the need for massive tax increases. What Ranzenhofer is saying, in short, is this...."I caused the problem but I don't want a solution,". Nice, real nice.

On the other hand, in our Congressional race, we have Christopher J. Lee. A nice fellow and a businessman, it's true that his company does have some factories here in Western New York. Even so, his company did have manufacturing facilities in China, a fact that he tried to hide numerous times before being confronted on it during a debate, when finally being backed into a wall, Lee called it a "business policy" with something about assembling being done in China but not manufacturing. Disingenuous much? Politics of parsing on overdrive.

It finally seems that even in a deep red county like Genesee County, people are starting to pull the Democratic lever despite being traditionally Republican for years, that same opinionated attitude may very well be the downfall of a once very dominant rural Western New York Republican base.

Maybe its health care, maybe its education, maybe its the war in Iraq, maybe its the economy.

Or maybe, just maybe, the good and normally Republican voters in Genesee County have had it with the state of their party, because it's been "taken over by a bunch of kooks,"

I attended a candidates forum in Amherst tonight, it was well attended (I would say about 50 people or so) and featured many candidates, including those seeking to represent Genesee County in Congress and the State Senate. Here's the Rundown:

Alice Kryzan: Check

 Joe Mesi: Check

 Mike Ranzenhofer: Check

 Chris Lee: MIA

I can say that Chris Lee's absence did not play well among the crowd tonight. I overheard one woman, who said that she's a life-long Republican, say that she's voting for Kryzan because she felt that Lee didn't care about her vote enough to show up....ouch.....

 I give full credit to the rest of the candidates, even Mike Ranzenhofer (whom I've been very critical of) for at least showing up, without getting into the merits of their issues, they at least came to present themselves. Where in the world is Christopher Lee? *Crickets Chirp*

As Philip alluded to yesterday (http://thebatavian.com/blogs/philipanselmo/listening-america-wednesday), the Genesee County Young Democrats and the Albany Project will be co-hosting a 'Listening to America Meeting' on Wednesday, July 23rd at 7:30 PM at the Batavia City Center.  These meetings are part of the Obama campaign's and the Democratic Party's national strategy of letting grassroots supporters or potential grassroots supporters of Senator Obama and the Democratic party have input on what our foucs should be in the upcoming campaign. 

This is a free event and all are welcome to attend!

Over the past few months, I have seen the actions that this Council has taken, and unfortunately, that some council members have tried to overturn, the actions being consolidation and its relation to Batavia's long term fiscal health, the preserving of our great cultural heritage and who an increased tax burden would hurt the most. Unfortunately, Bill Cox, Bob Bialkowski and Sam Barone have been obstructionists to the general progress that this Council is trying to create Batavia.

Firstly, I am a very proud Batavian, I have lived here for almost 20 years now, which is almost my entire life. I have been blessed to live in this area, an area rich with educational opportunities due to excellent schools, great youth programs and, most importantly, people of compassion and responsibility, thats what I believe Batavia's greatest asset is, its people. However, I believe that all of that has come under attack by an overriding objection to change, this objection being irrational and irresponsible at its core, the change being consolidation. Although it is true I was originally opposed to consolidation, I believe that Batavia would not be able to survive if we didn't make large scale to changes to the way that we operate our government, unfortunately that meant making tough choices. Those tough choices lead to the accepting of a grant that would consolidate our dispatch services. I still don't believe in a perfect world that we would have to consolidate those services, however, the very fabric of our fiscal health and the maintenance of our cultural heritage was at risk. So we did what needed to be done in order to make sure that we can continue to operate in the short term and not have a large amount of debt in the long term.

On the same note, the council worked hard to make other tough budgetary decisions this year, these decisions reduced an increase in the tax levy from roughly 24 percent to roughly 8 percent. Those may be just numbers to some, to others its the difference between paying for their medicine or for their groceries. In the end, its the struggling middle and lower-middle class that ends up stomaching such a large tax burden. In the long run, the consolation is the difference between having years of saddled debt upon the City for future generations or having a fiscally clear future.

Unfortunately, some, such as Mr. Barone, Mr. Cox and Mr. Bialkowski have taken it upon themselves to reverse those decisions to create a culture of political mudslinging to overtake council, as was seen tonight by the attempt to remove the City Attorney from proceedings of meetings (which costs roughly 1600 dollars per year), it has also been seen by the attempts to cut out small and already agreed upon expenditures, such as the cutting out of 500 dollars in order to cancel parades and other events. It appears that it is the goal of certain councilmen to simply grandstand and make a large issue out of very small expenditures for their own political benefit, instead of working hard to make the lives of Batavians better and preserve our great cultural heritage.

My question to Mr. Cox, Mr. Bialkowski and Mr. Barone is simple, what offends you about us?

Why do you, Mr. Cox, Mr. Bialkowski and Mr. Barone find working people so offensive? As to not leave us, the middle and lower class, a bit of relief on our tax or rent bill in the short run and fiscal health in the long run.

Why do you, Mr. Cox, Mr. Bialkowski and Mr. Barone find young people so offensive? As to not leave us a city that is in good fiscal health, wanting us to pay off the debts of your proposed recklessness 20 years from now.

This Council worked very well and hard and across party lines to make a budget that addresses the needs of the hard working middle class people of Batavia and by consolidating provided a better long term fiscal situation for the young. I give all due credit to those council members, Mr. Mallow, Ms. Briggs, Ms. Clattenberg, Ms. Christian, Mr. Buckley and Mr. Ferrando, they are making Batavia a better place to live for all.

Perhaps some other council members, such as Mr. Cox, Mr. Bialkowski and Mr. Barone should stop paying lip service to the taxpayers and renters they swear to protect and start actually working for them instead of making a political show out of the City Council.

On Saturday Jon Powers, the endorsed Congressional Candidate in the 26th Congressional District (which includes all of Genesee County) came out to Batavia to rally supporters and meet voters to help spread his positive message of change and real leadership.

He arrived at Main Street Coffee to meet an enthusiastic and fired up group of supporters.  Jon and his field director, Sara Gordon, gave us a quick rundown on canvassing (door-knocking) and on how to engage voters and sent us out into the field.

(Powers and Field Director Sara Gordon at Main Street Coffee)

Powers, an Iraq war veteran, didn't just campaign though.  With his combat boots laced up he entered a neighborhood where he met up with Council President Charlie Mallow and Councilpeople Rosemary Christian and Sam Barone along with other community volunteers that were helping clean up a portion of the city and began helping out.  In his clean white polo shirt he grabbed a rake and began raking branches and helping move bags.  Many who came out were impressed with the young veteran and teacher.  Many were impressed with his style and attitude.  I had the pleasure of spending this time with Jon, it was remarkable to see how people seemed to swarm around him, listening to him talk about his plans and his vision for our district and our country.

(Powers chats with Councilwoman Rosemary Christian at a Neighborhood clean-up)

After that he was off to Warsaw to fire up more supporters to canvass for him in Wyoming County and then was back at Batavia for a night at the American Legion.

One thing's for sure, Jon Powers isn't afraid to do the hard work of making a difference for our district. 

Thats what's going to win him this race.

The Young Democrats will continue its Voter Registration drive tommorow at Genesee Community College (in the forum).  If your 18, a citizen and aren't registered to vote (or have moved since you last registered) come on out now so you can register in time to vote in the general election.  Although the Democrats are sponsering the event, we will not discriminate our registration on the basis of desire to register as an Independent or a Republican....we just want to see as many people registered (and voting!) as possible!

I will be there all day tommorow, so if your aren't registered to vote, come on out!  And even if you are, come say hi, we always love the company.

The Genesee County Young Democrats will be running a voter registration table at Genesee Community College (in the forum) on May 7th and 8th from Noon to 8pm.

There is still time to register to vote in the General Election, as Voter Registration forms typically take 30 days to process. For those already registered to vote, becoming registered or too young to be registered. as I was once involved but too young to vote myself, we will also have information on how to get involved in the Young Democrats and in the local political scene from the Democratic end.

However, even if your not interested in becoming actively involved in politics we will, regardless of party affiliation, help you become a registered voter none the less. See you on the 7th and 8th!