2011 - An Interesting Year In East Greenbush

2012 is almost upon us, once again giving us time to reflect on the past year and ready ourselves for the future.

Let's first offer a heartfelt thanks to Rick McCabe for his many dedicated years of service to East Greenbush. Rick's leadership and vision have brought the Town far during his tenure. Well done, Mr. Supervisor!

Let's also extend sincere congratulations to incoming Town Supervisor, Keith Langley.  May wisdom, patience and prudence be your constant companions throughout your service to East Greenbush.

Congratulations and the same wishes for wisdom, patience and prudence to our re-elected officials: Town Clerk Linda Kennedy, Receiver of Taxes Toni Murphy, Councilperson Phil Malone, Councilperson Sue Mangold and Town Justice Kevin Engel.

2011 was an interesting year in East Greenbush, to say the least.  Following is a small listing of what has been accomplished this past year.  By no means is it all-inclusive. 

• Standing Room Only attendance at Town Board Meetings;
• Ethics Board developing a draft revision of the Town Ethics Law and accompanying guidelines;
• A three-year contract for audits of the Town's Financial Statements commissioned by the Town Board;
• Progress towards developing a Community Amenities Enhancement Strategy;
• Adoption of Town Organization Charts, a revised Procurement Policy and Monthly Departmental Reporting Procedures and Reports;
• Consolidation of the Youth Commission and the Parks Task Force into a Youth Department/Parks Task Force;
• An audit of East Greenbush by the NYS Office of the State Comptroller;
• Groundbreaking and construction of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) expansion and FedEx Distribution Center;
• Considerable progress on the Couse Corners Roundabout;
• Twenty (20) Year Water Supply Agreement with the City of Troy and City of Rensselaer;
• A 2012 Budget with a small tax increase, but with reserves to pay down the inter-fund borrowings;
• Residential development projects moving forward again, Carver Court, Witbeck, Michaels View, and Forreste Point II will add to our tax base;
• Smaller scale commercial developments, such as the Mavis expansion, construction of a new Dunkin Donuts (and the reported sale of the old location), the reported sale of the former gas station at 9/20 & 4/40, the reported sale of the former Teagan's, the reported interest in the 9/20 McDonalds, all bode well for East Greenbush;
• Food drives for local food pantries and clothing and toy collection drives for CoNCERNS-U and to aid those ravaged by fires throughout the year.

Let's build on these good things that have been accomplished and focus on the future as we enter 2012.  Admittedly we may not all agree on what "the good things" are. 

The critical thing is that East Greenbush continues to move forward ... maybe too quickly for some and not quickly enough for others. 

I'd like to see the residents of East Greenbush leave past differences in the past and support Supervisor Langley and the Town Board.  I'm not saying we'll all agree with everything they do.  Nor am I saying that we should blindly follow without constructive criticism and questioning - the operative term being constructive.  Remember, regardless of our political preferences, leanings or affiliations, or theirs, they are elected to represent us all.  In doing so, we must hope and trust that they do what they believe is best for the Town.

Bismark is quoted as saying "Politics is the art of the possible."  Many have said that "politics is the art of compromise", where each gives up part of his or her "demands" in an effort to move forward.  We see what the inability to compromise does in Washington - let's not have that here in East Greenbush.  Crisis management does not mean managing to turn everything onto a crisis.  Let's all focus on the common ground or goal rather than on the differences.  This may be overly optimistic, but I'd like to see every vote of the Town Board be unanimous and the result of constructive discussion, deliberation and, if need be, compromise.

As for the various blogs, name-calling, innuendo and mudslinging do nothing to move the Town forward, but rather tar it with a hateful brush. One can make the same point without resorting to these tactics. I've said before - write what you think but think before you write.  Keep things civil.  I'd much prefer to see a thoughtful dialog on the real issues facing this Town. Hopefully I'm not in the minority.

Today is New Year's Eve, which calls to mind Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians welcoming the New Year with Auld Lang Syne. Recall the line "we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne." Let's do just that!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Pete Stenson

2012 Organizational Meeting

The Town Board of the Town of East Greenbush has scheduled the 2012 organizational meeting for Monday, January 2, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.

The meeting will be held at the Town Hall, 225 Columbia Turnpike.

http://eastgreenbush.org/news/425-2012-organizational-meeting

Town Board Special Meeting

The Town Board of the Town of East Greenbush has scheduled a Special Meeting for Tuesday, December 27 at 5:00 p.m. regarding the Witbeck PDD and a personnel matter.


http://eastgreenbush.org/downloads/doc_download/755-proposed-witbeck-pdd

Merry Christmas

 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Remember the true meaning of Christmas as you celebrate and enjoy the company of your family and friends.

EG Talks 

The GOP's Payroll Tax Fiasco - UPDATE

The House Backs Down

NY Times Editorial

December 22, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/opinion/the-house-backs-down-on-the-payroll-tax-cut.html

How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama?
Wall Street Journal Editorial
DECEMBER 22, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577110573867064702.html

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.

Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter, although he's spent most of his Presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013. This should be impossible.

House Republicans yesterday voted down the Senate's two-month extension of the two-percentage-point payroll tax holiday to 4.2% from 6.2%. They say the short extension makes no economic sense, but then neither does a one-year extension. No employer is going to hire a worker based on such a small and temporary decrease in employment costs, as this year's tax holiday has demonstrated. The entire exercise is political, but Republicans have thoroughly botched the politics.

Their first mistake was adopting the President's language that he is proposing a tax cut rather than calling it a temporary tax holiday. People will understand the difference—and discount the benefit.

Republicans also failed to put together a unified House and Senate strategy. The House passed a one-year extension last week that included spending cuts to offset the $120 billion or so in lost revenue, such as a one-year freeze on raises for federal employees. Then Mr. McConnell agreed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the two-month extension financed by higher fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (meaning on mortgage borrowers), among other things. It passed with 89 votes and all but seven Republicans.

Senate Republicans say Mr. Boehner had signed off on the two-month extension, but House Members revolted over the weekend and so the Speaker flipped within 24 hours. Mr. Boehner is now demanding that Mr. Reid name conferees for a House-Senate conference on the payroll tax bills. But Mr. Reid and the White House are having too much fun blaming Republicans for "raising taxes on the middle class" as of January 1. Don't be surprised if they stretch this out to the State of the Union, when Mr. Obama will have a national audience to capture the tax issue.

If Republicans didn't want to extend the payroll tax cut on the merits, then they should have put together a strategy and the arguments for defeating it and explained why.

But if they knew they would eventually pass it, as most of them surely believed, then they had one of two choices. Either pass it quickly and at least take some political credit for it.

Or agree on a strategy to get something in return for passing it, which would mean focusing on a couple of popular policies that would put Mr. Obama and Democrats on the political spot. They finally did that last week by attaching a provision that requires Mr. Obama to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, and the President grumbled but has agreed to sign it.

But now Republicans are drowning out that victory in the sounds of their circular firing squad. Already four GOP Senators have rejected the House position, and the political rout will only get worse.

One reason for the revolt of House backbenchers is the accumulated frustration over a year of political disappointment. Their high point was the Paul Ryan budget in the spring that set the terms of debate and forced Mr. Obama to adopt at least the rhetoric of budget reform and spending cuts.

But then Messrs. Boehner and McConnell were gulled into going behind closed doors with the President, who dragged out negotiations and later emerged to sandbag them with his blame-the-GOP and soak-the-rich re-election strategy. Any difference between the parties on taxes and spending has been blurred in the interim.

After a year of the tea party House, Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats have had to make no major policy concessions beyond extending the Bush tax rates for two years. Mr. Obama is in a stronger re-election position today than he was a year ago, and the chances of Mr. McConnell becoming Majority Leader in 2013 are declining.

***

At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly. Then go home and return in January with a united House-Senate strategy that forces Democrats to make specific policy choices that highlight the differences between the parties on spending, taxes and regulation. Wisconsin freshman Senator Ron Johnson has been floating a useful agenda for such a strategy. The alternative is more chaotic retreat and the return of all-Democratic rule.

= = = = =

Pete Stenson

Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee Meeting

Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee Meeting

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 12:27 PM PST

The Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee has scheduled a meeting for Monday, December 12, 2011 at 7:00 PM.

The meeting will be held in the Community Room at Town Hall and is open to the public.

New items on the Town's web site:

Holiday Homes Contest
http://eastgreenbush.org/news/418-holiday-homes-contest

Holiday Tree Lighting!
http://eastgreenbush.org/news/417-holiday-tree-lighting

Appliance Amnesty Week
http://eastgreenbush.org/news/416-appliance-amnesty-week