My Regular Friday Night Thing

Maybe I'll see you out there.

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Steve Minarik Versus Everyone

Before I begin my tirade concerning Monroe County/New York State Republican Chairman Steve Minarik, I want to be clear on the nature of my politics and the role they play in this blog. I'm a Democrat. There, I've said it. And now, I hope with some of you, the healing can now begin.

However, this blog will attempt to stay away from partisan talking points that we regularly see in so many blogs that are out and about today. I like to focus on what I see that helps New Yorkers, specifically Rochester. I will comment on things that Democrats do wrong, just as often as I do Republicans. I am watching the current city property tax squabble and as soon as I can make some sense out of it, I'm going to talk about. Right now, I'm not too sure those involved even understand what they're doing. So I want to be fair. I've even appointed an ombudsman, SR-71, who is a staunch independent, to keep watch over me and keep me in line. Maybe I can persuade him to post sometime...

But for now, Steve Minarik has decided to tap-dance into my crossfire. Mr. Minarik has made some comments in the past concerning the Democratic party that haven't been completely true. And you know what? That's fine. The party chairman's job is to raise a ruckus, get the troops fired up, and make the party some money. In so far as this is true, there is very little difference between Minarik and Howard Dean. Which is why I get a kick out of Minarik when he takes on Dean. It's like he's chasing his tail. A little cute, and a little pathetic.

But then he has to go and do it at the expense of New Yorkers. Minarik decided to make political hay when NYS AG Eliot Spitzer lost a case against Theodore Sihpol III, a former Bank of America broker. Minarik says:

"This jury of New Yorkers exposes Spitzer as a politician whose ambition has steamrolled too many hardworking men and women of our state," Gov. George Pataki's hand-picked party leader added. "Looks like the so-called Sheriff of Wall Street had a gun full of blanks."

the article continues,

According to an earlier missive from the GOP leader, Spitzer's "reckless efforts to land himself on the front page" are "making it harder to do business and create jobs in New York."

Which on the whole is such crap. Spitzer has received numerous settlements and guilty pleas since he began his enforcement of laws upon Wall Street. The very thought that enforcing the law hurts business in this state is only true if you are hoping that your state can attract more criminals. In many national magazines that focus on business, Spitzer is lauded for enforcing the rules and keeping people honest. Remember, there are a vast number of business on Wall Street that are honest and are put at a disadvantage when dishonest firms break the rules. That isn't how you run an efficient market. An efficient market has rules, and those rules require enforcement. It is also important to note that in this case, Spitzer might have done some good regardless of not getting a conviction.

Spitzer contended in Sihpol's case that buying or selling after hours, known as late trading, was a crime because it diluted the return of fund members who were not granted the same advantage.

Sihpol's lawyers argued that late trading was legal and that their client never intended to commit a crime.

Regardless of the court cases outcome, I'm fairly certain the participants in that mutual fund weren't too happy with what was going on. Those fees on his transactions end up coming out of the pockets of the fund members as a whole, and the kind of activity Sihpol was going through would normally get you blacklisted from a fund.

Anyway, back to Steve Minarik. I don't care about him trying to get into the headlines to help his party out. That's fine. But lambasting Spitzer for a loss after all the great results he's had, is a lot like bashing Tom Brady for throwing a bad pass in last years Superbowl. My advice to Minarik? Put New York before your party. Spitzer is bound to lose a few cases. By trying to beat Spitzer up, Minarik ends up looking like an hyper-critical idiot for demeaning someone who has achieved something greater than he ever could.

Promoting the Community or Oneself?

I was just editing the links to left with the intention of adding links to both the City of Rochester's Homepage and Monroe County's Homepage. The City's page was busy, but chocked full of links and content promoting the area. The one drawback I saw was that there was no link to the County's page. I had hoped there would be better synergy between the two competing entities. I expected better from the Mayor's people. So I googled the Monroe County site and surfed over.

You have got to be kidding me.

What I found was a site that put County Executive Maggie Brooks squarely in the spotlight. I was shocked. I thought maybe it's a coincidence that the 4 top features concerned Brooks, but then I scrolled down...

Brooks,County Officials Announce GPS Monitoring Program For Sex Offenders
Brooks Receives Influential Women Award
Brooks and Dinolfo Honor Local Mind Team Winners
Brooks Announces Winners Of 2005 Stop DWI Poster Contest
Brooks and Thunderbirds Greet Children At Golisano Children's Hospital
Brooks Joins Bausch & Lomb In Expansion Announcement
Groundbreaking Ceremony on New African Elephant Exhibit
Brooks Announces New Airport Valet Service
Brooks Announces Airport Passenger Traffic For April
Brooks and Johnson Proclaim "Salvation Army Week"
Brooks Welcomes Renaissance Square Design Architect Moshe Safdie
Brooks Announces Technology Improvement Strategy

At least they dropped in the entry about the elephants. That's nice, you know, for the kids...

Honestly, this list of "Monroe County News" is undoctored and placed in order without editing or omission. I couldn't invent something this stupid. What kind of crass self-promotion is this? I think County Executive Brooks has done a standout job since she was elected. And her close working relationship with her former opponent Mayor Johnson is commendable. However, what is up with the County website? How is this different from a campaign website?

I thought the idea was to use the taxpayers' money to promote the county, not ones career.

Needless to say, until the content changes to something dealing more with our area, I will not be linking to it.

Stems Cells: A No-Brainer for Rochester

I understand that many people have a moral problem with using embryonic stem cells to research ways to end disease and suffering. What I don't understand is that they don't also have a problem with these embryos already having been frozen and tucked away indefinitely. How is that okay?

Regardless of all that, The Rump Group has called for New York State to invest $300 million over 2 years into embryonic stem cell research. (If you are unfamiliar with The Rump Group, I encourage you to click the link to their site over on the left.) The urging by the business leader coalition is not only smart for New York and Rochester; it is also making it plainly obvious that the federal policy is wrong-headed, unpopular, and hurtful.

The most important factor here is that many states are aware that this new technology will eventually be developed somewhere, by someone, who will be very well rewarded for their advances in medicine. Just because the federal government closes its doors to technology, does not make the idea go away; it does not prevent others from taking the initiative.

So given the amount of research that goes on here in Rochester, especially at Strong Hospital, it's a great policy to seize upon and encourage. The benefits to the community are potentially great, but the possible rewards for humanity are unimaginable.

If Albany can be persuaded, this could open Rochester up to be the epicenter of a whole new era in medical research and treatment.

Rochester's Influential Women in Business

The Rochester Business Journal recognized 20 business and community leaders as Rochester's Influential Women at a luncheon yesterday. Follow the link for a list of the honorees.

Congratulations to all those awarded.

Only a Drill, Nothing Foreboding Here

Let's hope this doesn't mean they know something we don't.

What could possibly go wrong?

Updated!
I want to let it be known that I am a booster of the Fast Ferry. As a "young Rochesterian", I think that the Ferry is the kind of premiere project that the region should be investing in. It raises the profile of the region, lavishes us with free promotion (one Simon School professor estimated the total value of free advertising at $9 million. Of course, not all of it good.), and allows new avenues of entrepreneurial venture. Also, attractions like the Ferry help make an easier case for keeping young people here. With cheap Jet Blue flights to New York City, and a high speed ferry to Toronto, I'd say Rochester has unique links to two of the best cities on the eastern part of the continent, if not the world.

Things get muddled in the execution, of course. I'd like to forget about the whole ordeal with CATS, but they won't go away. Their sister company, Maplestar Development Co, doing their best imitation of a case of herpes is in a sweetheart deal to collect rents in the Port of Rochester over the next 40 years. Now I could rage against this and pound my tiny fists against my chest, but I won't.

These deals, as I understand it, are fairly common in private sector/public sector ventures. Sometimes they're smart, sometimes they aren't. This deal? Not smart. That's the way the game is played. Either you shake it off and get back in the game, or you take your ball and go home. It looks like the City of Rochester wants to even the score up now in the second half.

I'm good with it. The City should get all litigious on CATS' collective ass. I'm not a lawyer, and there are reasons why that's the case, but I'm skeptical if they'll actually be able to do anything about the deal. Just the same, I'm glad they're attempting to undo the deal.

As for the current deal with Bay Ferries Ltd., I'm inclined to believe this will work. We'll see if they pick up the option to buy the Ferry from the city in three years. The firm has operated fast ferries before. My wife has ridden on the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia/Bar Harbor, Maine ferry that they operate and she liked it. They know how to run a business without subsidy. And they have business savy outside of our region, illustrated by renaming the ferry The Cat despite our experience with CATS. We may bristle at the name because of the association, but the company has a strong brand name with their other ferries called The Cat. They want folks from outside of the region to know they're running this boat. Which also means, they want folks from outside of the region riding this boat. Which means, for me, there will be folks from outside of this region spending their money here.

Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and good inside?

Medicaid: The Cure for What Ails You (part one)

It's rare in politics where one issue can clearly be recognized as one in need of action. In the case of Medicaid in New York state, the issue demands attention. The program's effects on the tax burden of New Yorkers is oppressive, and the sting is especially sharp here around Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. Our areas' taxes are extremely high, which, when coupled with the economic doldrums our three areas face, paint an increasingly bleak future. Getting taxes down should be the number one priority, regardless of what end of the political spectrum you hail from. While some may favor reducing services, the first pass at reducing taxes should go to making the systems and programs more efficient. Which turns me back to Medicaid.

Currently, New York has the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita Medicaid costs (that means per person) of any state in the Union, more than doubling the national average. The Empire State also comes in first for overall Medicaid spending, beating out California by close to $10 billion dollars, with a grand total of $40.6 billion. State spending for Medicaid (separate from Federal and local spending) accounted for 25% of the New York State spending in 2003. I live in Monroe County, and we spent $831 million for Medicaid expenditures in 2003. This is more than the total spending of 8 other states!

The problem is compounded by the way the burden of costs are shouldered between the federal, state, and local governments. The Federal portion of Medicaid covers between 50% to 77% of the total bill, depending on the state in question. New York receives the lowest allowable percentage of 50%. The state also passes some of the costs onto the counties, one of 18 states that follows such a process. Again, our New York state leads the pack. Counties pay 18% of Medicaid costs, where in the next highest state, Iowa, counties pay only 11%. This "pass the buck" game also ends up saddling local governments with unfunded mandates over what care needs to be covered and what does not, regardless of the needs of the individual communities.

The problem is titanic, and it doesn't look any better from whichever side you consider it from. The growth of this program in New York state is far ahead of the per capita income growth. The unfunded mandates force us to cover optional services, which makes up 45% of the Medicaid budget.

The biggest problem of all is that this issue has not gotten any kind of attention. No taxpayer revolt. No profile raising event that forces it hard and strong on the radar of our representatives in Albany.

If there is one thing I do with my blogging, it will be to focus on this. There will be more posts to come.

Information for this entry has been gleaned from The Rump Group report Medicaid Inc. and The Democrat and Chronicle most recent Medicaid Reform Editorial Report

When we add jobs, you don't hear about it as much...

Bausch and Lomb will be adding 200 jobs in an expansion. This is a good thing, in more ways than just those 200 jobs. These little additions to the local economy add up in big ways. While I don't want to go off the economics deep-end on you, it is important to remember that job quantity is only one part of the employment function. Job quality plays in as well. In this case, B&L's move is helping to cement the goal of turning Rochester into a Tech Center.

So that's good. There's an old Irish saying, that the journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step.

My Regular Friday Night Thing

Maybe I'll see you out there.

Panel: Demolish Midtown Plaza

Not exactly the news you want to read. Sure, the thought that Midtown Plaza could have life breathed back into it falls somewhere on the reality meter between The Easter Bunny and Crop-Circles. However, even while preparing for the news, you can't quite brace yourself for the reality.

Midtown Plaza is not competitive and has outlived its usefulness to the community and employers, according to a panel of national experts that studied the downtown area.
The eight-member panel from the Urban Land Institute recommends demolishing the plaza except for the Euclid Building and the office tower.

So, yeah. The thought of exploding a Rochester fixture is not what you want to put on the poster for promoting a newly invigorated downtown. Keep in mind, I've had my fair share of history at this mall. Easily, this mall had the best set-up for the Christmas holidays, complete with that monorail that went painfully slow at a height that seemed like miles to a 12 year-old. Not to mention that as a 20 year-old, I'd make the 6 block hike to shop for groceries at the Wegman's operating out of it. Yes, a Wegman's in the city. While akin to stories concerning unicorns, a city Wegmans has the virtue of actually having existed.

Still, I'd much rather strike the match that torches this place than see a casino be installed in it. I'll touch on that some other time.

The article is not all gloom and doom. As a matter of fact, it highlights some of the positive things that are occurring in order to return downtown to some degree of its former glory.

The panel from the nonprofit educational and resource organization said Rochester is actually ahead of many of its sister cities and has started the work needed to reinvigorated the troubled area around Midtown.

For example, panel member David Slater said, there's "a lot of momentum going on" in the area of multifamily housing downtown.

Both young people and empty-nesters are moving downtown, and new projects are in the works. The city should have an eventual goal of 5,000 to 7,000 mixed-income rental and for-sale units in the center city.

I have a feeling that the Can't-Do Cattle will be neglecting this part of the article in their up-coming letters to the editor as they call for head of Mayor Johnson served up on some kind of platter forged from silver. It should be understood that stemming the exodus of downtown residents is phase one of turning the city center around. After that, it becomes easier to target the residents with the goods and services they require.

It's like some crazy "chicken or the egg" riddle playing out in Sim City on a massive scale. You can't get people to live downtown without jobs, services, and consumables. And you can't really get services and consumables (jobs to a lesser extent) without people living down there. It's the whole essence of why High-Falls has had such trouble. It needs area residents in order to prosper. The problem is that the whole housing development in the area never took off before the economy cooled. Anyway, this is getting tangential.

The bottom line is the findings that Midtown Plaza is terminal is really horrible. But if removing it places us in a better position to move forward, then we have to consider it. I have a feeling this isn't going to be the last hard choice that needs to be made.

Here goes nothing...

While I've long been tempted by the siren song of digital journals, I've resisted it based upon the fear of just adding my voice to the cacophony of pointless weblogs out there in cyberspace.

After much deliberation and consideration of my interests, as well as the realization I've been big on ideas and short on action, I've decided a blog is actually the least I could do. So here we are.

My intent is to examine, discuss, and highlight the political and economic news and situations of Greater Rochester, and in some cases, the Finger Lakes Region. Things will get political, rants will be written, and feelings may quite possibly be hurt. These are the risks we must be willing to take here at The Greater Rochester Weblog or, if we may add a new acronym to our lexicon, The GRW. However, I hope we can debate the issues without devolving into some kind of partisan crap-fight. Those are never pretty and they rarely do a bit of good, unless your initial intent is to use an issue to posture and score political brownie points. I'll try to clearly mark my attempts at that so that there is due warning of incoming crap.

If one is familiar with Rochester, then you know that there is a variety of issues that we all face everyday. The city schools, medicare, Renaissance Square, Kodak job cuts, the Fast Ferry, Finger Lakes wine country, crime, budget crises, and Paetec Park are just a few of the myriad topics available to us. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.


So now, on to the hard part: content....