Questions about state's discipline of doctors, four arrested in multiple Niskayuna stabbing, huge number of apps for Schenectady teaching positions, wild boarpocalypse stalled
Even though the number of doctors in the state has increased over the last 20 years -- and the number of complaints have also increase -- the rate at which the state has issued the most severe disciplinary actions against doctors has decreased. [TU]
Question now circulating as municipalities in the state face even more difficult financial circumstances: should the state allow cities to declare bankruptcy, or have them taken over by a control board? [TU]
New York didn't ask the EPA to do testing for dioxins following the recent large fire at an electrical equipment recycler in Columbia County -- but Massachusetts did. [TU]
Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that allows the Albany County jail to house inmates from other states as a way of generating revenue. [TU]
The attorney for Annie George -- the woman accused of keeping an illegal immigrant from India at the Llenroc mansion in Rexford as a servant -- alleges the Indian woman is cooperating with federal prosecutors in an attempt to get legal residency in the United States. [AP/Saratogian]
The average rent in the Capital Region was up almost 7 percent over the last six months, according to figures from a consulting group. [TU]
The search for an Alplaus man who allegedly threatened someone with a gun following a domestic dispute early Sunday morning involved Glenville police, the Schenectady police SWAT team, State Police, and eleven hours (map). There was a report of the man returning to the house, prompting the SWAT team surround the house for hours -- but they didn't find him inside. The man was later nabbed in Ballston. [Daily Gazette] [WNYT] [TU] [Fox23]
Niskayuna police say four 18-year-old have been arrested for allegedly being involving with the stabbing of three teens at a park last week. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
One of the Troy teens involved in last summer's brawl in Elmwood Cemetery (he just got out of jail last month)was arrested by Albany police this weekend after a fight in which he's alleged to have punched a person in the face and had a knife (map). [TU]
Saratoga police say a man was arrested for allegedly driving the wrong way up Caroline Street early Saturday morning while intoxicated, scattering people, hitting cars, and sending debris flying into Putnam Market. [Saratogian]
Said a Glenville father of how he identified one of the people who allegedly stole his kids' bikes: "I identified the one young man by his underwear. Because his pans were so low, when he was running away all I saw were his yellow boxers as he ran away. I said 'Yep, that's him, fanny man." [WNYT]
Cohoes firefighters put out a deck fire Sunday night at an apartment where no one was home. (Cohoes officials have said there have been suspicious fires lately.) [TU]
Neil Breslin and Shawn Morse are in a competition to show who wants an increase in the minimum wage more. [State of Politics]
With widening the Northway off the table, state transportation planners and Saratoga County business leaders are looking for other ways to ease increasing traffic. [Saratogian]
The Schenectady school district had 10 open teaching positions -- and got 1,700 applications. [YNN]
Glenville is looking to strengthen its building codes in order to crack down on neglected properties. [Daily Gazette]
A 170-year-old farm house in Clifton Park was knocked down for a housing development -- and historic preservationists say they were left out of the planning process. [TU]
The saga of the Winans-Crippen House in Saratoga Springs continues: a preservation group is trying to get a court order so its architect or engineer can inspect the building. (Short background: the house is historic, the owner says it's too far gone to save in any way that will work out financially. This has been going on for years.) [Saratogian]
The developer building the City Station project in Troy has unveiled plans for the next phase. [TU]
This is what 400 pounds of pot plants looks like. [Daily Gazette]
Daily Gazette headline: "Drugs at Bisco, other 'dubstep' scenes uncontrolled, recipe for tragedies." (We're guessing you could substitute a new festival name and new style of music in that headline every ten years or so.) [Daily Gazette]
Wild boar have apparently not taken over the Adirondacks, yet. [TU]
The switch to digital could doom many small movie theaters, especially in places like the Adirondacks. [TU]
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Comments
"Question now circulating as municipalities in the state face even more difficult financial circumstances: should the state allow cities to declare bankruptcy, or have them taken over by a control board? [TU]"
I think the fundamental question here for all of us is, are cities going to be left to deal with their fiscal problems on their own, in isolation, or do we all share in cities' problems and in the solutions?
... said Bob on Aug 20, 2012 at 10:22 AM | link
To answer Bob's question, I feel that the region as a whole must be held responsible for saving our region's cities. At the risk of riling up the city/suburban partisans, the social-economic issues holding back our cities takes root in the division of wealth between the suburbs and the cities, and therefore must be countered with regional solutions, not by blaming the cities (not that there isn't fault to be shared with many of our cities policies, which also exacerbate their current/future fiscal picture).
As a resident of the City of Albany, I find it particular onerous that I must pay signifcant taxes towards the pensions of employees or retired employees who do not even live in the city ($45 million or a third of Albany's budget left the city) and these pension payments are only going to ballon in the future. I don't know if there is a clear solution to this, beyond forcing all employees to live in the City, but when 33 cents of every dollar I contribute in taxes leaves the City, how can I expect my leaders to successfully address all of the problems.
Again no easy solutions, however, those who don't feel the suburbs are to blame or should be held responsible in any of the proposed solutions, all I can say is watch and learn from what the cities do or don't do, because the suburbs are on a similar trajectory. You can already see with some of the older inner-rung suburbs like Colonie and Bethelham, that they are starting to feel subjected to the same pensions obligations as the cities, forcing them to cut at programs and services in order to keep up. This will only grow worse, and the region can only sprawl so far north (watch out Clifton Park), as we continue to seek low tax havens, only to duplicate services and infrastructure and find ourselves with too much to maintain/pension costs to contribute towards = higher and higher taxes.
... said Rich on Aug 20, 2012 at 2:50 PM | link
A frequent topic on this site and others is the corruption of Albany City/County government and their poor handling of pressing issues. Instead of blaming suburbia, what if we started holding our own politicians to a higher standard?
Wouldn't it be easier to fix the rampant corruption and mismanagement than implement some scheme where we force people to live where they work?
... said Jay on Aug 20, 2012 at 4:27 PM | link