Items tagged with 'Ron Canestrari'
The Capital Region's legislative districts, before and after the proposed new lines
Update: Andrew Cuomo says he'll veto the new lines, which probably means negotiations and adjustments. [AP/WSJ]
____
The task force in charge of drawing new districts for the state Senate and Assembly released its slate of proposed maps this week. As this is New York State politics, there was much criticism. And we'll get to some of that in a bit.
The Capital Region could potentially end up being affected by a lot by the proposed new district lines. Most significantly, the task force is proposing to add a new Senate district that would cover the southwest corner of the area. But there are also shifts in the city of Albany, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, and Troy.
Reading about all this, we found it kind of hard to keep all the old and new maps straight. So we've we've put together before-and-after versions of the Capital Region's legislative districts -- the current districts side by side with the proposed new lines.
Citizens of the Capital Region, meet what could be your new gerrymanders...
Sights and sounds from Occupy Albany, and a focus on Cuomo
Here's a nice video from Occupy Albany by Bhawin Suchak. It give you a sense of the scene there. (It's worth mentioning the piece is sympathetic to the cause. There's a whole thread here about how orgs and social movements are now creating media coverage of themselves -- but we'll leave that to political scientists and media theorists.) And here's a new photoset from Sunday by Timothy Raab.
Andrew Cuomo
One of the apparent results of the stories circulating that Andrew Cuomo wanted the police to arrest the Occupy Albany protesters for violating park curfew is that Cuomo is emerging as a/one focus of the protest (or, at least, the coverage of the protest -- the media get bored when the story doesn't change). As Jimmy Vielkind asked in a headline this morning: "Is Occupy Albany about Cuomo? Is it now?" There's already been a "Cuomoville" sign (historical context). [Gotham Gazette] [TU]
Ron Canestrari said today that pressure for extending the Millionaire's Tax has been increasing among state politicians -- in part because of the Occupy movements. [State of Politics]
One in five living in poverty in Albany, Schdy, Troy; pressure on Murphy from all sides, state running out of cash, North Greenbush kid gets lead role on Broadway
New York State's poverty rate is 14 percent, according to a report from the New York State Community Action Association. More than 20 percent of the people in Albany, Schenectady and Troy live in poverty. And about one third of children in those cities live in poverty. Of the four core Capital Region counties, Saratoga had the lowest poverty rate at 6.9 percent. The poverty line for a family of four is $22,000. [NYSCAA] [Daily Gazette $] [TU] [Troy Record] [YNN]
As David Paterson's World Turns The governor said yesterday that he did not try to convince Sherr-una Booker to drop her domestic violence case against David Johnson. Paterson also said Kirsten Gillibrand threw him under the bus when she said he should resign if the allegations against him turn out to be true. Also yesterday: Marissa Shorenstein, Paterson's press secretary, resigned. "Due to the circumstances that have led to my unwitting involvement in recent news stories, I can no longer do my job effectively," she wrote in her resignation statement. Translation: I didn't know what Paterson might really have been trying to do when he told me to get in touch with Sherr-una Booker. [AP/YNN] [Fox23] [NYT] [Daily Politics] [NYT March 1]
Raucci Trial Day 12 Deborah Gray testified that her family's house and cars were vandalized on multiple occasions after Steven Raucci accused her of writing an anonymous letter to unions officials complaining about his leadership. Gray also testified that a former friend told her that Raucci was going to "take care of things" after the former friend told Raucci about her friends with a former partner (an unexploded device was later found at the former partner's house). A former co-worker of Raucci also testified that his vehicles were vandalized after he filed a sexual harassment claim after Raucci played the "man game" with him. [TU] [Daily Gazette $] [WTEN] [YNN]
Ron Canestrari says talk of a cancelled racing season at Saratoga is a pressure ploy by NYRA. Roy McDonald and Tony Jordan have written a letter to David Paterson urging to review the already-existing bids for the Aqueduct racino (money from that deal was going to prop up racing in the state). [WTEN] [Saratogian]
The Schenectady man accused of killing two dogs and torturing another has pleaded guilty. The plea deal includes two years in prison. [YNN] [Daily Gazette $]
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?