tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post3712646530278338812..comments2023-09-01T03:29:34.801-04:00Comments on New Paltz Gadfly: Back in businessTPWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03264842579175313715noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-41181420182354512602010-02-26T18:26:40.859-05:002010-02-26T18:26:40.859-05:00You could be right about everything, except for ju...You could be right about everything, except for just that one thing... and it's a big one.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08638857501788863757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-9636257226026505522010-02-25T14:33:22.903-05:002010-02-25T14:33:22.903-05:00I invite any of you to find out, on your own, how ...I invite any of you to find out, on your own, how much the HVAC should actually cost -- a real school HVAC that meets SED code -- for the number of square feet and classrooms, and with the number of angles, with the mandated hourly fresh air exchange, and everything else that goes into estimating what the HVAC should actually cost, and then come to a school board meeting and show how much you can save over the estimates the board has gotten so far. That's the bottom line. Because no matter how snarky you get, or how pleased you are at the appearance of your own typing, you either know what you're talking about or you don't.<br /><br />I'm not suggesting anything I didn't do myself before I was on the board. Just before I joined they were embarked on an estimated half-million dollar septic replacement at Duzine, but I found out the engineering company hadn't examined the existing system to determine whether the problem was a cheap leak or a very expensive field failure -- all they knew is there was sewage coming to the surface. Ultimately the repairs were done for 1/4 the cost, and no new brownfield was created on limited school property, protecting unused areas for other purposes that may come up in the future. So, if you know something, say something. I'm still waiting. By the way, right after that, I was the swing vote in returning the savings to the taxpayers rather than putting it the reserves. Big waster of taxes that I am, callous about the plight of the suffering homeowner, which of course I can't relate to because I don't -- wait, check that, I do own a home, and I do pay property taxes.<br /><br />Was the administrative portion of the building designed to give office workers luxurious quarters, or was it designed to add $10 million in state aid to the reimbursement and end the annual $100,000 payment for the rented office? Do you know? Do you care? Which would have cost less annually to operate -- the larger renovated building with the new wing, or the current building with its roof, electricity, and HVAC issues dealt with? Do you know? Do you care?<br /><br />Since I'm on the board, it's my job to care, and then do everything I can to know. Your job is to crack wise and not give a shit about anything. Since I took an oath, and it actually means something to me, I don't have your luxury. But then comes the problem -- you get to decide, not the people who studied the actual situation at hand and the options for correcting it, and that's really not funny.<br /><br />There are two seats up in May. Come on down. Let's see you do this. It's not like the Village Board, Petey boy, where you had 20% of the vote and the other 80% came from people who had full access to the information germane to the vote. On this board you're just one of 13,000, and almost none of them know a thing beyond "do I want to give up money, or not?"<br /><br />Of course there's this one small problem, which is you're going to need more than 90 votes to get a seat, including if you're clever enough to actually vote for yourself.Steve Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18390751534821370764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-4767527552469363302010-02-23T21:05:53.268-05:002010-02-23T21:05:53.268-05:00C'mon, Stevie Boy, you're utterly frustrat...C'mon, Stevie Boy, you're utterly frustrated and feeling like your competence and expertise and great intelligence is underutilized, and you're sick and tired of us windbags and selfish,ignorant,lunatics. You know what you can do, you can cut us loose, that's what you can do. I'd actually vote "YES" to that, if someone would give me the chance.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08638857501788863757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-66037534953871017852010-02-23T15:43:02.055-05:002010-02-23T15:43:02.055-05:00I believe that I heard the superintendant admit, a...I believe that I heard the superintendant admit, at a school board meeting, that a repair/upgrade (i.e., the app. $10 million option) of the Middle School was eligible for aid. This was said to correct an earlier power point presentation that said that option was not eligible for aid. Perhaps not all of the school board members were present, or listening, at that meeting.<br /><br />Also, the plan for financing the $50 million renovation included using app. $4 million from, what is it called, the reserve fund.<br /><br />So, a repair/upgrade plan is eligible for aid and the reserve fund is still there. Repairs to the Middle School should not need to be paid for out of the operating budget.<br /><br />Since the school district is now fully sensitized to the difficulty that taxpayers are having, and has just finished telling taxpayers how insignificant a 1% increase in the tax levy would be (Just $13.99 a month!), perhaps this year it will discipline itself to live with a budget that features a 1% decrease in the tax levy (Just $13.99 a month!).<br /><br />What a warm gesture it would be to show solidarity and good faith with financially strapped citizens.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-84764210577855539462010-02-23T13:36:55.237-05:002010-02-23T13:36:55.237-05:00Yes, I'm on the board, for all the good that d...Yes, I'm on the board, for all the good that does me, the public, or the students, given that I'm nothing more than an unpaid advisor and "npblogger" and Martin McPhillips get to make the actual decisions.<br /><br />The reason the failure of the bond exacerbates the budget shortfall is because there are a lot of necessary repairs that now have to be done for 100 cents on the dollar out of the operating budget, the same budget that just got slashed, instead of out of the building budget, where Albany was prepared to pay 40% of the total in outside aid. <br /><br />That is not our choice -- that is the law of New York State. We explained over and over again that people who were interested in protecting the program during times of operating aid cuts should be the ones most in favor of getting the repairs off the operating budget and into a capital budget, but apparently the fun of calling us a bunch of numbnuts exceeded you interest in saving money or the quality of the annual education program.<br /><br />And this will only get worse when the 2011-2012 budget has to be prepared next February, because the 2 year federal stimulus money that saved our teacher staffing levels like a cavalry coming over the hill expires at the end of the 2010-2011 calendar, so even if Albany somehow reverses this year's cuts a year from now and restores us to our current levels, we're still going to have to slash staffing, increase class size, and cut the program (all of which adds up to serious cutting of the quality of education, and reductions in the quality of the future of our students, sorry to have to burden you with those petty considerations) due to the end of the one-time federal aid.<br /><br />Due to state pension losses resulting from the Wall Street collapse, which by law local taxpayers have to make whole to their employees, rising health insurance costs over which we have no influence, and rising energy costs (which we can influence, except taxpayers won't let us buy the equipment we need to do that), the rollover budget (defined as having exactly the same program in the next year as this) for any given year is running over 10% tax increase. Just getting it down below 4% requires dramatic slashing of progams and firing of teachers. And next year the same thing happens again, because the rollover budget will still be 10% higher than wherever we end up this year, and there will be more cuts, and then the same the year after that. Due to the bizarre way the State of New York finances education, and the even more bizarre way Washington finances wars, both taxpayers and public schools are in a financial death spiral, and there is no reason to blame the school board -- especially since of all the entities, both elected and appointed, that administer public business, school boards are the only ones that cannot levy taxes. Read that again. We cannot levy taxes, so it gets a bit tiresome being blamed for them all the time. All we can do is study issues as they develop, compare those issues to established best practices, be as creative as possible in tailoring proposed work to the available funding sources, and then ask you whether or not you want to tax yourself. That's it. Stop making us your whipping boys (and girl). Not only is it unseemly, but it doesn't even make any sense. We do not tax you. The most important things I've worked on in 18 months over which I can actually make a decision were fine-tuning the guidelines under which employees can use district cell phones, and under what set of criteria school property can be named after someone.Steve Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18390751534821370764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-41344634095961177002010-02-18T14:54:59.657-05:002010-02-18T14:54:59.657-05:00I was thinking that since the school district insi...I was thinking that since the school district insisted that a 1% increase in the tax levy was trivial, that it could demonstrate how trivial it really is by making sure that this next budget provides for a 1% decrease in the tax levy.<br /><br />This woulld constitute an unusual show of respect for beleaguered and tapped out taxpayers by recognizing the economic difficulties all around us.<br /><br />Other than that, any assertion that the school district absolutely must be funded at current levels, or higher, or the children will suffer, or must be given the right to borrow $50 million, or the children will suffer, is risible.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-89481942237208860252010-02-18T10:02:11.040-05:002010-02-18T10:02:11.040-05:00And you are on the board? How does the defeat of ...And you are on the board? How does the defeat of the project impact this year's budget shortfalls? The answer is that it doesn't.npbloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11795061209389570899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-49119450070402568592010-02-18T09:57:32.812-05:002010-02-18T09:57:32.812-05:00"The next hurdle, before getting back to the ..."The next hurdle, before getting back to the Middle School, is the budget for 2010-11. That's going to have to deal with cuts in aid from the state. My advice is to not try to pass the burden of those cuts on to local taxpayers."<br /><br />Finally we are at the crux of the matter, which is where we always were, although none of you would admit it. It's the money. Nothing but the money. You left out the second half of the sentence, which, under the parameter you set in the first half, is "pass the burden on to the local students."<br /><br />And that's the problem. Taxing entities always want the services taxes pay for to be passed on to other taxing entities. That way they can all look like they're not raising your taxes when revenues go down or the costs of the services increase (can you spell "unfunded mandate?" I knew you could), and someone else is. But there are things that have to be paid for no matter what. Filling potholes is one, so we don't have a rash of accidents, and lawsuits for damaged suspensions. So when the state passes that to the county, the county has to raise your taxes. Period. When there are cuts to law enforcement, you have to take those on, or you risk a crime wave. Period. You can't blame the town for taking on the burden the state has passed along. Should Susan Zimet succeed in her attempt to remove delinquent school tax collection from the county and force it onto the district, the district will have to hire accountants and collectors to staff an office to handle that, and you're going to have to pay for it, period. And it will be Susan's fault, not the district's. How can such a substantial majority of taxpayers be so stupid as to blame the victim taxing entities every time? And to not realize that by being so Pavlovian about it, you're incentivizing the higher entities to continue abusing the lesser ones?<br /><br />When we reduce the quality of education because you don't want Albany's win to be your loss, you're demanding we make it the kids' loss. And what they lose now they never get back. It affects, and to a large degree determines, every aspect of their futures. And I don't want to break out into an overwrought ballad, but they are in fact the people who, in one generation, are going to be at the helm of our private and public sector ships, so it affects all of us, and our children and grandchildren. We need them well-equipped every bit as much as they need it themselves. It's not like our international competitors are going to quit educating their kids just because we're refusing to educate ours. And in all those countries, higher education is publicly financed as well, all the way through grad school. Only in America do doctors enter their profession hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.<br /><br />This isn't something like "put on an extra sweater so we can turn down the heat." This is "we can't care if you get proper attention to advance in your studies, because Martin McPhillips and 2500 other people forced us to increase class size to 32 kids." And "we can't care if there is no longer a blue collar economy you can enter if you didn't get an information and services oriented foundation, because Martin McPhillips and 2500 other people didn't allow us to install educational spaces conducive to the types of learning needed in today's economy and college admissions requirements."<br /><br />Don't tell me that everyone cares equally about the kids and we just have different ideas about how to get there. What you just typed laid the truth right out there.Steve Greenfieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-41940298725712343952010-02-18T09:32:48.564-05:002010-02-18T09:32:48.564-05:00Democracy like Hugo Chavez, as long as everyone ag...Democracy like Hugo Chavez, as long as everyone agrees with you, right? Otherwise, personal attacks and all out war and destruction!npbloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11795061209389570899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-68409277188033730462010-02-18T09:20:42.372-05:002010-02-18T09:20:42.372-05:00that comment, a few comments back, about getting ...that comment, a few comments back, about getting "other people" to fix your own house, was completely off base. when your house needs improvement, you pay for the improvements, in cash or with a loan, because you own the house. the school district owns the schools. the school district is the taxpayers within the district. when the schools need repair, the owners pay for it. that is not getting "other people" to pay for it. that is having the owners pay for it.tgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-45171838208307645872010-02-18T08:36:34.690-05:002010-02-18T08:36:34.690-05:00I really don't know what the big deal is in un...I really don't know what the big deal is in understanding this situation. On one hand you repair and modestly upgrade the building and on the other hand you gut part, tear down part of it and essentially rebuild it.<br /><br />These are two different approaches.<br /><br />See: Two. Different. Approaches.<br /><br />With the repair approach you don't tear down part of the building, don't gut another part, don't build a new gym, maybe you move the kitchen and maybe you expand the existing one, you don't create the new "learning spaces" for the newest approach to teaching, you don't create a new parent pick-up access drive, and don't necessarily have to move students to another school for a year. Message: Don't spend money on anything that isn't necessary. Prioritize.<br /><br />That's what the voters are saying, and they are saying it because they are doing it themselves. Deferring purchases. Scrambling to make ends meet. Keeping the thermostat low for the winter. Spending less at the supermarket. Not eating out.<br /><br />So, they are saying, just fix the bloody building and make it more serviceable.<br /><br />And I really don't know what Brittany and Peter's views are. They haven't said that much here and I've never discussed it with them.<br /><br />And I did not lead the effort to defeat this bond. Didn't write any letters to the paper. Didn't speak against it at the school forums. Never met or spoke with the opponents. Never gave anyone any money. I joined the discussion here, and wrote about it at my blog. Obviously, 70% of the public, <i>fully informed by the school district</i> of what it planned on doing with the bond money, said "No."<br /><br />My theory was -- I expressed it to Rachel in an earlier thread -- that folks are just tapped out and now is the wrong time to ask them for more. Wrong. Time.<br /><br />If the good times were still rolling, this project might have breezed right through.<br /><br />The next hurdle, before getting back to the Middle School, is the budget for 2010-11. That's going to have to deal with cuts in aid from the state.<br /><br />My advice is to not try to pass the burden of those cuts on to local taxpayers.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-36955694507384206572010-02-17T22:17:38.658-05:002010-02-17T22:17:38.658-05:00Martin:
There is not $7 million in repairs to be ...Martin:<br /><br />There is not $7 million in repairs to be done to the other buildings. That was just one of the many Big Lies used by the opposition. But it's one you have faith in, while you have none in the people who trained for and conducted the detailed research that went into the proposal. The truth is almost everything on the checklist that was expensive was carried out last summer in the EXCEL project, a project that came in on time, on budget, and with Albany money. In an even grossly imperfect political world, that should have been enough to show people the board was both competent and not wasteful when it came to the repairs and capital planning in general. The previous project was the high school addition, also completed on time and on budget. From whence comes all this declaration of the board's incompetence to process and implement capital projects? Where is the spate of unnecessary projects? Where is the failure? Where is the financial ruin? Oh yeah, in Highland and Saugerties, not here.<br /><br />But why would you trust the assertions of the opponents? The frequency with and degree to which they lie has been demonstrated repeatedly. What expertise do any of them have in education? In the school building code? In state reimbursement rates? In anything that goes into making an informed decision on this matter? And why do you believe the parts of the inspection that you imagine spelled out $7 million in repairs in the other three buildings, but you refuse to accept the report from the same inspector that declared the future of the MS as an educational facility to be in doubt barring substantial renovation? How do you reconcile that? Why not just declare all the repairs it listed to be wrong? Because that wouldn't suit your narrative, that's why.<br /><br />It's easy for you to side-step Jason's questions, but there is a fundamental issue for democracy here. If people are to loudly declare the experts who conduct state inspections, and build to state school building code, and the administrations and school boards to which they all report to be simultaneously incompetent, rapacious, and dominoes in some self-propelled bureaucratic perpetual motion machine, but can't demonstrate any element of error on any of their parts, then aren't you essentially a windbag? (Pause for Pete and Brittany to start furiously typing something cute about me.) And even more importantly, if we on the board are to "listen to the community," but they refuse (or are unable) to say anything substantive that we could actually turn into a school building within the limits of state law, what exactly is supposed to happen to our community's kids as these old buildings get still older? Because the board is in a position unlike any other elected body in that we can't implement anything without public approval. So if the things that we think make sense don't get public approval, but the public won't advise us of anything that makes sense (or in most people's cases, anything at all), then how will we ever be able to come up with a plan that is both realistic as a physical plant for a school, AND considered desirable by the public that must tax itself to do it?Steve Greenfieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-20181334792319129572010-02-17T18:01:34.423-05:002010-02-17T18:01:34.423-05:00Jason, the $10 million figure was suggested by the...Jason, the $10 million figure was suggested by the report on the Middle School from five years ago. I didn't make it up.<br /><br />Unless it has been removed, the report is still on the school district's website. I believe that it also estimates an additional $7 million for work needed on the other schools.<br /><br />I raised my objections to the school district not offering a repair/upgrade option two years ago, when it had "new building" or "massive renovation" as its preferred choices.<br /><br />Unless someone wants to contract me to do it, it's not my job to spec out a repair of the Middle School. But I recommend a prioritized list of repair/upgrades that can be priced up to a total that is politically tolerable (i.e., acceptable to voters). It doesn't necessarily have to top out at $10 million.<br /><br />My question about the $7 million figure for renovating the heating system is simply an intuitive sense that it is a price that should not be accepted at face value. Money saved there could be applied elsewhere.<br /><br />My comments on the political power of the teachers union are reflected in the huge commitments the school district has made to it (in salaries, benefits, and pensions). That is tied in with the political power that teachers unions have in Albany, both with the legislature and the education bureaucracy. I don't think that anyone seriously disputes that power. It's hardly just a problem in New York, either. And teachers unions are not the only public employee union that are busy pricing their members out of markets.<br /><br />I wouldn't necessarily consider "groupthink" a sociological phenomenon. It's not a "mass psychology," although I suppose there are parallels. "Inferential cascade" is a term I coined to explain the logical pathways that small groups can fall into automatically when making plans without sufficient critical analysis or by just ignoring options.<br /><br />And, again, the $10 million figure for the Middle School repairs is from the report commissioned by the school district. It's not my number.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-58169797443765816122010-02-17T17:13:54.486-05:002010-02-17T17:13:54.486-05:00Martin --
Steve wrote a detailed and reasonable o...Martin --<br /><br />Steve wrote a detailed and reasonable outline of questions that I believe vocal opponents like yourself need to answer. <br /><br />You've written that you're confident the Middle School can be renovated for around $10million. i think it's fair to ask you publicly to back up your numbers. <br /><br />Your only response is one of general sociological ideas about groupthink and cascades. It doesn't answer the question, and I think Steve is right to say to you, Brittany and others -- OK, you've won, you said it could be done cheaper, explain how.<br /><br />Waiting for your explanation, and hoping it's relevant to the costs to renovate the Middle School going into the future, and not a vague explanation that the teahers union and iron law of oligarchies make the School District projects pricey.<br /><br />You are very confident; please be specific and list the costs to renovate what is wrong at the site.<br /><br />Jason WestJason Westnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-40189438102828209392010-02-17T16:09:09.211-05:002010-02-17T16:09:09.211-05:00Among the characteristics of groupthink are "...Among the characteristics of groupthink are "inferential cascades." But those cascades don't just flow out from the immediate facts, they also flow back from a perceived optimum solution, and so the groupthink consensus can form comfortably as those cascades join at the middle and it all becomes self-justifying.<br /><br />Challenges to the groupthink are often met with baffled derision and technical assertions reinforced with appeals to "expert" authority.<br /><br />This is not uncommon in bureaucratic organizations where there are no true market forces to guide the distribution of resources. Wish-fulfillment takes precedence over such practical considerations as how something is paid for or whether adequate results can be achieved through other approaches.<br /><br />No doubt every married couple knows the enjoyment of sitting down and designing their dream home. It might just be a fantasy aimed at firing the imagination or it might be a serious plan for a future still unfolding. It would be the rare delusional couple that believes that because they have designed their home that someone will come along and just give it to them.<br /><br />Groupthink bureaucracies, because they are not spending their own money, actually believe that, after their "long hours, years" of designing a project, someone is actually obliged to come along and just give it to them. Why, the codes, the regulations, the experts, the long careful planning demand it.<br /><br />It ain't so.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-24945318371638588462010-02-17T15:22:36.477-05:002010-02-17T15:22:36.477-05:00The inductive logic that leads from the inspection...The inductive logic that leads from the inspection report of five years ago to the $50 million renovation plan just rejected is the product of the school district's groupthink.<br /><br />I can run through my house right now and tally up all its deficiencies, name myself the "expert," and reliably present myself a renovation plan.<br /><br />My problem is that I can't use other people's money to pay for it.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-60359358904851860762010-02-17T15:05:49.445-05:002010-02-17T15:05:49.445-05:00OK, here's the reductionist version.
This is ...OK, here's the reductionist version.<br /><br />This is what the vote, and the comments by the bond's opponents in public and on this blog, come down to: 1) you don't believe the advice of the school building inspector from 2005; 2) you don't accept the 100% declaration by the the teachers in the facility that the building gets in the way of delivery of education, and the detailed explanations they have given at open meetings; and 3) you refute the expected costs of both fixing the emergency problems and an upgrade to contemporary standards.<br /><br />There it is. We don't know what Brittany thinks, because she won't say, she just calls names and casts aspersions. <br /><br />Martin and Pete and one or more anonymous people have been abundantly clear that they in fact don't believe the inspection report. All of you: what is your basis for that? Did any of you inspect the building? Are any of you expert on school codes? Did you confer with anyone who inspected the building AND is an expert on school codes who disagreed with the report?<br /><br />The teachers and administrators' expert testimony is also dismissed. Why, and on what basis? What educational experts have you conferred with who disagree, and/or what educational qualifications do you personally hold that informs you that the existing classroom and floorplan configurations are well-suited to contemporary Middle School learning?<br /><br />Now unless you've already answered those two questions with serious responses that show you know more than the experts who advised the board, you're going have a very tough time showing that you knew that the financing presented by the board was way out of line. But if you've gotten this far, then tell us exactly how many cubic feet of fresh air per hour have to circulate through a classroom to meet state code, calculate the amount of space under that code, look up the equipment costs to sustain that, and tell us why you are certain the inspector's (and not one but two separate school construction managers') estimate on the HVAC is grossly out of line. After that, repeat with all other systems that are needed and meet school code, and show me the final cost.<br /><br />Come on now, you're all very, very sure that the board was way out of line in all three areas. Can you explain why? I sat there for a year and a half listening to experts and reading reports. During the last 90 days a lot of people showed up (and typed) telling us we were completely wrong in all three areas. Except for just one thing -- none of them told us how, or by how much, or why, or how they even could be so sure.<br /><br />But Brittany, Pete, and Martin (at least) keep saying right here that they are very certain. That means they can explain it. I'm listening. Seriously. I'm listening. I have to come up with a new plan, and I don't want it to get voted down. So show me what you know that the rest of us somehow missed.Steve Greenfieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-55345775442812898402010-02-16T20:18:04.655-05:002010-02-16T20:18:04.655-05:00Wow, Brittany. I was asking a real question, beca...Wow, Brittany. I was asking a real question, because I didn't know. Is "rude and dismissive" just your default setting? Thank you for answering the question, but you could have been nicer about it.<br /><br />Who exactly do you mean by "you guys"?<br /><br />And I wouldn't be interested in participating in a poll such as the one you suggest, regardless of the target. Can we please, everybody, bring this back up to something more mature than 5th grade nonsense?Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918083111541898773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-12501117456407280782010-02-16T19:55:44.116-05:002010-02-16T19:55:44.116-05:00Uh... look past the petulant child acting like a p...Uh... look past the petulant child acting like a petulant child and try to find a valid point? I don't think so. You don't get a free pass on plain bad behavior.<br /><br />As for the sole valid point - you're kidding, right? Sure, it's a valid point, and also quite the anamoly. I'm certainly a skeptic, but I don't think there is rampant felony voter fraud going on here. Not to mention the unbearably irrational question as to whether people who don't live here are voting with absentee ballots. Um... your absentee ballot gets mailed to your addresss. In the district. Yeah.<br /><br />Go back to pointing fingers. You guys are way better at that.<br /><br />I like DataField and TruthField best, although ShouldResignNowField is probably the most accurate. Are these like forcefields? He's sure gonna need one of those, and not the usual "FORCE"field that he uses where he tries to force his opinions onto everyone else until they either agree or shut up... <br /><br />Maybe the gadfly could set up a poll for which name they like the best? I'll even let Ol' OrangeVowelField vote twice!Brittany Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02329337890735136976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-73617345351817893092010-02-16T19:38:07.853-05:002010-02-16T19:38:07.853-05:00there are several assumptions in the disgruntled e...there are several assumptions in the disgruntled essay(s) above:<br />1) this project absolutely, positively had to be done in every last detail right away.<br />2) every word that officials of the district said at all points in time were and are perfectly obvious and of perfect clarity(and therefore everyone who didn't agree in the end is...all those awful things that were said)<br />3)the markets for superintendents(supervicial, what is a "supervicial pay"?) and teachers are open markets that are fair and equivalent to all other markets, and therefore that wage and benefit rates are to be accepted without question. I'll take up the "prevailing wage" rate argument with anyone at anytime and relate it to the teacher market whenever you like.<br />4) I'm right and you're wrong, so shut up or I'll call you names. The most egregious assumption of them all. And for the record, 'foolhardiness' or 'tough nuts' or 'randomly spouted nonsense' or 'selfishness, ignorance, and/or lunacy' is not what you call, a 'valid point'. <br />5) The approval process that was used, that some call democracy in action, produced such a horrid result that the 75% of people who voted no should be seen as various forms of stupid and worthless.<br /> This is where I go off down a similar road of my own and say something like he's changing his name to Truthfield, or DataField, or Factfield, of just plain <br />ShouldResignNowField.Pete Healeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-18096941557230941842010-02-16T17:18:22.802-05:002010-02-16T17:18:22.802-05:00But I'm wondering now...how many people who we...But I'm wondering now...how many people who were residents once and who still own property here have retained their voting rights and voted in absentia? I just think this is something that we should know. How do we keep track of registered voters who have moved out of town, and verify that they don't vote illegally by absentee ballot?<br /><br />(And no, I'm not saying that would have changed the final result in this case. The surprisingly overwhelming numbers don't suggest that.)Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918083111541898773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-48280408131269615592010-02-16T17:02:03.539-05:002010-02-16T17:02:03.539-05:00O.K. So one non-resident has been accused of votin...O.K. So one non-resident has been accused of voting. For the sake of argument (without judging the merit of the accusation) we'll say the real vote total was 2560 (down from 2561) "No" to 983 "Yes."<br /><br />And I assume we can all agree that non-residents should not vote in school district elections because they do not meet the basic requirement of residency (for 30 days).<br /><br />If a voter was not registered, then he or she had to sign a form attesting to those requirements. So any non-resident who did that falsely attested to something in front of an election official.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-10218972891260209762010-02-16T16:43:30.410-05:002010-02-16T16:43:30.410-05:00Well, I may be naive, but I was not aware that non...Well, I may be naive, but I was not aware that non-resident property owners were allowed to register and vote as if they were residents. I, like Steve, have a problem with that. While it may not be the case for all non-resident property owners, it certainly opens the door for a lot of decisions made with the intent of keeping property taxes low without actually having any interest in the quality of life in New Paltz.Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918083111541898773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-57429599159625885582010-02-16T16:35:05.924-05:002010-02-16T16:35:05.924-05:00If you see a point you like in there, Robin, why d...If you see a point you like in there, Robin, why don't you fish it out and restate it as a rational argument.Martin McPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702640115003772857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3859894191147478362.post-85384739936853488242010-02-16T16:27:12.837-05:002010-02-16T16:27:12.837-05:00Way to take the high road, Brittany. /sarcasm
I ...Way to take the high road, Brittany. /sarcasm<br /><br />I think Steve is making some valid points here. Care to address them?Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918083111541898773noreply@blogger.com