While there are never any ties in politics, the NY State Board of Elections website now lists the unofficial results in the 20th congressional election as a dead heat. A decision on how to start counting the absentee ballots will come this week.
Update April 8, 2009
The count has been changing slightly every day so the two candidates are no longer tied.
Bridges to be Replaced in Whitehall this Summer
The Post Star has an article on two bridges that will be replaced in Whitehall this summer with federal stimulus money.
The Times Union had a nice graphic showing who got an absentee ballot by county and party affiliation in the vote for the congressional seat in the 20th district. Hopefully, if you were away, you returned yours.
Gaslight Village Project Gets $2.5 Million
The Post Star reports that the Gaslight Village project in Lake George Village got a big grant from the federal government.
We Love You – John Paul II
AOL has a heartwarming story about a man left for dead a few weeks ago, who attributes his recovery to miraculous intervention by Pope John Paul II. Watch the video attached to this story.
That old saying about death and taxes being inevitable is only applicable to the taxes part of this post. As part of the agreement on the golf course, the Huletts Landing Property Owners Civic Association is responsible for paying the property taxes attributable to the golf course. A disagreement arose about how the taxes were being apportioned and calculated on the area of the golf course. The amount in question was approximately $4,000 because the issue had dragged on for some years.
It’s nice to report, that all the parties discussed the disagreement by phone with the Town Assessor and that an agreement was reached and the tax disagreement was resolved. The actual amount that the parties were in disagreement about was approximately $600.
The older axiom about calmer heads prevailing is more applicable to this post. Bravos to HLPOCA President, Peter Spiess, and Treasurer, Joseph Campbell, for working through this issue and finding a resolution.
There’s also an expression about a bad day on a golf course being better than a good day at work but the fact remains that in this case the hard work was done so the taxes could be paid and so that everyone could enjoy the golf course peacefully.
Now we just have to keep working together to get the taxes lowered. That gets back to the first saying again.
The Lake George Park Commission has posted the video from their February 24, 2009 public meeting where public comments were solicited on their proposed stream regulations.
The first video is from February 24, 2009, the first 11:00 AM session. It is 1 hour and 34 minutes.
If you don’t have the time to watch, here are the most salient parts from the first video. The public comments start at 22:30 into this video. Out of the 18 speakers featured in part one, 13 speakers were opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 5 spoke in favor of them.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
At 29:23 into the first video, there is an excellent speaker from the Lake George Property Owners Group who speaks about being at all the preliminary meetings where the rules were originally discussed before being drafted (and which went on for two years) and that the proposed rules now being considered bear no resemblance to what was ever discussed at those preliminary meetings.
At 1:30:00 into the first video, the speaker tells how he believes one of the most radical environmental groups active in the basin, the Fund for Lake George, is influencing these rules behind the scenes, through two appointees to the LGPC who were members of the Fund before they were appointed. This apparent conflict of interest is something everyone needs to know about.
If you watch these two speakers you will begin to see how the process is not a fair process but how the environmental organizations are “stacking the deck” in favor of these very extreme regulations.
The second video is from February 24, 2009, the second 11:00 AM session. It is 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Once again, we’ve tried to summarize the most important parts from this video also. Out of the 26 speakers featured in part two, 20 speakers opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 5 spoke in favor of them and 1 was neutral.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
The DEC representative leaves before this video even starts. So you can thank DEC Commissioner Grannis, for at least being up front, and not caring what people think.
At 1:00 into the second video, Kathy Simms, the Bolton Town Supervisor, speaks about all the comments she has received opposing the stream rules.
At 5:37 into the second video, Joe Rota, the former Dresden Town Supervisor who now lives in Putnam, tells why he is against the proposed rules.
At 42:00 and again at 1:38:45, we hear two speakers tell horror stories about road salt. Road salt isn’t even covered by these proposed rules.
At 1:10:15, John LaPointe, Town Supervisor of Putnam, states that the people he represents are “vehemently opposed” to the rules as drafted.
At 1:19:02, Mark Schachner, representing the Town of Lake George, states that the rule making procedure is “woefully, legally deficient.”
At approximately 1:57:00 a local logger talks about his love for the environment but also why he is opposing these rules.
The third video is from February 24, 2009, the evening session. It is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The DEC representative never returns to the evening session.
The public comments start at 20:50 into this video. Michael White repeats his PowerPoint presentation from the first session. Out of the 18 speakers featured in part three, 17 speakers opposed or had concerns regarding the stream regulations, 1 spoke in favor of them.
If you have problems viewing the file above, use this link to the video file to download and view on your computer. (You can right click on this link and “Save Target As…” to download the entire file to your computer. It is quite large though.)
Huletts resident, Pat Peterson speaks at 45:36.
Peter Bauer, Executive Director for the Fund for Lake George, says in 1:25:20 – 1:25:33 that it’s “high time to deal with” golf courses. Listen for yourself.
Sadly, this is commentary and analysis you won’t see on other media outlets. But you can see it here on the Huletts Current. Don’t take our word, watch for yourself.
If you watch the whole thing, you’ll learn that 2 commissioners didn’t attend, the DEC representative left after the morning session and 2 commissioners had ties to the Fund for Lake George. While we won’t call this hearing a farce yet, after all three sessions: 50 people spoke out in opposition or had concerns regarding the draft rules, 11 were in favor and 1 was neutral. Let’s see how these public comments are incorporated. You saw it here, even if you weren’t there.
“In 1995…A Line Of Damaging Thunderstorms Developed In The Northern Great Lakes During The Night Of July 14 And Quickly Strengthened As It Moved Into Northern New York By 4 Am On July 15…And Then Into Southern New England By 8 Am. Estimated Peak Wind Speeds In Excess Of 100 Mph Occurred In The Adirondacks And The Storms Themselves Covered Over 800 Miles (From Ontario Province To Cape Cod) In Less Than 12 Hours”
The public comment period for the draft stream corridor rules being considered by the Lake George Park Commission has now expired. Instead of focusing on the environmental or property rights issues involved, I thought this letter was probably the best I’ve seen at explaining the legal issues involved.
It is written by Mark Schachner, an attorney for the Town of Lake George, who at one point represented the Huletts Landing Property Owners Civic Association. It was cc’ed to all the towns in the basin and ultimately floated out to you on the Huletts Current.
Mr. Schachner raises some serious questions about how the Lake George Park Commission has handled this process and points out some apparent deficiencies in their legal methodologies. This letter only focuses on the legal process of adopting the draft stream rules, it does not address any environmental issues of the current debate.
As citizens of our great country, the legality of our laws should be paramount to all. Read the whole thing. (It’s four pages and the download is over 1 MB, so it will take a few seconds to load.)
We just learned that Michael Rawitz, who many remember from his days working in the Casino, recently got married. Michael is the son of Charlie Rawitz who lives on Pike Brook Road. To see the happy couple, here is the story from the New York Post. Congratulations Mike and Tracy!
Fr. Santora writes about Fr. Santoro
Here is a story about longtime Huletts guest, Fr. Michael Santoro, written in NJ.com by Fr. Alexander Santora. It tells about the good work Fr. Santoro is doing in his NJ parish, running some great fish dinners during Lent. As some may know, Fr. Santoro loves to fish when he visits the lake.
The Post Star has an interview with Dresden Supervisor Bob Banks about plans for the Washington County Beach this summer.
A Picture’s Worth a 1000 Words
Adirondack Life Magazine has a photo contest every year. Here is the page showing their winning pictures for 2009. If you’re a photographer consider submitting some of your best shots, you just might win!
Jeff Klauder has been kind enough to give us access to his webcam which continually monitors the condition of Lake George in Kitchel Bay looking out towards Noble Island. This is a trial run of accessing his webcam.
1.) Because this is a test, you will need to enter:
user name: KitchelBay
password: 123456
2.) You will need to download and install the ActiveX file from Panasonic, when prompted, to see the view. (It may take a couple of seconds to have the prompt appear.)
3.) The camera’s view is located on the “Single” tab. That is the only tab you should access. When you’re done watching, please close the browser window to free up bandwidth for someone else. At night you’ll see a lot of darkness.
To access the webcam, click here. Thank you Jeff, for sharing the wonderful view and the real time conditions of the lake!
Please know that the General Election is now set for Tuesday, March 31st for the purpose of electing a Congressman from the 20th District to replace Kirsten Gillibrad. Huletts residents who are registered as voters will have to send in applications for absentee ballots ASAP in order to receive a ballot.
You can get an absentee ballot application online here and here is the address to mail it to the Washington County Board of Elections. Now you have no excuse.
…but we’ve got some tax increases on the horizon that we can still prevent if we speak up now.
1.) The Whitehall School District is talking about a 6% increase in property taxes for the coming school year. Even though enrollment is falling and with record hikes in education spending the last two years, the district can’t control spending. They’re talking about cutting some positions but they need to probably double the cuts they are considering. Supposedly they are getting federal stimulus funds but they’re continuing down a path to destroy the tax base of the town of Whitehall. The vote on the proposed budget and election of some board seats will be held on Tuesday, May 19th from 12 pm to 9 pm in the large group instruction room. There will be one public meeting on the proposed budget on Monday, May 11th. Why not solicit comments now when the budget is being formulated and not at a shame meeting when they’ve already decided that they’re going to stick it to the taxpayers again? What can we do?
A.) We need to identify committed tax cutters to run for the Board of Education. The current Board is simply not getting it done. Every year enrollment drops and taxes go up 5%-6%.
B.) We need to write letters like the Post Star proposes to the school district. See Post Star editorial.
C.) Know our school board elected officials and let your voice be heard.
Please know that the General Election is now set for Tuesday, March 31st for the purpose of electing a Congressman from the 20th District to replace Kirsten Gillibrad. Huletts residents who are registered as voters will have to send in applications for absentee ballots ASAP in order to receive a ballot. 