Sunday Opinion: Let the public speak & voting on school budgets
Morning, all. Here’s a look at some of the opinion and commentary this weekend in the North Country’s newspapers and blogs.
The Plattsburgh Press Republican laments the fact that, their view, some government leaders seem hostile to public access and public opinion. The editorial cites two examples, in Malone and Plattsburgh.
Most of the school and government boards in the North Country offer public-comment time at their meetings, and they should be applauded for that.
But you wonder how many actually want to hear from those pesky citizens. Do they really listen? Are they truly open to suggestions?
The Glens Falls Post Star, menawhile, is praising school districts for what the newspaper describes as “fiscal responsibility.”
Of the 32 school districts in The Post-Star circulation area, 17 of them – 53 percent – are projecting a decline in spending next year.
Of the remaining districts, one district froze spending at last year’s level and the other 14 will increase spending – although none higher than Ticonderoga’s 4.89 percent.
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise is chiming in on a big debate in Saranac Lake, where a village trustee has said the community “should seriously look at no longer running a Mount Pisgah Ski Center.”
If a private entity really wants to lease Pisgah, the village board should strongly consider it. But as the people’s stewards of this fine facility, board members should take responsibility for making sure it is there for future generations. Don’t just dump it and run.
The Watertown Daily Times has a special commentary about Canada’s elections, noting that Kingston, Ontario, is one of the few places in the country where Liberals prevailed.
Ted Hsu, a bright newcomer to elected politics who replaces the legendary Peter Milliken as MP for Kingston and the Islands. Interestingly, Kingstonians bucked a national trend in English-speaking Canada and chose Ted, a Liberal.
Kingston was in fact one of the few places you could find Liberals smiling as the results came in. The once proud party that was led in the past by giants like Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Lester B. Pearson, Mackenzie King, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien, is now the third party in the House with a paltry 34 MPs in their caucus.
The Burlington Free Press is noting the victory lap that Governor Shumlin is taking after a “productive” first year with total Democratic control of the state’s political apparatus. But the paper predicts a tougher battle next year, as the healthcare and budget debates intensify.
The question is, how much good will and political capital does Shumlin have left in the Statehouse to continue pushing through his agenda?
These are the days for bill signing, a brief period for savoring this year’s accomplishments because at some point the natural tension between the Legislature and the executive will re-emerge.
Then it’s back to work, and only then will the true mettle of this new governor be tested.
So there it is. Hope your rainy Sunday is great. Tune in tomorrow for the 8 O’clock Hour, when we’ll have a flood update and talk about the latest Census numbers.
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“The legislators listened during the public-comment period but said they weren’t going to answer any of the questions, that they would send individual letters to the constituents with their responses.”
Call me cynical, but probably because they had no idea how to answer.
Scratchy’s comment reminds me of the Post Office hearing in West Stockholm this past Wednesday. They came and listened, wrote down what we said, but had no real information on our Post Office. “It’s running at a deficit” but they didn’t know how much, they had no budget figures with them. They didn’t know about or at least didn’t have with them or acknowledge receiving a copy of the landlord’s letter to them offering to reduce the rent. They proposed several options for maintaining our community identity like having rural mail boxes that are identified by our existing PO Box numbers or setting up a kiosk of boxes in Potsdam that would be West Stockholm’s address. What they didn’t come prepared to do was sit down and discuss what we in the community could do to save our Post Office from closing.
Typical Post-Star… nothing in education or any other aspect of quality of life matters except taxes. I think they’d be more comfortable in Alabama or Mississippi… which must be paradises because they have low taxes.
I’m heartily tired of tax obsession! There’s more to life than taxes, folks. Taxes are the price of civilization. Get over it.
I agree Walker, but the fact is we are offered a range of opportunities and different tax regimes in this country. We don’t have to get over it we can move and this is a decision that we all make.