Duh: No Smoking Within 25 Feet of the Swingset
I know, I know, I say I'll maintain this thing and never actually follow through. I'm busy. Have you heard about #M5? Check it. That's been my life here as of late. But I've neglected this baby, but no longer, time to be a good daddy!
So.
I recently saw a conversation take place on Facebook about the Albany Common Council's effort to apparently address the epidemic of smokers around playgrounds that has seemingly swept our fair city. Apparently, people are still frequenting the parks in the freezing cold and smokers are taking a walk to said park rather than hunkering down on their stoop. Whatever. I thought the whole effort was silly, unnecessary, and largely a waste of time.
But the other issue with these efforts is they are generally lopsided in my view. Here's my response to something Councilman Jim Sano said:
If I may interject here and expand on what I said previously (because I didn't and then Dan's response makes me seem impractical/unreasonable), let me just say this is specifically an issue with approach and tonality, Councilman.
I mean, just look at your language. "Common sense." "Civility." "Good manners." While I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I am the perfect smoker, the epitome of all respect and restraint - it's not like I haven't rudely smoked a stoge in a crowd of individuals thereby subjecting them to my own vice - I also don't need someone to tell me this is wrong.
Let me provide an example. I think UAlbany's administration is right, in some ways, to limit smoking on campus to certain areas or create a bubble in which people who wish to subject themselves to such "horrors" are allowed to. But that's not what they do. They say no smoking within 20/25 feet of the doors then put the ash tray/cigarette butt receptacle right by the door as you walk in.
So my question to you is this: does this new limitation come in collaboration or in sync with a renewed effort by the city to provide smoking cessation classes or any sort of education/rehabilitation efforts?
The problem with anti-smoking policy is the approach generally taken is one to punish, not one that gently nudges. But interestingly, we've seen which approach is more effective. Sin taxes just lead to high prices for consumers not a decrease in smoking rates. It wasn't until the government started providing such education/rehabilitation functions that we actually saw smoking rates decline (which they have since the 80s).
So, it's not that priorities are wrong (though, they are kind of lopsided) - it's your approach. What you're doing isn't going to be effective at all and leads to more elitist, snobby, stick-yer-nose-up-at-smokers kind of mentality rather than actually addressing the public health problem itself. You're not helping the smoker (the one who has an addiction - a disease), you're just insulating those who don't and forcing those who do to continue to suffer.
Whoops
So, I may have (read as: definitely) neglected this blog for a long time. There will likely be an extended period of catch-up in the near future. Mostly relating to the backlog of SUNY-related articles that I bookmarked with the intent of providing my thoughts on but instead got distracted with other things.
Uhm, my bad? Here's the first thing I stumbled upon to make up for it.
McCall: $1.4 Billion Has to Come From Somewhere!
So it may as well be the students. North Country Public Radio shares:
Just up the hill from the castle-like SUNY Central where McCall has an office, is the State Capitol, and in the adjacent park, there is a tent city created over the weekend by the Occupy Albany protesters.One of the organizers, Colin Donnaruma, is a doctoral candidate in political economics at SUNY Albany. He's angered by budget cutbacks at the public colleges and universities, and says a plan to raise tuition each year for the next five years only furthers student debt.
"The fact that they just increased tuition by another 30% in this past legislative cycle is going to further disincentivize New York students from trying to pursue higher education," Donnaruma said.
McCall says he understands concerns about tuition, but he says state lawmakers had been cutting SUNY's budget, by $1.4 billion dollars over the past four years.
"Those cuts had a real impact," said McCall, who said SUNY had to cut instructors and eliminate courses.
"Since the state wouldn't pay for it, we had to go to the families of the students," McCall said.
McCall says the total increase of $5200 is still affordable, and he says students whose families don't have enough money to pay can get financial aid.
I wonder if being a Board Trustee or now the Board Chairman enables him to see into my finances and detect what I can and cannot afford. What if they don't have enough money to pay for their education but make too much money to qualify for financial aid? That happens more often than not.
I also love how he acknowledges that they're paying more limited academic options. The cognitive dissonance from the top is just awe-inspiring.
Wherein I Probably Irritate the SA More
The UAlbany SA Senators are a fair and noble clique and I'm sorry for anything I may have said that was completely accurate.
Okay, condescension out of the way. I've generally addressed my issues with the UAlbany Student Association--and tangentially, the SUNY Student Assembly--in a case by case manner, specifically in regards to the rational tuition policy and NYSUNY2020. That's been perceived as mean. I'm not going to deny I've been pretty abrasive about this topic, but if people were expecting an apology out of me--frankly, they're deluding themselves. It is my opinion, something that has developed through my observation, that these two institutions that are fundamentally flawed and those participating in it--even if passively or indirectly--are part of the problem. And I'm not remotely apologetic for questioning their involvement or questioning their language and rhetoric on issues that is plainly clear that they largely are uninformed about. The only thing I'm sorry for is that they don't like that framing. But I won't retract or retreat from it.
Clearly, the Student Association and Student Assembly is not used to this kind of criticism or level scrutiny. They are used to operating at the margins, within the confines of regulation at both the state and university level that define their purpose, doing things that the student body largely knows nothing about and (aside from attempts to advertise major events like the Speaker Series and concerts) does no sort of outreach to really solve or change this dynamic. They will openly admit that roughly 700 students out of 17,000 plus (roughly 4%) participated in the recent election of Senators (and the numbers aren't much different for the "representatives" we send to the SUNY Student Assembly either). They will defend their actions as saying they don't have the capacity to speak for students because of this low turnout and because of student apathy. What's even more interesting is that while these individuals openly acknowledge this, they will then continue to act in their capacity as a student representative while acknowledging their own lack of legitimacy. They will do all of this, but then they will get unbelievably appalled when someone calls them out on this sort of cognitive dissonance or on how serious one thinks they take the whole situation (fyi: some Senators can be seen perusing Twitter and Facebook and here is a picture of them all being most attentive to the meetings they apparently take most seriously).
It is important to note this facade of student representation--the consistent problem of uninformed student body and student apathy--is not entirely the fault of the SA, but their participation in an organization that pretends but doesn't actual represent the students is a decision all of their own making. Why were they not out there, like at the recent walk-out, demanding the student body the right to talk with their President to discuss the issues? Why were they not calling for a line-by-line budget from the school? Why were they not calling for the reeling in of egregious administrative salaries? Why were they not calling for additional town halls? Why were they not demanding a more prominent and autonomous and independent student voice? Passing resolutions in dissent is not enough and to pretend like it is amounts laziness and inaction in my opinion. (And then, they accuse me of inaction when it was myself along with others who pushed for such a resolution opposing rational tuition to be brought up. And then they'll back up and say "don't take it personally" after calling you out by name.) They have the audacity to masquerade as the representative of the students and yet aren't even at the forefront of an issue that will affect every single person on this campus. Does anyone see anything wrong with that? I don't even care where you stand on the issue but to be completely silent on it--frankly, it's kind of outrageous.
This is not the members of the SA's fault; it's largely institutional. But by participating in the body rather than objecting to it on the grounds that it does not--as they've openly admitted--actually represent the student body, they are definitely part of the problem. This isn't really a radical thing to say--a lot of student government leaders, past and present, have said this before. This is nothing new. And rather than wasting your energy with trying to argue otherwise, you should participate with this instead and get true student representation instead rather than doing what you're doing now--providing SUNY Central and the folks at University Hall with an excuse and a quote for a press release. Even if unintentionally, you are the tools of the Administration.
Memo to Cuomo: You Operate in a Different Financial Reality
PolitickerNY shares with us Cuomo essentially talking down to students in a subtle ageist argument:
Governor Andrew Cuomo said he thinks the students of the State University of New York system need to deal with tuition hikes and learn about “financial reality.”
In an interview taped with WCNY’s “Capitol Pressroom” Wednesday, Governor Cuomo explained why he thinks SUNY hikes are a fact of life.
“We passed rational tuition last year for the SUNY system, it gives people predictability. On average, the tuition increase is less than the tuition increase has been in the past. Well, students would like to have no increase ever. I understand that. I wish we were in a position to do that, but there’s something called financial reality that we have to deal with,” Governor Cuomo said.
There is something called financial reality, but it's important to clarify that this financial reality is entirely subjective to your own finances. I don't operate in the same financial reality as Cuomo and I definitely don't operate in the same financial reality like say, someone like Mike Bloomberg. Students have a very real understanding of their financial reality--they're going into massive student loan debt while attending a public university and what Cuomo has forced upon us is even debt while working to maintain his own financial reality of not needing to struggle.
The financial reality that New York faces and what Cuomo is alluding to is something that the Governor voluntarily subjected the state. He has been given numerous alternatives--from the millionaires tax to the stock transfer tax to a circuit breaker rather than a property tax cap that is currently crippling towns and villages and counties across the state--to solve the severe revenue problem that this state is currently going through in order to be seen as "business friendly."
Also, the predictability argument needs to die. Yes--we can now foresee a tuition increase next semester. That predictability does not automatically entail manageability--just because I can see it coming doesn't mean I can afford it.
Leading with Non-stories
Times Union has a really dumb habit of leading with things that aren't stories. Kevin Marshall, who used to blog at the TU, has discussed this on his blog before but the powers that be didn't listen. Here's yet another example:
I'm not trying to be annoying or nitpicky and I'm definitely not saying that the Times Union shouldn't send photographers out to these events and take some photos. It's a great way to promote these events and give those that organize them some recognition and it's good that our local newspaper is covering them. But the Times Union website is neither Keep Albany Boring, Nippertown, nor All Over Albany. It's a news website; the stuff that should be highlighted on the front page--and especially in that particular module that highlights major stories which being seen at Rocky Horror is not--is...news. I know, uncanny, but unless Andrew Cuomo made an appearance there or at the recent Zombie Walk (which also got front page recognition)--I don't care.
So, in conclusion: cover these events. But these should never be highlighted on the front page like this.
Jennings on #OccupyAlbany: We’re Just Monitorin’, Yo
Here's a video from State of Politics featuring the man himself talking about letting Occupy Albany remain--as long as they're peaceful:
I never thought I'd say this about Jennings, but...well said? It feels weird.
The Ol’ 55 and the 905
Over at the Getting There blog, a blog post brought up a question I asked right after the 905 Bus Plus BRT program started: why did they get rid of the 55?
I love the new #905 BusPlus, or whatever CDTA is calling it from Albany to Schenectady, and back; I use it fairly regularly. But I’ve heard from a number of people, most of whom live west of Colonie Center, who tell me that they absolutely HATE it, and not just because of the lack of stops compared with the old #55 bus between the two cities. It’s because, since they live between the express stops, and might have to walk a mile or better to an BusPlus location, they now have to take two buses, one, the #355 to Colonie Center/Northway Mall, and then ANOTHER bus to downtown Albany, extending the time of their commute tremendously. It got me to pondering how to make their lives easier while not unduly burdening CDTA. My initial thought: keep the #905, of course. But why not bring the old Albany-Schenectady #55 back? Get rid of the #1 and the #355. This would be comparable with the NYC subway, or the Metro North, where some trains are express and others are local, even over the same geography . Except for the fact that both the #355 and the #1 go to both Colonie Center and the Northway Mall, which would be a tad awkward when continuing on Route 5, it might be a workable solution. I’d appreciate some feedback on this.
Now, I'm not understanding abolishing one of the routes on the transit authority's most trafficked corridor--the 1--but I completely agree with the wisdom of bringing back the 55 and could possibly see an argument for abandoning the 355 (I've never taken the 355, never had a need to, and I've never seen any particularly high-volume use of the bus). But especially on the Albany side of the route, that kind of diversity of service strengthens all three routes rather than dilutes them. You've got the hyper-local within Albany with the 1. You've got "rapid" transit on the Route 5 corridor with the 905. And you've got the local service on that same corridor with 55. I doubt bringing back the 55 would decrease the demand of the 905, it certainly wouldn't decrease the demand of the 1, and it could strengthen CDTA's service on that corridor. As always, I think Councilwoman Leah Golby addresses the real issue: paying to transfer is pretty ridiculous and shouldn't happen--it acts as a hidden fare, but given the condition of transit funding, it's not unsurprising. But, I disagree with her on not wanting to ease or limit the need to transfer. Comparing CDTA to the NYC Subway is apples and oranges, in my opinion.
Blog?
I've finally come around to using this space for something beyond just an online portfolio.
What will it be? I'm not entirely certain yet but I can presume it'll be a lot more of the same thing folks have come to expect out of me.
In the meantime...watch this space?
Me. Online.
Twotes.
- Follow @studentactivism and @kevinharding for Montreal updates. 3 hours ago
- I'm at The Domicile (Albany, NY) 4sq.com/KEkloQ 3 hours ago
- Mreow @ The Domicile instagr.am/p/K3ucvwMH30/ 3 hours ago
- He blew out the crotch in his favorite jorts. RT @teamvella: Blew out the crotch in my favorite jorts 😔 3 hours ago