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Re: “If MCC flops, will city taxpayers be on the hook?”
Clint
Understanding that the original deal with RochWil, the Wilmot’s shell company, was struck by Mayor Ryan many years ago, I’ve always found it interesting that the local media have steadfastly refused to demand answers from the Johnson and Duffy administrations as to what actions, if any, they took to mitigate the fact that RochWil was millions of dollars in arrears in payments to the city and getting further behind every day.
Considering that Mayor Richards was the city’s corporation counsel from 2006 -2010 perhaps this re-election season would be an appropriate time to ask Hizzoner exactly what he did to try and collect on the unpaid loans. Certainly Richards should want to clear up any suspicion that backroom deals might have resulted in millions of dollars being left unrecovered by the city.
Re: “Cuomo vs. the IDA's”
It's too bad that New York's taxes are so high that businesses needs tax breaks to be enticed to come here. Despite Cuomo's much-touted 'NY Open for Business' campaign nothing has changed. New York is as business-unfriendly as ever.
Re: “If MCC flops, will city taxpayers be on the hook?”
I am sorry, but this is not a story about MCC and it's location, it is a story of a back room deal with an out of town developer! Tom Wilmot did not pay the city the money he owed for the Sibley building. Richards worked with Winn development, a Boston developer to take the building off Wilmot's hands. (note to City newspaper, did Wilmot receive any money when he owed the city over 20 million?) Richards is carrying the water of Winn and trying to force MCC to stay in the unsafe Sibley building location to the developer's benefit, not our kids!
Sadly, Tom Richards, like many lawyers, see the deal, not the people that are involved! That is why he sold RG&E and we lost our utility and many jobs while paying more for electricity...and he made over 10 million. He is a product of and a champion of the "deal" getting done. So, if our children are in an unsafe Sibley building, so what?
I have a daughter who went to MCC. I am a city resident and pay taxes. I believe Wilmot should be sued, MCC should be allowed to move to wherever they think they can protect the students and educate them best, Winn should not have the Mayor carrying their water, and Tom Richards should focus on collaboration in our community. (oh, and enforcing tax collection against millionaire contributors)
Re: “If MCC flops, will city taxpayers be on the hook?”
And why do city taxpayers pay more Mr. Mayor? Do more MCC students reside in the city than in any other municipality? That's why it's called a "community" college.
It would be nice if the Mayor, County Dems, and now Joe Morelle would quit playing politics and start being honest with themselves and their constituents - Instead they seem more concerned with an out-of-state developer's already sizable bank account.
How about recognizing the fact that MCC students (most of which ARE constituents by the way) need and deserve a campus they can be proud of - One that allows for full immersion in study - Not an awkwardly retrofitted, former department store with a mishmash of other uses and random members of the public wandering about.
I'm also trying to wrap my head around this one: If Sibley actually requires a police substation to ensure safety, is that really a place we ought to be sending college students???
Re: “If MCC flops, will city taxpayers be on the hook?”
And at the top of the list of flops that put city taxpayers on the hook... Bill Johnson's Fast Ferry. Mayor Johnson (remember him, the guy who said that those who opposed the ferry would be apologizing to him six months after it began service?) bought the barge at auction after it had already failed its inaugural year, and he and the other backers the project all swore that it also could survive on its own steam. Mayor Richards is to be applauded for his reluctance to travel down this well worn path of financial failure trod by so many civic and media boosters in the past.
Re: “Shale gas drilling moratorium proposed in Assembly”
The shale oil and gas boom is by far the best economic news Americans have heard in years, bringing enormous benefits from tens of thousands of high-wage jobs, to true energy independence, to a comeback of chemical manufacturing and other industries that had been offshored.
For New York State's political elite to screw up this once-in-a-generation opportunity at our doorstep would be a shameful, despicable, and immoral act.
Re: “Shale gas drilling moratorium proposed in Assembly”
Anything that delays fracking in NY is a good thing in my opinion. Delays leading to a ban in the entire state of New York would be my ultimate goal.
Re: “Lej committee blocks gun proposal”
If legislators want to allow law-abiding citizens to carry weapons openly in government buildings, that is their prerogative. If some nut with a gun manages to get inside and cause mayhem, that's their responsibility as well. Let them have it.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
"Rubbish" is a fine characterization of the right-wing drivel that j.a.m. regularly dispenses at this site: the smearing of the late George McGovern, on his death in October; the characterization of our President's inauguration as "totalitarian"; the pretending that public good is somehow evil; or some bogus headline two weeks ago that j.a.m. couldn't answer. This just in, j.a.m.: America has rejected your decrepit ideology. And 1851 just called, and they want their outdated beliefs back (like the worthiness of public education, just like the rest of the civilized world).
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
j.a.m. - Given that your definition of the "state" includes public schools I'm unclear how you can claim to be for "total separation of church and state" while attempting to impose your moral (i.e. religious) values on the rest of us. Particularly on the students in what you amusingly and incorrectly refer to as those evil "government schools".
By the way, you still haven't explained why your statement that, "the state simply has no business intruding into private family matters" does not apply to legislative or judicial attempts to legalize or criminalize abortion.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
@MJN — Rubbish. I am for total separate of school and state. And you will be, too, unless you want to be found guilty of that same charge of which you wrongly accuse me.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
j.a.m....NOW I understand what you're saying ! When that Big Bad State agrees with your personal moral views then your previous statement that it, "simply has no business intruding into private family matters" suddenly no longer applies and its intervention is welcomed. But when that same state introduces measures which offend you, then it suddenly becomes "evil" and needs to hit the road.
A very convenient philosophy...if a tad hypocritical.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
@MJN — P.S. If you maintain that government schools are not state actors, that means we can put God back in the classroom and tell the ACLU to pound sand. Maybe there is hope after all.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
@MJN — Sure, if it did not involve directly, intentionally and avoidably depriving a perfectly innocent human being of her right to life, the defense of which is the first and irreducible duty of a civilized society.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
j.a.m. - Very libertarian of you (although equating a local school district headed by a local administrator and governed by a local board of education made up of your friends and neighbors with an amorphous and anonymous, Big Brother "state" is a bit of a stretch)
That aside, since you believe that the state "simply has no business intruding into private family matters" you must believe that abortion, the ultimate "family matter" should be left exclusively up to the individuals involved without any interference by the state.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
@MJN — The point is that in a free society the state simply has no business intruding into private family matters. A secondary point is that schools are for education, not fornication. This phony sideshow is cynically calculated to distract from the reality that government schools are such disastrous failures.
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
j.a.m. - I'm plesesd to see that you do not support arming young children and brainwashing them into thinking that blasting small animals into bloody ribbons is a "sport".
As to your belief that schools passing out condoms somehow violates your moral standards let me ask what is it that you find so "evil" about the practice. The fact that it reduces teenage pregnancies? Or the fact that it reduces the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases?
It can't be that you believe that that condom distribution ignites teenage hormones and sends otherwise chaste young adults off to engage in sensual experimentation? After all, wouldn't that be as logical as claiming that handing a rifle to a teenager will automatically turn him into the next Adam Lanza?
Re: “Condoms available in city schools”
@MJN — That's a bit of a non-sequitur, and you have absolutely no way of knowing my attitude toward hunting, but I'll bite. First of all, the basic principle would be the same if a family held a strong conviction about the immorality of hunting, but government personnel, facilities and resources were being used to teach their children to hunt. More importantly, however, there is simply no moral equivalence. The fact is that sexual immorality destroys lives, families, communities, and societies — hunting doesn't.
Re: “RBJ poll heavily favors Richards”
The City of Rochester is so fortunate to have Tom Richards as its Mayor. Tom doesn't need the job. He is a long time city resident who is giving back to his city, in terms of quality leadership and positive direction. His background is business, but his Dad was a minister who taught him well.
The contrast of performance between Tom and former but still want to be Mayor, Bill Johnson is amazing.
Re: “If MCC flops, will city taxpayers be on the hook?”
Just curious about the deal for the city to build a police substation in Sibley? How much is that costing the city? The mayor is certainly ensuring that Winn profits from Rochester and Monroe County any way he can. He put the substation there and now is trying to strong arm a COUNTY entity to contribute to Winn’s bottom line. My perception is my reality and right now my perception is that some sketchy deals are taking with the mayor and Winn.