Thursday, August 25, 2011

Hey Google. How many times has the TU quoted E.J. McMahon of the "conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy"?

Wow. That's a lot. It would be fair to say that the TU generally endorses his views and analysis. Interesting, that.

Monday, August 22, 2011

A $10 million renovation of the Crowne Plaza in Albany, New York, is expected to start this fall now that city officials approved a new, 30-year property tax break for the hotel’s owner.

The board of the Industrial Development Agency voted unanimously to approve the new tax break, said Michael Yevoli, the city’s commissioner of development and planning.


Why not? The city is all set for tax revenue apparently. No need to get any from this big money entity.

This must be some form of the "shared sacrifice" I've been hearing about.

Monday, August 15, 2011

One of our mega-rich overlords has spoken: Tax the rich.

Sounds good to me.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Apparently Wanda Willingham did something that was not wrong, and it is now a big deal in the Albany County junior high Legislature.

As I said in a comment on the TU blog, it would be useful if the TU provided some info as to whether the information was confidential or not. Don't just report what Willingham said, and what Conners said - look into the rules and report what the rules are.

Other than that, the blog comments seem to show that many are ready and willing to take shots at Willingham. This suggests to me that the whole purpose of this is ... to take shots at Willingham, regardless of the merits of the accusation.

There is also this, from the first TU article:

But [County Comptroller Michael Conners] has issues with the system.

"The way welfare has been administered hasn't worked," he said. "The number of poor has grown significantly in the last 30 years, particularly in the last 20, and I believe we need to evaluate the success of the system. There is an entitlement mentality that I don't think has worked for the long term benefit for the poor or for the taxpayer."


With that kind of rhetoric, perhaps Mr. Conners should consider switching over to the Republican party.

I'm guessing that won't happen.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011