The Odds of March
It’s been an interesting month that’s winding down. There was that weird story about the woman who perished off Florida when a giant stingray flew out of the ocean and crashed into her, as she zoomed along in a speedboat. But of all the improbable or unforeseen happenings, nothing of course, topped the story of Governor Spitzer’s bizarre departure from public life.
No, we’re not going to retell it, we’ve all heard more than we probably wanted to know. And yes, we’re chagrinned of course, because we actually believed in the guy. We even endorsed his candidacy nearly a year before he announced it. It’s not as if we labored under an illusion that he was some kind of genuinely nice person or anything like that. But we did think he could be a great chief executive, capable of breaking through some of the dysfunction which has long hobbled our less-than-stellar state government. But like everyone else, we formed our opinions of our ex-governor without a clue as to his secret life. Knowing what we do now, we’re just relieved he’s gone and somebody less psychologically complex and presumably more stable has stepped up to the job. It’s not so much what he did, but the irrational recklessness and hypocrisy of his actions that we find so astonishing.
Occasionally we did offer psychoanalytic insights into the former Governor’s actions, and we did have concerns about his personal ethics. As Attorney General, Spitzer was clearly, publicly and consistently skeptical about our big local development project. But within 10 days after winning election he’d completely reversed his position and issued instructions to his key staff that resulted in last September’s controversial “Agreement in Principal.” Whether the whole of the project outlined in that document will survive without Spitzer’s personal protection is questionable. And that’s because of the one really positive legacy that he left — the high quality of the appointments that he made. Nowhere in state Government is that more apparent than at DEC. We wonder how they will clean up after any detritus left by the last governor in his drive to please a supposedly domineering father who also happened to be New York City’s biggest developer for years. Should be interesting…
Also, this past March, we’ve seen some significant movement on local issues through the courts. Some of New York City’s tax challenges on its reservoir properties have now been thrown out, and we certainly hope that bodes well for Olive, and the entire Onteora School District, when a later set of similar issues resurface in April. From what we’re hearing, there seems to have been a significant softening of City positions of late. Could that be the result of a greater sense of compassion accompanying worsening economic times? We’ll see…
In Shandaken business, the State Court of Appeals has reinstated an Article 78 suit by 27 landowners against assessment practices by town officials. That suit, along with another seeking civil rights damages over the same matters, will now apparently be moving forward this Spring. Which, if nothing else, means that we’re likely to be looking at renewed talk of a long-awaited reval in that town before long.
On a regional level, the Catskill Watershed Corporation, set up over a decade ago to help spend monies and oversee programs required of New York City in exchange for its new watershed regulations, was acting a bit odd… defending itself and the old Coalition of Watershed Towns that helped birth it at one of the latter’s meetings, chastising the general public, and we in the press, for not having long enough (or apparently thankful enough) memories regarding its role in the area. The underlying story, we believe, had to do with a veiled attempt to once again get Phoenicia to reconsider taking $14 million in funding for a new sewer system… by saying it wasn’t really New York City’s money being offered, but the region’s. But deeper down, it may have also had to do with the region’s failure to raise its boats beyond city-funded projects… good reason for anyone to feel defensive.
Finally, speaking of defensiveness, it was an odd March over at the Onteora School District, where parents were invited to yet again hear all the convoluted plans for a new Middle School and numerous renovations costing in the millions. And administrators announced that they would be heading out to local town board and other community meetings to similarly explain what they were up to.
No, everyone was saying, the new activities had nothing to do with a recent ad hoc meeting put together by non-official Onteora entities, or the growing number of ballot applications going out for contenders seeking seats on the school board in a couple of months.
Just because actions looked defensive, and people continued to question the high amounts of bonding figures being bandied about, didn’t mean anyone WAS actually feeling defensive.
No sir… just chalk it up, again, to the Odds of March.