Everybody's Talkin' At Me

Strikeslip, who I think is the last Utica/Rome blogger covering area politics, gives a heads up for a new message forum:

A friend directed me to a new forum for the Utica area: Clipper's Corner. A lot of long time posters from some of our other area forums have found their way there too, and are making lively conversation. I've added it to my list of forum links on the side bar.

I'm not a member of the forum, at least not yet, but it seems to be doing a good job of offering up some lively discussions featuring opinions from across the political spectrum. After the total meltdown of the Utica forum on Topix, a trolling effort I don't think was random or coincidental in the least, it's a nice change of pace.

The March of Days

Yesterday would have been Michelle Hutchings 28th birthday:

Hutchings was last seen around 11:45 p.m. July 30, 2006, in the 1400 block of Bleecker Street in East Utica.

Seelman Saturday said she and investigators still keep in regular contact with each other, and she’s hopeful her daughter eventually will be found.

Anyone with information about the case can call the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office at 765-2244.

I wish I had the optimism that Michelle's mother does, but I'm afraid that if and when she is ever found it won't be a happy occasion. Worse, I don't think she'll be the last petite brunette to vanish from the streets of Central New York.

The Exodus Rolls On

I'm just one of the thousands of former New Yorkers that have fled the "Empire State" over the last decade because of the state's abysmal condition. Unfortunately, our departure is going to have a serious impact on those of you that are left:

New York State’s population grew by a hair in the year that ended July 1, but because Sun Belt states like Nevada, Arizona and Florida are growing faster, the Empire State stands to lose seats in Congress after the 2010 Census.

An analysis by Queens College of population trends suggests that Texas will gain as many as four Congressional seats and Florida’s delegation will grow by two, while New York and Ohio will lose two seats each.

The projected decline in House representation is only the latest installment of long trend.

New York’s delegation in the House of Representatives peaked at 45 seats, following the 1930 Census. As other states grew more quickly, New York’s share in the House got smaller. Now, New York has only 29 seats, and stands to have only 27 after the next Census.

That's a pretty damn harsh dose of reality. It's bad enough that New York is just a shadow of what it was nearly a century ago, but the re-apportionment is likely to have some nasty direct consequences for the Utica/Rome area in particular. There's a good chance that the 23rd and 24th congressional districts will be the ones that see the biggest changes as their borders are redrawn to cover even more of the state's sparsely populated northern territory. That means less political clout for the state as a whole and less regional power both at the state and federal level.

On the bright side, there's still plenty of time for you to move down here to Texas before the 2010 census. Over the next year you'll be able to pick up some amazing housing bargains as the sub-prime meltdown spins off a slew of undervalued properties. Even better, in the unlikely event you can't find a job that pays more than what you were earning in New York you'll still have more money in your pocket thanks to our low property and sales taxes.

Oh, and did I mention we don't have a state income tax?

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday.

Sorry about the total lack of updates, but things have been understandably hectic with the move. We're currently living in a rented house just outside Austin (while we wait for home prices to drop even further as the housing "crisis" progresses), but even with most of our stuff in storage at my workshop things couldn't be better.

Oddly enough, none of us have particularly missed having snow on Christmas. Snowflakes gently drifting down from the sky are nice, but I'm rather enjoying our forecast of sunny skies and a high near seventy.

I'm Lovin' Texas

We're still weeks away from moving to Texas, but I'm already loving the state. I spent yesterday working out the details of moving my guns and had a simply amazing experience. Barring any legal complications with states we'll be driving through, which I'm still checking on, I should be able to transport my longarms locked inside a secure shipping container.

Handguns, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated. I have two pistols that I'll have to transfer to a dealer here so he can ship them to a dealer outside Austin, where I'll ultimately pick them up. Just a few minutes after I contacted a dealer in Texas he called back to say that not only would he do the transfer gratis, other than the normal mandated charges for paperwork, but he'd throw in a free membership for his shooting range and a couple of tickets to their monthly BBQ in December.

I don't even live there yet and I'm already getting invited to parties. That, my friends, is hospitality.

Unreal Estate

So I'm on the phone with our real estate agent, who happens to be a family friend, when the following conversation occurs:

"Does your house have any special features?"

"Oh, yeah. It's fully wired for cat 5 and coax with a central switcher in the basement."

"Anything else?"

"There's a generator room in the garage for a backup generator. It's already wired up to code and has a nice muffler system installed. We can leave the generator if the buyer wants it. I also installed some heavy duty wiring for my welding gear and the bomb shelter."

-pause-

"A bomb shelter?"

"Yeah, there's a ten by fifteen bomb shelter off the basement TV room. Reinforced concrete, air vents, steel door...the whole deal."

"Er...where we watched movies? That room?"

"Yeah."

"How do you get to the bomb shelter?"

"Through the door. It's hidden behind the shelving with all the books and DVDs."

-pause-

"Okay. Uh...so why do you have a bomb shelter with a hidden entrance?"

"Because somebody built it. From the junk we found inside I'd guess back in the fifties."

"Do you use it?"

"Yeah, it's where I play my guitar. I installed the wiring to power my amps. Even with the levels cranked up you can't hear it in the house."

"So you have an underground bomb shelter with a secret entrance and heavy duty wiring so you can play a guitar?"

-pause-

"Well, yeah. I don't play very well."

-pause-

"I think we might want to leave out the bomb shelter in the listing. If anyone seems interested in that kind of thing we'll tell them about it, but otherwise I'm going to describe it as a wine cellar."

Letters, We Get Letters

I want to thank everyone that's emailed since yesterday, and I apologize for not replying to every message individually. There was a consistent number of questions in most of them and I thought it would save time answering them all at once.

The most prominent was "Are you sick again?" Physically, not at all. Now that I'm actually taking the time to sleep, instead of zooming around for twenty hours a day, my health couldn't be better. Mentally...eh, not so much. I'm not suffering from anything pathological, but, and I hope you'll pardon my frankness, the constant stream of bullshit that issues forth from our politicians just wore me down.

I think the real breaking point was the Mitch Ford situation. The only thing I found more infuriating than his blatantly racist attitudes was the collective shrug it seemed to generate in the local media and the population as a whole. I've grown to accept a certain amount of casual racism- when you're as lily white as I am and your significant other is as black as coal you get used to it- but the in-your-face arrogance of reducing another human being to subhuman status with the epithet "nigger" is simply unforgivable. In most of this country that incident would have been a major scandal. Here, it was a blip.

That, needless to say, did not inspire a great deal of happiness in our household. After that it became increasingly clear this just wasn't a place we wanted to live anymore.

The other big question was "Why Texas?" Two of our closest friends moved there last year. Since then they've been engaging in a steady campaign of propaganda to convince us to join them and it finally took hold.

From a tax standpoint Texas looks like paradise, at least when compared to New York. There's no state income tax, the combined state and local sales taxes are equal to or lower than anywhere in New York, and local property taxes are quite a bit less in relation to the elevated real estate prices.

Secondary costs are also significantly smaller. Electricity and energy? 60% of New York's bloated rates. Housing? Significantly higher prices, but it's a market, unlike New York, where people actually want to live, producing a natural market pressure for increased values. Water and sewage? Comparable to New York's despite our much-vaunted natural water supply. Health insurance? Significantly less than New York thanks to a state government that isn't completely beholden to health care unionistas.

Ultimately, our decision came down to quality of life and in that respect the Austin area just blows away anywhere in New York except for Manhattan. The city is home to a thriving arts community, including an amazingly productive crop of filmmakers. The weather is..well..perfect. The schools, while costing significantly less than the ineffective warehouses we have in New York, actually produce students with an education.

Two other factors also weighed heavily in our decision. First, a politician in Texas that calls a black candidate a nigger has effectively ended their career. That's a nice change of pace from Oneida County. Second, fireworks are legal. If you want a handy guide to how valuable the concept of personal freedom is to a state government there is no more telling barometer than their fireworks laws.

Love It Or Leave It

Well, I finally snapped.

After months, nay, years of grousing about Central New York's abysmal condition I finally realized that it's pointless to stay here. Over the weekend I and my significant other came to the decision that it's time to cut our losses and get out of New York. Monday we'll start the process of moving to Texas, just outside Austin.

A lot of things influenced our final decision, but the most telling was the increasing dysfunction of both our local and state politics. Put simply, our political class is totally devoid of even the most rudimentary leadership ability. The consistent refusal to control tax growth, even as the area undergoes a population loss of almost biblical proportions, means the increasingly small population here will be burdened with higher and higher costs. That feedback loop, unchecked, will produce a death spiral of ever shrinking populations and ever escalating taxation.

Actually, I shouldn't say "will". It has. The death spiral is already here. After talking with some friends with a much better grasp of demographics than I have, since thier livlihoods depend on it, I think the upcoming census is going to find that the area's population loss has accelerated to around five percent a year. Worse, the ones leaving are the most capable of driving long-term growth in the economy- the young, skilled professionals, and high value workers.

If I find the time to post any more I'll probably discuss why leaving New York is so attractive (and probably the right choice for most people reading this). If I don't find the time I just want to thank everyone that appreciated my scribblings. It was fun.

-Z

Another Missed Opportunity

I'd like to be Mike Arcuri's friend, but I just can't afford it.

"Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
Reception for Congressman Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
437 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Requested Contributions: $5,000 PAC Host, $2,500 PAC Sponsor and $1,000 Friend"

On the bright side, at least it didn't cost a grand to get some potato salad this time.

Then Again, Maybe Not

Bob Hyde has deleted his post accusing Utica City Democratic Chairman Mitch Ford of repeatedly calling Common Council candidate Jane Kelley a "nigger".

Make of that what you will.

Argh!

Am I the only one frustrated by the arcane formatting off the O-D's new website. I know it takes some time to get up to speed with new software, but it's been...what...a month now? Is the formatting really as much of a disaster as I think it is, or is my use of Adblocker distorting my view of the layout?

Justice

This is good news.

Gregg Sponburgh, former director of environmental health and safety at Utica College, was sentenced to prison today for his role a drunken-driving accident that left three people injured last September.

Herkimer County Court Judge Patrick Kirk sentenced Sponburgh to 2½ years in prison for second-degree assault followed by two years of post-release supervision. He also sentenced Sponburgh to 1 to 3 years for second-degree vehicular assault. The sentences will run concurrently.

One of the victims, Erin Dugan, 27, of Richfield, said she believes the sentence was equal punishment for two broken legs she suffered in the accident.

I'm glad the judge wasn't swayed by UC's inane "teachable moment" approach to crime. On the bright side, I suspect Mr. Sponburgh's value to the school will only increase during his incarceration. When he gets out he'll be able to lecture students on responsible drinking and life behind bars. It's a win-win for everyone!

Yeah, I'm a cold-hearted bastard about drunk driving. I fully support the right to a good bender, but I lost all empathy for idiots that get behind the wheel after boozing it up years ago.

Update: WKTV has video of the sentencing here. I'm a little confused about the phrasing they used in the story, since I was under the impression that Sponburgh still worked at Utica College. He's still listed as the Director of Environmental Health and Safety on the College's website, but the 'KTV story makes it sound as though he's no longer an employee.

Utica College Sez: Drunk Drivers Need Luv 2

From my site logs it appears folks at Utica College have gone Google-crazy trying to find mentions of "Erin Dugan". You remember her- she's the woman the safety director of the college crippled in a drunk driving accident.

Scroll down for the story of how the College is trying to get him off without any jail time or just click here for the fast and easy link.

Crankin' It Up

Looks like the Mitch Ford "nigger" issue isn't dying down.

This morning, Jane Kelley, who is a candidate in the Democratic primary, held a news conference to talk about racial slurs she says Democratic Chairman, Mitch Ford made about her.

Ford denies the so-called racial slurs calling the allegations false and ludicrous. He says these statements shouldn't be at the forefront of this primary.

Instead the candidates should be focusing their attention on the concerns of the constituents in the First Ward and less about trashing each other's reputations.

The inescapable conclusion is that either Bob Hyde or Mitch Ford is lying. Whoever it is needs to suffer serious consequences.

Blastwave, Continued

I've referred to the area's steady depopulation as a slow-motion neutron bomb before- the population is being wiped out with a thoroughness akin to nuclear bombardment. If this report (PDF Warning) is to be believed things are about to get a whole lot worse. Here's a sample of some of the conclusions:

- Oswego County in the Syracuse area will lose over half it's population by 2020.

- Herkimer County will be effectively uninhabited by 2020, with over 90% of the population either dying or moving out of the area.

- Oneida County's population implosion will accelerate, with over 15% of the year 2000 population gone by 2020. It's not clear if those population figures take into account the massive numbers of prisoners, but if it doesn't the picture is even bleaker. In just over a decade Oneida County will effectively be a gigantic nursing home, with close to 70% of the workers employed by government or government-sponsored jobs. The rest of the population will be overwhelmingly poor and increasingly geriatric.

I'm increasingly in favor of the massive pork project aimed at improving Route 12, because it's starting to look like we'll need all that extra highway capacity to support the flood of people leaving the area.