|
Aug
31
2007
|
NY State Senator Michael Nozzolio
|
|
Friday, 31 August 2007 |
 One of the biggest issues facing New York State today has been the dramatic increase in property taxes for homeowners. As your New York State Senator, I am fighting to reduce the amount of property taxes that individual homeowners have to pay. I understand the financial struggles of people living on fixed or limited incomes and know how difficult it is for them to find the money to pay their taxes. Almost every week, I receive a call or a letter from someone struggling to make ends meet. They have made it clear to me that the burden of these taxes has become too much for many of them to bear.
As property taxes grow, our economy suffers because people don't have the resources to create new businesses. Although we have made some strides in the right direction, we can't lose sight of the fact that we need to continue our efforts to cut taxes, enhance the STAR program, and reform the costly Medicaid system.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Aug
31
2007
|
Elisabeth Hegarty
|
|
Friday, 31 August 2007 |
 I read with sadness your article entitled "Costing the Village Deer".
Overall, I have been following the media information about the "deer crisis" for quite some time.
A month or two ago, there was a report of a woman who attended the Board meeting and complained about the damage the deer did to her shrubs and bushes. There was a later report by one of the Village officials cautioning that the deer might possibly eat the new trees planted in the Village along Triphammer Road. Your most recent article mentions a man who advised the Village officials to "sic 'em". Perhaps someone out there ought to "sic him, not 'em". After reading his comment, I wonder whose life is more valuable, a deer's life or his life.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Aug
24
2007
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 24 August 2007 |
 I've said it before. I don't care how the school board does it, I just want them to hire an experienced, qualified superintendent who is right for the community and will guide Lansing into and beyond the next decade. If that means trusting the Board of Education to do it using the best means at their disposal and their own best sense of what is right for the district, that's OK with me. After all, we elected these seven people to... well, to use the best means at their disposal and their own best judgment to lead the district.
Some might argue that the end doesn't justify the means. In other words, that excluding the community is worse than getting the very best person for the job. In a sellers market where there are more open administrative positions by far than there are qualified administrators to fill them, the two big issues for a district going shopping are salary and confidentiality. The qualified people already have jobs, and if they are not chosen they want to keep them, so confidentiality is important to them. Sure, it is lovely to have a lot of community input (which, by the way, can still be a major element of a confidential search), but if it yields a lousy superintendent or a good one who won't stay, what was the point of the exercise?
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Aug
17
2007
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 17 August 2007 |
This week I told someone I am a political independent of the old school, who wants to keep the Republicans out of my bedroom, and the Democrats out of my wallet. I have also been learning something about payroll, which is the most startling way to see in one fell swoop how much we earn that we don't keep. And all the startling added expenses the government requires of a business just to pay people. And how complicated the government makes it.
I naively thought I could do a Google search and find a step by step checklist on how to do payroll. Instead I found that the only simple way to do it is to outsource it to a payroll company! So that's another expense whether you are paying one person or a thousand. That just doesn't seem right to me, being the do-it-yourself kind of guy that I am.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Aug
10
2007
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 10 August 2007 |
As an independent voter I hadn't attended political meetings until I started covering them for the Star. So last year was the first Democratic caucus I attended, and it was something of a disappointment. Committee members desperate to find candidates asked me whether I would run as soon as I walked in. They didn't actually know who I was. When I explained that I was there as a journalist and am not a Democrat they told me that doesn't matter. I wasn't sure whether or not they were joking, especially as the meeting progressed and they considered nominating candidates who probably didn't want to run, desperately trying to reach one who had declined to run at the last moment on their cell phones, and finally nominated a 'place holder' candidate in case they could get someone better later.
So I went into this year's caucus with low expectations, but found myself favorably impressed. This year Lansing Democratic Committee Chairman Greg Lawrence took a practical approach to the dearth of candidates: accept that we don't have candidates for every position, but do the best we can for the ones we have.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
| Results 55 - 63 of 245 |
Archive Opinions 
