Woodstock Library bond vote
The Woodstock Library board recently voted to keep on schedule and have the bond vote for a new library on November 3, 2020, the same day as the general election for president. We are well aware of the risks of having the bond vote in the year of the pandemic. No one can predict what our lives will be like in November. But the risks of delaying the vote seemed greater.
We feel compassion for those suffering economically, not to mention physically, from the vast disruption. We live and work here, too. Only homeowners pay property tax, not renters, and the library tax is the smallest slice of the pie. Second homeowners comprise 60 percent of Woodstock taxpayers and account for 70 percent of town tax revenue (since their homes are mostly of higher assessments), so those who live here year-round are going to get a beautiful functional 21st-century library for not that much financial investment. We feel the amount of tax increase will not be significant, and we are proposing a zero-increase tax levy in our operational budget for the second year in a row.
The fact is that the current library building is totally unsuited for the new normal. Small, cramped spaces do not allow for social distancing. There are two to three staff who sit inside a tiny office behind the circulation desk. They can no longer occupy that space at the same time.
The public computers which are a lifeline for so many residents are not safely spaced. The air quality is already poor quality. There is only one bathroom. And of course, our second floor is not accessible for those who can’t manage stairs.
The new library will have open flexible spaces, advanced air filtration systems and our architect is already revising plans to make sure areas like public computers are configured to allow for current and likely future social distancing needs. Our planning committee is also revising our plan of service to make sure our future offerings are in sync with the changing needs of the population.
Many years of planning and much financial investment from private donors has brought us so close. Everyone has battle fatigue from the library wars, and both sides feel a public vote would settle the matter once and for all. When the bond passes, it will allow us to fundraise much more successfully — there are generous donors who are waiting to make sure this is really happening, that the new library will actually be built, before committing. We can pay down the bond much quicker and borrow less once this happens.
The longer we wait, the more it will cost. If we end up in a recession or depression, costs may be lower, and the economic stimulus of a major construction project in town will provide jobs and an infusion of money into the town. Interest rates are at an all time low, so this is an ideal time to borrow for the greater public good.
Governor Cuomo has asked us to reimagine. The new library will be the catalyst for our communal reimagining of life in Woodstock. People out of work or students who can’t afford college will need us more than ever. The new library will be a source of inspiration, pride and support.
Dorothea Marcus
President, Woodstock Library
Woodstock
Support Jen Metzger
Why would Republicans be pouring money into a Republican candidate to unseat state senator Jen Metzger? Surely they can appreciate that both parties voted to sign into law 21 of her bills!
Surely they would value the fact that she helped 1000 needy constituents to navigate the process of getting unemployment insurance at a time when the bureaucracy was overloaded.
They should see how helpful her information and resource guide for constituents is with its listings about food pantries, testing sites and small business assistance. Her community conversations hosts local experts to answer our questions about Covid in real time.
Senator Metzger has always focused on the needs of the people she serves, be it inflated electric bills or pandemic ills. Her Republican opponent is funded largely by big-money interests. That’s how his bread is buttered. Jen Metzger accepts no corporate donations.
We need to support a politician who supports us. I hope you will donate to her campaign at: jenmetzger/donate or to: Friends of Jen Metzger, P.O. Box 224, Rosendale, NY 12472.
Doris Chorny
Gardiner
Talk is cheap
Supervisor McKenna says the Selina Hotel representatives are saying all the right things. This in itself I find interesting.
Talk is cheap when it’s a big-time corporation going up against small municipal players, neighbors and a taxpayer forced to expend $25,000.00 in legal expense to gain compliance of this improperly permitted project. Those Selina representatives who said they’d be in contact to discuss plans further haven’t been heard from by neighbors, this doesn’t bode well for building community confidence. Selina’s recent public meeting appearances seemed to have been solely an effort toward gaining exemption and exception to proper process, rather than an effort of navigating the required planning process. Selina also should have provided additional information timely when requested beginning March 2019. Having read volumes of MDRA consultant reports generated already for this project I conservatively expect a very lengthy approval process. Opinion is Selina hasn’t been diligent in navigating the site plan approval process over the past 16 months, which is required prior to continuing construction. In fact, Selina hasn’t even posted the $50,000 escrow monies requested by the planning board nearly a year ago.
This new Selina operation will likely have higher occupancy rates and water usage rates than previous operations. But there’s already talk of Selina not hooking into the municipal water system. If the wells go dry and Selina drills deeper, what happens if the neighbors’ wells go dry? Will Selina also back out of hooking into the town sewer system? Understanding Selina has been at this over one year, has the lengthy legal process of connecting into the municipal systems even commenced? Shouldn’t this be expected prior to approval? I say use caution neighbors and do pay close attention. Let your voice be heard before it’s too late, or you may just lose your voice.
About the Memorandum of Understanding, what’s up with that? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Something stinks.
Marcel Nagele
Woodstock
Caring for the Dewey Decimal System
The directors of the Woodstock Public Library began their journey to demolish and build a new library building in 2007. Over the 13 years, the cost of a replacement library and the proposed demolishing of the building at 5 Library Lane had and still has a lot of taxpayer opposition. The existing building has some historic value and fits very well within the Tinker Street landscape.
The opposition to building a new library eventually developed into the Library Alliance being formed by a large group of concerned taxpayers who wanted to restore and renovate the existing building.
Today, the United States is in the snares of the COVID virus and our economy has been stalled or stopped for at least half a year. This unprecedented condition may be with us for a lot longer as the United States has not decided what to do. Many Woodstock taxpayers are out of work and we see the lines at the local food banks continue to grow. The possibility that we may lose some of the businesses in Woodstock exists. Many of our taxpayers have suffered a significant loss in income.
Despite the bad economic condition, the Library Board is continuing to neglect preserving the existing building and to spend unapproved taxpayer money on the construction project to build a new library. I have no idea how this construction project is being funded since it was never included in the library budget. There must have been some pork in the past budgets submitted to the taxpayers for approval.
Today we also will have the Library Board moving to request the taxpayers to approve a multi-million dollar bond that would increase the town’s debt for 30 years and cause an increase in the property tax bills.
Have the Woodstock taxpayers approved the construction of a new library? Does Woodstock really want to take on this debt in a time of such economic instability? Do the Woodstock taxpayers think it is a good idea to increase their property taxes for the next 30 years? Is there a better way to do this?
Perhaps a solution exists if the Woodstock Library Board and the Library Alliance join together and move to work on a project that would commence to restore, preserve, renovate and expand the existing library building without floating a multi-million dollar bond.
Each year, within the annual budget, an amount of about $500,000 could be included to complete the library improvement. Over a few years the project could be finished without incurring long-term debt. In addition to taxpayer money, private donations and bequests can be sought in exchange for naming dedications to portions of the building.
With the Library Board and the Library Alliance, there is a lot of talent and a lot of good intentions to get the job done. The first step would be for the Library Board to agree to meet with the Library Alliance and from there, we can perhaps see some magic and get the job done. Let us hope that it doesn’t take another 13 years!
Jim Dougherty
Shady
Confusion over Oliver House
I share my background as testimony to my commitment and dedication to remembering our black history. For the past 25 years, I have researched the African-American history of New Paltz and the Hudson Valley. Two decades ago, I was a member of a dedicated team that first commemorated the African-American Burial Ground on Huguenot Street. I have continued this research with two books, several curricula and websites on African-American history in our region.
Most recently, I initiated the dedication of a plaque to commemorate a great African-American citizen of New Paltz, Julia Jackson, who was an honored member of a once-vibrant New Paltz black community. Jacob and John Wynkoop, along with the Oliver, Freer, Lefevre, Jackson, Fox, Dubois, Moody, Eltinge, Rose and Hasbrouck (Murphy) families among others were all members of this local black community.
Reading all the posts concerning the Oliver House, I am troubled by the confusion surrounding the importance of the house, which has been neglected for decades. The house itself does not contain the spirit of the people who originally built or inhabited it. Rather, the question is how we honor the legacy of the people who constructed the house and called it their home.
If the village had not stepped in, Stewart’s was going to raze the house, leaving no trace of its origins and significance. I am more than grateful that Stewart’s has made an agreement that we can use this location to honor our former black community, which we can do in many ways without the building. We need to remember that our community’s black heritage is clearly more than the Oliver House. Our history begins in 1674 when Louis Dubois purchased two individuals, Susan and Anthony. In 1845, there were 207 people of color living in our town.
Where are their descendants now? I am in touch with a descendent of the family that built the Oliver House. I am currently working with a colleague to try to understand the disappearance of this community in a virtual exhibit which will be posted on HRVH.org.
For more information on local black history, you can view an exhibit I created several years ago, The Missing Chapter. found at: https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/missing-chapter/
Susan Stessin-Cohn
Town Historian
New Paltz
Open mouth, insert foot
At a previous Woodstock town board meeting there was a discussion among the board members about how an individual can submit an application to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). During the discussion, board member Laura Ricci said that an applicant could apply directly to the ZBA. [Town supervisor Bill] McKenna, responding in what appeared to be a condescending manner, replied, “Laura, you were on the planning board and should have known the only way an applicant can get to the ZBA is a referral from the planning board or the zoning enforcement officer (ZEO).”
Bill, first, a supervisor should never discredit anyone at a town-board meeting. Second, you were on the ZBA and should have known that an applicant may apply directly to the ZBA without having to get a referral from the zoning enforcement officer or the planning board.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Keeping me alive
Dear Dean (Nyradeen Mabinuori), New Paltz carrier Route CD2. Let me start by saying that when I see your face, it makes me smile. When I hear your words of greeting, I feel seen. I watch your lively step and I see grace.
You are one of the few in my world today that works at keeping me alive. I am an elder, an old man who has navigated several medical events and Covid is not my friend. Dean, when you deliver the outside world to my front door, I do not have to expose myself. This means, you are in your own way saving my life. The fact that you do it without resentment and with efficiency and good humor is a blessing.
During these difficult times, I want you to know that you have my full respect and concern. I am aware and distressed at the racial issues that are present in our nation. I am present and active at communicating my disappointment with the lack of moral values around us today. All human beings have souls and deserve love and kindness and you have mine.
Go well.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Choose a new life
If you need drugs to get through life, it may be a sign that you have the wrong life.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Palestinian hatred
Ms. Jane Toby in a letter (entitled by the editor “Let’s Work Together”) continues to not only encourage not working together but continues to spew out the anti-Israel boycott. Divestment and sanctions movement’s incorrect or misleading statements.
First off, the name that Ms. Toby gave the Palestinian that she is equating and elevating to similarity with George Floyd, is not correct. His name is not Ilya Halak. It is Iyad Halak.
Secondly, their situations, other than their deaths by police, are not even remotely analogous. George Floyd’s killer and his accomplices while policeman are not constantly on active alert for terrorists. The Israeli police safeguard Israelis from those Palestinian terrorists who have been brainwashed about what their mission in life should be, i.e., jihad against Jews. So while Iyad Halak’s death was possibly a tragic mistake, it was born of the constant and fatiguing vigilance that the Israeli police have to have because of the very real danger of a terrorist attack.
Interestingly, the Israeli police and government officials immediately called for an investigation of this tragic accident and apologized to the family. The same does not happen when a Palestinian terrorist intentionally kills an Israeli. Furthermore, when a terrorist is killed by an Israeli, there is joy in Gaza and the West Bank and that terrorist is honored by the Palestinians.
Worse yet, the Palestinian leadership reward those terrorists’ families with support payments. Thus money, received from Israel and other sources, that was meant to aid all Palestinians ends up being diverted to “fund” terrorism.
Too bad the situation has devolved to this current impasse given that many of the issues dividing Israel and Palestinians were settled peacefully by the Oslo accords, negotiated agreements which were soon undermined and rejected by the Palestinian leaders.
Susan Puretz
Saugerties
Maskadaisical
Covid is not just a cough, and it is time to dispel the “distrust in public health” which Donald Trump has fomented in his movement. Masks are not a political issue. They are common sense. Please don’t think you have to show allegiance to your political party by wearing or not wearing a mask. Not wearing a mask in a public place in the middle of a deadly pandemic is simply ignorant — not Republican or Democrat.
Our blowhard Trump has ignored coronavirus signs from the get-go and has delayed any valuable national strategy against it for political gain. Rather than doing the hard work to manage and shorten the pandemic, all he is capable of doing is wishing it away. It has been a catalog of missteps… Finding different ways to call Trump an idiot is just way easy…
Bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma. All is underscored and based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, or (as we have regularly witnessed) some other misleading effects of perception that have been added, contributing to a disruptive intensity until, in the final moments, no one can see you roll your eyes.
People everywhere are not wearing masks and not doing distancing. They think this just miraculously went away because governors reopened states. No one cares about their fellow citizens dying. It is incredibly sad what our country has become during this swirling viral menace. Ethics, honor, decency, goodness and selflessness are alien concepts to these morons who BS in the name of their so-called freedom being trampled on.
Stupid is as stupid does.
The reasonable, correct-thinking, careful, caring, intelligent American masses are being drowned out by extremist stupidity and terrorist behavior. Orange lies matter! It’s up to all of us to slow the spread of Covid 19. Everyone, including young and healthy people, should avoid large gatherings during this time. And of course mask up!
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Pre-primed for failure
I was the chair of the New Paltz citizens’ police oversight committee that was disbanded last year after we disagreed with an internal police finding about an officer’s use of excessive force. We were provided with few tools and no basic definitions of terms like ‘excessive use of force’ to help us. We had to do much of the work of researching regulations and the history of how they were used across New York State.
The police liaison refused to present his own reasoning for coming up with his conclusion, and assumed that he was going to be part of the deliberation, guiding us to where he wanted us to go. I am fully aware that he had his own constraints with having to work with the police union and the gargantuan rules that made it difficult to hold officers accountable. The committee was pre-primed for failure even before we were constituted.
The committee watched the scant video evidence over and over, as some of the police equipment was turned off or was not working. A couple of us tried with some success to get others to shed their bias about how the evidence was framed for us by the liaison. After several hours of discussion, some of them voted to abstain because they could not justify their pre-assumed assumptions that the liaison had presented to us. Our ten-page report went to town court and as chair of the citizens’ advisory committee I was the only one allowed inside for part of their deliberation. It was as if the town council had viewed a completely different set of evidence than we had. The bias towards believing authority was all too evident.
This tendency to believe and obey authority with scant evidence has a name — the Milgram effect. In 1963, Stanley Milgram conducted his now foundational study on the impact of unquestioning obedience to authority. His findings stunned the world. Most of his participants, mentally healthy Americans, were willing to inflict pain on another person simply because someone they perceive as an authority figure told them it would be okay.
I regularly ask my students if that would be the case today, and almost all of my students routinely deny that today people know better and therefore would not follow authority blindly. We know from subsequent studies that little has changed and in a lab setting most Americans implicitly trust authority. That is a dangerous tendency, as we have seen in countless cases from the torture at Abu Ghraib prison to the psychologists participating in the water-boarding at Guantanamo Bay
No physical evidence like video footage and audio recordings or witness testimony can help objective investigation if a biased group of members believe that those who maintain law and order must naturally be law-abiding and knowledgeable as well. In order for an oversight committee to work, the town has to do better. Committee members must have knowledge about the racist history of the American police force. Members must be given exhaustive training on institutionalized racism and anti-racist work. They must be allowed to freely communicate their findings with the press and the community to keep the officers accountable.
Most of all, they must be truly representative of the groups that are most victimized and harmed in our communities — historically underrepresented people of color, people in poverty, trans people, the homeless. Milgram’s findings are true today as much as when the study was conducted, and we should heed its warnings. The community cannot have an unbiased advisory committee if the institutional framework is law enforcement centered rather than community-welfare-centered.
Gowri Parameswaran
New Paltz
An outraged veteran!
Over the years that I’ve been creating and then showing the Why Can’t We Serve documentary I’ve done my best to not get caught up in any political controversy. I may have my personal opinions about political issues, but I never allowed my personal point of view to get in my way of staying neutral, because, to me, the film and its intention is to help reduce the veteran suicide rate in our country. That’s the most important thing, and there is no other goal.
I have been steadfast, over the years, with not getting sucked in about one or another political controversy. The documentary is too important to me. I know there are lots of good, caring people who are on both sides of the aisle, and I wanted my movie to be encouraging to all Republicans as well as Democrats. We need all of them to support our film and our desire to help reduce vet suicides.
But now we have uncovered this disgusting Russian attempt to pay money to Taliban fighters who kill American soldiers, and unfortunately I went ballistic when I heard this. I cannot be silent, even if I lose some support for my movie and my hard-fought efforts toward saving vet lives.
In fact, the whole film and all my efforts are totally focused on saving vet lives. Of course I would be outraged about Russians paying bounty money to take the lives of our soldiers. I can only imagine the anger and pain a Gold-Star family would feel if they found out that their loss had to do with a diabolical scheme by the Russians, that was initially revealed months ago, with absolutely no response from our president and the current administration.
How could this be possible? I am so outraged, and if you are not outraged, you’re just not paying attention!
Marty Klein
Woodstock
Tribute to Milton Glaser
Many thanks to Woodstock Times (I have yet to be able to wrap my aging mind around Hudson Valley One) and especially to Tad Wise for his elegant and moving tribute to Milton Glaser (Milton Glaser: Spending Eternity In Woodstock,” July 1).
Many shrinks tell us that nostalgia is but another form of depression, but Tad Wise has proven that nostalgia can be a form of celebration. A celebration for a not-quite-forgotten Woodstock, a Woodstock of the soul, Milton Glaser’s Woodstock.
Well done, Tad Wise for a beautiful tribute to an extraordinary person. And well done, Milton Glaser for a remarkable life well-lived (even though as he was also the much-heralded underground gourmet, Milton Glaser might prefer that his life in art be celebrated and remembered as medium rare).
Steven Kolpan
West Hurley
Support for the events Industry
I’m writing on behalf of the Banquet Event Strategic Task Force New York (BEST), which was formed to address the impact of Covid 19 on the events industry in New York City. It has been calculated that the 155,000 professionals employed by the New York City Metro Area events industry and the 2.4 million people employed by the events industry nationwide are in a tenuous place due to the shutdown of business because of Covid 19.
We need governor [Andrew] Cuomo’s help. We greatly appreciate the PPP and EIDL support that many of us have received, and we appreciate our government’s obvious concern for the small businesses of our country. The events industry is one of the industries hardest hit by the pause in business. The large gatherings that make up our industry are in the last phase of openings, our events are planned for months before they happen, and our clients will not schedule events until there is a comfort level about attending events.
Unlike the small businesses that can immediately begin selling goods and services when they can reopen, we will have a lag time of several months before events resume as normal. PPP and EIDL funds, although helpful, were simply not enough because of the amount of time that our companies will have to go without revenues.
A recent poll of the events industry related businesses by BEST found that a sobering 85% of 2020 events have been moved to 2021, shifting the majority of 2020 revenues into 2021. The companies in our industry have business secured for a healthy 2021, but not the resources to pay bills and retain employees until events resume, most likely, until the second quarter of 2021. We need EIDL loans that do not have a cap of $150,000, but instead are tied to gross revenues lost due to COVID-19.
And most imminently, we need a second wave of PPP loans or similar loans, but with flexible terms that conform to our industry’s needs.
We need these loans in amounts that will allow us to remain operable and to keep our employees off the unemployment rolls. Funding now will keep many small businesses in the events industry viable. It will allow our businesses to innovate as we wait for normal business to resume. It will keep over 24 million people in our sector employed. We ask governor Cuomo to please help make this funding available.
Marcey Brownstein
Phoenicia
Defund police, defund apartheid
During this time of upheaval nationally and worldwide, there has been notable movement to address injustice systemically. One such hopeful movement was the local passage of an anti-racism resolution passed by the Kingston school district on Juneteenth. In this resolution, the district recognizes its role in “addressing social inequities in the world, country and in our own school district” and resolved to support initiatives “that will end systemic racism and provide equal opportunity and equal justice for all.” Bravo!
A far less hopeful sign has been the avoidance of our local representative, Antonio Delgado, to sign HR 2407 “No Way to Treat a Child Act.” With the blessing of our government, Israel continues to automatically prosecute children in military courts. The so-called “democratic state of Israel” maintains two legal systems: civilian rule and military law. Palestinians are subjected to military law.
Currently, Israel is planning to unilaterally annex part of the West Bank. These actions lay the groundwork for Israel to become an apartheid state (as predicted by John Kerry in 2014.) This systemic and widespread abuse is supported with our taxpayer dollars (included in the $3.8 billion we give Israel annually).
Can you vision what we could do in this country to address equal opportunity and equal justice with those monies? Can you imagine what Kingston school district might do with additional funding to realize its commitment to anti-racism?
Please, call congressman Delgado’s office 202-225-5614, to let him know you are disappointed in his inconsistencies. He claims concern about the militarization of our country’s police force, yet refuses to acknowledge the ongoing abuse by the Israeli military against children in Palestine. Remind him of the words of Martin Luther King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Defund the police, defund apartheid.
Cheryl Qamar
Saugerties
A tale of two towns
Cheers to the Town of Saugerties, Ulster County, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Catskill Mountainkeeper, other groups and the NYS Attorney General’s office for fighting one owner’s illegal construction and demolition debris (C&D) landfills. People have a right to clean air, soil and water.
Ten miles north another C&D landfill in Palenville, Catskill township, had little local indignation, yet evidence has it, used the same trucking companies, and similar toxic materials were dumped. Also, the same permits were lacking. Why the lack of support for the victims in Palenville? Unlike Saugerties, the landfill in Palenville is on a huge wetlands which extends into Saugerties and purportedly its drinking water source.
Consider the following comparisons between the two owners and their landfills: Saugerties landfill owner (SLO) and Catskill landfill owner (CLO).
1. In Palenville, the CLO started bringing in C&D debris after Sandy. NYC’s mayor wanted the city cleaned up ASAP, understandably. FEMA reported that landfill owners upstate were willing to take the mess, CLO being one. (Saugerties was post-hurricanes.)
2. The CLO in Palenville is a local good old boy, well respected in his town; his late wife was a long-time employee of Catskill.
The SLO is not a local good old boy, nor well respected in his town. The two actually know each other, however, and reportedly contracted with the same trucking companies.
3. When CLO was fined for unpermitted dumping, a cleanup allowed his fine to be reduced significantly, this cleanup involving burying the materials on site. The dust this created added further toxins to already poisoned neighbors. (Heads up regarding “clean up” dust, Saugerties!) Both CLO and SLO continued illicit dumping.
4. Palenville is in DEC region 4 and Saugerties part of DEC region 3. DEC 4 did minimal toxins testing in Palenville (and nowhere near the wetlands) and law enforcement and town officials did little to naught to stop the dumping. DEC 3 was diligent regarding testing in Saugerties and the law enforcement and town officials were on top of SLO. One DEC 4 rep in Palenville was a crony of CLO, referringto him by nickname. SLO wasn’t so lucky.
5. The residents near the landfills in Saugerties are more numerous, established and respected. The residents near the landfill in Palenville are fewer, less well off and were gas-lighted by the Catskill good-old-boy network when they spoke out against being poisoned.
6. The Palenville landfill abuts a huge wetlands on the Kaaterskill, part of the Hudson Estuary system, yet solicitation of NGOs were met with minimal concern. Saugerties received a lot of NGO help.
7. One wonders why SLO is righteously castigated as a scoundrel while CLO was able to create a dump with impunity. One wonders why the fighters in Saugerties are seen as righteous, while those in Palenville are seen as lying troublemakers
Does anyone care?
Mary Finneran
Cairo
Fact versus opinion
Fact: Joe Biden has clinched the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. He will be running against the incumbent president, Donald Trump Of the two men, Biden is much more experienced for that high office than Donald Trump. Trump, compared to the previous 44 presidents, has had no experience whatsoever on local, state or national levels, either on legislative, judicial or executive branches of state or national government.
In addition, Trump has had no military experience, whereas 15 presidents had military service and political experience: Washington, Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Pierce, Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, B. Harrison, McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Nixon and G.H.W. Bush. There were three presidents who had no previous political experience but military only: Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. The other 26 presidents had a wide range of political experience before assuming this office.
Opinion: Based on experience alone, Trump has no business in the Oval Office. He has never served or represented his country in the categories listed above. He was placed in this office by an electorate that responded to his bombastic, carnival barker, ‘rah, rah’ attitude which appealed to the raw basic prejudices and hatreds underlying the veneer of civilized people. And here he is, our illustrious president, who has upset generations of established protocols for one purpose and one purpose alone: the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy and insertion of his ‘people’ into his scheme of what a government should be, i.e., a ‘dictatorship’.
And no better example of this is his appointment of Samuel M. Saul, as commissioner of Social Security. Saul, a women’s clothing magnate, made his reputation and fortune in this endeavor. Needless to say, he has and had no experience in Social Security. His biggest threat to this program is on two fronts: 1) he is answerable only to Donald Trump, 2) he belongs to an organization in Manhattan that does like this program (my opinion is this institute, organization is comprised of millionaires and billionaires, Republican, who would like nothing better than to butcher this program of Social Security. (I have not been able to ascertain any background of this institute.)
The two reasons are enough to strike fear in the hearts of people 65 to 95 years of age. Saul is the proverbial ‘fox in the henhouse;’ for those of you who have ever lived on a farm and witnessed what a fox can do, you can only imagine.
The only protection seniors, which includes yours truly at age 81, have is to vote for Joe Biden; as seniors drawing benefits, forget your conservative, Republican, independent affiliations and concentrate on what you have and what you can stand to lose with this man and Donald Trump working together. Biden is an experienced politician who will leave our benefits alone. After all, it was FDR’s Democratic administration who passed the Social Security Act of 1935, not the Republicans!
And even if both chambers of Congress go Democratic, Saul is still accountable to Donald Trump and you can believe he will go after these benefits; NCPSSM informed me that there is a 15-20% cut in senior’s monthly benefits if the 2021 budget is passed. This budget has to pass Congress and if Congress is Democratic, there will be negotiations; I don’t for a second believe the Democrats will bargain away or reduce senior benefits, so this is a brake. But they will find other ways to butcher this program.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
Defund the police
It’s time to defund the police. The resources that keep people safe and healthy are continuously defunded and it’s time to take the dollars set aside for law enforcement and put them into our communities. That means reinvesting funding into social services, like access to mental-health professionals and addiction specialists to handle crises police are not trained for. It means protecting our right to vote by funding election protections and building the infrastructure to expand voting by mail. Finally, it means investing in taking care of our loved ones, whether that’s expanding access to affordable childcare or eldercare.
I call on our community and our elected leaders to join the movement to ensure safety for our communities.
Daniel O’Brien
Milton