WeShare

Albany’s plan to increase the width of sidewalks and add some landscaping on Broadalbin Street is competing with the renovation of the old train station for the title of biggest waste of taxpayer dollars among people in the community who are angry with city government.  It’s reasonable to wonder why the City would consider spending money on a streetscape project when resources are tight and there are so many other community needs.

The short answer is the City is not spending money on this project.  Albany’s promenade is being financed by the Central Albany Revitalization Area (CARA), a separate urban renewal … Continue Reading

Health insurance companies are easy targets at a time when everyone is looking for someone to blame.  Who among those fortunate enough to have insurance hasn’t had a nasty disagreement with their health insurance company at some point?  These companies always seem to be headquartered in lavish buildings, and many of their executives appear to enjoy opulent lifestyles.  A New York Times editorial recently reported, “America’s five largest health insurers made a total profit of $12.2 billion last year; that was 56 percent higher than in 2008, according to a report from Health Care for … Continue Reading

I received a copy of an e-mail yesterday referring to the City’s current financial “crisis” and realized that I have not thought of our situation that way.  We have a financial problem brought about by personnel costs increasing faster than revenues over the past two years.  The problem is being addressed by cutting various, but not all, expenses and by reducing the size of our workforce.

Our current situation is not a surprise.  In a budget message I wrote three years ago, I made the following observation:  “I believe the most critical financial issue the City faces is a virtually fixed … Continue Reading

I learned this morning that someone has posted a video on YouTube purporting to show two contract workers “destroying” an Albany City park.  What the video really shows are two workers on riding mowers cutting the grass under very wet conditions.  Not surprisingly, there are visible muddy patches when the work is completed.  Our contractor has done a good job for the City over the past five years, and my opinion of our parks is that they are well maintained.

Nearly every day, an ever increasing number of public media are used by someone to make somebody else look bad.  In … Continue Reading

My son is taking a government finance course at a nearby university and, understandably, asked me for some help with a recent assignment.  His task was to explain aspects of the federal budget process, and I think he was disappointed that I didn’t have more direct answers to his questions.  The unfortunate truth is that government finance is complicated; and the larger the unit of government is, the more complex the budget it produces.  The complexity of government finance is not, in my opinion, the result of a desire to obscure facts or confuse the public.  Recording accurate and precise … Continue Reading

Whenever I feel the urge to grumble about a long meeting or the need to attend an event on a weekend, I remind myself that most of the people I’m meeting or associating with are volunteers.  Even after doing this work for many years, I am still amazed at the commitment of so many people wanting to do good things for their community.  Local government in the United States would not work without volunteers, but often what they do is done with little notice or appreciation from the community as a whole.

I’ve received a number of phone calls over the … Continue Reading

Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts, in addition to a new senator, ushered in a wave of opinions among political analysts that the death of the Republican Party may not have occurred in November 2008 and that the Democratic Party is now in big trouble.  These are the same analysts in many cases who drew the opposite conclusion a little more than a year ago.  I’m sure the next election, regardless of the results, will generate a new round of contradictory thoughts.

Several months ago, I was talking with a colleague who told me his city was in good financial condition and did … Continue Reading

My sons brought home an expression when they were high school wrestlers that nicely summarized how each generation feels about those that precede it.  Anytime someone would talk about how hard things were in the “old days,” the caustic reply from my sons would be, “Yeah, rocks were heavier then.”

As I took my garbage cart out to the curb this morning, I remembered again the debt I owe to all those who created the infrastructure that allows me to dispose of waste materials so easily and efficiently.  I know what a difficult problem solid waste disposal is in many parts … Continue Reading

“Dithering” is a word we don’t hear very often despite its applicability to so many current situations.  Vacillating or acting indecisively are different ways of expressing what dithering means to me and what seems to happen too often in our world.  We talk about doing things or solving problems but frequently fail to act for fear of doing the wrong thing.  A great South Asian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, expressed the concept eloquently when he wrote:  “The song I came to sing remains unsung to this day.  I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument.”

I have spent … Continue Reading

City managers are accustomed to being criticized, both for things we can influence and those we can’t.  Not long ago, I heard a criticism from a City employee about this blog focusing on budget issues just before the Christmas season.   I did not intend to cast a pall over anyone’s holiday celebration as I expressed some of my concerns about the coming budget year, and I apologize if my explanation of the Budget Task Force caused undue anxiety.

I do not see the coming year as a time of crisis or disaster.  Every day when (if) we find our way out … Continue Reading