The City of Troy, New York, "Where Henry Hudson Turned Around."

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

THE FIRST RULE OF MEET THE CANDIDATES NIGHT IS...

...don't talk about Meet the Candidates Night!

According to numerous eye-witnesses, there were more fireworks in the audience at Monday's Meet the Candidates Night than there was up at the podium.

On Monday, October 29, candidates for District Attorney, Mayor of Troy and Troy City Council gathered at the CYO on 4th Street. Towards the end of the evening, two women who shall remain nameless (Elda's daughter and Harry's wife), got into a scuffle. There was finger-pointing, yelling and...hair pulling? Please God, let there have been hair pulling.

Numerous accounts say that the combatants had to be separated twice. The first separation never takes. The Mayor watched the drama unfold and then swept into action. He appointed a bi-partisan commission consisting of Councilmen Mark McGrath and Pete Ryan to separate the ladies.

We know men that would brave the beaches of Normandy sooner than step into a disagreement between two women of Mediterranean descent. Bravo to McGrath and Ryan!

BROWN UNVEILS RESTORE TROY PLAN




John Brown, Democratic candidate for City Council-at-large today announced his “RESTORE TROY” initiative. Brown intends to push legislation that would award a tax break to homeowners who re-convert multi-family dwellings into single or two-family owner occupied homes. The candidate stated that people should be rewarded for investment in the community and their preservation of Troy ’s historic homes and sees many benefits in the incentive.

Brown said, “We have seen Troy ’s historic homes become chopped up into apartment houses. We need to provide incentives for people to return these homes to their former beauty and neighborhood intent.”

Brown mentioned that while the program’s biggest beneficiary could be Troy ’s historic homes he thinks the program should increase home-ownership in the city.

“People looking to live in Troy can now look outside just the single-family homes. This provides an opportunity to invest the extra money into converting homes back into a one-family or an owner occupied two-family home.”

Part of Brown’s proposal is to enact a moratorium on property owners seeking to subdivide existing homes into multi-family residences. He also wants to increase code enforcement throughout the city. “Until the City completes a comprehensive re-zoning that lays out our plan we should not allow property owners to squeeze more apartments into buildings within the existing zoning. We need to create programs and policies that promote sustainable home-ownership while aggressively cleaning up our neighborhoods.”



In other candidate news, the Troy PBA endorsed Ken Zalewski for Councilman in Troy's 5th Council District.

The Times Union has it's Voter's Guide on-line. It's a guide. For voters.


MAYORAL DEBATE

Rather than critique the mayor debate, we thought we'd share the audio with you and let you decide for yourself. You can fastforward through the first six or seven minutes because it's mostly set-up and the audience shouting that they can't hear the moderator. You need Windows Media Player or some such techno-thingy to listen.


Our favorite lines:

Conroy, describing the current Administration: "Progress by Press Release."

Tutunjian, earning our trust because he's: "Been a good caretaker of your parts."

As for us, we'd ask the Mayor to stay away from our parts. Or at least buy us dinner first.

No comments: