David Vickers, the attorney representing the group stated that “the injunction the lawsuit seeks would apply only to events in which The Beeches is catering on a full-time basis, such as with the newly established restaurant deal. It wouldn’t apply to catering events such as weddings or banquets.”

The Bottom Line

I wholeheartedly agree with the suit based on principal.  The casino is not located on sovereign land therefore putting it under the jurisdiction of New York State’s laws, specifically Alcoholic Beverage Control laws.  The casino applied for and was denied a beer, wine and liquor license for its restaurants and Club Lava.  Allowing them to circumvent the ruling of the State Liquor Authority by allowing a caterer to apply for daily permits for its member’s only restaurants and lounges is absurd.  Those permits are for “special” events.  After attempting to ascertain the state’s definition of “special”, I found myself e”special”ly confused.  The only thing I can conclude on is that thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to state legislators can get you “special” treatment while enforcing the definition of “special” events.

The Turning Stone Casino is a very unique entity.  It’s fully owned by a corporation of a sovereign Indian nation yet it operates on New York State land.    Lost in the debate over sales tax collection  is the fact that the towns it’s located in, Oneida County and New York State has continued to allow it to operate as if it were on sovereign land while it is not.  While I regret that this is a battle for another day, we have been quite fair to allow this practice to say the least.  I’ve heard all the arguments.  I know the entertainment and employment value it provides to the County.  The principal here is business equality.  If a Chinese corporation were to purchase a parcel of state land it would be governed by state law, not Chinese law. It wouldn’t be afforded any special privileges that would hinder local businesses competitiveness.  There is no difference in allowing the Casino to operate under this premise.  Considering that we already allow them to operate a casino on state land and don’t collect sales tax from any of their vendors, we should at the very least not allow a business deal with a caterer that abuses the intent of special alcohol permits to wipe out the only competitive advantage any local non-Indian owned restaurant, bar or tavern has over the casino.

Until we sort this mess out, I’m going to start two new business ventures.  I’m going to open a casino catering business for stated restaurants, bars and taverns and then I’m going to start applying for daily “special” alcohol permits for Klub Karwacki and its luxury lounge located on my front porch.

Source: Utica Observer-Dispatch, New York State Liquor Authority

Let’s break this down to the most simple logic possible.  When you start a business that sells taxable goods or services you have to apply for a NYS Sales Tax Certificate of Authority.  The State Department of Taxation and Finance issues you a certificate with a filing number that you utilize every time you file your sales tax returns.  Most businesses have had this certificate for years or decades without ever having to renew them.  The State doesn’t give any legitimate explanation on the notice to businesses other than stating “It’s that easy!”.   There is no logical reason why the state needs to have these renewed.  This is just a guise to suck x number of dollars out of x number of businesses during a budget crisis.  Nothing more and nothing less.  To be frank, I’m absolutely sick and tired of backdoor, late night legislative insertions into bills that continue to nickle and dime businesses, individuals, motor vehicle owners, smokers, drinkers, eaters…hell everyone!

While I’m sick to my stomach to think that these elected representatives don’t have a clue to their role in the decline of this state, my resolve has never been stronger.  I will not back down.  I will not shut up.  I will not tuck in my tail and move as many have before me.  Stand up Utica.  Stand up Mohawk Valley.  Stand up New York State!  Stand up and take back what is yours!  Tell these so called “representatives” of your state that you’ve had enough.  Make phone calls to them. Schedule meetings with them.  If they don’t listen to you, throw them out come election day every two years.  If not; if you’ve become accustomed to the status quo;  if you’re too apathetic to do anything about it, then just sit down, shut up, stop complaining and be prepared to continue to watch your state crumble around you.

Source: NYS Tax & Finance

I was always happy with my pager. I even upgraded to the pager that had the QWERT keyboard later on that you could send the first text messages with. It gave me regular weather, financial and sports updates and relieved me of having to decipher numeric messages. (I’m not sure how many of you used to do this but I could read full numeric sentences as if they were written in plain English.) I’ll admit that I didn’t retire the pager until late 2005 when my future wife finally went out and bought me a cell phone because she could never get a hold of me (sound familiar?). I’ve always seen the benefits of e-mail, especially when used for mass transfer of information to multiple individuals and websites have done wonders for today’s news, information and commerce. Text messaging can be handy when used to communicate during times that a phone call can’t be made or isn’t warranted. All these things definitely have a place in our everyday personal and business lives and should be embraced for the benefits they’ve provided us. All things equal, they should not be mistaken for or ever replace human interaction. Face to face contact and dialogue is still the most effective means of communication. It provides a real atmosphere with body language and interjections that all the aforementioned will never be able to provide (unless a sarcasm font is developed). Unfortunately, these technological advances don’t always allow you the ability to re-think or edit something that was said or posted and are coming to replace this dying, yet vital, mean of communication. This is where the added ability to communicate in the social media realm have added another nail in the coffin of proper human discourse.

Let’s put all of our cards on the table here. I have a Facebook and Twitter page (and I encourage you to sign up to them if you haven’t already). Even after years of ridicule of them and other social networking sites and applications, I still brought myself to jump on the wagon because of one simple, selfish purpose: To promote this website. I’ll admit, they’ve worked wonders. Combined, they account for 30% of this sites mildly sizable (yet growing daily) traffic. I don’t fully understand the mind frame that feels the necessity to use them the way that most do but to each their own.  My only posts on either of them are to announce updates to JackKarwacki.com. I’m not stubborn, I just don’t see the need to let everyone know I’m jumping in the shower, taking a nap or “going out to get blasted”. I definitely don’t want embarrassing pictures of me posted for all the world to see and would like the opportunity to screen and edit the thoughts in my mind before broadcasting them to the world with the simple press of an enter key. Because I use them properly, I’m receiving great benefit through added publicity of this site.

There’s been countless examples of prospective employers not hiring a candidate due to the picture of them passed out on the floor of a college frat house on Facebook and they’re never ending cases of the misuse of Twitter but I’m going to focus on Kansas City Chief’s running back Larry Johnson today. After a weekend blowout loss to the San Diego Charges, Johnson went on a diatribe calling out his coach, fans and reporters on his Twitter page. He made several references to the money he makes and on more than one occasion used homosexual slurs. He probably meant everything he said in the heat of the moment. He probably wasn’t that apologetic during his apology to said coach, fans and reporters, yet was rather more sorry that his career with the Chiefs was now in jeopardy. We all have those moments. We all feel anger, jealousy, and emotions that can’t always be controlled. The problem here was that he didn’t say those things in a locker room to his teammates, or to his family and friends afterward. He hopped on to Twitter, typed away, and broadcasted his inner most thoughts to everyone in the world. He showed no regard to anyone but himself and this self loathing cry for attention can never be taken back.

When I type something for this website it goes through several edits, nights of rest and re-visits. When I type an e-mail, I carefully check the individuals it’s addressed to and re-read the message several times to ensure accuracy and proper impact. The problem with Facebook and Twitter is that it feels like your just sending a text message to your friends and family. It feels like you’re publicly complaining on your porch to your closest confidants. You forget that you accepted a “friend request” from one of your colleagues or that a business associate is now following you on Twitter. At this juncture of your life, regardless of age, you may have no issues with mass-broadcasting pointless thoughts or divulging personal information and pictures that you most likely wouldn’t choose to share with more than half of the people you’ve chosen to allow into your virtual world. I get it. But the point here is that you never know what impact or impression you’re making on these hundreds of people or the opinion they’re now forming of you. Even more importantly, you’re not allowed the opportunity to respond or defend those opinions in person since they will most likely never be aired face to face in reality, yet rather as gossip and hearsay that may never even find it’s way back to you. Now most don’t act as irresponsible as Larry Johnson, nor would they warrant the national media attention that an NFL star would but that doesn’t negate the level of responsibility that should come with the use of social networking and all forms of communication for that matter.

What we should take home here today is to never forget how to stop by a friends house; pick up the phone to call your mom from time to time; and exercise the same level of caution that you would talking to someone in person as you do utilizing these beneficial technologies in cyberspace or face an embarrassment that you may never be able to repair in reality.

Source: FoxSports.com

These things happen, but the testimony that I find to be the most disturbing is one that points City Councilman and Comptroller candidate, Frank Meola, as being one of the individuals hired by Paul Mancuso to take air samples for the asbestos projects.  Witnesses stated that in some cases, the failing air sample tests were falsified.

Lets me be very clear here.  Councilman Meola has the right to defend these accusations, accusations that were produced by questionable individuals involved in questionable activities.  That being said, this man is campaigning to become the City of Utica’s Comptroller.  The Comptroller is responsible for the oversight of every dollar that comes in and out of city government.  This lone individual is entrusted by the taxpayers to manage their tax dollars in the most efficient, and most importantly, ethical manner possible.  This is accomplished not only through establishing policies and procedures that safeguard city assets, but by creating an environment in which something such as a falsified document would not and could not be tolerated.

We cannot say with any level of certainty that Councilman Meola is guilty of these accusations, but another pre-requisite of a comptroller position is independence and integrity – in fact and in appearance.  Regardless of whether or not Meola is guilty of falsifying documents, the appearance of his involvement in a federal trial of this magnitude strips him of his ability to oversee the City Comptroller’s office from the public’s point of view.  A city with no confidence in it’s leaders cannot and should not be tolerated and I’m not willing to take that chance with an election of this importance less than two weeks away.

Source:  Utica Observer-Dispatch

A group of Democratic Oneida County legislators and candidates announced a five-part plan Wednesday to eliminate the need for vehicle registration fees in the proposed 2010 county budget.

Board Minority Leader Michael Hennessy, D-Sherrill, estimates the following savings if these proposals are implemented:

* $750,000 from cutting 25 additional vacant positions.

* $150,000 to $200,000 from freezing salaries for all non-union employees making $50,000 or more.

* $100,000 from implementing Salient Corp. software to find waste and abuse in the Medicaid system.

* $100,000 from reducing overtime by switching some Department of Social Services employees to a later shift.

* Minimal savings from rescinding automatic raises for elected officials. This would affect only the county executive, comptroller, clerk and sheriff.

_____

While I have zero idea whether or not the above proposals or figures attached to those proposals are legitimate or accurate, I do know that Michael Hennesey is a chronic grand stander. He habitually takes the opposite side on any issue raised or proposed by the Republican majority regardless of effect or merit and often does so in a very detrimental manner. Detrimental to County business and sometimes detrimental to his and all County constituents.

That being said, he is a very gifted ‘politician’ from the standpoint that he’s brought the Democratic minority ever closer to the majority and even more gifted that he’s seized the fiscal conservative mantra right from underneath the Republican’s noses. Now whether or not it’s with taxpayer’s best interest in mind can be debated due to his past political posturing, but he and the minority are the ones making and taking the necessary steps to at least question more efficient ways of financing necessary County programs and operations – or at least publicizing it in a more efficient manner prior to the upcoming election season.

While I know that a majority of the Republican Legislators are consistently searching out more economical ways of conducting County business on a proactive basis, they don’t adequately share the specific details of their proposals and successes with the general public. Now perhaps that’s because they choose to do so in a modest, non-political manner (ie. it’s their job) or it may be because they need to learn to share and delineate information to their constituents in a more accessible and effective manner. One way or the other, if they are to keep the majority and perhaps strengthen that majority, they need to retake and grasp the fiscal conservative mantra and specifically outline their proposals to keep the cost of running Oneida County at a manageable level for all County tax payers.

Source: Utica Observer Dispatch

We’ve all been in good, bad, loving and deteriorating relationships throughout our lives with a significant other, fiance’ or spouse.  During a divorce, things may become very stressful and tense but that doesn’t give anyone the right to take someone’s life regardless of what may have transpired during the course of a break-up.

What hurts and bothers me the most is the fact that four children are now left parent less because of a selfish act.  Out of respect to them and the rest of the victim’s families I will reserve further comment.  I did, however, come across a trust set up for the children and would encourage you to donate whatever you may be able to afford to it.  Money won’t heal these wounds, but these children deserve our communities support.  Checks may be made out and sent to:

2009 Longo Childrens’ Trust
c/o Strategic Financial Services
114 Business Park Dr.
Utica, NY 13502

To understand what’s wrong with Utica, we must go to the true root of the problem.  It’s not cronyism, favoritism, poor current or past city (and county) government administrations.  Although these don’t help, they happen everywhere;  in every town, village and city in every corner of the world people are cutting back door deals and throwing a bone to a friend or two.  It just get’s magnified in fiscally distressed municipalities like our own.  It’s not a lack of jobs, pessimism or increased taxes with an ever decreasing tax base.  Those are the results of the root of the problem.

When we peel back all of the layers and go deep beneath the surface, the problem with Utica isn’t even in Utica.  It’s about 90 miles east down the Thruway and another 100 miles south of there.  Albany, NY.  The great Capital of what used to be considered the Empire State, is run by downstate politicians (more than 2/3 to be exact), with downstate interests, with downstate mentalities that are a world apart from what upstate New York is about, needs and would thrive in.

Political party affiliations aside, our whole state is managed by a majority of  individuals who use mass transit on a daily basis, rarely see fall foliage, think the Adirondacks are their own personal summer resort and think Utica is in Ontario.   All kidding aside, there is no way for an individual who grew up in Brooklyn to understand what’s important to us as upstaters, just the same way an individual who grew up in Rome wouldn’t understand what’s important to a downstater.  We are where we grew up.

Translate that to a representative state democracy.  Now some will argue that having a 2/3 majority downstate is fair because 2/3 of the state’s roughly 20 something million residents reside in what we consider downstate.   With a bicameral legislature (2 legislative chambers) consisting of the Assembly and Senate, our current state constitution was modeled similarly to our current federal government system…all except one key element.  The US Senate allows two Senators from each state regardless of population to represent that State in Senatorial legislative matters, while the House of Representatives (very much like our state Assembly) is made up of representatives on a more local basis based upon population.   Here we have a State Senate based upon constituent population as well giving unequal representation to a smaller, more populous  area of the state in both legislative chambers.

Downstate New York has a severe competitive advantage when it comes to jobs, industry and commerce with a built in tolerance to higher taxes and over burdensome business legislation passed by the state Legislature because industries need to be there.  With roughly 14 million people living in the largest city in the country, it’s only logical.  In turn, with that built in insulation, state Senators and Assembly representatives are able to gain more and more control over every activity, pass taxing legislation to fund projects and programs that create the allusion of dependency on that Senator / Assemblyman/woman,  all the while leaving upstate citizens, businesses and interests in the dust because we don’t have the advantage of having 14 million residents with the biggest cities in the country every 100 miles.

Our downstate dominated legislature, through unfair and illogical legislation has stripped upstate of it’s competitiveness, has forced mass exodus of it’s citizens (usually the intelligent, educated ones that can obtain a job elsewhere and can afford to relocate) causing a never ending catch twenty-two of higher taxes / lower tax base.  Additionally, as an added bonus, the state (considered one of the most social…istic in nature) has continually created more and more dependent social programs that are either administered by the state (through state taxes and fees) or are mandated without state assisted funds (unfunded mandates) to counties, cities and other local municipalities.  It’s safe to say that a majority of these programs are only necessary at the current levels due to the very situation our state government created in the first place.

We, especially upstate, are not a business friendly state.  Business creates jobs.  Jobs create residents.  Residents spend money at other businesses.  It’s very simple commerce logic.  The more power our downstate dominated legislature gains over everything we do, stripping us of our freedoms and our hard earned money, the more they’re able to control and take credit for, creating an even less competitive business atmosphere.   Have you ever wondered why politicians have so much pull and leverage in New York dictating where the next corporation or large business locates.   In a competitive business atmosphere, a business would locate where it made the most sense, where it’s taxes and utility expenses would be the lowest…not where it would receive the best government subsidized incentives.  That’s one of the major reasons why Utica and all upstate cities can’t compete with other areas of the country anymore.  Our city and county officials don’t even have the opportunity to pitch a competitive package to businesses because the state has stripped them of the ability to do so.

It wasn’t always this way.  All parts of the state were once booming and blossoming with soaring population increases, good paying jobs, industries galore and a great standard of living.  What changed you asked?  It wasn’t because our citizens just decided to pack up and ship out to the south and south west.  It wasn’t because industries decided to move out of state or out of the country.  They are once again, the result of the root of the problem.  Now there’s more to it than the following, but I’ve always traced the decline of upstate New York to these two events:

• The Reapportionment of the New York State Senate in 1964.  Decided by a federal court case that said that State Senates needed to be based upon population, not territory.  Can you see the irony in that a federal court said that we had to base our senate districts on population while the US Senate does not?  We used to have the majority of representation in the Senate before this sad, sad day that marked the beginning of the decline of upstate.
• The New York State Thruway System.  Built in the 1950’s, it’s the longest TOLL highway in the United States.  We don’t even need to get into the fact that it was supposed to be a free highway decades ago.  Not only do upstaters utilize it more often, it’s in many cases our only way in and out of our cities.  Add in the fact that the tolls are higher for larger axle vehicles (ie. trucks that deliver goods for businesses) and we have another nail in the coffin of the decline of upstate.  Research has shown that communities along non-toll highways have a much better and competitive business atmosphere.  (Think I-87 north of Albany as a close to home example.)

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Taking into consideration the two points above, to nail this home, let’s take a look at the populations both in 1950 and 2000 of the following upstate cities (a portion can be attributed to suburban sprawl):

I personally commend any upstate county or city government administration for even keeping us afloat in this atmosphere.  All too often we lay the blame close to home at the feet of our local elected officials when the real blame should be directed east and southeast.  Utica official’s hands are tied and their citizens are weary and have become complacent with pessimism if they’ve even stuck around.  The only thing that we can do, and I stress WE, is to continue to step up to the plate, demand better of our state government and to not shut up until we have a constitutional convention that creates a representative style of government in which all of New Yorkers, their hometowns and their interests are fairly represented again so that we can once again be worthy of the title “The Empire STATE”.  Then and only then, can our local officials even begin to take the first steps towards real reform for the collective benefit of all of Utica, the Mohawk Valley and upstate as a whole.

Source:  Look around…

Here are the facts:

• Timothy Klotz, the “alleged owner” of the apartment house failed to register the property with the City for fire inspection last year.  If you’re not aware, the State legislature passed legislation requiring municipalities to inspect all commercial and residential properties (with 4 or greater units I believe?)  While the bill allowed the municipalities to charge for the inspection, they didn’t require it.  Utica chose to do so, adding an even greater burden on our businesses and property owners, but that’s another topic for another day.
• Klotz didn’t respond to a court order to register the property fifteen months ago.
• In response to the non-response to the court order the City hit Klotz with a $100 fine.
• Four people lost their lives in the meantime.
• The Fire Department confirmed that several smoke detectors including the hard wired alarm system weren’t operating properly in the structure.

Now, the finger pointing starts.  The Players:  The Observer-Dispatch, the Roefaro Administration, Utica City Court, the Utica Fire Department and Klotz.   The intention of the state legislation was actually to avoid such occurrences and I commend our thoughtful legislators for their concern for our well being.  But this is just another instance of the great State of New York meddling in local issues that they have no business in regulating.  Once again, another topic for another day.  While it is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure that smoke detectors (and hard wired systems in commercial and larger residential units) are operating, law or not, when did individual responsibility just get thrown out the window?

Now let me be very clear.  I’m by no means blaming the tenants in this situation and don’t intend to sound insensitive, but out of concern for your own (or your family’s) safety and security, would it be such a bad thing to check them yourselves?  You live in the apartment.   You walk by the detectors everyday.  You hear that annoying beep when the batteries dying.  Additionally, would it be such a bad thing to ensure that you and your family have an emergency plan, one that includes verifying with the landlord of larger residential units that all hard wired systems are operating properly.  I’m a landlord and I check my tenants smoke detectors on a regular basis.  I even buy the batteries for them.  But how am I supposed to know every day that they may or may not be operating properly?  Will I be responsible for buying groceries and stocking my tenants refrigerator next?  If one of them starves to death, will I be to blame?  Now in light of new information available concerning the hard wired smoke alarm system not operating properly, it’s safe to say that this aspect of the tragedy is primarily Klotz’s fault.  That being said, the point here is that even if Klotz did register the property, who’s to say that the UFD would have inspected it before the fire occurred.  I’m quite sure that all properties registered have not been inspected yet.

Now instead of taking responsibility for our own lives, we have the State passing laws dealing with everything in our daily lives causing a bureaucratic nightmare that the City of Utica and others can’t wake up from.  Yeah, Klotz should have registered the property.  Yeah, Klotz should have checked the alarms (including the hard wired system).   The City should have made good on the court order instead of turning it into a potential revenue boost.  The Observer-Dispatch needed a story.  We all get it.  When will all the madness stop?  When can we begin living our lives again without every level of government telling us when we can wake up, what we can eat and what we can drive?

Bottom line here – This was a horrible tragedy set into motion by an unfortunate sequence of events.  I don’t believe that the New York State Legislature or the Utica Fire Department could have prevented this horrible tragedy from happening.   Stop pointing the fingers, take responsibility for yourself and your family, create an emergency plan and check your damn smoke detectors today!

Source: Utica Observer-Dispatch and good ‘ol common sense

“The city must retain the grant-funded officers for a fourth year using local funds.”

So if I understand this correctly, we, the taxpaying citizens of Utica, will be expected to shoulder the costs of these officers for one year?  Do you really think that they will actually let these officers go after four years of service?  Do you really think that they’ll be paid entry-level salaries in years four and beyond?

This is just another ploy by the Obama administration to bloat the budgets of local governments with more public employees in order to gain more dependence, power and influence over every inch of our society.

If city officials were smart, they’d replace retiring officers through attrition with these four officers in order to avoid the additional salaries and benefit costs four years down the road.

Source: Utica Observer Dispatch