Casino Siting Commission Has Made A Decision

They've decided to meet again on December 17th.

The Ithaca Journal reports:

ALBANY – The state Gaming Commission indicated Monday that its siting board for casinos in New York is expected to make its decisions public on Dec. 17.

The Gaming Facility Location Board met Friday, and said it would make its selections at its next meeting. So that meeting is tentatively set for Wednesday, Dec. 17, said Gaming Commission executive director Robert Williams at the commission's meeting Monday.

"The Gaming Facility Location Board has met on three occasions to discuss the financial and employment histories of those applicants responsive to the Request For Application to Develop and Operate a Gaming Facility in New York state," Williams said at the meeting, according to the commission.

"Their most recent meeting occurred this past Friday when they met at Hofstra University. While information relative to the board's review and deliberation has been scarce, I understand that they have tentatively scheduled Dec. 17 in Albany for their final meeting."

There are 16 proposals vying for up to four licenses in three regions of the state.

Three proposals are competing for a casino license in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes. Four casino bidders are seeking a license in the Albany area, while nine developers have put proposals in for the Catskills/Orange County region.

Six of the nine proposals are in Orange County – the closest to New York City – and includes the $1.5 billion mega-casino by Genting, the Malaysian-based gambling giant, in Tuxedo, just 41 miles from Manhattan.

Three of the proposals are for Sullivan and Ulster counties in the Catskills, the once-thriving resort region that has struggled.

The general belief is that the Orange County/Catskills would end up with two licenses, but the state could also issue just three – one for each area of the state.

After the board makes its picks, the full Gaming Commission would conduct its own review and grant the licenses.

Bend It Like Beckham

If you don't know what this is about, don't worry about it.

If you do know what this is about: HOLY CRAP!

The Uncle Reminds You

The list of what is possible is far longer than we can imagine.

Fortune changes in the blink of an eye.

Never fold when you can check.

Bet On The Meaning Of "Next"

In a letter dated November 18, Kevin S. Law, Chair of the New York Gaming Facility Location Board, writes: 

"We are scheduled to meet again this upcoming Friday, November 21. We expect to be able to make a decision at our next meeting."

Oh, so their next meeting is tomorrow when they will decide where they believe the casinos should go.

Yes?

Well, no.  Apparently by "next" they mean "next after the next."

Which leads the Uncle to have slight concerns about their grasp of  English and logic. 

Which wouldn't really matter, except these are the folks who will recommend where the damned casinos will go.

The Uncle is in a pissy mood today.

Just Asking

If a tree falls on a mime in the forest, does he make a sound?

Breaking News or Another Red Herring

 

                                       OR

News 12 (your best information source after Newses 1 through 11)
reports:

Kiryas Joel proposes creating new village

KIRYAS JOEL - Lawmakers in the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel are now proposing to create a new village, tripling its current size.

Kiryas Joel Village Trustee Jacob Freund says the new plan would create the new village of Glilos Kiryas Joel and develop 1,140 acres surrounding Kiryas Joel. Freund says they will not need local or state approval to start their own village.

"We don't want to take over," says Freund. "We are here to be in peace with our neighbors." Freund says the law states a community with 500 people is allowed to create 

Emily Convers, who runs the anti-annexation group United Monroe, opposes the plan. Convers accuses the village of threatening its neighbors and vows to fight the new proposal.

Kiryas Joel released a statement urging homeowners to wait for the outcome of the state approval process.

Is the Uncle saying this isn't going to happen?  Not quite, but I would remind you that KJ has been making "New Village" noises for years now.

Back on July 11, 2004 KJ’s attorney Dennis Lynch announced that KJ was going to form a new village of their own in Woodbury, Monroe or Blooming Grove, and that it would be done in record time.

I'm not sure what record he was going for, but I doubt that he broke it.

The problem for KJ then, as now, is that the powers that be there are paranoid about creating a new power center that they don't directly control.  Maybe they've worked that out, but, as I say, we've heard this song before.

Keep tuned, same bat sh*t time, same bat sh*t station.

Betting on the Casino

Albany is due to announce where the four casinos will be built.

What's your guess?

Want one here?

Why?

Want it elsewhere?

Why?

Want them nowhere?

Why? 

Singing Meat

Well, the Rump Roast has sung and Caruso's gambit (with an assist going to Manny Mangual) of running unopposed has worked out for the Dead Fish.

Come January Ralph will have the vaunted title of  Supervisor-By-Default.

Let us all join him for the Swearing At Swearing In ceremony.

Meanwhile things continue as before:

Autumn brings snow

The village board functions quietly and well

Campaign signs linger long after election day

and

Mysterious fires pop up in Kiryas Joel.

All's right in the world.


.

Counting on the Rules on Counting

So, as the Uncle understands it:

Write in votes must be in the correct column , though not necessarily the correct row.

Just last name or misspellings are acceptable if the intent is clear.

A write in for a candidate who's name already appears on the ballot is not an acceptable ballot.

After the ballots are examined and counted the absentee ballots are looked at. 

This all will occur sometime between Thursday, November 13 and Monday November 17.

Stay tuned. 

Count Down To The Count Up

Wednesday is when the county counts the write-in votes.

I do believe that absentee ballots are looked at then and that ballots can then be challenged and kick-outs (rejected ballots) can be argued. 

It's not likely that the unofficial election result will change, but it ain't over til it's over. 

Class Acts

Anonymous

How much did "The Putz" spend on his campaign?? I'm hearing at least $20,000 $20,000 $20,000, $20,000. TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!
What's the price per vote. Sounds to me like he bought some votes.

You can always count on the Ralphlings to be gracious.

Uncle Betty Is Back...In Bed

Zz-zzzzz
Snort
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

How It's Looking Just Now

Yes, my children, at the moment Ralph Caruso appears to be about 72 votes ahead.

There are ballots to be examined and absentee votes to count, but the odds are in the dead fish's  Mr. Caruso's favor.

So, after conniving with Manny Mangual having the immense good fortune to be on the ballot unopposed, he still barely scratched out a win.

Wotta Guy!

If this holds up the Uncle will be very interested in seeing what town board meetings are like.

Stay tuned.

Don't vote? Don't bitch!

There's still time.

If you haven't voted, go vote.

If you've already voted, go vote again.

There's no law against voting twice.

Oh.

Wait a second.

Yes, there is.

Never mind.

Breaking News on David Sutz

News Flash

Breaking News on David Sutz:

David Sutz's first name is David.

This makes his whole name David Sutz.

If you choose to write-in David Sutz you should write in "David Sutz."

Why?

Because his first name is David.

Use his whole name.

Get it?

Caruso's Map of New York City

You're Not Listening

OK, so the Uncle warns you about the last minute lie.

Then I remind you.

Then I say it again.

And what happens when it shows up the night before the election?

You panic.

Sheesh!  

Swiller Does Go On

So, the Last Minute Unsigned Lying Flyer turns out to be a Last Minute Unattributed Lying Rumor.  Well, variety is the spice of life.  For some reason it's not about anyone running for office, but about the Pieman.  And he's responded with an ungodly long post at Families of Woodbury.

Here it be in all its windy glory.

I've just gotten an email saying, in part : “They think he (that’s me) and OCEAN have KJ ties because Swiller is from Brooklyn.”

I have suspicions about who “they” are.  And as to being from Brooklyn – yes, I admit it, I’m from Brooklyn.  I’m even Jewish.

            But, as to being allied with KJ that’s a Caruso fantasy.

            So here’s what I, OCEAN and SOCA have been doing these past 9 years.

We formed SOCA when KJ bought Ace Farms specifically to rally people to fight annexation.  Everything I list below can be found in the Times Herald Record and the Photo News.  Search those papers web-sites on “Swiller” and “SOCA” (“OCEAN” might bring a lot of extraneous hits relating to the sea).

Our first campaign started when Roxanne Donnery and Frank Fornario introduced a resolution in the county legislature calling on NYC to drop the idea of KJ hooking into the NYC water system.  Rox and Frank knew they wouldn’t get a majority.  Nobody who stood up to the KJ politicians ever won.  But they hoped to get 4 or 5 legislators to join them.

SOCA printed 40,000 postcards addressed to all the members of the legislature and calling on them to vote yes.  We distributed them all over the county.  The legislators got more mail on this vote than all the other mail they had received on all other issues.

When the vote came the resolution won TWENTY to ONE.  Everyone fell off their chairs.  The Times Herald Record put SOCA on their list of “Forty most powerful people in the Hudson Valley” for 2005.

After that we put on our forum about  forming a village (a much less slanted forum than the one Caruso held).  We worked with Roxanne, Frank and Spencer McLaughlin to force Eddie Diana to sue KJ over the pipeline, Joe Ferguson and I debated the leadership of KJ at the Times Herald Record’s office and we responded to KJ’s announcement that they were willing to discuss with us which parts of Woodbury they would annex with our “Not One Inch” campaign.

When SOCA became paralyzed by foolish, internal politics, Mindy Prosperi, Nanci Binder, Bob Fromaget, Shelby Young and I formed SOCA at Work, which soon changed its name to OCEAN.

Our first major job came almost immediately when KJ dissidents submitted a petition to annex Woodbury land into KJ.  Their goal was to break the monopoly that the Vaad haKirya (the land owning arm of the KJ leadership) held on land in their village.  We understood their goal, but we felt that any successful annexation of our land into KJ would be a terrible precedent.

We contacted the dissidents and started what would become months of discussions to try and change their minds.  Sheila Conroy, Lorraine McNeil and Gerri Gianzero were brought in to represent the town government.

And we succeeded.  The dissidents withdrew their petition.  The first attempt to annex Woodbury land ended.

After that OCEAN put on forums, pulled together political debates and led the mail in campaign to stop KJ from putting water towers in Gonzaga Park.

Then KJ asked the county to give them a quarter mile section right in the middle of Route 44 so that the village could put in a sidewalk.  By the time we in Woodbury heard about it, two different legislative committees had already unanimous approved the idea and it was headed to a vote on the floor.

Before the vote there was a public hearing which was our last chance to stop this from happening.

Eight or ten speakers, including Ralph Caruso, spoke against the measure.  All of them basically said that KJ was a bad neighbor and that they couldn’t be trusted with control of the road.  Many said KJ might close it on Jewish Holidays.  It didn’t seem likely that legislators who had already voted “yes” in committee would change their votes simply because they were told “KJ aren’t nice people.

I spoke last and presented OCEAN’s compromise that Sheila Conroy, Robin Crouse and I had put together.  We said “yes, KJ needs a sidewalk.  Mothers push baby carriages along the road and somebody was going to get hurt.  But, breaking up a county road into different jurisdictions was a terrible way to accomplish this.  Grant KJ an easement so that they can build a sidewalk alongside the road, but keep the road itself under county control.’

The legislators liked the compromise.  They voted to send the proposal back to committee, they granted the easement and they kept the road.

This is one of the accomplishments that Ralph Caruso claims as his.  It wasn’t and it isn’t.

Sorry that this has been so long winded, but when Caruso runs an election, distracting disinformation always seems to pop up at the last minute.  And it has to be responded to.

It’s now 12:30 AM on election morning.  I’m tired and this may be filled with typos.  Sorry.  If you have any questions my email address is jswiller@optonline.net.

           

Go vote, and good luck to us all.

Jonathan Swiller

OK, So What's Next?

So, how did we get here?

You know, Ralph Caruso on the ballot unopposed.

David Sutz forced to run as a write-in candidate.

Both political parties screwing us – all three if you count the Conservatives (which you shouldn't since Hank Sosa left).

Well, if you’re a Democrat go to their committee meetings and let them know you’re watching.  I do believe they meet at 7:45 on the last Monday of the month at the Senior Center.  (If I’m wrong on that do let me know.)

If, on the other foot, you are a Republican, you are SOL (which on the internet is short for something, because internet people are very busy people and have no time for unimportant matters like spelling whole words) (where was I?) Oh, yeah, if you’re a Republican you’re up the creek at the end of your rope ‘cuz Ralph doesn't want you bothering your pretty little head with meetings and such so you can’t go.

But yell loud enough for open meetings and maybe something will give way.

And let them know you won't take it by doing things like, you know, writing in David Sutz.

Ooo, ooo, Mr. Caruso, I have a question!

At the end of the debate the moderator asked the candidates if they would take questions from the floor.

David said yes.

Ralph said no.

Your move.

A Blast From The Past - from 2006

As seen in the TH-R 11/1/06:


An open letter to Village of Woodbury Residents,

When someone constantly uses deception to spread misinformation you can never trust that person. That is precisely what Ralph Caruso and his Preservation Party running mates have been doing to Woodbury voters since last August.

Question from their August Preservation Kit: “After the Village of Woodbury is created, will the zoning regulations change as compared to the present Town of Woodbury zoning regulations?” 

Answer then: “NO, the intent of the proposed village is to secure our present zoning and not to change it…To protect the zoning we now have we must approve the Village of Woodbury.” 

Answer now: “All zoning regulations will be reviewed to identify and close loop-holes, identify and clarify ambiguous regulations.” 

Adrienne “Burke” Fuchs recently said: “The new village government was formed to take care of zoning issues and not take over town services.” (Times Herald-Record 10-28-06)

CARUSO is WRONG on all the important issues

On Annexation: First he says forming a village will prevent it. Now he says he will fight it when it comes. WRONG!

On the Budget: He continues to promote a false yearly budget of $154,000 even though it doesn’t begin to address reality and he is proven incorrect by every other candidate and the newspapers WRONG! 

On the Fire District: He claims "The Town of Woodbury & the Village of Woodbury will form a Joint Fire District, Town Law Article 11-A, & operate under Town Law Article 11, the same law that they operate under now, with no changes." The NY State Department of State & the NY State Conference of Mayors confirms that the Fire District must be eliminated by 12-31-2007 & the Fire Dep’t. will then operate under Village Law Sub-Section 254 because the new Village & Fire District are coterminous. Joint Fire District, lower insurance rating, higher taxes. WRONG!

If he can’t get it right now…what will he do if he gets into office?

Fire the Police Department? (He’s already talked about it)

Ralph Caruso and his Preservation Party are
Wrong on Issues - Wrong for Woodbury

Don’t let our precious new Village slip into their clutches.

Sincerely,
The Concerned Business Owners of the Village of Woodbury

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

But Ralph can.

And yet more from the debate.

Ralph said "In ten years (?!?) no services transferred from the town to the village."

Ralph's Only Flaw

Also at the debate:

When asked why he wasn't more open and honest Ralph said “I’m taken aback.  Some people tell me I’m too open and honest.”

Who Knew

There were many things to be learned at the debate.

One of the more enlightening moments came when Ralph Caruso, long time Chairman of the Woodbury Republican Committee, informed us all that: "I don't have any influence over the Republican Party." 

Fire Your Accountant, Hire Ralph's

At the debate Ralph said:

"The cost of the village is $85 to $100 a year."

I Think We're Being Watched

Well, the Uncle has passed 1,750 page views.  

Somebody's out there.

Oooooo, feel the tingle?

Look at the calendar.

It's almost that magic time.

You know what I mean.

That magical night when Santa and his elves or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or Jimmy Hoffa or sumbody  puts out the Last Minute Unsigned Lying  Flyer.

Back when the Uncle was young and foolish I used to think it was Ralph.

But now I know better.

Cuz at the debate Ralph was asked about the Last Minute Unsigned Lying  Flyer and he said that Last Minute Unsigned Lying  Flyers "are not the right thing to do."

So it can't be him.

Did his saying that break the magic spell and chase away the invisible bandersnatches that bring the LMULF?

Are we to be left with no mysterious works of fiction showing up on our garbage pails election morning?

One can only hope.