I do agree fully that the sex offender law should and I would guess probably will be recinded. It is absoluty clear that the people do not agree with this law, and is clearly unconstitutional. Added to this mind thought, the dems received a very strong message from the 'people', 'taxpayers', 'voters', that they obviously are not happy with Ed Kosiur's sex offender law, his tax increases and his general affiliation with the disfunctional democratic city of Schenectady.
It clearly also did not say much for Mr. Tonko who endorsed, supported and campaigned for Ed Kosiur. Mr. Tonko said repeatedly that Ed Kosiur would pick up where he left off. Well, it is quite obvious that there is a new generation of voters out there along with many grass roots efforts to see change in politics and their communities.
There are more elections coming up for Rotterdam this year, so we need to be on top of things here!!! So lets keep this ball rolling.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The citizens of Schenectady and Montgomery counties have sent a clear message to Mr. Kosiur that they disapprove of his actions in sponsoring and promoting the Sex Offender Residency Law in Schenectady County. Though certainly not the sole reason for Mr. Amedore's victory, the heavy voter turnout and the resounding victories that Mr. Amedore was awarded, particularly in the Towns of Princetown and Duanesburg, were testament to the effects of the grassroots movement to inform the public of the politically motivated and hastily passed legislation. The fight to rescind and/or revise this ill-conceived law does not end with the July 31st election. Continued pressure is required to influence change in the law to achieve representation for ALL the residents of Schenectady County. Elections for several seats on the Schenectady County Legislature will occur in November. Those Legislators who endorsed the Sex Offender Residency law by voting in favor need to be held accountable for their actions.
We also need to not forget this as these elections come up again for these people to run for these seats again as incumbents. I'm sure that it will take some time to make our voices heard, and vote out each of the people who found it a good thing to vote for this legislation.
Here's a question. Why is it that only the Minority leader in the Assembly has his name in a smaller font on the County website? Just something that overlooked? Or will Mr. Amedore's name be put in also as smaller font? http://www.schenectadycounty.com/index.php?page_id=241
All I know Bk is that we are district #4. That is if that's what question you wanted answered.
And I will try to be at the meeting.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I went to the Rotterdam Town Hall meeting tonight that was held for public comment regarding the new sex offender law. I commend all of the counties supervisors for taking action for "the people". All of the county supervisors will be meeting with Ms. Susan Savage tomorrow morning at 10am. The counties will share their concerns and discuss solutions. There are petitions available for the public to sign that can be presented to the supervisor of that county.If anyone would like petitions, you can PM me and I will make arrangements to get them to you.
Duanesburg has already passed a resolution which I will post only part of it:
RESOLVED, That the Town of Duanesburg hereby requests the Schenectady County Legilature to recind Local Law Number 03-2007 and Local Law Number 04-2007;
AND IT IS FURTHER
RESOLVED, That the Town of Duanesburg hereby demands that the Schenectady County Legislature consult with the Supervisor of the Town of Duanesburg to draft appropriate legislation to accomplish the goals of protecting all citizens of the county of Schenectady.
I believe the other counties will be drafting the same.
Mr. Buchanan was at the meeting as well, and approached the board with a specific question to Mr. Godlewski. He asked Mr. Godlewski(D),(and remember that he is running for county legislature), which way he would have voted had he been a member on the county legislature. Mr. Godlewski did not respond.
I would like to say thank you again to all of the supervisors, both democrat and republican,in all the counties that will be effected by the new sex offender law, for coming together on behalf of the people.
Town officials, residents knock sex offender law BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net
Rotterdam officials held a special meeting Thursday to further discuss the county’s new sex offender residency law. Though only three Town Board members attended the meeting, about 20 people turned out to voice their opposition to the law. Supervisor Steve Tommasone echoed the sentiments voiced in other towns. “If the intent of this law is to protect the kids, then this legislation doesn’t do it,” he said. Tommasone displayed a map of Rotterdam, circling areas of town where sex offenders could no longer live once the legislation goes into effect in October. Areas along the outskirts of town and to the north in Rotterdam Junction were largely free of the circles. “Drawing circles on a map doesn’t protect anyone,” he said. All five of the county’s town supervisors are expected to meet with leaders of the county Legislature this morning to discuss the law. Last month, the supervisors signed a joint statement calling on county leaders to rescind the legislation and work with the all Schenectady municipalities to draft a more comprehensive law. Discussion over the law also blended into politicking for the upcoming election for the County Legislature. The law became a fl ash point during the recent campaigning for 105th state Assembly District seat, Conqua Lane resident Angelo Santabarbara, a Republican vying for one of two District 4 seats, spoke critically of those representatives who favored the law in June. Legislators Michael Eidens, Carolina Lazzari and Karen Johnson were the only ones to vote against the law. “Obviously the policy needed more work and the consequences were not thought out,” he said. “The key concern here is that the local municipalities that were affected the most were not consulted.” County Republican Chairman Tom Buchanan also spoke against the law and challenged board member Robert Godlewski to clarify his stance toward rescinding it. Godlewski, a Democrat, is also running for a District 4 seat. After the meeting, Godlewski said he wants to see the outcome of today’s meeting between the supervisors and county leaders. “Based on that meeeting, we’ll need to decide what we want to do next,” he said. “We’ll see what comes out of that meeting.”
M's Savage is not too happy with the results of the Kosiur/Amedore election, the people had the nerve to go against something that she recommended and now she's not very happy with us. I wonder if the county council will punish us for our vote?
Town leaders fight sexual predator legislation 8/3/2007 3:29 PM By: Web Staff
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Town supervisors in Schenectady County are fighting new sex offender legislation that they say will make their communities less desirable.
In a closed-door meeting Friday morning, town leaders got a chance to discuss their concerns.
They want the county Legislature to remove legislation that would make it a misdemeanor for a convicted sex offender to live within 2,000 feet of any place associated with children.
They said the residency restrictions would push sex offenders out of the city and into outlying communities like Duanesburg and Glenville.
Only two town supervisors showed up, and they made several recommendations including modifying the residency requirement to not include level one sex offenders. But they said little was accomplished.
Glenville Town Supervisor Frank Quinn said, “2,000 feet doesn’t make any impact on residency because people who commit these crimes can go anywhere they want to commit the crime regardless of where they live.”
“Residents are very upset about this, as well as I and the town board,” said Duanesburg Town Supervisor Rene Merrihew.
Supervisors said they plan to meet again with members of the Legislature within the next couple weeks.
In a discussion with Town of Duanesburg Supervisor Rene Merrihew, she stated that all five Town Supervisors (listed below) were in attendance:
Duanesburg: Rene Merrihew Princetown: Muriel Peterson Rotterdam: Stephen Tommasone Glenville: Frank Quinn Niskayuna: Luke Smith
Only two Schenectady County Legislators, Susan Savage and Judith Dagostino and the County Attorney Chris Gardner were present at the meeting.
There was reported to be little progress made in the recission and/or revision of the laws. The exemption of Level 1 offenders from the legislation was proposed. The legislation (Local Law 04-07) may be revised to eliminate the retroactive requirement for convicted sex offenders to relocate from the exclusion areas by October 1st. This concession by the Legislators results, no doubt, from their admission/realization that the provision will be ruled unconsistutional if challenged in a court of law (the defense of which could be at a considerable cost to the county taxpayers).
My questions are the following:
1) Why was this meeting "closed-door" as stated by Capital News 9? Should not the residents of the county, the constituents of these elected representatives, have the right to participate and make their views known?
2) Why were only two of the fifteen Legislators present at this meeting? Given the importance of this issue could not the meeting have been scheduled when all of our elected officials were available to attend? Where was Mr. Kosiur, the sponsor of Proposed Local Laws 03-07 and 04-07?
3) Do Susan Savage and Judith Dagostino, with County Attorney Gardner, have the authoritization to represent the entire fifteen member body?
4) Was the meeting held with the Town Supervisors to further the spirit of inter-governmental cooperation or was it merely a forum for Savage and Dagastino to defend the ill-conceived actions of the Legislative body?
I await news of the outcome of future meetings regarding this issue between the County Legislature and the local government representatives whose townships will be impacted by the decisions reached.
This just goes to show that the county council doesn't really care about what the town think about what they do. The council showed this by only sending 2 representatives to talk to the supervisors of the towns where a great deal of concern was very evident. It cost Kosiur the election and even he won't attend the meeting to defend his position on the sex offender law.
Susan Savage runs the entire show. She was Kosiur's PR person when he went out campaigning. In fact, she did most of the talking. And we know that Judy 'turncoat' Dagastino won't budge an inch. I'm sure she doesn't want us to bring up the Rotterdam Republican scam....AGAIN!!
All I can say is that IF the dems DO NOT recind this law, they will all have a very good chance to lose their seats! It will be the 'perfect storm'! I also agree with it being 'behind closed doors'. If I remember correctly, it is 'against state law' for local government to hold any meeting where the 'people' can not attend. It is called the 'Sunshine law' and you can read about it here...http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/openmeetlaw.htm
We should FOIL for that information. And you can FOIL through the towns websites. There is a lot of politiking going on here people....so we, as 'the people' need to put the pressure on!!!! REALLY! Perhaps we should round every warm body we can an attend a county legislature meeting. I would also suggest that we all send letters to our county legislatures.http://www.schenectadycounty.com/index.php?page_id=25 I will see what I can do to obtain their email addresses as well.
I clearly thought that the election would have been enough of a voice, but apparently not. So we will have to take the next step. I'll tell ya, Susan Savage is a beast!!!! And Judy 'turncoat' Dagastino is running a close 2nd!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Perhaps we should round every warm body we can an attend a county legislature meeting.
I have (good) reason to believe that the Tuesday, August 14th meeting of the Schenectady County Legislature is one that should not be missed if you have interest in rescinding Kosiur's Law. There is a lot being done at the grassroots level in the towns including the passage of resolutions, the circulation of petitions and the submittal of FOIL requests. The media will be alerted and encouraged to provide coverage of the meeting to the public.
I agree we should all keep the heat on our representatives and to voice our opinions that we want the sex offender law recinded and all of the politicians who vote for keeping this law should be voted out of office at the end of their terms of office.
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