SCHENECTADY Council sessions will be on TV Resident will tape meetings against panel’s wishes BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
Schenectady City Council committee meetings will be taped and broadcast on SACC-TV after all, even though the council voted against it just three months ago. Resident Pat Zollinger has begun taping the meetings herself and will do so regularly, she said. The first episode, showing Monday’s committee session, will air today at 4 p.m. on public access channel 16. Future committee sessions will air every Tuesday at 7 p.m. and every Friday at 4 p.m. Council members were unhappy to learn that Zollinger would force them to be on television. “I am still kind of adamantly opposed,” said Councilman Joseph Allen. “In my opinion it’s … an invasion of the privacy of people who came before a committee meeting for a presentation. They voiced their concerns; they don’t want to be on television.” But he acknowledged that he can’t stop a private citizen from taping a public meeting — even though he might like to do so. “I still kind of think it should be a choice. The way it’s going, it’s Pat Zollinger’s choice,” Allen said. “At least it’s not going to cost the taxpayers anything.” It’s no surprise that Allen would be against the project since he has publicly refused to even discuss paying for a professional broadcast of the committee meetings. But even the councilman who proposed those broadcasts isn’t happy about Zollinger’s efforts. “I’m ambivalent,” said Councilman Gary McCarthy. “What you end up getting is a low-quality product. I assume the sound quality will be less than ideal.” But there may be a silver lining, said Councilwoman Margaret King. The unauthorized project might lead the council to approve professional broadcasting if Zollinger’s tapings go smoothly, King said. “I was ready to try it before,” she said. “This maybe can give us a better idea of whether it would impact discussion.” So far, it hasn’t caused any obvious problems. Some council members had feared the camera would scare off some presenters while encouraging others to speak for the television rather than giving frank answers or debating policy. But on Monday, council members and presenters appeared to discuss issues without grandstanding and retained their typical informal manner. “I wasn’t aware of any effects. There was nothing that I noticed,” King said.
I don't know if anyone here got a chance to see it, being that its a Schenectady issue. But the first taping was done without a tripod. I'll make sure I have one for the next.
It gave our citizens a chance to see them in action. To see what they actually do for all the money and benefits we give them (or I should say, they take). The hour-long video is in mpeg-2 format and is about 2 1/2 gigabytes in size. The Sony Handycam has a 30 GB internal hard drive with a one-button push to DVD.
SACCTV is the greatest. They will regularly show these committee meetings and I'll get the DVD to them the next day. If you have any public meetings that affect your community, they'll show them too.
Good for her taping those meetings. It is too bad when regular citizens have to start doing the job of our paid officials. And she has a very informative blog too.
Well, I taped at both of the times that were stated for the broadcast. I haven't had a chance to sit down and actually watch either, but I did find out that at the earlier time (11AM), while the Schenectady City's Board meeting wasn't on, the County was. So, I guess I'll have to take some time to check that out.
Schenectady already has wherewithal to track down landlords
For the past couple of weeks, there has been talk on the Schenectady City Council about developing a “landlord registry” (July 17 Gazette). A local law would be developed by our city attorney, which in turn would be discussed and voted on by our city council. This would then have to be implemented and enforced, but by who? [Councilwoman Barbara] Blanchard spoke about modeling it after Albany’s code, which can be found online at http://www.generalcode.com. However as we’ve already discovered years after the fact, legislation can be introduced that simply adds to the quantity of verbiage in our city codes, rather than to the quality of life in our city. There is also a reasonable section in the city housing code on rental certificates that states a rental property owner must get a rental inspection and certificate for any new tenant of the premises. Outside of some confusion with understanding that section of the code, it is reasonable, and many landlords are willing to be in compliance. This inspection process also sets up a registry. With that in mind, and with the fact that all property owners pay taxes on their properties, why would the city create another law that may not even be properly maintained? There are already procedures in place through the county to register a deed to the property which would show its actual owner. If it’s a corporation, there would be a registered person to whom a summons could be issued. The deed is a statement of ownership. Deeds are also public records and can be searched accordingly. The Schenectady County Clerk’s office has knowledgeable and friendly employees who are willing to help any person. The city will be duplicating a service at a pretty good cost to taxpayers. In addition, there must be personnel in place to ensure that the landlord registry is up to date and accurate. Anyone who travels to City Hall for information is often met with the chore of going to a first office, being told that they must go elsewhere, and elsewhere again. Our city does not have a “user manual” or booklet explaining where to go for what. If our city wants to model anything after Albany, it should enter into a contract with General Codes to put our charter and city codes on the Internet, where they’ll be accessible at our convenience, rather than theirs. And to include a section on the city’s offi cial Web site that explains to citizens where they should go to look for what. PAT ZOLLINGER Schenectady
I wonder if tracking landlords and registering them would have to do with registering sex offenders???.....What would be the purpose of the registry???
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
In Rotterdam, the businesses, place their emergency phone#'s, obviously in case of an emergency, or they need to get in touch with the owner, right on the businesses front door or window. It is usually small and off to the side.
Schenectady should do the same for the landlords. Although, from what Pat says, the city 'powers to be' should already have that info. But for emergency purposes, when time doesn't permit looking up the info, it could be displayed in a window/door.
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 agree Bumble, just let the residents stop paying their taxes and see how fast the city can find them. They have all that information if someone would just get up off their lazy butt and look it up.
It had to do with 9/11 again.....being prepared.....prepared for what??.....TO RUN LIKE HELL.....and if the landlord doesn't care enough to make folks aware of who to call in case their building is burned or graffiti on it.....then our city/town/village,,,has the right to demolish it.......I mean really would ya leave your fighting dogs alone to starve----oh,,,yes, I guess you would........too bad......I mean come on check on your property,,,you own it,,, take care of it......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
In Rotterdam, the businesses, place their emergency phone#'s, obviously in case of an emergency, or they need to get in touch with the owner, right on the businesses front door or window. It is usually small and off to the side.
Schenectady should do the same for the landlords. Although, from what Pat says, the city 'powers to be' should already have that info. But for emergency purposes, when time doesn't permit looking up the info, it could be displayed in a window/door.
Our city council wants to enact this law - so they say - so that average citizens can get contact information for a building owner. Like maybe for the absentee landlord owned building next door to them. And so the city council's brilliant council president attorney Mark Blanchfield says, "It would take the middleman (meaning the city) out of the communications link."
Huh? If its the city creating and maintaining a landlord registry, how is the city no longer the middleman?
All this legislation is, is more BS. More busy work. More time spent on something that is ultimately going to be useless. But that's our city councl for you. A huge raise they gave themselves and now they have to think up more work?
When you stir a lawyer into the mix you'll get a disaster every time. Just look at what all the lawyers in our NYS legislature have done to our state, remember how the state was going to reduce car insurance thru "No Fault" look how that turned out.
I remember a few years back, there was a house in Rotterdam that appeared no one lived in. And it also appeared that the house was just about falling down. So one of the neighbors just went to town hall and shared their concern. While they were there, they got the information from the tax records and the 'powers that be' contacted the owner. Since then, the house has been torn down. I thought this is how it worked everywhere. I thought all of the information was in the tax records. I would think that as sufficient enough.
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
In August I was issued a tax delinquent notice by the city of Schenectady. With my cynical nature, and the fact that my bank pays my taxes, I automatically assumed that the city had somehow screwed up. So I e-mailed Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden complaining of this notice and demanded that he “fix it.” Well, he did fix it. He called the bank and after some time and discovery along with the help of the Finance Department, determined that my bank had actually paid my neighbor’s property taxes. This error has now been corrected. So I must say thank you to Mr. Van Norden and to our Finance Department for getting to the bottom of this mess, and I now know that mistakes do not automatically originate with our city. I will no longer just automatically assume so. Thank you to all. PAT ZOLLINGER Schenectady
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