Viewpoint
The Lake Success Horror, Part I
Lake Success was haunted by evil spirits and by some weird and terrible creature that dragged people down to its bottomless depths. The ghosts of the drowned walked the lake shore at night. Workers on the Vanderbilt Estate fled after some were grabbed by the leg and pulled into the marshes. The Indians had called it, “The Gateway to Hell.”
Final Dozen Thoughts Before Election Day
1. Thousands of people reading this have already voted by absentee ballot. Most others have already decided in their own minds whether or not they will vote at all on November 2. From this point on, campaigns in competitive races are playing the margins
The Push
Earlier this month, over the course of one week, three opinion polls on the New York gubernatorial race, all released by university-based institutes, had significantly different results (Sienna, 57-24 for Cuomo; Quinnipiac, 49-43 for Cuomo; Marist, 53-38 for Cuomo). There are all kinds of methodological and logistical reasons this kind of thing is happening more frequently.
Campaign Train of Thought
1. CareerBuilder.com’s respected annual survey finds that 77 percent of American workers “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck. This is up from 61 percent in 2009, 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
Losing It
Even I’m surprised at how fast libraries, archives and other information services have been thrown out of the lifeboat across this country. Closed branches, reduced hours, canceled programs, discarded materials, no access, no information. I have tons of stories.
Primary Thoughts
1. There is still time to work out some of the biggest problems with the new voting machines. Some of them could have been avoided with consumer testing and quality control. Some of the polling inspectors at the training sessions were saying that the printed fill-in circles were too light and were hard for some people to see. The publicized instructions didn’t match the actual voting experience at many locations (no “privacy sleeves”). There was avoidable confusion at my polling place over what machine I should vote on, and I could clearly see from 10 or 12 feet away how two other people voted. The most ominous problem is that it all took a long time, compared to the lever machines. This has to go faster. Anything like a reasonable turnout and people are going to be walking out on Election Day.…
County Center, Part II
It was more than just a pretty plan on a blueprint. For four years, starting in early 1964, it was the official policy of Nassau County that 186 of the 574 county-owned acres at Mitchel Field would be the site of the John F. Kennedy Educational, Civic and Cultural Center.
County Center, Part I
A large banner is still stretched across the face of Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum, our Coliseum, promoting The Lighthouse project.
Anti-Labor Day
The New York State Department of Transportation workforce is one-third smaller than it was in the early 1990s. In the past year alone, the total state workforce has been reduced by 10,000 slots. Meanwhile, there’s some kind of contest among candidates, pundits and some elected officials to sound the toughest against the scourge of public sector employees. The rhetoric has never been more heated. And it’s given license to all kinds of impolite, antisocial behavior.
New York Political Beat
1. A new study by the privately-funded New York State Health Foundation estimates that when it all kicks in several years down the road, 1.2 million uninsured New Yorkers will probably have health insurance. Unfortunately, there are at least 2.6 millionm New Yorkers now without health insurance, including some 350,000 in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. See item No. 4.
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<< Start < Prev 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next > End >>Michael Miller is a freelance writer, designer and strategic consultant who has worked in state and local government. Email: millercolumn@optimum.net
