John Kiechel meets Senator Schumer

The holidays kept me a little busy, so I just got around to posting this video I took at the Crystal Restaurant.  John is our former Democrat County Chairman and an amazing resource for all things political.


John Kiechle meets Senator Schumer from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

The Big IF

I got  feedback from a reader regarding the $5,000 gift the Town gave the Village for the dock.  A gift that was met with whining......not enough the village said.  This person said that IF they were the TS, things would be different.  Here is a snippet of that email:

I would have given them the $50 000 because it not only benefits the village but it also helps town residents that use the dock and the people who come here to the parks for the summer.  Also it helps downtown businesses that make it a nice place to come to.  I wouldn't let one person dictate how I would treat the rest of the village board.

Sounds Iffy to me.....

Riverwalk is a GO AGAIN

The clip below is a composite of  3 VB meetings; October 12th, November 9th, and November 23rd.  Between the October 12th and November 9th meetings, several articles appeared in the TI Sun and WDT reporting that the VB has given up on the project. As of the November 23rd meeting the project is a GO, unless the mayor changes his mind AGAIN....which is costing the taxpayers money!


Riverwalk Roll Call Votes from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

Link to the WDT follow up to last weeks VB meeting 

Grow UP

When I was a child [some think I still am], I learned to graciously say thank you for the gifts that did not meet my expectations.  Why can't some of our VB members grow up and act like politicians and bite their lips [Yes Lie] and just say Thank You and then move on....


Town NOT Generous?? from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

Castle Cable wants their Money

This is what you can expect when you ditch Castle Cable.  We canceled and asked for a prorated bill.  We get the new bill which is due no later than December 1st, after that it is delinquent.  They call today and leave a message wanting payment or threaten to turn it over to a collection agency.  Do you need any more reasons to dump their BS service?


castle collection from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

Trustee-Elect Gary Williams meets Senator Schumer

Dissolving the Village Board in Potsdam

Another village plagued with dual layer of government.

The Tail Wags The Dog!

I can sum up the Riverwalk Project Fiasco with this small illustration:  The Dog is the Riverwalk Project.  The tail is the mayor.  That was EASY!

Dock Money

Tax Payers [aka voters] have debts of their own that they would like to just go away. I can not blame them for being concerned that the Town is going to help bail out the village with the dock debt.  Local politicians will be judged on one criteria.....MONEY!


dock MONEY from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

Town Contributes to Village Dock

At tonight's budget workshop the Town Board unanimously agreed to give the village $5000 this year to be used to pay down the dock debt.  There might be another 5 grand contributed next year, pending Town Board review.  The Village Board originally requested strongly suggested that the Town hand over $50,000 to help with the dock bills.  I am guessing that the village might get there 50G wish, but it might take 10 years.  Or....maybe not.  Time will literally tell.....

117% Surcharge?

Prudent Engineers, who are in charge of the Riverwalk project apparently added what amounts to be a 117% surcharge onto their bill.  The audio below is another portion of the Riverwalk discussion that was held at the 11.09.10 VB meeting.


117% Surcharge from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

In case some of you did not listen to the audio/slide show of the May 13th Riverwalk "walk through" with the engineers..... You can watch it by clicking this link.  It is a 30 minute video, but if you watch the first couple of minutes you will get the gist of it.

Bay May Abandon Riverwalk

That is the headline in this weeks TI Sun.  The story is a pretty accurate account of what has recently transpired.  However, there are some details missing.  Several years ago the Riverwalk project was managed by  Trustee Sweet, later it was handed over to Trustee Chaltain, and then Trustee Drake was overseeing it.  Finally,  without any discussion, the mayor took charge of the project.

The article goes on to say that months of negotiations [with River Hospital] were fruitless and village trustees decided to bypass the hospital property and reroute it on Fuller St.  There were no negotiations with the hospital officials.  They [the hospital] learned of the change in the routing via the news papers.  You can not have negotiations when the other party [the hospital]  is not aware there is a problem.  Not all the board members were in favor of rerouting this project, actually only one board member was in favor of it, and that was the mayor.

The project with kiosks, planters, benches, and interpretive signs could have taken on many variations.  There are many engineer firms out there with as many different ideas for our Riverwalk project.  Had the board chosen another firm, then the results we see today most likely would be very different.

FREE FIRE WOOD

National Grid cut trees along the Carnegie Bay Road, to prepare for a project.  At the 11.09.10 meeting Trustee's discussed what to do with the tree limbs that are now along the road.  One of the suggestions was to allow Village Residents to pick up the wood for burning.  This discussion was left "up in the air" and a final decision on what to do with the wood was not made.  If you want some free fire wood, call one of your local elected officials, or the Village barn and let them know you are interested.

Riverwalk: On the Water or On the ROCKS?

Until last night the Riverwalk project was FUBAR.  Is it back on track AGAIN?  This was almost a 40 minute discussion/debate.  I took some teaser highlights and made a shorter video.  Knowing that most of you do not want to listen to the whole thing.


Another Riverwalk Debate from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

Paying attention to our Village Bills

At least one trustee was paying attention!  Do any of you pay a bill even if you noticed an unknown charge on it?  Of course you don't.

A View of Mayor Graham

Mayor Graham  took a spot behind me today while waiting  in line at the Best Buy Geek Squad counter.  I acknowledged him with a "hello Jeff".  Jeff nodded and said hi.  Apparently he had some more memory added to his computer and was waiting for a pick up.  I was trying to drop my x box off which is a whole "nuther" story.  The geek behind the counter needed to see some ID from "Jeffrey".  Jeff handed the geek his drivers license and off he went to make a photo copy.  I guess they do that to prove that you actually picked your stuff up and not somebody else.  As the geek wandered over to the copier, Jeff mumbled something about "you would think I would be known after all these years of controversy".  I chuckled and said, hey, not everyone knows the politicians or even votes, or even cares.  Jeff  excused himself to the older lady in front of me as he picked up his computer.  A split second later she realized who Jeff was and said ohhhhh it's you and she blushed a little bit.  Jeff,  being recognized by 2 out of 3 people ain't half bad.  Me on the other hand..... I love it when people don't even notice me.  I wanna be like a shadow.....mystical vapor.... a phantom like my friend Grover.

I am bored as I wait for the Direct TV guy to show up......

Riverwalk Update

Alex Bay backs off trail plan at River Hospital  is the article in today's WDT.  The audio below is from the 10.26.10 VB meeting.  Over the past few years, this project has been overseen by several village trustee's.  It appeared to be going along nicely.... that is....until the mayor took charge of it.  Right now the taxpayers owe project designers, Prudent Engineers...... $34,000.00.  I am guessing that if the project gets scrapped, that bill will probably double.  I would like to stress that this chaos was not created by the River Hospital....



Riverwalk Update from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.

He wants it his way!

This discussion is priceless.  It is about the difference of opinion between the mayor and a trustee as to how the property at #1 Market St should be marketed...... some funny stuff....

Village Trustee Voter Results

Danielle Jury                             219

Gary "critter" Williams           178

Roger Jobson                              147

Stephen "bubba" Derrigo             138

Steven Jarvis                                12 [write in votes]


WDT article.

Vote ROW A 26 and 27