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Senate
Gets Back to Work
On
Sept. 16, the New York State Senate reconvenes to face a myriad
of issues, but at the top of everyone’s agenda is addressing
the status of funding for the State Superfund Program. The
program is responsible for cleaning up more than 800 abandoned
contaminated sites, or brownfields, around the state.
The State Superfund Program was established through the 1986
Environmental Quality Bond Act to clean up hazardous commercial
or industrial sites, but funds became exhausted in March 2001.
The legislation under consideration will maintain the policy
that the polluter should pay, which means that those who are
responsible for the contamination will be responsible for
the cleanup. Although an agreement was reached between the
Senate, Assembly and the governor’s office, due to time constraints,
the legislation still failed to pass in the Senate before
it adjourned June 20. Optimism still remains in Albany that
the three parties will maintain their agreement when Sept.
16 rolls around. “The agreement stands and nothing will change
it,” stated Kathleen Curtis, executive director of the Citizens’
Environmental Coalition.
Also on the Senate’s upcoming agenda is the long-awaited reform
of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Enacted in 1973, these policies
require judges to give drug offenders the mandatory minimum
sentence regardless of situation, background, role in offense
or threat to society. The reformed proposal has three components:
to institute lower sentences for nonviolent drug offenders,
to allow retroactive relief for nonviolent drug offenders
currently in prison, and to increase penalties for predatory
drug dealers. According to an Aug. 18 article in the Times
Union, the Senate has been slow to come to consensus on
the legislation because “the parties are each advocating positions
that they know will never be approved by the other side.”
Many more topics remain on the table for the Senate to deal
with during the session, including the budget cleanup bill.
—Christen
Deming
It’s
Our World
If
you’re in the mood for social action, you’re in luck. The
World Trade Organization meeting currently taking place (Sept.
10-14) in Cancun, Mexico, has prompted several activism-driven
events around the Capital Region, including a free festival
this Saturday in Troy’s Riverfront Park.
Saturday’s Another World is Possible festival, arranged by
the Rensselaer Greens, begins at 1 PM in the park behind Troy
City Hall and aims to raise awareness about the dangers of
the WTO.
The WTO, created in 1995 and based out of Geneva, Switzerland,
functions as a global trade-regulating entity. While the WTO
claims to benefit the global economy by relaxing restrictions
on trade, critics of the organization have accused it of disrupting
the natural environments, cultures, and economies of the nations
it claims to aid. The profit-driven interests behind the WTO,
critics contend, result in decisions that exploit developing
nations and cause massive surges in unemployment in countries
such as the United States.
The festival will feature musical performers, poetry, and
a discussion of the possible effects of the WTO’s push for
corporate globalization. Among the guest speakers will be
former Green Party candidate for governor, Stanley Aronowitz,
as well as a host of other professors, labor leaders, and
local activists. “We need to call attention to these things,”
explained Aronowitz. “There’s a great inequality in the World
Trade Organization.”
Organizers are hoping that a “festival” will attract more
people than a traditional protest might. “Since Sept. 11,
things have been quiet for understandable reasons,” said Aronowitz.
“Now people are beginning to get their activist legs again,
especially on these global issues.”
Tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 12), the local activist group Stop
WTO will be sponsoring a rally on the east steps of the state
Capitol at 11 AM. After the rally, the group plans to march
through downtown Albany, visiting local organizations linked
to the WTO.
In 1999, the WTO conference in Seattle was stalled by tens
of thousands of protestors. This year, protests of various
sizes are scheduled to occur in major cities throughout the
world.
—Rick
Marshall
Hudson
Rocks the Boat; Albany Goes for Status Quo
The
Democratic primary for mayor in Hudson was neck and neck as
of yesterday (Sept. 10), with challenger Linda Mussman ahead
by two votes, 331 to 329, and dozens of absentee ballots left
to be counted.
Current Mayor Rick Scalera, who had the Democratic Party endorsement,
was so offended that Mussman challenged him to a primary that
he collected petitions to acquire the endorsement of the Bottom
Line Party, a designation Mussman created when she ran for
mayor in 2001 [Newsfront, Aug. 21].
Scalera says he’s “feeling pretty good about coming out ahead
in reference to the absentee ballots,” but acknowledges that
it’s “a great unknown.” Since he has three other party line
endorsements, and expects to face Mussman in the general election
in November anyway, Scalera says he considered this primary
just “an indication of how much support [candidates] have
on the Democratic level. It’s so close I’m not sure what was
accomplished.”
But while the mayoral primary was too close to call, Mussman’s
slate of candidates appeared to have generous leads for alderman
in three out of the four wards where they ran and for Democratic
committee seats in all four. “This is a huge upset for the
other side,” said Mussman. “We have enough committeemen to
control the democratic party of Hudson, New York, which is
splendid news.” This shift in the committee could diminish
the power of Scalera, who has been the committee chair. “This
didn’t happen overnight,” said Mussman, who said her slate
was opposing a “huge, huge machine.” “We’re reinvigorating
democracy in Hudson,” she said.
Meanwhile, despite not receiving the county Democratic party’s
endorsement, Albany County Comptroller Michael Connors handily
fended off a challenge from County Legislator Allen Maikels.
Maikels had charged the comptroller’s office wasn’t professional
enough [Newsfront, Sept. 4]. As of yesterday (Sept. 10), with
96 percent of the votes counted, Connors had 6,781 votes to
Maikels’ 4,937.
Maikels said he “obviously was disappointed in the outcome,
but I think we waged a vigorous and honorable campaign on
the issues of performance in the office. . . . We just couldn’t
get enough attention and impetus.”
Connors was exhausted but thrilled. He said, “As an activist
comptroller, I’m delighted that good has conquered evil and
positive campaigning has triumphed over a negative, slimy
effort to demean public discourse.”
—Miriam
Axel-Lute
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