Letters to the Editor for Oct. 7

City of Amsterdam is lovable, but a real heartbreaker

Re Oct. 2 article, “Marketers to gather public input on city”: What do Amsterdamians think about their city? I’ve heard a marketing firm wants to know. Well, as a 45-year-old resident, born and raised here, and having spent nearly 15 years living elsewhere (Los Angeles and Saratoga Springs), and having recently moved back and purchased an historic home, I’ll say this for the record: I love this city, but it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart to watch the decline, to see all the abandonment, and to talk to outsiders who only see our warts. It breaks my heart that the downtown was destroyed by urban renewal, and that no leader since then has had the vision to undo the damage. It breaks my heart that the very characteristics that we should be celebrating and enhancing — our cultural diversity, our walkable neighborhoods, neighborhood schools, and overall interconnected, compact, mixed urban character — are the very characteristics we continually undermine.

Knocking down Victorian homes off Market Street for parking lots and drugstores and bigger gas stations is not progress; it is shortsighted myopia and a failure of smart urban planning. Closing the neighborhood school of one of the city’s finest neighborhoods is not enlightened thinking; it is shortsighted myopia and a devastating blow to those residents. Closing a museum because of bats and falling bricks — a museum that I happen to live directly across from — is not only shortsighted myopia, it’s an egregious example of public misfeasance. The school board members responsible for this sad display of ignorance — ignorance of the cultural significance of this institution, ignorance of its historic value, ignorance of its neighborhood significance — should be run out of office. What else do they think it can be used for?

Have they checked the zoning codes or the goals of the comprehensive plan to see that hardly anything else is allowed?

When I look across the river and see farmland, I see a viewshed and activities worth preserving. Others can’t wait to destroy them with sprawl. When I visit Route 30, I see an auto-dependent boondoggle of bad planning and short-term thinking. Others see it as progress. When I watch the death by a thousand cuts of continual failed leadership and bad decisions, I see a place that breaks my heart because we deserve better. I see a place where I wonder every day if I should have bothered to try and be part of the solution, by moving back, rather than part of the problem, by moving away.

Todd Fabozzi

Amsterdam

Obama would be a repeat of Carter

Obama’s campaign slogan, “Bush’s third term,” conjures up totally fanciful images. McCain has split so often from Bush and the GOP that [Sen. John] Kerry even considered McCain a possible running mate. On important issues, Bush and McCain were diametrically opposed. Both will fight Islamic terrorism, but differ on issues such as prisoner treatment. Even on the Iraq war, McCain differed with Bush, who ultimately accepted McCain’s plea to increase troop levels.

On the other hand, an Obama presidency could easily be “Carter’s second term.” Jimmy Carter’s presidency, with its disastrous foreign policy, high unemployment, double-digit inflation and interest rates, has provided Obama’s playbook. Carter ran on “change” and even the rhetoric seems eerily familiar. Obama’s Oregon speech claiming we should change our lifestyle to please the rest of the world, could have been written by the same person who gave us Carter’s 1979 “Crisis of Confidence” speech.

Obama retained Carter’s policy planning director, Anthony Lake, and national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Carter and Brzezinski have the same mentality regarding Mideast peace. Brzezinski publicly endorsed the view blaming the Israel lobby for Mideast turmoil. Brzezinski was the first prominent politician to deny the danger of Islamic extremism to the world, similar to Obama’s early position that Iran was not a significant threat.

Carter and Brzezinski didn’t see Iran as a threat either. They helped topple the shah, a fervent U.S. supporter, by withdrawing support, and saw him replaced by extremists. Continuing the Carter tradition, Obama hired Robert Malley, who admitted secretly visiting Hamas in Syria. [Malley resigned in May after criticism of the visit.] Recently, Carter met with the same terrorist organization.

On the economy, Obama’s revival of Carter’s trade restrictions, nuclear fuel reprocessing prohibitions, windfall profits and other tax increases, suggest that an Obama presidency will be a Carter second term. To those wanting “change,” be careful what you wish for.

David Koss

Saratoga Springs

Nothing wrong with humane horse slaughter

This is regarding the Sept. 23 letter “Beware selling retired horses to the Amish,” by Sandy Harrity, about retired race horses and the Amish and horse slaughter.

Having shod hundreds of horses for the Amish for more than 15 years, I found only one horse with a serious wound, under his collar. The owner was a very belligerent Amish man, which was as rare in the Amish community as a lame horse. The Amish are a very tight-knit group, committed to their traditions, and each other. Their religion forbids abuse of all things, which includes women, children and Mother Earth. Maybe there is a lesson there.

Horse slaughter is prohibited in New York state, and as a consequence the horses must now endure a long and arduous trip to Canada to be slaughtered, as if that is more humane.

As a 78-year-old blacksmith involved with thousands of horses under many unimaginable circumstances over the past 55 years, I do not find humane horse slaughter an evil. But I do find the abuse of women and children an intolerable evil, along with human greed.

John Lasala

Summit

New assessments hit Niskayuna seniors hard

Senior citizens of Niskayuna, I may lose my home because of the new high assessment. My home is the smallest on the block. If I were to sell now, I could not get half of the assessed value. Inflation is way ahead of my earnings.

I am 100 years of age, disabled, use a wheelchair or walker. I need to hire home-care workers to get meals, clean, take me to the doctor and other things, as I do not drive (I gave up my license and sold my car).

I live alone; my wife died in 2003. It costs me double my income to remain in my home.

Steven B. Shaw

Niskayuna

Palin ‘disses’ debate rules and Constitution

The most frightening theme that emerged from the Biden-Palin debate was Palin’s willingness, even eagerness, to break the rules. She did it in front of our eyes by refusing to answer legitimate questions. And she seems to plan to do so in an even more aberrant way if elected: by claiming, even extending the anti-constitutional powers asserted by the Cheney vice presidency.

One function of debate rules is to minimize nonessential differences between candidates (read “level the playing field”), so that their responses to issues are the center of attention. Anyone who tampers with the level playing field seems not to have grasped core American values. As far as her wish to continue defying the Constitution, well, let me just say that she actually had me looking up the definition of “anarchist.”

No, we’re not there yet. But we may be at a point where we can legitimately wonder what she means when she claims she’s a “maverick.” Is she claiming merely to be independent? Does she realize that a U.S. air-to-ground missile is named the “Maverick?” My sense is that there is plenty of destructive potential in a person who ignores the rules to avoid fair questions and looks forward to ignoring the Constitution. The saving grace is that, while the Maverick is destructive, it has a very limited range. I feel, after the Oct. 2 debate, that I can say the same about Sarah Palin.

Mary Clemens

Amsterdam

Wasting food no way to hold a fundraiser

On Oct. 3 the Gazette printed a picture of a student covered in ketchup, peach slices, jam and pickles; the following day a teacher’s picture appeared smeared with a whipped cream pie. Both were participating in fundraisers.

With so much poverty at home and abroad, isn’t there a better use for food, and a better way to hold a benefit?

Helen Steiner

Scotia

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October 7, 2008
5:24 a.m.

[ Suggest removal ]

Matrix ( no real name given ) says...

To Helen Steiner regarding wasting food, you need to lighten up! Instead of complaining about what these teachers and students did to raise funds, you should be asking yourself "What have I done lately to help ease the poverty here and abroad?" My guess would be not very much you angry old thing!

October 7, 2008
5:42 p.m.

sbrownell ( no real name given ) says...

I'd like to know what Todd Fabozi is doing to become "part of the solution". In fact, I bet a lot of upstate cities would like to know. Amsterdam (sadly) is not too different than most upstate NY mill towns.