By Dee Richard
It took the death of two icons to push the Albany dysfunctionals off the front pages and the updated news on radio and TV, but their shenanigans were still going on in full bloom, albeit not with the same intensity, as it had been in the past few weeks.
To his credit, Gov. David Patterson insisted the state senators hold a meeting Saturday, which accomplished nothing. The governor thought they should put their differences aside and take time out to vote on vital legislation. The senators, both Democrats and Republicans, showed up, but each group held separate, five-minute sessions and then left the Senate chambers. A total waste of time and a lack of interest in their constituents’ interests.
Fellows, if you can’t or won’t try to take care of your responsibilities, then may we ask, “What on earth do your constituents need you fori” Aren’t any New York state senators statesmen or are they political hacksi It gives the impression of their being more interested in who has control of the gavel in Albany than in taking care of the people’s and state’s business.
A word to the wise: The public is getting fed up. Think about how this dissatisfaction will take form come Election Day. Get it together folks — your transparencies aren’t flattering. Have you forgotten about the city schoolchildren and their deadline a la Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controli How selfish can you be to put your personal interests before the education of 1,100,000 school childreni Patterson insisted upon a Sunday session at 6 p.m. Sunday was also a gross waste of time.
On the local level, the candidates for City Councilman Tony Avella’s seat were invited to a “meet the candidates night” by the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. The forum was held at the Bay Terrace Samuel Field YMHA. All seven were invited and all seven accepted. They must have enrolled in a candidate’s school because they sound better each time you hear them.
It’s too bad we can’t package them all in gift wrap and send them up to the Senate in Albany. They certainly couldn’t possibly make much more of a mess of the situation than our present electeds, and if they did, they would at least have the rational excuse of a lack of experience, which is a lot more than the present group can claim.
One of the emotionally wrenching side issues connected to my great move was the discarding of many of my books. My former home had a 12 x 24 porch, which was a floor-to-ceiling library and home office combination. In addition to that, my living room was 15 x 30 with a 10-foot high ceiling, which also had floor-to-ceiling book shelves. All those shelves accommodated lots of books and the move to the condo was for downsizing. All my books were like old friends. How do you decide which old friends to discardi
I guess one of the results of the electronic age we live in is the fact that hardly anyone reads hard copies any more and therefore there was no outlet for my extra books. Friends and acquaintances had no desire for them and organizations refused to accept them even if we delivered them. So guess whati It was dumpster time. What a sad way for old friends to end up being discarded.
Do you remember a while back reading in this column that state Assemblywoman Ann Margaret Carrozza’s seat might be up for grabsi There was much speculation as to why apparently a number of other people had also heard the same rumor. Well, the cat’s out of the bag apparently, as according to a news story the Bayside Assemblywoman and her husband, Dr. William Duke, bought a Long Island mansion in Nassau’s Glen Head.
That area is often referred to as the being part of the Gold Coast. Apparently, the Nassau property is now listed as her primary residence, which is a no-no when you are elected to represent a Queens District. It should be interesting to see how it all works out. We wish her the best, as she has represented her constituents well in the past. But as an elected since 1997 and being an attorney, she is going to have to make some serious choices. Good luck.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you directly with information on people, parties and politics or gossip.
I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
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Till next week, Dee.
