In Case You Missed It (v13)

A lot going on this week - and I didn't even touch the impeachment report or the first hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.

Here you go, in case you missed anything.

Sunday School included two interviews with Senator Amy Klobuchar and one with Senator Cory Booker. Both, of course, are still in the race for the Democratic nomination next year.  Here's a bit from Booker, talking with John Dickerson on Face the Nation about how we need a 'healer' after president Trump.

We're hating each other because we vote differently and - and we're not going to be able to get the big things done that we need to get done, like facing down climate change, the health care crisis that still persists. You need new American majorities to get that. And you need a leader that can inspire the moral imagination of this country.

Martha Raddatz sat down with three veterans in this week's Sunday School Extra Credit to talk about the president's intervention into the dealings of the Navy. One of her guests was Col. Dave Lapan, US Marine Corps (Ret.). Lapan served for 34 years with deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti. Among other things, Lapan talked about the "politicization of the military" that we're seeing, saying that

This president has often talked about how much he admires the military, how much he has done for the military, it's all about the strength of the military. And I'd ask what these pardons have done to further that goal. Rather than making the military stronger, I think he's weakened the military, in these days.

We had new information from The Update Desk on efforts being taken here in Syracuse to protect taxpayers from the ridiculous so-called '485-a' tax break. This incentive, which I've written about a few times, is supposed to be used to repurpose and rehabilitate historic buildings with a mix of residential and commercial space, but developers have been getting away with all kinds of crazy stuff, and the city is trying to put a stop to it. 

The council voted unanimously to amend local law by giving the assessor more explicit authority to reject applications for the so-called 485-a exemption, which the city first adopted in 2010. The amendment specifically aims to exclude projects that involve demolishing old buildings to make way for new construction. 

There was news from our Sonofa Gov, captured in this Meanwhile Back in Albany post. Andrew Cuomo, our Sonofa Gov, vetoed  a bill that was passed unanimously by the Assembly and the State Senate that would have increased reimbursement to municipalities for maintenance on state highways.

... Cuomo said that the bill didn't include a funding source, that it would "significantly increase expenditures" and that this kind of thing needs to be done during the budget process. I don't know about you, but I don't see this as a "significant" increase in a $175.5B budget...

Supporters of the bill vow to try again in the 2020 session, which starts up in January. I'd like to think that, in a state where we can make up for legislators not getting a raise for 20 years, we should be able to fix this reimbursement rate, which hasn't seen an increase in over 30.

Also from The Update Desk, we had a tw0-week update on emails from the 2020 Dems.  Here's what they were talking about, other than asking for money.

• the November debate and how they did;
• who's on the stage for the December debate and how they got there;
• who's not on the stage for the December debate and how we can get them there;
• billionaires in general, not just the one already in but the one who just joined;
• Iowa, barely two months away;
• the end-of- November fundraising deadline; and
• diversity, or the lack thereof, in the remaining candidates.

I talked about why I like the new contract between the city of Syracuse and the Syracuse Police Department in this Grains of Salt post; the contract includes higher pay for longevity, leadership positions, and more - and a five-year residency requirement for new hires. 

So, yes, I'm delighted that the next class of officers graduating from the SPD's academy will have to find a place to live in the city within six months of graduation, and meet the same residency requirement that our firefighters do. Honestly, I hope one moves into my neighborhood the next time there's a house for sale.

And, it includes a new program to keep kids interested in becoming cops after they get out of high school until they're old enough to enter the academy. Good stuff all around, as far as I'm concerned.

And finally, we had a Quick Take today on folks doing a "victory lap" because Amazon is going to lease office space for 1500 jobs, with no incentives (at least so far). You'll remember, of course, that the deal for Amazon to put their HQ2 in Queens, which could have brought up to 25,000 high-paying jobs to the state, fell through earlier this year. 

I thought that an odd thing to celebrate, and I was not impressed by their self-appreciation, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was selling what appears to be false information on how the company would have gotten state job creation tax credits. 

And yet, even today, AOC was tweeting something completely different. Take a look.

While we’re here, let’s clear up some GOP disinfo: - “It’s 1500 jobs vs 25,000”: The 25,000 jobs figure was a 10-20 year fantasy # from Amazon, not a promise or agreement. In exchange for that lack of commitment, they wanted billions of public $. Their Y1 jobs projection was 700.

Those subsidies are a "10-20 year fantasy" if Amazon doesn't deliver the jobs, as far as I can tell. And of course I'm not an expert on how to read these things, but the table in the agreement seems pretty clear. 

And there you have it - another week in the books. We'll be back next week with more, of course - including, because I can't ignore it any longer, the impeachment inquiry.