Yet Another Phase of Goodbye

For many years, I’ve collected Santas. I have some made of wood, cast iron, tin, plastic, resin - even felt-wrapped Styrofoam. They're tall, short, and in-between; the kind that sit on a table or hang on a tree, or balance precariously on a stand. Some ride in cars, trains, and sleighs, or sit on the moon; one even rides a sheep.

Several hold an evergreen tree in one arm, and a staff, a child, a deer, a bag of toys, or even snowshoes in the other, to ensure they can get to children in the snowiest parts of the world.  They wear red, of course, but also plaid, and robes of green, white, blue, or brown; some have sparkly accents or fully sparkly outfits.

My collection has grown in the years My Sweet Baboo and I have been together; I don’t think a single Christmas has passed without him gifting me another Santa. Others were gifts from my mom, from friends, or received as holiday party favors.

Every year, but never before December 1^st, they come up from the Christmas Room in the basement, or from the hall closet, where the cast iron ones spend the off-season. I open the totes and the boxes, sometimes with a plan, but more often haphazardly, freeing the Santas from their wrappings of old newspaper, nearly airless bubble-wrap, and tissue paper at least a decade past when it last saw better days.

Slowly, randomly, I'd start placing them in the foyer - on the sideboard, or the bookcase, or the table where the family pictures usually sit, or the table by the door. I’ve followed that process here for nineteen Christmases. And then came this year: the first Christmas without my mother, who passed in March. 

She loved my collection and looked forward to seeing how they were displayed each year. And she had her own collection, too.  Some of them I suspect came from kids she had in class during her nearly thirty years of teaching. She saved everything they gave her, just as she saved everything my brothers and I gave her over the years. Her collection was augmented by My Sweet Baboo - he gifted her a Santa each Christmas for the last 15 years or so, too.

Earlier this month, after I brought my Santas out of storage and prepared to put them on display, I struggled to stay motivated. I'd work for a while, walk away, and then give up. For the first time, it felt like a chore rather than a favorite holiday tradition. I knew why, of course – there were other Santas out there, in a closet half an hour away.

I hadn’t been out to the house - Mom's house still, even though I officially own it - in weeks. Honestly, I can't remember when or why I was there last. Too much emotion, too much stress, too much to do, too much… everything. I had planned on going, a couple of times, and planned on getting the Santas, a couple of times, but those ‘couple of times’ never worked out. And here I was, in December, needing to make the trip, needing to 'make Christmas'. 

Out we went. While I sorted through some of Mom's things, making 'keep' and 'toss' decisions on books and placemats and random artifacts of her life, My Sweet Baboo rescued the Santas from the closet under the stairs. When I had had enough, had done enough for one trip, we loaded them up, along with Dad’s old schoolmaster’s desk (a gift from Mom) and a small Christmas tree, and brought them all home.

The next day, I stood in the foyer, surrounded by Santas. They were all over the place, wherever I had unceremoniously left them, looking ridiculously forlorn and forgotten. A tote and four shoeboxes of my Santas sat on the floor, unpacked. A tote and a bag or two of Mom's were nearby.

I took a deep cleansing breath: a full, slow inhale, then a full, slow exhale, and then I took another, inviting in the emotions I knew would come as soon as I started unboxing her collection, and then forcing them out, refusing to let them overwhelm me.

It took two or three hours to arrange them all, blending hers with mine, placing them just so amid the strings of lights I put out to help show them off. For the first time, the collection spilled up onto the picture shelves on the wall, down onto the floor, and over to the corner bookcase. I needed to recruit a plant stand from the porch, too, which would have made Mom smile.

The whole thing - seeing her Santas seamlessly integrated with mine, miraculously no two exactly alike - would have made her smile. And finally, I was able to smile, too. 

The Election Eve Post: 2023 Edition

It's that time again - the night before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That means it's Election Eve, and time for me to do my absolute best to encourage you to vote.

Odd-year elections don't have the same 'oomph' as even-year elections do; after all, the even years are when we deal with the bulk of the national stuff, so there's more media interest, advertiser interest, and often, more voter interest. But these odd-year elections are probably more directly important, because this is when many of us get to pick our school board members, mayors, town board members, city councilors, judges, and probably even a dog-catcher or two. 

Depending on where you live, you could be asked to vote for or against a woman's right to choose, raising (or reducing) taxes, limiting the influence of foreign money on local elections, figuring out what to do about marijuana, shrinking the size of state or local governments, and more. Be sure to #TurnItOver if needed - often ballot initiatives are on the back. 

All of that stuff matters - maybe not immediately, and maybe not to you personally, but to your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends, your children and grandchildren... It all matters, to someone - if it didn't, it wouldn't be on the ballot. 

As I've noted in the past, we have lots of problems and they're not simple to solve. 

...it’s going to take more than voting, too. Voting is just the first step; after that, we have the power to hold elected officials accountable, and the responsibility to do just that. 

If you're an early voter and have already done your civic duty, thank you. If you're not going to be around on Election Day and voted by absentee ballot, thank you. If you got an absentee ballot and haven't turned it in yet, be sure you get it in before the deadline! And if you're planning on voting the old-fashioned way - showing up at your polling place on Election Day, like I do, thank you. We simply can't continue to allow the people who don't vote to dictate what happens to the rest of us. 

As I do every year, I offer the following motivation, in case you're still on the fence about voting.

After some thought, “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians." (1) Actually, “The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election itself…the act of voting is in itself the defining moment.”(2) And why is it that “When the political columnists say ‘every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘every intelligent voter’ they mean everyone who is going to vote for them”?(3) 

We know it’s true that “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who didn’t vote”(4), and that “A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.”(5) Do we still not realize, after all these years, that “lower voter participation is a silent threat to our democracy… it under-represents young people, the poor, the disabled, those with little education, minorities and you and me”? (6) 

After all, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men” (7) and “to make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not just observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” (8) 

And complain we do, after every election when 'the wrong guy' wins. If the only people who complained were the ones who voted, it’d likely be a lot less noisy, don't you think? 

Some folks may not vote because they don't know how to decide who to vote for, or they're afraid they'll vote 'wrong.' There are a couple different schools of thought on that. On the one hand, some might think that

“politics is the art of the possible” (9) while others may subscribe to the thinking that “politics is not the art of the possible, it consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. And it is true that the great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter the chance to do something stupid.” (10) 

Said another way, a “Vote (is) the instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” (11) But that’s OK – “personally, I believe that our American system works as long as you participate in it. You must vote and make your voice heard; otherwise you will be left out.” (12) 

I like that part, about our system working as long as people participate. If enough people vote - and vote every time they have the chance to - sooner or later, the people running for office will have to pay attention to us, not just to their donors.

It’s generally true that if you “ask a man which way he’s going to vote and he’ll probably tell you. Ask him, however, why – and vagueness is all.” (13) But voting’s really easy; and “all voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.” (14) And just about everyone likes to play a game every now and then, right? 

The bottom line is, “voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting;”(15) “voting is a civic sacrament;”(16) and “the future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”(17) 

And remember, if all of that seems like too much pressure, you have an out. 

“Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least disappointing.” (18) 

Please, vote. It really does matter, this year and every year. Honestly, "there is no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter."(19) Besides, "not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender." (20)  

My final pitch?  "Talk is cheap, voting is free; take it to the polls." (21)

If you need information on where to vote, help on 

your ballot, or any other assistance,  

contact your local Board of Elections. 

Lots of people are out there, ready and willing to help. 

(Thanks to these folks for their words of wisdom: 1 - Charles De Gaulle; 2 – Jeff Melvoin; 3 – Franklin P Adams; 4 and 13 – Andrew Lack; 5 - Bill Vaughan; 6 - Nancy Neuman; 7 - Lyndon B Johnson; 8 - Louis L’Amour; 9 – Otto Von Bismarck; 10 – Art Spander; 11 – Ambrose Bierce; 12 - Mari-Luci Jaramillo; 14 – Henry David Thoreau; 15 – H.L. Mencken; 16—Theodore Hesburgh; 17 – Dwight D. Eisenhower; 18 – Bernard Baruch); 19 - Barack Obama; 20 - Keith Ellison; 21 - Nanette L. Avery

Another Phase of Goodbye

Wednesday, I stood in the floral department of my local grocery store, My Sweet Baboo by my side. Three bunches of flowers for $15 - a weekly special, according to the sign. 

There were a dozen or more buckets on the display rack, each holding a few bunches of different cut flowers, and it initially overwhelmed me, at a time I was overwhelmed by the task at hand. 

I touched, poked, and picked at them, picturing kerchiefed older women behind, or in front of, a market stall. Depending on where she stood, she was either picking and poking and straightening her display, or picking and poking and rearranging it, searching for 'the best' of whatever she was shopping for. It made me smile, and gave me a moment to catch my breath before moving ahead.

There were several bunches of sunflowers to choose from. Mom loved sunflowers; she and Jen saved and planted seeds from ones they got at the market, and she delighted in their crop. There were a couple bunches with three flowers, or four. I kept picking and found a bunch with five. Whew.

What next? Alstroemeria - so pretty, another of her favorites. White? Yellow? Pink? How about soft red? Yes - those work! Baboo-approved, into the cart they went.

Most of the special deal flowers were min-carnations, but that was OK. There were orange ones, reminiscent of Dad's traffic-stopping azalea that grew on the east side of the house. That's not a joke - people would stop to admire it, ask to take pictures of it, or ask if they could look at it up close. Yes, and yes, of course you can!  

There were burgundy-and-white ones, which called to mind the giant rhododendron, anchoring the other end of the east side of the house, another show-stopper they both loved. I was with her at the library one day, a few years after Dad had passed, and someone stopped to tell her how beautiful the two plants were. I listened as they chatted about the flowers, and life, and I had a bit of a happy tear in my eye as we headed back to the car.  

Ivory, and white, too - more carnations. They added light, and grace, as did she; the flowers different enough to add both to the cart. Teasel, sea holly, and statis; they're all stronger than they look, and while not classically beautiful like a perfect rose, beautiful nonetheless; into the cart they went, and then home, all of them into a pickle bucket on the porch.

Thursday morning, after my garden walk, I laid out the nine bunches of flowers on an old tablecloth on the porch floor, removed their plastic sleeves and the rubber bands holding their stems together, and I became the woman at the market, picking and poking and rearranging. I started with the sunflowers, anchoring each of the five bouquets I needed, trying to spread the other stems equally by volume, if nothing else. They weren't all the same, but that was OK. 

Neither are we - my brothers and me; my nephew; my uncle and my cousin. We are all different, too. Certainly, none of us are classically beautiful, but we are beautiful nonetheless. We are stronger than we look - we have to be, for what we've all been through individually and together - and for whatever is to come. 

On a rainy Friday morning, in a town that was her home for nearly sixty years, we placed our imperfect bouquets on Mom's casket and said our final official goodbye, sixteen years to the day after we said our final official goodbye to Dad. 

That part of it all, at least, was perfect. 

TGIF 4/14/23

What a crazy bunch of stuff I read this week! 

Honestly, just when I think I've seen it all, or read it all, or heard it all, something else comes along and I'm left, again, shaking my head.  Here are just a few examples

A textbook publisher in Florida is scrubbing references to race from lessons. Rosa Parks? She was merely asked to move to another seat, with no reason given why. Jim Crow laws? It was illegal for "men of certain groups" to be unemployed, and "some men couldn't serve on juries," again with no reason given.  Is this really how we want to be educating kids?

Missouri state representative Mike Moon told quite a horrific tale in justifying why he voted against a bill that would raise the legal age for kids to marry other kids from 16 to 17. His 'no' vote was in part because the bill didn't include "allowances for... extreme circumstances" like a couple he met a while back: a couple of pre-teens who "took actions that resulted in the girl becoming pregnant. The parents decided to allow the children to marry. They weren't forced."

How is he holding up these parents as positive examples when they leave the decision of marriage up to their 12- and 13-year-old children? How many other bills has Moon (or anyone else in Missouri) fought to have "allowances for extreme circumstances" included in other laws, such as rights for trans children or abortion?

Clarence Thomas. Billionaire friends. Money changing hands. Ethics. Bullshit. Need I say more? 

NOW NYC is objecting to Judge Rowan Wilson, Gov. Kathy Hochul's latest pick to be Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.  The issue? Wilson wrote the opinion that tossed a rape conviction because the prosecutors were morons who inexplicably wasted not just months, but years, in getting their case nailed down. Among the issues? They couldn't figure out how to get a warrant for a DNA sample... which pretty much everyone who's watched even one episode of a crime drama on TV in the last 30 years knows how to do. 

I don't understand why a women's organization wouldn't be up in arms about prosecutorial malfeasance that denied a woman her day in court for years -and I can't for the life of me understand why NOW or any other group wants a Chief Justice who ignores the law, as long as it fits their agenda.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would pardon a convicted murderer - the day after the guy was convicted. Why? Because Tucker Carlson and Kyle Rittenhouse told him to, I guess.  A jury unanimously convicted Daniel Perry of murder in the death of Garrett Foster, who was participating in a Black Lives Matter rally in Austin. Perry ran a red light (on purpose) and drove into the protest (on purpose) and then, in self-defense (he said), shot Foster five times before driving away. 

All of this was after Perry had posted on social media things like how he might "kill a few people" on his way to work as an Uber driver. 

Comically, Abbott noted that the Texas stand-your-ground law" cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney." Because, you silly goose, jury nullification is the purview of governors, conservative commentators, and teenagers who shoot people at protests.

TGIF, everyone.

TGIF 4/7/23

It's been nearly a month since I last posted.  Much has changed in my life in that time, and I'm struggling to find a reason to write, much less trying to figure out what to write about. It occurred to me, though, that writing about anything is almost certainly better for me than not writing at all.  

And so, it starts again.

Usually, I stay home while My Sweet Baboo makes the run to our favorite Lenten fish fry, but today I went with him to pick up our orders. I waited near the table where a gentleman was selling tickets for a couple of fundraisers. 

A man approached the table to get tickets, and the two struck up a conversation. I could only hear the ticket seller's part of it and was surprised when I clearly heard, "We've got to get rid of the damn liberals..."

I sat up a bit straighter, I did - and then I remembered where I was, and I remembered I was just there to get some fish and support the organization, and not to get into a fight while I waited, so I behaved - I didn't even laugh.

I did, however, think of a few things as I sat there. For example:

Get rid of the damn liberals, you say? 

It is not the damn liberals demanding that all children who want to participate in athletics must expose their genitals to a stranger.

It is not the damn liberals stripping parents of their rights to raise their children and get them age-appropriate medical care.

It is not the damn liberals having bounty hunters chase your wife, daughter, or sister around to find out when she had her last menstrual period.

It is not the damn liberals policing doctors instead of protecting schoolchildren.

It is not the damn liberals allowing teenagers to carry concealed handguns without a background check or training. 

It is not the damn liberals stripping people of their right to representation in state legislators. 

It is not the damn liberals threatening to impeach a judge who just won an election. 

It's not the damn liberals calling to defund the Justice Department, the FBI, or the IRS.

It's not the damn liberals calling for death and destruction in America, calling the US a third-world country, or pretending they are above the law. 

It's not the damn liberals saying and doing all of the above and proclaiming themselves to be patriotic Americans at the same time.  

It's not the damn liberals doing all of these things - it's the damn MAGA Republicans.

TGIF, everyone.

TGIF 3/10/23

I could spend a lot of time on the good week / bad week lists, but I'm in the mood to keep things short and sweet tonight. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) made the good week list for calling out Rep. Jim Jordan (R - Blecch) for his incredibly blatant hypocrisy. 

Jordan asked folks from the Department of Justice and the Department of Education to appear before his Why Yes - Yes I am Weaponizing the Government subcommittee and be questioned about subpoena compliance.  Incredibly, Jordan must have assumed none of the Dems on the committee would remember, or question, his own lack of compliance with a subpoena from the January 6th Committee. He must have forgotten about Swalwell, who addressed the hypocrisy beautifully. 

Jordan, as always, is firmly perched on the bad week list. 

So, too, is the meme below.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 100 mass shootings this year. There was one today, in Florida, with five dead, including the shooter. It wasn't one of the newsworthy mass shootings; nah, it was just a murder-suicide, with four victims and the shooter all dead. 

I'm putting the meme below on the good week list. It's too good not to.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday 3/8/23

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's dive right into the wonderment, shall we? 

If you've followed me for a while, here or elsewhere on social media, you know I'm a frequent critic of media folks and publications. I don't pretend I can do their jobs better than they do; I just sometimes wish they did their jobs a little better. 

And that's how I felt reading this AP article about a "surreal Twitter exchange" between an employee and chief twit Elon Musk.

Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work — only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others. 

After several days of not hearing from the company whether or not he had been fired, Thorleifsson decided that publicly engaging Musk might get him the information he was looking for. 

Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations (Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli,” has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) and tweet that Thorleifsson has a “prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy” and the “reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.” While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.

There's more to the story, and the article covers it all. Here's what I'm wondering: why write an article about a Twitter exchange, surreal or otherwise, and not include a link to the tweets? 

News is out that Walmart is closing its last two Portland, OR stores.

The closures come after Walmart CEO Doug McMillion said in 2022 that record-breaking retail theft has hit the company’s economic performance and could lead to store closures. “Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillion said, adding that “prices will be higher and/or stores will close” if authorities don’t crack down on shoplifting crimes.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems kind of obvious to wonder whether the company considered hiring security guards instead of greeters and employing cashiers instead of leaving it up to customers to do the work.

NY's Gov. Kathy Hochul has put forward changes to our state's bail reform law. A key change? Getting rid of  "the so-called 'least restrictive' standard for judges when considering bail." 

It's going to be a battle with her own party; "Democratic leaders have called for ways to address underlying issues surrounding crime, such as poverty, housing, and mental health," while Hochul is looking to make the law itself fairer. 

It depends on the judge and the political leanings or the philosophical leanings, or the judicial leanings of a judge versus looking at commonsense, commonly accepted criteria.

I can't help wondering why so many Dems disagree with her. After all, they're among the first to complain when people 'judge shop' to find a friendly ear for redistricting or gun control cases. Surely, the Dems know that alleged criminals don't have that chance. 

There are probably a couple million folks talking about the spate of 'anti' bills introduced by Republican legislators around the country.

One, in Florida, would ban the use of pronouns "that do not correspond with [a] person’s sex." The guy who submitted the bill said it

would enshrine the “God-given” responsibility of parents to raise their children... The bill also protects students and teachers from being forced to use language that would violate their personal convictions.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but I have to wonder why we need laws designed to disregard the God-given responsibility of parents who are respectfully raising their children, and to violate the personal convictions and identities of others. 

Tennessee is trying to out-Florida Florida. A bill passed this week would 

require paid drag performers to get a permit before they can take the stage, and would specifically prevent minors from attending their shows...

I didn't have to spend a lot of time wondering how soon drag performers would start acting for free just to be able to host a show without having to go through the permitting process? And it's fun to think about the 'small government, anti-regulation' folks having the tables turned on them, isn't it?

And speaking of protecting minors, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that America's Youngest Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R- AR), just signed a bill "loosening child labor protections" in her state. 

Under the law, the Youth Hiring Act of 2023, children under 16 do not have to obtain permission from the Division of Labor to get a job. They will no longer need to get an employment certificate, which verified their age, described their work and work schedule, and included written consent from a parent or guardian. Sanders signed the bill into law on Tuesday.

Why was this bill necessary, you might be wondering? Because requiring a permit 

had placed an "arbitrary burden on parents" who needed government permission for their child to get a job. 

If you follow all of this kid-protecting stuff, coming from the same basic political idea gene pool, you're doing better than I want to do.

What are you wondering about tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 2/22/23

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

A pregnant woman, jailed while awaiting trial in Florida, is suing to be released because her unborn child is being illegally detained. When you think of it, she's right, isn't she? If her fetus has personhood under Florida law, how can it be imprisoned when it committed no crime? I have to wonder - did any legislators consider this type of consequence when they rushed to assign personhood to a fetus? 

GOP Congressional leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-You Kidding Me?) has suggested we need a national divorce, in which we'd "separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government." She's also suggested that folks from blue states who move to red states should wait five years before being allowed to vote in their new state. Greene sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability. I'll let you do your own wondering on this.

2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump, never one to shy away from the cameras, traveled to East Palestine, OH today. The town, the site of this month's chemical-carrying train derailment, was the perfect place for Trump to stand behind a podium with his fundraising banner pasted on the front and tell people he's having plenty of Trump-branded water delivered to them, along with water of "much lesser quality." I couldn't help wondering if he brought any bottles of his swamp water to throw into the crowd; it seems he forgot to do that.

Comically, on the national news tonight, an anchor said that the train derailment in East Palestine "had become political" with Trump's arrival. Why is that comical, you might be wondering? Maybe because the coverage on all the networks and cables has been about the politics of it: what FEMA is doing (or not); what the EPA is doing (or not); what the Transportation Department is doing (or not); what the mayor, governor, senators, and congresspeople asked for (or didn't); what Norfolk Southern, the owner of the train, offered (or didn't) and so on. Throw in the names of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and Trump, all once and possibly future presidential candidates, and the politics almost overshadow the derailment and the related health and safety issues it may have caused.

Oh - one more name we need to throw into the politically derailed derailment? Mike Pence. He can't stop talking about it including saying that the Biden economy "derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through...", He also said that he would have gone to East Palestine before he would go to Kyiv. If you're wondering, like I am, if Pence is running in 2024, the answer is yes. If you're wondering, like I was, whether Pence has visited Kyiv or East Palestine, the answer is no.

This last item?  I'm wondering how long it would take for the echo of right-wing screams to die down if Maddow had gotten the entire cache of the January 6th video. And I'm wondering, too, if the American people deserve to see what really happened, as the Congressional MAGAists have said, why the footage was exclusively given to a pundit, not a newsman. To a single network, not to every network. To Tucker Carlson, of all people.

What's on your wondering mind these days?

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 3)

Part 1 of this Grains of Salt series provided some history on the I-81 project and discussed Justice Gerard Neri's decision to prevent work on the viaduct but allow work on turning I-481 into I-81. 

Part 2  looked at the Micron project implications, even though that project didn't exist until long after planning for the viaduct removal had been done.

Today, some final thoughts.

Economic development considerations.

• What if the Destiny USA developers suddenly make a few billion on crypto and decide to build the whole Erie Canal/golf course/theme park thing? Would Neri or another judge require a new "anticipated population and traffic growth" study? 

• What about the new $85M aquarium project, and its promised half a million visitors? Should we postpone replacing the viaduct until we get a separate traffic study for that? 

• And if a currently unforeseen major project when the Micron projections are underway, would that trigger a complete stop and restart? Or, can the new project be a supplement to the supplemental EIS? And who owns that decision?

Legal questions. 

• What, if anything, will prevent some other aggrieved party from filing the next delaying lawsuit? 

• Are we soon going to see ads for this project based on the "abused by a priest?" or "did you drink the water at Camp Lejeune?" approach? I can see them now: 

Do you like speeding through the city of Syracuse on the I-81 viaduct?  Are you against having to get up earlier to get to work? Hate having to drive through Dewitt? Are you a fan of a giant viaduct soaring high above the city's streets?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might be an Aggrieved Party eligible to file a lawsuit to prevent the I-81 viaduct removal project from going forward! Call now!

It won't cost you a thing if we don't win!

• Let's say someone, with the benefit of 15 years of study and tens of thousands of public comments, determines that a tunnel would now be scientifically and economically feasible. Is that a valid reason for a new lawsuit and review?

• After review of the supplemental EIS, let's say Neri or someone else decides we need the Harriet Tubman skybridge viaduct. Will there then be a whole series of discussions on the best design for the skybridge? And if someone doesn't like the answer, can they sue to have the decision reconsidered?

• Who gets to decide who it gets named after? I mean, sure, Harriet Tubman is an icon, but what about Donald 'Nobody in the History of this Country Has Ever Known More about Infrastructure Than Me' Trump? He's an icon, too - can I sue to have it named after him, or maybe after Barack Obama? What's more iconic than being the first - and likely only - Black president in our country's history?

Helpful studies.

• Can we demand northern business corridor merchants commission a study to determine what would happen if they spent money advertising their businesses, instead of relying on free newspaper coverage and endless lawsuits? Where is the comprehensive marketing study on how exit ramp signage, billboards, TV/radio, print, and online ads could be used to help drive customers to these businesses, whether they use the grid and the original I-81 footprint north of the grid, new I-81, or a combo of I-81, I-690, and BR-81? 

• Can we demand those businesses provide detailed sales and occupancy data, including where the customers came from and the route they traveled, and have that independently audited? Let's be sure to look at pre- and post-pandemic data so we know whether they're really going to be impacted by the community grid. This should be required ahead of the NYSDOT doing a supplemental EIS.

• Similarly, can we demand comprehensive impact data from the eastern and southwestern suburbs?  Not just barstool stuff and fear-mongering, but actual data on the specific impacts? This, too, should be required ahead of any NYSDOT supplemental EIS.

If you're asking why anyone should be able to force private companies and suburban communities to provide this kind of data, here's a better question: why can private companies and suburban communities repeatedly force the state to spend our tax dollars jumping through their endless hoops? 

At what point does this end?

From what we've seen, it ends when there's a decision to stop the community grid, unnecessarily tear down dozens of buildings, and erect a massive viaduct that towers over the city. 

It ends when proposed development and investment in Syracuse - technology, housing, business, education, health, and more - are ground to a halt.

It ends only with a decision that defies the wishes of most residents who'd have to live with the monstrosity and those in the greater Syracuse area who cared enough to comment before the community grid decision was made.

It ends when the naysayers win.

One last thing about winning.

In 2018, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh gave his first State of the City address. Here's part of what he said about how we could all win with the I-81 project.

Instead of pitting our communities against each other, what if we stood together, unified, with a plan that creates wins for all of our communities? I believe the decision before us can and should be a source of deeper collaboration and a way to reconnect the economic interests of our City and our suburbs. 

Wouldn't it be great if that had actually happened? 

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 2)

In Part 1 of this series, I gave some background on the I-81 project, the current lawsuit, and state Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri's decision to allow work related to I-481 - but not the viaduct removal - to continue.

In this post, I explore some of the implications of his decision, starting with his comments on Micron.

The Micron project is expected to be transformational for Central New York. Over the next two decades, the massive chip manufacturing facility, about 14 miles north of the viaduct, is expected to bring tens of thousands of direct and ancillary jobs. The company is promising a $100B investment, some of which is already flowing into the community.

In his decision, CNY Central reported, Neri said

Unless Respondents [NYS, City of Syracuse] are arguing that statements by the Governor and other elected officials are not factually supported, the Micron Project dwarfs the I-81 Project, much less anything this community has seen. It is just too massive to ignore.

He also referenced "projections from Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon that the community will grow by 200,000 in 20 years, as well as figures from CenterState CEO that 125,000 will come in the next decade."

Below are a few of my thoughts on the Micron aspects of Neri's decision.

Where are those 125,000 - 200,000 people going to live? We have no idea, really. Some may choose an urban lifestyle and live in the city of Syracuse. Some may opt for a quick commute and live in Clay or Cicero. Others may want to live a little further out in the east or west suburbs, while others may go to the far reaches of Onondaga County or neighboring counties. Depending on where they end up, the presence or lack of a viaduct may be meaningless.

There may not be a single 'Micron project' resident impacted by the I-81 project. People who have jobs find a way to get to work on time. I'd suggest this is true of Micron's future employees, just like it's always been true of folks who work downtown, in the suburbs, or in a different county. 

By the way, that happens every day in Central New York; just ask anyone who lives in Oswego, Jefferson, Cayuga, Madison, Cortland, or other counties and comes to work in Syracuse or the suburbs. They've figured out how to make it work, and they've been doing it for decades. Is it so hard to think that newcomers to our area wouldn't be able to figure it out, too?

The same may be said for commercial traffic, too. Micron isn't in CNY now; the company's US locations are in Boise, ID and Manassas, VA; the latter plant is about an hour away from I-81. Should we be required to project how trucks would move between the two plants? Or how suppliers would get from where they are to where Micron will be? At what point do the required projections stop?

What if the Micron project isn't fully realized? The company has been cutting staff and slicing executive pay as demand for their chips slows. Some people weren't convinced we'd see the whole project come to be, even before the cost-cutting measures were announced. But Syracuse will still be here, and the I-81 viaduct will still be past the 'death date,' already six years in the rearview mirror. At what point do we stop projecting and start working?

What comes after the traffic projections are made? Is merely submitting the report sufficient? Or, if the study Neri required determines that there will be an additional volume of cars using the community grid when the viaduct is taken down, what then? Who decides what the grid can support? City engineers? The NYSDOT? Justice Neri or some other elected official? And what criteria apply? Is it too many cycles through the traffic lights? The ratio of electric cars to the total population? How cold a cup of DD coffee gets while you wait?

More importantly, if the decision is that the grid can't support the projected volume, who decides which solution replaces or supplements the grid? Again, is that up to City engineers? The NYSDOT? Neri or some other elected official? 

Or - truly our worst nightmare - do we have to start the entire process all over again?

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 1)

Interstate 81 runs through the middle of downtown Syracuse on an elevated viaduct.  In 2017, the elevated portion of the highway reached the end of its useful life.

Before and after the viaduct's 'death date, ' multiple solutions have been considered, including fixing the highway until it falls down; putting up a wider viaduct that meets current safety standards; digging one or more tunnels; installing a below-grade highway; creating a street-level grid; some combination of those options; or something else we've not yet considered. 

Perhaps a blessing of unicorns should be an option?

Over the years, we've 'considered' this to death. My last post on the project was nearly four years ago when the state issued its final recommendation; here's an excerpt.

After months and months of fits and starts, including a call for a do-over from our Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo to consider a tunnel option, we now have the recommendation from the state, and they believe a community grid is the best option for the Central New York area. 

Since that recommendation was made, there's been no shortage of arguing and complaining, some of which has spilled over into the courts. The current suit was brought by a group called You Can Tear the Viaduct Out from Under My Cold Dead Car, You Sons of Bitches!  The group (its name is shortened to Renew 81 for All in court papers), is led by former Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, County Legislator Charles Garland, and folks from the east, west, and north suburbs.  

The plaintiffs want a giant skybridge, much wider and higher than the current viaduct. This solution would preserve the northern business corridor - a partially-empty mall that gets much of its tourist traffic from Canada, and several hotels even further north of the viaduct than the mall.  Notably, the mall and the hotels would still be reachable using the same road we call I-81 today, which will be rebranded as Business Route 81.

The skybridge would also preserve life as it's known in the eastern and western suburbs, where I-81 isn't; provide an opportunity to name the bridge after a historical figure (Harriet Tubman is the current choice); and require tearing down some 40-odd buildings in Syracuse forcing businesses, social service organizations, and more to relocate, or close. 

The @SyracuseHistory Instagram account featured the buildings that would be sacrificed in Tubman's name. 

Last November, state Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri halted all work on the project; in December, he allowed paperwork - but not physical work - to proceed pending a January hearing. This week, we got his ruling. According to reporting from Syracuse.com, 

Neri agreed with Renew 81 that the environmental review of the project was incomplete. Among other details, the (justice) said DOT must account for traffic that will come from Micron Technology’s planned chip fab in Clay, which is expected to bring a surge of population growth to the area. He also ordered the state to study the potential for new air pollution along the suburban route of Interstate 481 if the viaduct is removed and traffic diverts to 481.

His decision allows work on I-481 (adding lanes, updating on- and off-ramps, etc.), which makes up the early phases of the project, to continue. But before the viaduct can come down in a few years, WAER reported, Neri wants a supplemental EIS that includes future traffic projections to reflect Micron’s "anticipated population and traffic growth," air quality monitoring on I-481, and a final plan for stormwater runoff submitted before the viaduct is removed.  

In Part 2, I'll look at the possible impacts of Neri's decision. 

Sunday School 2/12/23

We'll start your Sunday School lesson in the State of the Union classroom, where Jake Tapper talked with Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Here's Turner's take on classified documents. 

I just don't get this, Jake. I don't get it with Biden, Pence, or Trump. All of them keep finding documents that are classified, stuffed places. I just -- I have no understanding of it. I can tell you that members of Congress who, like me, deal with highly classified information in the Intelligence Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, we're all just stumped. We don't understand how this could be happening. We don't understand how all three could have been so lackadaisical about this.

He said there's legislation "that will make it even more difficult and give different penalties to be able to enforce mishandling classified documents."

Turning to Ukraine, he's "very disappointed" in folks on both sides of the aisle who think we've done enough.

The majority of Congress understands that this is crucial. We are fighting on the front lines of democracy. The fact that Zelenskyy has been -- as president, they -- will rally his country to fight against Russia, and we have been able to arm them, it is really unprecedented that a nation like that could stand to a superpower like Russia. But they're doing so with the commitment to keep the sovereignty of their nation. And Russia's atrocities are just appalling. Anyone who sees what Russia is doing in killing innocent civilians, destroying the infrastructure there has to be moved to want to support the Ukrainians.

In the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) about our relationship with China, especially if the recent objects we've shot down turn out to be theirs. Himes said we need to be careful since we don't know yet what those objects were.

I think it's fair to say that the Chinese are probably pretty embarrassed that they let a surveillance platform – the first one – go over the United States. It became a, you know, 'cause célèbre' around the world. We now own it. That's not a comfortable thing for the Chinese. And, of course, we canceled the trip of the Secretary of State. So my guess is that the other two objects are not Chinese, that China is doing everything they can right now to keep as low a profile as possible. But, who knows? We won't know for – I guess, until the administration fully briefs on what these things are. And to be fair, remember, Chuck, when you go by one of these things in an F-22 or an F-18, you're moving pretty fast. Until you actually pick up the pieces on the ground, there'll be some uncertainty.

It'll be fun to watch this unfold, especially since we shot down a third one after the show aired. 

In the This Week classroom, George Stephanopoulos talked with David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, about the difficulties in getting aid to Syria after the devastating earthquake last week.  

There are several issues, not the least of which is that part of Syria is rebel-controlled. Miliband said 

there is news from the United Nations that the Syrian government is going to allow aid to go into this rebel-held area from the government-controlled side. But, frankly, that’s an indirect route, and it’s caught up in politics.

The UN says the "most direct route to help people is across the Turkish-Syrian border, north to south, opening up more crossing points." 

People haven’t gotten food. They haven’t gotten medicine. They haven’t gotten basic hygiene supplies. The water and sanitation is in ruins. So this is a community for whom the earthquake was one massive hit. But the grave danger they face now almost affects more people.

He also explained that borders are effectively blocked for survivors and that people are afraid to go into government-controlled areas.

They fear being prosecuted or recruited into the army of President Assad. Many... about one and a half million to 2 million of those trapped in northwest Syria have fled from other parts of the country because of the fighting. And the Turkish border is also blocked for them. So, these people are caged in, effectively.

The US needs to lead - diplomatically through the UN,  financially, and by ensuring that the Syrian people aren't forgotten, after the dozen-year civil war.

The world has moved on. But the crisis has not been resolved. And a forgotten crisis is not a resolved crisis. What happens is that people on the edge, left on the edge where natural disasters strike that pushed over the precipice, and that’s what we’re seeing now.

I heard a report from the BBC this morning that two additional border crossings have been approved for international aid to flow into the rebel-held part of the country; up to now, there had been only one. 

Sunday School 1/29/23

In this week's Sunday School, I've got recaps of a few discussions on the Tyre Nichols case and on policing more generally. 

We'll start with Dana Bash and her panel in the State of the Union classroom: Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), author/CNN pundit Bakari Sellers, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and CNN's Scott Jennings.

Lee said people talk about public safety, but "where we stop short every single time is talking about, how do we invest in communities that have been underinvested," and mentioned education and jobs as the kind of investments needed.

We have data. We know what makes communities safe. But, every single time, we defer, we kind of go back right to, well, 'policing in and of itself is public safety.' Public safety doesn't begin or end with policing.

She said the conversation needs to move a lot more quickly than it is right now, and that 

We need to start "looking deeply into our culture, looking deeply within ourselves and figuring out why we make policy decisions that we know have adverse impact on these communities, that we know are setting communities up for failure." 

Jennings had many more questions than answers after seeing the videos. He said, "we have an epidemic of hard hearts in this country." Among his questions?

how these officers were hired. And what were the standards? Where do they come from? What was the testing? And what kind of people are we putting with such power in our communities that they feel like they could drag you out of a car and beat you to death? I mean, these -- this is not protecting and serving. This is not law and order. 

Sellers said even if police reform legislation had passed and everything had been implemented, it wouldn't be enough.

(W)e still... have to have a conversation about culture because what we saw and the conversation that we have to have is about the nuance around systems in this country. And systemic racism is a word that people don't want to hear... we're so anti-intellectual that they clench up when they hear it, but it's a conversation that we have to have.

Police have been given more training, resources, and equipment- which didn't prevent this from happening. He said we need to have a real conversation, 

whether it's a 'hard heart' conversation, or a 'cultural conversation', or a... 'black folk don't get the benefit of their humanity' conversation, this is where we have to have this difficult conversation. 

Sellers draws a "direct line" from this incident to things like the lack of safe drinking water in black communities, poor and unsafe schools, and healthcare disparities for blacks, saying, "That is systemic racism across institutions."

Kinzinger acknowledges that we need to have "real conversations" but hates the term. You start the discussion on how to fix things, he said,

And then what happens is the online kind of profit machine kicks up. And, on the right, it's all the sudden, like, we have to back the blue and not talk about any reforms. And sometimes, on the left, it ends up being basically -- you saw it to the extreme, defund the police. And then you end up hating each other, not talking about it, not solving problems. This is a moment where I think, if we can actually be like, OK, look, neither side is going to get exactly what they want in policing or in reform, but we can make a huge difference, sort of like the Justice for George Floyd Act, we can make a difference. But everybody's got to get away from just default(ing) to their corners.

Quick Takes (v69): The Wrong Apology

Hmm... 

Some of the folks at Fox News seemed surprised that the newly-released videos of Paul Pelosi being attacked with a hammer showed, um, Paul Pelosi being attacked with a hammer.  

Here's the scoop from the folks at Mediaite:

Harris Faulkner, the host of Outnumbered, apologized after the footage aired without a 'graphic content' warning.

"The producers are apologizing to me, but I want to apologize to you,” Faulkner said immediately after airing the footage. “We had no idea what that was going to look like and that should have had a warning and a graphic warning before we showed it and then on screen.”

"We had no idea what that was going to look like." Seriously? 

Pelosi's attack and injuries were widely reported; Faulkner's network covered it, from every conceivable angle (and a few inconceivable ones), for days after it happened, with its usual level of seriousness and respect. Of course, I'm kidding about that last part; I'm sure you can imagine how the coverage went. 

Not only that, but before Faulkner's show aired, the network had already shared the video under this headline.  

If that wasn't enough of a clue, the article states that the video is "of the" attack, and it included commentary on what the footage included. There was also a little back-patting.

Fox News was among the news organizations pushing for the release of the videos.

Clearly, the video should never have been shown without a strongly worded warning'  -Faulkner was right to apologize for that. I think Fox should apologize for showing it at all - there's no 'news value' in it. Unless, of course, the intention was to prove how wrong the network's earlier coverage was. 

And by earlier, I mean as recently as just a couple of days ago.  

That would be an apology worth hearing.