Oh, SmAlbany!

Freezin' Seniors: Never one to miss a photo op or press conference, Chaz Schumer was in town today to talk heating oil, specifically the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. He gave his pitch at the home of seniors Steven and Bernice Rudzinski, who had this to say: That's not good. I can't even get SJC to turn our heat below 68, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. She'd pull together a bonus army and march on Washington before I could even think of heading into the 50's with that thing. And I'm also somone's grandson - wouldn't want Grandma to freeze, and I certainly don't want her crying poor come Christmas morning. Schumer added this: Wow. I could definitely use that $441 dollars, and so could Grandma. That's a lot of Christmas presents. Vote Schumer if you want Christmas gifts from Grandma! Of course, doesn't Schumer want to repeal the 2001 tax cuts, which would cost many average people triple that amount? Just askin'! Uh, vote Republican if you want Christmas gifts from Grandma!

Oh well, guess I can't win.*** Grandma always said you could just put on a sweater...thanks for taking time out for another trip into the wild visit upstate, Senator.

***Alert, public policy discussion ahead: Of course, I recognize that my position here is somewhat silly, as is mentioned in the comments. I don't think it's ridiculous to oppose tax cuts and simultaneously support entitlement programs. In fact, it's perfectly logical since Schumer is talking about the distribution of tax rates and entitlement benefits in each instance, not their absolute amounts. If he just wanted to raise taxes by $50 on everyone, collect the money, and then send everyone $50, well that would be ridiculous. But that's not what he's talking aobut. He wants to raise taxes in a progressive manner (i.e. collect more from the rich) and increase entitlements in a regressive manner (i.e. give more to the poor). That's a perfectly consistent and reasonable approach to progressive government. In fact, that is the progressive apporach to government.

I was trying to do three things in the post. First, poke fun of the way in which the heating debate was couched. Wouldn't it make more sense to say that if seniors had to pay high heating bills, they woudn't have money for some necessities? Christmas presents are, after all, luxury items for the most part. Why not talk about seniors not being able to afford food, or having to forgo their medication? Seemed silly.

Second, I was gently reminding people that a lot of working and middle class folks get squeezed in the progressive world Schumer is talking about. Since the progressive tax rate is not all that progressive, many people in the working and middle class would end up paying higher taxes under a repeal of the 2001 cuts, but aren't poor enough to qualify for many programs, such as the heating oil program. Such is life. And such is why tax cuts are so popular. Now, if we could find a way to soak the uber-rich for like a 90% tax rate, then we wouldn't have to tax the working and middle class so hard to generate revenue, and support for these programs would skyrocket, since the working and middle class would have nothing to lose. Unfortunately, no one in America wants to tax the rich at 90%, because everyone believes in the American dream - that they themselves might someday be one of the rich.

Finally, I was trying to make fun of Schumer. He's a great advocate for New York State and he always brings home the bacon, but he's a little goofy when it comes to upstate living. I'm not sure he really gets it. So I always like to needle him a bit.

Even more in-depth: From a political theory point of view, there are two governmental solutions to help people pay higher heating bills. One is to collect tax money, set up a program, and redistribute the tax money. The other is to not collect the tax money in the first place! Obviously, the second method fails when you get to people who don't pay any income taxes - the very poor and the fixed-income elderly. They would benefit from a prgram but not from a tax cut. And that's who Schumer is talking about, and LIHEAP is actually a program I support, for that reason. But for everyone else - the vast majority - the program Schumer is talking about does nothing to help offset the cost of heating this winter, whereas the 2001 tax cuts do.

Street fighting man: After a short pause, DA Soares is back on the public relations warpath. Yesterday he pulled double duty: unveiling a new plan to fight drugs and then continuing his dance of seduction with Joan Porco. We'll be able to talk Porco for weeks, so I'll take up the drug plan today. First, the plan itself: Ok, those are all reasonable objectives. No one will argue with that. But I'm not sure they do all that much to stop drug dealing, do they? The first plank looks pretty flimsy to me - even if it worked perfectly it would only stop convicted narcotics dealers from signing leases. That's probably a pretty small portion of the population involved with narcotics. And who knows what "leases that reflect community standards" means. I certainly don't. The second plank only helps after someone is convicted of a crime. That's fine, but it doesn't really get at the source of the problem. And if I'm reading the third plank correctly, it just means they are going to get tough on trespassing. Doesn't this all amount to - in the best case scenario - a shift in where drug transactions occur? Now, that may be better than nothing, but it can't be that much better.

And look, I'm reasonably sympathetic to a "get tough" method of combatting drug dealers. But this "get tough" plan doesn't seem to have much in the way of teeth, at least as its presented. Maybe this will really help out the landlords. But I doubt it. In fact, it strikes me as a plan ripe for both abuse and complaints. Isn't it the worst of both worlds - a "get tough" apporach that isn't actaully tough enough to do anything? And strangely enough, Soares is promoting it as a money-saving plan:

I'm not so sure. For one, as mentioned above I don't see this program as anything close to strong enough to "clean up these crack houses." That means it will almost certainly be a perpetual program. And it looks like the plan has some costs of its own: at the very least the "landlord training program" is going to cost a bit. In the short run, this doesn't look like a money saver. And unless it works perfectly, it's probably a long-term negative cost, financially. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done - it might be worth the money. But i don't think it's going to be reaping a windfall for the teen sports program anytime soon.

Second issue, the politics. I thought this was a very interesting program for Soares to be backing. A few point here:

point #1 - By standing there with the mayor and police chief, this move is basically insulated politically for all involved. Obviously, this is basically a "motherhood issue." Whether you think it's a good idea or not, if you're the mayor, chief, or DA, you back it if it's going to happen. The last thing you want to be seen doing is not supporting something like this. So once it's definitely going to happen, you get behind it even if you think it's absurd. Of course, that doesn't mean you actually start believing in the plan. Good politics and good policy don't always go hand in hand. I don't know who has their heart in this and who doesn't, but if I had to bet I'd say that Soares doesn't, because...

point #2 - Isn't this somewhat different than the approach you thought Soares might take if you followed his campaign last year? I'm no expert, but didn't Soares call the "war on drugs" a complete failure. Sure, he was talking about the Rockefellar laws, but this new plan strikes me as the same old song - set up a tighter net that will catch a few more dealers and a lot more users. It's basically an empowerment of landlords to harrass people in the lower class, no? I honestly never thought I'd see this from Soares:

Gosh, that sounds like Guilliani in the 90's. Does Soares now believe in the "broken window" theory? Because that involves getting tough on petty crime and small time illegal vice activity. Now that was definitely not the Soares approach last fall. Does this mean that...

point #3 - Soares might be feeling the institutional pressures of the office a bit. DA's can campaign on whatever they want, but when they get into office and want to be re-elected, they need to show that 1) they are proactive and tough on crime and 2) that they are getting results. It looks to me like Soares might be shifting toward that attitude. And that's fine. It's just surprising.

I don't want to kill the DA here. I'm not trying to lay blame. I just thought the program was strange, and an interesting plan for Soares to get behind. I'm actually quite sympathetic to David right now. He's facing a difficult set of circumstances. His high profile cases haven't been friendly to him, in the sense that the public has been divided on them. Crime - or at least violent crime - seems to be increasing recently from the perspective of the average observer. And he's obviously tangling with a police force and mayor who aren't particularly friendly or fun to work with. That's a tough situation.

I dunno. Thoughts?

For techno-types: A listing of several dozen places around Albany where you can get free wireless internet access, plus some links to other local resources on the matter. I'd add that the Colonie Town Library is also a free hotspot.

A new contributor: Continuing with my call for new contributors to Oh, SmAlbany!, the first person who is going to have a test-run around here is Donald. He's a freelance writer and business consultant. He grew up in western New York, moved to the Albany area quite some time ago, and has worked on a number of political campaigns.

Donald will be contributing occasional material beginning later this week. His posts will be recognizable by the green coloring of the post headline, just like this post (and his name will appear at the bottom of them.) My posts will continue to have royal blue headlines. Blog-related messages will continue to have red titles.

If you would like to contribute to Oh, SmAlbany!, please read through this post and then contact me.

No love for 'the Joe': I had no idea that minor league baseball parks had begun selling off the rights to the name of their stadium, but apparently they have. Except in the capital district. Turns out that Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy is having trouble selling the rights to the stadium's name, and it's costing them a lot of potentional revenue. As reported today in the Times Union:
Perhaps the more surprising thing is that Bruno claims he never even wanted it named after him:I find that hard to believe. I'm pretty sure Bruno loves having his name on that stadium. Getting your name on a building after you die is a lasting honor. Getting your name on a stadium while you're living is ego-fuelilng raw power. And it's just one more thing he can needle Shelly about. Hey Silver- want to go over to my ballpark and catch a game after our meeting with Pataki. You really should visit. We used your constituents' money to build it. Man, that must burn Silver up. God bless powerful upstate pols. Can you imagine if a downstate Republican ever wrests control of the state Senate leadership? We'll be eating cow feed.

Actually, I'm surprised that no liberal interest group has ponied up yet for the naming rights to the Joe. Can't you see it, the Suspicious Family Loan Stadiuim? Or Nepotism Field? Or how about What's Joe Smokin' Ballpark? Readers are free to suggest their own names. I always thought "G-block" would be a nice tribute to The Grove. But only if the stadium opened at 8am and had dime beers.

Last week's garbage: Two quick followup stories worth mentioning:

(1) Continuing a report from two weeks ago, Section 2 high school running put on one the greatest shows in the history of high school running at Saturday's New York State championship. On the boy's side, team titles in Class AA, A, and C, including Saratoga defeating the supposed #1 team in the nation. The three fastest times of the day were turned in by Section 2 boys, and six of the top 12. The finish of the AA race looked more like the Suburban Council championship than the state meet, with suburban councilers going 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th. On the girls side, team titles in Class A and AA. It's not impossible that Section 2 teams could win the both the boys and girls national team title this year and that section 2 could qualify 6 individuals into the 64-person Foot Locker national individual championship race.

(2) If you'd like to hear my appearance on WAMC's Weekly Rundown, it's available here in .mp3 format. The segment I'm on starts at about the 16 minute mark and runs for maybe 15 minutes.

Help Wanted: For a few months now, I've been considering different ways to expand content on Oh, SmAlbany!. I'm now strongly considering having multiple people contribute to the site on a regular basis, instead of just myself. My goal right now would be for Oh, SmAlbany! to be publishing 7-10 quality posts each day. Right now, I'm lucky if I can get two or three. Now, I'm not looking to downgrade my own participation. But if we had a stable of 5 contributors, I think that would greatly improve the blog and also take some pressure off individual writers (read: me). Everyone has bad weeks. Sometimes my posts just suck. For weeks.

Now, obviously this is a risky endeavor. I'd be losing control of the content of the blog. But honestly, I think it'd be worth it. It'd be a great improvement to have a variety of voices around here. I'm knowledgeable about SmAlbany, but not that knowledgable. And my writing style - not to mention my thinking style - can get pretty monotonous. Some days I just don't have enough interesting things to write about.

A good example of a multi-contributor blog is the libertarian blog The Volokh Conspiracy. That's the kind of arrangement I have in mind. It wouldn't be a situation in which contributors respond to each others' posts; I don't enjoy blogs that turn into internal arguments. Instead, we'd simply have a greater variety and quantity of independent contributions that stand on their own, not connected to other posts except incidentally.

I'd be looking for people interested in either niche writing (for example, local food) or just general Albany contributions (like me). Heck, I'd love to have a contributor who specialized in Albany history and could write about it without boring us to death. I'd want you to committ to 2 posts/week at a minimum and 10 posts/week at a maximum. While I'd definitely set some rough guidelines for posting, I wouldn't touch your content. Your free expression would only be constrained by the fact that you would have to put your name on whatever you write, like I do. And, of course, I could give you the boot if you did something utterly unacceptable. But generally, it would be a free environment. Obviously, we'd want to maintain civility among the contributors, but I'd certainly be open to having various opposing views - on everthing from politics to local music - represented.

If you might be interested, send me an email discussing what you'd want to write about and telling me a little bit about yourself. If it seems like a good fit, I'll have you take a one-week trial run.

If you have thoughts about this idea in general, put that in the comments.

Just another day: Probably the main downside of being a graduate student - besides the lack of cash and the boring books - is that weekends don't feel like weekends and holidays don't feel like holidays. Since I never report to work per se, I never really feel like it's a day off. Sigh. Anyhow, I didn't feel like in-depth writing today, so quick thoughts on a variety of topics:

Happy Veteran's Day: Talk to anyone over the age of 65, and they'll tell you that Veterans Day just isn't what it used to be. Fewer parades, fewer observances, and fewer people pausing at 11am. I guess fewer people today know a veteran personally than they did a generation ago. And that's probably a good thing. Nevertheless, it is disappointing to see today go by with little public fanfare. For instance, why is the Colonie Town Library open today? Or better yet, why am I sitting at the Colonie Town Library trying to do work? So take the time, and do something to honor those who defend your country.

School's out: It's probably a good thing that the local schools are closed today. I think we definitely needed a "cooling off" period in Schenectday and Renssellaer. Things like this make you wish the big school issues were streakers, dress codes, and teenage sleep patterns.

Tech Valley: The governor signed the tech-valley high school bill yesterday. As I've written previously, I'm a fan of the idea. And right now, the Times Union is too. But I'll bet they'll turn against it as soon as they see it out-performing the public schools. P.S. It's just killing me that the Times Union hasn't figured out how permalinks work. Sometimes you can access old TU stories through the SmAlbany archives, and sometimes you can't!

The cyber-party's over: Local cops have figured out "Craig's List."

Spring break: Forget Cancun or Panama City, you can now go to Storytown The Great Escape in February. To ride some indoor waterrides. And you can get a hotel there. For $189. God, I feel old. Remember when the feature attraction up there was the Desparado Plunge? There's at least a 10% chance this place has "racino-style" slot machines in 10 years.

Mike Brown: Always classy, in victory or defeat. From the TU: Well, that's got to be a record. The race card (twice), the populist card, the hypocrite card, the thug card, the election-fraud card (twice), and the grandmother-card, all in under 70 words. This is particularly funny because you know Brown is pulling every string he has in order to manipulate the 83 uncounted absentee ballots that could sway the election (which was 507-445) if Brown gets 75% of them.

Don't forget: I'm a guest panelist tonight on WAMC's Weekly Rundown, which airs at 9pm. Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.

Jingle Bell Rock: Well, if it's the holiday season in SmAlbany, that can only mean one thing - endless radio commericals for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! I've always been puzzled by the TSO, for a few reasons:

#1) I still don't know if they are more a Christmas band or more a rock band: it's absolutely amazing how ambiguous this fact is kept. Let's see: they always come here at Christmas. But they don't play a ton of famous Christmas songs. But all their albums and songs are named after Christmas themes. But their bio never mentions the holidays. But their concert schedule is restricted to the holiday season. But the radio ad sounds like a promotion for a Zeppelin show. Honestly, I'm stumped. The radio spots make it seem like The Who's Tommy meets the Melodies of Christmas. Not that that sounds bad. And I'm not against rock stars singing Christmas carols. Heck, I love this album.

#2) How on earth do they require two shows at the Pepsi Arena: That's just startling. Especially since I've never met anyone who's gone to the concert. I mean, when you think of people who can command two shows at the Pepsi, it's like Springsteen, Phish, Billy Joel, and maybe U2. Oh, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. How come they're not uber-famous in pop-culture? It's like the Beatles coming to America, selling out Shea stadium, and no one talking about it. Ten years in a row. Wierd. Or is Albany just strange? Maybe the TSO plays in front of like 40 people in other cities. Tickets available here.

#3) If they are more a Christmas band, how does SmAlbany land them every year right at Christmas: this year they are coming for two shows on December 26th. Shouldn't those show be at like Madison Square Garden, or maybe the Carrier Dome, given TSO's apparent popularity. And doesn't the fact that they come here on December 26th make it even more unbelievable that they do two shows? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty busy with my family the day after Christmas. Just unreal.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking the TSO. In fact, I'd like to go check out a concert. I almost certainly won't (see #3 above), but I get more curious each passing year. If anyone has seen them, please fill us in with a comment. I'd love to know the real deal on the TSO - who's at the concerts, what's the music like, is it more rock, is it more opera, is it more christmas carols?

The voice of SmAlbany: Inexplicably, I was solicited yesterday to appear as a guest panelist on WAMC's Weekly Rundown show, hosted by Mary Darcy and Greg Dahlmann. I'm not sure I have either the pipes or the nerve for radio, but what the heck. I've never listened to the show, but it was decribed to me as "smart, but witty." Well, that's what we aim for here at Oh, SmAlbany!, so I guess I'm suitable, in theory. Maybe they'll let me rant about Geisel, or the bars downtown.

Actually, who am I kidding? This is really right in my wheelhouse:

Pontificating about semi-important local topics? Check.
Using a production medium that artificially increases your legitimacy? Check.
Keeping it short so you seem smarter than you actually are? Check.

Ok, I'm excited.

The show will air Friday night at 9pm. Yeah, not exactly your "afternoon drive" slot, but I'll take it. I'll put up a link to the podcast after it's available.

Am I really becoming a C-list D-list Albany celebrity?

Election notes: Various thoughts on different races and election-day happenings:

Albany: I was happy to see that Corey Ellis defeated Mike Brown. That was probably the highlight of the day for me. I thought it was a reasonable result that the mayor didn't get his whole slate on the school board. It will force the TanMan to compromise, in theory. One thing that is really funny is the distorted sense of political reality you can get if you spend a lot of time reading blogs. For instance, given how much he posts over at Democracy in Albany, it never dawned on me that Ford McClain would only get 86 votes in the Ward 7 race for city council. Amazing!

Saratoga: I was disappointed to see the Democratic landslide in Saratoga. The assessment issue was certainly going to be problematic for the incumbents this year, but it was a mandated assessment, so it was a hammer that was simply going to fall on whoever was in office in 2004-2005. Overall, the Saratoga Republicans strike me as a better group to lead the city. Of course, to paraphrase the famous saying, Saratoga politics is so contentious precisely because the stakes are so small. As I've mentioned before, politics is truly a game of leisure when you have the wealth, culture, and lack of crime that Saratoga has.

Colonie: No surprises here, at least in terms of winners. But that itself is no surprise. I guess it is interesting how the GOP margins have shrunk significantly in Colonie in the last few decades. That really has had an effect on the fortunes of Democrats in county politics (think Soares) and in state politics (think Dan Lynch and then Bob Reilly). I suppose the day will come when the Democrats capture town hall. Amazing. All of sudden the Republican streets will be last ones plowed in the winter. As I said above about Saratoga, charmed politics.

Also, somebody call the Justice Department. I think I was the victim of attempted voter disenfranchisement. Or at least it was a pain in the ass for me to vote yesterday. First, I went over to Shaker Junior High School, where I should be voting. But BOE didn't get my change of address. So I head over to Southgate Elementary school near my old place. After telling the greeter where I live(d), she sends me to the district 42 line. Of course, when I get to the top of the queue, it turns out i'm in district 43. Oh well, what's another 10 minute wait to vote in a series of blowouts when I've already burned up an hour.

Actually, that's a bit harsh. I really like voting. Especially when I can vote for major party candidates without ever touching the GOP or Democratic levers. That was nice. And I like the people who volunteer for BOE. That's a thankless, but very important, job. And apparently a boring one too. All I know is that the free doughnuts and coffee were long gone at Southgate when I got there at noon yesterday.

Rensselaer: Who wouldn't be happy that DeAngelis lost? Fred LeBrun publishes a column today that practical wrote itself in everyone's head last night.

Propositions: I voted against #1, and I was pleased to see it fail. I voted in favor of #2, but I was basically ambivalent about it. It passed.

RESTUARANT REVIEW: Took SJC to the Glen Sanders Mansion ($$$$$, 4, 91, Scotia, just over the bridge from downtown Schenectady) for her birthday on Monday. Easily one of the better meals I've ever had in the greater SmAlbany area, although you definitely pay for it. Luckily, there is a great ($18.00) discount in the Entertainmnet book. Including a bottle of wine, our total bill was about $70 after the coupon and before the tip. We started off with an appetizer of steam littleneck clams in a white wine sauce, which was absolutely wonderful, the highlight of the meal. We also had a tasty balsamic salad. For dinner, I had a filet mignon and SJC went with a grilled snapper. Both were excellent. The atmosphere in the dining room is elegent and the service is very good. A pricey treat, but worth your while once a year on that special occasion. Most recently ate here: November, 2005.

Vote for Pedro: Wait, that was last year's bad pun. Anyway, 3 things I'd suggest you keep in mind on election day 2005:

#1 - Local government has far more impact on your life than any other level of goverment: So take it seriously. And that means vote. If you don't know alot about the candidates, head over to the Times Union voter guide or search the web a bit for information. Or just vote based on your major party affiliation - I know that sounds lazy and establishment-cozy, but it correctly matches your preferences to the right candidate 8 times out of 10. And that's what party cues are for, especially in the lesser races where information is particular hard to find.** But in any case, make sure you vote. And promise yourself you'll spend a little more time on local politics next year.

UPDATE: A commenter reminded me that Metroland has candidate interviews for most of the races that are in the city of Albany and a few races outside of Albany.

#2 - If you are going to vote for a major party candidate, do it on a minor party line: This is a habit that is worth cultivating if you care about procedural democracy. New York State has very stringent requirements for parties to get on the ballot. They need to keep getting votes in elections in order to stay on the ballot. It's not a problem for the major parties, but it often can be the life and death of the minor parties. It makes absolutely no difference in the election if you vote for Jennings on the Democratic line or the Conservative line. But it means the world to the conservative party, which is constantly fighting to stay on the ballot. I see no reason for New York to have such high ballot restrictions, so I think it's important to do what you can to help the minor parties stick around. It's good for democracy.***

#3 - Don't "not vote" because the races are already deicded: As I've written previously, democratic elections, for better or worse, do more than simply pick winners. They send signals to politicians and voters about the power and support of winners. Winning with 51% is very different than winning with 78%. So if you feel strongly about a candidate one way or another, you can affect politics with your vote even if the election is not close.

**I know that sounds harsh and very un-progressive, but I'm being a realist. Election day is not the day to fix democracy. I wish everyone was informed and cared about politics, but that's not reality.

***Two points here. First, it may not be the case that the minor parties have to worry about this in the current election. It might only be the quadrennial election years that count toward whether or not you stay on the ballot as a party. I don't know. But get in the habit of voting on the minor party lines, because it certainly does matter at some point, and its costless to you.

Second, I encourage this because it is basically the two major parties in collusion that keeps the ballot standards so high. No sensible system of democracy would make it as hard as New York does to get on the ballot, and as easy as New York does to get kicked off the ballot for the next election. More political parties is almost always a good thing, and third parties are great at keeping the major parties in line.

Turn around, bright eyes: Wow, does David Soares ever do a 180 in today's Times Unoin: "We owe her that."? "Mom, I'm sure, has a lot of questions."? It almost sounds like the new approach down on Eagle street is to be compassionate towards victims of attempted ax-murder! That's a far cry from last August, when Soares basically told Joan Porco she was a either a liar or a lunatic: Looks like somebody got a quick lesson is how you treat your only eye-witness to a murder. On the other hand, this isn't exactly a bridge you are going to un-burn, assuming that was ever possible.

P.S. My wife didn't get picked for a trial at jury duty yesterday. But she has to go back on Thursday - there's hope yet!

A drive down main street: After dropping SJC off down at the county courthouse this morning for jury duty, I needed to stop and pick something up at Colonie Center. So I took the opportunity to drive Central Ave. all the way from downtown out into Colonie. A selection of my streaming thoughts, in order, as I drove:


#1(beginning of central) - So that's where Gandhi is located. I'll have to return soon. I don't get off of Lark street enough when I'm downtown for dinner. I wonder where Shalimar is located?

#2(30 yards later) - Even in Albany, Mike Brown stands out as a hack politician. It makes me sad to look at his campaign posters. I don't know if it's disturbing or reassuring (probably the former) that those who represent the least well-off in society are as hackish as those who represent the middle class. God, I hope he loses tomorrow. I wonder if Ellis can beat him...

#3(corner, central and quail) - I can't believe that once upon a time - about 7 or 8 years ago - I frequented Pauly's hotel and thought it was a trendy bar. I can't believe that once upon a time - about 2 or 3 years ago - I frequented Ichiban and thought it had good sushi. Did Pauly's really have a "$2 all you can drink" deal back in the late 90's? Were the rolls at Ichiban always that bad? At least that new sushi place on Lark is good, from what I hear.

#4(corner, central and everett) - It really is great to see hummer after hummer sitting unsold on the central auto super mile. Almost as enjoyable as a Geoffrey Holder commerical.

Heritage tourism alert: I don't know how many visitors this place will draw - probably not more than a couple dozen a week, give or take a few busloads of bored 5th graders. Not too many people are all that interested in Susan B. Anthony or the 19th cenutry sufferage movement. But more importantly, this strikes me as a perfect example of faux history: Anthony only lived in the house for 7 years, and she did so as a teenager. It's not like important meetings took place there. It's a childhood home.

Now, don't get me wrong, if a private group wants to turn the place into a museum, I'm all for it. I like history and you might even catch me taking the 40 minute drive up to Battenville to check it out. But I don't think I could/can justify spending public money on this type of thing - there's just too much real history and too few tax dollars for it already. We don't need to underwrite faux history. Now, that's not the case here - this is a private project - but I can only assume that this is the type of project that supporters of heritage tourism in Albany would like to infuse with public money. It's not worth it.

This is partially because some good historical structures already exist. If you're interested in SBA or the sufferage movement more generally, there's a great public women's rights national historic park dedicated to SBA, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others. It's located in Seneca Falls, about 40 minutes past Syracuse. Also, there is already a house in Rochester dedicated to the life and work of SBA. And she lived there during the most politically active period of her life.

P.S.: Another interesting museum that is set to open. Partially funded with public money, but predicted to gross $1.5 million / year in admission fees...

P.P.S: Apparently, New York State is now ranked fourth in percentage of workforce employed in tourism-related jobs. No word on what percentage of those jobs are SmAlbany heritage tourism...

Does this get you excused?: Today is SJC's birthday. The big 2-7. The good news is that she has the day off from work. The downside is that it's because she has jury duty. I was really hoping in the last few weeks that she'd somehow land on the Porco jury. Too bad.

I think we're going to go out to dinner tonight. Restaurant review tomorrow.

No bail, no quote from Soares: After almost a year, an indictment in the Porco case. I'll have more to say next week.

SmAlbany, cross-country heaven: Abduction attempts of team members notwithstanding, one thing the greater SmAlbany area is nationally famous for is high school running. The Suburban Council has continually been considered one of the most competitive high school running leagues in the country over the past two decades. The Saratoga High School girl's team is undisputedly the all-time best high school running program in the nation. Section 2 has consistently had both boys and girls qualify to the Foot Locker cross-country national championship and teams to the Nike Team Nationals. Local teams almost always either win or come close to winning the state title in a variety of classes each November. And one of the best cross-country courses you'll ever see is at Saratoga State Park.

This year is no exception. On national website like DyeStat and Armory Track, section 2 is literally plastered all over the place. Both the boy's and girl's teams from Saratoga are ranked among the best in the nation, despite the gir's team losing it best runner, Nicole Blood, to private training. A number of other local schools are contending to be among the 20 teams invited to the Nike Team Nationals in Demcember. And if you look at the New York State rankings, all of the following teams are ranked in the top 20 in the state in either class AA or class A: Saratoga boys (#2, class AA), Shen boys (#5, AA), Guilderland boys (#7, AA), Shaker boys (#12, AA), Niskayuna boys (#15, AA), Queensbury boys (#1, A), Burnt Hills boys (#2, A), Scotia boys (#7, A), Averill Park boys (#10, A), Saratoga girls (#1, AA), Shen girls (#7, AA), Columbia girls(#10, AA), Shaker girls (#11, AA), Bethlehem girls(#13, AA), Colonie girls (#15, AA), Holy Names girls (#1, A), Burnt Hills girls (#2, A), Queensbury girls (#7, A), Amsterdam girls(#13, A).

That's simply astounding. The sad part of it is, however, that the New York State Cross country championships only allow the single best team from each section in each class to race for the state title (individuals can qualify also). So despite having so many teams in the top 10 in all divisions, most of them will miss the state championships. I ran for Shaker back in the 90's, and we always missed the state meet because of this system.

I say all this because today is the section 2 championship race. It is usually held at Saratoga Park, but today it is at Queensbury because the state championsihp is going to be held there next week. Good luck to all the teams, and best of luck at states and nationals.

If you'd like more information on section 2 running, there is a tremendous website about it, with up-to-date statistics, discussions, and history: section2harrier.

Oh, that ax-murder: A good reivew of the Porco case in the Times Union. I had almost forgotten about it - it happened a year ago this month. There has been a strange dynamic to the story the whole time: I feel like there a lot of people who are strangely obsessed with it. Exhibit A and B would be my sister and aunt. On the other hand, I feel like it's the type of story that often would have exploded into a "national coverage" type event, but it never did.

As it turns out, the grand jury is finally meeting again. There may be an indictment before the close of business today. What I'm wondering right now, though, is how a grand jury operates in a case like this. Is it the same grand jury from a year ago? It must be. And they must be simply working with the transcripts from the old witnesses? There's got to be a strain on a group trying to remember testimony from that long ago. Sure - they have the witness records, but there are plenty of things - like character evaluations - that you can't get from a transcript. I might be wrong, but I suspect all of this helps the prosecution when it seeks an indictment. I predict the DA finally gets one today.

More important, Soares did not ridicule the only witness he has or otherwise stick his foot in his mouth for today's story, which is a sure sign that he's learning.

Looking for advice: Some old friends of mine, Paul and Katrina, are stopping in town tonight for dinner before taking the train down to NYC. I'm looking for a restaurant that fits the following description:

1) In the general vicinity of the Rensselaer train station - time is tight between when they are arriving and when their train leaves, so something in downtownish Albany or across the river would work best.

2) Reasonably fast service - see reason #1.

3) Is acceptable to vegetarians - both Paul and Katrina eat no meat, not even fish. We don't need a vegetarian place, but it's got to have some veggie-friendly options.

4) Reasonable prices - even if we had the money, we wouldn't try to rush through a dinner at La Serre. So something moderate.

My first instinct was something like El Mariachi or maybe that new Sushi place on Lark, which is reputed to have lots of veggie rolls. Is there a good Indian restaurant downtown that I don't know about? Definitely looking for some suggestions here...

UPDATE [11:10 AM]: Thank you to all who emailed in advice. One emailer directed me to VegAlbany, a website dedicated to living as a vegetarian locally. It's not a great site, but it's definitely worth checking out - the restuarant reviews detail the vegetarian and vegan options for quite a few places. And it's perfect for my purposes today.

A few days off: I'm headed out of town for job interviews. Back on Thursday or Friday. But for god's sake, I have to mention this "breaking news." Didn't I report on this like three weeks ago?

See you in a few days.