Oh, SmAlbany!

Tech Valley [fill in the blank]: I can't speak to how well "Tech Valley" is doing in the global information economy, but I'm pretty sure that Summer 2005 will be remembered as the period of time that the phrase "Tech Valley" exploded in SmAlbany. We now have Tech Valley Homes Real Estate signs everwhere, I'm seeing Tech Valley Times newspapers lying around like they're Metrolands, and even the mousepads at the Colonie Town Library now have ads for Tech Valley Communications. And, of course, the proposed Tech Valley high is already running tons of summer programs for kids. Basically, the region has been able to reach critical mass with the catchy hi-tech name. Now we just need to get there with the actual hi-tech. Luckily, I feel like there's a decent amount of inertia working in our favor - the media, the politicians, the universities, and the tech companies seem to be gung ho about SmAlbany.

Of course, I might just feel this way because my wife just finished a six-week internship down at the Albany nanotech business incubation park at SUNY Albany. She's a schoolteacher, and apparently the Albany-Colonie chamber of commerce - who coined the phrase tech-valley in 1998 - is willing to pay healthy sums so that teachers can get some tech experience and bring it back to the classrooms to excite the kids about jobs in the tech industries. She had a great time working for Infineon, but what amazed me was the media coverage - it seemed like everyday she was either on TV or in the newspaper, talking to someone about her summer job in tech valley. She's even got her picture on the cover of Business Review Albany this week. [Nice plug -ed. For who, Business Review?]

Next week, I think I'm going to take a serious dive into the changing economics of SmAlbany. I already promised a major piece on the Colonie Comprehensive Plan, and there's lots, both good and bad, to be said about all of this Tech Valley stuff. Stay tuned. [I'll get my pillow -ed. Now wait, I can make it exciting. Not this stuff -ed. We'll stick to the scandals, agreed?]

Mayor Soares?: A number of readers have asked me why I continually intimate that David Soares wants to run for mayor. First off, I'm certainly not going on inside information - i don't have any clue whether David Soares wants to be mayor or not. I suspect he does, but I don't have any evidence that isn't available to anyone else.

However, I personally believe - for better or worse - that an Albany mayor is eventually going to come out of the progressive coalition that put Soares over the top lastfall. It seems to me a question of when, not if. If you agree with that, it seems to me that David has to be the odds-on favorite right now - he's a proven winner, a good campaigner, and has the right biography for the job. If any one face symbolizes the movement that is going to tip the establishment apple cart, it;s Soares, no? It must be in the back of his mind that higher office is within his grasp. Even with no knowlege of him personally, I can't help but see him as apotential mayoral candidate, can you? Has anyone ever gotten to the DA's office at such a young age and not been interested in higher office?

That said, he really needs to do one thing before he runs for mayor, and that is to be an effective DA for a minimal stretch of time. That's why I tease him about it - it hasn't been - how should I say this - the best a great a particularly helpful year. His high profile cases have not been easy ones, and he hasn't been able to flex his "tough on crime" muscle yet. Everyone knows the DA's office is a political job - and it's even more so when the occupant is the young leader of an insurgent coalition that opposes the machine. I'm sure Soares cares about Albany and the safety of its residents - but he's also now a politician, one that can go reasonably far if he plays his cards correctly.

And that's exactly what I think he's trying to do. And thus it's a natural extension, in my mind, to evaluate his actions from the "he's jonesing to be mayor" point of view. It sures beats discussing the Archie Goodbee challenge to Jennings.

Holy mapquest, batman: If you haven't downloaded Google Earth yet, I highly recommend it. It's like Mapquest or Google Maps on steroids. And it will make your SmAlbany experience better. I guarantee it. One example:

I was looking for a cool place to eat lunch on my way out to the Guilderland Public Library on Route 20 today. So I punched in my current location and the library's location to get the directions, hit the button to overlay all the local restaurants, and pushed the play button. Voila - all of a sudden I'm slowly flying at 2500 feet (you can adjust your altitude) over a 3D satellite map of SmAlbany , tracing the path from my house to the library, with all the possible lunch spots pointed out along the way. And I mean all the spots - i counted over 150 restuarants noted by Google Earth along the 10 mile route.

I ended up eating at a familiar place - Wings Over Albany - but that's besides the point. Once you've tried this program, you'll wonder what you did without it. Get yourself in on it. P.S. What's so great about the Guilderland Public Library? Free wireless access, reasonably nice study area, and a whole boatload of excellent CD's in the music section that you can "borrow" to listen to on your laptop.

Your McSmoking Jacket, sir: So I heard about the new upscale McDonald's on Wolf Road via the Times Union article from last week. Now, I'm not a big McDonald's guy, but this quote from the TU article caught my eye: So when I was doing some grocery shopping yesterday at the Hannaford next door, I simply couldn't resist a peek. I'm something of an adult. I feel somewhat uncomfortable eating at McDonald's. I had to see.

I must say, the first impression is even funnier than you would imagine. Words just can't describe how silly a faux(?)- stone fireplace looks in the middle of a McDonald's. And the thing is huge, it dominates the entire eating area. But I gave it a chance. I ordered a milkshake, grabbed a TU from the vending machine, and sat down. Just strange. Of course, the fireplace wasn't on, it being August and all. And my inquiries about a February marshmallow roast were greeted with aboslutely blank stares. We'll have to wait and see. P.S. - The TU quote was accureate - the restuarant is definitely more comfortable. But that's because, for once, it's actually clean in the sitting area.

The fat lady has sung: The Heritage Park auction has been held; there goes the neighborhood. There were apparently some goodies: It won't be too long - say, 2015 - before someone is paying decent money for these things on ebay, right? If you doubt me, look at this or this. I just may have to invest in that latter item - it would probably make you one cool cat down at the Armory this fall...

Whirlwind SmAlbany tour: Just sent the last of my relatives packing from the weekend that was my sister's wedding. My west-coast cousins had come in for an extended stay (Thursday to Monday) and we took on the charge of entertaining them in SmAlbany during the non-wedding portions of the weekend. The wedding ate up the chunk of time from the rehersal dinner on Friday right through brunch on Sunday, so we had two full days - Thursday and Monday - plus a few half days to work with.

We settled on the following itinerary: took them to Saratgoa Thursday (track during the day, dinner and drinks in town at night), sent them on their own walking tours of historic Schenectady and downtown Albany on the half-days, and then took a day trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Monday. It seemed to work well: my cousins enjoy sightseeing, love walking around small towns, and had never been to 'toga or Cooperstown. All in all, somewhat of an eye-opener for California-types.

And yes, we considered a duck-boat tour, but couldn't pull the trigger -I'm just not daring enough for something like that, especially without pre-testing it for the possible embarressment factor. And to answer your other question: yes, we really are uber-dorks who really are obsessed with SmAlbany.

Strange fascination, fascinating me: Hey - I love Dave Lucas' Capital Region People blog as much as the next guy, but i think it's time we all call him out on his near-obsession with young female Asian bloggers - here, here, here, and here(?). You want to head that direction once a month, fine. A few extended posts or an expose now and then, go for it. But I can't endorse it as one of the running themes of a blog. Not a blog called Capital Region People.

It's just too - i don't even know the word for it - mysterious strange creepy. I'd go back to 24/7 Geisel coverage - wasn't that boosting your traffic numbers through the roof this month, Dave? [didn't you use the same trick? -ed. Since when do i care about hits? I guess that would explain the posts about LeBrun's columns...-ed. Ouch. Low blow.]

And look - I'm all for running themes and obsessing about silly things to excess on a blog - god knows I've written a couple thousand too many words about saratoga this summer. But Lucas is really starting to break me down. I almost clicked-through to one of those Asian-babe-blogs this past week. And that's cutting it too close.

RESTUARANT REVIEW: Believe it or not, I had never been to El Mariachi ($$$, 1, 92, Washington Ave., east of Lark Street) until last night. Don't know why. I guess I've never been finicky about my Mexican food. But then one of my wife's co-workers - who has a Mexican wife of his own - found out that we were frequenting El Loco, and they had to set us straight. Which they did. I thought it was just grand. (We went to the El Mariachi on Washington; we hear the one on Hamilton is not as good, but has an outdoor patio; they are also soon expanding to Saratoga). The menu at El Mariachi is quite varied, and the food was absolutely delicious. The experts who brought us there add that it's very authentic. We started off with some Tamarindo and Fresa to drink while we chowed down on real fried tortilla chips. The chips came with two types of salsa, as well as cream, which was certainly a surprise. SJC got a chicken enchilada; I had some steak fajitas and a chicken taco. We thoroughly enjoyed it all. Most recently ate here: August, 2005.

Low production for a few days: My sister is getting married Saturday - no, not on the infield at Saratoga during Travers - and that means it's a busy week for me. So there's a good chance blogging will be reduced till Monday.

Between now and Monday, occasional posts will appear below. mg

Blue Sky Mining: The town of Colonie adopted its comprehensive plan last night. I actually went to the town website and read the plan. Next week, I'm going to go through the whole thing and have a serious discussion of it. But for now, a few first impressions:

thought #1: Not a bad town website. Who knew! [it gets 215 hits a day, that's the same as you -ed. Yeah, but my readers are the movers and shakers. Of what? -ed. I'm not sure. Nevermind.] Definitely a solid B+ for content, although the web design could definitley use the advice of - how should i say this - someone more interested in aesthetics. Not that I'm complaining! P.S. How about those GIS maps of Colonie? Very fun.

thought #2: A 94-page plan? That seems a little long-winded. But hey - it's actually an easy read. Better yet, it mostly makes sense. Again, who knew! And they weren't kidding when they said comprehensive. They studided towns in Tennessee!

thought #3: My favorite part of the report - from a design perspective - is the goofy pictures of the CDTA bus and the Colonie cop car on page 9 and 17, respectively. It's stuff like that that makes me enjoy going through town comprehensive plans. I mean, who decided that was a good idea? Let's spruce up our dead-serious plan for economic growth in the town by adding some local clip-art that makes it look like a science fair project. Works for me - i like keeping it light.

thought #4: It's not going to be as easy to discuss this thing as I first thought - they put it in .pdf form! They must know about bloggers going "cut and paste" crazy on this sort of stuff - [you're too layz to just re-write the text? -ed. Apparently they know about that stereotype of bloggers as well. What a journalist. -ed. Hey - they get paid over at the TU.]

Coming next week: a serious discussion of the plan.

Off the ballot: It's now almost certain that city charter reform will not be on the ballot this fall, as the ACA's petition signatures were affirmed to be invalid by the courts yesterday. But as I've said before, this is a classic long-term win-through-losing situation: it wasn't clear charter reform was going to pass anyway, and now the pro-charter groups have some extra time to build their case, with the additional advantage of being able to leverage the anti-democratic nature of the recent defeat. This is particularly true since charter reform is only a portion of their agenda. Defeat at the polls would have been a death-blow to the pro-charter groups. Defeat at the institutional rules level is almost certainly a catalyst for their wider movement.

And, lest we forget, it gives Democracy In Albany more grist for the mill.

Taking their own advice: It wasn't but three weeks ago that the TU ran a story about corporate blogs - companies that hire bloggers to write for them. Now it looks as if the TU is going to start hiring bloggers to cover local high school sports: Wow. That's qute a shift in the tectonic plates of journalism, no? It will be interesting to see how it goes. P.S. They weren't kidding when they said hyperlocal! P.P.S. I'm not sure this bodes well for the longterm health of professional print newspapers. Who cares, though, I'm signin' up! P.P.P.S. Will we finally get decent in-depth high school sports coverage, or is this going to be a deluge of bad writing from bad journalist? The latter is a very scary thought....

The other thoroughbreds of August: Up in Saratoga, it's a big thing to attract trackgoers to your local business, as the TU reports today. Farther away from the track, it's a little more difficult to do with a straight face, but they still try it. It's definitely a running joke in Colonie that a lot of local businesses try to cash in on 'toga in August by promoting their "relationship" with the track. Cheap motels on Route 9 in Latham advertise themselves as "minutes from the track" or "just south of Saratoga." Restuarants occasionally offer discounts for people who bring in losing betting slips. And every newstand sells the Post Parade for the month. But I think we may have a winner this year for "most desparate attempt to tie one's business to the track." Without further ado, the sign currently out front of Night Moves gentlemens' club, at the corner of Rt. 155 and Rt. 9, a solid 30 miles from the track:


Indeed.

Party Schools and Porco news: I know that I'm the last person on earth to blog today about Joan Porco's letter to the TU and UAlbany's party school status - for god's sake Albanyeye was on it hours before I woke up, here and here. And I think everyone gets the main jist of what's going on - a lot of what needs to be said has already been printed. But I still have my two cents to throw into each story. We'll start with UAlbany's party school status, which fell from #1 to #6 in the rankings:

Point #1: That top-ranked status was always bullshit anyway, and everyone knew it. It's still bullshit that they are even on the list. You can't be the top party school with local grouper laws that prevent real frat houses from existing. You also can't be the top party school with the Lamp Post as your signature bar. That's just absurd. I mean, has the Princeton Review ever been to Arizona State? Or Colgate for that matter? Albany's not even the top SUNY party-school in my mind - unless things have radically changed in the last 5 years, Oswego or Oneonta has to be king. And face it: no one goes on spring break from the University of Kentucky and comes back saying, "Wow, I just can't get over how attractive those guys/girls from SUNY Albany were!" That happens all the time in reverse. Part of being the top party school is having the runway models and hunks that Florida State, Arizona State, and UK can provide. No one in Albany is even tan. Look - I've been to Fountain day. UAlbany is not a top party school. Nevertheless...

Point #2: Could the SUNY administration be more out of touch with college life? Here's the relevent text: Memo to SUNY: you're not going to change a party school by adding more faculty. The students giving SUNY its reputation are not the ones who wish they had more access. And if the faculty wants to be "around students" they should head down to the corner of Western and Quail some night, we'll see how long that lasts. I'm pretty sure you have to change the type of student coming to the school, not just their experience at the school, if you want to alter your school's social image.

On to the Porco letter:

Point #1: Who else had an "OJ" moment when they read Joan Porco's "search for the real killers" line at the end of her letter? I almost spit out my breakfast. Whatever lawyer vetted that letter should be fired - you can't use the most famous "I'm guilty but there's nothing you can do about it" line in recent history as part of your statement. You just can't. P.S. I can certainly sympathize with anyone who was almost murdered, had her husband murdered, and thinks her lead-supsect son is innocent, I can. It's horrific. But I can't buy the "although I have no memory whatsoever of the attack...I am positive that my son was no way involved." It just defies logic.

Point #2: How's that first year going, David Soares! Last week, he's on national TV arguing with an anonymous internet blogger about media responsibility, and now he's got the victim of his other major case - and the only hope for a witness against his prime suspect - telling him to take it somewhere else! Any sympathy for Paul Clyne yet, Dave? P.S. When is the grand jury going to meet again on this one? Or the Geisel case for that matter? P.P.S. - Is the whole world watching this case, too?

I was wondering when this would come out: The annual "check out how little the jockeys eat" article was published in the TU this morning. : My lord. The ones that don't have a problem are eating mayo sandwiches! At least the TU didn't get into the vomitorium aspect of the jockey lounge this year.

How not to make an argument: Fred Lebrun writes a particularly muddled column - even by his standards - in today's TU. His subject is the state's abolishment of "Class C" driver's licences, which are for vehicles like tow trucks and dump trucks. According to Lebrun:
Yes, he calls it insane. As in "you'd have to be insane to agree with this change if you knew the facts." Now let's go to the facts Lebrun presents:

First, he recaps the types of licences in New York: Ok. So the huge rigs are Class A and Class B, Class D covers ordinary vehicles up to 17,990 pounds, and Class C covers vehicles between 17,990 and 26,000 pounds. As Lebrun puts it (quoting someone against the change):
Ok. That's true. But prior to the change she could have gotten behind the wheel of a vehicle that weighed 17,989 pounds, no? A Honda Accord weighs about 3,100 pounds. A Jeep Cherokee weighs about 3,900. So before the law change, anyone could have driven a vehichle six times as large as a regular car. Now they can drive a vehicle up to eight times as large. It just doesn't seem like a big deal to me - doesn't LeBrun have to argue for a lower weight restriction on the Class D licence if he wants to make this case?

But wait, there's more. At this point in the article, Lebrun strangely begins to make the case in favor of changing the law:
In other words, every other state, as well as the federal government, has an insane licensing policy. But wait, there's more yet. Lebrun speaks with a man who is knowledgable about why the change was made:
Ok. So right smack in New York City - some of the worst driving conditions available - the change was test-run and there were no problems. Insane. And finally, the coup d'grace:
What? No specialized training? Just an extra road test? If the old Class C licencing involved the specialized training that the A or B licence requires, Lebrun might have a point. But it didn't.

Ok, so let's recap this thing:

1) Lebrun thinks it's insane to get rid of Class C licences becuase
2) it will allow the average driver to operate vehicles like tow trucks
3) which are between 19,990 and 26,000 pounds, even though
4) the average driver can already drive a vehicle that is 19,989 pounds,
5) a full six times bigger than a normal passenger car.

This is a problem even though:

6) every other state already allows it, and
7) New York pilot tested it for two years with no problems.

Therefore:

8) we should keep a worthless written and road testing system that
9) is a nusiance that most people don't ever bother with
10) and creates an economic problem by shorting the number of people
11) who can drive moving trucks in New York City.

Yes, Fred. Insane.

The Times they are a-changing: The Times Union launches it's new "Communities TU" section today. I actually went out and bought a hard copy of the paper this morning so I could see how it looked. Let's do a walk-through breakdown of everything I noticed:

1) Page A1, banner headline, letter from Rex Smith: Rex describes the changes to the paper - expanded local news coverage of neighborhoods, local government, and people (including "hyperlocal" news such as "school honor rolls"), a format shifting that moves some news to different sections, a "Communities TU" section that will apparently - although it's never clearly stated - be tailored to where you bought the paper (i.e. you don't get the 'toga section if you live in Albany and vice versa), and increased staffing at the TU for coverage of such things. Sounds pretty good. I like expanded local coverage, god knows I'm not reading the TU for it's national reporting. Albany Eye and Dave Lucas have already put in their two cents about this as a general issue, i won't say more. Instead I want to...

2) Open up to section B, Capital Region: Feels thicker than normal, that's a good start. Lebrun's still on the left column of front page, check. No other noticable changes, excpet the littler banner in the top left directing me to...

3) B3, Communities TU: Ok, now I bought my TU in Latham, and it's apparently the Albany county "community." The whole communities TU section is 3 pages long. Sounds good.I see a lot of "hyperlocal" stuff, which is definitely a good sign. The left column has a "meetings" list that today is highlighting the Watervliet City Council meeting from last Thursday. Good. Below that we've got some "local notes" type stuff you might see in the Colonie Spotlight. Good. And then we've got the following community stories: Bethlehem voting on master plan. Good. Revised zoning laws. Good. Kids playing chess in the park. That works too, I guess. Overall, very nice. But wait a second...

4) It's actually only two pages of "community" stuff: What's this caving story doing in the Albany community section? And parking in Troy? In the online edition, those are Capital Region and Rensselaer stories, respectively. But they are under the "communities TU" banner in the print paper. Ok, I get it. The hyper-local stuff is not quite as big as they want it to appear. That's fine. So they threw some regular local stuff into the "communities section." I see.

5) Overall, I'm not sure what to make of this: Since I read the online edition, it's disconcerting to pick up the print edition and know that i'm not getting everything they published today. Then again, they've been doing that for years with the 'toga and Rensselaer 'metro' editions. I like the thrust toward more local coverage, that's great. I'm not sure about the bulletin boards and meetings postings - that's seems more the job of the hyperlocal papers, like the Spotlight or Loudonville weekly. But i'll take it.

I don't say this much, but good effort, Times Union. I hope you can keep it up.

The times that try mens' souls: Here's your Monday quiz. Who said this quote over the weekend, and what was he/she referring to?: A) President Bush, in reference to Constitution-writing in Iraq.
B) Cindy Sheehan, in reference to the almost 2,000 American deaths in Iraq.
C) David Soares, in reference to the Geisel case.

I like that. It's like Soares is in his own personal Truman Show here in Albany. And the truth is, Soares' whole world - or at least his reputation as a tough-on-crime-but-compassionate DA and thus a lot of his political future - is going to be significantly shaped by this case. If he wants to be mayor someday, the conventional wisdom coming out of last fall was that he needed to show some serious tough-on-crime credentials in office. Unfortunately, the twists and turns of the Geisel case have made it a lot less clear that simply lowering the hammer on her is going to be a sure-thing best move for a politically ambitious DA. Once upon a time, Soares was probably relishing taking this thing to trial. Now I think he wants to cut a deal ASAP.

Talk of the town: No, I haven't been to Ryan's Wake yet. But everyone keeps telling me to go there. And it did win a "Best Historic Bar" award from a local paper. [Oh, and I suppose you think those are gold now. -ed. I haven't been there yet, have I?] I wonder if it is drawing away some of the Troy Pub and Brewery Brown's Brewing Taproom crowd, or if it's a different scene.

Spin me some ebay love: Here are the current ebay rankings for Saratoga giveaways this year:

1) Stadium Blanket - selling for about $22, no bids for $30 starting auctions.
2) Bugler bobblehead - selling for about $9, buy-it-nows for $10.
3) Beer Stein - selling for about $6, no bids for $9 starting auction.
4) T-shirt -selling for about $5, many no-bids.
5) Baseball Cap - selling for under $5, many no-bids at $3 starts.

That's probably a relatively predictable order, although the bobblehead seems like a pretty niche market. If I had to wager on it, I probably would have taken the blanket to win, and then thrown down a trifecta using the blanket with the stein and shirt.

Meanwhile, an annoyed gambler calls for an EZ-pass gate at the track, where people uninterested in the giveway can get in.

Bright lights, big city: Yeah, there are developments in the fall election races. And yeah, there are updates on the Big House story, more news about the armory reopening, and WNYT is still headlining with gas-price stories. The school my mom teaches at is even on fire. And did you really think we could go a full week without at least linking to one tangential Geisel story?

But I'm done for the week. Off to a bachelor party in New York City. Now, before you call me a SmAlbany traitor, I did lobby hard for Saratoga. Unfortunately, I was overruled by a gaggle of New Yawkers who don't know Saratoga from Syracuse. So it's the Big Apple for me. Their loss.

See you Monday.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE (11:45am): Ok. Just about to walk out the door. And now Geisel goes out and gets arrested again for DWI?!?! And Soares isn't messing around on this one:

The DA's office is handling the case, and is expected to revoke her bail later this morning.

I could write 3,000 words on this, but I won't. Take it from here, Dave Lucas! (Thanks to commenter Taratoo who alterted me to this story.) Lots to ponder between here and Tarrytown.

Will work for giveaways: Hey, as long as you're spinning for beer steins up at the track this Sunday, you might as well get paid for it. I can't decide if hawking goods to the spinning crowd is a potential cash cow or an obviously futile enterprise. I personally can't imagine buying some "one on one computer training" for $70 from a dude standing on Union Avenue, but then again I can't imagine standing in line for an hour to get a 5th $3 beer stein.

I'll take Budweiser for $200, Alex: Thursday's Preview section of the TU had a restaurant review of Graney's, a pub up on New Scotland Avenue about halfway between the medical center and St. Peter's Hospital. Now, I haven't been to Graney's since it was the hot spot for Albany law students on Thursday nights in 2002-2003. Since then, it has burnt down, been rebuilt, and lost it's hotspot ALS status. I've never eaten anything there except late-night pub grub like chicken wings, so i can't really speak to the food.

I was, however, intrigued to see that they now have a Monday night Pub Quiz at Graney's. For those who don't know, pub quizzes are team trivia contests played for cash or other prizes over the course of a night. It's remarkable how smart the contestants can be - the quizzes are populated by know-it-alls and wannabee know-it-alls who are cool enough to hit the pub on Monday night but geeky enough to want to play psuedo-Jeopardy there. It's a larger niche than you might think. I've heard there is also a "smart-ass" pub quiz on Tuesday nights at Bombers on Lark Street that is very popular.

I've been to a few pub quizzes in my day. As you might suspect, these things are uber-popular at the bars around Yale - you'll never find a place with a greater density of goofy barstool know-it-alls than New Haven, CT. The Anna Liffey's Tuesday trivia down there routinely draws 40+ teams of five people. They play for cold cash - the entry fee is $20 per team and the top-placing team often walks out with better than $500, plus a nice ego-stroking. It sounds like Graney's and Bombers keep it more on the SmAlbany tip, playing for free drinks and such. That's a good thing. It keeps it light.

Pub quizzes aren't for everyone - some people are bored by them or turned off by the fierce competition, both between teams and within teams (That really is the sinister aspect to the whole thing. Even if your team stinks, you can at least prove your brainiac dominance over your own friends by being the best player on the crappy team.) But overall, I recommend giving one a try. If you get the right crowd, they can be wildly fun. Worst case scenario is that you're getting out with your friends for some drinks on a weekday. And you don't need to win - I've never been on a winning team - to have a good time. P.S. If you do want to win, the trick isn't necessarily to have the smartest people, but to have a team of people with the most diverse smarts - music, pop culture, history, politics, literature, sports, science, etc.

88.3 DJ Strips on Stern Show?: A reader writes in to tell me about Oksana Kehoe, a Russian model/DJ who lives in Albany and was on the Howard Stern Show Wednesday morning. You can listen to her full Stern interview here. As recapped in the Stern database: After chatting about her show, Oksana proceeded to take her clothes off: A quck perusal of Oksana's website does indicate she's got a radio show on 88.3 (6-7am, Sundays), but over at the website of WVCR, there's no indication that she actually has a show at that time, or even works for them. So I dunno. P.S. The best part of the Stern interview begins at 2:20 on the audio tape. Howard is asking her what her radio show is about. She answered that she interviews Albany celebrities. When pressed by a dumbfounded Howard to name these celebrities who live in Albany, she replies, "Jim Coyne!" P.P.S. I'm not sure if this is considered a scandal at Siena, I know they've had their battles with the radio station there before... P.P.P.S. Speaking of scandal, did anyone notice the $1.3 million that Siena got in that new highway transportation bill. I wonder who it is over there that has McNulty's ear. P.P.P.P.S. You know who could use a good scandal over at Siena right now - Fran McCaffrey. Too bad for him this is too little, too early, to knock him off the hot seat this fall.

We hardly knew ya: The TU is reporting today that the Big House will be closing it's doors at the end of the month. And they correctly point out the role that it played in the downtown nightlife revival: Undeniably true. I was never a big fan of the scene that sprung up down there. I was much more of an uptown/Lark street guy in the late 90's. I liked WT's better than McGeary's. I liked Mahar's on a quiet night. I was in college, so i really liked Bogie's music and Hughes' prices. I liked Mild Wally's pizza. And I just wasn't crazy about the Big House. While it was definitely amazing the first time I walked in there, it being the first "mega-bar" I had ever seen, I always thought it was poorly designed architecturally - the tables got in the way of the standing crowd, the booths were wedged against the bar, and the walking paths were difficult to navigate. The micro-brewed beer was expensive and not that good. They didn't have pitchers. And it was often so crowded that you had to fight your way to the bar for a drink.

But i can remember thinking how much respect I had for the people who took a chance and opened that place. It's hard to remember, but there was nothing down there at that end of Pearl. And for a while, the Big House was basically alone down there - Jillians didn't open until sometime in 1999, the Bayou cafe was a tiny little bar that was often closed at night, same with the Victory. Pearl, Blue82, and Mad River were years away, and it was a bit of a walk down to Doc's or McGeary's, neither of which were particularly the same crowd as Big House. And it always seemed like everybody was there. It was a lot like going to a fraternity party, except with people from SmAlbany instead of people from college.

Interestingly, the current Big House space is owned by the owner of the Long Branch, Anthony Renna. He had been leasing it to the owners of the Big House, and now he and a buddy are going to open a new bar/restaurant there: And just in case you thought Renna didn't have solid Albany roots: Wow. That's quite a trifecta - the Long Branch, the Dutch Apple, and the Big House property. Similarly, the current owner of the Big House, Stephen Waite, is working on a new venture: The "Proctor's Block?" That might be a little much. But then again, this guy did jumpstart Pearl street a decade ago.

A few more thoughts on the Big House. These are mostly 90's thoughts, since I haven't been to the Big House more than a handful of times in the last 5 years:

#1) Does anyone remember the disporportionate number of limosines that used to collect around that place? I was always amazed at that. You'd be waiting in line to get in and there would be two limos parked on Sheridan Ave. and another one pulling up. Just strange. Especially since no one inside ever seemed like the type of person who would have just gotten out of a limo.

#2) I remember when the Giants started doing training camp at UAlbany, they would occasionally come down to the Big House en masse. That was always good for a few laughs, since there would immediately be 10 SmAlbany women surrounding each of them. My most vivid memory of this was when Joe Jurevicius was a rookie in 1998. I walked up to the second floor, and he was sitting there with three girls on his lap, two on one leg and one on the other.

#3) It's impossible to not remember that 1st floor dance party. While the 3rd floor was a more serious bump and grind scene, the first floor had that makeshift dance floor, usually some kickin' 80's music, and just a whole lot of awkward singles who knew they didn't belong on the top floor but still wanted to dance. You'd get some strange sights there - like a group of drunk 30-something single women trying to move in on some obviously underage college guys. Or a guy in a business suit groovin' with a girl in a tube top. All of this going, of course, to the sounds of Footloose or the Grease megamix.

UPDATE: Readers submit their own recollections of the Big House:

#4) "I recall once my friend getting "kicked out" of the third floor because he was being obnoxious to some girls. The security guard escorted us over to a private elevator, which was painted on the inside to resemble a jail cell."

#5) "At one point, around fall 2002 - my first year at Albany law - they began running just an absolutely rediculous special at the Big House. Beers were $1 and dinner was $2.49 before 8pm. I guess they were starting to feel the heat from competition by then."

#6) Shredded Eagles has some nice memories of the Big House here, including this funny-yet-true quote: Ah, Big House. You'll be gone but not forgotten.

More WNYT non-news: Following up on their Wednesday expose about people driving to Vermont to save money on gas, WNYT spent some time researching the skyrocketing scooter sales in the capital district. You can't make this stuff up. If gas prices continue to rise, we're almost certainly headed for either a "I sold my car and bought a sweet bicycle" piece or a "state workers long for mag-lev public transit" report.

The August place to be: The Altamont Fair is this week. I haven't been there since I was a kid. And then only once. My family always used to go on our summer vacation the week of the Altamont fair. I disntictly remember filling out forms at my elementary school every June so that I could get free tickets to the fair in the mail, but then not being able to use them because we were away in New Hampshire or wherever. On the other hand, I've been to most of the fairs local to SmAlbany. It's funny, because I never thought of my family as "fair people," but I guess we do our share.

After my sister and I were particularly obnoxious one year about "always" missing the Altamont fair, my parents took us to the Schaghticoke fair, which runs this year August 31st to September 5th. I've definitely been to the Saratoga County Fair (already happened in July), although I don't remember when. And believe it or not, I've gone up to the Washington County Fair (next week) in the past, which is - how should I say this - a little bit different. Once we even made the trek out to the New York State Fair, which has its grounds out by Syracuse. That's quite a scene.

Although they vary in many ways - number of exhibits, quality of rides, quality of bands, amount of animal contests and animal-related stuff, types of people that go there, etc. - the fairs are largely all the same, at least for me when I was a kid. I'd ride some rides, stuff myself on food, spend $10 trying to win an enormous stuffed gorilla, watch some animal shows, and then head home. I can't remember ever loving the fairs, but I always had a good time. Looking over the prices of some of the stuff at the above fairs makes me wonder if my parents weren't as thrilled as me.

And they proceeded to tear that hotel down: Grand Funk Railroad - the group Rolling Stone magazine once called the "worst band of all-time" - plays the Empire State Plaza Concert Series tonight at 7pm with the Edgar Winter Group.

According to Grand Funk's website, sleeveless logo shirts are almost sold out. Luckily, the GFR polo shirts are still available in all sizes. Good to see that somebody's fan base never went "business casual."

Trumped-up charges: Albany Commom Council member Michael Brown is proposing legislation to ban racial profiling in the Albany police department. According to WRGB, specific incidents have led him to propose the legislation: Of course, the Albany cops deny the charges: A few points here:

Point #1: Councilman Brown is almost certainly engaging in hyperbole when he declares racial profiling "one of the worst cases of racism today." If anything, racial profiling is one of the least problematic forms of racism today, since it purports to have a public good associated with it - catching criminals. In that sense it's like affirmative action. Both policies may be racist, but they both have an objective (forgetting how they work out in practice) that is undeniably beneficial for the community. I happen to disagree with both of these policies, but i'm not going to pretend that they compare to race-based job discrimination, which has absolutely no redeeming social value, even in theory.

Point #2: Aren't Brown and the cops talking past each other a little bit here? It's not clear to me that the Albany PD is defending a profiling policy as much as all together denying that they profile. It's not like they are saying, "yes, we profile, but the benefits outweigh the costs." In fact, they seem to be saying the opposite. I doubt Brown's legislation would have stopped his friend from being pulled over twice, there doesn't seem to be a department policy that is being followed here. However, it is clear that...

Point #3: Brown's proposal would create one heck of an administrative nightmare! In addition to barring racial profiling, Brown's legislation: Whoa. That's a little too much paperwork. I suppose all of this is just Brown blowing a litte campaign bluster out there to rally some support, but i don't know enough about Ward 3 politics or its upcoming elections. However, Democracy in Albany sure does, and he's no fan of Brown.

Better than most chains: So I broke down yesterday and went to Red Robin ($$, 1, 87, Route 9, Latham) for lunch with my mom and sister. I'm definitely not a fan of chain restuarants, but anyplace that consistently has a line out the door - which i have observed on numerous occasions at the Latham Red Robin - is probably worth a try. Walking in, the atmosphere is uber-chain. Think TGI Friday's meets Johny Rocket's meet Planet Hollywood. There are movie posters on the walls, ballons hanging everywhere, bright colors, oversized menus, Green Day on the stereo, an overpriced bar with lots of neon, those litte buzzing coasters to notify you that you're table is ready, and the ever-present sound of Red Robin employees singing some song that's not "Happy Birthday" to some kid for his birthday. Basically, the whole chain-food works. In fact, Red Robin is the most stereotypical mid-level chain restaurant I've ever seen. Ever. Not my scene.

Luckily, the food was actually quite good. The menu is pretty limited - there are burgers, soups and salads, and a few other light fare items. They really push the "gourmet burger" angle - they have about 15 different burgers, many of which looked quite good. I had a guacomole bacon cheeseburger, medium rare. It was very tasty and certainly a large portion for just $6.99. I was amused that it was served in one of those plastic baskets like they used to have at Ground Round back when I was in the "pay what you weigh" crowd. My sister had something called the "5 alarm burger," which she said was excellent. The "gimmick" at Red Robin is that all the burgers come with "bottomless" french fries. But the fries weren't particularly impressive and the original portion of them is quite large. I can't really imagine too many people take them up on a refill.

Overall, i enjoyed my lunch, but i probably won't go back very often. I just can't endorse the atmosphere. On the other hand, it's a relatively cheap meal and would certainly be a good fit for a family with adults that want to get some decent food and kids that want to go to a chain-ish type of place. But i'd still rather take them to Beff's. Most recently ate here: August, 2005.

Green Mountain Fuel-up: It's no secret that gas prices are through the roof these days. But this seems a little extreme: Fine. If you work in Bennington and you get some gas on the way home because it's cheaper, that makes sense. But is anyone really driving to Vermont to get gas and save, what, $1.20 on the tank? Assuming you get 30 mpg - and god knows you don't on those crappy Vermont roads - it's only worth it if you live 7 miles or less from Vermont. And even then, your friends are just going to laugh at you if they find out what you are doing. And what's with the Vermont gas station owner - does he really think lowering his prices is going to result in a windfall of demand from Hoosick Falls? If he can lower his prices and increase profit, shouldn't he do that all the time to draw business away from other Bennington gas stations?

What a classic WNYT non-story - someone must have noticed that gas prices were cheaper in Vermont and jumped in the car to go get the quote and invent this one.

City politics heats up: Although Mayor Jennings seems safe to maintain his job this fall, the battle over charter reform has heated up this week. As has been widely reported, the Albany Civic Agenda (ACA henceforth) has been trying to get some specific charter reforms onto the ballot this fall, in the hopes that voters will shift some governmental powers from the mayor to the Common Council. I won't delve into my thoughts on the substance of the proposed charter reform here. I've outlined my position on the topic in an award-winning previous post. [Have you no shame? It was only Metroland.-ed. I had to take the opportunity. To rip Metroland? -ed. That too.]

Today, we're sticking to base politics. As you might have read, City Clerk John Marsolais has denied the petition, citing improprieties in 766 of the petition signatures, leaving the petition 122 signatures short of the minimum required to put it on the ballot in the fall. The ACA is now urging the Common Council to put the measure on the ballot anyway, although it's not clear if they will do that. We may just be headed toward a classic New York State lawsuit over ballot signatures. A few points:

Point #1) Ballot signatures again!: I told you they are the root of trashy politics in Albany! Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure this is a classic...

Point #2) Win-through-losing situation: There are so many situations in politics that are far more complex than they appear, simply because people are angling to strategically lose things on purpose, or at least don't care if they lose because their real goals are tangent to the fight at hand. Often, there is as much to gain through losing as there is through winning - you get your message out and your face known, you can build steam among your base of support for future attempts, and you can parlay your new noteriety into other political projects. Some good historical examples of this are: Lincoln in the 1858 Senate race, Kennedy in the '56 Democratic VP nomination, Frist in the "nuclear showdown" a few months back, and even Pirro in the upcoming NY Senate race next year. In all these cases, losing was arguably better for the candidate than winning. This is especially true in the case where "winning" is not the final prize, like Kennedy in '56, who would have just ended up on a sure-loser ticket against a popular Ike if he had "won." Instead, he got his name out there, got some momentum for his coalition of backers, and avoided the kiss-of-death landslide defeat in the '56 election. Same with Frist and the nuclear option: he avioded a potential loss in a showdown, gets to rail against the democrats who blocked the judges, and didn't personally cave, thus not alienating his base. It couldn't have gone better for his presidential aspirations, his real goal.

Charter reform seems to be spinning in this manner right now. I think it serves the long term interests of both sides - the Mayor and the ACA - to lose this round of the battle. If the ACA wins by getting the Council to put reform on the ballot, it's by no means clear that the reforms will pass in the fall, especially since the mayor can easily attack it as a council power grab. For them to lose a ballot initiative in the fall would be a complete disaster. But to lose by not having it on the ballot would be a major victory for their movement, which after all isn't really about charter reform. They have bigger prizes - like capturing the mayor's office itself - on their long-term minds.

Likewise, if the mayor suceeds in keeping it off the ballot, it will strengthen the ACA's coalition for the future and give them the "defeated by the powers that be" angle that they desparately need to take their cause to the next level next time around, when they might have a serious mayoral candidate to go with the reforms. In any case, the mayor will almost certainly be forced to face a greater challenge next time around. The dream scenario for him right now is to have a divided council put the initiative on the ballot so he can campaign against it as a council power grab and have it crushed in the fall, with half the council publicly against it.

In essence, I'm pretty sure that anyone with the long term big picture in mind is better off losing the current battle beign played out today. It's political Kabuki theater at it's best. And it's silly to think that the participants don't realize this. It's gets even creepier when you think about it, because it follows from this logic that...

Point #3) Council members who want serious charter reform might vote against putting the petition on the ballot!: If it is clear that keeping the initiative off the ballot will build momentum for the ACA and its allies next time around, long-term thinking council members might try to keep the initiative off the ballot in hopes of getting even stronger reform on the ballot next time around that could really strengthen their institutional power! This is the classic strategic voting situation of a legislature - torpedoing legislation you want because you hope to get even better legislation down the road, either after an election bolsters your coalition or after public sentiment boils about the loss-at-hand. It works because all political ideas have a shelf-life - you can't simply revisit the same topic every year. You often only get one shot. Once that one shot sucessfully passes, you can often forget about any further changes in the near future. The charter reforms are rather tame compared to stuff the council might want that would really hamstring the mayor and shift the power.

I don't know how much strategic political behavior is going on right now in the charter reform fight. It may be that the sides are acting in a relatively straightforward manner. But don't count against the possibility that those crying at the end of the current battle know that they have actually won.

Give me liberty or give me a boxed exacta: They are really kicking it up a notch in the patriotism department at the track this year. Two weeks ago, it was former POW Jessica Lynch presenting the winner's circle award. Yesterday was "Proud to be an American" day at the track - active military personnel got free admission, and sky divers jumped onto the inner turf course holding an American flag [man are they firm with the infield ban! -ed.] Additionally, a naturalization ceremony was held in the winnner's circle and 35 immigrants became U.S. citizens: Lest you think the track is a wierd place to become a citizen, Gary Hale - who is in charge of immigration and naturalization for this area - likes to keep it fresh: No word on whether any of the new Americans hit the pick 6, or whether someone suckered them into drinking from the Big Red Spring.

Do mall-walkers still go?: There's a rudimentary but amusing website which details old abandoned shopping malls around the country. Since the guys who run the site are from glens falls, they have a nice listing of local SmAlbany dead malls, which runs surprisingly long. The Latham Mall entry hits home for me: Ouch.

Just wasn't made for these times: Brian Wilson played SPAC last night. Only 3000 people showed up, making it the - how shall I say it - most modestly attended show on this summer's SPAC calendar. I'm not a huge Beach Boys fan, but their concerts are fun. I saw the group (sans Brian Wilson) at SPAC in the late 80's and had an excellent time. And the crowd was much larger than last night. I can only imagine what it's like to go to a 60's pop show at SPAC with only 3k in the house. Probably sad verging on depressing verging on embarressing. One problem for both Wilson and the rest of the group is that they never have reconciled with each other enough to tour together. In fact, since Carl Wilson died in 1998, there have been three separate "Beach Boys" tours, none of them playing spectacularly large venues. I'm sure many more fans would show up to see the boys ensemble.

Well, maybe 50 cent or Motley Crue better scheduling next year will rescue SPAC from its lackluster season so far this summer.

Spinning and Stooping: Went up to the track on Saturday with some old friends from college. Notice that I mentioned we went on Saturday. I never go to the track on Sunday. That's because it's giveaway day, and on giveaway day there are about 10,000 residents of SmAlbany who lose their collective mind. Yesterday was a classic example. As the TU reports today: The important phrase here is "announced attendance." The giveaway days are not actually breaking attendance records in the "number of people at the track" sense (that record is always held by a Travers Day - current record is 66,166 from 2003) . Actual attendance does go up on Sunday giveaway days when compared to non-giveaway weekend days, but the reported numbers are vastly inflated because of "spinners," people who pay the admission fee, get the coupon for the giveaway, leave the track, get back in the entrance line, pay the fee again, get another giveaway coupon, repeat. There are people who do this 3, 5, or even 20 times: And what on earth is so valuable that they are willing to do this? Well, the giveaway days this year are: bobblehead doll, T-shirt, Hat, beer stein, and yesterday it was a logo blanket:I totally understand if you want to go to the track on a day where you can get a free stadium blanket that says Saratoga. The giveaways at the track are usually of decent quality, and who doesn't want some nice 'toga merchandise? What I can't understand is why you would want to get 20 towels, especially given what happens to the lines at the admissions gates: Good lord! Someone once told me that a lot of spinners give out the giveaway items to their relatives for Christmas. Unbelieveable. Can you imagine opening a Christmas present and finding a Saratoga blanket that your uncle got for $3 at the track? And then seeing everyone else in your family open the same gift? Just astounding. And it causes problems for people who just want to go to the track and get one beach towel, or just want to go to the track. And forget it if you got there late - the blankets were gone by 2pm, leaving you just the option to fork over a Jackson to get one on Ebay.

Now, I think people who spend three hours in line at the track in order to spin for some extra giveaways are nuts. But on the hand, the "stoopers" make the "spinners" look positively sane. Stoopers are people who walk around the track all day picking up discarded betting slips off the ground hoping to find an accidentally-discarded winning ticket. As last year's New York Times article noted:That's a shame, because apparently stooping was once ridiculously profitable: I actually saw a guy stooping at the track on Saturday. He was definitely a testament to the reduced profitablity of the enterprise.

Other notes from the weekend in Saratoga:

Note #1) Although I had been to the track once already this year, Saturday was my first day in the picnic area. The most noticable fun change out there this year is that the track now pays a teenage girl to sit by the Big Red Spring and hand out small plastic cups, which used to just be dispensed from racks attached to the posts of the spring. The upshot of this is that it has become insanely easy - probably unfairly easy - to fool your rookie trackgoing friends into trying the hideous sulfur-water. Having a worker there simply adds too much legitimacy to the situation for even a skeptic to object to your coaxing. Plus, it never hurts that 3 or 4 old men are downing the stuff like it's the fountain of youth.

Note #2) The IceHouse bar on Putnam street has been completely revamped. I mean completely. What was once a trashy little coverted mechanics garage has now become a serious beach party! They've added an enormous outdoor deck, live bands on the weekends, spring-break style drink machines, and - god help us - two ping-pong tables so that college kids can play beirut and beer-poing. They've even upgraded the jukebox. Yikes.

Voter fraud redux: This week's Metroland has an article by Miriam Axel-Lute that references the interesting and thoughtful debate we had here, here, and at Democracy in Albany a bit back.

He's Baaa-aaack: For anyone who was cognizant of Albany politics during the original rise and fall of Jim Coyne, it's basically surreal to observe that he's currently 1) making financial transactions with the state 2) in the business of constructing arenas. I know that this was big news 6 months ago, but it's all starting to hit me now. It's actually happening. As the TU reports, the renovations to the Armory are moving along:Whatever you want to say about Jim Coyne, I'm happy that he's brining the Patroons back. And it will be great to have a concert venue that size in the city. I, for one, will dutifully attend as many Pat's games as I can this season. [I wonder if they are going to bring back the Freihofer's cookie shootout at halftime? -ed. I'm for it, especially if they let 27 year-olds participate...]

Of course, with Coyne you either go big or go home: Trust me - that will be a party.

Update: More thoughts on Coyne / Armory / Patroons over at Democracy in Albany.

It's turning into a bad Chevy Chase flick: Honestly, I wasn't planning on getting into any Geisel-talk this morning (Dave Lucas is doing excellent coverage), but I must say that watching David Soares take on an anonymous blogger on national TV Wednesday was a real spine-tingler. He couldn't have been bargaining for that last September! Or be very happy about it...[unless he wants to be Mayor, right? -ed. Not even then.] P.S. Is it possible that the PhantomJournalist won the debate? P.P.S. I think the odds that Geisel's lawyer is in contact with the PhantomJournalist have steadily shortened all week. One more "bombshell" and we'll have to take the bet off the board! P.P.P.S Am I the only person itching to use a Dr. Suess pun with this case - his name was Theodore Suess Geisel...

Good timing, I guess: I write 4,000 nostalgic words about Heritage Park, and a week later the town approves a plan to auction off everything in the park. From today's TU: Geez, why don't they just raffle off my childhood as a door prize. I hope the baseball-related stuff at least fetches a decent price.

$16.09 Meals Next Week: August 15-20th is going to be another "restaurant week" downtown, in which many of the good Albany restuarants offer price fixed full meals for $16.09. Back in April, I went to Jack's during the last "restuarant week" and had a fine meal. I highly suggest you check it out.

I don't know if they scheduled it now because 'toga eats into their business this time of year, but i wouldn't be surprised.

This could easily backfire: Apparently, the city has a new plan for dealing with kids who ditch school: send them to the Great Escape amusement park in the summer! As the TU reports today: I like the part about contacting their parents and prodding them to go to school. I'm not so sure about the summer field trips. We shouldn't promote the idea that you should be rewarded for going to school, and this system has the obvious problem of incentivising bad behavior. I can only imagine what the kids with perfect attendance think about all this.

New Geisel twists: I was at a wedding this past weekend in Connecticut and people were asking me about the Geisel case. After I described it to them, many had the same reaction: when is the hammer going to fall on the school? Well, we may be heading that direction. As WRGB reports:Point #1: Obviously, CBA is going to claim they acted on this as soon as they found out about it. And they probably did. If they are guilty of anything, it's most likely of being completely oblivious of teacher behavior that must have been common knowledge among many of the students. I doubt that makes them liable as far as the DA is concerned, but it might result in civil suits down the road in addition to the obvious-and-already-done damage to their reputation. And god help them if it comes out that they knew about any of this and didn't do anything.

Point #2: Why is CBA taking field trips to Florida?

Point #3: Geisel becomes more of a train-wreck with each published story, no?. Drinking on field trips is not particular unusual among high school students - it's why the French class field trips to Montreal are universally popular - but what's the ice-breaker here when Geisel decides she wants to booze with the students? That's the $64,000 question that hasn't been answered - how did all of this initially start? One plausible explanation is that this was informal blackmail from the start - Geisel was caught drinking at school or on a field trip by some of the students and sought to protect herself by bringing the students in on it, hoping they wouldn't tell the school. At that point, her relationship with the students could have escalated rather easily - she becomes their drinking buddy and alcohol source and they ultimately retain the threat of sqealing.

Don't read me wrong - I believe Geisel is the guilty one here and the students are the victims. Period. But the missing link in this case is how the relationships started, and it's far from clear that it was purely premeditated predatory behavior by Geisel, although i'm confident that was part of it.

If this case isn't plea-bargained, the trial is going to be an absolute circus.