Monday, August 24, 2009
Special Village Board Meeting - EMS Budget 8/24/09
Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 8/20/09
The committee heard from Kevin Romer and Roxanne Marino who are both interested in a spot on the Town Board. That makes three Democratic candidates (including incumbent Lucia Tyler) vying for 2 Town Board spots, at the Democratic Caucus, on August 31st at 7pm at the Fire Hall. (please come)
The presentations by the candidates at the last two UDC meetings, if they were made available to the public, would be the only time before the caucus, that the public would hear from the folks that might make important decisions for the town for the next 4 years. Since this is not allowed, the public won't know that real differences exist, and are therefore less likely to attend the caucus, and without them, democracy suffers.
Allen Carstensen (that's me) and Chris Thomas, will both ask for the Democratic nomination for Ulysses Town Supervisor, at the Caucus. Lucia Tyler and I had already addressed the committee and explained why we wanted to serve, so we didn't speak on Thursday. Roxanne Marino spoke for a few minutes and it's a shame I wasn't allowed to record it. Her knowledge of all the issues in front of the Town Board is voluminous, and she talks so fast, I'd have to listen to it 3 times for it to sink in. Her energy and knowledge would be a real asset on the Board.
Chris Thomas spoke, and took questions. He was asked if billing for ambulance services was still an issue. He said yes, that it was. He pointed out that the budget for the EMS for next year would have to be increased by 25% because of falling volunteerism, and the resultant increase in paid staff hours. I remain completely opposed to billing. There will be a meeting about the EMS budget at the Village Hall at 7pm tomorrow, Monday 8/24 (I think that's what he said - it's not on the online calendar, and I'm not allowed to record these meetings) I'll be there, and I'll be writing more about this soon.
Chris was asked if he was in favor of efforts to bring broadband internet service to more of rural Ulysses. He said that he didn't feel that highspeed internet was really necessary for most people. I disagree. I believe that access to information is critical if we are to have a well informed electorate. If everyone streamed Youtube clips of Jon Stewart every night.....
Chris was asked what he felt should be done regarding water infrastructure. He said that he favors laying pipe into the rural areas of Ulysses in a manner similar to WD5. He said that there was a palpable lack of cooperation during the WD5 years, and that, had there been better cooperation, that a project could have been completed. Some would call it palpable lack of cooperation. I would call it Don Ellis, Roxanne Marrino, and Lucia Tyler, standing on principle, and not allowing Doug Austic and Rod Ferintino to push through a project that was unfair to many, and would have enriched some while putting the Town at risk of unwanted development (possibly including concentrated animal feeding operations) A committee recently completed a survey of the water needs of the town. I look forward to working with members of that committee and the board, to determine the best way to improve access to clean safe water, to as many people as possible, with as few unwanted consequences as possible.
Chris was asked for his thoughts on gas drilling. He said "I'm not inherently opposed to energy exploration but what I am absolutely opposed to, is the use of undisclosed chemicals in the hydrofracturing solutions" Well, it seems that the exploration phase has been completed. The next step is to extract the gas, and I am inherently opposed to the hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling process if it involves large quantities of poisons and carcinogens wether they are disclosed or not. I have brought two resolutions to the Board, which, if passed into law, would deter these corporations from harming the health of our residents and decimating our environment. I believe we have to use every tool available to protect our Town, and if elected that is what I will urge the Board to do.
I have been nominated by the Tompkins County Green Party as their candidate for Ulysses Town Supervisor. I have collected signatures that the Board of Elections requires, so I will be on the ballot on the Green Party line, on Nov. 3rd. I registered as a Democrat in 1970 when I turned 18. I voted for George McGovern in 1972. What a different world it would be! I have always been a Democrat, because I believe that within our current electoral system, the Democratic Party is our best hope, for progressive reform. I have been a registered Democrat for 39 years. Chris Thomas has been a registered Democrat for 3 years ( He was a registered Libertarian prior to running on the Democratic Party line for Village Trustee) The Caucus on 8/31 will be important in determining the future of the Democratic Party in Ulysses. Please come.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Town Board Meeting 8/11/09
Here's the link to the mp3 file
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Conservation recently published a "Summary of Hydraulic Fracture Solutions" used by vendors that provide the chemical solutions that are added to the water used in Hydraulic Fracturing.Some of these ingredients are very dangerous, and very likely to enter the ground water around drilling sites, and inevitably will be in the large quantities of waste water that is a byproduct of the drilling and fracking process.Ethylene glycol, and Methanol are common ingredients in these solutions.Ethylene glycol is toxic and due to its sweet taste, children and animals will sometimes consume large quantities of ethylene glycol if given access to it. It and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system, then the heart, and finally the kidneys.Methanol is toxic. If ingested, as little as 10ml can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve.Whereas, we the Ulysses Town Board, object to the use of large quantities of these poisons in our town, we do hereby prohibit their use within the Town of Ulysses, in quantities greater than one gallon per year per natural person, or per corporation doing business within Ulysses.Enforcement: any natural person or corporation found to be in violation of this ordinance shall be fined $750 for the first offense, and $1500 for second offense, and the fine shall continue to double with every subsequent offense. The Ulysses code enforcement officer shall be responsible for enforcing this ordinance, and issuing these fines, which shall be payable to the Town of Ulysses.
If you listen to the audio, you'll here me say that Alex Rachun, our code enforcement officer, is supportive of this kind of ordinance. Then you'll hear Dave Kerness, (board member) say that he spoke with Alex, and I am wrong about Alex's support. So.......... I checked again with Alex the next morning, and indeed, he is in support.
Doug Austic pointed out that every big truck that goes through Ulysses would be in violation, because they would have more than one gallon of ethylene glycol in their radiators. Good point. I will be happy to increase the allowable limit. I have written to the Environmental Management Council, and I hope to get some expert help in setting the limit low enough to catch hydrofrackers and high enough to allow continued normal use.
Doug says that Chris Thomas might have had greater than my allowable limits in his drums full of materials for his insulation business. Chris agrees and says that he didn't have sheets describing the contents of those drums.
this is interesting - from wikipedia,
In the U.S., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that MSDS be available to employees for potentially harmful substances handled in the workplace under the Hazard Communication regulation. The MSDS is also required to be made available to local fire departments and local and state emergency planning officials under Section 311 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The American Chemical Society defines Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Numbers (CAS numbers) which provide a unique number for each chemical and are also used internationally in MSDSs.
1-2-10 Dave Kerness says if my ordinance could actually be effective, someone would have already done it. hmm..... not the greatest philosophy for inovating solutions to our problems. I point out that perhaps the reason it isn't being done is because it would violate Article 23 of NYS Conservation Law. This section preempts municipalities from attempting to protect the health of their residents and their environments from giant, hugely profitable, oil and gas corporations. How could such a gross violation of our constitutional right to self government be passed into law? Simple. Corporations own our government in Albany and Washington, but they do not yet own Ulysses, so, we need to stand up on our hind legs and do something.
1-05-42 Karen Brower, from Jacksonville, talks about her difficulties caused by the burning of garbage by a neighbor. She has sought relief from the Sheriff, and the Troopers, and the Tompkins County Health Department, but the burning continues. The board offered no help. I think if I were the Ulysses Supervisor I would have asked for her address and phone number, and arranged a visit to see if I could negotiate a solution.
1-15-40 Jim Meeker- highway report
1-19-00 Marsha Georgia Clerk report
1-22-40 Liz reports from TCOG - Tompkins County Council of Governments
1-26-35 Dick Coogan and Town Attorney discuss the best ways to handle future Grassroots parking (zoning changes, permits, development zone, whatever)
Dick also says that Ulysses has been left holding the bag for a water improvement flyover. The town has paid and the state was supposed to reimburse us and hasn't
This flyover was supposed to identify faulty septic systems. The results were inconclusive. I think we should have a watershed inspector who's job it is to check the systems every two or three years. This is what they have on the southern end of Kueka Lake where I built a house on the lake.
1-44-00 Town Barn Project. Doug discusses the various bids from 3 contractors. Finger Lakes Construction won the bid and the Town resolved to accept their bid of 396,000
2-01-00 Some discussion of progress on the Comp Plan.
2-04-30 Lucia Tyler has written a letter for the Board to Michael Arcuri etc about our concerns re: hydrofracking urging them to support legislation which might disallow the exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act. All of the members sign.
2-15-00 Adjourn
I'll post more notes later.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Bernie Sanders lectures McCain on Health Care
After listening to Bernie here, I realized that our Ambulance Service is actually socialized medicine, not just single payer. It's like our socialized Fire Department, and Socialized Police Department. All good. All as they should be now and forever.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Sixth Annual Women Swimmin' for Hospicare
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Green Party Nomination
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 7/23/09
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Town Board Meeting 7/14/09
Here's the link to the mp3 file
The threat to our health, our environment, and our community from corporations wanting to come to Ulysses and extract gas from the Marcellus shale by pumping millions of gallons of water and deadly chemicals into wells drilled sideways underneath us, has recently come on my radar. In the past few months I've read a lot, and been to several meetings, and worked with Attorney Charles Wolff on the Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance, in an attempt to prevent these corporations from exploiting our town.
That's why I came to this meeting and the one last month. Last month I presented a simplified version of what we want this ordinance to accomplish.
Rough Draft
Town of Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance -
AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF ULYSSES,TOMPKINS COUNTY, NEW YORK,
ESTABLISHING A LOCAL SUSTAINABLE ENERGY POLICY by MAKING LAW That:
1. Declares that the energy policies of New York and the United States, controlled by large corporations profiting from carbon-based and nuclear power generation, is destructive of human and natural communities;
2. Asserts that the People of the Town of Ulysses reject the unsustainable energy policies of the State and Federal governments and that they have adopted a locally-defined, sane and logical energy policy based on a process of transitioning from unsustainable to renewable energy sources;
3. Prohibits people and corporations from energy production for sale when that energy is produced from unsustainable fuels;
4. Prohibits people and corporations from extracting unsustainable energy fuels in the Town of Ulysses, since they are used in the production for sale of unsustainable energy;
5. Commits the Township to a goal of assisting in the reduction of community residents’ and local
business’s use of unsustainable energy by 20% in each three year period;
6. Requires the Township adopt and publish an annual Sustainable Energy Plan that identifies specific measures to which the Township is committed during each fiscal year to achieve the targeted reduction in unsustainable energy consumption;
7. Makes government agencies and individuals liable for assisting corporations to violate the Ulysses Sustainable Energy Policy by issuing corporate charters, licenses and permits;
8. Provides for enforcement, both by the Town Board and by individual residents, of the
prohibitions in this Ordinance and protection of the rights of residents and ecosystems
9. Removes claims to legal privileges and protections from corporations that might be used to nullify the provisions of this ordinance.
10. Recognizes and enforces the rights of residents to defend their rights and the right of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish
11. Subordinates corporations to the people of Ulysses
Dave Kerness requested to see the actual ordinance, so Attorney Charles Wolff and I have adapted an ordinance written by The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. I emailed it to the board, and brought printed copies to the meeting Tuesday 7/14. I didn't get a chance to speak until the end of the meeting.
here's a link to the ordinance as a Word document
0hrs-0min-0sec starts off as usual with the Pledge of Allegiance, then discussion of the minutes of the last meeting.
I'm going to skip big chunks of this meeting and only comment on the portions that I found particularly interesting, but you, of course, should listen to every word.
0-6-22 Ken Zesserson gives the planning board report. This is interesting, listen to Ken explain how passing the Comprehensive Plan could help us limit the damage that exploitative gas drilling corporations could do.
Apparently, there will likely be a Comprehensive Plan meeting at the Fire Hall on August 25th. If there is anything that we can do to hurry this along we ought to do it.
0-10-55 Sue Ritter gives a report on the completed water survey. Dave Kerness gives the committee members a hard time for not including recommendations with their report. Odd. The committee apparently has done a very good job of accessing the current state of affairs, and they felt that it was the job of the town board members to interpret the results and discuss what if any action is required.
0-24-40 Chris Thomas gives us the Trumansburg Village Board report. He says that there will soon be a new tenant in the Movie Gallery building - a 24 hr gym. And possibly a new tenant in part of the Save A Lot building - bakery related. interesting.
Also, a grant application for some kind of structure at the Trumansburg Farmer Market has been approved.
0-26-35 Don Ellis uses the privilege of the floor to comment on what he thinks the board should do to address the threat from the gas drillers.
0-40-40 Liz Thomas reports on the possibility of federal money to extend broadband internet into rural areas. Clarity Connect is trying to put together a grant proposal. They want resolutions from the towns in the area. Deadline is 8/14.
1-17-20 Liz Thomas reads a resolution about asking the DEC to extend the comment period from 30 to 90 days in order to have enough time to read, comprehend and tear our hair out, about how little the Department of Environmental Conservation is likely to do to conserve the environment. The board passes it unanimously.
1-23-30 Liz asks who on the board has leased property to gas corps. Doug Austic admits that his land is leased.
1-28-00 Liz brings up the high levels of pollution of Trumansburg Creek according to the Community Science Institute. Steve Peningroth is asking for the board to release the already budgeted $5000 to support CSI's water testing in the creek, and establish a baseline prior to gas drilling, and CSI's continuing efforts to educate the public on these issues.
Dave Kerness objects on the grounds that the EPA is only interested in phosphorous and sediment and CSI tests for more than that, and there's more than one group testing the waters.
Rod Ferentino thinks that we ought to be going to the USDA about this and keep the 5G.
I think that CSI is much more independent than the USDA or the EPA or the DEC, and we ought to give them the money.
1-38-30 Doug finally gets to me. I pass out the printed resolution. I had emailed this to the entire board (I got the addresses from the website) yet some of them said they didn't get it. So I guess I'll have to check all of those addresses. Rod said that he had gotten it, and he complained that I my ordinance would prohibit windmills. I guess he didn't read it too carefully. That's right in the title. The Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance. You see, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, bio mass energy etc, these are sustainable and are encouraged, by my ordinance.
The town's attorney Marriette Geldenhuys said she thought that it appeared to be rather broad and opinion based rather than specific. There certainly are some big picture explanations within the ordinance which are there to explain why the board (should they decide to pass it) is passing it. I would be glad to remove these parts if the board wishes. Perhaps when Ms. Geldenhuys and the board have time to read it they will see that the ordinance spells out very specific action.
Ms Geldenhuys is correct that NYS Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) has preempted Ulysses right to self government. Article 23 delegates all authority to regulate oil and gas activity to the DEC. Get the irony? Our Environmental Conservation Law is telling us we have no legal right to conserve our environment. This ought to anger every member of the board. This preemption is unconstitutional. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, declares in part, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”
1-44-40 Rod says "I have a stupid question" I don't think this is a stupid question at all. Listen to Rod's approach here. I think he will run up against NY ECL Article 23, just as my ordinance would. But I think he is right, and that it is our right, it is our duty, to act on this.
Here you go Rod, I've written your resolution for you,