- By Casey Stevens
- Opinions
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I'm writing this week's "Thoughts" in a hurried, maybe scattershot manner. I'm involved in a secret plot to kidnap the groundhog. I'm not sure what my secret 'gang' is going to do with that mangy rodent known as Punxatawney Phil, or who we're going to send the ransom note to. It's a cinch that no one but the bar owners and inn keepers for fifty miles around Punxatawney would even pony up the ransom. But we are bound and determined to stop the mayhem surrounding that harassed creature halfway through winter every year. Let him sleep: much of America is sleeping through the impeachment, anyway, so...Congratulations to Tompkins County taxpayers: you are now proud owners of a two million dollar parking lot for county employees on Tioga Street. It's on the 400 block of Tioga, and used to be a tax paying parcel on the edge of Cascadilla Creek and the Fall Creek neighborhood. You can easily pick out the newest county owned property: it has 'Private Property' (huh?) signs and the sidewalks are still covered with ice and snow (though the parking lot has been plowed) forty eight hours after a snowfall in direct violation of city ordinance.
But, we already know the county was going to thumb its nose at city rules, right? Anyway, about twenty or so county employees have a nice private parking lot at your expense. That is, until they decide how to spend about twenty million on a nice new behemoth three or four story monument to county extravagance. It might look just like the county building on State Street, only this one will intrude upon a quiet, residential neighborhood formerly known as Fall Creek. Like Topsy, the county and its 700+ employees keeps right on growing, along with your property assessments. Maybe Fall Creek should be grateful that Common Council didn't like the idea of another hotel, or convention center, in that neighborhood.
I see Chris Collins, mentioned in a previous "Thoughts" column, our latest ex-representative in Congress (from Buffalo, the one with his hand in the cookie jar) has been sentenced to federal prison for insider trading, benefiting to the tune of tens of thousands, buying and selling drug company stock he had insider knowledge of due to his Congressional position. I remembered a quote from Mark Twain about Congressmen (of course, he had many such quotes) from his story 'What Stumped the Blue Jay', originally composed for "A Tramp Abroad" in 1880: "...a jay hasn't got any more principle than a congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and, four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise. The sacredest of an obligation is a thing which you can't cram into no bluejay's head." Seems Twain knew bluejays, and some congressmen, inside and out. And warned us in 1880 about people like Collins.
The amazing thing is that Collins is possibly the fourth or fifth member of Congress in this session to be charged, tried and convicted of various felonies, violations of the public trust. And America yawns, and sleeps on.
A recent column of mine mentioned Michelle Carter, the young woman in Massachusetts who bullied her boyfriend into suicide with her texts while he sat in his truck with the exhaust building inside the cab. She was convicted of second degree manslaughter, sentenced to eighteen months. She had appealed all the way to the Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds, basically saying she had a right as an American to text him, demanding he kill himself.
Well, the Supreme Court denied her a hearing with no comment. Somehow I can imagine Ruth Bader Ginsberg behind closed doors yelling that "If we take this idiotic appeal, I'll quit the Court!" Then realizing that Donald Trump was still in office and would appoint her successor. Luckily, I guess, she won't have to quit: no Supreme Court case, and Carter has been released for good behavior. I wonder if she's allowed to Instagram while on parole? Will anyone date her knowing her history? And, does a podcast count? Wonder what her Instagram handle would be. Don't go there, Casey.
Another curious note for us in Tompkins County, and especially City of Ithaca trend watchers. Common Council member Duc Son Nguyen, who is also the Chair of the TCAT board of directors, had a curious comment that was buried in a recent opinion piece printed locally. Among other 'suggestions' (watch out for 'suggestions' from Common Council members--they frequently become rules to live and swear by) he stated thus: "...we now take jaywalking laws for granted, but they're a product of a concerted effort in the 1920's by automobile manufacturers working to prioritize cars' use of the streets. We should remove these laws from the city code to put the onus of safety on motor vehicle operators rather than pedestrians." Honest to God, he said this malarky.
One: Does this man actually believe this loony-tune? Where did he get such an outrageous and blatantly false (if not downright crazy) "if-then" scenario of Henry Ford pushing jaywalking laws? Two: As a driver in the downtown People's Republic of Ithaca, I take my risks among the goofballs who wear dark clothing crossing streets in the dark, ride bicycles with no reflectors or lights in the dark and generally think they own the streets when the reality is that the risk is already totally borne by the motorist. If I hit somebody by accident (has it almost happened to you?) do you think I can use the pedestrian's or bicyclist's arrogant stupidity as a defense against lawsuit or even a criminal negligence charge?
Mr. Nguyen's thinking is so out of touch, but so typical of an elected Ithaca official. And who's going to question his historical assertion, or legal mind-twist? No one: heck, Ithaca has basically dropped or abrogated drug enforcement laws, speed limit enforcement, most misdemeanor acts against society in the city limits, they might as well drop jaywalking laws, too. They're oppressive, you know.
Oh, and one more note of local interest. No 'Wizarding Weekend' this year, after blatantly abusing Harry Potter trademarks and copyrighted ideas. But get this: Darlynne Overbaugh, the Festival Director of GorgeKeep School of Magic (?): she has stated that "corporate greed" was the cause of this year's cancellation and "decline of support from key local community members." Since language is a direct indicator of attitude, let's hope that the "community supporters" and greedy corporate sponsors don't remember her 'corporate greed' comments when she asks for their money next year. She wouldn't want them to think she was talking badly about them, would she?
Maybe it's me who's sleeping, not Tompkins County, not Ithaca, nor America. Maybe some of this stuff is just a weird dream waiting for morning to snap out of it. But I pinch myself, check the date on my phone, and convince myself that I am awake, and these things really are happening around me. I then shake my bay boomer head.
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