Troy Waterfront Farmers' Market moves indoors Saturday

The Capital Region's largest farmers' market will begin its indoor season this Saturday.

The Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market, now in its 15th year, will operate from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays in The Atrium building at 49 Fourth Street.

The market will have five new vendors this winter. They are:

• Nine Pin Ciderworks
• Jamtastic
• Tidy Thyme
• Tierra Farm
• Vital Eats

“We are very excited to begin our winter season. The market and its vendors are committed to providing local, producer-only products to the Capital Region. Our new vendors bring a new or different element to the market family and we look forward to welcoming them.” said Monica Kurzejeski, market manager.

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To lurk and to protect

UPDATE (10/1/14): Today, I drove by the Troy PD patrol car spot I mentioned in the following post written last month. There’s a cruiser there again, in the same low (if any) crime area. This time, the officer inhabiting the vehicle isn’t just idly watching traffic go by while nefarious activities go on in some of the surrounding blocks. He wasn’t watching the street at all. I circled around the block and checked to be sure what I saw the first time was accurate. Yep. He was busy reading. Oh, and protecting and defending, too, I’m sure.


I had to pay a visit to an Adirondack Tire Center in Troy’s Lansingburgh section today. Not much of a way to begin a commentary, but it’s the reason I noticed what I noticed. A Troy Police Department cruiser sitting in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station across the street.

I had seen the same thing while driving down that same street a day earlier. Under many circumstances it would be an unremarkable sight either time. This time it caught my eye, however, because I remembered Chief John Tedesco several weeks ago announcing an expanded police presence in the wake of numerous outbreaks of arson, shootings and stabbings in that city neighborhood.

If so, this particular deployment was a waste of the cop’s time and my tax money.
That stretch of 2nd Street is anything but a hotbed of illicit activity. It’s a commercial strip, just south of Powers Park. A smarter place to be would be about four blocks north and one block east. That’s where you’re getting into the sections of open-air drug markets and plywood-studded deteriorating buildings that seem to attract arsonists and other assholes.

Unless the intent of stationing a patrol car on that quiet section of 2nd Street was to catch the occasional speeder or scare off any out-of-towners headed deeper into the ‘Burgh for a drug buy, it doesn’t make much sense. We already have too many spots in the City of Troy where patrol cars are stationed to catch errant motorists while ignoring obvious drug activity in areas the police have, in effect, surrendered to crooks.

Our city's cops have been trained for better things. They are good cops who, I am quite sure, would rather be putting their energy and training to better use. Let them.

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Looking back, sadly, at the War On Poverty

President Johnson visiting a poor rural Kentucky family.

In more than four decades as a professional journalist, I never had the experience of being a war correspondent. However, I did serve as a reporter in the War On Poverty.

It was 50 years ago this year that President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his “War On Poverty,” an extensive set of federal efforts meant to combat the curse of poverty in America’s city, suburban and rural areas.

This was a big deal for me. I had recently moved from being a sports reporter to the news side of things and wanted to see how such a sweeping, historic program would affect my Upstate New York newspaper’s circulation area.

So, along with a handful of fellow journalists, we set out to beat the bushes to find people and communities the War On Poverty would impact. We found plenty and dutifully interviewed, researched and then wrote about their plights and which “War” programs might best eliminate their woes.

So, how did that go?

In January, President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers issued a “progress report” that was a jumble of conflicting statements. (One example: that “poverty in the U.S. when measured to include tax credits and other benefits has declined from 25.8% in 1967 to 16.0% in 2012. “ No mention of the three missing years – from when LBJ issued his “War” declaration in 1964 to the 1967 benchmark the Council decided to use.)

But, to me the telling paragraph in its report was this:

“The official poverty measure (OPM) has several flaws that distort our understanding of both the level of poverty and how it has changed over time. Perhaps the most significant problem with the OPM is its measure of family resources, based on pre-tax income plus cash transfers (like cash welfare, social security, or UI payments), but not taxes, tax credits, or non-cash transfers. As such it inhabits a measurement limbo between ‘market poverty’ (based on pre-tax, pre-transfer resources) and ‘post-tax, post transfer poverty’ reflecting well-being after taking into account the impact of policies directed at the poor. Several other shortcomings are more technical.”

Translated into everyday English, nobody can agree on how to measure or define poverty.

Another view of how LBJ’s dream is doing comes from The Daily Caller, a politically conservative news and opinion website. A story it published today is headlined: “Miscounting Poverty Again: The War On Poverty After Fifty Years.” As contributor Robert Rector writes (underlining has been added for emphasis):

“Today the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual poverty report. … [It] reported that 14.5% of Americans were poor in 2013. This is essentially the same rate as in 1966, two years after the War on Poverty was announced. According to Census, the country has made no real progress against poverty for more than 40 years.

“This lack of progress is remarkable. The government has spent some $22 trillion (in constant 2012 dollars) on means-tested welfare programs since the War on Poverty began. Adjusted for inflation, this is three times more than the nation has spent on all military wars combined since the American Revolution.

“Today the federal government runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs providing cash, food, housing, and medical care to poor and near poor Americans. Last year, more than 100 million people, or roughly one in three Americans, received aid from at least one of these programs. In Fiscal Year 2013, federal and state spending on these programs came to $943 billion or around $9,000 per recipient. (These figures do not include Social Security, Medicare, or Unemployment insurance.)

“Adjusting for inflation, annual welfare spending is 16 times greater today than when the War on Poverty began. How can government spend so much while the poverty rate remains unchanged? The answer is, it can’t. … “

If you want to read the rest of Rector’s analysis, you can find it here.

As for that young journalist back in 1964, he still had enough starry-eyed idealism that made him think his government could do great things, just as it had in galvanizing a nation to lead the battle to defeat Germany and Japan and their minions in World War II, then push this vast country into the modern era.

The former journalist of today knows better. And, that is a sad realization.

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For amusement purposes only

• This letter to the editor appeared in the Times Union on 1/10/13:

After reading many reports on the controversy over the upcoming gun show in Saratoga Springs, I'd like to point out that this should be what we call a "teachable moment" when it comes to modern communication.

Without taking sides on the matter (both camps have some strong points as well as some ridiculous logic), I call attention to how laughably easy it is to get people to affix names, "likes," comments or anything else to an online petition on virtually any topic. That is evident in the sort of silliness that goes on every day via Twitter, Facebook, etc. Simply put: There is absolutely no conceivable way they should be taken at face value.

Media specialists, social scientists, etc., should be easy to find to comment on the efficacy of such knee-jerk "petitions," often "signed" with unverifiable online pseudonyms and unknown geographic origin.

Lacking that sort of perspective, I find the stories published by the Times Union and other local media shallow journalism that is misleading, especially to people not well-versed in the intricacies of social media.

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The second Lockerbie tragedy

• This letter to the editor appeared in the Times Union on 8/26/09:

I have been to Scotland. I liked it. I especially enjoyed the hospitality of the people I met along the way, and I respected their tales of fighting for justice and equality against bad government and oppressive rulers.

Because of that, I am not foolish enough to condemn an entire population because of the actions of their government officials. If everyone in the world held our own government against us, no one ever would visit our shores. However, it will be a long time before I visit Scotland again.

The reason: One of the worst mass-murder terrorists on record has been freed despite being sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the commercial airliner that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, butchering 270 innocent souls, many of them Americans.

And why was Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, 57, set free? For what Scottish officials termed "humanitarian reasons."

The former Libyan intelligence operative has prostate cancer. By contrast, 259 Pan Am passengers and 11 people on the ground where the wreckage hit them still are dead.

In a typical and sickening outpouring of adulation too often seen for an Arab who has slain non-Arabs, a crowd of thousands turned out to greet al-Megrahi when he landed in Tripoli, the capital of his homeland. They danced, sang and chanted. Some wore T-shirts with his face printed on them. Some waved posters bearing his image.

After all, he murdered "infidels" and only had to serve 10 or 11 days per victim. What a hero.

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Please cooperate, under penalty of law

I recently received a letter from the U.S. Census Bureau informing me that in a few days I would receive a letter from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The opening paragraph explains:

"In a few days your household will receive a questionnaire in the mail for a very important national survey, the American Community Survey. When the questionnaire arrives, please fill it out and mail it back promptly. The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting this survey and chose your address, not you personally, as part of a randomly selected sample."

Interesting that this very process nullifies any statistical viability of such a survey. I'm not sure what to do.

PART TWO

Not only have I now received another Census Bureau letter concerning "The American Community Survey," I also received a questionnaire I am informed I must fill out and return, under penalty of law.

It tells me information gleaned from the survey will be used to help plan "where new schools, hospitals, and fire stations are needed." Nevertheless, I'm finding the survey very intrusive. Still not sure what to do.

PART THREE

Yet another letter from my friends at the U.S. Census Bureau, a little edgier in tone than the previous missives. They again demand my cooperation, even though they swear they don't know who I am since I was "randomly selected" -- by them. Oh, and they remind me I still am required to do this bit of homework under penalty of law.

I am told that information elicited from me will help my government plan -- in addition to the aforementioned "new schools, hospitals, and fire stations" -- "programs to reduce traffic congestion, provide job training, and plan for the healthcare needs of the elderly."

All good things for a government to be doing. So, I suppose I'm being unnecessarily stubborn in asking what these survey questions have to do with those topics:

How many times have I been married?

How many times has my spouse been married?

How are the two people in the household related to each other?

What are the household residents' ethnic origins?

When did the residents move into the current residence -- you know, the one that has been selected "at random" to interrogate, under penalty of law.

What is my monthly condominium fee, if applicable?

Has anyone in the household ever served in the military?

What kind of work do the residents of the household do?

Another troubling item is the declaration in the latest letter that "The Census Bureau is required by U.S. law to keep your answers confidential."

Unless the Census Bureau has, while I was sleeping, been assigned the task of planning the nation's highways, running the health care system, handling public safety programs, and building new schools, that makes no sense. The information it demands obviously will be shared with someone outside the Census Bureau. Many someones, no doubt.

PART FOUR

Despite my misgivings, I had finally, dutifully mailed out the completed American Community Survey form about 10 days ago. So, I was surprised when I got a phone call from the Census Bureau.

The caller asked me to verify my address and phone number. Interesting, considering the Bureau had mailed me all the paperwork I've mentioned, and its representative had, after all, reached me by phone.

Eventually, she launched into a prepared spiel about the survey and its legendary special qualities. After several attempts, I was able to insert a verbal wedge and get her to stop blathering on.

"I mailed out the completed survey about 10 days ago," I informed her.

"Oh, well, it's not marked down that we've received it. Maybe it's still working its way through our intake system," she offered.

I remained mute.

"Well, I'll just mark it down that it's in the system and we'll wait. We might have to call you again if there's anything we can't read on any of the answers."

"Virtually all the questions were multiple choice, so all I had to do was make a check mark in the appropriate box. Do you think that would be hard to read?," I asked.


"I'm not sure," she said. "I'm not involved in that part of the survey."

Oh, how I wish I wasn't either.

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Trash talk: Refuse taints a rainbow

Yes, I'm the guy who tagged Troy with "Plywood City," a dubious distinction marking the widespread practice of boarding up buildings and letting them rot. I am, however, beginning to think a new nickname may be in order. At least for some neighborhoods.
 
Not that there is any less plywood being nailed up by people who, in general, are abandoning both residential and commercial buildings to the ravages of weather and scavengers. But, as I was again driving in and out of the main streets and side streets of the city the other day to stake out some vantage points for an architectural photography project I've been working on, I noticed more and more instances of freshly painted buildings that are perking up previously dull or neglected neighborhoods. 

Large groupings of both rental and owner-occupied housing in the south end of the city, particularly on First and Second streets, are showing the effects of some basic care, with imagination. A rainbow of creams, greens, blues, grays and reds is providing a hint of the charm often seen in old residential enclaves in foreign cities. The kind of places we call quaint and take pictures of when we visit there, but often ignore as routine when we see such things back home. 

Don't misunderstand. Troy isn't the Emerald City of Oz just yet. A lot more buffing, polishing and magic are necessary for that. But compared to just a few years ago, the city is cleaner, busier and far more attractive. 

So, it is jarring when certain areas show zero signs of improvement despite the energies of the Tutunjian/Mirch administration's "Action Team" of public works staffers. 

Take the lower part of Tenth Street, just off the bustling Hoosick Street corridor. It is -- how can I put this gently? -- a pit. And, it is not merely an annoyance for the businesses and the occasional self-respecting resident. Because it is a major commuter thoroughfare, it is representative of Troy to thousands of people who pass by there. 

On most days it is impossible to miss the piles of trash and refuse piled along the curb. No matter that the City Council a few years back passed a toothless regulation about keeping trash in covered containers or that the city has a selective policy of limiting some neighborhoods to one trash can while letting others do whatever they want with impunity. 

Few people on this part of the street pay attention to either of those rules. Instead, you can regularly find carpet remnants, broken furniture, plastic or paper bags spilling over with rags, trash and old clothes, the occasional shopping cart and other junk on display. 

The same goes with certain parts of the city leading into Lansingburgh, especially along portions of River Street and Fifth Avenue. A little beyond the small store that advertises, with equal billing, "subs" and "bait." There, where plywood still reigns as the decorative material of choice, we often are treated to the same sorts of debris piled at curbside or visible in untended yards or alleyways. 

This is not a matter of economic circumstance, ethnicity or absentee ownership. This is a matter of choice. Your income or heritage have nothing to do with whether you choose to make a mess of the place you inhabit. 

It is long past time for some "Action" on this blight if Troy is truly serious about its comeback aspirations for more than selected streets.

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Spotting a boondoggle is quite easy

So, what have your Rensselaer County legislators been up to lately? 

Let's look at the recent activities of just one segment of that largely unnecessary governmental body, the one that has dubbed itself "The Team for Troy."
 
The "team" consists of Neil J. Kelleher, who as chairman of the Rensselaer County Legislature gets the ludicrously large salary of $30,000 a year for his part-time job; Majority Leader Bob Mirch, who makes $25,000 a year for his part-time efforts; and part-time legislators -- at $20,000 each -- Jim Brearton, Laura Bauer and Nancy McHugh. 

They all, you may recall, rose to their current bloated salary levels by passing a sneak raise for themselves just before last Christmas. 

According to a press release "The Team for Troy" handed out to anyone gullible enough to publish it verbatim, here's what they and the rest of their legislative colleagues did at their Oct. 10 meeting in addition to discussing County Exec Kathy Jimino's proposed $278 million budget for 2007 that, unless trimmed, will raise taxpayers' bill 25.9%. (I've bold-faced the key words for emphasis.) 

"Approved a resolution recognizing the Troy Senior Center upon reaching its 50th anniversary." 

"Adopted a resolution recognizing Oct. 8-14 as Fire Prevention Week." 

"Recognized October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month." 

"Recognized Oct. 28 as Special Olympics Day." 

"Recognized the month of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month." 

And, my favorite: "Recognized our county executive ... upon being recognized at the YWCA of Troy and Cohoes 2006 Resourceful Women dinner." 

That's a whole lot of recognizing going on. Perhaps one of these days voters will recognize the boondoggle that is the County Legislature. 

Perhaps. 

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Two tales of a city

(Rob Yasinac photo)

Give credit to J.W. Pfeil & Co. of Saratoga Springs for what it's doing in Troy. 

Having completed the transformation of an old factory in Lansingburgh into the 18-unit Powers Park Lofts condominium and purchased the little Lansing Plaza shopping strip on Second Avenue near the 112th Street bridge in the 'Burgh with an eye toward upgrading it, J.W. Pfeil now has turned its attention to the former Stanley's department store building in downtown Troy. 

Work on the building, across from the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, means temporary closure of some traffic lanes and sidewalks, but it's for legitimate work. 

True, the Pfeils will end up making money on the project, but they also will be improving the city, attracting new residents, and paying a chunk of taxes. 

Meanwhile, around the corner on Fourth Street, the desolate hulk that was Proctor's theater remains wrapped in ugly scaffolding with no sign of life. 

As I have noted before, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which owns the building, may be a good citizen in many ways, but by its steadfast refusal to take serious action on this eyesore it continues to thumb its nose at the city and its residents who are serious about continuing the rebirth of downtown. 

Figuring out what to do with Proctor's may not be easy, but given the brainpower on the RPI campus and the huge building projects going on there as evidence of what that brainpower can conjure up, fixing the Proctor's mess should be a snap. 

If RPI cares to do it, that is.

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Progress large and small seen

(From Pinterest)

One of the icons I used to have a love-hate relationship with was the King Fuels tank that loomed over the Hudson River, visible to all who drove along I-787 and glanced over at the Troy riverfront. 

The huge 1930s-era structure had a certain offbeat charm, what with the gigantic winking eye and leering smile someone had painted on it. But, it also was a daily reminder of poisoned industrial land in South Troy and of the tortoise-paced waterfront redevelopment we kept being told would actually produce something tangible.
 
Now, 2½ years after the tank was demolished and King Fuels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, we seem to be a few steps closer to improvement. 

The city recently announced the purchase of 35 acres in South Troy to be cleaned up and made ready for redevelopment. More than 15 acres were owned by King, which will get $2 million in the deal. 

Of course, this is Troy and nothing comes easy. Mayor Harry Tutunjian publicly said it will take about two years before the environmental cleanup of the land will be finished and redevelopment can get under way. Privately, he knows that's just a guess. The real pace will be out of the city's direct control. 

There are a lot of cooks stirring the pot to make this stew. Twenty of the 35 acres were purchased for $500,000 from Portec Rail Products, but National Grid -- formerly Niagara Mohawk -- is under a state Department of Environmental Conservation order to handle cleanup of the land. 

The power company estimates the cleanup will run at least $10 million. However, National Grid hasn't started the work because King Fuels was suing the city and wouldn't let its workers on the property. King had alleged the city reneged on a deal to swap land and foreclosed on other King property without crediting the company for taxes paid. The $2 million payment to King not only pried loose the land, it made the lawsuit go away. 

(For those who are counting, the money to buy the properties came from the federal Brownfield Economic Development Initiative. It's all our taxpayer money, of course, but not directly from a city pocket.) 

But, while we're waiting for the macro improvements, there are small, very tangible improvements around town that show the micro side of a municipality slowly but steadily being resuscitated. 

For example, noted chef Larry Schepici is about to open an upscale restaurant in the Hendrik Hudson building at Monument Square. 

The China Buffet will move into the long-vacant eyesore at Congress and Third streets that had been a KFC store as well as a hangout for a lot of unsavory elements before being shuttered five years ago. 

Elizabeth Young and Steve Scarlata have opened Living Room, the city's latest addition to the antiques district on River Street. 

Alane Hohenberg and a group of volunteers is working to create a food co-op, a la Albany's Honest Weight Co-Op, called the Troy Community Food Co-op. If plans go through, it will open next fall at the former Pioneer Market on Congress Street. 

Positive signs large and small. We'll gladly take 'em all.

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