According to a recent survey, 57 percent of the 56,000 registered voters in the 19th congressional district who are not enrolled in any political party failed to vote. A huge voting block is up for grabs— if only the candidates can put together an attractive message to reach them.
Fewer than two dozen property owners had leverage over more than 8,000 others in the city. Those ratios need to be adjusted, in my view.
As new candidates enter the already crowded field for the Democratic congressional nomination next year, the odds for bottom-feeders can only improve.
Will drastically reduced assessment enhance the town’s commercial property values?
For better or worse, people like their government close, even if it costs more. Will the county’s application pass final muster? Could be. After that would come the heavy lifting.
Two years ago, Ulster County executive Mike Hein delayed a decision on whether to run for Congress until almost the eleventh hour. With Hein the party-supported front-runner, other Democrats held fire on Hein’s announcement. That delay cost eventual Democratic candidates time and money. This time around, no one’s waiting.
The good news for Ulster County government is that the current squabble over the location of a fire training facility will probably end happily. A year or two from now, beaming officials and fire chiefs will be cutting a ribbon at a relatively isolated location. But not, I predict, on Cottekill Road, the county’s first choice, but near the residences of visibly surprised owners.
The sudden death Tuesday, May 29, of David O’Halloran at age 56 has been met with shock and grief in the town where he was widely considered a leading citizen.
An amendment to the Republican health care touted by U.S. Rep John Faso as saving taxpayers through Medicaid reforms could trigger another round of sales tax battles as the state seeks a new source of local dollars to plug the hole in its budget. Make no mistake: The stakes are huge.
As if Ulster County taxpayers doling out $77.8 million a year in county property taxes weren’t enough, County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach revealed last week that some $2.2 million goes to line-item vacancies.