Sunday column: Twice victimized, and still unprotected
Jennifer Burkey says the memory of a night three years ago still terrifies her. That’s when her live-in boyfriend, she says, threatened her life, chased her around their Fort Ann home and then choked...
View ArticleThursday column: In Troy, vote for what’s right
Update: Samara Ceccucci tells me that the Troy City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to pay her claim. On Thursday night, the Troy City Council can reverse an injustice. Its members can finally...
View ArticleColumn: Water bill brings thirst for answers
Susan Walter has an expensive mystery on her hands. How is it, she wants to know, that the water bill on her Albany property shot up by $450 for no apparent reason? How is it that water usage at the...
View ArticleColumn: ‘Mayor’ of Albany skating rink gets the boot
UPDATE: The city has decided to go with Dennis VanAmburgh after all… On Wednesday, he signed a contract to operate a newly built concession stand at Swinburne. I’ll post a more complete update on this...
View ArticleUpdate: Swinburne concession stand is back in business
Here’s my good-news update from Sunday’s newspaper on Dennis VanAmburgh and his Swinburne ice rink concession stand: Dennis VanAmburgh is back in business at the Swinburne ice rink. I wrote about...
View ArticleSunday column: We’re sorry; it was a mistake; now pay up
CHATHAM — One look at the tax bill, and it was clear something was horribly wrong. See, the Chatham Town Board had intended to raise the town tax by 4.8 percent — a big increase, yes, but perhaps...
View ArticleSunday column: Where there’s dense smoke there’s ire
EAST NASSAU — I don’t like writing about lasting fights between neighbors. That’s partly because I would hate to live that way, to have neighborly cooperation replaced by anger and acrimony. You might...
View ArticleUpdate: City finds violations at vacant Albany Tudors
I have new information to report after last week’s column about the six Tudor-style houses left vacant and decaying along Holland Avenue in Albany. First, I’ll admit to being stunned by how many people...
View ArticleState tax dollars boosted the Bushmaster factory. So … do you have a problem...
So, Sunday’s Advocate column — read it here — is was about the nearly $6 million that the state’s economic development agency has provided to the Herkimer County factory that now produces the...
View ArticleThursday column: A threatened haven for big cats
Thursday’s Advocate column — read it here — is about a Mayfield man’s effort to keep operating his big-cat sanctuary, in the face of mounting pressure from some neighbors and town government. Steve...
View ArticleColumn: One Bruce gets SLAPPed by another
For Thursday’s Times Union, I write again about Bruce vs. Bruce — the Halfmoon-based lawsuit involving developer Bruce Tanski and ordinary guy Bruce Rischert, right, who had the nerve to go at a public...
View ArticleColumn: Grain of truth from the blabbersphere
News flash: There are homeless people in Saratoga Springs. That won’t surprise those who know the city, who understand that there’s more to Saratoga than horses and shopping. But it may surprise anyone...
View ArticleColumn: A park for the South Troy waterfront
In today’s Advocate column — read it here — I argue that a valuable plot of land along the South Troy waterfront should be set aside for public use. That was once planned as an education center that...
View ArticleTroy officials reject the proposed ‘porn district’
In Thursday’s column – read it here — I argued against rezoning 70 acres of the Troy waterfront for “adult entertainment” uses such as strip clubs and pornographic bookstores. From my point of view, a...
View ArticleColumn: The fight to save St. Patrick’s was worth the effort
From Thursday’s column: On Wednesday, St. Patrick’s remained Watervliet’s dominant feature, its 137-foot tower still visible from hills outside the city. But down at 19th Street and Sixth Avenue, crews...
View ArticleColumn: Parole board acts as judge and jury
From my Sunday column: When a judge says the state is unjustly keeping someone in prison, it’s worth paying attention — even when the prisoner is Hank Morris. Remember Morris? He’s the architect of the...
View ArticleUpdate: Hank Morris wins parole, out by June 3
Hank Morris, the architect of the pay-for-play pension fund scam that put former Comptroller Alan Hevesi and others in prison, has been granted parole and will be released by June 3. Morris, who...
View ArticleColumn: A legal dead end for Motocross plan?
From Thursday’s Advocate column, which is about the proposed Motocross track in Stephentown: The difficulty with these types of disputes is that both sides are essentially right. It’s true, I think,...
View ArticleA bridge made more dangerous for pedestrians?
Guardrails are in place to protect drivers, not pedestrians. That, I think, is a key takeaway from today’s Advocate column about changes being made to the Congress Street Bridge in Troy. The changes,...
View ArticleBolton Landing castle owner jousts with town
John Lavender’s home is his castle. About that, there’s no question. It’s how the 59-year-old uses his castle that has sparked a bitter, three-year fight in Bolton Landing. Lavender, you see, believes...
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