Well now we know why the Troy Housing Authority Board canned Executive Secretary Bill Meissner while the presumptive next executive secretary, Dan Crawley, still has more than 18 months as the city’s deputy mayor.
It seems a lengthy investigation by THA Board Vice Chairman Jay Vandenburgh that there had been some questionable accounting by Meissner and part time Comptroller Roger Rosenthal, who was also fired.
For starters, Rosenthal has made a bunch of money, $185,503 since he retired in 2005 and $173,000 over the last three years alone. Everyone is entitled to earn a living but when you are collecting a pension you’re supposed to report that kind of income to the state.
According to the office of state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Rosenthal didn’t do that. Given it’s an election year and public pensions are a big part of the news now — not to mention it’s the right thing to do — we’re pretty sure DiNapoli will do something and will do it rather quickly.
As an aside, according to documents obtained by this paper, Meissner also paid himself more than $9,600 for compensatory time after he was named executive secretary. With that title, comes the classification of management confidential and as such he’s not eligible for things like comp time or overtime.
As far as the THA goes, what happens next is anyone’s guess.
We’re guessing that Meissner and Rosenthal will be looking for the THA to buy out the remainder of their contracts. In Meissner’s case, he had 20 months left and it’s worth about $150,000. We’re also guessing that since the board fired him for nonfeasance, they will fight it. According to his contract, Meissner has the right to bring it to an arbitrator and probably will. We certainly would if we were in his shoes. That's a lot of money.
Rosenthal claims he was working under a contract since December 2009. But an e-mail sent to Meissner by him in February 2010 obtained by this paper, he complains that he didn’t have a contract and never did have a contract.
One good thing for the THA is that it looks like the board is posed to hire Troy Comptroller Deborah Witkowski as its next comptroller, a hire Meissner resisted. It will be interesting to see what she finds when she gets a good look at the books.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

Looks like we need to make a couple clarifications to Monday’s Talespin.


First, we don’t think all cops are bad. Actually, we think the great majority of them are in the business for the right reasons, earn their keep, work hard everyday and earn their pension too.

We are just saying that police overtime is way out of bounds and its crushing municipalities across the country, not just in Troy. When overtime is out of bounds pensions get out of bounds too, and we pay for those for years and years.

Half the city’s budget goes to pay for the police and fire departments. And yet the police department cost the city $1.3 million in overtime, $625,000 more than was in the budget.

Something is wrong when that happens, and it’s been happening for years.

The new chief, John Tedesco, wants to shake it up a bit. The Police Benevolent Association doesn’t like it and it’s president, Bob Fitzgerald, made an allegation that is just bizarre – that Tedesco wants to disband the Special Operations Section of the department because it was conducting a drug investigation into employees at City Hall.

It was a press event orchestrated by the PBA and it was nothing more, nothing less. There might be an investigation into city employees. There might not.

One thing is for certain: a cover up is not the reason Tedesco wants to shake up the department. The PBA knows it, and should respect the fact he is the chief and now runs the show and not them.

Also, looks like we’re batting two for two this week, the position Troy Comptroller Deborah Witkowski wants at the Troy Housing Authority is a Civil Service position, not a patronage job. Witkowski has been comptroller for the city through two administrations, of two different parties, and has been nothing but a stand up employee and an honest, competent numbers cruncher.

It’s long been expected that Deputy Mayor Dan Crawley will be the next THA executive secretary thanks to the fact Mayor Harry Tutunjian, his longtime friend, appointed the board. We were surprised to hear Witkowski would head over there too. If she does, it’s a loss to the city but we can’t blame her. She survived through two administrations and there is no guarantee the next one will keep her on.

We’d be more than happy, though, to hear what she has to say should she get the job and has a chance to have at it with the THA books.

When there are television trucks set up to go live in our parking lot we’d be remiss not to mention what brought them to downtown, but it really wasn’t much.
Well, not necessarily true. Mayor Harry Tutunjian did introduce his pick for police chief, John Tedesco, which is a pretty big deal.
The sideshow, however was kind of like a rock tossed into a puddle. There is a splash, a few ripples and then nothing.
Police Benevolent Association President Bob Fitzgerald tried to convince us and you that Tedesco’s plan to reorganize the department — he wants to disband the Special Operations Section and roll it in with the Street Crimes unit and put the whole thing under the umbrella of community police to get more officers in uniform onto the streets — was somehow tied to an investigation into drug use or sales by City Hall employees.
An absurd allegation … and that’s being kind.
It’s all about control.
The PBA thinks it should run things — according to its contact, Fitzgerald is the full time PBA union representative. That’s his job, 40 hours a week, and you pay for it — and Tutunjian and Tedesco think there should be a chief running the show rather than a bunch of Indians.
Tedesco is shaking things up. The PBA doesn’t like it.
The SOS focuses on long-term drug investigations, which certainly has a place in law enforcement, but they also rack up some serious overtime and is widely known as a pre-retirement place where officers can rack up overtime and boost pensions. Pensions we pay for.
As a side, did you know that if a police officer, any police officer, has to work overtime it’s automatically at least four hours, even if they show up at court for 30 seconds.
In all, the city paid $1.3 million in overtime to the 125-member police department in 2009, over $625,000 more than was budgeted. That’s a ton of money considering there is a bunch of people out of work and a pretty good number of officers given the size of Troy.
We think Tedesco deserves a chance to make the best department in the Capital District better so the PBA should just take a step back and work with him rather than whack him upside the head with a phone book before he even gets out of the gate.
He did handle the allegations against him with class and professionalism.
But, as one observer said to us, “Tedesco is one of those karate-type people, and they just sit back and sit back and sit back and then they rip your *&^^#$@# arm off.”
Kind of graphic but to the point, Tedesco may have taken the PBA’s welcoming with class but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna forget. We hope he doesn’t.

Political ramifications
It was the Democrats on the City Council who held the Public Safety Committee meeting that allowed Fitzgerald his platform but we don’t think they knew what was coming either.
Of course the GOP are jumping all over it.
This isn’t about politics.

The THA
It was a busy week at the Troy Housing Authority with executive Secretary Bill Meissner getting the axe for unknown reasons and longtime Troy Comptroller Deb Witkowski interviewing for a job.
Witkowski has been a staple in the city through two administrations of different parties and is a pretty straight shooter but her looking there is a sign that Tutunjian’s administration is running for the hills. And the THA is gonna be the dumping ground.
The THA is now in the hands of Tom Houlihan, a respected and competent individual.
What’s funny is that Meissner, knowing he was getting his head cut of, appointed himself to his old position with the THA before the ax fell.
Needless to say, that didn’t fly well with the board that had just let him go and he was let go from that one too, with the help of a police officer.
The talk of the town is the board, appointed by Tutunjian, will hire his deputy mayor and long time friend Dan Crawley as the next executive secretary but the timing of Meisnner’s dismissal is suspect considering Crawley has a year and a half left as deputy mayor.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

Despite the bravado, the allegations and the public square-off between Police Benevolent Association President Bob Fitzgerald and Mayor Harry Tutunjian, we just don’t think the scandal orchestrated to rock the city is anything much of anything.


It’s kind of like a rock thrown into a puddle. There’s a splash, then some ripples and then nothing.

This orchestrated “scandal” is about two things -- the new police chief, John Tedesco, and overtime.

Here’s why we think so:

1. Fitzgerald is the PBA president and his fulltime job is to watch out for his members. The PBA didn’t want Tedesco because, of Tutunjian’s three possible picks, its members know he will take the least amount of crap. Not to take away from the other two candidates, Buddy Mcavoy and Tony Magnetto, but it's the truth. And not to take away from former chief Nick Kaiser either. He got no help from City Hall and no help from the PBA so he was having a tough go of it.

2. Before Tedesco was even named chief, he floated his idea to disband the Special Operations Section of the department, which is widely known as a pre-retirement home where senior officers get a bunch of overtime to boost their pensions. See reason 1. Everything in the Troy Police Department is bid by seniority once a year -- an asinine way to go about things -- but not so at the SOS. Senior officers can bid it, and do, but once they are in they are in until they retire. We are just cynical enough to think they might milk it. You know, the whole donut/cop thing.

3. The supposed drug investigation scandal is about Tesesco shaking up a department that needs a good shaking up and the PBA president looking out for his own. Fitzgerald, brilliantly, orchestrated the whole thing about Tedesco disbanding SOS just because they might be investigating City Hall and we, the media, bought into it, which we had no choice of doing given his position.

We’re not saying most cops are bad or any are bad. We’re saying a bunch of them have long been taking advantage of a system that allows them to do so – and pensions are on our dime.

Tedesco and Tutunjian are trying to change it.

To put it in plain and simple terms, the cops think they should run the department and the chief should just be a figure head and show up at DARE graduations. We don't think that's going to be the case under Tedesco.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

Shame on Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for abusing his position to pick on poor state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada just to get a leg up on his presumed bid for governor.


We’re with Espada on this one. This is nothing more than a political witch-hunt. The “steamroller” has nothing on Cuomo.

He must be worried about his poll numbers.

And for him to use terms like “looting” to describe Espada’s alleged “siphoning” of public money from Soundview, a health clinic in the Bronx Espada created, is just stoking a fire that should never have been lit.

Espada earned his $9 million severance package approved by a Board of Directors comprised of his family and friends. He’s providing healthcare to poor people in his district and that’s noble, damn it. He doesn’t live in the district he’s elected to represent, but the fact he opened clinic there proves he cares.

And for that he deserves taxpayers pick up the $80,000 restaurant tab for he and his family, including $20,000 for sushi delivered to his wife.

Furthermore, it’s more than understandable that Espada would give his son a $400,000 a year contract to clean Soundview. It’s just a coincidence he was the lowest bidder.

And we think too that Soundview should pay for Espada’s campaign expenses because the state is, or hopefully will be, a better place when he sits as a lawmaker.

Just think back to the coup he orchestrated only to see other lawmakers buy him off by naming him majority leader and giving him all the perks that go with it. It turned out to be a good thing because it encapsulated how Albany really works in a way people can understand.

This story goes beyond that, but it sheds light on government. The fact – well, the allegation since Espada, in unabashed bravado, vows to “answer each charge” – it was even allowed to happen is telling and we have to wonder how many Soundviews there are around the state and nation.

One question we have is why didn’t Cuomo bring criminal charges?

Another is how many real people got hurt so Espada’s wife could eat sushi at home on our dime? Fourteen million dollars can, we assume, provide lot of healthcare to people who need it.

Wednesday morning, the FBI and IRS raided Soundview so the first question has been answered.

Jim Franco

Jfranco@troyrecord.com

A story printed in this paper Monday was written before. A few times actually. Sorry about that. Ohh, wait there’s a Jr. after his name.


Jack Cox Jr. is battling with the city and he sounds and acts just like his father. Refusing to accept a $20,000 settlement from a lawsuit he brought against the city for barricading the Fifth Avenue garage without a court order is classic Cox.

What led to the settlement is one of the most best lines we’ve written in this column: “Let him try to tow dirt.”

The city, or better said then Department of Public Works Commissioner Bob Mirch, got tired of putting Jersey Barriers in front of the garage doors only to see Cox tow them away so he dumped a big pile of dirt there instead.

The battles between Cox Sr. and government are legendary. He was of the Tea Party mindset before there was an express.

He had the same shtick whether the city was raiding his President’s Street junk yard, which the city has since purchased for $400,000, or when he represented himself while on trial for two felony charges of dismantling autos and selling parts without a proper license: “I don’t want anything from you (government) so leave me alone and let me do my job so I can take care of my family.”

It’s a message the Tea Party people are making headlines for now.

Imagine, Junkyard Jack Cox being ahead of his time.

Cox Jr. sounds like he is of the same stripe.

In a bizarre attempt to keep him from opening an automobile towing, repair and sales facility at the old Wards Body Shop the city claims a vacant lot across the street was actually zoned as such and not Wards. If it were Wards, then the zoning would be grandfathered in. If not, Cox would only qualify for a limited permit.

Cox Jr. claims the city won’t even tell him what hoops he has to jump through to get a certificate of occupancy and it’s been going on since 2006. He also claims the delay cost him $400,000 so far and the number climbs each day he’s not allowed to open.

And he sounds just like his father:

“Did the city of Troy think that when we settled the lawsuit and they agreed to pay me $20,000 I was going to stick my tail between my legs and walk away after I invested $100,000 and I’m losing $100,000 a year?” said Cox Jr.

Cox Jr. insists that he doesn’t want to hurt the taxpayers of Troy, but that if he were to file a lawsuit against the city, he claims he would win. Cox Sr. said many of the same things.

“The danger to the taxpayer now is so great, everybody has to know what’s going on,” Cox said.

If he sues, our guess is he wins. The law and zoning should not be selective just because a governmental body doesn’t like you or what you do.

We don’t blame the ‘Burgh for not wanting a junkyard in their neighborhood, and we don’t blame the mayor for trying to stop it – downtown is great but the ‘Burgh drives the city. Selective zoning and selective application of the law, however, is a scary thing.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

Gotta love the tea partiers

The more we read about huge public pensions, bad teachers with tenure and an over-inflated state workforce demanding their 4 percent raises when those of us in the private sector wallow in the worst economy since the Depression, the more we like the Tea Party movement.
Its loose-knit members don’t care about social issues like abortion and gay marriage, but want a smaller, less intrusive government that taxes less.
They rallied in Albany over the weekend with their message to government to stay out of our pockets and out of our business – two things lawmakers have a tough time doing.

Thank you RPI
Last Thursday and Friday there were three people with guns in the City of Troy shooting real bullets and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute didn’t so much as “tweet” let alone blow out a warning through its massive bullhorn.
That’s a good thing.
If you remember, a couple weeks ago RPI let loose an alarm that rattled the city after a robber, who may or may not have been armed, may or may not have been seen on or near the campus.
No weapon was shown when he robbed a check-cashing place, and there were no confirmed sightings at RPI, but the college, nonetheless, blasted out an ominous warning that resembles an air-raid drill followed by someone sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher with ping pong balls in his mouth.
We understand RPI was just looking out for its own but the alarm spooked all of downtown and even freaked out some people in Watervliet and Green Island.
Thursday, a man got shot multiple times in Lansingburgh, and Friday two guys were shooting at each other on River Street, just a few golf holes away from RPI, and we get … silence. Thankfully.
Two of the three people doing the shooting are under arrest without RPI issuing its air raid drill. The check cashing place robber, as far as we know, is still at large and ran farther way than Menands (see below.)

Welcome to the job
Last Thursday, the day newly anointed Troy Police Chief John Tedesco was supposed to be introduced to the public, we get the city’s first murder of the year.
An 18-year-old, Ayerius W. Benson, allegedly shot another man, Turhan “Capo” Tate, multiple times at the Corliss Park apartment complex.
Mayor Harry Tutunjian’s announcement of Tedesco’s promotion was, needless to say, postponed.
Friday, the day Benson was arrested in Menands, two guys traded gunfire on River Street.
One of those alleged gunmen is behind bars too. Or he will be once he gets out of the hospital. As it turned out, the other guy was a better shot.
We’re not sure if Tedesco’s elevation to chief had anything to do with either arrest but so far he’s batting .666.
Not bad for two days work.
We’ll take nothing away from Tedesco, but there are other factors in play too.
One is the bravery of Police Officer Brian Strock, who chased down and tackled the alleged River Street shooter. Yes, the guy may have been wounded but he was armed, and wounded people are often more dangerous.
The second is the stupidity of Benson. We would think if you were to shoot someone in Lansingburgh, it would be in your own best interest too run farther away than Menands.

Discontent in Albany County
Last week the county’s candidate Screening Committee and Law Committee came back with a no endorsement in the race for seats held by longtime state Sen. Neil and surrogate Court judge Katherine Doyle, the longtime friend of convicted Judge Tom Spargo.
The Democrats in Albany have a funky process and the committees are just the first step in the nomination process but Chair Dan McCoy appoints their members so there is some dissent in the party.
Imagine, discontent among Albany County Democrats. Who would have thunk it?

Voter fraud
We hear the State Police end of the voter fraud investigation, which includes a bunch of physical evidence like DNA and hand-writing samples, has wrapped up and that it’s now up to attorney Trey Smith, the special prosecutor.
Our guess is that it will soon end up in front of a grand jury and our guess is the grand jury will indict at least three people.

This week’s Talespin was written by City Editor James V. Franco. He can be reached at jfranco@troyrecord.com

Thursday, the day newly anointed Troy Police Chief John Tedesco was supposed to be introduced to the public, we get the city’s first murder of the year.

An 18-year-old, Ayerius W. Benson, allegedly shot another man, Turhan “Capo” Tate, multiple times at the Corliss Park apartment complex.

Mayor Harry Tutunjian’s announcement of Tedesco’s promotion was, needless to say, postponed.

Friday, the day Benson was arrested in Menands, two guys traded gunfire on River Street.

One of those alleged gunmen is behind bars too. Or he will be once he gets out of the hospital. As it turned out, the other guy was a better shot.

We’re not sure if Tedesco’s elevation to chief had anything to do with either arrest but so far he’s batting .666.

Not bad for two days work.

We’ll take nothing away from Tedesco, but there are other factors in play too.

One is the bravery of Police Officer Brian Strock, who chased down and tackled the alleged River Street shooter. Yes, the guy may have been wounded but he was armed, and wounded people are often more dangerous.

The second is the stupidity of Benson, who was arraigned today for murder. While he does claim he’s innocent, we would think if you were to shoot someone in Lansingburgh, it would be in your own best interest too run farther away than Menands.

We were just reminded it was Menands police who chased down Benson and Tedesco and Troy police had nothing to do with his arrest as far as we know. Though, they were passing around Benson's mug shot Friday morning so they knew who they were looking for.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

It’s confirmed. Troy’s new police chief will be John Tedesco.


Mayor Harry Tutunjian informed Tedesco and the two other candidates, Asst. Chief Richard McAvoy and Capt. Tony Magnetto, yesterday and an official announcement is expected at a 4 p.m. press conference today.

The Press conference was cancelled because of a shooting and standoff at Corliss Park at around 3:30 p.m.

For a while we thought it was going to be McAvoy because he had the unofficial backing of the Police Benevolent Association but Tedesco it is. Instead McAvoy will get a $7,000 raise and become deputy chief, a newly created position.

Look for Tedesco to shake things up a bit at the department.

Before he was named chief, he rolled out a plan that would basically take the Special Operations Section of the department -- which is commonly referred to as pre-retirement for a bunch of cops who have seniority enough to bid it -- be under the auspices of the Community Police Unit and that would be rolled into the Street Crimes Unit.

The SOS is where cops go to boost their pensions, according to a number of people who know. They conduct long-term drug investigations whereas the Street Crimes Unit busts people for all sorts of crimes in real time like smoking pot or being a disorderly jerk. The Community Police Unit does the same thing without the muscle of the Street Crimes Unit.

It makes sense.


Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

As reported on our new toy, the Talespin Blog, Dave Dean might be back working for the city as half of the two-man litter patrol though, as of this writing, the deal hasn’t been solidified.

Dean, who retired from the Police Department after 20 years and recently left the law firm of Tulley Rinkey where he was working as a spokesman, would make about $15 an hour for the yet to be defined part time position. He said he envisions it having to do more with properties not kept to a neighborhood’s standard than people throwing pizza plates on Fourth Street.

Dean is the founding father of the Street Crimes Unit, a group of officers that hit the streets and arrested people for any crime, large or small. He and they followed the kick butt now and ask questions later philosophy.

He once told Metroland: “I’ve hit people. I am going to hit other people. I’ve used my knees on them. I am not shy talking about that, because this is rough-and-tumble law enforcement.”

People who litter are inconsiderate slobs but we’re not sure they deserve knees used on them. OK, maybe some do, but only in a proverbial sense.

He was also one of the lead detectives responsible for catching the three drug-dealing hooligans who conspired to shoot and kill police informant Christopher Drabik in 2003. But we don’t think tracking cell phone records, taking statements or getting witnesses to testify are useful qualities in catching people throwing pizza plates on Fourth Street either.

And, judging from some of the comments on the Talespin Blog, there are those who think it’s just Mayor Harry Tutunjian and Deputy Mayor Dan Crawley taking care of one of their friends — as if that ever happens in government.

With all that, why not give him a shot. He knows the neighborhoods and the people and one thing that will improve Troy’s reputation easily and quickly is cleaning it up a bit.

Sure, the DPW does a decent job, but litter goes back to teaching people a little common courtesy and decency. Towards that end, we’re pretty sure a good Tasering could probably train people to use a garbage can — in the proverbial sense, that is.

Dean must be bored to even consider the gig and that is telling. He has one year from his retirement date to sign back up with the police department so our bet is he’s back in uniform by the end of August.



No “double dippers”

There are signs sprouting up in North Greenbush that say: “Stop Double Dippers in Rensselaer Co.”

It’s in reference to a local law that the Legislature is expected to adopt Tuesday allowing people to simultaneously serve on Town Boards and the county Legislature.

It’s necessary because — well it’s not really necessary but the GOP majority on the Legislature saw the courts bounce two of their own off the East Greenbush Town Board and one from the board in North Greenbush.

It’s just GOP taking care of their own.

If it passes, and there is no reason to think it won’t, the respective Town Boards will appoint replacements and those replacements will likely have to run in November to complete the term.

In North Greenbush, there is a funky 3 to 1 majority without any real hardcore party affiliation that will probably appoint Conservative Lou Desso, who is tied to the GOP, back to his board seat. There are two Democrats on the board, Supervisor Josephine Ashworth and Al Spain, and two Democrats have submitted their names for consideration, Matthew Hug and Delores Celeste, but our bet is Desso gets the nod.

In East Greenbush the Democrats hold a 2 to 1 majority and it takes three votes to pass anything, including appointments to the board. So, it remains unclear if Michael Cristo and Philip Danaher will be re-appointed or not or if anyone will.

No word on new chief
Speculation continues on who Tutunjian will pick to head up the Police Department.

The scuttlebutt we hear is it’s down to either one of the two assistant chiefs, John Tedesco or Richard “Buddy” McAvoy. We know that’s not really a news flash since they are assistant chiefs and the third possible candidate, according to the Civil Service list, is a captain, Tony Magnetto.

We do know people are getting antsy but the decision is Tutunjian’s and the council doesn’t have any say in the matter. Visit the Talespin Blog for a more in depth explanation and to read pertinent sections of the City Charter.


This week's Talespin was written by The Record City Editor James V. Franco

Dave Dean, of Street Crimes Unit fame, is talking with the city about possibly making getting back on the payroll as part of the two-man litter patrol.
When reached for comment Dean, who recently left his position at a law firm, confirmed the discussions were taking place but stressed nothing was set in stone as of Friday afternoon.
“Troy’s my place and I think I could contribute to improving the city and making sure everyone does what they are supposed to do in keeping their area of the city nice,” Dean said. “It would be nice to get back into the neighborhoods again.”
To what the liter patrol actually does Dean said he was not sure but it would be a part time job paying something like $15 an hour. But, Dean retired from the Troy Police Department after some 20 years so, as he said, he doesn’t need a big paycheck and is restricted in the amount of money he can make anyway.
What’s kind of funny is that Dean made a name for himself as being a tough, no nonsense cop and the Street Crimes Unit, under his direction, prided itself on a kick butt now ask questions later philosophy.
He once told Metroland: “I’ve hit people. I am going to hit other people. I’ve used my knees on them. I am not shy talking about that, because this is rough-and-tumble law enforcement.”
So is Dean going to drive around in a big black SUV and a bullet proof vest tasering people on Fourth Street for tossing a pizza plate on the ground?
“I see it as a bigger scope than that. What I want to do is work on people who don’t live here and own property and leave it in disrepair,” he said. “I see it as code/litter enforcement.”
Garbage and litter is one of the loudest and most constant complaints heard about the city so if he can do something about any of it, more power to him.
Of course there will be who criticize the hire because he is close to Tutujian and Deputy Mayor Dan Crawley but so what. If Dean can do something, anything to clean up the city, or more importantly get people to stop messing it up, it’s well worth the $15 an hour.
We can only guess one good tasing will make someone think twice before tossing a pizza plate on Fourth Street again.

Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

In the age of Twitter, text messaging and e-mail, RPI resorted to the old-fashioned days of using a big bullhorn to lock down the campus because an armed man who just robbed a check-cashing business on Hoosick Street could be somewhere on campus.
It was a pretty loud tweet.
The thing is, since RPI is located on a hill overlooking the city the alert warning students to stay inside and lock their doors was blasted throughout downtown taking residents and police by surprise. There are reports that it was so loud that it could be heard from the other side of the river.
It ominous sounding too, starting with something like a foghorn and then something like a British ambulance siren. It’s sounded like the alerts seen and heard in old movies warning people about air raids by German bombers during World War II. You can hear one of the alerts by checking out this story here.
Almost immediately, Mayor Harry Tutunjian tweeted that “there will be some discussion about frequency, volume and content of their alert system message” and we've since learned some of the police brass were none too happy about the alert’s content or the fact it went out without their knowledge.
Nearly as fast as Tutujian's tweet was a barrage of responses blasting him for criticizing RPI and their desire to keep students safe.
What’s funny is that at least two of the alerts didn’t say much except to say the campus was still on lockdown and told students that more information would be forthcoming by messages sent to cell phones and computers. I'm just guessing here, but I would bet 99.5 percent of the students and faculty at RPI carry cell phones 99.5 percent of the time. The other .5 percent carry cell phones and lap top computers.
Issuing the alert in the manner they chose is one thing but they should have warned the police and city officials they were doing it. But then again, alerting people there is an alert coming kind of defeats the purpose.
There are a few reasons for criticizing RPI:
1. There is no need to alert people in Green Island and Watervliet that there is an armed man running around Troy who may or may not be on the RPI campus. I have to stress, "may or may not have been on campus."
2. We had a tough time understanding what the person on the other side of the big, loud speakers was saying and our office looks right at the RPI campus so there had to have been a ton of people who only heard the siren and snippets of what was said and were freaked out about the whole thing. It could have been coming from the Arsenal, the Tech Park, or anywhere and all a bunch of people knew was that something bad was going on somewhere.
3. Again, they should have at least let the cops know what they were doing because when the police station started getting phone calls police didn't know if the alert was related to the armed robbery they were investigating or what was going on on the RPI campus. Odds are it took resources away from the investigation of the actual armed robbery to check out nothing was blowing up at RPI.
4. If RPI wants to alert its students and faculty of some possible danger more power to them. It's better to error on the side of caution. It doesn't mean, however, it has to put the entire downtown on alert at the same time.
This may not be a good thing but it's a fact of life - this isn't the first time an armed man was at large in the City of Troy. Actually, it's not that spectacular of an occurrence and doesn't warrant the city getting it's pants in a bunch because RPI decided to blast it out over a speaker big enough to drown out a rock concert.


Jim Franco
jfranco@troyrecord.com

According to the City Charter, the council doesn’t get to approve the appointment of a new police chief. The mayor does, after a candidate is chosen by the public safety commissioner.

Here is a list of bureau heads the council has the power to confirm or not according to the section C-50 of the charter:
“The Mayor's appointments of Deputy Mayor, the Budget Officer, the Corporation Counsel and all department and bureau heads shall be subject to confirmation by the City Council. Such appointees shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor except where a definite term has been established therefor by law or by other provision of this Charter.”

Since there isn’t a public safety commissioner in Troy, we understand Mayor Harry Tutunjian has the right to appoint one temporarily for 90 days without council approval. The first order of business, we assume, would be to pick a police chief from the civil service list. The three top names are Asst. Chief John Tedesco, who is currently acting chief, Asst. Chief Richard McAvoy and Capt. Tony Magnetto.

Here is C-77 section B of the Troy City Charter:

Commissioner of Public Safety.
(1)
There shall be a Commissioner of Public Safety, who shall be head of the Department of Public Safety and shall have supervision and control of the Bureau of Police, the Bureau of Fire and the Bureau of Weights and Measures and a Bureau of Emergency Communications. The Commissioner shall be appointed by the Mayor, subject to confirmation by the City Council, to serve at the pleasure of the Mayor and he/she shall appoint, with the approval of the Mayor, and in conformity with the rules of the Municipal Civil Service Commission, a Chief of the Bureau of Police, a Chief of the Bureau of Fire and a Sealer of Weights and Measures and a Bureau of Emergency Communications.
(2)
Notwithstanding the above, the Mayor may appoint a Police Commissioner who shall be the Deputy Public Safety Commissioner and shall assume all the powers of the Public Safety Commissioner whenever he or she is absent or unavailable. If the Mayor appoints a Police Commissioner, then the position of Public Safety Commissioner shall not pay any salary.

Here is c-77 section F of the charter:
“Chief of Police. There shall be a Chief of Police who shall be head of the Bureau of Police. He/She shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety, with the approval of the Mayor, when a vacancy exists, from an eligible list prepared by the Municipal Civil Service Commission. Under the supervision and control of the Commissioner of Public Safety, he/she shall have command and management of the police force of the City.”

So, despite District Four Councilman Bill Dunne’s request to have the council involved in the selection process, they really have no say at all.

There still is no word on when Tutunjian will pick a new chief, or when or if he will pick a temporary public safety commissioner to make the pick for him.

While there is no clear front runner we do hear it’s down to Tedesco and McAvoy and as of Monday afternoon the two are running neck and neck.

Jim Franco

As Rick Lazio and Steve Levy vie for the gubernatorial nomination, the Rensselaer County GOP has yet to pick a side.

Levy has the support of state Chair Ed Cox and county committees are joining his side at not a bad clip. Lazio has the backing of former Gov. George Pataki and others.

Warren Redlich, an attorney from Albany County, and the newest rich guy from Buffalo, Carl Paladino, also want the party’s nod to run against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democrats presumptive candidate.

But, the choice really comes down to Levy or Lazio and the Rensselaer County GOP is in somewhat of a bind.

Barring a miracle, Lazio has no chance of beating Cuomo, and many still grumble about a statement he made a while ago admitting he had a better chance of beating Gov. David Paterson, who has since said he would not seek a full term. In other words, the GOP rank and file are reluctant to give up their evenings and weekends to work for a candidate lucky to place a close second.

Lazio, however, has always been a loyal Republican, unlike Levy who recently switched his enrollment from Democrat. Those same ground troops, too, are reluctant to work for a candidate who joined their side just to run for office.

Our guess? the Rensselaer County GOP will sit on its hands as long as possible and back, at least on paper, whoever gets the party’s nod. In reality, it will then throw in the gubernatorial towel and focus its efforts on Chris Gibson’s campaign in the 20th Congressional District against Rep. Scott Murphy.

Troy passes reassessment

Last week, the Troy City Council voted 6 to 3 to approve bonding $1 million to conduct a reassessment.

Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6, was the swing vote and one reason it was tabled in March. After a month of holding meetings to better inform himself and his constituents, Galuski voted in the affirmative.

Reassessment has been on the table for some two years and we’re not sure what new information came out in the last month, but good for Galuski for voting yes.

Now we’re just waiting to see if a dog park will be approved in District 6 in the not-so distant future.

Trojans for Troy

Last week, Marcia Pascarella lambasted the council for not doing enough for the people, in particular the people in her neighborhood of some five decades, North Central.

It’s the same speech she’s been giving for at least 12 years and while listening to it can be painful, you have to give her credit for doing her best to keep the council on its toes.

Last week, she set her sights on Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, saying all he does to help keep North Central clean is “pick up a couple pieces of paper and put them in a soda bottle.”

“My back hurts,” McGrath responded.

“I wish the hell your mouth hurt,” Pascarella fired back.

Pascarella was also a bit nostalgic and said there are fewer of her stripe left to fight for the people. “Fran is sick and Marcie passed on,” she told the council.

Fran is Fran Pomiber, and Marcie is Marcie Haskell, who died last year. The three, along with Janet Roberts, were pretty much the Trojans for Troy and they did give a number of councils some headaches, regardless of party.

Once, legend has it, the police had to escort Pomiber out of the chamber after she threatened to shoot the council with a machine gun.

Another time as the police were escorting her out, she screamed at a reporter: “I don’t want to see this in Talespin.” A request we respectfully didn’t honor.

Another time, the lot of them wore pig noses to the meeting and snorted every time a council member said anything about taxes, which at the time was often.

There is a new breed of Trojans looking out for the city’s best interest through blogs and Web sites, but they have a ways to go to match the Trojans for Troy.

Jim Franco

We’re still not sure about all this blogging stuff but we figure we’d give it a shot since there are things that come to us through the week that we simply forget about; we have no room for in Monday’s newspaper; or, we invariably lose the napkins, matchbook covers or Netflix envelopes we scribble notes on.
If you don’t know, Talespin has been a staple of The Record’s Monday morning newspaper since reporter Steve Nelson created it a couple decades ago. It’s gone though some transformations and more than a few caretakers, but its objective remains the same … to end world hunger.
Yea right. As if we were so noble.
We’re just here to have some fun, bring some levity to some very serious issues and the people who try to deal with them -- politicians and public personalities.
You can too. This blog should be an open dialogue, not a one-sided commentary. We invite and encourage any and all participation provided you follow some ground rules:
No cursing: well some is OK, so long as it’s allowed on prime time TV.
No sex stuff: The Record is a family paper and this will be a blog a family can talk about over dinner (photos and video are welcome, but will not be published.)
No unwarranted attacks: We defer to the age-old adage that “truth is the ultimate defense.” Of course we will, since we are affiliated with a newspaper, do our best to confirm what is the truth. It’s what newspapers do.
No digs on personal lives: A councilman’s daughter getting pregnant at 16 is nobody’s business. An assemblyman sleeping with an intern, however, is. Yes, it’s a fine line, and graphic details of the latter are welcome but won’t be published.
So, please, respond to everything we have to say or bring up your own topics. It doesn’t matter if you do it anonymously so long as you don’t drop an “F bomb.”
We’d much rather have a public dialogue here than a nasty phone call Monday morning.
Again, welcome to the Talespin Blog. It will be updated as information crosses our desk or crosses those of the folks who want to participate. If we get it going, with your help, it could be a whole lot of fun.

Jim Franco