The number of recent pieces on corruption is spillover from my work on “Tompkins County and Tammany Hall [I can’t seem to find any difference at all]” — I am currently sorting through more than 2,000 documents, letters and emails, and setting up timelines for a number of incidents. This will be a text and free download book. I would much rather be downing beers, than “downing” politicians and bureaucrats; and this has given a sharper edge to my delineations.
When a car chase/gun fight on one of the local roads caused a higher number of complaints than usual; the County made an announcement:
One: There are only a “few bad characters.” Two: Their department was too small. And Three: It would be too expensive for the County to do anything about it.
Just the sort of response you would expect from a County Sheriff’s Dept. that will only show up in rural areas when it’s called, write a report, and leave.
Tompkins County’s “Ag Ghetto” policies, like other ghettos in other places, is one of containment. It’s a tool that Urban Colonialism uses to marginalize the rural natives.
Another tool? High rural property taxes — my neighbor just received a 10% increase in his County assessment: it takes an important amount of money to serve the important areas of Tompkins County.
After repeated complaints about hundreds of thru-cutting dump trucks to County representatives; requesting a 4 TON weight limit on our rural road; the County Highway Director stated “I have researched the area and talked to highway officials in Lansing and they report there are no large through haul trucks utilizing Lansingville Road.”
Photos documenting this truck traffic was sent with no response. Suddenly signs appeared stating a limit of “20 TONS” — a weight limit that would ensure continued road usage by these thru-cutting trucks, and five times the 4 TON weight limit of every other local road.
A complaint letter sent to the Deputy County Administrator resulted in a response that completely ignored the Highway Director’s false claims and strange behavior; saying that the Director “posted the road at 20 tons to limit through traffic of large trucks”. A follow up email urging the County to address the facts of the complaint was ignored.
From there on; County authorities stonewalled and refused to comment or acknowledge any communication.
The full story will be recounted in the upcoming expose: “Tompkins County and Tammany Hall [I can’t seem to find any difference at all]”
The scariest thing about corruption in New York is its acceptance. It’s the “sophisticated” view that so clearly overlays a landscape of self-interest and fear.
It’s frustrating to see how quickly and completely the county’s educated people distance themselves from any wrongdoing or partisan payoffs in their own community; immediately jumping to another place, another belief, or even another time; always denying the darkness — and yet fearful to stray from the herd.
“Corruption is always with us.” “They’re going to die soon anyway” “And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody – Outside of a small circle of friends”
The New York State of Corruption; it’s a place where even the investigations need to be investigated.