Tag: Rural

Part 8 – Integrity and Transparency in Government Introduction

Does the public have any meaningful participation in Tompkins County’s policies?

Is the county being run for the health and well-being of all the people?

Are the county’s policies formulated for long term sustainability, or short-term gain?

In each blog, I will focus on an actual incident or issue that raises questions about the conduct of those who have been entrusted with the welfare of the public at large.

The questions and facts of the case will be included in a letter sent to the persons responsible for regulatory oversight, as well as to our elected representatives. The body of the letter will be disclosed in each blog, and the results of these letters and the names of recipients will be posted as updates.

At the end of the series, I will summarize the findings as to whether the response of Tompkins County public officials has been consistent with their duty to protect the public at large.  

Coming next week: Part 8a — Deadly Drift  

You Know You Live Near a Factory Farm When Your Kids Go Fishing with a Pool Skimmer

An Uncensored Look at Today’s Farming Practices

Blog Special: A first look at the cartoon picture book by Doug Baird – the captions.

  1. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your bug-zapper sounds like a popcorn machine
  2. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when everyone you know is getting cancer.
  3. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the cows are fed on chicken poop and sawdust.
  4. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when they buy more antibiotics than a hospital.
  5. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when a part of the Dead Zone is named after them.
  6. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when their business model is a sweatshop.
  7. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when “manure spreading” means it’s spilled into the river again.
  8. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when USDA Certified means “you stupid, dumb assholes.”
  9. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the Real Estate Disclosure Form is redacted.
  10. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the government inspectors have to make an appointment to visit.
  11. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the morning mist is herbicide.
  12. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you’re always being told how important they are.
  13. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the lake has more warning signs than tourists.
  14. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your Bed and Breakfast is shut and closed.
  15. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when their biggest supporters live somewhere else.
  16. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the farmers and the regulators are the same people.
  17. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the public is educated to accept the pollution, rather than stop it.
  18. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when it’s a crime to film inside their sheds.
  19. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the DEC makes excuses for them.
  20. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your taxes subsidize their workers, and their workers send it out of the country.
  21. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when their image is Old MacDonald, and their attitude is Stalin.
  22. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when it keeps getting bigger, while your community gets smaller.
  23. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the hills are brown and the lakes are green.
  24. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you have to pressure-wash your cat.
  25. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your viewscape is turkey vultures circling the offal bins.
  26. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the gases you breathe would get a toxic waste dump shut down.
  27. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when manure comes out of the tap.
  28. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your dog has asthma.
  29. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when blowflies are at the top of the food chain.
  30. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you have to check the wind direction before you open a window.
  31. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when all the want ads are placed in another country.
  32. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your Representative won’t look you in the eye.
  33. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when a $5 million agribusiness needs a $10 million subsidy.
  34. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your grandparents have to tell the kids what nature used to be like.
  35. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the pitter-patter on your roof isn’t rain.
  36. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you have to wash your clothes after they come off the line.
  37. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you pay more taxes for your trailer than they do for their farm.
  38. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when you only drink organic milk, water, bottled water.
  39. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the snow-melt is brown.
  40. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when politicians pretend not to believe what they know to be true.
  41. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when their “hold harmless” argument is the Nuremburg Defense.
  42. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when relative wealth equals relative worth.
  43. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when a million gallon spill gets a $500 fine, and they consider it excessive.
  44. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when everything they do is legal because they write the laws.
  45. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the fields have no animals, and the sheds have no windows.
  46. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your brother is sick from a bacteria no one’s ever seen before.
  47. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when the county authorities won’t return your calls.
  48. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when your kids go fishing with a pool skimmer.
  49. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when it’s no laughing matter.
  50. You know you live near a Factory Farm, when politicians won’t kiss your blue baby.

The End

 

Part 7a – A Cyclic History: Pollute, Distort, Pacify, Repeat . . . The Never Ending Cover-up

 

August 4, 2017 — Algae blooms close Taughannock Falls State Park, the number of toxic algae blooms in New York is up 25 percent this week, and the presence of toxic blue-green algae in Dryden Lake is confirmed by the DEC.

This isn’t the beginning of some apocalyptic eco-thriller – it’s the reality that people in Tompkins County, and all over the country will have to get used to as the fallout from 30 years of unrestricted agricultural activity has turned toxic Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) into this summer’s biggest blockbuster.

Part 7a – A Cyclic History – Pollute-Distort-Pacify-Repeat –The Never Ending Cover-up

Continue reading Part 7a – A Cyclic History: Pollute, Distort, Pacify, Repeat . . . The Never Ending Cover-up

Part 6 – Sewers of the Land

The influence of rich and powerful interests in maintaining the status quo in the face of an ever increasing destruction of the environment, is nowhere better seen than in Tompkins County’s handling of agricultural pollution.

The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan’s representation of environmental issues and policies is a careful dance around the facts — Facts that paint a very different picture of the sources of pollution in the county, and expose an elitist policy making agenda.

Part 6 – Sewers of the Land

Continue reading Part 6 – Sewers of the Land

Part 5 –Smoke and Mirrors

Participation Circumvention

“The participation of citizens in an open, responsible and flexible planning process is essential to the designing of the optimum town comprehensive plan.” — Town Law § 272-a

Although New York State Town Law stresses the importance of an open and responsibly designed town comprehensive plan, many local officials downplay this document, claiming the local comp plan is only a “guide” — and hide their agenda behind the minimum legal requirements for public meetings and the placement of notifications that exclude the community from participation.

Part 5 – Smoke and Mirrors

Continue reading Part 5 –Smoke and Mirrors

Part 4 – The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Credentials

The rural Town of Lansing is racing ahead to be the “the growth part of the Tompkins County area,” but when you look around, there’s no competition in sight — are we that smart . . . or that stupid?

Part 4 – The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Credentials

Continue reading Part 4 – The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Credentials

Part 3 – “Whose Comp Plan is This, Anyway?”

The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan is a slick promotional piece, but its bright and shiny surface can’t stand the wear and tear of a real world inspection.

Part 3 – Whose Comp Plan is This Anyway

Continue reading Part 3 – “Whose Comp Plan is This, Anyway?”

Part 2 – Debunking the Lansing Ag Plan

The three greatest factors in the approval of the Lansing Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan are:

  1. The plan was never critically examined or allowed to be publicly questioned.
  2. Lansing’s rural families were unrepresented by any state, local or county agency or government representative, and prevented from having any meaningful participation in the plan themselves.
  3. The lives and welfare of rural families living in the affected area of Lansing are of no importance whatsoever to the people who created and support this plan.

Part 2 – Debunking the Lansing Ag Plan

Continue reading Part 2 – Debunking the Lansing Ag Plan

Part 1 – The Death of Meaningful Public Participation

Today’s rural residents have no place in Tompkins County’s future.

This statement is based on more than two years of research and review, questions and public meetings concerning the most recent Agriculture and Comprehensive Plans of Lansing and Tompkins County, NY.

Part 1 – Death of Meaningful Public Participation

Continue reading Part 1 – The Death of Meaningful Public Participation