Will the Real Citizens of Troy Please Stand Up

The proposed expansion of the County Waste Transfer Station, located at the South Troy Gateway into Troy, is on the fast track and it’s all because of a lack of response from our mayor’s office to a letter from NYSDEC that they may or may not have received. Let’s throw the blame here right where it belongs. The mailroom clerk. You know, the one who may not have DONE THE JOB THEY WERE HIRED TO DO by delivering the mayor his mail back in June. Gees, you just can’t get good help these days. Someone's ineptitude has put the city and her citizens right into a big trash bin.

Regardless of why the city administration’s office didn’t respond to the letter, they didn’t. And since that letter to the Mayor’s Office from NYSDEC regarding lead agency status for the proposed expansion back in June wasn’t responded to, NYSDEC assumed lead agency status of the project. On July 20th - as lead agency - NYSDEC made a negative declaration, clearing the way for the expansion to proceed WITHOUT a full and complete Envirnomental Impact Statement. It appears that no one in the city administration, on the city council or the citizens who will be directly impacted by this expansion were notified of this declaration either.  We can only assume that, if a letter notifying the City of Troy of this was sent, it found it’s way to the same place the June letter did.

Since the letter may or may not have been received, the city administation wasn't able to notify the city councilmen about this lead agency status either.  After all, if the mayor's office didn't receive the letter, they couldn't have shared the information, right?  As far as I know, no public hearings regarding the proposed expansion were held.  Until the citizens spoke out at the council meeting on August 5th (including one who suggested that the city take lead agency status), no one in city government apparently was aware that anyone other than the "trash talkers" from South Troy were concerned. When it became apparent to the council members that many residents outside of South Troy were also concerned, the councilmen agreed that more thought needed to go into the process.  They said that they would explore taking lead agency status. No one at that meeting seemed to be aware that the NYSDEC had already assumed that role or that a negative declaration regarding the expansion had in fact already been made.

NYSDEC had only received a handful of comments regarding this during the regular comment period.  Given that no informtion regarding this was made public, it surprises me that NYSDEC received ANY comments at all.  They were not aware that the real citizens of Troy were against the expansion.  Because of the outcry of at that council meeting, (and I suspect at the request of our city council) NYSDEC has extended the time period for public comment through August 19th. This is the final week that anyone will be able to comment on the proposed expansion.

Now this is where the trash talking REALLY has to start flying. This expansion will bring increased truck traffic to EVERY neighborhood in the city. This increased truck traffic will further strain our already teetering infrastructure, both above and below ground.  It will further degrade the appearance of one of our cities MAIN gateways. It will further erode property values throughout our fair city. It will give the City of Troy federal slum status. No real citizen of Troy could want any of this.  I certainly don't.  It's time for the Real Citizens of Troy to STAND UP.  Are you a Real Citizen of Troy? If you are, please contact Nancy Baker at NYSDEC or call the Region 4 permitting office at 357-2456 to make your opinion known.

Be Accountable

Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we get caught. When we do get caught, it can be difficult to confirm that we did anything wrong. We fear the consequences of admitting guilt. Yet it’s through taking responsibility – owning up - for our actions and behaviors that we show fellow humans that we are accountable for our behavior. It’s how we build respect and that leads to trust.

Maybe that’s why it’s a challenge for us to trust politicians. It’s considered savvy in political circles to blame someone else, the other party or another department whenever the opportunity arises. Taking such action may move their agenda along, sometimes by deflecting the public’s attention away from a particular situation, especially if it’s a mucky, murky, mired messy situation. Only someone with something to hide does this and it’s tough to respect someone who does not accept the consequences of their actions.

The message these politicians and their handlers think they are sending is that someone else is responsible for the inaction or the situation. The message that their constituents are receiving is that the individual they elected to represent them is not taking responsibility for their decisions, actions or deeds. They are not being accountable. And accountability does matter.

The Lessons We Must Learn

Before we can talk, we can figure out how to get what we need or want. If an infant is picked up and cradled at the slightest fuss or a toddler throws a temper tantrum that results in getting what they were originally denied, they learn to repeat those behaviors. For them, they worked as their goal was achieved. Conversely, should the infant be allowed to fuss for a little while (as long as they’ve been fed and their nappy is clean) or the original denial stands in spite of the tantrum, they learn not to do that again ‘cause it didn’t work.

We progress through life by process of trial and error. We explore our world and learn what we like and how to get it. When we try or do something new or different that then satisfies a need or gives us pleasure; we’ll do it again. We’ll do it regularly. We also learn how to avoid those things that we don’t like. Each of us learns what works for us in our environment.

As school-aged children, we start learning the lessons of what is acceptable socially and what is not. We learn right from wrong. We learn to take responsibility for our actions. As adolescents we start to understand how decisions we make will affect other people. We learn to be accountable to others for how we behave. It’s the lessons we learn from our missteps that we learn best. They inform our mental processes, our mores and our character. It’s the learning of those lessons that grow us into adulthood.