Create new file: GOV-TV

It must be frustrating to go around the state, raising the alarm about New York's sorry fiscal outlook, and draw so little attention. If you did it, you'd be written off. But if you were the governor?

The most likely reason for the deaf ear much of the media has turned to Gov. David Paterson's Paul Revere act is that, so far, he's not added any ideas about what to do about it. Maybe that will change today.

Official word that Gov. David A. Paterson will take to the airwaves tonight made page A8 of today's Buffalo News and page C12 of The New York Times, behind the obits and the story about the forecast of a $482 billion federal deficit. And in The Times, Paterson has to share the story with similar bad news from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The story gets front-page play in Albany's Times Union, The Post Star in Glens Falls and in AM New York - the latter complete with this Photoshopped illustration that makes both the governor and the newspaper look foolish. But it might get someone's attention.

The real attention-getter will not be the statement of the problem so much as a list of possible solutions, all of them likely to be painful to someone. The Executive Chamber [the official name of the New York governor's office] promises some, according to The Times: Risa B. Heller, a Paterson spokeswoman, said that the governor would do more than merely warn of worse times ahead. “The governor will put forth proposals to both get the state’s fiscal house in order and ease the burden on New Yorkers,” Ms. Heller said.

The governor will speak at 5:10 p.m. WNED's Think Bright cable channel will carry it live. Its broadcast arm, Channel 17, will run it at 11:30, after the kids have gone to bed. I'd bet that most commercial stations won't carry the governor's speech live -- no police tape -- but, like newspapers and the governor's office itself, will post it on their Web sites. Which is why being on TV ain't the big deal it used to be.

--George Pyle/Editorial Writer

Comments

[Texas Kid]

I hope one of his solutions isn't to build a wall around NY to keep what little tax base you have left from leaving. Get out now before its too late. The only thing that's going to happen is your taxes are going up and up and up! Wasn't Gov. Patterson talking about a property tax cap..what happened to that..just like I predicted...teacher unions, government employee unions all opposed it and its going nowhere because the courageous legislators know who's feeding them! Where are the good citizens of WNY..left holding the bag. Move out now before the guard towers go up or you have to get a high cost "visa" to leave NY. Move somewhere where the housing bill just passed (Schumer/Clinton voted for it) and you can pick up a cheap foreclosure in a nicer area of the country courtesy of your tax paying counterparts in Buffalo and WNY. You'll actuall see a pay raise as most areas of the country have much lower property taxes and state income taxes and the weather is nicer. Interesting where the TV places the importance of this NY issues.

[Celtic Tide]

The AM New York magazine cover is good stuff, sorry George; it does make the Guv look foolish but the magazine looks…well clever in the least.

TK, I agree. As much as I would rather live in Buffalo for all of its attributes, I can't stand waste, especially when it's my money. I will visit and the cost of travel will still allow for a savings over the income and property taxes that I was paying. I will enjoy the sunny mid-Atlantic with ten times as much cultural tourism close by. My streets will have painted lines marking lanes. I will save ten to fifteen percent on gas without going to the reservation.

However, unlike Patterson I have a solution to offer and yes George, it would cause pain. The solution is to create the "District of NY" for the five boroughs and separate it from the State of NY. Impossible you say? Quite likely just as impossible as taking away take home cars for police or plastic surgery for firefighters wives or the power vested in the rest of the public employee unions in NYS. We may just see a bankrupt NYS in our lifetime my friend. Imagine the State of NY needing a “control board”, what would that look like?

[Tired of the whining!]

Texas Kid,
You have got to be the biggest loser on these boards. Why do you continue to haunt these Buffalo News boards when everbody here thinks you're nothing but a know-nothing jerk? Why not focus on the problems in your own sucky state? Below, you'll find a list of a few headlines culled from today's Dallas News... Looks like your already terrible state has plenty of problems of it's own. And you never have anything even remotely valuable to offer. Be gone! Get a life! We don't need anmore of your rude, lame, always-the-same remarks. You're a total snore.

A few headlines from today's Dallas News:

"Dallas Based Centex Loses $150M as Housing Slump Continues"

"S&P: Dallas-area home prices fall 3.1%"

"Failing Texas schools face dwindling options"

"University of Texas is nation's No. 8 party school"

"Owners abruptly close Plano-based Bennigan's chain"

"North Texas Food Bank plans to double supplies to meet demand."

"5 from West Texas polygamy sect to be arraigned today in sex assault case."

"Layoffs can't be avoided, Dallas County sheriff says."

"TAKS math scores slump in ninth grade."

"Judge orders Texas to improve bilingual education."

"Texas schools wonder how to address court's ruling on bilingual education."

And there's a scary Texas hick editorial titled:
"Why I don't want diversity in my neighborhood."

And it looks as though Dallas-based American Airlines is in deep trouble again. Not to mention the fact that your temps are averaging over 100-degrees every day this week (yuck!).

So, Texas Kid, why not hang out at the Dallas Morning News with your fellow Texans; then maybe you can deal with your own problems, as well as your jerky, rude attitude? You deal with your issues and we'll deal with ours.

[WNYMind]

The governor's comments were telling. He says NY has been "doing less with more" for too long. What the F, did he really admit that NY has been flushing our taxes down the toilet for years and giving us inferior services to boot.

I have a lot of respect for the governor. NY finally got a governor who is honest with the people. Of course, we didn't elect him governor, and he isn't the typical blowhard governor who is owned by special interests.

I like Paterson, not for what he can do for NY, but for not being a liar and screwing us like the last few governors have.

Too bad though, since NY is too egotistical to elect Paterson to a second term. Unfortunately we will be stuck with Rudy of Hillary as governor. NY will be the victim of more special interest politics and little common sense or reform.

Thanks for being straight with us Governor Paterson. Keep the veto pen out when the crooks in Buffalo and Erie County try to sink the control boards, and keep keeping it real (at least for the time you have left in office). History will look kindly on you.

[Texas Kid]

Stop the Whining

Whoa, someone in WNY who has the you know what to mix it up. Great, let's do it.

Housing prices and Centex Homes profits are down in Dallas. Good thing your two US Senators (Clinton/Schumer) passed the Housing Bill recently. We deserve our share of federal monies at your taxpayer expense in WNY to bailout overbuilt greedy builders and not too smart mortgage borrowers in Texas. Just like your favorite democrats in Buffalo (Clinton/Gore) passed NAFTA. helped us out tremendously, unfortunatley, you took a hit in the rear in Buffalo and upstate. Anyways..thanks for the support. It'll help prop up our real estate market. Too bad it didn't count all those run down vacant houses you have.

UT is a #8 Party School. I'm disappointed its not #1. Must be letting in a bunch of wimps. Look at this story this way. US News and World Report College rankings have UT at 42 and Texas A&M at 62. Closest SUNY school is at 82 in Binghamton. If you comapre athletics at the the schools in Texas versus the pathetic product put out by SUNY, I guess you could say our drunks are better student athletes than your best and brightest in NY.

Bilingual education. I hope you don't have anything against Mexicans and Hispanics. Buffalo favorite barack obama says we all should learn to speak Spanish and when a Democrat says that, Buffalo people better get with the program or else. If you work for American Axle, it might be a good idea to learn Spanish.

Airlines having trouble. All airlines are having trouble. At least there are 3 (AA, Southwest, Continental) that have corporate HQ based in Texas. Buffalo have any???

TAKS score are used by the state of Texas (Ross Perot reform) to measure teachers and districts on their teaching methods. if a district fails, guess what, no raises, no promotions. Teacher unions in texas work for the public. Not like where you live where there is no apparent accountability and you work for the teachers unions.

Layoff in the public sector (Sheriff). You bet. Civil service in Texas is not a lifetime cushy position with a big fat pension or overtime benefits. Localities have to cut spending, they will, they don't always raise taxes and fees like WNY always does to keep special interest voting blocs happy. We don't have a state income tax in Texas, too bad you do.

If 3 Bennigan restaurants closed in Buffalo, it would be a major employmment hit. I have it on good authority though that the City of dallas isn't offering Bass Pro $250,000 for each Bennigan's site to put in a Bass Pro. In Dallas, people there will find jobs quickly in other fast growiing restaurant chains.

Food banks in North Texas. An article in USA Today has Austin as #5 in the US for volunteerism. Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston are all ranked above Buffalo and NYC. You need to geto out to Jefferson Avenue some more and help out the disadvantaged instead of having me "enlighten" you.

As for the diversity "bigot" in the editorial, he's a piker compared to the comments I'm seeing in the Inside the News blog on Stemming the Violence. I think the writer in Dallas would be considered a falming liberal to some of your fellow Buffalo citizenry in this respect.

Don't like my attitude, that's too bad. Nothing your going to do about it. I was going to ask the Cowboys and Stars to bring their Super Bowl and Stanley Cup Trophies to Buffalo so children there can see what a winner looks like. But now, reading your crime section, I'm afraid they might get robbed and stolen.

Have a nice day. I'll thnik about your heating bills this winter while I'm sitting in 60 degree weather here.

[Tired of the whining!]

Nice attempt at dodging your own state's issues, Texas Kid. Gee, your almost as slick as GWBush, that huckster idiot of a president that hails from your state.

For your reading pleasure, here are just a few more headlines pulled from this morning's front page of the Dallas News:

"Failing Texas schools face dwindling options." [Seems that your so-called Texas education miracle was a flop -- nothing more than smoke and mirrors. So typical of Texas, the land of delusions and home of the easily deluded. Who cares, though, in a state, like Texas, that cares more about high-school sports and cheerleading than about the quality of education.]

"Texas Youth Commission inmates receiving poor schooling, report says." [And we all know that about half of the Texas population is in prison! I'll grant you that point... prison is definitely a booming business in Texas.]

"Audit says Dallas Housing Authority subsidized deceased clients." [Ah yes, there's no government corruption or misuse of Taxpayer funds in idyllic Texas, right? ]

"3 Dallas children shot in backseat of mom's Mercedes." [Nope. No violence or tragedy here in happy, happy Texas, right?]

And yes, these blog boards are sadly populated by too many bigots. I don't know why, but there is an over-representation here of angry white conservative men. That's unfortunate, but it's that very sort of loser who seems to always have way too much time on his hands -- whatever city or region we're talking about (just take a look at some of the bigoted comments in the Dallas blog connected to that idiotic editorial... look at the sicko who just shot those people in a TN church). And Texas sure does seem to be chock-full of that "type." Here, at least, we'd never actually give one of these racist blog nut-jobs their own column!

And who wants 60-degrees in the winter? Even if I did want that, I sure wouldn't move to ugly Texas; there are far better warm weather options. Like many people, however, I would never, ever want to live somewhere where there wasn't a change in seasons. I love the snow, as well as the beautiful autumns, springs and relatively comfortable summers that we have.

I could go on and on (and that's only the front page of one paper), but I have to work. Unlike you, I don't have all day long to sit here and insult areas where I don't even reside. It would be one thing if you ever offered any helpful/useful insight, but you don't. You do nothing but rudely insult the people in this region. Again, get a life. You have plenty of problems in your own backyard to address. Leave us to our mess; you clean up your own. Really, TK, you appear to have some sort of strange psychological problems! Seek help and get a life.

[Texas Kid]

Tired of the Whining

Stick with the subject matter on the blog. I think your some civil servant trying to protect that cushy lifestyle you have. Here's the bottom line, you didn't see any articles in the Dallas Morning News on our budget deficits hitting $6.5 billion and we don't even have a state income tax. Can NY say that?? Check out T Boone Pickens from Texas on the Insights and Outrages blog. He's from Texas and the News likes what he's proposing. You don't hear things like that much from your legislators, although they are good at innovative ways to find more revenue sources from the taxpayers and citizens. The choices facing your legislators will only mean one thing for a NY state taxpayer..you'll be digging a bit more deeper into your wallet, count on it. Better you than me! Will things change in the Fall elections for NY, don't count on it. How's your Spanish lessons coming along??

[Neil]

Simple solution, cut state spending - deeply - PERIOD!

[Tired of the whining!]

TK,
No budget problems (or tax raising) in Texas, huh? Talk about myopic and delusional! Here's another gem from the front page of tonight's Dallas News. There's more bad news there, too, for Texans, but I don't have time to list all of the bad headlines. Looks like you'd better focus on your own very cracked glass house.

"Proposed Plano budget raises fees but cuts few services." [Looks like this is a wide-spread and growing problem throughout Texas. At least here in NY, it seems that we finally have a Governor who is facing reality, unlike you delusional, conceited Texans.] Here's the article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/073108dnmetplanobudget.1b2cb845.html

[Texas Kid]

Gee Whiney, check out the ABC News website (Business section), Texas actually has a budget surplus. To quote exactly...

"High oil prices have helped raise tax revenues and fueled job growth in Alaska and Texas, which could each see budget surpluses of $10 billion at the end of the year."

Wow, that's not small potatoes. $16 billion ahead of NY. Nice to see you're reading the Dallas Morning News..check them out this fall in the sports section and you can read about some winners for a change.

[Comino Reality]

I think that Governor Patterson has been gotten to by corporate interests.

1. He approved building a coal burning plant despite growing global warming evidence and not knowing if recapture technology works.

2. He appointed CEO Wilmers for state development.

3. He is crying poor while every New Yorker is paying incredible amounts for gas and the state coffers have to be receiving a wind fall like no other in the history of this state.

[Texas Kid]

Hey Whiney:

Looks like your cushy government job is safe for now. Governor Patterson is not cutting back on the size of the state's workforce according to the Buffalo News article on the home page. If its from the Buffalo news...it must be true! Too bad park hours will be cut back for the general public though and aid to the elderly and children may suffer too.

Hey check out what the #8 Party School (UT) is up to in Texas: To quote the article

HOUSTON -- There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.

“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.

Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.

I'm wondering if these two guys played football at UT too! Looks like one is a product of bilingual education. How's your Spanish lessons coming along?
Good thing the state isn't trying to find ways to tax this innovative concept out of existence like they've done to most private sector businesses and innovators in NY.

Whiney..how come a legally blind guy (Patterson) is finding out the state of NY is bust and has to work this out. What happened to all the other state legislators who aren't blind?? Talk about abusing the handicapped!!

[Texas Kid]

Hey Whiney!

I know what the problem is. From 2000 - 2005 the population of NY grew 1.25%. Rank was 44th. Texas grew by 9.6%. Rank 7th. You're not getting productive tax paying folks moving in to pay the state's bills. Look's like we're getting them. That's why we have a $10 Billion budget surplus. Give me you snail mail address, I'll send you a shovel so you can dig a bit deeper into your pocketbook or wallet to help NY get out of this crisis!