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| Do We Have Good Business Sense? |
The sale of this house for $51 K twist my mind out of shape. Why would anyone put over $80K of rehab money into a house then sell it for $30 less? What kind of business sense does this make? The Knox Street property, has become a complex problem with many people making mistakes. They say, for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. Appears we got our fair share of wrong answers.
Giving a family the full purchase price of a house seems very wrong. It may meet the grant regulations but someone was acting like God with tax payers money. The first time homeowner loan program is to be a helping hand but in this case it appears to be a handout. This whole process is flawed and the City needs to have oversight of this program.
Journal Knox.
36 comments:
Check out tomorrow's journal. If Mr. Robbins was listening and taking good notes, he might have pullitzer prize-worthy stuff out of tonight's performance of the Ogdensburg City Circus.
The first time homeowner loan program is to be a helping hand but in this case it appears to be a handout.
Community Association
This wasn't the typical 1st time homeowners program - this was a stablization program designed to invest in deteriorating areas while also benefiting low income families.
HELPING HAND IN A COST sharing MODE IS FINE -- BUT giveaways AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE IS JUST sooooo FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG .
NO MORE FREE LUNCHES AT OUR EXPENSE
I would have to agree with 8:11.
Best thing we can do is to vote out the spendthrifts in Washington. Does no good to beat up on the locals for adhering to the regulations promulgated by the Feds.
Look up "someone playing God" in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Justin Woods.
No wonder the Wades were mad because Sciorra stopped them from lining up at the trough after Justin Woods allowed other people to do it through his personal Social Justice Program.
Morley said last night, "No wonder the government is broke."
No Mike, the city is broke, because you and Nelson just spent tens of thousands of dollars to get rid of the ONLY guy who was trying to stop this crap!!!
The city was broke already because most people who have an education and a future are leaving, getting as far away from the ignorance, crime and contamination in Ogdensburg as they possibly can.
Robbins sent out a tweet earlier today that the per-capita income in Ogdensburg is less than $17,000. Technically, the only reason this city still exists is because of the 'welfare' funds it receives from the state and federal government.
Wait a minute...DID THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL JUST GIVE AWAY THE HOUSE ON KNOX STREET AFTER FIRING SCIORRA FOR NOT COLLECTING RENT?
Mr. Morley is completly correct . Its n wonder that the Federal Government is broke.
They come up with moronick ideas how to give away money and our local morons spend it..
From housing to cheese plants, from underbid community centers to roads we dont need ..
We will take all we can get because we certainly have the morons to spend the money..
I think Nelson and Powers said it best, it dont cost us anything, or if we dont spend it someone else will.. Really what pathetic thinking from supposed leaders..
This council has already fallen trap to this thinking..
Heh guys get out of the business of everything except running our city.. Be like the Bridge and Port have some insite and promote putting competent people in charge.
I think its time to consider a local ordinance like the one proposed in Gouverneur.
The council is responsible for pickeing up their own shi@.
I feel past practice and presedence set about these programs along with existing rules set by council should be followed. Period.. If they dont have any make some. Then get out of the business.
Will someone on the council please check into the money that was paid to the Augustine Group. How much ect. What did they do for the money that was spent. I think you will find out that this group is nothing more than a contact point for contractors.
The grant money should be managed by the city, not an outside group of people who do not even live in our community.
A guess .... 3 different grants......... 8000,000 tom 1.2 million....... ALL GONE ???????
Sorry $800,000 to 1.2 million............. GONE
All under Bill Nelsons expertise, and Mike Morleys guidence, Storm cilleys do nothing attitude, Michael Powers talk about the prisons,Nick Vaughs looking at himself in the mirror and Skamperele looking to buy Murrays. Oh yeh Shollettes moving....and of course the appointment of Wayne Ashley to assure the only person who had a clue was fired...
Oh hum.......... Another long four years in Mudville....
You know how all of the city politicians love to prance down Ford Street in the Seaway Festival Parade? How about a float right behind them of the house on 819 Knox Street?
It could have Justin Woods on it throwing out monopoly money. It can't be real money, because the Wades would be out there holding up the parade.
Just think, Cosmo could be in the crowd, taking up a collection for the rent.
Chris Robbins could be driving the tractor pulling the float, and wear a harness held by Liz.
Meanwhile, Sciorra will be sitting in the shade with a cold frosty beverage, counting his money, and laughing his arse off.
The more I think about The Journal the more I am convinced that Liz Graham is the problem. That fat Robbins has been pretty fair to everyone and has done a decent job of writing about what has happened. The real issue is Graham's editorials and the stories she has chosen to run.
I wouldn't be surprised if she, Nelson and Morley were in together on this whole thing since she took the lead at the newspaper. The sooner we run her out of that job, the sooner the Journal becomes Ogdensburg's paper again.
Rumor "on the street" is Morley is NOT HAPPY with the parade senario. He wants a role more fitting to his position as Deputy Mayor.
How about : Dressed as a little yapping dog, in a tutu, on a leash, held by Nelson in a clown suit?
We have 6 months until the parade, so we are open to suggestions.
Why not give 819 Knox St. to David LaRose and his family. He is just as in need as the Burke family.
How about no more hand outs, cop outs and bail outs. We need to move ahead in Ogdensburg. I sure would like to know how the Burke family can afford 819 Knox St. on public assistance.
May be we all should just stop trying and go on public assistance.
I will be attending the parade so I can see bubble butt Ashley walk down Ford St arm in arm with Chuck Kelly and Fred Bean.
I must be missing something. Exactly how did this become The Journal's fault?
As far as I can tell, no one would know anything about any of this if The Journal had not reported it and kept the public informed throughout its many strange permutations as it evolved.
And since most fair minded people would admit that Chris Robbins has tried to report the views of all of the individuals who would talk to him, Beth Graham deserves a lot of credit for her editing of the stories and her direction of the reporting.
And let's be honest. Most of the extremist comments have been voiced anonymously on this blog, not in the editorial columns of The Journal.
You can criticize The Journal for a host of real and imagined crimes, but its reporting of this issue has been fair and balanced as is shown by the fact that Justin's pals, Art's pals and everyone else have gotten their ammunition from reading The Journal's coverage.
What about Bills pals and Mikes pals.. They gave the journal the veiws they followed..
I didnt see anything about the Wades asking for favors.
I didnt see too much about Nelsons asking Sciorra to hold off on firing Woods.
Extremist veiws come from the frustration of the real story not being made public.
This entire fiasco is the greedy results of one man being politically ambitious. He lies and covers with I cant recollect He lies and states I dont know he lies and says he remembers it differently and the paper lets him get away with it.
The power of the press would make all the difference in the world in this city if used to keep politicans like Nelson in check and made to be accountable. Without the fear of retaliation some of us could post with out being anom and post our veiws in the paper with our names. But until then friend your wrong in your thought
Let's get serious. The politicians would have been reelected unanimously if The Journal had not reported all the stories that prompted these blogs to tear them apart. Yes, The Journal also reported the views of Mike's and Bill's defenders, but I saw far more stories from Justin and Art's side than from anyone else.
What I've seen in this blog is that certain "anonymous" posters routinely make up "facts" to suit their arguments and that too many others blindly accept them as reality when they are nothing more than lies and fabrications.
At least with the press, they make an effort to identify who is saying what so that sensible people can decide for themselves who they feel is a credible source of information and who is just lashing out because of deep seated grudges.
No, if I have to choose between blog postings and what I read in the paper, I'll take the paper.
I am not sure what all the anonymous cowards with visions of grand government conspiracies to give one poor family a decent home really wanted in the first place. Did you really think The Journal would publish crazy assumptions and tall-tales that have no proof in reality? For something to become news, it has to have a credible source. I have yet to hear any credible or persuasive evidence that any of the conjecture and fiction being spouted by the 2-3 paranoid schizophrenic posters on this blog has any basis in reality.
We've read reporters in the paper interviewing people from all sides - the family in the house, the mayor, the deputy mayor, Art Sciorra, Phil Cosmo, Justin Woods, Jim O'Neill, other people in the program, state officials, federal officials, Robbins has complained time and again that the city has been slow in getting him the volumes of documents they subpoenaed for the report, and then has published information from those documents that supports both sides of the story.
That sounds to me like a story that has been thoroughly and professionally reported - maybe to the point of ad nauseum. If the people who post on this blog don't like what they read, maybe it is reality that they have problems with and not the newspaper.
I think the Democratic party operatives who do most of the posting on this blog hate the fact that none of their candidates ever win despite their daily efforts to trash various Republican office holders.
What they fail to grasp is that most of us can see through their rantings and realize that deep down they really hate Ogdensburg for its "failure" to heed their views.
this hasn't been a republican/democrat issue. just look at the fallout. up until this stuff broke, art was up the republican's asses and just practically admitted he's a socialist, yet it was Bill who took to get rid of art (albeit for self-preservation) and so-called democrats dumb and dumber (doug and dan) who were on a mission to get rid of justin.
the tragedy as actually only dan stated publicly, was that this was a minor issue that didn't really cost the city anything. no one should have lost their jobs over this, let alone a couple guys doing a pretty good job, but art was spooked and lied to protect his own ass. everything snowballed from there.
as far as chris, it looks like he is finally starting to understand the very complex issues at play here. was the reporting perfect? no, and it never is, but he has put forth an honest effort and liz has done what editors do - analyze the information and take a thought provoking position to get people thinking.
anyway, the time has come to move forward from this mess and to get a real city manager before they convince caesar phil to accept the crown. the new manager can then hire an experienced planning director, but i hope this council has enough sense to make phil wait and let the new manager hire his or her own staff.
WOW... Why dont you guys/girls report in the paper like you just did in the last three or four blogs.
Time and time again the blogs reported accurate info and time and time again it was exhagerated but its only a blog for our thoughts. Anom is a privilige given to us by the author of the blog just as our constitution gives us the right to vote anom or secret ballot.. I know people like the previous bloggers want to no all and think for everyone as they think but thats not our best interest.. The paper has lost ground to this site and it scares some people mostly politicans who have ambitions for furthering their careers in politics...
If you dont like what you read here dont log in. If you want to give your veiws give them but quite running down the anmom bloggers who are using the very rights you want to take away.
We are back to repeating "THE LIE". Nice tactic. Except you have used it so much, people can see right through it.
I.E. The Journal is fair and balanced? Come on. Give us a break. You keep this crap up, you folks at The Journal will have to resort to Robo Calls beacause there isn't going to be any Journal left.
It looks like Mike, Chris, and Liz have decided to take over the blog.
Hitler said, "If you repeat something a thousand times, the simple people will believe it."
For anyone to believe anything about The Journal, other than it is a RAG going down the tubes, it would take millions of times.
I lived in Ogdensburg over 50 years, and the journal has been a local joke. But now it has become a vicious instrument to do harm to anyone who dares to become a real leader in our community.
Do not feed them with your money. You can get all of the local news FREE on-line at "North Country Now".
Even North Country Now largely depends on the reporting of the journal, the watertown times and the massena newspaper for what it posts on the site. If the journal and its sister-newspapers close down, no one will know what is going on.
And for the record, most of the people posting on this blog, anonymously or not, have no idea what is going on and are lying through their teeth to support their own political beliefs and their friends inside and outside of city government. Reporters are educated, trained and paid to accurately report the information they collect from a variety of sources, not simply write what they think is the truth. Anonymous blog posters are utterly untrustworthy. At least Mr. Robbins puts his name behind his articles, and if you attend council meetings and talk to the parties involved in the stories, he is 95% accurate.
853.. What planet are you from.. The north country new is entirely run by Johnson papers and that includes the Watertown Times. They are completely Republican and thats that. The local editor and reporters do what they dictate and nothing less..
Are they educated? Who says?? I remember when a local editor stole from a store locally and was prosecuted. The paper run a negative campaign agsinst the local DA for not dropping the charges.
This went on for a couple of years until we changed DAs.. This guy now works for Patty Ritchie, a republican senator...
Thats what this paper is all about.
Robbins and Graham are about as Republican as a gay abortionist on welfare.
I would like to thank Robbins and Graham for any work put into sorting out lies from 907 - 948 etc. The newspaper staff use their names and if you could use yours for the good of o-burg it would be nice . Most of us pay no attention to anoy. people.
Scamp use someone elses name other than Hitlers - you have worn it out!
1158... Thats the trouble with this area.. No one pays attention. I dont think you mean anoy but anoy is what you do best.
A.Chadwick says Skamp is buying Murrays store in the second ward and soon will be available to answer all your questions about Hitler..
Hitler I can read about and believe what I,ve read but the journal, well thats a different story.
We're ignoring the next big dilemma facing Ogdensburg and the north country - the prisons in Malone, Ogdensburg and Gouverneur are half empty and largely unnecessary, but all of these communities rely on them to employ parts of the population. Are the conservatives in northern New York going to support closing most or all of these facilities to reduce the budget deficit, costing the area hundreds to thousands of jobs, or are they going to fight to keep them open and keep the dying communities of the burnt-out north country afloat?
You can either stick to your ideals and screw your fellow newyorkers, or abandon everything you believe in to try to save your constituents from economic catastrophe. Good luck with that decision.
Simple answer :Close or consolidate the prisons now !
Youre right 636, The Union through its PAC got 25 yr retirement a few yrs ago. So will we be able to afford all of this? The City of Watertown has more "Welfare funded" homes than OBurg, Through NOW.
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