Sound Shore

Good morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Mandate relief: Editorial
We comment on news that Bedford town officials voted to create a local law to override the 2-percent property tax cap. We encourage Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get serious about mandate relief. We write:

Some towns are already signaling their 2012 budgets could surpass New York’s new 2 percent property-tax cap on local tax levies. Expect similar Hamlet-like struggles from counties and school districts as they look for ways to meet the cap and provide the services their constituents demand.

This should come as little surprise: The tax cap, by itself, is a blunt instrument. It provides a ceiling, but not the steps to get there.

New Yorkers, who struggled to lose the mantle of “most taxed in the nation” amid their sinking fortunes of the Great Recession, demanded it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who cajoled, berated and begged the state Legislature to pass the cap, gave the people what they wanted.

Now we need the sequel: mandate reform, government consolidation and more discussion among taxpayers on what they are willing to pay for, and what they will do without. …

Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today:

“Sexting” and cyberbullies: Editorial
We comment on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Friday signature on the New York’s Cyber-Crime Youth Rescue Act. The law, we write, “sets up a two-year, diversionary educational program for kids under age 16 who are caught texting, emailing, tweeting or otherwise electronically disseminating nude or obscene images.” More:

The program should not be an easy out. Like local counties’ Drug Courts, the program must demand intense education, close monitoring and restrictions for first-time offenders. Judges, who will determine whether a youngster qualifies for the program, must weigh each case carefully, as cyberbullying is not a victimless crime.

Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Obama on jobs, deficit: Editorial
We comment on President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act proposal, which he advanced in a Sept. 8 address to Congress, and his Monday announcement on plans to reduce the federal deficit. We write:

… On the heels of the sweeping jobs program Obama outlined last week, the president on Monday set forth his vision for paying for the badly needed initiative: a plan to cut some $3.6 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years — through a balanced approach that is roughly 60 percent spending cuts, including to entitlement programs, and 40 percent tax increases on the wealthy and corporations. The president has long touted such shared sacrifice, only to have Republicans refuse, even threatening to torpedo the economy if they did not get their way. What followed was one half-baked compromise and giveaway after another, most recently during the battle to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. No more.

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Good Wednesday afternoon. Here’s a look at today’s opinion content:

Poverty: Editorial
We comment on news that poverty levels have reached their highest mark in 52 years. We write:

… A day after the Republican candidates for president spent another televised debate singing the praises of a regulate-little, invest-less, cut-even-more federal government, the Census Bureau reported that another 2.6 million people slipped below the poverty line in 2010. That brought the total to 46.2 million people, about 15.1 percent of the population; the amount was 14.3 percent a year earlier.

The grim numbers showed poverty at the highest levels in 52 years — an embarrassment that would have shocked even the beleaguered 1960s America in which King toiled for civil rights and on behalf of the poor. The new figures put still more pressure on Washington to agree on both short- and long-term strategies for creating jobs and opportunities for Americans being left behind in the new economy. Clearly, strategies that worked in the past no longer suffice to sustain recovery. Further marginalizing the needs and problems of the poor is no answer either. …

Good Wednesday morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published today in The Journal News.

Deportation policy: Editorial
We comment on the Obama administration’s decision to change the way illegal aliens are targeted for deportation. We write:

… The common-sense change will cheer those who have called for more fairness and humanity to guide deportations; it will unnerve those who still cling to the unworkable “send them all back” approach.

In an announcement that doubtless brought relief to legions living in immigration limbo, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Thursday that the department will focus on deporting illegal immigrants who are criminals or pose a threat to national security or public safety. Napolitano told senators in a letter that the 300,000 deportation cases pending in immigration court would undergo individual review. Many of those without criminal records would be permitted to stay in the country and apply for work permits.

Good Wednesday morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Ethics reform: Editorial
While we cheer Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature on the Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011, we acknowledge that the legislation will “will hardly inoculate the state from greedy officials bent on milking their positions for kickbacks.” We continue:

.. Sure, more could have been done with this ethics law upgrade. “It is a patchwork, a compromise,” Stephen Gillers, an ethics expert at New York University School, told the New York Law Journal, “There are gaps.” Bad actors will certainly seek ways to wriggle though the gaps and widen the loopholes.

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Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Edward J. ‘Jeffrey’ Frank II: Editorial
We honor the life and service of U.S. Army Sgt. Edward J. ‘Jeffrey’ Frank II of Yonkers. Frank, a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in the 10th Mountain Division, died after his vehicles hit roadside bombs in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. We write:

… Frank was almost home. His wife, Selena, had decorated their home for a joyous homecoming, when he could once again hold his three young children, a daughter and two sons. But Frank, known as Jeffrey, had volunteered for another patrol, delaying his return home, staff writer Ned P. Rauch reports. On a Facebook tribute page, fellow soldiers express the mixed emotions of deep gratitude and crushing sadness that Frank’s gesture, taking that last mission, cost the sergeant his life but saved others. …

Hydrofracking: Commentary
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli offers a Community View in which he advances a proposal in which the natural gas industry would pay for any mitigation of drilling mishaps.

More opinion
Here’s a look at what our colleagues are saying today:
Cuomo flying straight and narrow: Editorial, Newsday
President needs to change game plan: Editorial, Poughkeepsie Journal
A fortunate union vote: Editorial, New York Post
Can Obama succeed?: Editorial, The Buffalo News
Cuomo must demand that lawmakers play by budget rules: Editorial, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Censored records just don’t fly: Editorial, Albany Times Union

Good Thursday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today:

Gloria Nartey and Mount Vernon: Editorial
We comment on the Monday shooting of Gloria Nartey, a 27-year-old Mount Vernon woman who was shot and killed as she walked around South 12th Avenue. Nartey, a PepsiCo employee, was simply walking home from a trip to the store. We write:

Mayor Clinton Young, who lately has been pressing Westchester County to make good on promised funding for housing and economic development projects in Mount Vernon, pledged to boost police presence in Nartey’s neighborhood. A mobile police command vehicle will be posted there “until further notice.” He said 12th Avenue will be placed on “lock down” — a step Young called “bold action.”

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Good Thursday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Westchester Children’s Museum: Editorial
We comment on the recent veto-proof vote by the Westchester County Board of Legislators to lease space at Playland to the Westchester Children’s Museum. The unanimous vote eliminates the chance of a veto from County Executive Rob Astorino, who had wanted to hold off on a lease until a citizen’s committee completed a report on the future of the historic amusement park. We write:

… After so much foot-dragging and unnecessary delay, a unanimous Westchester Board of Legislators on Monday approved a $1-a-year, 10-year lease with museum purveyors. Volunteers have been working behind the scenes for years to marshal support — and private fund-raising dollars — for the venture. Their work is the linchpin of what Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers, properly called “the perfect example of a public-private partnership.”

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Good Monday afternoon. Here’s a glance at opinion content published over the weekend and today:

Saturday, Aug. 6
Debt deal: Commentary
Carl Leubsdorf, former Washington bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News, weighs in on last week’s debt deal. Leubsdorf, writing last week, correctly observed that’s it’s too early to fully assess the deal’s fallout.

Housing for the disabled: Commentary
Meghan Schoeffling, co-chair of the Westchester Disability Advocacy Partnership and director of advocacy for Westchester Disabled On the Move, comments on what she describes as “a severe shortage of affordable, accessible and integrated housing” for disabled people.