Sound Shore

Good Monday morning.

Here’s a glance at opinion content published over the weekend:

Saturday, Nov. 12
Prescription drugs: Editorial
We comment on the cases of David Laffer and Conrad Murray. Laffer was sentenced last week to four consecutive life sentences after he admitted that he killed four people during the robbery of a Medford pharmacy. Murray was convicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Michael Jackson. Both cases shine a light on prescription drug abuse.

Sunday, Nov. 13
Crumbling Schools: Editorial
We comment on a Journal News investigation that examined the condition of Lower Hudson Valley School buildings. One in three, reporters Gary Stern and Cathey O’Donnell found, are in need of significant repairs. We write:

… School districts get little help from Albany figuring out what to fix or when. While state law requires school districts to have buildings inspected every five years, and to draw up a plan for addressing unsatisfactory findings, no distinction is made between serious safety issues and inefficient, outdated equipment. The state Education Department only reviews capital plans if building aid is sought.

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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 Thursday morning. Here’s a digest of opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Mandate relief: Editorial
We comment on news that Moody’s, the credit-rating agency, reported this week that Rockland County could suffer significantly because of the state’s new 2-percent property-tax cap. The time for mandate relief is now, we argue. We write:

… County executives, especially, have blasted Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to push through a tax cap while doing little to undo unfunded state mandates, which are responsible for about 75 percent of counties’ costs. Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has said the county’s Medicaid costs alone exceed the total amount his county collects in property taxes.

While Cuomo formed a Mandate Relief Task Force, its spring report — and lack of action — has been a disappointment.

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Good Monday morning. Here’s a digest of opinion content published over the weekend in The Journal News:

Saturday, July 9
Debt-ceiling: Commentary
Carl Leubsdorf of The Dallas Morning News assesses the struggle in Washington between President Barack Obama and the Democrats and the tea party-fueled House Republicans over whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

Gay-marriage: Commentary
Ellen Holtzman, a Rockland-based attorney specializing in family law and past president of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, comments on the state Legislature’s legalization of same-sex marriage and wonders what it may spell for the state’s divorce rate.

Sunday, July 10
Property tax cap and arbitration: Editorial
We comment on recent headlines in The Journal News that assess the outcome of an arbitration for Clarkstown’s police force and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s firm stand on just-passed property tax-cap legislation. We write:

The headlines in Wednesday’s Journal News summed up the tension that pulls at municipal budgets across the Lower Hudson Valley: “Police awarded 2 years of raises,” read the bold headline, followed by an article that detailed how Clarkstown police officers — among the highest-paid in the nation — would receive 3.4 percent retroactive raises under a contract settled through arbitration. The headline below: “Cuomo to schools, governments: deal with the tax cap.” In the accompanying article, municipal leaders complained that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s newly enacted 2 percent property-tax cap ignores promised “mandate relief,” or changes to state-mandated regulations and laws that push up expenses on the local level. Cuomo’s response? The economy is “tight for everyone.” In other words, deal with it.

Good Tuesday morning. As the Legislature races to the end of its session — our representatives in Albany complete their business on June 20 — the Opinion page offers an editorial on texting and a Community View on same-sex marriage:

Texting while driving: Editorial
We challenge the Legislature to take up legislation proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would make texting while driving a primary offense. We write:

When Albany enacted the current milquetoast legislation, local key-tapping drivers actually got a break. Westchester and Rockland had already banned the dangerous distraction, but because state law supersedes, local drivers could only be cited for texting while driving if they were stopped for some other roadway misbehavior.

For Lower Hudson Valley drivers, going backward would be progress.

Too many drivers peek at a tweet or “Like” a buddy’s Facebook post as they negotiate our shared roads.

Albany needs to make it easier to hit them in the pocketbook before they hit someone else’s car.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and leaders of the state Legislature have reached accord on the creation of an annual, 2-percent cap on property taxes and on legislation that would reform state ethics laws. Neither compromise has been adopted and other policy items remain on the table. What’s your priority for Albany? Cast your vote below:

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

Tax cap and mandate relief: Editorial
As public-school teachers and education advocates rally against a property-tax cap that would limit annual levy increases at 2 percent, we encourage the Legislature to act quickly on the compromise brokered last week to create such a stop-gap. We also beseech our leaders in the state capital to take up real and meaningful mandate relief with haste. We write:

From New City to Albany, teachers and others opposed to a proposed property tax cap picketed outside state legislators’ offices this week, waving signs that read “Scrap the cap!” and “What happened?”

Here’s what happened: While the Great Recession ravaged the economy, New York homeowners watched their property values plummet as they dug deeper to pay ever-growing property taxes.

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

Mandate relief: Commentary
Bruce Levine of Montebello, a Democrat and former chairman of the Rockland County Legislature, comments on recent calls from county leaders who say that any property-tax cap enacted by the state Legislature must be accompanied by mandate relief. Levine writes:

Recent press coverage of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed property tax cap plan has focused on local elected officials’ complaints that capping taxes is not the answer to the financial crisis faced by local governments and taxpayers alike. Local officials repeatedly state that it is unfunded state mandates that are the problem. The anti-mandate movement prevents a real discussion of specific ideas for reform that are sorely needed. …

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

Rob Astorino’s appointees: Editorial
We comment on a special report from staff writer Gerald McKinstry that documented raises and promotions given by the administration of Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to supporters who are county employees. We write:

This week’s report on the big-dollar pay boosts to Westchester County government staff will not surprise taxpayers who are mindful of the real world: the political spoils system lives on, notwithstanding the recession and sky-high property taxes. Who gets what, and how much, though, might stick in the craw of taxpayers who have been rooting for Rob Astorino, who was elected on a platform of thrift and frugality, and continues to sound those themes. He hasn’t exactly slain the political-payout monster either, despite making significant gains in downsizing the government. …

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

Midwestern tornadoes: Editorial
We encourage our readers to aid the suffering survivors of the devastating tornadoes have pummeled the Midwest. The people of Joplin, Mo., in particular, warrant our attention.

Police and DWI in Tuckahoe: Editorial
We comment on recent news that Tuckahoe police are accused of letting a drunken New York Police Department officer go without an arrest after he damaged property along that village’s main corridor in April 2010. Police, we say, are not above the law. We write:

Fresh allegations of police letting police off the hook for wrongful conduct, in this case drunken driving, drip with sober irony. There is the obvious: police are suppose to enforce the laws, not carve out exceptions for their own; and there is the embarrassing — one of the purported cover-up cops is the son of Westchester’s “Stop-DWI” chief. The saga serves as new evidence that even police officers sometimes have to learn expensive and often tragic lessons the hard way.

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